“What?”

“While you were off the line I got a polite little call from Communications. Seems they fouled some of their programming. The subroutine which transmits stored tape data to Alphonsus was defective—it erases everything before it transmits. Alphonsus was wondering why they were getting long transmissions with no signal.”

“That’s ridiculous. Everything from Site Seven has been lost?”

“No, only ours. Each team has its own file number and something happened to ours alone. We’ve lost quite a bit of material, but not all of it.”

It was the first time Nigel had ever heard Nikka sound genuinely angry. “When we get off this watch I want to go see Valiera.”

“Agreed. As far as I can figure out we’ve lost those pictures of what looked like molecular chains and most of everything from yesterday. But look, those can be recovered. Let’s have a go at the photograph you found just before Engineering called.”

Nigel studied the image when it formed on the screen before him. The alien photograph showed land of a dark, mottled brown, the oceans almost jet black. Somber pink clouds laced across the land and still eddies caught in the rising mountain peaks. At the shore a slightly lighter line suggested great breakers thundering against the beaches. There were traces of shoals and deep currents of sediment.

“What part of Earth is that?” Nikka murmured. “Can’t say. Reminds me of some map I’ve seen, but I can’t remember which. I’ll log this for transmission to Alphonsus. Maybe they can find a contemporary shot of the same place.”

The next few sequences yielded nothing. There followed complexes of swirling dots, and then a pattern that remained fixed. “Hold that,” Nigel said. “That’s a three-dimensional lattice, I’m sure. Look, the little balls are of different sizes and colors.”

“It might be a molecular chain model,” Nikka said. “Or maybe a picture of the real thing.”

“Precisely. I’ll log that, too. And I’m going to tell Communications to not transmit anything until I have a chance to look over their programs. We don’t want these lost as well.”

“Wait a second, Engineering is calling—” Nikka broke off.

Nigel waited, drumming his fingers on the console. He hoped the message he had sent to Kardensky wasn’t intercepted. He needed the information and photos Kardensky could provide.

“There’s another damned leak,” Nikka said suddenly over the speaker. “Engineering threatened to come in here and drag me out—I’d like to see them do it—if I didn’t come. I’ve got enough air in the bottles but—Oh, my ears just popped—”

Nigel threw down his pencil in disgust. “Never mind, come on in. You and I are going to see Valiera.”

“It was an impossibly dumb thing to do,” Nigel concluded. He glared at Valiera. “If for some reason the images were erased by the alien computer when we read it out on the screen, that material is lost. Forever.”

Valiera made a steeple with his fingers. He tilted his chair back and glanced at Nikka and Sanges. “I agree the situation is intolerable. Some of our hardware isn’t functioning right and I think it’s mostly due to the fact that everything is disorderly around here. Remember, we are just setting up Site Seven and mistakes are bound to happen. Victor, here, is looking into the entire Communications net and I expect his recommendations shortly.” Valiera looked significantly at Sanges.

“Yes, I expect I can get things in order soon,” Sanges said.

“I don’t think this should be taken so calmly,” Nikka said abruptly. “It’s possible that we have lost some irreplaceable information from the wreck’s computer bank.”

“And it’s not as though Mr. Sanges has suffered a great loss, is it?” Nigel said with a thin smile. “Team One hasn’t made much headway on their inventory search.”

Sanges bristled. “We have been working as hard as you. I see no reason—”

“Now, none of that,” Valiera said. “True, Team One is only now getting its footing, but you must realize, Nigel, that their task is much harder. They are compiling an inventory, using the alien script. Until they have cracked the code and know what the script means, they will not have any solid results.”

“Then why do they not abandon the use of script and try to find things by pictures?” Nikka asked mildly. “That’s the path we are following and it seems to work.”

“Why, what have you found?” Valiera unconsciously narrowed his eyes slightly with a new alertness.

For a long moment there was only the thin whine of air circulation fans in the room. “Some things that look like molecular chain models, photographs of Earth from orbit, a picture of some early primate, apparently,” Nigel said slowly. “A few other things, and of course that large rat.”

“I have seen most of what you refer to in the briefings,” Sanges said. “I would dispute your interpretation of several of them, but of course that can be worked out in time.”

“Quite so,” Nigel said. “Nikka and I are trying to uncover as much as possible so we will have some idea of how the computer works, and what’s available through it. I will be interested to see what the experts say about that rat, particularly.”

“Well,” Valiera said distantly, “that will of course take some time to work out.”

“What do you mean?” Nikka said.

Valiera pursed his lips and paused. Nigel studied him intently. He had seen this sort of administrator before. Valiera had apparently been an excellent pilot but somewhere along the way he had acquired the bureaucrat’s habit of judging every statement’s impact before it was uttered. There was an air of calculation about the man.

“The National Science Foundation has decided not to release any of the pictures you are recovering from the alien console. It is thought that the impact at this time might be undesirable.”

“Damn! Undesirable how?” Nikka said sharply.

“We want a serious scientific study of everything that comes out of Site Seven. Releasing information now would just inundate the NSF and strain an already fragile budget,” Valiera said, spreading his hands in a gesture of helplessness.

“I quite agree,” Sanges said. “Many people will find such photographs as the large rodent quite unsettling. It is our duty to release information only when it is well understood. The First Bishop has stressed this point several times.”

“Ah, and I’m sure the First Bishop is an authority on cultural shock and exobiology.” Nigel raised an eyebrow at Sanges.

“The First Bishop was present when the New Revelation was manifested to the world,” Sanges said sternly. “He has a great and abiding knowledge of man’s ways and the best course for humanity. I should think even you could see that.”

“Nigel, I’m sure you know the New Sons are not hostile to the existence of extraterrestrial life,” Valiera said diplomatically. “The New Revelation grew out of the discovery of life on Jupiter, after all. The First Bishop merely makes the point that man is specifically wedded to this planet, so things extraterrestrial will probably seem quite foreign to man, even frightening.”

“Are you going along with the New Sons, then?” Nikka asked.

“No, of course not,” Valiera said quickly, “I merely think I should take a position in between these two diverging views.”

“Diverging they are, yes,” Nigel said. “I don’t think extraterrestrial life has to be so bloody frightening. And I don’t necessarily think our limited knowledge about how we evolved falls in with the First Bishop’s dogma.”

“What do you mean?” Sanges said severely.

“Never mind. I simply think we should keep our minds open. Release of all the data we recover from the computer is an essential. We need the best minds working on this problem, not just a committee of the NSF.”

“Nonetheless,” Valiera said mildly, “the judgment of the Congress and the NSF has been made and we must go along with it.”