Blue Dawn Jay of Aves Read online

CHAPTER 11

  ATTACK

  After a few days, Kate fell into a routine. She would wake before dawn each morning to observe the birds, beginning with their emergence from their roosts in the Roc bar. After two hours of data collection she would focus more on analysis, though she would often do so on an outside deck, which allowed her to still keep track of the local birds.

  Fortunately, shade giving trees still surrounded the Roc Inn and Bar, but by noon the suns were directly overhead and there was no escaping their effect. The heat reminded Kate of Earth, where she had studied for several years, but because of the dense atmosphere and high humidity, summer days on Aves were even more oppressive. On most afternoons she moved inside to her air-conditioned rooms to rest or to analyze data.

  She continued her investigations on bird intelligence, including examination of brain size and structure. She relied heavily on the dozens of recorded dissections carried out in the first year after the planet was discovered. Like the Aves pioneers, she was startled and intrigued with the findings. The most astonishing fact was that Aves birdbrains were structured similar to those of Earth birds, though enormously enlarged, with some brain areas enlarged much more than others.

  The rear or lower ‘primitive’ section of the brain was expanded well beyond proportional enlargement and highly complex in appearance. The cerebellum, which controls muscles and movement, was comparable in size to that of similarly sized Earth mammals, making it proportionally much larger than in Earth birds. This suggested that Aves birds were capable of skilled movements. Most striking, the medulla oblongata was enormous, suggesting greatly enhanced vocal and hearing capabilities.

  The optic lobes of the midbrain were large, though not disproportional to other enlargements. Kate supposed that the visual capabilities of Aves birds far surpassed even those of Earth birds, given the huge size and wide spacing of the eyes.

  The front of the brain was perhaps most interesting. The basal ganglia was huge, suggesting capabilities of an unknown nature. She had witnessed bird songs of incredible complexity, perhaps this enlargement was related to sound production and listening. Most startling however, was that unlike Earth birds, these birds had cerebral cortex structures. These structures appeared to be fully as large and complex as those of humans. In some cases, they appeared to exceed those of humans. Conclusion: these creatures had to be highly intelligent. But in what way? That could only be determined with certainty through the study of bird behavior.

  She also learned that instead of having two voice boxes like Earth birds, Aves birds had eight that were each highly complex.

  In the log, Kate found the human behavior that was documented to be very interesting also. The recordings showed a great deal of Captain Jack. Bigger than life, the Captain was at the center of everything, leading the pioneering expedition skillfully in those early years. It was easy to see why he was so highly respected. By way of contrast, Helmins was a shadowy figure in the background who gradually emerged and refocused efforts from exploration to Corporation food production.

  In the early records John Weltman seemed almost like another person. Outgoing, competent, confident, and cheerful, the Weltman of the first two Aves years was clearly Captain Jack’s right-hand man. When there was a problem to solve or a battle to be fought, Weltman was usually the person to handle it successfully.

  In the more recent records Weltman virtually disappeared from the recordings, aside from occasional incidental glimpses of him as an almost unrecognizable, wasted, drunken shadow of his former self.

  Though the historical record was interesting, Kate’s primary focus was science, and any serious biological investigation had to include genetics. Hampered by equipment limitations, her genetic investigation was proceeding very slowly, with samples being processed as background tasks on her COM unit. The COM unit capability was limited such that she could only process about two samples a day, but these had already produced startling results. The fact that what was claimed by the Corporation to be alien life forms had Earth-like genetic based life at all was itself an astonishing find, but Kate confirmed that their DNA matched that of the corresponding Earth species by close to 90%, though the remaining 10% didn’t match any known Earth DNA. There could be no doubt that ancestry was common for Earth and Aves species, and there could also be no doubt that Corporation scientists had known this from the very beginning and lied to Earth about it. The modifications done to the Aves species were enormous, however, far greater than had ever been attempted by Earth scientists.

  Besides match-testing the DNA for two bird species, Kate had also tested a tree and three small creatures. All species tested except one turned out to be primarily Earth organisms, though significantly modified. A revoltingly ugly, many-legged-worm tested as 100% non-Earth-like in its genetic structure. Was this an error in processing or was this a true alien species? She observed birds eating the creatures eagerly without adverse effects, but she didn’t have enough data to fully understand the significance of that. Did they eat them only because they were outwardly similar to Earth-prey, or did they derive nutritive value from eating them? More bird study was needed.

  More study was needed on the worm itself. She dissected it, and found totally unfamiliar anatomical structures. The very basics of how it lived were unknown, making it very interesting.

  She also encountered several gigantic mushrooms that were oddly formed and colored. She wasn't yet sure if these were based on an Earth-like species or were totally native to Aves.

  More study was needed on everything. She had barely scratched the surface so far, and she was busy, far too busy. Though she had at first worried about not having access to enough data, now she worried about having far too much data. Raw data. Each day she collected far more observations than she could analyze, including bird calls, size measurements, tissue samples, and behavioral observations. Even the archive of mission data would probably take many years to review thoroughly, and she was adding new data daily. Weltman also gave her several files of data that he collected as part of his investigations. These turned out to be mostly photographic and verbal descriptions of the missing and general descriptions of the circumstances of their disappearances. None of it seemed to be useful to her scientific efforts.

  In other words, her general situation was pretty much as she had expected it would be. She was having the time of her life, but her effort was disorderly and progress was far too slow for Weltman's needs. The late-summer temperature was peaking, and the alleged bird attacks on humans might begin again at any time. Weltman needed scientific knowledge immediately that would be of practical value to him. She was finding out astounding things, but for Weltman she needed to move past science to application.

  Kate hadn’t even bothered to tell anyone the results of her brain studies and genetic matching efforts. Knowing that the birds were from Earth and were intelligent was interesting, but didn’t seem to be either unexpected news or relevant to Weltman. She kept looking for some direct linkage between her findings and the disappearances, but could find none.

  In the two months she had agreed to stay or even in twenty months, she could not possibly understand Aves or even its birds on her own. She needed shortcuts. If she was to achieve a practical level of understanding of Aves and its birds quickly she needed more than raw data, she needed to know what other scientists had determined about Aves and why. Her bar-room talks with Peter were tremendously fruitful, but she needed more. This morning, she hoped to be further enlightened, for Weltman was to take her to meet the only other Space Directorate scientist on Aves, Dr. Frank Lambert.

  Before the sheriff arrived, Captain Jack visited. Instead of launching into morning pleasantries or inquiries about her progress as he usually did, he was strangely silent, and Kate sensed that something serious was on his mind, something that he was hesitant to discuss. Kate let it build up in the man until it finally burst out.

  “Kate, I notice that you get on well with John. Maybe too well. He�
�s my best friend in the world, but there are some things I think you should know about Weltman. Things that he isn’t likely to talk about.”

  Kate slowly nodded. “The first day we met, he was telling me that some people on Aves have lost a lot, and I asked him what he had lost.”

  “And he told you?”

  “No, he wouldn’t talk about it. But from his moody reaction I knew he had been personally devastated by something. The mission historical data also suggests that something terrible happened to him a couple of years ago.”

  “Two Aves years ago his wife was among the first to mysteriously disappear.”

  “That’s horrible!”

  “She was a biologist, an insect specialist. She was studying insect life in the crop fields being constructed when she disappeared. They had just gotten married the month before that. She disappeared two Aves years ago next week.”

  “He has deep scars.”

  “Damn right he does. John is still the best damn man on Aves, in my opinion, but he’s only a shadow of what he used to be. After his wife disappeared he started drinking and not caring about anything. Based on what he used to be, and with my backing, he won the sheriff’s job, but compared to the man he used to be, he’s mostly just been coasting along.

  “The main thing keeping him going lately has been his investigation of the disappearances. It’s become almost an obsession, but it has brought him around some. He figures it’s the birds, and wants to prove it. He saw a lot of action against birds in those early years, saw a lot of friends killed by birds, and he thinks they took his wife. But he needs help.”

  “I’m doing all that I can.”

  “Right. Actually, you’re helping him maybe more than you know. Hey, I see the way you two get on and I can do the math, but I’m not sure he’s ready. I like you Kate, and wouldn’t want to see you getting hurt, or him either. So I just thought you should know.”

  Oh my God, thought Kate! Jack was talking about her and John being romantically involved! She liked John well enough, but Jack was delusional. Wasn't he?

  “Know what?” asked Weltman, as he entered the room.

  “Every damn thing there is to know, John,” replied Jack with a smile. “That’s why you’re going to visit Frank with her, right?”

  “Right,” agreed John. “Sure thing, Captain. We’re visiting Frank in order to know every damn thing there is to know.”