Delta Pavonis Read Online Free PDF Page B

else gets to be the new member." Colin was even smaller than Dierdre, fair and apparently, although not necessarily, male.
    She took his hand. "Dierdre Jamail. Does everybody get the leper treatment when they first arrive?"
    "It depends on how badly they need manpower. Also whether they come from another expedition or right off the shuttle like you. That shiny new gear gives you away." Colin wore a tight-fitting blue coverall complete with a hood that covered everything but his round face. He looked about fourteen years old, but she knew he had to be older. The outfit looked stifling.
    "Where are you from?" It was a standard conversation opener, but she was trying, obliquely, to discover the reason for his odd appearance.
    "I was born on Malta, before the beginning of the Jump. I was born with some defective genes; that's why I wear this suit. It regulates my body temperature. I know, there aren't supposed to be birth defects anymore, but they figure it was caused by some sort of solar radiation prior to the Jump phase. There were some others, but no one like me."
    "It looks hot." She wasn't sure how sensitive he might be. She had never met a defective and wasn't certain how to talk to one without being offensive.
    He smiled at her. "I'll bet I'm a lot more comfortable than you. I don't feel the heat here like everyone else."
    "What's the routine here? Things look pretty relaxed, not quite what I'd expected an expedition base camp to look like." She didn't add that it was about what she had expected from an outfit of misfits and probable incompetents.
    "Right now we're resting up for the next stage. We've been exploring the Suleiman Peninsula for three ship-months. Still plenty of work to be done here—species classification, detailed geological study—stuff like that. That can wait for the scientific teams, maybe years from now. We do the first-in surveys, mapping, rough study; especially we're here to find out what's dangerous."
    "We're the expendable ones," she said.
    "Now you're catching on. Anyway, to get back to your question, the next stage in our routine is breakfast. It's not much, but you get appetite suppressants to keep you from suffering too badly."
    "I guess this is the part of the great adventure they didn't tell us about in school. Where do we eat?"
    "If you're up to it, I'll show you."
    "Fine. I didn't get much sleep flying down here but now I'm too jittery to sleep anyway." She clipped her medkit and comm unit onto her belt and followed Colin. The only acknowledgements she got from the other team members were a few grunts and nods. It looked as if Colin had represented the epitome of outgoing friendliness in this group.
    They walked to a shanty that served the purpose of supply room-cum-mess hall. Breakfast was not served, it was issued. A bored-looking woman handed Dierdre a packet wrapped in thin plastic and pointed to an ID unit. Dierdre pressed her thumb against the unit's plate, acknowledging receipt of rations. They drew large tumblers of weak tea from a bulky, transparent bladder.
    "Do they ration this, too?" she asked.
    "Fluids are about the only thing that's not rationed," Colin said. "In fact, they encourage us to drink as much as we can hold. There's no sense dying of dehydration when we can drink the water here. So far, we haven't found any parasites or microorganisms that can harm us, but we sterilize it just in case."
    She unwrapped the food packet, exposing a sickly-gray bar of concentrate the size of her hand. Resignedly, she bit into it. It had the consistency of a stiff paste and tasted of salt, sugar, vitamin and soy protein powder. She choked the mouthful down with the aid of some tea and made a disgusted face. "We've been in space for almost two centuries. At home, our synthesizers can make wood pulp taste like bouillabaisse. Why do we have to eat this stuff?"
    "Synthesizers need too much energy. The best they can do down here is primitive recycling. Next year we'll have decent chow.