Chapter 4

At breakfast the next morning Jon suddenly stopped eating. “Say, as we were coming down, did you notice a small river or creek just over there to the right? I was pretty busy at the time, but seem to remember something of the sort.”

“Yes, there was one near, but don’t know just how far. Why?”

The boy grinned. “If there’s a stream, there’re probably fish. I was thinking we could get some fresh supplies that way.”

“You and your fishing! Don’t you ever think of anything else?”

“Sure I do, but I notice you always eat your share when I catch any and Mom cooks ‘em.”

Their mother said quickly, “Some fresh fish would taste good, Boys. If you have time and can catch any, I know we would all appreciate them.”

“Look, Jak, you want to explore some more of that jungle, and I want to see if there’s any of that stuff Pop was looking for, near here.

We can just as well do both while working toward that creek, and I can take my rod along. But first, we’ve got to set up our marker here in the clearing.”

“That’s right, I’d almost forgotten your telling us about that. And we don’t want to stay too long, either. Didn’t you say we have to place one on each planet in order to prove our claim as original discovers?”

“Yes, and one in an orbit about the sun, too.” Jon pushed back his chair and rose. “I’ll go get one from the storeroom.”

“I’ll get my specimen cases ready, and see to the guns.” Jak, too, rose, then forestalled his mother by turning to her, “I’ll feed Father first, and we’ll be careful outside. You can call us back with the new siren Jon installed, if you need us.”

“All right, Boys.” She smiled at them. “Mr. C. seemed to rest well last night, although I do wish he would regain full consciousness. I’ve plenty of housekeeping to keep busy while you’re gone. Really should do some washing, but that doesn’t take long. Just don’t stay out too late.”

“We won’t,” they both assured her. “We’ll be back long before dark.”

The marker which Jon fetched from the storeroom and placed near the inner lockdoor, ready to take outside and set up, was one developed by the scientists and technies of Terra for just such use.

It consisted of an exceptionally strong broadcasting unit that beamed the message of a tape, continuously, toward Terra. Jon made up the tape while Jak was giving the feeding. It read, “This planetary system was first discovered by Tad Carver, on fourteenth January, 2136. This is the second planet, and has been named ‘Marci.’”

Over and over, at five-minute intervals, the sender would broadcast that message on a beam aimed at Terra. The controlling mechanism was a marvelously precise uranium clock, and a small atomic motor with fuel enough for five years gave all the needed power.

By the terms of the Terran Colonial laws, this was supposed to entitle the prime discover to certain rights in the system. For one thing, he would receive a one-half per cent share of the value of all minerals, oils, jewels and certain other natural resources later colonists might wrest from those planets, for twenty years following his discovery and the acceptance of his claim.

In this way, the Colonial Board of the World Government of Terra sponsored and assured the far-flung exploration which the development of deep-space travel had made possible. The dangers and expense were so considerable that something well worth while had to be offered to make individuals or companies willing to gamble on the hardships and tremendous costs of exploration.

When the boys left the ship to place the marker, they left both lockdoors open so that the fresh morning air from outside could circulate throughout the ship, replacing the somewhat stuffy, although chemically pure air that their purifiers kept renewed.

“Keep your eyes and ears open, and shut the doors if you think there’s any danger,” both boys cautioned their mother, after making sure she knew how to work the door controls.

“I will,” she promised with a laugh, and couldn’t help adding, “Just you be as careful as I’ll be.”

The boys carried the signal-sender to a distant corner of the clearing, to what Jon said was a good spot. “The book says to dig a hole and plant it with the top projecting three inches above the ground, whenever such a thing is possible.”

“You know what to do, so take charge,” Jak said simply. When they had dug the hole and placed the sender in it, they shoveled the dirt back, then Jon opened the lid. He started the tape reels and the broadcasting unit, then carefully shut and locked the cover.

In digging, they found the ground here to be damp and soggy, apparently from that terrific downpour of the previous evening. It was almost like a wet clay, although, even to their inexperienced eyes, it seemed to be a very rich type of soil.

“Look how wet it is, even over two feet down,” Jon said.

“That was a real rain last night,” Jak shook his head slowly, “but somehow I can’t believe it made this. Maybe this is the rainy season.”

They started toward the jungle, but turned to look back toward the ship. They saw their mother at the open door, and waved to her.

After seeing her answering wave, they plunged into the forest at a point where they saw a trail, left either by the frequent passings of the great triped they had shot, or by other beasts of some type not yet seen. Memory of that gigantic beast, though, made them doubly cautious.

“Sure don’t want to meet his relatives,” Jon said.

“Especially the mate,” Jak added, and could not conceal a shiver.

They had noticed with considerable interest and surprise that those native ant-like scavengers had almost entirely eaten the bones of the triped.

“Apparently we’ll not find much in the way of remains on this world,”

Jak commented as they walked carefully along the trail. “Those scavenger birds and ants sure clean up things in a hurry.”

“Except for old vegetation,” Jon grunted as he stumbled over a dead branch protruding out into the trail. He was keeping his rifle ready in his hands, and his keen eyes alert to one side and then the other, rather than downward.

Knowing his younger brother was so carefully on guard, Jak felt free to study and examine the various trees and other plant life near the irregular path they were following. He was almost in a frenzy of delight, constantly darting off the trail a few yards to look at some specimen he had detected, studying it carefully and exclaiming over his find.

“Hey, this one is like an acer compestris,” he yelped, intently studying the bark with his magnifying glass.

“Spik Englis,” Jon scolded. “What is it?”

“A hard maple,” Jak’s voice was condescending. Then he ran over to another. “This one’s almost like a silver poplar. See how its light bark glints where the sunlight hits it?”

He started toward another farther away, but Jon called him back. “Don’t get so far from the trail.” Reluctantly, Jak retraced his steps, only to be off again a moment later.

“This ‘un’s got nuts almost like small coconuts.” He picked a fallen one from the ground and tossed it to Jon. “See if you can crack it and find out what’s inside.”

But when Jon had done so, it proved to be dried and half-rotted. They could not get a fresh one from the tree by shaking, and it was too smooth and high to climb without spurs.

Jak quickly filled his knapsacks with first one and then another of the smaller plants, twigs and leaves he was continually finding. Soon Jon was laughing heartily, for his brother now had to discard an older specimen to make room for the new.

“You’ll have to make several trips to get anywhere near all of those just around here, Owl,” Jon called at last. “You can’t take back everything, anyway. Way you’re going now, you’d soon have the ship so full of your junk there’d be no place for us. And this is only the first planet, remember?”

“But these are unique,” Jak wailed. “Botanists will want to study them.”

“Then let them come here,” Jon stated practically.

Jak looked at him, and grew shamefaced. “Guess I did go a little nuts,” he said. But before long his excitement rose to fever pitch again.

“There’s so much here that’s new and different, yet something like the ones we know. I must take back samples of everything.”

“How many different kinds of--oh, say, roses--are there on Terra?”

“Why ... why ... I don’t really know. Hundreds, I’m sure. Maybe thousands. What’s that got to do with this?”

“Simply trying to make you realize you can’t take back samples of ‘everything,’ as you said.”

“Ouch!” Jak laughed good-naturedly then. “You’ve got me, pal. I’ll take it easier.”

But he soon forgot his good intentions as he found ever newer and more different plants and trees and mosses. There was such a dissimilarity, yet at the same time so many points of likeness between the plant life of this new world and that of Terra, that the young botanist was in a continual state of excitement.