Free The Unreasoning Mask by Philip José Farmer Page A

"They're her personal property. Notify me

as soon as she regains consciousness -- if she does."
     
     
Al-Buraq moved into a landing orbit for Walisk. Toyce reported that the

labtech computer was making artificial blood for the Webnite, and transfusion

should be started in several hours. She had uttered a number of words

even though unconscious. Toyce had never heard the language before. But

hadn't Pegasus been on Webn? Might not Branwen Davis know some Webnian?
     
     
Ramstan called sickbay. Davis said that she could carry on a limited

conversation in Webnian.
     
     
"I doubt we'll be getting into science or philosophy," Ramstan said.

"Stand by."
     
     
Her green eyes widened, and it was not until after her image faded that

he realized why. She had been hurt by his sarcasm. He cursed himself and

then wondered why he had spoken so. Was it a defense of some sort? Why

did he need a defense?
     
     
He did not have long to think about that nor would he, he realized later,

have done so even if he had had time. His attention was needed for something

much more pressing than delving into his psyche. Al-Buraq was close enough

to the planet Walisk for visual, thermal, radioactive, and raser

observations. The entire planet, from pole to pole, was under black clouds

which were mainly carbon-derived smoke.
     
     
The smoke came from vast fires raging over thousands of large areas.
     
     
"My God!" Nuoli said. "What could have caused that?"
     
     
It was not from atomic warfare. The radioactive readings testified to that.
     
     
The chief geologist reported detection of an unusual number of active

volcanoes on both sea and land.
     
     
"Twenty-four thousand. The dust from them alone is enough to cover the

planet for many years. By the time the dust settles, most if not all

the plant life will have died. As for the life that depended upon the

plants . . ."
     
     
The chief meteorologist reported atmospheric disturbances that could not

be explained by the flrestorms and volcanoes.
     
     
"Something has pulled the atmosphere up into space in the recent past.

There are too many traces of atmospheric gases above the normal upper

boundary. And there's a phenomenon I've never heard of before. I don't

know what caused it, but there's a -- how shall I put it? -- an oscillatory

humping of the air. As if it's still reverberating, reacting to a tidal

effect. Let me call you back on that. I'm just giving you my first

impressions. I need more data and more time to put them into the computers."
     
     
A little while later, the chief geologist reported again.
     
     
"Something has made Walisk a hotbed of earthquakes. We're detecting

thousands of temblors on land and the sea bottoms. I'd estimate that

there are fifty thousand macroseisms occurring at this moment. They're

all equal to or exceeding 12 on the Neo-Mercalli scale.
     
     
"Also, it's evident that colossal tidal waves have inundated the coastal

areas and still haven't subsided. These can't be accounted for only

by the seismic activity, immense though these are. Walisk has no moon,

as you know, sir, but I'd say that the quakes and the tidal waves and

the atmospheric tides could have been caused if, say, Walisk did have

a moon the mass of Earth's and it suddenly changed its orbit to one

not very far above the exosphere. Anywhere between 10,000 and 50,000

kilometers above the planet's surface. Of course, that's only a fantasy

speculation. I won't be bound by that statement."
     
     
"Of course not, Doctor," Ramstan said. "Thank you."
     
     
Al-Buraq orbited Walisk in a descending spiral, repeatedly crossing all

of the four continents, each having approximately the surface area of

Africa though not its shape. The readings indicated that the smoke and

volcanic dust were so thick that little if any multicellular life survived.

Ramstan doubted that much had survived the quakes, tidal waves, and

firestorms before the clouds began spreading over the