50 Dying

We stood in the midst of the little bodies, some still twitching feebly, and stared at each other.

“What is happening here?” asked Wharton, a frown creasing her normally smooth forehead.

Drone’s light blinked a couple of times.  “They are dying,” it said, its electronic voice sounding somehow more clipped and matter of fact than usual.

“I can see that,” the scientist replied through gritted teeth.  “The question is, why is it happening?”

“There is insufficient data to posit an answer,” came the reply.

“Your ability to state the bleeding obvious never ceases to amaze,” I said with a grin before Wharton could explode entirely.

She gave me a grateful smile, then returned her attention to the creatures lying on the ground at our feet.  “Do you think it’s something we’ve done?” she mused.  “And Drone, before you say anything, that was a rhetorical question!”

Drone hummed to itself but did not speak.

I thought for a moment.  “Rhetorical or not, you may have something.  What were you thinking of?  Some random item we might have dropped?  Just our being here?”

“Yes, to both – or neither!  Let’s gather a few samples and do some analysis in the lab.  That might give us a better idea.  Drone – please collect... ten of the creatures; that should give us a good starting point.  And make sure you only take ones that are already dead!”

There was another wordless hum from the robot that sounded like irritated muttering but it got on with the task she had given it.

“What about a control?” I asked.  “Do you know enough about their physiognomy to know what the problem is if you do find something?”

“We did those full body scans on the live ones in the lab, and we have some samples of their bodily fluids.  I think we can make a good guess at least.”

“Collection task complete,” stated Drone, a full basket dangling below its smooth body.

Wharton nodded.  “Thank you, Drone.  Let’s get back to the lab.”

We trekked back to the camp in silence, other than the slight whirr of Drone’s blades.  I was still pondering Wharton’s words, wondering if, in the usual bumbling human way, we had inadvertently caused the death of the creatures.  Our expedition was purely scientific; observe, study, gather data.  Killing several hundred members of a species – perhaps the entire species?! – was not part of our remit.

Of course we were always careful, wearing our environmental suits whenever we went outside, for the sake of the environment rather than ourselves for the air was perfectly breathable.  We used anti-grav boots so we did not trample on either flora or fauna, and we used Drone’s delicate pincers to pick things up rather than our clumsy, gloved, fingers.  Whenever we left or entered the camp, we and Drone went through a complete decontamination cycle.  We had been so careful!

On the other hand, it might be a natural part of the lifecycle of these animals.  Some adult creatures on Earth were unable to feed, their only purpose to mate and produce the next generation, after which they died having given literally everything to that single act.  It was the young who ate and grew, building up energy reserves that would last until they had fulfilled their task.

My latter, desperate, theory took a blow when we got back to the lab and found Wharton’s specimens alive and, as far as we could tell, perfectly healthy.  They were scampering around their vivarium and chattering to each other as I had seen them do a hundred times.

Wharton stood for a moment in thought, her lips pursed.  “You know,” she said at last, “if it was something we’d done, you’d expect these two to have gone first, wouldn’t you?”

I nodded eagerly.  “Yes!  They’ve had far more exposure to us than any of those living in the wild.”

“Still doesn’t tell us what the problem is out there, though.”

I shrugged.  Whatever the problem was, I was just relieved it was looking less likely that this was something we had done.

Drone whirred across the lab towards the dissection table carrying the dead specimens.  As it passed the vivarium, the live creatures suddenly stopped what they were doing to watch.  Wharton and I stared at each other; what did that mean?