Starquake.pdf

"There are flying animals on the human planet Earth," Push-Pull interjected. "One of them is the eagle."
"Eagle it shall be." Steel-Slicer declared.
"If you say so," said Cliff-Web.
"Is there anything else we should do?"
"I would do some thinking," said Cliff-Web. "Once we have landed on Egg, there is no way to get off
again until we have rebuilt civilization. We are mass limited and must only take the things we will need. If
we forget to take something, there is no going back. Tell me. What is the minimum list of skilled
technologists and equipment you need to rebuild a civilization?"
"I don't know," said Steel-Slicer.
"Neither do I. But 122 turns from now we had better know."
The turns passed as the members of the landing party were selected and their equipment was packed in
the compounds constructed on the topside of Eagle. Egg grew larger in the sky, then disappeared behind
the horizon of their miniature planet as the human herder rockets turned Otis until the gravity catapult was
facing back along the orbital trajectory. With the light of Egg gone from the sky they had to make do with
the dull glow from the surface of Otis. The cold reddish light put a pall over their last turnfeast together.
The food preparers had done their best. Besides the large mounds of artificial foods from the food
machines, there were a number of whole pet Slinks, especially fattened for the occasion and beautifully
garnished with fresh nuts and fruits from the gardens that had been started on Otis from artificially
fabricated seeds shortly after they had arrived. The center of attention, however, was a whole roast
cheela. The body was badly flattened from a fall off the scaffolding around the gravity catapult, but that
didn't hurt the taste. Steel-Slicer and Cliff-Web decided not to try to push through the crowd and settled
for one of the Slinks.
"Excellent Slink," Steel-Slicer said, sucking the eye off an eye-stub chunk.
"Not as good as food Slinks back on Egg," said Cliff-Web.
"I've been trying to forget they exist."
"Back when I was on Egg, I never really paid much attention to my food," Cliff-Web said. "At turnfeast I
would just stuff my pouches as if I were recharging a machine. Now that we are getting close to returning
to Egg, my pouches are beginning to ache for a decent chunk of food Slink or a squirt of South Pole
singleberry juice."
"It has been so long...." The Steel-Slicer turned silent as he thought of the agony and hopeless despair
the two separated groups of cheela had undergone over dozens and dozens of generations. Although he
had just undergone rejuvenation again, he felt old and tired.
The following turn passed rapidly. The elevator on the Space Fountain was in continuous operation as
the base on Otis was abandoned and most of the cheela returned to their spacecraft. All that were left
were the brave 144 that were to fly down to Egg on Eagle.