Tau Ceti (an Ell Donsaii story #6) by Laurence Dahners Page B

analysis.
    Ell boosted the low light function of the rocket’s cameras. Some leaves of the tree it leaned on were pretty close to the rocket. A bright light streaked across the screen that carried the view from the camera facing up at the sky. There must be a big break in the clouds because she could see stars. Tilting her head , she watched both cameras that had sky on them for several minute s . During that brief period she saw several meteors streak across the sky. She thought, t his planet is getting pelted with a lot more space junk than Earth.
    Sh e looked again at the sleeping flyers who appeared to be out cold . Speaking to Allan she said, “Open the door over the rocket’s arm.”
    The field of the camera didn’t show the door but Allan said, “It’s open.”
    Ell looked at the Teecees . They hadn’t moved. Still keeping an eye on the Teecees , she said, “Bring the arm out.” Still no reaction from the Teecees , so Ell directed the arm out to grasp a leaf and bring it back, putting it in the DNA testing compartment. “How long will the DNA test reaction take?”
    Allan said, “Thirty minutes.”
    Ell went back to looking at the burrower “dissection” as she had begun thinking of it, watching parts in slow motion and trying to parse the structures she saw. We really need an expert, she thought.
     

Chapter Four
     
    Harald Wheat walked back to his office from teaching his class on comparative anatomy. He’d been thinking about something else and almost gone to his old office. NCSU had certainly changed since someone had anonymously donated millions over the past couple of years. The biggest part of the money was being spent in Physics , but Biology had a new building and salaries were up. The department had obtained some equipment that he’d been lobbying after for years . Everyone’s enthusiasm was up and Harald’s mood had improved. Sara, the admin for the professors in his pod in the new building , looked up and gave him a weird look, “Dr. Wheat, your appointment is waiting in your office.”
    Wheat grimaced; he must have forgotten an appointment . He stopped and looked up at his HUD, asking his AI for his calendar. “ Raquel Blandon, ” worked for some commercial company out in the Triangle . Interested in “consulting” services. Oh, the appointment had just been made this morning , and he hadn’t checked his calendar until now . He frowned, his experience with firms that asked for “consulting” hadn’t been good. They frequently assumed he’d be happy to consult for free and even worse seemed to believe that if they paid, he’d be willing to whitewash some environmentally unsound project they were undertaking.
    He walked over to Sara and said in a low voice , “How’d this woman get on my calendar? You r emember that I don’t want to talk to commercial people unless they’ve agreed to pay full fare for consulting?”
    Sara looked at him with a twinkle in her eye. “I tried to tell her you wouldn’t agree to it until I’d talked to you. She agreed to pay double the usual consulting fee if I got her in this morning. I told her I’d put her on but that you might still refuse… I think you’ll be sorry if you don’t talk to her though.” She raised an eyebrow, “Would you rather I threw her out?”
    He rolled his eyes. “No. I’ll talk to her, but I’ll bet you I’ll be tossing her out.”
    Sara’s eyes twinkled, “I’ll take that bet. Lunch?”
    Harald tilted his head in surprise, “You’re that confident? OK, you’re on.”
    Bemused he headed on over to his office. Stepping in he saw a pretty girl in cutoffs and a t-shirt. She look s like a student, not like some corporate drone from out in the triangle. “Hello Ms. Blandon,” he said, sitting down and turning to face her…
    Ell Donsaii!!
    “ Hello Dr. Wheat,” Ell said, taking in his startled look. “Sorry to have scheduled this appointment under a pseudonym, but it can cause issues if I make