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.“Look at those slickensides,” it mused.“And look at that dark cluster of cave openings in the escarpment wall.I think I can state what happened here.It was the immense weight of the Mass.It caused the underlying network of caves to collapse.This whole continent is riddled with caves, you know.Limestone dissolves very easily.”“Listen, I’m not trekking through that mess unless there’s absolutely no other possibility,” I said.“Just look at it! It’s ghastly! It’s moldy! It looks like Death’s cesspool! Isn’t there some way we can skirt around it?”Crossbow looked at me patiently.“Do you want to go back through the swamp? Look, we can descend by the falls, and then follow the river quite easily.It will be downhill all the way to the sea.”“How do we know it won’t collapse on us? What if we get stuck in it, knee deep? What if we’re eaten away by some kind of ravenous fungus? What if it eats our skin away and we sprout white fuzz all over our bodies.…”“Look at that!” said Anne, pointing.We looked and then leapt for the cover of a jumble of limestone boulders.It was a camera drone, almost certainly one of the two I had spotted above the swamp.It had the same tapered cylindrical body, the clusters of audio pickups, the pair of manipulative arms, cocked in a position of readiness like the arms of a preying mantis.It stalled momentarily in its patrol over the Mass, and then descended smoothly into one of the Mass’s irregular corrugations.Cautiously, we crept out from behind our cover.“I hope it didn’t spot us,” I said.“Those big drones have telephoto lenses and automatic tracking systems like you wouldn’t believe.And that one’s really big, it has room for all kinds of equipment.Infrareds, satellite hookups, odor analysis even.”“But could it possibly be looking for us?” said Anne.“Professor Angeluce has an interest in the Mass,” I said grimly.“And don’t think that a drone is helpless.Those manipulative arms are computer-controlled.They move fast and they don’t make mistakes.I wouldn’t care to trade punches with a drone.”“Don’t worry,” said Crossbow Moses.“Once we are inside the Mass it’ll be the merest good luck if it should find us.”“Hold on!” I said.“It’s obvious that you want to hustle us into the Mass, but you might at least take the time to think up a good reason for it.Stop treating us like children.I told you that I’m not going into that poisonous dump unless there’s no other choice.”Crossbow stuck its tongue into its cheek and crossed its arms.“Really, Arti, is this melodrama necessary? Your physical bravery should be beyond question.You’ve seen Mass material before.Did it bite you? Did it sting? What are you worried about? I’ve dealt with the Mass before.I give you my word as a microbiologist, and as an Academic, that you’ll come to no harm.” It hesitated at the look of open skepticism on my face.“Come now, Arti.The only reason for your fear is ignorance.It looks very impressive from this height, I know.Let me demystify it for you.”With a studied gesture it slipped into its lecturing attitude.“The Mass itself is made up of the Crossbow Body, its attendant micro-organisms, and elements of the Reverid gene pool.The micro-organisms are mostly advanced species of molds and yeasts, and they serve as a binder and an incredibly rich reserve of nutrients.The Crossbow Body traps genes, preserves them, and recombines them.It’s like a gigantic Petri dish, that covers whole square miles.When the genes are recombined, they form a new organism, which is nurtured by the nutrients in molds and yeasts.And it spawns not just simple mold cultures, but species of all kinds: insects, mammals, birds.It’s like a gene bank.And it’s a permanent guarantee against extinction.It is the ultimate advance in the evolutionary battle against death.”“You’re saying that birds grow in there?” I said incredulously.“Animals too? Without wombs to grow in? Without sperm cells or egg cells? And they grow to full maturity?”“Well, rarely,” admitted Crossbow.“Mostly they grow in little pockets of undifferentiated tissue, and then are broken down again by the Crossbow Body.But the number of captured genes is vastly increased every time that happens.When the concentration of genes of a single species reaches a certain critical point, then a full organism is sometimes produced.Of course its tissue is full of the Crossbow Body, and it serves as a vector for the distribution of the Body.And of course, if it dies, then the cells are broken down again and preserved in a new growth of the Body.It evades death, because its genetic constituents are preserved.The genes are the heart of life.The tissue is just an expression of the genes.”I looked out across the white, festering landscape.“I don’t see many ‘full-grown organisms’ down there.There are a few things that look like trees, or things that might have been trees.…”Crossbow shrugged.“Well, the growth of full organisms is a bit of an anachronism, anyway, isn’t it? There is no need for adult organisms when reproduction is handled by the Mass.The only real purpose they serve is to spread the Mass by wandering.And once the Mass has taken over the planet, there’ll be no need for that either.”“Taken over the planet!” said Anne and I in unison.“An event in the distant future,” Crossbow assured us.“The Mass is in no hurry.For one thing, it will have to produce an aquatic form before it can move into the seas.”“But that’s horrible!” I said.“You call that living? Little bits of broken cells, trapped in white mush? No forests? No animals? No dance of predator and prey? No intricacy? No sensation? No intelligence?”“I tell you that the Mass transcends intelligence! Do you think it has no intricacy, because your great gross eyes can’t see it? On a molecular level, it is the most intricate creation in the known universe!”“But it’s just a mindless, devouring fungus!”“Mindless? Remember that the basis of thought and memory is molecular.RNA is the sister of DNA.The transfer of genetic material from unit to unit of the Crossbow Body is incredibly complex.Think of the amount of gestalt implied in such an intricate system! Think of the powerful bulwark it presents against the forces of disorder! I’m not saying that its function is perfect as yet—there are accidents, admittedly there are accidents
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