“Aside from the interesting biology…” she began.

He said, “Fraq must have put the—bud, I guess we call it—out in greenhouse, to conceal it.”

“Maybe they’re like flatworms? Birds don’t do that…” She thought. “Keep the bud hidden in a pouch, to develop?”

They had inspected the thing carefully, noting that it was fed by an electrical tap, plus basic watery fluids and oxygen. It had been well concealed. Only because Rachel had slipped and rolled under a table had she seen it. The bud had its eyes open but did not respond to them; apparently it was not conscious. A filmy capsule enclosed it, like a chrysalis.

He scowled. “Biology, I know some—aliens, not. When caterpillar turns into butterfly, it has all it needs. Left to itself, emerges as a young adult. Maybe this one will come out as a Fraq-like being, transformed.”

“How about that electrical lead? It goes into a small package on the bud’s back, then into some sort of slot, near the spine.”

He nodded. “Not biology, something beyond. Maybe is being stimulated? Growth is guided? Alien, for certain.”

She tried to think outside categories, guess what this bud might mean. You’re a long way from the Library, kid. “How about, maybe the bud is even educated by some electronic means?—with embedded social knowledge and habits.”

Zuminski blinked. Slowly he said, “So… skips infant stage of humans, comes out like four-year-old. Once kids learn to find a bag of cookies and eat, you know will survive on their own, at least in food department. Avoids pelvis problem of humans, too. Artificially extend early childhood with technologies, maybe.”

“We know Fraq’s species screwed up their world long ago. They retreated to their outer solar system, and now live there mostly. So they’ve had to undergo some fancy bioengineering to stay alive, though they started on a planet somewhat like Earth. Self-engineering of the species for—what?”

“Baboons and chimps have offspring that inherit social skills—otherwise, how would they know to form hierarchies and move in troops? Maybe Fraq is thinking that he and other Ythri will stay here, form an offshoot of his species?”

Rachel shook her head. “This is going too fast for me. Fraq kept to himself on the Aldrin Cycler—maybe that was during his bud-making time? He got here, let his flock deal with lesser matters, found a place where he could hide his bud…”

“We need to know more. Fraq won’t answer direct questions. We have to do something else.”

She brightened. “Ask the Mat?”

They lumbered across the red-brown sands in a new hauler. No Fraq, none of the earlier descent team. They could move faster, just the two of them. So no asking permission, either. Just a quick picnic amid the strangeness….

Humans on Mars had carried the emerging symbiosis of humans and machines to new heights. Within a few years of the First Expedition, a private enterprise, wireless sensors lay scattered on the surface. Robots came next—not clanking metal humanoids, but rovers and workers of lightweight, strong carbon fiber, none looking remotely like people. Most were either stationary, doing routine tasks, or many-legged rovers. Only a few years after the First Expedition had suffered their minor falls and sprained ankles, humans never actually took the risk of climbing around on steep slopes in suits. Much of their work was within safe habitats, using virtual reality and teleoperation for exploring and labor. But no machine could deal with the Mat.