Outward Borne Read Online Free

few hours to notice any change
even when there was one, but it was just the thing for the
kinetically oriented ObLaDas who were prone to notice nothing but
change. So, RaLak LemTer set about planning how to determine the
cause of the fickle flow phenomenon as best he could. It was
already known that the flow reversal could not be explained by
something simple, like floods or wind, but it was real. Whatever it
was, RaLak was quite confident that, with enough measurements, the
cause would be discovered and the flow phenomenon
explained.
    At the end of the Atmospheric
Projection Project, RaLak had been impressed by one young Da, MaxNi
MaxRo, who had had some interesting ideas for future forecasting,
so MaxNi was drafted to measure the fickle water flow in Filim for
the foreseeable future. RaLak and MaxNi loaded up one of the
Center’s larger field vans with all the air and water measuring
instruments they could find and took off. Filim was far to the
north and a good deal west of the COW and, as the roads were poor,
the trip was expected to take several days. RaLak drove the massive
van and set about getting to know young MaxNi.
    RaLak was an infamous character
within the COW and beyond. In his earlier years, he did some
brilliant physics and mathematics, which are the exactly the same
on ObLa as everywhere else in the galaxy. He was not satisfied with
the theoretical problems he was dealing with, however, and left
this field and spent several years building houses. There are only
a few ancient images of RaLak in those early years, before he
became a legend. They say he had expressive eyes, which may have
been significant, as there were few minor differences that might
distinguish one ObLaDa from another. RaLak had been a member of the
COW for nine years and nourished his reputation as an eccentric
character that was overly given to making detailed and redundant
measurements, and for measuring parameters that had no apparent
connection with the task at hand. Younger scientists in the Center
often criticized him and felt RaLak was wasting a lot of time and
money and should maybe take a chance sometime. RaLak, when he would
comment on his predilection, would say he was just making sure that
he understood what was going on, and if he did not, he might learn
something new. RaLak was keen on finding new things.
    MaxNi, on the other hand, was not
at all sure about old RaLak nor the global relevance of Filim's
flow, but RaLak was a somewhat famous character and he might learn
something about how to do research, if not hydrodynamics. Besides,
it was an ego boost to be selected ahead of more experienced COW
people.
    When they eventually reached
Filim, RaLak chose to stay at a small, old lodge near the channel
fishing dock. They would have stayed in the center of town, if
MaxNi's vote counted, which it did not. Filim was a small place
that has a small tourist trade and a small local fishing industry.
Fish being an elongated frog-like creature with two strong hind
legs for swimming and four abbreviated flippers for mobility or a
short, fat eel thing for which they were known. Filim was almost as
famous for Foot Lake eels as for the fickle flow.
    RaLak and MaxNi moved into the
channel lodge for the duration. There were roads of sorts around
the lakes and a ferry across the channel, but most of their travel
would be on the water. RaLak had arranged to rent a good-sized
flatboat and for someone to teach MaxNi how to drive it. Foot Lake
was a large body of water. While it did not come close to being an
ocean or even a sea, it was a rather big lake. It would take MaxNi
all day to cross in his sluggish flat boat. The Lakes were located
in the northern extreme of the populated region and situated east
to west so that the prevailing breeze blew across Foot Like toward
the smaller Head Lake, and being in the North, there was a fair
amount of wind through most of the year.
    The direction of flow through the
Filim channel had only one primary cause;