[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
monstrosity Dravash was talking about stood over here at least once since this
Base was established."
Dravash muttered, "Now I wonder . . ." and went back to his machines. Aratak
moved out from under the covering roof and stood in the warm drizzling rain,
obviously feeling refreshed by it. Rianna was still kneeling by the big footprint.
"I can see now what you are talking about," she said, and Dane nodded. "What I
can't understand is why Dravash couldn't!"
"His species have never been hunters," Rianna said. "He may hot have the right
kind of eye coordination to focus on them properly. The Sh'fejj never needed "
She was interrupted by Dravash himself, who had returned to the machine with the
puzzling green traceries. He had opened it up and was fumbling around inside it;
now he jerked his head up, looking somehow more cheerful, as if he had found
something that pleased him.
"I may not be able to make any sense of marks in the dirt," his deep voice boomed,
"but I can read a record-tape! Poor F Thansa was wrong. He may not have had
time for the
exhaustive tests he should have made, or didn't go back far enough. It is possible for
an offworld ship to have landed here. About ten standard units before the last
report from this Base, there are fluctuations in the radiation readings which could
have been made by cosmic rays, yes but they could also indicate the energy flows
of a starship landing a few thousand measurements from here. There are two
similar fluctuations earlier. And the sky searcher has picked up what could have
been ion deposits."
Rianna asked, "Then there was a spacecraft "
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Dravash twitched his eye-ridges again. "No, he was right about that; there was no
spacecraft, aircraft or any similar powered vehicle within measurable distance of
this Base, at the time the staff here went wherever they went. But that only means
they came overland."
Aratak said, "It's hard to imagine Mekhar doing that or even Kirgon."
Again the eye-ridges twitched. "What I believe now is that this planet has been
discovered by some new spacegoing race one we haven't seen before, about whose
habits we know nothing. This solar system is right on the fringes of explored
territory, and there are a lot of stars out there. There could easily be something
worse than the Mekhar around here."
Dane caught Rianna's eye, and he wondered if the same crawl was up her spine that
was prickling with his. If there was a spacegoing race worse than the Mekhar, the
interstellar slavers who had captured him and Rianna and deposited them to fight
for their lives on the Red Moon, he never wanted to encounter it.
The Mekhar had been protofelines. They would stand out on this world like . . . like
a giant anteater wearing clothes, on the streets of Dane's own Terran cities!
But they might not be Mekhar. Again he stared at the huge saurian footprint,
crumbled by months of exposure to wind and weather; and quite suddenly he
shuddered, his hand going uncommanded to the hilt of the Samurai sword at his
hip.
"All this means," said Dravash, striding purposefully toward the front of the
building, "that the sooner we're all away from this Base, the happier I'll be about it.
It's obviously being monitored in some way. But it took them two or three hours to
come after the man Vilkish F'Thansa left here, and once we're out in the jungle,
we'll be harder to find. Are
you all ready to leave? Is there anything here you wish to examine? Aratak?"
He did not ask Dane or Rianna, and Dane tensed, frowning slightly. That could
begin to get on his nerves. He was ready to concede that Dravash was at the head of
this party. But if Dravash was going to act as if Dane and Rianna weren't there at
all....
Aratak stepped inside the building for a moment, and moved around inside. Dane
heard him strike a piece of furniture and growl faintly. Then he called.
"Rianna? Dane?"
They followed him inside. He had his head and part of his enormous forequarters
inside a kind of closet; he withdrew a long, leaf-bladed spear.
"Since there may be camouflage-cats " he used the native word, rashas, but Dane
felt his throat disk eerily echoing, camouflage-cats, "I would feel safer if you were
carrying this, Rianna. It is not quite as long as the one you had on the Hunter's
World, but no doubt you can manage it equally well."
Rianna took the spear, hefting it, testing its weight and balance. "Feels all right,"
she said, and Dane could see the tension in her jawline. "Thanks, Aratak."
Aratak rummaged again in the locker. He said with the door muffling his voice,
"This contains I recalled from one of the earlier reports which I studied items of
native manufacture. Unfortunately there is only a single spear, but as I recall, that
was Rianna's preferred weapon. And some of the other items may be useful." He
drew out one or two of the short, machete-like native swords. "Perhaps we should
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each take one of these." He strapped one at his waist. It looked strange there.
"Dravash?"
The Sh'fejj shrugged. "It might be useful for hacking our way through the
underbrush, if we must. And since it is of native manufacture, it might be safer if
Dane carried one. You could leave that alien weapon of yours here "
"Not a chance," Dane said, his hand closing around the hilt of the Samurai sword.
"This one goes where I do." He didn't elaborate. He'd already been over that once
with the Sh'fejj.
Aratak said, "There also seems to be an optical instrument of native manufacture
" He handed Rianna a small collapsing telescope.
"That must be from Dalass or Sharna," Dravash said,
naming two of the Belsar cities not far from Rahnalor. "The protosaurians there
grind lenses. I'll admit that and the weapons might come in useful, but I hope you
aren't going to load yourself down with too much junk!"
Aratak withdrew his massive forequarters from the closet, unruffled. "I do not
believe there is anything else here which might be useful. Clothing, mostly, and
jewelry. However, the Divine Egg says that only a fool will undertake any action
without providing himself with the proper tools."
"If the stars," Dravash said, "were as close together as your proverbs, we wouldn't
need spaceships. And if your proverbs were as far apart as the stars, I could
concentrate in tranquility upon the necessities of this journey! Come on. Let's get
away from this place!"
CHAPTER FIVE
The heavy vegetation around the Base was mostly a screening hedge, surrounding [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szkicerysunki.xlx.pl
monstrosity Dravash was talking about stood over here at least once since this
Base was established."
Dravash muttered, "Now I wonder . . ." and went back to his machines. Aratak
moved out from under the covering roof and stood in the warm drizzling rain,
obviously feeling refreshed by it. Rianna was still kneeling by the big footprint.
"I can see now what you are talking about," she said, and Dane nodded. "What I
can't understand is why Dravash couldn't!"
"His species have never been hunters," Rianna said. "He may hot have the right
kind of eye coordination to focus on them properly. The Sh'fejj never needed "
She was interrupted by Dravash himself, who had returned to the machine with the
puzzling green traceries. He had opened it up and was fumbling around inside it;
now he jerked his head up, looking somehow more cheerful, as if he had found
something that pleased him.
"I may not be able to make any sense of marks in the dirt," his deep voice boomed,
"but I can read a record-tape! Poor F Thansa was wrong. He may not have had
time for the
exhaustive tests he should have made, or didn't go back far enough. It is possible for
an offworld ship to have landed here. About ten standard units before the last
report from this Base, there are fluctuations in the radiation readings which could
have been made by cosmic rays, yes but they could also indicate the energy flows
of a starship landing a few thousand measurements from here. There are two
similar fluctuations earlier. And the sky searcher has picked up what could have
been ion deposits."
Rianna asked, "Then there was a spacecraft "
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Click here to buy
Click here to buy
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Dravash twitched his eye-ridges again. "No, he was right about that; there was no
spacecraft, aircraft or any similar powered vehicle within measurable distance of
this Base, at the time the staff here went wherever they went. But that only means
they came overland."
Aratak said, "It's hard to imagine Mekhar doing that or even Kirgon."
Again the eye-ridges twitched. "What I believe now is that this planet has been
discovered by some new spacegoing race one we haven't seen before, about whose
habits we know nothing. This solar system is right on the fringes of explored
territory, and there are a lot of stars out there. There could easily be something
worse than the Mekhar around here."
Dane caught Rianna's eye, and he wondered if the same crawl was up her spine that
was prickling with his. If there was a spacegoing race worse than the Mekhar, the
interstellar slavers who had captured him and Rianna and deposited them to fight
for their lives on the Red Moon, he never wanted to encounter it.
The Mekhar had been protofelines. They would stand out on this world like . . . like
a giant anteater wearing clothes, on the streets of Dane's own Terran cities!
But they might not be Mekhar. Again he stared at the huge saurian footprint,
crumbled by months of exposure to wind and weather; and quite suddenly he
shuddered, his hand going uncommanded to the hilt of the Samurai sword at his
hip.
"All this means," said Dravash, striding purposefully toward the front of the
building, "that the sooner we're all away from this Base, the happier I'll be about it.
It's obviously being monitored in some way. But it took them two or three hours to
come after the man Vilkish F'Thansa left here, and once we're out in the jungle,
we'll be harder to find. Are
you all ready to leave? Is there anything here you wish to examine? Aratak?"
He did not ask Dane or Rianna, and Dane tensed, frowning slightly. That could
begin to get on his nerves. He was ready to concede that Dravash was at the head of
this party. But if Dravash was going to act as if Dane and Rianna weren't there at
all....
Aratak stepped inside the building for a moment, and moved around inside. Dane
heard him strike a piece of furniture and growl faintly. Then he called.
"Rianna? Dane?"
They followed him inside. He had his head and part of his enormous forequarters
inside a kind of closet; he withdrew a long, leaf-bladed spear.
"Since there may be camouflage-cats " he used the native word, rashas, but Dane
felt his throat disk eerily echoing, camouflage-cats, "I would feel safer if you were
carrying this, Rianna. It is not quite as long as the one you had on the Hunter's
World, but no doubt you can manage it equally well."
Rianna took the spear, hefting it, testing its weight and balance. "Feels all right,"
she said, and Dane could see the tension in her jawline. "Thanks, Aratak."
Aratak rummaged again in the locker. He said with the door muffling his voice,
"This contains I recalled from one of the earlier reports which I studied items of
native manufacture. Unfortunately there is only a single spear, but as I recall, that
was Rianna's preferred weapon. And some of the other items may be useful." He
drew out one or two of the short, machete-like native swords. "Perhaps we should
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
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o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
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A
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r r
each take one of these." He strapped one at his waist. It looked strange there.
"Dravash?"
The Sh'fejj shrugged. "It might be useful for hacking our way through the
underbrush, if we must. And since it is of native manufacture, it might be safer if
Dane carried one. You could leave that alien weapon of yours here "
"Not a chance," Dane said, his hand closing around the hilt of the Samurai sword.
"This one goes where I do." He didn't elaborate. He'd already been over that once
with the Sh'fejj.
Aratak said, "There also seems to be an optical instrument of native manufacture
" He handed Rianna a small collapsing telescope.
"That must be from Dalass or Sharna," Dravash said,
naming two of the Belsar cities not far from Rahnalor. "The protosaurians there
grind lenses. I'll admit that and the weapons might come in useful, but I hope you
aren't going to load yourself down with too much junk!"
Aratak withdrew his massive forequarters from the closet, unruffled. "I do not
believe there is anything else here which might be useful. Clothing, mostly, and
jewelry. However, the Divine Egg says that only a fool will undertake any action
without providing himself with the proper tools."
"If the stars," Dravash said, "were as close together as your proverbs, we wouldn't
need spaceships. And if your proverbs were as far apart as the stars, I could
concentrate in tranquility upon the necessities of this journey! Come on. Let's get
away from this place!"
CHAPTER FIVE
The heavy vegetation around the Base was mostly a screening hedge, surrounding [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]