Chapter 2

“This way,” Ven said, emitting a faint yellow aura that lighted the area around her. “Follow me.” She staggered a little under the weight of the equipment she was carrying. I wished that we had enough power to energize an air sled--but we had none to spare. The robots had used up most of our scanty power metal reserves in camouflaging the ship and the adaptor had taken the rest. This was going to be a miserable trip. It was going to be painful, uncomfortable and perhaps even dangerous.

It was.

We went across rocks, through sharp-twigged brush--across the saw-edged grass of the meadow below us, over more rocks, and down-hill along a faint double trail that never seemed to end. I was nearly dead with weariness when Ven’s aura flicked off and the dark closed in. My proprioceptors were screaming as I sank to the ground and panted the rich air of this world in and out of my aching chest.

“They’re just ahead,” Ven whispered. “Around that next group of rocks. Be careful.”

We moved forward cautiously. “There was a fire,” Ven whispered.

“There isn’t now,” I said. “I can’t sense any heat.” The night air blew a rank odor to my nostrils. My spines stiffened! I knew what Ven meant when she said that these natives repelled her. I had smelled that scent before--the scent of our ancestral enemies! So these were the natives, the dominant life on this planet! I gagged, my tongue thick in my throat.

“You see?” Ven asked.

I nodded. “It’s pretty bad,” I said.

“It reminds me of a zoo,” Ven answered softly.

I nodded. It did and it was thoroughly unpleasant.

I strained my perception to its limits, pushing it through the gelid darkness, searching until I found the natives. “They’re asleep,” I said.

“What’s that?”

“Suspension of consciousness. Something like estivation.”

“Oh. Then we can approach safely?”

“If we are quiet,” I replied. “Sleep is broken easily and consciousness returns quickly.”

The trail deepened beyond the rocks--two rutted tracks about three vards apart. We moved forward cautiously, our senses keyed to their highest pitch. The night was oppressively still and every movement rasped loudly. My breath came fast and shallow. My heart pounded and my musk glands were actively secreting as I parted the opening to their cloth shelter, and sensed the dim forms within.

“Stat,” I projected and Ven handed me the weapon. It was almost more than I could manage in my weakened condition, but I aimed it and fired a full intensity blast at the nearest lumpy figure. It jerked and flopped inside its coverings, and the second form sat up with horrid speed!

A roar of sound came from it as the air was filled with its fetid odor. In panic I triggered a blast at the menacing figure, and it, too, flopped and laid still.

I ran my tongue over the roof of my dry mouth and called to Ven. “They’re quiet now. Come in and see what we’ve got.”

“Ugh!” Ven snorted as she entered the tent at my heels. “It stinks!”

“They’re not the sweetest life form in the universe,” I said as I prodded the huge mound beside me, looking for reflexes that would indicate returning consciousness.

“What are they?” Ven asked.

“Mammals,” I said.

“No wonder I thought of a zoo,” Ven said. “But they’re so big!”

“Not on all planets,” I said.

“Obviously,” Ven commented. “Well--what’s next? Let’s get this done. I’m suffocating!”

“Hand me the probe kit,” I said.

I selected two of the longest probes and made my way up to the head of the nearest monster. I scanned its braincase until I found the area I wanted and inserted the probes, driving them through the heavy bone and into the brain beneath. I clipped on the short antennae and stepped back. “Turn the control to low,” I said. “Place the clips on your antennae. Now think of rising.” The bulk beside me stirred and Ven gave a squeak of terror. “It’s all right,” I assured her. “Turn the control back to zero. This one’s secure.”

I went to the second and treated it like the first, and felt a justifiable pride as it reacted. Not many men could implant neuro-probes correctly on the first attempt. “All right, Ven. You can go out now. Take the controls with you. I’ll see what I can do to get these brutes out of their coverings.”

The tent opening swayed as Ven passed through and I bent over the nearest form. The covering was a heavy sack closed with a slide fastener much like the ones we used. I pulled and it opened, sending a flood of rank scent into the fetid air. I coughed, my eyes smarting, and found the fastener of the other sack. Retching with nausea I staggered out of the tent.

Ven sprang forward, caught me as I was about to fall, and lowered me gently to the ground.

“What are we going to do?” Ven asked as I lay panting at her feet.

“We’re going to get them out of there,” I said, “and take them back to the ship. I didn’t come all this way for nothing.” I drew one of the controls toward me, fastened the clips to my antennae, advanced the gain and thought into it. There was a stir of movement inside and a huge form came stumbling out. It stood there clad in loose cloth coverings, reeking with halogen. I looked up at the dark bulk and shivered.

“That smell!” Ven said.

“We can help it a bit,” I replied and turned to the control. With its massive fore-limbs the brute ripped the cloth from its body as it moved down-wind. I made it stand and took the other control.

“Let me do it,” Ven said. “You can’t handle both of them in your condition.”

“All right,” I said, “but be careful.”

“I will. Now what do I do?”

“Advance the intensity knob and think what you want it to do.”

There was a flurry of movement inside the tent, the thrashing of a huge body, and the second mammal burst through the opening and staggered clumsily to a stop.

“Reduce the intensity,” I said. “You’re projecting too strong a stimulus. Now uncover it and send it over with the other one to cool off. They’re more bearable when they’re cold. They exude the scent from their skin glands to compensate for temperature.”

“I know,” Ven said. “I studied biology.” She did as I instructed and then dropped beside me. We relaxed, gathering our strength for the climb ahead. But I didn’t recover rapidly. I could move, but the exertion made me dizzy. The excitement was over and reaction had set in. “I’ll never make it,” I said dully.

“I can help,” Ven said--”a little.”

“It won’t be enough. You don’t have the strength to carry me.” I looked at the huge bodies of the mammals gleaming pallidly in the darkness, and suddenly I had an idea. The Slaads on Valga domesticated mammals. They were quadrupedal, true enough, but they were still mammals. Why couldn’t I ride one of these as they did? Those great masses of muscle should carry me easily. “I think I have a solution,” I said.

“What?”

“I’ll have one of them carry me.”

“You can’t!”

“Why not? They’re controlled. And they’re the only way I’ll be able to get back to the ship.” I picked up the nearest controller. “Let’s see what happens.”

Ven squeaked as the monster lifted me in the air and set me across its neck. I crossed my pads and hung on. The ground seemed terribly far away.

“How is it up there?” Ven asked.

“A little unstable,” I said, “but I’ll manage. Shall we go?”

We moved up the trail to the rocky abutment and turned up the hill. The brute beneath me climbed strongly and easily.

“Wait a minute,” Ven said as she turned the corner behind me, “you’re going too fast.”

“Why don’t you ride?” I called down to her. “This one moves easily enough. It’s much better than walking.”

“I think I will,” Ven replied.

“This is all right,” Ven said as we moved side by side up the hill. “The fibrils on top of its head--”

“Hair,” I corrected.

“The hair of this one is longer than yours. I can hold on nicely.”

The big bodies of the natives moved smoothly and powerfully, their giant strides eating up the distance we had so painfully covered some time before. Presently we came out onto the lower edge of the meadow below our ship.