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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..82c4a70 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63953 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63953) diff --git a/old/63953-0.txt b/old/63953-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 24c7470..0000000 --- a/old/63953-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2532 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of As It Was, by Paul L. Payne - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: As It Was - -Author: Paul L. Payne - -Release Date: December 05, 2020 [EBook #63953] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AS IT WAS *** - - - - - AS IT WAS - - By PAUL L. PAYNE - - _In a cruel Cosmos one lived only to be killer or - killed._ The One _proved that_. It _killed - a hundred times a day. Thisbe II was its blood-red - preserve ... and now, throwing the challenge in_ Its - _myriad faces was Pritchard, the brightest name in big-game - hunting throughout the length and breadth of Galaxy A._ - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories November 1952. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Dawn on Thisbe II was much like dawn on Terra, except for the color. -The giant star Piramus lifted its magenta disk above the little -planet's fore-shortened horizon and, in that brief moment, sent orange -corona flares shimmering out from its limb. An odd ionization effect -caused faint ripples of light to flicker in the purple sky above. - -As the sun ascended, the magenta brightened into a crimson dazzle with -a lavender halo. The flanks of distant mountains flamed curiously, as -if their sides were smooth and polished mirrors. - -Yet nothing gleamed with such intensity as the good ship _Apollo_, -towering a hundred and ten feet on her fins. Her surface--chrome-plated -nickel-steel coated with a thick porcelain glaze--was expressly -designed to bounce back every slightest beam of light. - -So she stood now like a flaming sword, in the center of a wide black -circle, the area of yesterday's landing burn, and lay across it a -wide fan of reflected sunlight. Presently, a thing like an enormous -grasshopper-leg unfolded from her side. In its grasp was something that -looked like a tray full of erect ants. The tray touched ground softly, -the ants walked off and became men, and the long derrick folded back -into the _Apollo_, taking the tray with it. - -The men left on the ground stood looking about them eagerly. After some -of the barren, hostile worlds they had visited this one seemed little -short of Paradise. From the eminence on which the ship stood they -could look in every direction at rolling hills, among which clumps of -feathery foliage rose profusely, and occasional startling upthrusts of -rock, like clubs brandished from underground, leaning in every possible -angle and having frequently such straight planes of cleavage that they -almost seemed artificial. Olive-hued hills and dramatic fists of rock -alike marched off to a disturbingly close-appearing horizon, where -began a sky that was not blue but lavender. - -They stamped the ground. It was one thing to have watched this wonder -swell on the visiscreens as the ship tore around on its landing orbit, -and to have craned and peered through the heavy leaded glass of the -viewports after the landing in yesterday's sunset. Neither of these -quite matched the delight of seeing it all with unaided and unimpeded -vision. They smelled the air, so rich and invigorating after the ship's -mustiness. - -They were all young but one. And this one faced them now, a tall, -saturnine man, but with an amusement lurking in his dark, deep-set -eyes. "Attention, cadet hunters," he said briskly, "let's have another -equipment check." - -They rolled their eyes at him and quirked their mouths in simulated -resignation. Yet the readiness with which they formed a semi-circle -about him showed their pride in obeying his orders. They knew they were -lucky to be under Pritchard, the brightest name in planetary big-game -hunting throughout the length and breadth of Galaxy A. - -For each of them had fought hard for his place in this latest -expedition to be led by Pritchard. The ex-pilot-turned-sportsman -regularly accepted certain hardy young neophytes of the chase as -assistants on his expeditions; some aspired to follow in his footsteps -and others merely sought the thrills and danger that lurked along the -unknown trails of far-flung worlds. - - * * * * * - -Each one now showed his regular and special equipment to Pritchard. -Butt-first, they held out their snappers--the light Thorp-Snell hand -rocket-tube that launched a high explosive needle, deadly up to a -thousand yards. Pritchard inspected load and action, and then thumbed -the gleaming edge of each man's chopper, or matchet which had been -derived from the old Terran hatchet and machete combined. It was really -a long, broad blade with a flattened-out, hatchet-shaped head. - -The special equipment consisted of a squawkie, the portable radio, -carried by the phlegmatic Sturgis; the cam-rec, a light camera and tape -recorder combined, slung over Kemp's plump shoulders; the flamer, or -flame-thrower, its full plastic tank strapped to Majinski's back; the -two packets of synthetabs or food concentrates enough for a week for -them all should they get lost--hung to the belt of red-headed McManus; -and the first-aid kit strapped to Pritchard's own lean shoulders. To -the remaining five men would fall the pleasure of carrying all this -stuff back when the little scouting party returned. - -At last Pritchard beckoned to the squawkie-man and spoke into its -'phragm. "All set, Cap. See anything?" The voice of Captain Savage, -high above the rocket batteries in the towering nose, came back as a -thin rasping. His report was negative. "Must be a lull between the -night carnivores and the daytime ruminants. Looks like a few flocks of -birds far away." - -"Fine. We'll head east and dig around in that jungle down there a bit. -We'll turn back after noon chow." - -The captain's "Good hunting" ended with a click. Pritchard turned -calmly and started walking off the hard gloss the _Apollo's_ -hell-breathing stern tubes had made of this once-grassy spot, into the -blackened wisps and dust. The men followed him in a loose, straggling -group, ten men in all, swaggering for the benefit of the envious eyes -of those remaining in the ship. - -McManus strode rapidly until he had caught up with the tall hunter. The -red-haired boy's idolatry was plain in his wide blue eyes. - -"Why the jungle?" he said. "Why are you tackling the jungle, Mr. -Pritchard?" - -"Just for a sample. Also as a check. The whole planet's like this. -Can't land anywhere without being near the jungles that seem to fill up -every valley. I don't like cover like that so close to the ship. I want -to see what's in it." - -"Think we'll knock over anything?" - -"Not trying for it," said Pritchard shortly. He punched the younger man -on the biceps. "And unkink that trigger-finger of yours, hero boy." - -McManus grinned shamefacedly. "Ah, change your tapes, will you? I only -need one mistake to learn." - -Pritchard snorted. "On that Deneb asteroid, you promised. You seemed to -understand. Then you thought you'd like one of those big clamshells for -a souvenir. Remember what came out of those shells after you fired?" - -The boy moved his shoulders. "Remember! I dream about them regularly -every tenth night." - -"I'm also thinking about a man named Munson." Pritchard's tone had -become soft and musing. "That name mean anything to you?" - -McManus shrugged. "There must be a million Munsons. None of 'em ever -meant anything to me." - -"Every hunter remembers Munson," said Pritchard flatly. "And everybody -on Terra remem--" - -Something squeaked under his foot. Pritchard flung himself sideways -into the blackened stubble, rolled, and came up in a crouch, snapper at -ready, while McManus stood blinking at him. Pritchard came back slowly, -narrowed gaze riveted on the spot where he had stepped. McManus backed -away, raising his own snapper. The rest of the men came running up. - -Pritchard knelt and picked up something. It was stiff and charred and -smelt acridly, but the men clustering around could see it had six legs. -There was a click and a whirr as Kemp started the cam-rec. - -Then McManus said, "I'll be damned" and picked up something else. It -squealed and squirmed in his hand, and it also had six legs. - -"What is it?" queried Majinski over his shoulder. "Rabbit?" - -"Or squirrel," put in Greene, a rangy blond boy. - -"Some kind of rodent, anyway," said Pritchard. He ran a finger the -wrong way through baby fur and the little sharp muzzle flicked around -to snap at him. He stood up. "The mother shielded it from our stern -jetwash. She died that Junior might live." He wiped his hands on his -cordron breeches. "Bring it along, Tom. We'll drop it in the tall -grass." - -By the time they reached the tall grass beyond the perimeter of the -burn, Tom McManus had become attached to the little fur-ball, with its -whiskery nose and knob-like feet, and found that it snuggled nicely in -his breast pocket. Pritchard smiled indulgently and they all waded into -the waist-high grass. - - * * * * * - -They went slowly, partly out of caution and partly because the long, -thick-growing blades clogged and bunched around their legs. Little -things went hopping and chittering out of their way, and the sun began -to lay its heat on them. Birds, as yet unseen, called and cried and -whistled in the dense growth ahead. - -They went down a long slope, and then bushes began to shoulder up -above the grass-tips and trees sprang up, some arching their feathery -fern-like trunks until they began to lace together overhead and others -dangling enormous round leaves from long drooping stems. - -The transition to jungle was gradual, with more and more sunlight -filtered out of the growing shade, and vines and creepers becoming -abundant about the ankles. The choppers appeared and began swinging -and slashing, and all were grateful for the shade and its attendant -coolness. Something crashed heavily away, hidden by the dark -brown-green wall before them. - -It began to be real jungle. Pritchard stopped before a sturdy hedge. He -had chopped into it and found a long tough root from which the heavy -chopper only seemed to bounce back. - -"Hell," he grunted as McManus came up. "Joe," he called, "let's have -the flamer here." - -"Ah, what's the matter with you!" grinned McManus. He took his own -chopper between both hands and raised it high over his head. "You must -be ... getting ... _old_!" And he brought the heavy blade down with all -his force. - -Pritchard had stepped back, amusement twisting his lips. Majinski was -shouldering forward with the flamer's nozzle ready. The chopper's edge -chunked into the root-- - -And it came alive. The whole length of it flailed up into the air, -flinging the whirling chopper off into the gloom. The next instant the -air was full of writhing ropey lengths that whipped down on the men, -lashing thick branches off as they came. - -"Look out!" yelled Pritchard needlessly, as the men cowered and ducked, -arms flung over their heads. - -Then something whipped about him hard, stinging and driving the breath -from him. He felt himself swung up, his arms pinioned. - -He caught a glimpse of other bodies rising with him, heard hoarse -screaming and yelling. - -Branches lashed by him and suddenly he was looking down on the -jungle from high in the air, looking down on a sea of foliage, big, -dish-shaped leaves lying atop the spreading ferns. Then he was curving -down again, dizzyingly. - -He saw it. A great maw, like the throat of an orchid, with a fringe of -giant tentacles. It seemed to be rushing up at him. - -Fighting to free his arms, he realized they were not held below the -elbows. By crossing over with his left hand, he could draw his snapper -and shift its butt into his right. - -But he was descending into that obscenely working orifice, choking on -its acrid stench, before he could manage it. The little needles went -tseeu, tseeu, tseeu, down into the quivering pulp. They could be death -for him at this range. Pritchard, dangling there in that moment of -eternity, could only avert his face from the crisp blasts gusting back -at him. - -Abruptly he was flying through the air, his arms free. The snapper -arced off in one direction and Pritchard went into his own gyrating, -twisting, writhing parabola. A frond slapped him. A branch snapped -under his hip. He was falling into foliage. A thick stem slithered -along his hand and he grabbed at it, to hang on through an insane -pendulum swing that carried him whisperingly close to the ground. - -They found him crumpled at the foot of the tree against which he had -been dashed. - -Yet, within five minutes, he was reporting back to the ship that the -party was intact. The giant hydra-type plant, in its death throe, had -flung only him. The others had been held adangle in mid-air while -it chose to feed on Pritchard first and, although he had been sent -sailing, the tentacles gripping the others had simply loosened. One -man, dropped upside down from ten feet, had a fractured collarbone, but -they were even now cementing a flexicast in place and he would continue -with the rest. Majinski had had the flamer torn from his hand and they -weren't able to find it. - -In fifteen minutes they were hacking steadily ahead again, more slowly -now that they had no flamer, and having to stop to trace every creeper -to its root before they chopped through it. - -Pritchard straightened up from a tangle he'd been attacking and eased -his bruised and aching back. He peered ahead into light-flecked gloom, -the matted mass of vine, creeper and branch that grew so chokingly high -they were virtually tunneling through. They would find no game this -way, he reflected, their chopping and hacking and swearing spreading -the alarm well ahead. The birds, for instance, had stopped singing. He -glanced briefly to his left at young McManus grunting and swinging. - -"Tom." Pritchard's tone was casual, but his eyes were alert and hard. -The red-headed man held his stroke and peered ludicrously under his -armpit. - -"Freeze," said Pritchard. - -The boy went rigid. "What is it?" - -"On the branch above you." Pritchard's voice cracked out above the -ringing blades. "Hold it, everybody! Hold it!" Then, in a lower tone, -he gave orders, and the three or four cadet hunters near McManus slowly -began to ease out their snappers. The cam-rec clicked into action. - -"For the cripes sake, what is it?" whispered McManus, the red of -exertion washing out of his face until it was a dripping ivory mask. - -"I don't know." Pritchard began waving his arms slowly to attract the -attention of the thing eighteen inches above that red hair. "I'd call -it a scorpion if it didn't look like a spider. I'd call it a spider if -it didn't look like a scorpion. It's not quite as big as a sheepdog." -He uttered a chirping whistle and continued to wave his arms. - -"For the love of God, blast it, then." - -"I didn't finish telling you about Munson," remarked Pritchard -conversationally. "Way back in 2018, he started the Venusian War--" - -"Must we have a history lesson now?" said McManus through clenched -teeth. - - - II - -The thing above him made a convulsive movement, a quick clutching with -its claws as if preparing to spring. McManus's face went from ivory -to a dirty snow color. But the thing remained motionless, except that -under its gleaming yellow carapace Pritchard could see its thorax -pulsing evilly. - -"Munson," Pritchard went on dryly, his arms still flagging away, -although the spider-scorpion paid no apparent attention, "Munson was a -great scientist. He trapped a big beetle and experimented on it for a -week or so. Then he killed it for dissection. He had no idea it was a -Citizen of Venus." - -"Oh, I see," said the other sarcastically. "You're afraid to shoot this -thing. It might be what passes for human on this mud-ball. If it drops -on me, of course--" - -"Shut up!" Pritchard dropped his hand to his snapper. The thing had -stood up slowly, its segmented tail curving stiffly up behind it. "I -think it's going to strike. You talk too much." - -He brought the snapper up. "I'll do it, boys. I've got the clearest -shot--" - -A sharp hiss broke from the jungle. The spidion (as he thought of -calling it) jerked its ugly head about. Pritchard turned and caught his -breath with a sharp intake. McManus slowly lifted his head to follow -Pritchard's gaze. His chopper fell from his hand. All about them, men -stood on tiptoe or stooped or craned sideways to look. Somebody said, -"A woman!" Kemp panned the cam-rec about wildly until he caught her in -its viewer. - -She stood, straight and slim, on a gnarled stub protruding from a thick -tree-trunk, some ten feet from the ground and about twenty feet from -Pritchard, who was nearest her. Her honey-colored hair fell in crudely -cut locks to her shoulders, framing a youthful, cleanly-chiseled face -from which gray-green eyes gazed steadily. A strip of hide between -her legs joined another strip of hide at her waist, from which hung a -plaited grass sheath holding a long, narrow-bladed knife. A third strip -of hide had the obvious main function of binding down her billowing -breasts, rather than concealing them. Her skin had been tanned an even -nut-brown all over. - -From her lips came that sharp hiss again and she slapped her thigh -smartly. The spidion was gone in a scuttling rush. McManus sagged -weakly to the ground and drew a thick forearm across his forehead. -"Geez, thanks, sister," he muttered. - -"What are you doing here?" The girl's voice rang out through the -jungle's stillness. - -"Hunting," replied Pritchard. - -"Hunting what?" - -"Anything." He smiled up at her. "Anything big and tough. What are you -doing here?" - -He could just make out the corner of her mouth lifting in disdain. -"What do you mean by 'anything big and tough?'" - -Pritchard liked to have his own questions answered, too. "Who are you, -anyway?" he rapped out sternly. "How come you speak Terran English? -Where's the rest of your party?" - -The girl only frowned down at him. "By what right do you come tramping -in here killing all my people?" - -"All your _what_?" Pritchard blinked. - -"People, people, people. There are beings on this world who live and -breathe and think just like you. But you seem to think it's all right -to come in and kill them. For sport." - -Gazing up into those blazing emerald eyes and that delicious figure, -Pritchard felt an unaccustomed tingling through his nerves. Any woman, -however crippled, deformed or aged, could provoke some excitement after -the prison of deep space. But this beauty-- - -He glanced sideways at McManus who had moved up alongside him. The -redhead had a feral grin on his freckled mug. - -"Relax," muttered Pritchard from the corner of his mouth. "This one's -for me." - -He said to the girl, "We haven't killed anything, certainly not any -people." The vision of that carbonized carcass back on the burn -flickered across his mind. "What do you think we are, murderers? You're -the first person we've seen." - -She cut him off with an impatient gesture. "You're a pack of killers, -all of you. I wouldn't expect you to understand." - -"Hey, Mr. Pritchard," called out Sturgis, "I'll bet she's from that -Havilland group. Ask her." - -Pritchard cocked his head. "That's right! You are, aren't you? The -Havilland Survey sent out by the Astrodetic Board. Unreported for four -years. What happened? Where's your base?" - -The girl nodded briefly. "And you're Pritchard, the notorious big-game -hunter. I've heard about you. Nothing good, of course, but I've heard." - - * * * * * - -Pritchard smiled his sweetest smile. "That's right. I'm well known for -my slaughter of helpless animals. But, come on, now," he coaxed, "how -about a report on your party? The Board will appreciate any little -message you care to send it." - -The girl gripped a vine as if to steady herself. "Wiped out," she said -tersely. - -"Oh." He nodded, lips pursed. Then, as if it were an afterthought, he -said, "How?" - -"What does it matter?" The face above was momentarily tense, withdrawn. -"With plenty of synthetabs--and the hydroponics laid out and -producing--somebody still had to go out and kill. For fresh meat." Her -voice trailed off. - -"And--?" Pritchard prompted. - -"Oh," she sighed wearily, "they came. They were the ones who got the -fresh meat." She shuddered. - -"Who's 'they?'" - -"Please," she said, "I'd rather not discuss it any more. But I think -you'd better leave. Certainly, you'd better not kill anything if you -know what's good for you. Besides, you've done enough damage already." - -Pritchard cleared his throat. The men behind him were whispering and -snickering. "Speaking of leaving," he said, "how about you? If the -Survey was wrecked--" - -"I'm not interested in leaving," she said curtly. "I've got work to do -here." - -"What work?" - -"I'm working with the people here." - -"Oh, there _are_ natives?" - -"Certainly. This world is full of people." - -He scowled his impatience. "What's their cultural stage?" - -She favored him with a one-sided grin. "Some are foraging. A few are -gregarious. You met one just now. Fortunately, I got here in time to -save her life." - -McManus's jaw dropped. "Save _her_ life! You don't mean that crawly -brute that tried to kill me just now?" - -"If she threatened you," said the girl with careful enunciation such as -she might use to a child, "it was because you had disturbed her peace." - -"And it--she--was what you'd call a person?" demanded Pritchard, "Do -you mean that you consider absolutely all the living, moving things -here, people?" - -The girl nodded firmly. Pritchard gazed at her, pawing his chin. - -"Tell me," he murmured, "do they kill one another for fresh meat?" - -She sighed. "They still do, but I'm trying to cure them of that. That's -the work I'm doing. They only kill, after all, for food. I'm trying to -cure them of the killing habit by getting them to switch to synthetabs. -I've--" - -The rest of her words were drowned in a tidal wave of laughter. The men -exploded, beat each other, howled, and fell on the ground. She stared -down at them, and her eyes began to smolder anew. - -Pritchard fought his own face straight and wheeled on them. "Cut that -out!" he yelled. "As you were!" They gurgled back at him, pleading -their helplessness, hugging their sides. McManus gripped his cheeks and -tried to squeeze his mouth straight, but strangled gusts still shook -him. - -The spectacle weakened Pritchard's own control and he turned quickly -back to the girl. The sight of her beauty, now in a passionate rage, -cut sharply across his mirth. He noticed with interest that the thin -strip of hide across those heaving breasts was undergoing maximum -strain. - -"Please allow me to apologize for my men," he said gravely. "I'm sure -they don't mean to be insulting. What is your name, by the way, so I -can at least report it to the Board?" - -Her chin was up. "Cornelia Boyce," she said haughtily. - -"And how did you manage to survive the attack on the Survey camp?" - -"I was away." She was calming a little. "They came at sunrise but I -wasn't there. I was out, learning to ride one of the--the people." - -Pritchard looked down quickly and coughed. Fresh gurgles sounded behind -him. The cam-rec whirred on. "But you are all right here? You can take -care of yourself?" - -"I am in no danger," she said icily. "In four years I have won most of -the people over to my side. They protect me. In turn, and in my own -way, I protect them. I've learned how to make synthetabs and I also -feed them from the 'ponics gardens. And now I'll do my best to protect -them from you. I'm sure I can't appeal to your decency but I can appeal -to your reason, and perhaps convince you that this is a poor world to -hunt in." - -"Now, listen, Miss Boyce," Pritchard cut in patiently, "we're not here -on a mission of slaughter. I gather, and please correct me if I'm -wrong, that you're one of that group back on Terra that opposes -big-game hunting." - -"You are completely correct about that," she interposed. - -"--and are pushing through legislation to make it illegal under the -Space Code. But we already adhere to the Space Code. We are most -zealous, I assure you, to avoid bagging anything parahuman, anything -that exhibits anything like human intelligence. We--" - -"That's precisely why you should abandon your hunting here. My good -man, just what do you consider intelligence?" She held up her hand -to prevent his answering. "For instance, a good many of the what you -would call animals on this little planet have developed a spoken -language. And I don't mean a mother's warning to her cubs, or one male -challenging another. I mean, for instance, the news I received this -morning." She smiled. "Would you like to know what a little bird told -me?" - -He nodded. "I'm all ears." - -"Well," she said thoughtfully, "it wasn't such a little bird, and it -wasn't exactly news to me. After all, I'd seen your braking jets in the -ionosphere and heard the cavitation rumble when you were settling into -denser atmosphere in your orbit. But, anyway, here's what my birdie -told me: 'A thing with sun-fire at both ends has come down out of the -sky two flights from here. Now a flock of two-legged beasts from it are -attacking the plants. We don't understand!'" Her face relaxed into a -disconcerting smile. "They couldn't understand why you were so angry -with the grass and the trees!" - -"Extremely funny," he said gravely. "It just happens to be meaningless, -also." - -"Don't you see? They can communicate ideas!" - -"Fine," he nodded. "What of it?" - -"But--but that means they're intelligent. Too intelligent to be called -'animals'!" - - * * * * * - -He shook his head. "On Terra only one animal developed communications -to a high degree. But we long ago decided that some other animals were -fairly intelligent, for all that they didn't appear to speak among -themselves. On many other worlds--and I can name you a score I've -visited--lots of so-called 'animals', apart from the intelligences we -dealt with, had developed fairly complex methods of communications that -would put the old Terran elephants and ants to shame. That still didn't -make them what we called 'people'." - -Her eyes were hot with scorn. "I know that! If you'd lived with the -Thisbeans as long as I have you'd understand. Why--" - -"Now, look," said Pritchard with rising asperity, "we have satisfactory -means of determining intelligence. If your 'people' are as you claim -they're in no danger. But are you going to claim there are no killers -here? They're what we're after, intelligent or not. And there are -killers on every world, Miss Boyce." - -She shook her head in despair at his stupidity. "There are no killers -here, Mr. Pritchard. There are no killers anywhere on any world. Only -variant life forms trying to live and eat, eating only to live. If we -help them to find food, and guide their impulses...." - -Pritchard gave up. The argument was futile. It struck him that the girl -was mad. The horror of the attack on the Survey camp, followed by years -of isolation from her kind, had left her in a hopelessly deranged state. - -And a little plan took shape in his mind. - -"That's all very fine," he said, cutting across her words, "but let -me show you something that will prove to you we are not here to kill -indiscriminately." - -He turned to McManus. "Let's have your little pet, Tom." McManus raised -his eyebrows, but fumbled the button of his breast pocket flap loose -and pulled out the wriggling, six-legged infant rodent. Pritchard took -it and held it out toward the girl. - -"Here, Miss Boyce. My friend found this. He didn't bite its head off -first thing. Now we'll turn it over to you for safekeeping." - -"Aw," growled McManus. - -"Quiet," Pritchard growled back at him. He lifted the wriggling little -beast and it squeaked. "I guess I'd better not toss it." - -The eyes of Cornelia Boyce were large and glowing with maternal pity. -She dropped lightly to the ground and advanced, holding out her hand. -Pritchard pulled back the hand with the little wriggler in it and his -other shot forward to grip the girl's wrist. - -She gasped and bent backward, striving to wrench loose. Her strength -was such that Pritchard, turning to hand the cub back to McManus, -almost lost his balance. - -"Stop it," she cried. "You don't know what--" - -Her lips moved for another second, but the words were lost in the -sudden tumult that erupted about them. The jungle exploded, almost -seemed to come alive at their very feet. Dimly-seen shapes came -lurching and crashing toward them from every side, clambering and -trampling and swinging from branch to branch. Here and there a tree -cracked, splintered and fell. - -The men whipped out their snappers and backed against each other, eyes -rolling nervously in grim set faces. The girl frantically twisted out -of Pritchard's fingers and stuck two fingers in her mouth. - -A piercing, two-noted whistle stabbed through the mounting din. It -stabbed again, and the uproar subsided into a confused rustling and -shuffling. Silence fell across the dust-charged air. - -All about, in the jungle surrounding the head of the path the -scouting party had hacked, the vegetation barely concealed a -shoulder-to-shoulder wall of hulking beasts, while smaller animals and -what looked like maned gorillas crouched or stood along the bending -branches. Tusks protruded from drooling jaws and hundreds of eyes -blazed forth steadily. - -"No shooting, no shooting!" Pritchard was bellowing. "She has them -under control, boys. Hold your fire." Then he took a deep breath and -turned toward Cornelia Boyce. She had backed off to a safe distance -from him, her eyes twin pools of green contempt. - -"My people." She bowed ironically. "At your service." - -Pritchard grinned tautly. "You win. Of course, my intentions were only -of the best. I thought you ought to come back to Terra for a little -observation and examination, but--" he waved lightly "--let's skip it." - -"You were lucky that I was able to stop them," she said. "Next time I -might not be able to in time. Now if you're wise you'll just take your -little ship and go home." - -"Why, certainly, certainly." He bowed. "In the meantime it was a -pleasure to have met you, Miss Boyce." - -"I'm sure," she replied coldly. She lifted her head, and from her lips -suddenly poured an astonishing babble, a mixture of coughing, grunting -and chirping. There began to be movement in the brush, and some of the -things there began lurching and crashing off. - -"Where are they going?" Pritchard strove for a casual tone. - -"I'm deploying them along your trail," she said with equal calm. "They -will escort you out of this jungle and report to me when you re-enter -the ship." - -"And you were really talking to them?" - -She shrugged, as if at a childish question. "Of course." - -He studied her, and his long features slid into a crooked, embarrassed -smile. "Miss Boyce, I owe you an apology. Maybe you've got something -here after all." - -She raised weary eyebrows. "If you're quite through looking at my body, -you can go now." - -He laughed shortly. "I wasn't, especially. Although it's very--" - -"Good-bye!" - -He bowed again and turned. "All right, boys. You heard what the lady -said. Let's pull out of here. And let's keep our little hands away from -our snappers, eh? The lady's friends appear to be quite numerous and a -little touchy." - - - III - -With a few dry, nervous chuckles, the cadet hunters hefted their -equipment and started back up the trail. Just as the girl had -predicted, shapes rustled in the foliage close by their sides, -accompanied by an occasional growl or whine or snort that was somewhat -unnerving. Pritchard could occasionally discern the shaggy shoulders -of the gorilla-type, and some other lithe and slinking or lumbering -shapes--with here and there a hump of slate-gray hide or a ridged, -scaly back. - -The return along the hacked-out trail was easier and quicker than -their coming, and soon they saw the tip of the _Apollo's_ bow in the -sky beyond the shoulder of the hill. As they toiled back up the slope -through the clogging grass, they became aware that the animals were not -following them further, but backward glances could still make out some -vague shapes in the foliage. - -Pritchard became aware, also, of McManus's silence. The redhead, -usually garrulous, had been silent from the start of their retreat, his -square jaw clamped hard shut. The Chief Hunter slapped the young man's -broad back. - -"Relax, Tom. Men have backed down from women before. It's not -considered bad form at all. Now and then they outmaneuver us, and -that's all there is to it." - -A couple of the others chuckled, but McManus continued his stolid -slogging up the hill without a sign. Pritchard shrugged. They all -trudged across the burn, and the great grasshopper-leg let down the -platform for them. - -Waiting for it to settle, Pritchard braced with one hand at the base -of a towering fin and began slapping dust from his breeches. He heard -Sturgis say, "Hey, watch that!" and the tseeu of a snapper. - -He jerked erect in time to see McManus lower his weapon, and hear a -distant explosion. Down over the hill, in the tall grass, what appeared -to be a huge boar or pygmy rhino was writhing and kicking. Somberly, -Pritchard watched its six twitching legs quiet down and stiffen. - -"That was a good shot, Tom," he said. - -McManus came toward him, grinning with relief. "I'd had about all I -could take--" he started to say, and then Pritchard's fist slammed into -his jaw. His feet left the ground and he fell heavily onto the hard -ground under the tubes. - -Pritchard was picking him up again when he heard Sturgis's voice again. -"You'd better make it snappy, chief. I think they're working up to -something." - -Shapes were moving up through the distant grass. Wings were flapping or -tilted in soaring across the jungle not far beyond. There came to the -ship a dim, vast babble of cries, grunts, squeals, howls and barks. - -They carried the inert McManus over to the platform in a hurry. But -Pritchard let his finger rest on the buzzer-button while he looked over -the array of animals now gathering in plain sight, fanning out around -the perimeter of the scorched ground. - -There were the slate-gray ones, like that which McManus had -downed--six-legged, suber-snouted, long-tusked. There were hulking, -scaly-hided ones, resembling ant-eating bears--also six-legged. In -fact, the six-legged skeleton seemed to prevail among the fauna -of Thisbe II. The canine-like ones running this way and that were -six-legged, and so were certain slinking, feline types. On the other -hand, the maned gorillas had but four appendages, and so had the -ungainly-looking, leaping ones, that looked like hairless kangaroos -except for their wicked, underslung jaws. - -Quite suddenly, this horde was charging across the burn, converging on -the shining cylinder towering above them, aiming for the platform still -resting on the ground. - -"What's he waiting for?" Pritchard heard the whisper above the rising -thunder about them, knew he was meant to hear it. He jabbed home the -button and the rising floor pressed their feet. He stepped over to the -squawkie and spoke into its 'phragm. "Chief on, Savage. Hold your fire. -We're clear." Turning to the men on the now rapidly rising platform, he -said, "No shooting." - -Soberly, they all gazed down at the horde sweeping up below, swirling -about, bumping into the fins and one another. Their silence, other -than the noise of their thousands of feet and hooves, was oppressive -and menacing. A few of the leaping ones soared up at the platform, -wriggling in mid-air and pawing, but it had gone too high and they fell -back. - -Then Pritchard glanced up. His hand started for his snapper. -Toward them through the air came a cloud of flying things--great -leathery-winged birds, smaller, faster, feathered ones--rising on a -line of flight that would carry them above the platform to a point of -interception, claws distended, beaks open and eager. - -Thin and remote, a two-toned whistle sounded. Sounded again. The -converging flocks wheeled, fluttered and fell away, gliding off toward -the jungle. Far below, the milling horde flung up a varied array of -heads, and then began to move, a drift that became a surge, trotting -and hopping away across the burn. - -"Phew!" said someone behind Pritchard. "That girl really has an army." - -McManus sat up, shaking his head and staring at the smooth shining hull -of the _Apollo_ swinging down to them. He felt his jaw and squinted up -at Pritchard. - -"Quarters for you," the tall saturnine man said softly. - - * * * * * - -Late that evening Pritchard was in the chart room talking with Captain -Savage. The _Apollo's_ ventilation system had been in operation for -over thirty hours now and the blowers had sucked out the last vestige -of mechanically purified air, with its taint of ozone, metal and -oil. It was pleasant to rock gently in the gimbal chairs and sniff -the lush night air of Thisbe II. Aloft, in the nose, the watch was -idly working out a game of kru, that old Martian solitaire involving -domino-like counters. The autoscanner hooked to the magnar was ready -to clang at the first blip on the screens. Below, in the wardrooms, -the cadet hunters were amusing themselves with a runoff of the day's -cam-rec spool ("Get this line about the synthetabs!" ... guffaws of -laughter). Midway down the curving tail section Tom McManus sulked in -his quarters, fingering the bruise on his jaw. - -"So we'll pick up in the morning, hey?" mused the captain. His was a -squat, ape-like body, surmounted by a long, goat's face and a grizzled -skull. - -"Yes." Pritchard drained his tall glass. "I'm not going to bother with -her. If she can send a whole army of her animals against us it's going -to make hunting a little difficult. We could set down on the other side -and maybe get in a bit of shooting, but she'd catch up with us. Even -if we try hunting from the air with the jet cruisers...." He shook his -head. "It's too dangerous. I've got to look out for these boys, after -all. No, I don't want to get messed up with her in any way." He stared -calmly at the wall, seeing once again that lithe body straining out of -his grasp, and knew himself for a liar. - -"Well...." The captain rubbed his nose, furtively eyeing the other -man's profile. He knew when a man was lying. It was one of the things -one developed long before one got to be a hundred and thirteen years of -age. He lowered his wrinkled old eyelids and went on, "... she's hung -on here for four years. Maybe she isn't too crazy at that. Of course, -it's kind of too bad to leave a filly like her running around loose." - -"We'll just hope we won't be too much criticized for not bringing her -home," Pritchard cut in quickly. "Thank God, we shot all that cam-rec -footage. It'll--" - -He lifted his head, his long nostrils flaring. "Murder! What's that -stink coming from?" - -The old man grimaced up at the air-grill. - -"Eeugh! Low tide on Venus!" - -Pritchard got up and went toward the intercom. "Something's died, I'd -say, inside the ship or close by." - -At that instant the intercom's tiny diaphragm screamed. Screamed, and -broke off into a hoarse babble. The two men froze, scowling at each -other. The babble rose again into a sharp screaming "NO!"--and then -stopped. - -Pritchard stepped to the 'phragm. "Chief on. All stations and quarters -report, please." - -Voices came back at him out of the wall. "Nose watch. All X here, Mr. -Pritchard. What happened?" - -"Stern watch. All X, chief. What--?" - -"Wardroom, Greene on. All X. Something stinks, chief." - -"Engine room. All X." - -"Majinski on, retired to quarters. Pee-yew!" - -Then, silence, pregnant with listening. - -"McManus," snapped Pritchard. - -"Louder," said the captain. "He may be asleep." - -"McManus!" The tall hunter shouted. "TOM!" - -Then he was out the door. The captain strode to the intercom. "All free -hands to McManus. Fast!" he barked, and then ran after Pritchard who -was already stepping into the axial lift. - -McManus's quarters were well down in the tail. Pritchard found half -a dozen men clustered at his cabin door which they had torched open. -Their eyes were watering and they were gagging at the incredibly foul -stench roiling the air. - -"Where's McManus?" he demanded, starting to shoulder through them. The -stench caught at his throat so that he choked on the words. - -A cadet hunter clutched at his sleeve. "Don't go in there, chief," he -gasped. "You can't do Tom any good now." - -Savage was at the wall intercom. "Meyer, for God's sake, blow this ship -out," he yelled hoarsely. - -Pritchard shook off the detaining hand and stepped to the open door. -He looked once at the dripping mess in the gimbal chair and jerked his -head away. - -The pie-shaped cubicle was otherwise normal at first glance. The -hammock hung suspended between its swivels. The viewport was properly -sealed. The bath and disposal unit in one far corner stood in spotless -order, as did the sectional drawer case opposite. - -What had come in here? And how had it gotten in? The door had been -electro-locked in its sliding frame and the men, who had quite properly -not waited for the magnekey Captain Savage alone carried, had had to -burn through the lock wiring. There was no other way into the room. - -Pritchard stepped over to the air-grill. His eyes swimming in the -terrible stench in the cabin, he nevertheless could discern how the -heavy chrome mesh had been torn loose from its bolts to lie at the foot -of the wall. He shot one tortured, speculative glance at the six-inch -hole in the wall and then hastily backed out, hand to mouth against his -rising gorge. - -The steel walls thrummed with the surge of the revved-up blowers. But -there was no answering draft screaming up into a gale from the air -grills. The lights flickered briefly, and then the blowers' thrum died. - -"Shorted," a man muttered thickly. - -More men were coming, sliding down the long poles until they reached -the stench which was now spreading up through the ship. As soon as -it hit their nostrils they gripped the poles to slow their descent, -cursing. Down the passageway, two of those who had arrived first were -now being sick. - - * * * * * - -Pritchard leaned against the wall trying to keep his breathing shallow, -his eyes hard and steady on the open doorway and the lighted chamber -beyond. Gradually, all eyes were turning to him, waiting, their owners -breathing in short, labored gasps. - -He stepped to the intercom. "All hands to the muster deck," he managed -to choke out. "That means everybody. And use extreme caution. Something -has boarded the ship and killed McManus. Listen to me. It is still -on board! Arm yourselves and report to the muster deck immediately. -Sturgis, step into the storeroom and break out the masks. Greene and -Majinski, help him. Use the lift to bring them to the muster deck. Got -it?" - -Several strangling voices replied in order. Pritchard and Savage -crowded into the lift with the rest of the men and went aloft. - -"What do you think it is, son?" said Savage. Pritchard shrugged. -"I don't know. What kind of thing or things could get through the -ventilating system?" - -The old man pursed his lips. "That's right. That's how we smelled it -first. And then the blowers kicked off when all that compression backed -up to them. You're right, Mr. Pritchard, whatever it is, it's still in -the ducts." - -The lift halted at the muster deck and the door slid open. "So here's -what we'll do," said Pritchard as they stepped off. The old man heard -him out and then nodded slowly, his rheumy eyes narrowing. - -They waited while the men arrived, the whole ship's company of twenty -cadet hunters (less McManus, now) and five crewmen. They all stood -around eyeing Pritchard and the captain. The air was heavy with that -lurking stench, but it was not too thick here to be unbreathable. - -As soon as the gas mask detail had shoved the last of the cartons off -the lift Pritchard started for the controls. - -The muster deck was a heavily insulated circular chamber a bit forward -from amidships. - -The entire ship could be controlled from there. In emergencies it could -be detached from the ship and used as a temporary space raft, having -all necessary supplies in its padded wall lockers. - -"First," announced Pritchard, "we're going to button this ship up -tight." He reached for the ventilator switch and flicked it on. - -Little motors all over the inner and outer hulls began wheeling shut -the valves that closed the six-inch holes that were the ventilating -system's intake and exhaust ports. In a matter of seconds the _Apollo_ -would stop breathing the wine-like night air of Thisbe II. - -On the wall above the switch little green lights began to blink off one -by one. As if gradually understanding his strategy, the men began to -move up behind Pritchard, their eyes on the bank of fiery green points -winking out. - -The last little gem flickered, died, and then, strangely, flamed up -again. - -And, just as it went out for good, the entire muster deck gave a lurch. -Feet scuffled, slipped, staggered. Here and there a body thudded to -the steel plates of the floor. - -Pritchard's voice rose thundering above the abrupt commotion. "Grab -hold! Something's got the ship--something--" - -The muster deck swung in a wild circle, men sliding helplessly, -caroming off the walls. Pritchard's flailing hand caught something and -his long bony fingers laced about it in a grip of steel. - -In benumbed fascination, he saw his body lengthen out, straining -against that grip, appearing to levitate from the deck. The whole -chamber tilted slowly until it seemed to hang below him. Men were -slipping and falling down into the curved well of its farther wall, -but some had grabbed out at holds here and there--a door-pull, or a -stanchion, and dangled like Pritchard. - -At the last instant he understood that the _Apollo_ was falling. He had -just time to pull himself up, to give his arm some play against the -shock to come-- - -The great pointed cylinder struck with an awesome, deafening -clangor--fell with a single bounce across its landing burn and settled -to roll over approximately one-third its circumference. - -Pritchard's grip, he discovered later, was to the handle of a locked -chart drawer. The massive wrench of that impact straightened his arm -with a jerk, but at the same time the drawer's lock broke. He fell away -in a shower of sheet film just as the _Apollo_ rolled, and a curve of -smooth steel wall swung out to catch him and break his fall into a -plunging glide against a cushion of stunned men's bodies. - -It was a miracle that nobody was seriously injured. The slowness of the -ship's fall at the outset, the curvature of walls, the general fitness -of trained minds and bodies--all combined to prevent anything more -serious than cuts and contusions. - -Captain Savage was the first Pritchard pulled out of the tangle. The -wiry old man was unhurt, though dazed. In spite of his age he gamely -pulled himself together with a terrier-like shake. - -"What hit us?" he croaked. - -"I think whatever was in the ship did it," said Pritchard. "But then, -that must mean it's outside now. Think we sustained much damage?" - -The old man scoffed. "Man, this ship was built for crash landings. The -surface glaze must be cracked. And all the supplies we broke out after -landing must be all over hell." - -He gazed aloft at the muster deck's controls, now high overhead. "Have -to right her," he muttered, "but I can't get at them. I'll have to get -to the master set, I guess." His gaze switched dubiously to the hatch -leading to the nose, halfway up the curving wall. "I can set her back -up on her tail, firing the beam tubes." - -"Majinski," called out Pritchard, "build a ladder or pyramid of men up -that hatch so the captain can get to the controls. Sturgis, you and -you and you--" he picked out half a dozen cadet hunters "--let's scout -through the ship. I want to be sure our friend has left." - -It was awkward work, clambering over girders and through crazily -slanting doors and along upside down passages where, in deep space, -they floated past with ease. They held their snappers ready while -Pritchard opened door after door with the captain's magnekey. - -They found something in the compression chamber of Number Two Blower. -What they found, after taking down the side panel, was a long, flopping -red thing--something like a ten-foot carrot, writhing and curling in on -itself wetly. It was a foot thick at its big end. - -It fell out on the curving wall beneath the blower. They watched it -soberly as it twisted this way and that convulsively, contracting and -lengthening out. It gave off that same sickening odor. - -"Is this what gave us all the trouble?" somebody demanded. - -"No." Pritchard's nostrils flared slightly. "Just a part of it, that's -all. Most of it got away." - -"_Most_ of it!" - -He nodded slowly. "It was leaving when I started closing those ports. -It was leaving by this intake port--maybe the way it came in--and the -valve started to slice into it. In other words, we had it by the tail. -It tried to yank free and that's what tipped us over." - -"Y-y-you mean--?" They stared at him, refusing to credit the -comprehension dawning in their minds. - -"What else?" Pritchard's cheeks twitched in amusement. - -"Hey, that's big!" said Sturgis softly. - -"Quite big," murmured the tall hunter. "And quite intelligent if it -came for McManus." - -Their jaws dropped and their eyes protruded glassily. - -"On the other hand," went on Pritchard musingly, "it might not be as -smart as the person who sent it." - - - IV - -There was flame in the night, blinding flame, and raucous, screeching -thunder. And a great round of gleaming metal rising shudderingly on a -cone of dazzling, roaring light. Rising to teeter at last on the tips -of long, sweeping fins, teeter and rock and walk a bit on those blades -of tempered nickel-steel, until the swaying tower ceased to gyrate -sickeningly across the stars, its motion settling into a quickening, -shortening arc that died away into a tremble, a vibration, a stillness. - -Captain Savage took his gnarled and stubby fingers away from the firing -manuals and sat down, drawing a sleeve across his sopping brows. - -"Nice work," said Pritchard. "One push and no correction blasts. Thy -hand hath not lost its skill." - -The old man took a deep breath and grinned. "It's work for a younger -man. Next time I'm going to let you do it. Or Sturgis." - -"There won't be a next time," said Pritchard flatly. - -The captain cocked a bright eye up at him. Pritchard gazed out a -viewport. The horizon of Thisbe II lay like a worn hacksaw blade -against the purple glow of Piramus, rising. - -"Set watches," he said briefly. "The rest of the company can turn to -for six hours. Then Sturgis, Greene, Kemp and I are going off in the -jets." - -"Fishing, I suppose?" said Savage with gentle irony. - -Pritchard smiled coldly and shook his head. "No. Witch-hunting." - - * * * * * - -Two plump silvery beetles screamed through the thin stratosphere high -above the little planet. Behind them, dropping below the horizon, a -needle stood gleaming in a black thumbprint. It was no longer possible -to make out the smudge marring the _Apollo's_ alabaster flank, much -less the team now hanging in buckets from eyebolts high in the nose, -chipping away the cracked and carbonized glaze--cracked by last night's -fall and carbonized by the hell-fires of the righting operation. - -In one beetle rode the wiry Sturgis and stocky Kemp. In the other, the -rangy blond, Greene, handled the controls while Pritchard studied the -face of Thisbe II rolling slowly under them. - -"Got any ideas yet as to what hit us last night?" said Greene. - -"Nope." After righting the ship, they'd turned on the floodlights, but -neither then nor in the broad light of day was there any sign or trace -of their visitor. A burial detail had laid McManus the traditional six -feet into the crust of Thisbe II. The long red thing had flopped and -tossed startlingly as they sank hooks into it and dragged it off into -the grass. - -"Must have been the tail of something big, huh? How come it got past -the radar?" - -Pritchard shrugged and continued to peer attentively ahead. - -"Sure is a mighty pretty hunk of country," sighed the blond boy. "In -places it reminds me of the stuff around the Cumberland Gap. If it -weren't for that lavender sunlight, that is." - -Pritchard didn't answer, his eyes steadily sweeping the terrain -unfolding ahead. - -"That was a hell of a thing happened to poor Tom last night," Greene -went on. "Do you figure he had much pain before it finished him?" - -Pritchard made no response. - -"Tom was a right good boy, and a hard man to beat once he had the -chance to get his feet under him. Remember the time big Hayes hit him?" - -There was no answer. Greene sat relaxed, one foot on the rudder bar and -an index finger curled indolently around the jet firing toggle. - -"Boy, old Hayes let him have it before Tom was set. Just like you -clipped him yesterday." - -"I thought you'd say that." Pritchard's voice was even. "You an' the -rest of the boys want to be sure I don't forget that, don't you?" - -"I wasn't meaning a thing, chief," complained the other. "Hell, we -understand. Tom made a mistake and--and--well...." - -"You can pass the word," said Pritchard softly, his eyes remaining hard -on the vista ahead. "You can pass the word that I haven't forgotten the -last thing Tom McManus had from me. Nor am I likely to--" - -He grabbed the mike. "Cut, Sturgis, cut! Cut and glide--after me." - -Greene, following instructions meant for him, too, snapped the jet -toggle closed. The high-pitched thunder that had been chasing them -across the sky was chopped off into utter silence. - -"What you got?" he managed to say and then Pritchard's hip swung -against him, neatly bowling him off the seat as the tall hunter thrust -his feet toward the rudder bar. - -"Stand by to fire," snapped Pritchard over his shoulder. The younger -man lurched toward the rocket controls in the nose in front of -Pritchard as the jet cruiser heeled silently over into a dive. - - * * * * * - -The bowl of Thisbe II tilted up toward them and its features steadied -in the face of that arrowing plunge. Dead ahead lay a meandering thread -of river stitching up a wide, jungle-filled valley. At one point the -river either split in two or broadened momentarily into a lake. At any -rate, there was an island, right above the little flight-sight bead on -the jet cruiser's prow. - -The island swelled into detail. It was fairly large, for up from its -center thrust one of those strange rock mountains, the three straight -planes of its cleavage converging in a jagged, towering peak, making it -seem an elongated triangular pyramid that had been driven forth at a -slant and had then had its extreme tip snapped off. The primrose light -of Piramus high above reflected now in a dazzling shimmer from one -flank. - -At its base, or at the base of one impossibly machine-smooth wall, -there was a semi-circular mark, as if someone had carelessly strewn -dirt across the olive-hued turf. The grains and clods of this dirt -resolved themselves, as the jets whined on down, into a twinkling, -tumbling cluster of ants--with gnats hovering and darting. Then they -became something larger. - -Greene turned to shout excitedly at Pritchard, but at that instant -Sturgis's voice cracked from the two-way mike Pritchard had hung above -him. - -"Hey, chief, aren't those some of that girl's animals?" - -"Right," barked Pritchard. "That's a big rumpus down there. Follow me -on down for a look. Then I think we'll try a couple of passes." - -"Passes? At what?" - -"Those are Miss Boyce's 'people', all right. They're fighting." - -There was no further chance to talk. Pritchard and Sturgis gripped -their separate toggles almost simultaneously and their jets roared into -life, feeding power to their dives for a pull-out. The ground-contact -alarm chattered its warning that they were coming too close. - -As soon as the jets took hold, the pilots leaned back, pushing hard -against the rudder bars. The tail elevators lifted into the slipstream, -and the two silver beetles howled through a long pendulum swing that -flung them far off into the sky. - -But the trained eyes aboard them had ticked off the essential details -of the amazing battle being waged through the tall grass toward the -mountain. - -"Holy rockets!" came from the blond head in front of Pritchard. "That's -a regular battle line they're holding. Did you see those babies -fighting!" - -"Hey, chief," cracked Sturgis, "What goes on down there, anyway? Who's -fighting whom? Or what's fighting which?" - -Pritchard trimmed off into level flight before answering. "As far -as I can make out, Cornelia Boyce's people are under attack, but I -can't figure out who's doing the attacking. They're trying to hold -that defense arc, but they're being snowed under. They're catching it -from the air as well as on the ground. I recognize the animals inside -that line. They're her people, all right. But I can't make out the -attackers." - -He banked the cruiser around toward that now miles-distant little spine -of mountain. - -Sturgis's ship followed him around as if fastened by a wire. - -"They looked like reptiles and big insects." - -"That's what they looked like to me. I don't remember seeing any of -them yesterday--except for that bad dream I tried to shoot away from -McManus." - -"Anyway, there's sure a mob of them," cut in Sturgis. "The water all -around that island is alive with them." - -"That kid was right about one thing," said Pritchard. "There's a much -higher level of intelligence here than you'd find in Terran animals, -for instance. But never mind that now. Listen, boys, this is a planned -and directed attack. And we're going to buy ourselves a stack of chips -and sit in on the game. But, first, did anybody see the girl?" - -"No," cracked the mike, and Greene shook his head. - -"Well, I've got a hunch she's down there. She's mixed up in this -somehow. I've a feeling a big battle like this is pretty unusual. This -has all the earmarks of a war of extermination. And if those are her -'people' protecting her--something, or somebody, has her cornered." - -"Could be," came Sturgis's voice. "But, then, who's this somebody or -something?" - -"I don't know. I don't care. This scrap's nothing to us. But we want -the wench, boys. We want her on account of last night. And maybe -for a couple of other reasons. She'd better come home for a little -psychotherapy, for one thing. Now, here's our plan of attack...." - - * * * * * - -Like the pointer of a sundial, the jagged spear of mountain lay its -deep blue shadow across the curve of battle, as if to mark off the -dwindling hours and minutes of life for those who struggled, writhed -and lay with glazing eyes in that long ribbony grass, now mashed and -matted flat for acres in every direction, its pliant green-brown blades -stained and mottled dark. - -Red-eyed and snorting, the slate-gray boars stood shoulder to shoulder -from one end of the arc to the other. As each one fell, the others -closed ranks, shuffling backwards until their hides rubbed together -again. Close behind them stood a thinning line of great scaled bears, -clawing and biting what got past the boars. In and out among all their -stiffly planted legs ran the lesser carnivores and the canines, -snapping and worrying at the things creeping through the grass. Behind, -in the shrinking zone of defense, roved the six-legged bovines and -equines, and the leaping ones, and the shaggy-maned gorillas, prancing, -goring, trampling, crushing. Overhead circled and hovered a swarm of -hawks and condors, plunging and tearing. - -Against them came a nightmare horde. Those that could not fly or -swim made clumsy rafts from odds and ends of vegetation and branches -plundered from the jungle; some scurried across on swaying creepers, -all along the banks. - -Crawling, creeping things, reptilian and crustacean and multi-legged, -undulating and gliding, disappearing into the grass to emerge at -the last deadly moment. Scurrying, spiny things were there in -force--scuttling over the mashed-flat grass in beady-eyed haste to -be in at the kill. Above them flew skull-headed, mandible-snapping -horrors, with membranous wings. - -There were no tactics other than individual duel and the wearing down -by sheer weight of numbers. Aloft, the winged ones met, clashed and -fell, buzzing and flapping. Below, tusk and fang and claw and beak and -hoof mandible rent and tore and worried and stung. The long, vicious -lizards and the sudden-striking snakes kept coming through only to go -down under churning, stamping hooves or be shredded by horns and claws -and fangs. - -Yet the battle was unequal. Slowly and wearily, the defenders gave -before the superior numbers, the more skillful killing. The bodies they -left dotting the meadow began to outnumber the crushed remains of the -things they fought. - -Deep in a cleft in the base of the mountain crouched a young Terran -female. Every inch of her brown body shaking in helpless terror. - -Cornelia Boyce's left hand gripped the handle of her long knife, still -in its sheath. She would need it any time now. - -For The One was coming for her at last. Why it had ordered Its people -against hers, calling them with Its vicious mind from the far corners -of this world, instead of coming for her directly, she didn't know. -Perhaps It regarded her as the lesser objective and relegated the task -of smashing her and her converts to this horde, while It moved against -the ship. Perhaps It regarded the ship of the hunters with the same -contempt It had had for the Survey ship and was moving against her -first--and was using this battle to toy with her, show her death, as it -were. Perhaps there was some other reason. It didn't matter. Nothing -mattered any more, for this was the end. - -It had tolerated her. For four of Thisbe II's years--not quite three -Terran years--The One had left her alone, almost, it would seem, -keeping out of her way. It was as if It realized that she, the only one -of her kind to survive the debacle at the Survey camp, was essentially -harmless. It had not minded her attempts to win over and tame and -domesticate some of the people. After all, she had converted only the -weaker and gentler of them with her synthetabs; she had gained control -over only a small percentage of the killers, the lesser carnivores. No, -she had never really threatened The One's dominance. - -Pritchard was right. Now that her carefully woven veil of illusion was -torn away, she knew that there were killers. Everywhere. Always had -been. Killers, killers, killers.... - -The One proved that. It killed a hundred times a day. This world -was Its preserve and It roamed and fed and slew as It chose, only -occasionally for food. Perhaps this was the only reason for existence, -in the last analysis--in a cruel Cosmos one lived only to be killer or -killed. - -It mattered not. This was the end. Angered by the advent of more of -her kind, It had no doubt decided to wipe out both her and them, -recognizing in them all a degree of intelligence which, in force, could -threaten Its control. It would move against the ship, if indeed It had -not already done so. - -But It would certainly destroy her. This attack would have no other -meaning. - -But she would cheat It. The One could not move faster than her knife! - -There was not much time now, and certainly no hope. The battle raging -before her was mounting to its inevitable bloody climax. - -Her people could not hold out much longer. Their courage and faith and -loyalty might not survive so terrible an ordeal. Were not some of the -birds already winging away to distant refuge? - -It was too bad. She would have liked to see the tall hunter once more -before she.... His eyes had been so piercing! She had forgotten what a -man could be like. If only she had not been so balky yesterday! - -But it was not to be. He had come, in one of those two jet cruisers, -thundering across the killer-infested meadow, and he had gone. He -had seen and not understood. Battles between alien beasts were of no -concern to him. He might even return, to make cam-rec footage from -aloft of this amazing battle. - -Hope flashed. She could signal him! What could she use? - -How could she catch a roving eye in a ten-mile-a-minute jet? - -She tossed up her head, eyes suddenly narrowed. - -Something came screaming around the mountain above her, followed by a -second screaming something. - -Then hell erupted beyond the battle line. Blast followed concussive -blast, causing the big gorillas to cower and the other ones to charge -about in helpless panic. Between the jarring blasts sounded the -rippling crackle of dual-mounted automatic snappers. - -The screams faded off into the sky. A stunned silence reigned along the -battle perimeter. An acrid smoke drifted over the ground. - -Then, just as groups were sporadically renewing their death-grips here -and there, the twin screams sounded beyond the mountain again. - - - V - -"Two laps around the track and then to the showers!" yelled Greene, his -fingers dancing over the rocket release and snapper buttons. - -Leaning back against the rudder bar, Pritchard grinned. "You forget the -passes along the river banks. They make it four laps." - -Then he threw a quick glance over his shoulder, but he couldn't make -much through the welter of rising dirt columns. - -They came around the mountain in a tight curve. As they flattened for -a run on the meadow they could see things scurrying for the water. The -meadow itself was a churned and pitted mess. Bodies were thickly strewn -everywhere. - -"There she is!" yelled Sturgis. "You were right, chief. See her--over -by the mountain?" - -A tiny figure, mounted on a six-legged equine, was riding furiously -back and forth. The defense arc was swelling outward, as her "people" -rose to the offensive and began charging the demoralized attackers. - -Then the two cruisers were racing through their run on the as yet -unstrafed portion of the meadow furthest from the mountain. Sturgis's -craft bucked as it rode the shock-waves from Greene's rocket blasts. -As they shot in a wide curve around the other side of the mountain -Pritchard said, "We'd better skip our last pass. Let's just sit down -and work in close. I don't want her to get away." - -They cut jets and floated in over the jungle, side-slipping to lose -speed. With feather-light fingers at their controls, the cruisers -skimmed the trampled meadow grass and touched down their wheels. As -they rolled, Pritchard and Sturgis flung open cockpit windows and let -bright fire from their flamers spew over the ground, while Greene and -Kemp sprayed right and left with their snappers. - -Things struggled in the crisping, burning grass, crackling and -roasting. Even as he turned the nozzle this way and that, Pritchard's -face was a mask of disgust. All around the slowing ships, Cornelia's -"people" galloped and raced with a vengeful, slaying lust. - -"All out," said Pritchard. "Everybody take a flamer. We'll have to burn -a path to the girl." - -They climbed out and began walking toward the mountain four abreast, -flame billowing ahead of them. There seemed to be only dead things in -their path. - -Then, suddenly, the girl was there, astride a magnificent six-legged -equine type of animal, shaggy of coat and rather broad in the head. -She had ridden around the wall of fire and her mount was trembling and -shaking its head. - -They turned off the flamers and stared up at her. Rumbling, whinnying -sounds came from the equine's throat. She grunted and cooed back, as if -soothing it. Then she turned her eyes on the men below. - -"We wish to thank you." Her pale face was drawn and there was a -suspicion of tears in her voice. "You came just in time." - -She seemed small and absurdly girlish perched on that long back. Those -inadequate strips of hide were still her only covering. - -Pritchard nodded shortly. "If you'll be so good as to keep your -be--people--out of our way, we'll sterilize this island. Just burn off -all the cover and see to it there's none of them left. Why don't you -herd your--uh--friends over onto what we've already--" - -"That won't be necessary," she cut in. "They'll all be gone in another -minute." - -"What makes you so sure of that?" - -"The One is probably calling them off." - -"The--what?" - -She put her face in her hands. Pritchard frowned his puzzlement. How -had so helpless a child managed to survive in a world like this? - -"I'd like very much to know what this is all about, Miss Boyce," he -said gently. "In fact, the reason we happened along is that we are -looking for you. We thought you might be able to explain what happened -last night." - -As he told her, she lifted her face from her hands and her brimming -eyes grew round. Before he had finished describing what they had found -in the blower, she was shaking her head in despair. - -"This is all your doing. This world was at peace until you came. Now -The One is aroused. You see, it was The One that went into your ship--" - -"The One?" A crispness came into his voice. "Miss Boyce, I think you'd -better start at the beginning and give us a complete explanation. Just -exactly what is this 'One' you keep talking about?" - - * * * * * - -She closed her eyes again. A slight shudder ran through her body and -she shook her head dazedly. - -"The One," she murmured, "is after us all now. It began by entering -your ship. Then It sent Its people against mine--against me. It won't -stop until It has destroyed us all, and It--It's something I'd just as -lief not describe. - -"My people call it something which I have translated as 'The One'. To -them, it means 'first', or 'leader', or something like that. It was in -control of all the people here on Thisbe when the Survey arrived, and -I'm afraid It still is. It wants to remain in control. You see, It's -quite intelligent." - -"I can believe that," Pritchard said. "It not only figured out how to -get into the ship, but it also figured out how to find McManus." - -"Oh, no, I don't believe it just went after him. Wasn't his cabin the -nearest to the place it entered?" - -"Well, yes, as a matter of fact, it was." - -"Oh, you don't understand The One as I do," she cried. "It would never -be satisfied with just one. It came into your ship to feed on all of -you. McManus was just the first person It found. From what you tell me, -It wasn't even finished with him. There wouldn't be--anything--left...." - -"Then why did It go away?" - -"I couldn't tell you. Perhaps when your blower short-circuited, it -arced a little. The One is very sensitive to fire. But It's not -through. It will come back, one way or another." - -"I think we can deal with it if it does," Pritchard smiled. "And it -sent these unpleasant things at you? How can it do that?" He shot an -appraising glance around the torn and bloody meadow with its mounds of -dead and dying things. - -When he turned back the girl was weeping. Sobs she could not suppress -were shaking those nut-brown, rounded shoulders. "It has some kind -of mental control," came her muffled voice. "Besides, they fear It -dreadfully. Oh, my people, my poor people." - -"Well, now, look," soothed Pritchard, "it's all over now. You'd better -come back with us. I guess you've learned you can't make people out of -all these animals. Besides, you've got an interesting story to tell the -Board--" - -"D-damn the B-B-Board," she said a little unsteadily. "Then you'll take -me with you?" - -Pritchard smiled his broadest smile. "But of course!" - -"Then let's hurry," she pleaded. "We have so little time." - -"Why? What's the hurry?" - -"The One! The One!" she burst out in sudden anxiety. "It'll come for us -any minute, don't you understand?" - -"Okay, okay," soothed Pritchard. He and the others were smiling at -her excitement, when her equine suddenly reared so suddenly that she -tumbled off. They started to her assistance, but she landed light as a -cat on her feet. She stared wildly about her. - -The equine uttered a growl and galloped off. The girl remained -crouched, her eyes darting in every direction. - -"Now what?" said Pritchard. - -"The One," she breathed. "It's somewhere near. My sextuped would never -have bolted like that otherwise." - -"Oh, for Pete's sake," said Pritchard, taking her arm. "Come on--" - -"Say, Mr. Pritchard, what's that thing over there?" Kemp pointed off to -his left. - -"Oh, God, no...." Cornelia's voice was a quavering moan. - -Pritchard glanced where the stocky lad was pointing. What appeared to -be an exceptionally tall and unusually red grass blade was wavering -gently, as if bending to a mild breeze, about fifty yards off. - -"Hell," muttered Sturgis, "that face is familiar." - -Pritchard started walking toward it, the others following him. "Let's -fan out a bit," he said, "until we see what this is." - -"Come back, come back," came the girl's agonized whisper behind them. -"Don't go near...." - -They ignored her. At a distance of ten yards Pritchard halted. They all -watched with consuming curiosity. - -The slender red thing was growing. Or, rather, it was pouring out of -the ground, crumbs of dirt sticking to its glistening scarlet wetness, -its delicately tapering tip now some ten or twelve feet in the air. - -Pritchard shifted the flamer tank on his shoulders and started to say, -"I think--", when a maned gorilla loping across the meadow some hundred -yards away gave a sudden scream and broke into a wild, shambling run -in the other direction. Another animal gave bellowing voice, and -another--and abruptly there was commotion, spreading over the island -toward the mountain. - -Pritchard cleared his throat. "Get around it, boys. Let it keep coming, -but when I say the word give it a lick of fire." - -The waving red spire stood some fifteen feet high now. As he -circled into his position with the others, he noticed two things -simultaneously. Another little scarlet tip was questing up through the -trampled grass close to the first one. And, out of the corner of his -eye he could see the animals that were Cornelia's people streaming -either way along the base of the mountain, in a frenzied rout to get to -the river on the other side. - -Then Cornelia's hands were clenching his arm, her voice panting -hysterically in his ear. "Run, Pritchard! You don't know what you're up -against. Oh, believe me," she sobbed, "please, please, please believe -me. This is The One." - -His eyes focusing on the growing scarlet tips--the second one had grown -almost as high as the first--Pritchard smiled indulgently. "We're going -to stay for the fun," he said. "What happened to all your friends? -Stampeded, didn't they?" - -She opened her mouth to reply but her answer was cut off by Greene's -sudden scream. - -Greene screamed as McManus had screamed last night. Screamed and sank -writhing to his knees. Some kind of frothing slime was running down -over his shoulders and chest, dissolving the acid-repellent cordron -jacket, running down over Greene from what had been his head. - -From between the bases of the now thick, tall red tongues, another jet -of liquid squirted toward Sturgis. He leaped sideways and it missed him -clean. "Holy Damn!" he shouted. - -Pritchard gripped the flamer's trigger. "Give it hell!" he roared. - - * * * * * - -Three streams of fire converged in a ball of flame on the twin red -spires. They disappeared in the rippling, booming fire. - -"Hold it!" Pritchard shut off his flamer and the others followed suit. -Holding the nozzle before him, he walked to the place where the things -had been. - -There was nothing there, except a hole where the tangled grass had been -disturbed, and a kind of pit in the ground, into which loose dirt was -still dribbling. He backed a step and turned the flamer on, playing -fire into the pit and around it. Then he shut it off. - -"You fool," came the girl's voice at his elbow. "You damned fool. You -just won't believe me, will you?" - -Pritchard lifted his gaze toward what had once been Cadet Greene. -Richard Harrison Greene, a rollicking lad from the Cumberland Gap. -Thomas Guilfoyle McManus, a man with a red-haired soul. McManus, first, -and, now, Greene. The hunter's face was turned to stone. - -"Keep your eyes peeled," he said harshly to the others and stalked -off to the place where the squirt of liquid had landed after missing -Sturgis. Some thirty feet from where it had been ejected, there was no -grass but a four-foot smear where the ground bubbled and frothed. The -stench hovering over this spot was incredible, even to the man who had -encountered it before. - -He turned to confront Cornelia who had followed him. "I don't know -whether I can get it through your thick head or not," she bit out, -"you've simply got to get out of here. You can't--" - -"Get this through _your_ thick head, Miss Boyce," said Pritchard -between clenched teeth. "This thing, whatever it is, has killed two of -my men. I'm quite ready to believe it is intelligent, possibly the most -intelligent organism on this planet. But it's a killer just the same -and we're going to kill it. None of your idealistic theories are going -to stop us, either." - -She stared at him, beginning to shake her head a little wildly. "You -can't kill it! That's what I'm trying to tell you. It can't be k--" - -There was a sudden crash. Cornelia whirled and screamed. The three men -and the girl stood transfixed. - -Over by the river one of the jet cruisers was on its side, resting on -a crumpled wing. The other was forty feet in the air, and rising, held -in the coil of an impossible red monstrosity rearing its long wet self -into the sky. - -It was a worm, a very long, thin worm at least a hundred feet long, not -counting what remained underground. It towered some fifty feet into the -air, about thirty-five feet more of it wrapped around the cruiser. At -its tip two fifteen-feet-long feelers writhed and wriggled, as if still -smarting from the scorching they had received. - -The coil slipped a little. The cruiser, looking more than ever like a -beetle at this moment, slid slowly out and fell. And again it crashed -into the cruiser on the ground and rolled ponderously off it. - -"Good ... God!" came Sturgis's voice shakily at Pritchard's elbow. The -Chief Hunter was still too appalled to speak. He stared as the worm's -rope-like body came curving down out of the sky, down to the cruisers -again. Seeing how that red length alternately thinned to a one-foot -thickness and swelled again to three feet and more as it oozed around -the cruiser that had remained on the ground, he had a vision of how it -had entered the _Apollo_, shrinking itself to a mere six-inch thread -that poured through the intake port, seeping along the duct, swelling, -bulging at McManus's air-grill ... and coming out of the ground, -probably close to the ship, it had evaded the radar field. - -Cornelia's agonized face swam before his eyes. He felt his body shaking -in the grip of her slender hands. Words-- - -"--fool, run! _Listen to me!_ It's busy smashing your ships. We have a -chance. Run--to the mountain! Oh, dear God...." - -At first he was like a sleep-walker. They turned him around and pushed -him into a stumbling run, but his head turned back, his eyes large and -almost vacant on that scene by the river. - -Then he was running. It was a good two hundred yards to the mountain, -but the grass was mashed to a springy tangle under their feet and they -had only to skirt the thickly-strewn bodies. The girl took the lead, -the men not far in the rear, the nozzles of their flamers flapping out -behind them. - -A crash, followed by a dull roar, came to them. They shot quick glances -over their shoulders. The fuel tanks of one of the cruisers had let go -and fire was blooming from the now distant beetle. The worm was arching -wildly away, and then sinking in a curve to the ground. - -"How fast--can it go--on the--surface?" panted Pritchard. - -"Much faster--than under--ground!" Cornelia muttered. - - - VI - -She was leading the way to the thin, rough ridge that marched up the -mountain between two of its smooth planes of fracture. She sprang to -the ridge and began running lightly up it. At twenty feet she stopped. - -The men were slower. The ridge was nothing but saw-toothed points of -raw rock, hard and glassy and glittering. They had not had the girl's -practice with it. - -She motioned Kemp past her and called down to Pritchard. "This is our -only hope. I've never seen The One on any of these mountains. I'm sure -It can't climb the smooth sides--" - -"And we can hold It back with our flamers. Good girl." - -"But hadn't we better get a little higher?" queried Sturgis. - -"Higher!" echoed the girl. "We've got to get to the top!" - -Frantically, they climbed, taking insane chances, fantastically -insecure holds, scrambling, cutting their hands on the raw rock edges, -living a nightmare.... - -At last Kemp and Cornelia, weak with exhaustion, sank against the -ridge, gasping and heaving. Sturgis, next in line, had no breath with -which to berate them. He could only crouch there and stare helplessly -at them both. - -Pritchard braced his feet and dared to look down. The One was a -straight red line across the meadow, a gleam of highlight from Its wet -side where the afternoon sun struck It. (Unconsciously he thought of It -now as Cornelia did, as a person.) It was heading for the foot of the -ridge. - -They all stared down, sucking in their tortured breaths. Waiting for It -to reach the ridge and start climbing, Pritchard found himself studying -It detachedly. He realized his courage and reason were somehow reviving. - -It was, after all, a worm. It differed from a six-inch Terran -night-crawler only in that It measured about a hundred and fifty feet -in length, and was proportionately much thinner, like a snake. It also -differed in those snail-like tips that probed out into slim, delicate -points or contracted into thick stubs scarce six feet long. Those tips -were investigating the jagged rock of the ridge now. - -And he saw that there were tips at the other end, too. But one was -missing. Only a round stump accompanied the other long trailing -feeler. It was a fair index of The One's terrible strength, Pritchard -thought--realizing where the rest of that tip was now--that, in -trying to wrench Itself clear, It had knocked over a hundred-foot, -five-thousand-ton space ship. - -"It's coming," said Kemp in a shrill, brittle voice. The hunter shot a -glance at the stocky youth and saw he was fighting hysteria. - -The One was rippling slowly up the ridge. Pritchard guessed Its speed -was greater than it seemed at that distance. Like a scarlet river, It -poured steadily up. - -"After I've used this," said Cornelia in an even, conversational voice, -"you gentlemen can have it if you don't mind having to pull it out of -me." She held up her long knife, and there was no expression on her -face. - -Kemp and Sturgis could only stare at her. Pritchard couldn't warn her -by asking them to take it away from her, and anyway this was no place -for a wrestle. - -"And why do you think we would want that?" he asked in as pleasant a -tone as he could manage. - -"So much better than a flamer or jumping," she replied. "Take my advice -and--" - -"I wish you would pull yourself together," said Pritchard. "You're -frightening Kemp up there." - -Startled, Kemp stared back down at his chief, and then he closed his -mouth in a firm line. Pritchard congratulated himself that the remark -was a stone that had slain two birds. - -"You don't honestly think there's a way out of this," exclaimed -Cornelia, "with--with--" - -"What I wouldn't give for my snapper!" breathed Kemp. - -"Or one of those five-inchers," and Sturgis jerked his head at the -little tumbled beetles over at the river. - -"There isn't a rocket-tube down there I'd trust now," said Pritchard. -"They're all bunged out of alignment. Some of the snappers might still -be in shape to use...." His voice trailed off. Something was taking -shape in his thoughts, something revolving about a word Cornelia had -uttered--the word "jump." - -"Well, what _can_ we do?" muttered Sturgis tensely. The worm was still -well below, but coming steadily up. They could see the little scarlet -tips now, questing over the jagged edges. Behind was all humping -redness. - -"We were very foolish--" Pritchard checked himself. "I was very -foolish. I permitted us to be outmaneuvered. The one thing that monster -doesn't want is for one of us to get back to the cruisers--" - -"I've been thinking," Sturgis cut in. "Why don't we empty all our -flamer tanks along the ridge here, climb all the way to the top and -then, as soon as it's almost there, spark the fuel and give it a good -roasting?" - -Pritchard shook his head. "I thought of that. You forget how volatile -that stuff is. By the time it gets there--no, I've got a better use for -the flamers." - -He began unstrapping the tank from his shoulders. "Kemp, pass yours on -down. No, hang on to it, just in case. Sturgis, you take my position -and hold It off as long as you can--" He glanced at the gauge on the -light plastic tank and shook his head grimly. "Okay, children, let's -get going--to the top." - -The mountain wasn't really much of a mountain, being only some five -hundred feet high. Their first frantic scramble up the ridge had -carried them almost two-thirds of the way. - -Behind them, the worm was flowing steadily upward, like a river of -blood, along the narrow ridge. - -"Kemp," panted Pritchard as the short young man finally and painfully -inched over the knife-edged peak. - -Kemp turned, stretching out a hand to Cornelia to help her up and over. -"Yes?" - -"I'm putting this girl in your charge. She's your responsibility--" - -"What are you going to do?" put in Cornelia quickly. - -Pritchard looked up into those gray-green eyes so intent upon him. -A pang of regret stabbed through him. He was no longer seeing her -sweet-lined body. Here was a girl he could have ridden the starways -with. A person with enough courage and resource to have held her own -in this killer-infested Eden. - -"I'm taking a powder, as they used to say back on good old Terra. I'm -gambling. Gambling that I can get back to the one cruiser that hasn't -burnt up all its wiring, and call the ship." He slapped the leg-pocket -of his breeches. Kemp nodded. The pocket contained a ready-packed -emergency chute. - - * * * * * - -Cornelia shook her head slowly. "You'll never make it--" - -"He might," said Kemp. - -"I'll bet I can," said Pritchard. "I've got to." - -"The One will get you," she said. "It can get into one of those things -easily. It'll take only a little of Its digestive juice...." Her face -puckered and those emerald eyes shone brighter, but she fought for and -regained control. - -"So?" Pritchard smiled. "You'll be well rid, then, of that notorious -big-game hunter, Elmer Pritchard." - -"I don't want to be rid of him," she said softly. "I want him with -me--at the end." - -He bowed. "Thank you, Miss Boyce." - -"Call me Cornelia, please." - -"And you," he said, "may call me Elmer--a name I permit no one to -use--" he bent forward "--but you, now." - -Their lips brushed and clung. - -"Fine time for love-making," muttered Kemp. - -Below them, a flamer squealed suddenly. Sturgis, unknown to them, had -lingered behind. Now, a hundred feet down the ridge, he fired a burst -at the worm--a warning burst, for the dread feelers hung high above his -head on a long, curving tendon of red wetness. - -The flamer had an effective range of only thirty feet, but the slimy -scarlet rope curved away, dropping off to one side and extending -out into the air. The feelers contracted to mere knobs and the end -thickened into a club. - -A haymaker, drawing back, poised and cocked. Pritchard saw it and -howled, "Sturgis! Duck!" - -But there was to be no ducking that swing. Sturgis hugged the thin -spine of crag and threw up a blossom of fire. But the rope came -flailing about, slashing through the flame, and neatly flicked him off. - -They watched the body arcing out over the meadow, the spare flamer of -Pritchard twisting after it, and saw it sink on down, to stop suddenly -against the turf. - -Kemp began to curse. Pritchard pulled the emergency chute pack from his -leg-pocket and began snapping the light harness about his long frame. - -"Cut that out," he said coldly. "Just hang on, Kemp, and watch. If I've -got this baby figured out right, It's going to lose interest in you two -in about as many seconds." - -"Good-bye, Elmer," came Cornelia's voice forlornly. - -The worm's first half was recovering from the follow-through of that -swing, draping itself back along the ridge yard by relentless yard. -Pritchard turned, holding the chute cord in his fist. He forced a grin -that he was afraid looked more like a grimace. "So long, kiddies," he -said, and jumped. - -At this point the leaning peak overhung the ground and he flung himself -as far out as possible, trying for distance. The smooth, almost -polished wall slanted away from him and the meadow swung upward. - -He pulled the cord at the last minute. As the filmy neosilk billowed -above him, and the harness seemed to jerk him back up from the -onrushing ground, he managed to twist a glance back up at the ridge. - -The One was motionless. That was good. - -It had seen him. - -Then he drew up his knees. The ground slammed into him and he lay -there, stunned, letting the filmy folds flutter down over him. - -Then he was up, bruised but whole, on his knees and scrabbling out from -under the light gray stuff. By crawling under every line he avoided -entanglement and in a minute was clear and running, unsnapping the -harness as he went. - -Not until he was well away from the mountain did he dare a glance over -his shoulder. Then he almost stumbled, at the chill terror gusting -through him, freezing every muscle. - -The worm was a red festoon, drooping from the ridge. Even as he looked, -Its whole length came off, to fall writhing out of sight momentarily at -the base of the mountain. - -He hadn't expected that. He had planned for It to back laboriously -down the way It came, giving him a decent margin of time. But it had -crossed him up. Now he had seconds instead of minutes. - -He put his head down and dug in, pumping his tired, aching legs -furiously. This was the worst gamble of his career, against the longest -odds. He had no idea how fast the worm could go on level ground. - -Suddenly, he was racing a shadow. In the slanting light of Piramus, -setting through the afternoon, something like an elongated caricature -of a snail's head crept across the grass beside him--two long slivers -of tapering purple shadow. - -Then he saw his flamer, lying almost dead ahead where it had landed -after being catapulted off the ridge. Sobs rasping his throat, he -slanted toward it, dove and rolled, to come up clutching it. - -There was a spattering sound close by, a spatter that changed to an -angry fizzing. Pritchard swung the nozzle up in the very face of the -glistening red column swaying toward him. He squeezed the handle-grip. - -Through the booming flame, he saw the shape twisting aside and followed -it with fire. It went down to the ground, backing away into a swelling -body. The worm writhed desperately away from that searing plume of -licking flames. - -Pritchard wheeled and ran toward the cruiser that had not burned. - -Evil-smelling juice slashed across the upturned belly of the ship as he -savagely wrenched open the buckled door and tumbled in, dragging the -flamer in after him. He stumbled across the roof-struts and lunged for -the upside-down radio panel. - -The cruisers' radios were on their own battery-powered circuits. -He snapped the power on and heard the slow hum and sputter of the -warming tubes. He poked in the button labeled AUT. EM. SIG. a standard -repeating distress call on a tight beam. - -Then he was flung against the opposite wall. As he struggled back to -his feet, pressure against them told him the cruiser was rising, and he -knew very well it was not doing so under its own power. - -A glistening red wall bulged against the door-frame through which he -had come. Pritchard realized that once again the cruiser was being -hoisted aloft in the worm's coil. It was going to drop him, to kill -him quickly, rather than poke inside and face his flamer. - -Pritchard snatched the flamer and staggered toward the opening. Jabbing -the nozzle into that scarlet slime, he gripped the handles. - - * * * * * - -Roaring heat beat back at him. He braced himself, ignoring his own -singeing flesh and crisping hair. - -The cruiser struck ground with a crash. He was flung sideways, threw up -an arm, and heard it snap. He dragged himself to the door which now was -turned to the ground. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Pritchard -hung his head through the opening and peered out. - -It was a crazy nightmare. The meadow was a ceiling, to his inverted -eyes, against which a giant red riband rolled and writhed in fantastic -configurations. Every melting convolution, every arching loop, -expressed pain and wrath. And, now and again, a livid blotch appeared -along its length, alternately turning purple and yellow, and dripping -streamers of drool. - -Then came a sound, a great tearing sound in the sky. Pritchard hauled -himself back into the ship and crawled to the radio. He switched off -the automatic signal and cut in the transmission band. - -"--the hell you got down there?" came Captain Savage's rasp. "Is that -you up on the rock, Mr. Pritchard? Mr. Pritchard--" - -"Captain!" yelled Pritchard. "Step on it! Come down on that monster. -I'm all right. Come ahead!" - -Then he snatched up a pair of solar goggles and worked his way to a -viewport, in time to see the _Apollo_, a magnificent column of metal in -the sky, descend on a pillar of incandescence--at the bottom of which -lay something that bubbled and cooked, rising in a last great arch of -simmering agony. - -The snaggle-toothed horizon of Thisbe II was rising across the dull -indigo disk of setting Piramus. Pritchard and Savage sat in their -gimbal chairs in the Forward Lounge. The old man's wispy white hairs -stirred in the evening breeze sucked in by the blowers. - -"And every time I wonder if my hunting days aren't over," sighed -Pritchard. Experimentally, he worked on the flexicast on his right arm. - -"Huh," grunted the captain. "Not you. One week on Terra and you'll be -telling yourself the next time it just can't be as bad. Or that this -wasn't as bad as it seemed. Anything, you'll tell yourself. Anything to -start--" - -Cornelia appeared in the doorway. "Good evening, gentlemen," she said -coolly. She was wearing cordron slacks and a soft neosilk blouse, that -seemed to enjoy clinging to her contours. - -"Good evening," croaked Captain Savage. He stood up, and stretched -restlessly. - -"Oh, don't go," said Cornelia. - -"Well, if we're blasting off in the morning, I've got things to do. -These days it's the old men who do all the work." He chuckled as he -eased past her through the door, and gave her shoulder a little pat. -"Good hunting." - -The girl watched him go down the passage. "Whatever did he mean by -that?" she inquired. "'Good hunting'." - -"Oh, it's just an expression," said Pritchard vaguely. - -She came over to him and turned about on her bare feet. "No shoes that -fit," she said. "How do you like what I managed to scrounge from the -men?" - -He pulled her down to him with one lazy reach of his good arm. "I'm -afraid," he murmured, "that I liked you better the way you were." - -"You know," she spoke muffledly against his shoulder, "you're something -of a beast." - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AS IT WAS *** - -***** This file should be named 63953-0.txt or 63953-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/9/5/63953/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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Payne - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: As It Was - -Author: Paul L. Payne - -Release Date: December 05, 2020 [EBook #63953] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AS IT WAS *** -</pre> -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>AS IT WAS</h1> - -<h2>By PAUL L. PAYNE</h2> - -<p><i>In a cruel Cosmos one lived only to be killer or<br /> -killed.</i> The One <i>proved that</i>. It <i>killed<br /> -a hundred times a day. Thisbe II was its blood-red<br /> -preserve ... and now, throwing the challenge in</i> Its<br /> -<i>myriad faces was Pritchard, the brightest name in big-game<br /> -hunting throughout the length and breadth of Galaxy A.</i></p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories November 1952.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Dawn on Thisbe II was much like dawn on Terra, except for the color. -The giant star Piramus lifted its magenta disk above the little -planet's fore-shortened horizon and, in that brief moment, sent orange -corona flares shimmering out from its limb. An odd ionization effect -caused faint ripples of light to flicker in the purple sky above.</p> - -<p>As the sun ascended, the magenta brightened into a crimson dazzle with -a lavender halo. The flanks of distant mountains flamed curiously, as -if their sides were smooth and polished mirrors.</p> - -<p>Yet nothing gleamed with such intensity as the good ship <i>Apollo</i>, -towering a hundred and ten feet on her fins. Her surface—chrome-plated -nickel-steel coated with a thick porcelain glaze—was expressly -designed to bounce back every slightest beam of light.</p> - -<p>So she stood now like a flaming sword, in the center of a wide black -circle, the area of yesterday's landing burn, and lay across it a -wide fan of reflected sunlight. Presently, a thing like an enormous -grasshopper-leg unfolded from her side. In its grasp was something that -looked like a tray full of erect ants. The tray touched ground softly, -the ants walked off and became men, and the long derrick folded back -into the <i>Apollo</i>, taking the tray with it.</p> - -<p>The men left on the ground stood looking about them eagerly. After some -of the barren, hostile worlds they had visited this one seemed little -short of Paradise. From the eminence on which the ship stood they -could look in every direction at rolling hills, among which clumps of -feathery foliage rose profusely, and occasional startling upthrusts of -rock, like clubs brandished from underground, leaning in every possible -angle and having frequently such straight planes of cleavage that they -almost seemed artificial. Olive-hued hills and dramatic fists of rock -alike marched off to a disturbingly close-appearing horizon, where -began a sky that was not blue but lavender.</p> - -<p>They stamped the ground. It was one thing to have watched this wonder -swell on the visiscreens as the ship tore around on its landing orbit, -and to have craned and peered through the heavy leaded glass of the -viewports after the landing in yesterday's sunset. Neither of these -quite matched the delight of seeing it all with unaided and unimpeded -vision. They smelled the air, so rich and invigorating after the ship's -mustiness.</p> - -<p>They were all young but one. And this one faced them now, a tall, -saturnine man, but with an amusement lurking in his dark, deep-set -eyes. "Attention, cadet hunters," he said briskly, "let's have another -equipment check."</p> - -<p>They rolled their eyes at him and quirked their mouths in simulated -resignation. Yet the readiness with which they formed a semi-circle -about him showed their pride in obeying his orders. They knew they were -lucky to be under Pritchard, the brightest name in planetary big-game -hunting throughout the length and breadth of Galaxy A.</p> - -<p>For each of them had fought hard for his place in this latest -expedition to be led by Pritchard. The ex-pilot-turned-sportsman -regularly accepted certain hardy young neophytes of the chase as -assistants on his expeditions; some aspired to follow in his footsteps -and others merely sought the thrills and danger that lurked along the -unknown trails of far-flung worlds.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Each one now showed his regular and special equipment to Pritchard. -Butt-first, they held out their snappers—the light Thorp-Snell hand -rocket-tube that launched a high explosive needle, deadly up to a -thousand yards. Pritchard inspected load and action, and then thumbed -the gleaming edge of each man's chopper, or matchet which had been -derived from the old Terran hatchet and machete combined. It was really -a long, broad blade with a flattened-out, hatchet-shaped head.</p> - -<p>The special equipment consisted of a squawkie, the portable radio, -carried by the phlegmatic Sturgis; the cam-rec, a light camera and tape -recorder combined, slung over Kemp's plump shoulders; the flamer, or -flame-thrower, its full plastic tank strapped to Majinski's back; the -two packets of synthetabs or food concentrates enough for a week for -them all should they get lost—hung to the belt of red-headed McManus; -and the first-aid kit strapped to Pritchard's own lean shoulders. To -the remaining five men would fall the pleasure of carrying all this -stuff back when the little scouting party returned.</p> - -<p>At last Pritchard beckoned to the squawkie-man and spoke into its -'phragm. "All set, Cap. See anything?" The voice of Captain Savage, -high above the rocket batteries in the towering nose, came back as a -thin rasping. His report was negative. "Must be a lull between the -night carnivores and the daytime ruminants. Looks like a few flocks of -birds far away."</p> - -<p>"Fine. We'll head east and dig around in that jungle down there a bit. -We'll turn back after noon chow."</p> - -<p>The captain's "Good hunting" ended with a click. Pritchard turned -calmly and started walking off the hard gloss the <i>Apollo's</i> -hell-breathing stern tubes had made of this once-grassy spot, into the -blackened wisps and dust. The men followed him in a loose, straggling -group, ten men in all, swaggering for the benefit of the envious eyes -of those remaining in the ship.</p> - -<p>McManus strode rapidly until he had caught up with the tall hunter. The -red-haired boy's idolatry was plain in his wide blue eyes.</p> - -<p>"Why the jungle?" he said. "Why are you tackling the jungle, Mr. -Pritchard?"</p> - -<p>"Just for a sample. Also as a check. The whole planet's like this. -Can't land anywhere without being near the jungles that seem to fill up -every valley. I don't like cover like that so close to the ship. I want -to see what's in it."</p> - -<p>"Think we'll knock over anything?"</p> - -<p>"Not trying for it," said Pritchard shortly. He punched the younger man -on the biceps. "And unkink that trigger-finger of yours, hero boy."</p> - -<p>McManus grinned shamefacedly. "Ah, change your tapes, will you? I only -need one mistake to learn."</p> - -<p>Pritchard snorted. "On that Deneb asteroid, you promised. You seemed to -understand. Then you thought you'd like one of those big clamshells for -a souvenir. Remember what came out of those shells after you fired?"</p> - -<p>The boy moved his shoulders. "Remember! I dream about them regularly -every tenth night."</p> - -<p>"I'm also thinking about a man named Munson." Pritchard's tone had -become soft and musing. "That name mean anything to you?"</p> - -<p>McManus shrugged. "There must be a million Munsons. None of 'em ever -meant anything to me."</p> - -<p>"Every hunter remembers Munson," said Pritchard flatly. "And everybody -on Terra remem—"</p> - -<p>Something squeaked under his foot. Pritchard flung himself sideways -into the blackened stubble, rolled, and came up in a crouch, snapper at -ready, while McManus stood blinking at him. Pritchard came back slowly, -narrowed gaze riveted on the spot where he had stepped. McManus backed -away, raising his own snapper. The rest of the men came running up.</p> - -<p>Pritchard knelt and picked up something. It was stiff and charred and -smelt acridly, but the men clustering around could see it had six legs. -There was a click and a whirr as Kemp started the cam-rec.</p> - -<p>Then McManus said, "I'll be damned" and picked up something else. It -squealed and squirmed in his hand, and it also had six legs.</p> - -<p>"What is it?" queried Majinski over his shoulder. "Rabbit?"</p> - -<p>"Or squirrel," put in Greene, a rangy blond boy.</p> - -<p>"Some kind of rodent, anyway," said Pritchard. He ran a finger the -wrong way through baby fur and the little sharp muzzle flicked around -to snap at him. He stood up. "The mother shielded it from our stern -jetwash. She died that Junior might live." He wiped his hands on his -cordron breeches. "Bring it along, Tom. We'll drop it in the tall -grass."</p> - -<p>By the time they reached the tall grass beyond the perimeter of the -burn, Tom McManus had become attached to the little fur-ball, with its -whiskery nose and knob-like feet, and found that it snuggled nicely in -his breast pocket. Pritchard smiled indulgently and they all waded into -the waist-high grass.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They went slowly, partly out of caution and partly because the long, -thick-growing blades clogged and bunched around their legs. Little -things went hopping and chittering out of their way, and the sun began -to lay its heat on them. Birds, as yet unseen, called and cried and -whistled in the dense growth ahead.</p> - -<p>They went down a long slope, and then bushes began to shoulder up -above the grass-tips and trees sprang up, some arching their feathery -fern-like trunks until they began to lace together overhead and others -dangling enormous round leaves from long drooping stems.</p> - -<p>The transition to jungle was gradual, with more and more sunlight -filtered out of the growing shade, and vines and creepers becoming -abundant about the ankles. The choppers appeared and began swinging -and slashing, and all were grateful for the shade and its attendant -coolness. Something crashed heavily away, hidden by the dark -brown-green wall before them.</p> - -<p>It began to be real jungle. Pritchard stopped before a sturdy hedge. He -had chopped into it and found a long tough root from which the heavy -chopper only seemed to bounce back.</p> - -<p>"Hell," he grunted as McManus came up. "Joe," he called, "let's have -the flamer here."</p> - -<p>"Ah, what's the matter with you!" grinned McManus. He took his own -chopper between both hands and raised it high over his head. "You must -be ... getting ... <i>old</i>!" And he brought the heavy blade down with all -his force.</p> - -<p>Pritchard had stepped back, amusement twisting his lips. Majinski was -shouldering forward with the flamer's nozzle ready. The chopper's edge -chunked into the root—</p> - -<p>And it came alive. The whole length of it flailed up into the air, -flinging the whirling chopper off into the gloom. The next instant the -air was full of writhing ropey lengths that whipped down on the men, -lashing thick branches off as they came.</p> - -<p>"Look out!" yelled Pritchard needlessly, as the men cowered and ducked, -arms flung over their heads.</p> - -<p>Then something whipped about him hard, stinging and driving the breath -from him. He felt himself swung up, his arms pinioned.</p> - -<p>He caught a glimpse of other bodies rising with him, heard hoarse -screaming and yelling.</p> - -<p>Branches lashed by him and suddenly he was looking down on the -jungle from high in the air, looking down on a sea of foliage, big, -dish-shaped leaves lying atop the spreading ferns. Then he was curving -down again, dizzyingly.</p> - -<p>He saw it. A great maw, like the throat of an orchid, with a fringe of -giant tentacles. It seemed to be rushing up at him.</p> - -<p>Fighting to free his arms, he realized they were not held below the -elbows. By crossing over with his left hand, he could draw his snapper -and shift its butt into his right.</p> - -<p>But he was descending into that obscenely working orifice, choking on -its acrid stench, before he could manage it. The little needles went -tseeu, tseeu, tseeu, down into the quivering pulp. They could be death -for him at this range. Pritchard, dangling there in that moment of -eternity, could only avert his face from the crisp blasts gusting back -at him.</p> - -<p>Abruptly he was flying through the air, his arms free. The snapper -arced off in one direction and Pritchard went into his own gyrating, -twisting, writhing parabola. A frond slapped him. A branch snapped -under his hip. He was falling into foliage. A thick stem slithered -along his hand and he grabbed at it, to hang on through an insane -pendulum swing that carried him whisperingly close to the ground.</p> - -<p>They found him crumpled at the foot of the tree against which he had -been dashed.</p> - -<p>Yet, within five minutes, he was reporting back to the ship that the -party was intact. The giant hydra-type plant, in its death throe, had -flung only him. The others had been held adangle in mid-air while -it chose to feed on Pritchard first and, although he had been sent -sailing, the tentacles gripping the others had simply loosened. One -man, dropped upside down from ten feet, had a fractured collarbone, but -they were even now cementing a flexicast in place and he would continue -with the rest. Majinski had had the flamer torn from his hand and they -weren't able to find it.</p> - -<p>In fifteen minutes they were hacking steadily ahead again, more slowly -now that they had no flamer, and having to stop to trace every creeper -to its root before they chopped through it.</p> - -<p>Pritchard straightened up from a tangle he'd been attacking and eased -his bruised and aching back. He peered ahead into light-flecked gloom, -the matted mass of vine, creeper and branch that grew so chokingly high -they were virtually tunneling through. They would find no game this -way, he reflected, their chopping and hacking and swearing spreading -the alarm well ahead. The birds, for instance, had stopped singing. He -glanced briefly to his left at young McManus grunting and swinging.</p> - -<p>"Tom." Pritchard's tone was casual, but his eyes were alert and hard. -The red-headed man held his stroke and peered ludicrously under his -armpit.</p> - -<p>"Freeze," said Pritchard.</p> - -<p>The boy went rigid. "What is it?"</p> - -<p>"On the branch above you." Pritchard's voice cracked out above the -ringing blades. "Hold it, everybody! Hold it!" Then, in a lower tone, -he gave orders, and the three or four cadet hunters near McManus slowly -began to ease out their snappers. The cam-rec clicked into action.</p> - -<p>"For the cripes sake, what is it?" whispered McManus, the red of -exertion washing out of his face until it was a dripping ivory mask.</p> - -<p>"I don't know." Pritchard began waving his arms slowly to attract the -attention of the thing eighteen inches above that red hair. "I'd call -it a scorpion if it didn't look like a spider. I'd call it a spider if -it didn't look like a scorpion. It's not quite as big as a sheepdog." -He uttered a chirping whistle and continued to wave his arms.</p> - -<p>"For the love of God, blast it, then."</p> - -<p>"I didn't finish telling you about Munson," remarked Pritchard -conversationally. "Way back in 2018, he started the Venusian War—"</p> - -<p>"Must we have a history lesson now?" said McManus through clenched -teeth.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">II</p> - -<p>The thing above him made a convulsive movement, a quick clutching with -its claws as if preparing to spring. McManus's face went from ivory -to a dirty snow color. But the thing remained motionless, except that -under its gleaming yellow carapace Pritchard could see its thorax -pulsing evilly.</p> - -<p>"Munson," Pritchard went on dryly, his arms still flagging away, -although the spider-scorpion paid no apparent attention, "Munson was a -great scientist. He trapped a big beetle and experimented on it for a -week or so. Then he killed it for dissection. He had no idea it was a -Citizen of Venus."</p> - -<p>"Oh, I see," said the other sarcastically. "You're afraid to shoot this -thing. It might be what passes for human on this mud-ball. If it drops -on me, of course—"</p> - -<p>"Shut up!" Pritchard dropped his hand to his snapper. The thing had -stood up slowly, its segmented tail curving stiffly up behind it. "I -think it's going to strike. You talk too much."</p> - -<p>He brought the snapper up. "I'll do it, boys. I've got the clearest -shot—"</p> - -<p>A sharp hiss broke from the jungle. The spidion (as he thought of -calling it) jerked its ugly head about. Pritchard turned and caught his -breath with a sharp intake. McManus slowly lifted his head to follow -Pritchard's gaze. His chopper fell from his hand. All about them, men -stood on tiptoe or stooped or craned sideways to look. Somebody said, -"A woman!" Kemp panned the cam-rec about wildly until he caught her in -its viewer.</p> - -<p>She stood, straight and slim, on a gnarled stub protruding from a thick -tree-trunk, some ten feet from the ground and about twenty feet from -Pritchard, who was nearest her. Her honey-colored hair fell in crudely -cut locks to her shoulders, framing a youthful, cleanly-chiseled face -from which gray-green eyes gazed steadily. A strip of hide between -her legs joined another strip of hide at her waist, from which hung a -plaited grass sheath holding a long, narrow-bladed knife. A third strip -of hide had the obvious main function of binding down her billowing -breasts, rather than concealing them. Her skin had been tanned an even -nut-brown all over.</p> - -<p>From her lips came that sharp hiss again and she slapped her thigh -smartly. The spidion was gone in a scuttling rush. McManus sagged -weakly to the ground and drew a thick forearm across his forehead. -"Geez, thanks, sister," he muttered.</p> - -<p>"What are you doing here?" The girl's voice rang out through the -jungle's stillness.</p> - -<p>"Hunting," replied Pritchard.</p> - -<p>"Hunting what?"</p> - -<p>"Anything." He smiled up at her. "Anything big and tough. What are you -doing here?"</p> - -<p>He could just make out the corner of her mouth lifting in disdain. -"What do you mean by 'anything big and tough?'"</p> - -<p>Pritchard liked to have his own questions answered, too. "Who are you, -anyway?" he rapped out sternly. "How come you speak Terran English? -Where's the rest of your party?"</p> - -<p>The girl only frowned down at him. "By what right do you come tramping -in here killing all my people?"</p> - -<p>"All your <i>what</i>?" Pritchard blinked.</p> - -<p>"People, people, people. There are beings on this world who live and -breathe and think just like you. But you seem to think it's all right -to come in and kill them. For sport."</p> - -<p>Gazing up into those blazing emerald eyes and that delicious figure, -Pritchard felt an unaccustomed tingling through his nerves. Any woman, -however crippled, deformed or aged, could provoke some excitement after -the prison of deep space. But this beauty—</p> - -<p>He glanced sideways at McManus who had moved up alongside him. The -redhead had a feral grin on his freckled mug.</p> - -<p>"Relax," muttered Pritchard from the corner of his mouth. "This one's -for me."</p> - -<p>He said to the girl, "We haven't killed anything, certainly not any -people." The vision of that carbonized carcass back on the burn -flickered across his mind. "What do you think we are, murderers? You're -the first person we've seen."</p> - -<p>She cut him off with an impatient gesture. "You're a pack of killers, -all of you. I wouldn't expect you to understand."</p> - -<p>"Hey, Mr. Pritchard," called out Sturgis, "I'll bet she's from that -Havilland group. Ask her."</p> - -<p>Pritchard cocked his head. "That's right! You are, aren't you? The -Havilland Survey sent out by the Astrodetic Board. Unreported for four -years. What happened? Where's your base?"</p> - -<p>The girl nodded briefly. "And you're Pritchard, the notorious big-game -hunter. I've heard about you. Nothing good, of course, but I've heard."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Pritchard smiled his sweetest smile. "That's right. I'm well known for -my slaughter of helpless animals. But, come on, now," he coaxed, "how -about a report on your party? The Board will appreciate any little -message you care to send it."</p> - -<p>The girl gripped a vine as if to steady herself. "Wiped out," she said -tersely.</p> - -<p>"Oh." He nodded, lips pursed. Then, as if it were an afterthought, he -said, "How?"</p> - -<p>"What does it matter?" The face above was momentarily tense, withdrawn. -"With plenty of synthetabs—and the hydroponics laid out and -producing—somebody still had to go out and kill. For fresh meat." Her -voice trailed off.</p> - -<p>"And—?" Pritchard prompted.</p> - -<p>"Oh," she sighed wearily, "they came. They were the ones who got the -fresh meat." She shuddered.</p> - -<p>"Who's 'they?'"</p> - -<p>"Please," she said, "I'd rather not discuss it any more. But I think -you'd better leave. Certainly, you'd better not kill anything if you -know what's good for you. Besides, you've done enough damage already."</p> - -<p>Pritchard cleared his throat. The men behind him were whispering and -snickering. "Speaking of leaving," he said, "how about you? If the -Survey was wrecked—"</p> - -<p>"I'm not interested in leaving," she said curtly. "I've got work to do -here."</p> - -<p>"What work?"</p> - -<p>"I'm working with the people here."</p> - -<p>"Oh, there <i>are</i> natives?"</p> - -<p>"Certainly. This world is full of people."</p> - -<p>He scowled his impatience. "What's their cultural stage?"</p> - -<p>She favored him with a one-sided grin. "Some are foraging. A few are -gregarious. You met one just now. Fortunately, I got here in time to -save her life."</p> - -<p>McManus's jaw dropped. "Save <i>her</i> life! You don't mean that crawly -brute that tried to kill me just now?"</p> - -<p>"If she threatened you," said the girl with careful enunciation such as -she might use to a child, "it was because you had disturbed her peace."</p> - -<p>"And it—she—was what you'd call a person?" demanded Pritchard, "Do -you mean that you consider absolutely all the living, moving things -here, people?"</p> - -<p>The girl nodded firmly. Pritchard gazed at her, pawing his chin.</p> - -<p>"Tell me," he murmured, "do they kill one another for fresh meat?"</p> - -<p>She sighed. "They still do, but I'm trying to cure them of that. That's -the work I'm doing. They only kill, after all, for food. I'm trying to -cure them of the killing habit by getting them to switch to synthetabs. -I've—"</p> - -<p>The rest of her words were drowned in a tidal wave of laughter. The men -exploded, beat each other, howled, and fell on the ground. She stared -down at them, and her eyes began to smolder anew.</p> - -<p>Pritchard fought his own face straight and wheeled on them. "Cut that -out!" he yelled. "As you were!" They gurgled back at him, pleading -their helplessness, hugging their sides. McManus gripped his cheeks and -tried to squeeze his mouth straight, but strangled gusts still shook -him.</p> - -<p>The spectacle weakened Pritchard's own control and he turned quickly -back to the girl. The sight of her beauty, now in a passionate rage, -cut sharply across his mirth. He noticed with interest that the thin -strip of hide across those heaving breasts was undergoing maximum -strain.</p> - -<p>"Please allow me to apologize for my men," he said gravely. "I'm sure -they don't mean to be insulting. What is your name, by the way, so I -can at least report it to the Board?"</p> - -<p>Her chin was up. "Cornelia Boyce," she said haughtily.</p> - -<p>"And how did you manage to survive the attack on the Survey camp?"</p> - -<p>"I was away." She was calming a little. "They came at sunrise but I -wasn't there. I was out, learning to ride one of the—the people."</p> - -<p>Pritchard looked down quickly and coughed. Fresh gurgles sounded behind -him. The cam-rec whirred on. "But you are all right here? You can take -care of yourself?"</p> - -<p>"I am in no danger," she said icily. "In four years I have won most of -the people over to my side. They protect me. In turn, and in my own -way, I protect them. I've learned how to make synthetabs and I also -feed them from the 'ponics gardens. And now I'll do my best to protect -them from you. I'm sure I can't appeal to your decency but I can appeal -to your reason, and perhaps convince you that this is a poor world to -hunt in."</p> - -<p>"Now, listen, Miss Boyce," Pritchard cut in patiently, "we're not here -on a mission of slaughter. I gather, and please correct me if I'm -wrong, that you're one of that group back on Terra that opposes -big-game hunting."</p> - -<p>"You are completely correct about that," she interposed.</p> - -<p>"—and are pushing through legislation to make it illegal under the -Space Code. But we already adhere to the Space Code. We are most -zealous, I assure you, to avoid bagging anything parahuman, anything -that exhibits anything like human intelligence. We—"</p> - -<p>"That's precisely why you should abandon your hunting here. My good -man, just what do you consider intelligence?" She held up her hand -to prevent his answering. "For instance, a good many of the what you -would call animals on this little planet have developed a spoken -language. And I don't mean a mother's warning to her cubs, or one male -challenging another. I mean, for instance, the news I received this -morning." She smiled. "Would you like to know what a little bird told -me?"</p> - -<p>He nodded. "I'm all ears."</p> - -<p>"Well," she said thoughtfully, "it wasn't such a little bird, and it -wasn't exactly news to me. After all, I'd seen your braking jets in the -ionosphere and heard the cavitation rumble when you were settling into -denser atmosphere in your orbit. But, anyway, here's what my birdie -told me: 'A thing with sun-fire at both ends has come down out of the -sky two flights from here. Now a flock of two-legged beasts from it are -attacking the plants. We don't understand!'" Her face relaxed into a -disconcerting smile. "They couldn't understand why you were so angry -with the grass and the trees!"</p> - -<p>"Extremely funny," he said gravely. "It just happens to be meaningless, -also."</p> - -<p>"Don't you see? They can communicate ideas!"</p> - -<p>"Fine," he nodded. "What of it?"</p> - -<p>"But—but that means they're intelligent. Too intelligent to be called -'animals'!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He shook his head. "On Terra only one animal developed communications -to a high degree. But we long ago decided that some other animals were -fairly intelligent, for all that they didn't appear to speak among -themselves. On many other worlds—and I can name you a score I've -visited—lots of so-called 'animals', apart from the intelligences we -dealt with, had developed fairly complex methods of communications that -would put the old Terran elephants and ants to shame. That still didn't -make them what we called 'people'."</p> - -<p>Her eyes were hot with scorn. "I know that! If you'd lived with the -Thisbeans as long as I have you'd understand. Why—"</p> - -<p>"Now, look," said Pritchard with rising asperity, "we have satisfactory -means of determining intelligence. If your 'people' are as you claim -they're in no danger. But are you going to claim there are no killers -here? They're what we're after, intelligent or not. And there are -killers on every world, Miss Boyce."</p> - -<p>She shook her head in despair at his stupidity. "There are no killers -here, Mr. Pritchard. There are no killers anywhere on any world. Only -variant life forms trying to live and eat, eating only to live. If we -help them to find food, and guide their impulses...."</p> - -<p>Pritchard gave up. The argument was futile. It struck him that the girl -was mad. The horror of the attack on the Survey camp, followed by years -of isolation from her kind, had left her in a hopelessly deranged state.</p> - -<p>And a little plan took shape in his mind.</p> - -<p>"That's all very fine," he said, cutting across her words, "but let -me show you something that will prove to you we are not here to kill -indiscriminately."</p> - -<p>He turned to McManus. "Let's have your little pet, Tom." McManus raised -his eyebrows, but fumbled the button of his breast pocket flap loose -and pulled out the wriggling, six-legged infant rodent. Pritchard took -it and held it out toward the girl.</p> - -<p>"Here, Miss Boyce. My friend found this. He didn't bite its head off -first thing. Now we'll turn it over to you for safekeeping."</p> - -<p>"Aw," growled McManus.</p> - -<p>"Quiet," Pritchard growled back at him. He lifted the wriggling little -beast and it squeaked. "I guess I'd better not toss it."</p> - -<p>The eyes of Cornelia Boyce were large and glowing with maternal pity. -She dropped lightly to the ground and advanced, holding out her hand. -Pritchard pulled back the hand with the little wriggler in it and his -other shot forward to grip the girl's wrist.</p> - -<p>She gasped and bent backward, striving to wrench loose. Her strength -was such that Pritchard, turning to hand the cub back to McManus, -almost lost his balance.</p> - -<p>"Stop it," she cried. "You don't know what—"</p> - -<p>Her lips moved for another second, but the words were lost in the -sudden tumult that erupted about them. The jungle exploded, almost -seemed to come alive at their very feet. Dimly-seen shapes came -lurching and crashing toward them from every side, clambering and -trampling and swinging from branch to branch. Here and there a tree -cracked, splintered and fell.</p> - -<p>The men whipped out their snappers and backed against each other, eyes -rolling nervously in grim set faces. The girl frantically twisted out -of Pritchard's fingers and stuck two fingers in her mouth.</p> - -<p>A piercing, two-noted whistle stabbed through the mounting din. It -stabbed again, and the uproar subsided into a confused rustling and -shuffling. Silence fell across the dust-charged air.</p> - -<p>All about, in the jungle surrounding the head of the path the -scouting party had hacked, the vegetation barely concealed a -shoulder-to-shoulder wall of hulking beasts, while smaller animals and -what looked like maned gorillas crouched or stood along the bending -branches. Tusks protruded from drooling jaws and hundreds of eyes -blazed forth steadily.</p> - -<p>"No shooting, no shooting!" Pritchard was bellowing. "She has them -under control, boys. Hold your fire." Then he took a deep breath and -turned toward Cornelia Boyce. She had backed off to a safe distance -from him, her eyes twin pools of green contempt.</p> - -<p>"My people." She bowed ironically. "At your service."</p> - -<p>Pritchard grinned tautly. "You win. Of course, my intentions were only -of the best. I thought you ought to come back to Terra for a little -observation and examination, but—" he waved lightly "—let's skip it."</p> - -<p>"You were lucky that I was able to stop them," she said. "Next time I -might not be able to in time. Now if you're wise you'll just take your -little ship and go home."</p> - -<p>"Why, certainly, certainly." He bowed. "In the meantime it was a -pleasure to have met you, Miss Boyce."</p> - -<p>"I'm sure," she replied coldly. She lifted her head, and from her lips -suddenly poured an astonishing babble, a mixture of coughing, grunting -and chirping. There began to be movement in the brush, and some of the -things there began lurching and crashing off.</p> - -<p>"Where are they going?" Pritchard strove for a casual tone.</p> - -<p>"I'm deploying them along your trail," she said with equal calm. "They -will escort you out of this jungle and report to me when you re-enter -the ship."</p> - -<p>"And you were really talking to them?"</p> - -<p>She shrugged, as if at a childish question. "Of course."</p> - -<p>He studied her, and his long features slid into a crooked, embarrassed -smile. "Miss Boyce, I owe you an apology. Maybe you've got something -here after all."</p> - -<p>She raised weary eyebrows. "If you're quite through looking at my body, -you can go now."</p> - -<p>He laughed shortly. "I wasn't, especially. Although it's very—"</p> - -<p>"Good-bye!"</p> - -<p>He bowed again and turned. "All right, boys. You heard what the lady -said. Let's pull out of here. And let's keep our little hands away from -our snappers, eh? The lady's friends appear to be quite numerous and a -little touchy."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">III</p> - -<p>With a few dry, nervous chuckles, the cadet hunters hefted their -equipment and started back up the trail. Just as the girl had -predicted, shapes rustled in the foliage close by their sides, -accompanied by an occasional growl or whine or snort that was somewhat -unnerving. Pritchard could occasionally discern the shaggy shoulders -of the gorilla-type, and some other lithe and slinking or lumbering -shapes—with here and there a hump of slate-gray hide or a ridged, -scaly back.</p> - -<p>The return along the hacked-out trail was easier and quicker than -their coming, and soon they saw the tip of the <i>Apollo's</i> bow in the -sky beyond the shoulder of the hill. As they toiled back up the slope -through the clogging grass, they became aware that the animals were not -following them further, but backward glances could still make out some -vague shapes in the foliage.</p> - -<p>Pritchard became aware, also, of McManus's silence. The redhead, -usually garrulous, had been silent from the start of their retreat, his -square jaw clamped hard shut. The Chief Hunter slapped the young man's -broad back.</p> - -<p>"Relax, Tom. Men have backed down from women before. It's not -considered bad form at all. Now and then they outmaneuver us, and -that's all there is to it."</p> - -<p>A couple of the others chuckled, but McManus continued his stolid -slogging up the hill without a sign. Pritchard shrugged. They all -trudged across the burn, and the great grasshopper-leg let down the -platform for them.</p> - -<p>Waiting for it to settle, Pritchard braced with one hand at the base -of a towering fin and began slapping dust from his breeches. He heard -Sturgis say, "Hey, watch that!" and the tseeu of a snapper.</p> - -<p>He jerked erect in time to see McManus lower his weapon, and hear a -distant explosion. Down over the hill, in the tall grass, what appeared -to be a huge boar or pygmy rhino was writhing and kicking. Somberly, -Pritchard watched its six twitching legs quiet down and stiffen.</p> - -<p>"That was a good shot, Tom," he said.</p> - -<p>McManus came toward him, grinning with relief. "I'd had about all I -could take—" he started to say, and then Pritchard's fist slammed into -his jaw. His feet left the ground and he fell heavily onto the hard -ground under the tubes.</p> - -<p>Pritchard was picking him up again when he heard Sturgis's voice again. -"You'd better make it snappy, chief. I think they're working up to -something."</p> - -<p>Shapes were moving up through the distant grass. Wings were flapping or -tilted in soaring across the jungle not far beyond. There came to the -ship a dim, vast babble of cries, grunts, squeals, howls and barks.</p> - -<p>They carried the inert McManus over to the platform in a hurry. But -Pritchard let his finger rest on the buzzer-button while he looked over -the array of animals now gathering in plain sight, fanning out around -the perimeter of the scorched ground.</p> - -<p>There were the slate-gray ones, like that which McManus had -downed—six-legged, suber-snouted, long-tusked. There were hulking, -scaly-hided ones, resembling ant-eating bears—also six-legged. In -fact, the six-legged skeleton seemed to prevail among the fauna -of Thisbe II. The canine-like ones running this way and that were -six-legged, and so were certain slinking, feline types. On the other -hand, the maned gorillas had but four appendages, and so had the -ungainly-looking, leaping ones, that looked like hairless kangaroos -except for their wicked, underslung jaws.</p> - -<p>Quite suddenly, this horde was charging across the burn, converging on -the shining cylinder towering above them, aiming for the platform still -resting on the ground.</p> - -<p>"What's he waiting for?" Pritchard heard the whisper above the rising -thunder about them, knew he was meant to hear it. He jabbed home the -button and the rising floor pressed their feet. He stepped over to the -squawkie and spoke into its 'phragm. "Chief on, Savage. Hold your fire. -We're clear." Turning to the men on the now rapidly rising platform, he -said, "No shooting."</p> - -<p>Soberly, they all gazed down at the horde sweeping up below, swirling -about, bumping into the fins and one another. Their silence, other -than the noise of their thousands of feet and hooves, was oppressive -and menacing. A few of the leaping ones soared up at the platform, -wriggling in mid-air and pawing, but it had gone too high and they fell -back.</p> - -<p>Then Pritchard glanced up. His hand started for his snapper. -Toward them through the air came a cloud of flying things—great -leathery-winged birds, smaller, faster, feathered ones—rising on a -line of flight that would carry them above the platform to a point of -interception, claws distended, beaks open and eager.</p> - -<p>Thin and remote, a two-toned whistle sounded. Sounded again. The -converging flocks wheeled, fluttered and fell away, gliding off toward -the jungle. Far below, the milling horde flung up a varied array of -heads, and then began to move, a drift that became a surge, trotting -and hopping away across the burn.</p> - -<p>"Phew!" said someone behind Pritchard. "That girl really has an army."</p> - -<p>McManus sat up, shaking his head and staring at the smooth shining hull -of the <i>Apollo</i> swinging down to them. He felt his jaw and squinted up -at Pritchard.</p> - -<p>"Quarters for you," the tall saturnine man said softly.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Late that evening Pritchard was in the chart room talking with Captain -Savage. The <i>Apollo's</i> ventilation system had been in operation for -over thirty hours now and the blowers had sucked out the last vestige -of mechanically purified air, with its taint of ozone, metal and -oil. It was pleasant to rock gently in the gimbal chairs and sniff -the lush night air of Thisbe II. Aloft, in the nose, the watch was -idly working out a game of kru, that old Martian solitaire involving -domino-like counters. The autoscanner hooked to the magnar was ready -to clang at the first blip on the screens. Below, in the wardrooms, -the cadet hunters were amusing themselves with a runoff of the day's -cam-rec spool ("Get this line about the synthetabs!" ... guffaws of -laughter). Midway down the curving tail section Tom McManus sulked in -his quarters, fingering the bruise on his jaw.</p> - -<p>"So we'll pick up in the morning, hey?" mused the captain. His was a -squat, ape-like body, surmounted by a long, goat's face and a grizzled -skull.</p> - -<p>"Yes." Pritchard drained his tall glass. "I'm not going to bother with -her. If she can send a whole army of her animals against us it's going -to make hunting a little difficult. We could set down on the other side -and maybe get in a bit of shooting, but she'd catch up with us. Even -if we try hunting from the air with the jet cruisers...." He shook his -head. "It's too dangerous. I've got to look out for these boys, after -all. No, I don't want to get messed up with her in any way." He stared -calmly at the wall, seeing once again that lithe body straining out of -his grasp, and knew himself for a liar.</p> - -<p>"Well...." The captain rubbed his nose, furtively eyeing the other -man's profile. He knew when a man was lying. It was one of the things -one developed long before one got to be a hundred and thirteen years of -age. He lowered his wrinkled old eyelids and went on, "... she's hung -on here for four years. Maybe she isn't too crazy at that. Of course, -it's kind of too bad to leave a filly like her running around loose."</p> - -<p>"We'll just hope we won't be too much criticized for not bringing her -home," Pritchard cut in quickly. "Thank God, we shot all that cam-rec -footage. It'll—"</p> - -<p>He lifted his head, his long nostrils flaring. "Murder! What's that -stink coming from?"</p> - -<p>The old man grimaced up at the air-grill.</p> - -<p>"Eeugh! Low tide on Venus!"</p> - -<p>Pritchard got up and went toward the intercom. "Something's died, I'd -say, inside the ship or close by."</p> - -<p>At that instant the intercom's tiny diaphragm screamed. Screamed, and -broke off into a hoarse babble. The two men froze, scowling at each -other. The babble rose again into a sharp screaming "NO!"—and then -stopped.</p> - -<p>Pritchard stepped to the 'phragm. "Chief on. All stations and quarters -report, please."</p> - -<p>Voices came back at him out of the wall. "Nose watch. All X here, Mr. -Pritchard. What happened?"</p> - -<p>"Stern watch. All X, chief. What—?"</p> - -<p>"Wardroom, Greene on. All X. Something stinks, chief."</p> - -<p>"Engine room. All X."</p> - -<p>"Majinski on, retired to quarters. Pee-yew!"</p> - -<p>Then, silence, pregnant with listening.</p> - -<p>"McManus," snapped Pritchard.</p> - -<p>"Louder," said the captain. "He may be asleep."</p> - -<p>"McManus!" The tall hunter shouted. "TOM!"</p> - -<p>Then he was out the door. The captain strode to the intercom. "All free -hands to McManus. Fast!" he barked, and then ran after Pritchard who -was already stepping into the axial lift.</p> - -<p>McManus's quarters were well down in the tail. Pritchard found half -a dozen men clustered at his cabin door which they had torched open. -Their eyes were watering and they were gagging at the incredibly foul -stench roiling the air.</p> - -<p>"Where's McManus?" he demanded, starting to shoulder through them. The -stench caught at his throat so that he choked on the words.</p> - -<p>A cadet hunter clutched at his sleeve. "Don't go in there, chief," he -gasped. "You can't do Tom any good now."</p> - -<p>Savage was at the wall intercom. "Meyer, for God's sake, blow this ship -out," he yelled hoarsely.</p> - -<p>Pritchard shook off the detaining hand and stepped to the open door. -He looked once at the dripping mess in the gimbal chair and jerked his -head away.</p> - -<p>The pie-shaped cubicle was otherwise normal at first glance. The -hammock hung suspended between its swivels. The viewport was properly -sealed. The bath and disposal unit in one far corner stood in spotless -order, as did the sectional drawer case opposite.</p> - -<p>What had come in here? And how had it gotten in? The door had been -electro-locked in its sliding frame and the men, who had quite properly -not waited for the magnekey Captain Savage alone carried, had had to -burn through the lock wiring. There was no other way into the room.</p> - -<p>Pritchard stepped over to the air-grill. His eyes swimming in the -terrible stench in the cabin, he nevertheless could discern how the -heavy chrome mesh had been torn loose from its bolts to lie at the foot -of the wall. He shot one tortured, speculative glance at the six-inch -hole in the wall and then hastily backed out, hand to mouth against his -rising gorge.</p> - -<p>The steel walls thrummed with the surge of the revved-up blowers. But -there was no answering draft screaming up into a gale from the air -grills. The lights flickered briefly, and then the blowers' thrum died.</p> - -<p>"Shorted," a man muttered thickly.</p> - -<p>More men were coming, sliding down the long poles until they reached -the stench which was now spreading up through the ship. As soon as -it hit their nostrils they gripped the poles to slow their descent, -cursing. Down the passageway, two of those who had arrived first were -now being sick.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Pritchard leaned against the wall trying to keep his breathing shallow, -his eyes hard and steady on the open doorway and the lighted chamber -beyond. Gradually, all eyes were turning to him, waiting, their owners -breathing in short, labored gasps.</p> - -<p>He stepped to the intercom. "All hands to the muster deck," he managed -to choke out. "That means everybody. And use extreme caution. Something -has boarded the ship and killed McManus. Listen to me. It is still -on board! Arm yourselves and report to the muster deck immediately. -Sturgis, step into the storeroom and break out the masks. Greene and -Majinski, help him. Use the lift to bring them to the muster deck. Got -it?"</p> - -<p>Several strangling voices replied in order. Pritchard and Savage -crowded into the lift with the rest of the men and went aloft.</p> - -<p>"What do you think it is, son?" said Savage. Pritchard shrugged. -"I don't know. What kind of thing or things could get through the -ventilating system?"</p> - -<p>The old man pursed his lips. "That's right. That's how we smelled it -first. And then the blowers kicked off when all that compression backed -up to them. You're right, Mr. Pritchard, whatever it is, it's still in -the ducts."</p> - -<p>The lift halted at the muster deck and the door slid open. "So here's -what we'll do," said Pritchard as they stepped off. The old man heard -him out and then nodded slowly, his rheumy eyes narrowing.</p> - -<p>They waited while the men arrived, the whole ship's company of twenty -cadet hunters (less McManus, now) and five crewmen. They all stood -around eyeing Pritchard and the captain. The air was heavy with that -lurking stench, but it was not too thick here to be unbreathable.</p> - -<p>As soon as the gas mask detail had shoved the last of the cartons off -the lift Pritchard started for the controls.</p> - -<p>The muster deck was a heavily insulated circular chamber a bit forward -from amidships.</p> - -<p>The entire ship could be controlled from there. In emergencies it could -be detached from the ship and used as a temporary space raft, having -all necessary supplies in its padded wall lockers.</p> - -<p>"First," announced Pritchard, "we're going to button this ship up -tight." He reached for the ventilator switch and flicked it on.</p> - -<p>Little motors all over the inner and outer hulls began wheeling shut -the valves that closed the six-inch holes that were the ventilating -system's intake and exhaust ports. In a matter of seconds the <i>Apollo</i> -would stop breathing the wine-like night air of Thisbe II.</p> - -<p>On the wall above the switch little green lights began to blink off one -by one. As if gradually understanding his strategy, the men began to -move up behind Pritchard, their eyes on the bank of fiery green points -winking out.</p> - -<p>The last little gem flickered, died, and then, strangely, flamed up -again.</p> - -<p>And, just as it went out for good, the entire muster deck gave a lurch. -Feet scuffled, slipped, staggered. Here and there a body thudded to -the steel plates of the floor.</p> - -<p>Pritchard's voice rose thundering above the abrupt commotion. "Grab -hold! Something's got the ship—something—"</p> - -<p>The muster deck swung in a wild circle, men sliding helplessly, -caroming off the walls. Pritchard's flailing hand caught something and -his long bony fingers laced about it in a grip of steel.</p> - -<p>In benumbed fascination, he saw his body lengthen out, straining -against that grip, appearing to levitate from the deck. The whole -chamber tilted slowly until it seemed to hang below him. Men were -slipping and falling down into the curved well of its farther wall, -but some had grabbed out at holds here and there—a door-pull, or a -stanchion, and dangled like Pritchard.</p> - -<p>At the last instant he understood that the <i>Apollo</i> was falling. He had -just time to pull himself up, to give his arm some play against the -shock to come—</p> - -<p>The great pointed cylinder struck with an awesome, deafening -clangor—fell with a single bounce across its landing burn and settled -to roll over approximately one-third its circumference.</p> - -<p>Pritchard's grip, he discovered later, was to the handle of a locked -chart drawer. The massive wrench of that impact straightened his arm -with a jerk, but at the same time the drawer's lock broke. He fell away -in a shower of sheet film just as the <i>Apollo</i> rolled, and a curve of -smooth steel wall swung out to catch him and break his fall into a -plunging glide against a cushion of stunned men's bodies.</p> - -<p>It was a miracle that nobody was seriously injured. The slowness of the -ship's fall at the outset, the curvature of walls, the general fitness -of trained minds and bodies—all combined to prevent anything more -serious than cuts and contusions.</p> - -<p>Captain Savage was the first Pritchard pulled out of the tangle. The -wiry old man was unhurt, though dazed. In spite of his age he gamely -pulled himself together with a terrier-like shake.</p> - -<p>"What hit us?" he croaked.</p> - -<p>"I think whatever was in the ship did it," said Pritchard. "But then, -that must mean it's outside now. Think we sustained much damage?"</p> - -<p>The old man scoffed. "Man, this ship was built for crash landings. The -surface glaze must be cracked. And all the supplies we broke out after -landing must be all over hell."</p> - -<p>He gazed aloft at the muster deck's controls, now high overhead. "Have -to right her," he muttered, "but I can't get at them. I'll have to get -to the master set, I guess." His gaze switched dubiously to the hatch -leading to the nose, halfway up the curving wall. "I can set her back -up on her tail, firing the beam tubes."</p> - -<p>"Majinski," called out Pritchard, "build a ladder or pyramid of men up -that hatch so the captain can get to the controls. Sturgis, you and -you and you—" he picked out half a dozen cadet hunters "—let's scout -through the ship. I want to be sure our friend has left."</p> - -<p>It was awkward work, clambering over girders and through crazily -slanting doors and along upside down passages where, in deep space, -they floated past with ease. They held their snappers ready while -Pritchard opened door after door with the captain's magnekey.</p> - -<p>They found something in the compression chamber of Number Two Blower. -What they found, after taking down the side panel, was a long, flopping -red thing—something like a ten-foot carrot, writhing and curling in on -itself wetly. It was a foot thick at its big end.</p> - -<p>It fell out on the curving wall beneath the blower. They watched it -soberly as it twisted this way and that convulsively, contracting and -lengthening out. It gave off that same sickening odor.</p> - -<p>"Is this what gave us all the trouble?" somebody demanded.</p> - -<p>"No." Pritchard's nostrils flared slightly. "Just a part of it, that's -all. Most of it got away."</p> - -<p>"<i>Most</i> of it!"</p> - -<p>He nodded slowly. "It was leaving when I started closing those ports. -It was leaving by this intake port—maybe the way it came in—and the -valve started to slice into it. In other words, we had it by the tail. -It tried to yank free and that's what tipped us over."</p> - -<p>"Y-y-you mean—?" They stared at him, refusing to credit the -comprehension dawning in their minds.</p> - -<p>"What else?" Pritchard's cheeks twitched in amusement.</p> - -<p>"Hey, that's big!" said Sturgis softly.</p> - -<p>"Quite big," murmured the tall hunter. "And quite intelligent if it -came for McManus."</p> - -<p>Their jaws dropped and their eyes protruded glassily.</p> - -<p>"On the other hand," went on Pritchard musingly, "it might not be as -smart as the person who sent it."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">IV</p> - -<p>There was flame in the night, blinding flame, and raucous, screeching -thunder. And a great round of gleaming metal rising shudderingly on a -cone of dazzling, roaring light. Rising to teeter at last on the tips -of long, sweeping fins, teeter and rock and walk a bit on those blades -of tempered nickel-steel, until the swaying tower ceased to gyrate -sickeningly across the stars, its motion settling into a quickening, -shortening arc that died away into a tremble, a vibration, a stillness.</p> - -<p>Captain Savage took his gnarled and stubby fingers away from the firing -manuals and sat down, drawing a sleeve across his sopping brows.</p> - -<p>"Nice work," said Pritchard. "One push and no correction blasts. Thy -hand hath not lost its skill."</p> - -<p>The old man took a deep breath and grinned. "It's work for a younger -man. Next time I'm going to let you do it. Or Sturgis."</p> - -<p>"There won't be a next time," said Pritchard flatly.</p> - -<p>The captain cocked a bright eye up at him. Pritchard gazed out a -viewport. The horizon of Thisbe II lay like a worn hacksaw blade -against the purple glow of Piramus, rising.</p> - -<p>"Set watches," he said briefly. "The rest of the company can turn to -for six hours. Then Sturgis, Greene, Kemp and I are going off in the -jets."</p> - -<p>"Fishing, I suppose?" said Savage with gentle irony.</p> - -<p>Pritchard smiled coldly and shook his head. "No. Witch-hunting."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Two plump silvery beetles screamed through the thin stratosphere high -above the little planet. Behind them, dropping below the horizon, a -needle stood gleaming in a black thumbprint. It was no longer possible -to make out the smudge marring the <i>Apollo's</i> alabaster flank, much -less the team now hanging in buckets from eyebolts high in the nose, -chipping away the cracked and carbonized glaze—cracked by last night's -fall and carbonized by the hell-fires of the righting operation.</p> - -<p>In one beetle rode the wiry Sturgis and stocky Kemp. In the other, the -rangy blond, Greene, handled the controls while Pritchard studied the -face of Thisbe II rolling slowly under them.</p> - -<p>"Got any ideas yet as to what hit us last night?" said Greene.</p> - -<p>"Nope." After righting the ship, they'd turned on the floodlights, but -neither then nor in the broad light of day was there any sign or trace -of their visitor. A burial detail had laid McManus the traditional six -feet into the crust of Thisbe II. The long red thing had flopped and -tossed startlingly as they sank hooks into it and dragged it off into -the grass.</p> - -<p>"Must have been the tail of something big, huh? How come it got past -the radar?"</p> - -<p>Pritchard shrugged and continued to peer attentively ahead.</p> - -<p>"Sure is a mighty pretty hunk of country," sighed the blond boy. "In -places it reminds me of the stuff around the Cumberland Gap. If it -weren't for that lavender sunlight, that is."</p> - -<p>Pritchard didn't answer, his eyes steadily sweeping the terrain -unfolding ahead.</p> - -<p>"That was a hell of a thing happened to poor Tom last night," Greene -went on. "Do you figure he had much pain before it finished him?"</p> - -<p>Pritchard made no response.</p> - -<p>"Tom was a right good boy, and a hard man to beat once he had the -chance to get his feet under him. Remember the time big Hayes hit him?"</p> - -<p>There was no answer. Greene sat relaxed, one foot on the rudder bar and -an index finger curled indolently around the jet firing toggle.</p> - -<p>"Boy, old Hayes let him have it before Tom was set. Just like you -clipped him yesterday."</p> - -<p>"I thought you'd say that." Pritchard's voice was even. "You an' the -rest of the boys want to be sure I don't forget that, don't you?"</p> - -<p>"I wasn't meaning a thing, chief," complained the other. "Hell, we -understand. Tom made a mistake and—and—well...."</p> - -<p>"You can pass the word," said Pritchard softly, his eyes remaining hard -on the vista ahead. "You can pass the word that I haven't forgotten the -last thing Tom McManus had from me. Nor am I likely to—"</p> - -<p>He grabbed the mike. "Cut, Sturgis, cut! Cut and glide—after me."</p> - -<p>Greene, following instructions meant for him, too, snapped the jet -toggle closed. The high-pitched thunder that had been chasing them -across the sky was chopped off into utter silence.</p> - -<p>"What you got?" he managed to say and then Pritchard's hip swung -against him, neatly bowling him off the seat as the tall hunter thrust -his feet toward the rudder bar.</p> - -<p>"Stand by to fire," snapped Pritchard over his shoulder. The younger -man lurched toward the rocket controls in the nose in front of -Pritchard as the jet cruiser heeled silently over into a dive.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The bowl of Thisbe II tilted up toward them and its features steadied -in the face of that arrowing plunge. Dead ahead lay a meandering thread -of river stitching up a wide, jungle-filled valley. At one point the -river either split in two or broadened momentarily into a lake. At any -rate, there was an island, right above the little flight-sight bead on -the jet cruiser's prow.</p> - -<p>The island swelled into detail. It was fairly large, for up from its -center thrust one of those strange rock mountains, the three straight -planes of its cleavage converging in a jagged, towering peak, making it -seem an elongated triangular pyramid that had been driven forth at a -slant and had then had its extreme tip snapped off. The primrose light -of Piramus high above reflected now in a dazzling shimmer from one -flank.</p> - -<p>At its base, or at the base of one impossibly machine-smooth wall, -there was a semi-circular mark, as if someone had carelessly strewn -dirt across the olive-hued turf. The grains and clods of this dirt -resolved themselves, as the jets whined on down, into a twinkling, -tumbling cluster of ants—with gnats hovering and darting. Then they -became something larger.</p> - -<p>Greene turned to shout excitedly at Pritchard, but at that instant -Sturgis's voice cracked from the two-way mike Pritchard had hung above -him.</p> - -<p>"Hey, chief, aren't those some of that girl's animals?"</p> - -<p>"Right," barked Pritchard. "That's a big rumpus down there. Follow me -on down for a look. Then I think we'll try a couple of passes."</p> - -<p>"Passes? At what?"</p> - -<p>"Those are Miss Boyce's 'people', all right. They're fighting."</p> - -<p>There was no further chance to talk. Pritchard and Sturgis gripped -their separate toggles almost simultaneously and their jets roared into -life, feeding power to their dives for a pull-out. The ground-contact -alarm chattered its warning that they were coming too close.</p> - -<p>As soon as the jets took hold, the pilots leaned back, pushing hard -against the rudder bars. The tail elevators lifted into the slipstream, -and the two silver beetles howled through a long pendulum swing that -flung them far off into the sky.</p> - -<p>But the trained eyes aboard them had ticked off the essential details -of the amazing battle being waged through the tall grass toward the -mountain.</p> - -<p>"Holy rockets!" came from the blond head in front of Pritchard. "That's -a regular battle line they're holding. Did you see those babies -fighting!"</p> - -<p>"Hey, chief," cracked Sturgis, "What goes on down there, anyway? Who's -fighting whom? Or what's fighting which?"</p> - -<p>Pritchard trimmed off into level flight before answering. "As far -as I can make out, Cornelia Boyce's people are under attack, but I -can't figure out who's doing the attacking. They're trying to hold -that defense arc, but they're being snowed under. They're catching it -from the air as well as on the ground. I recognize the animals inside -that line. They're her people, all right. But I can't make out the -attackers."</p> - -<p>He banked the cruiser around toward that now miles-distant little spine -of mountain.</p> - -<p>Sturgis's ship followed him around as if fastened by a wire.</p> - -<p>"They looked like reptiles and big insects."</p> - -<p>"That's what they looked like to me. I don't remember seeing any of -them yesterday—except for that bad dream I tried to shoot away from -McManus."</p> - -<p>"Anyway, there's sure a mob of them," cut in Sturgis. "The water all -around that island is alive with them."</p> - -<p>"That kid was right about one thing," said Pritchard. "There's a much -higher level of intelligence here than you'd find in Terran animals, -for instance. But never mind that now. Listen, boys, this is a planned -and directed attack. And we're going to buy ourselves a stack of chips -and sit in on the game. But, first, did anybody see the girl?"</p> - -<p>"No," cracked the mike, and Greene shook his head.</p> - -<p>"Well, I've got a hunch she's down there. She's mixed up in this -somehow. I've a feeling a big battle like this is pretty unusual. This -has all the earmarks of a war of extermination. And if those are her -'people' protecting her—something, or somebody, has her cornered."</p> - -<p>"Could be," came Sturgis's voice. "But, then, who's this somebody or -something?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know. I don't care. This scrap's nothing to us. But we want -the wench, boys. We want her on account of last night. And maybe -for a couple of other reasons. She'd better come home for a little -psychotherapy, for one thing. Now, here's our plan of attack...."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Like the pointer of a sundial, the jagged spear of mountain lay its -deep blue shadow across the curve of battle, as if to mark off the -dwindling hours and minutes of life for those who struggled, writhed -and lay with glazing eyes in that long ribbony grass, now mashed and -matted flat for acres in every direction, its pliant green-brown blades -stained and mottled dark.</p> - -<p>Red-eyed and snorting, the slate-gray boars stood shoulder to shoulder -from one end of the arc to the other. As each one fell, the others -closed ranks, shuffling backwards until their hides rubbed together -again. Close behind them stood a thinning line of great scaled bears, -clawing and biting what got past the boars. In and out among all their -stiffly planted legs ran the lesser carnivores and the canines, -snapping and worrying at the things creeping through the grass. Behind, -in the shrinking zone of defense, roved the six-legged bovines and -equines, and the leaping ones, and the shaggy-maned gorillas, prancing, -goring, trampling, crushing. Overhead circled and hovered a swarm of -hawks and condors, plunging and tearing.</p> - -<p>Against them came a nightmare horde. Those that could not fly or -swim made clumsy rafts from odds and ends of vegetation and branches -plundered from the jungle; some scurried across on swaying creepers, -all along the banks.</p> - -<p>Crawling, creeping things, reptilian and crustacean and multi-legged, -undulating and gliding, disappearing into the grass to emerge at -the last deadly moment. Scurrying, spiny things were there in -force—scuttling over the mashed-flat grass in beady-eyed haste to -be in at the kill. Above them flew skull-headed, mandible-snapping -horrors, with membranous wings.</p> - -<p>There were no tactics other than individual duel and the wearing down -by sheer weight of numbers. Aloft, the winged ones met, clashed and -fell, buzzing and flapping. Below, tusk and fang and claw and beak and -hoof mandible rent and tore and worried and stung. The long, vicious -lizards and the sudden-striking snakes kept coming through only to go -down under churning, stamping hooves or be shredded by horns and claws -and fangs.</p> - -<p>Yet the battle was unequal. Slowly and wearily, the defenders gave -before the superior numbers, the more skillful killing. The bodies they -left dotting the meadow began to outnumber the crushed remains of the -things they fought.</p> - -<p>Deep in a cleft in the base of the mountain crouched a young Terran -female. Every inch of her brown body shaking in helpless terror.</p> - -<p>Cornelia Boyce's left hand gripped the handle of her long knife, still -in its sheath. She would need it any time now.</p> - -<p>For The One was coming for her at last. Why it had ordered Its people -against hers, calling them with Its vicious mind from the far corners -of this world, instead of coming for her directly, she didn't know. -Perhaps It regarded her as the lesser objective and relegated the task -of smashing her and her converts to this horde, while It moved against -the ship. Perhaps It regarded the ship of the hunters with the same -contempt It had had for the Survey ship and was moving against her -first—and was using this battle to toy with her, show her death, as it -were. Perhaps there was some other reason. It didn't matter. Nothing -mattered any more, for this was the end.</p> - -<p>It had tolerated her. For four of Thisbe II's years—not quite three -Terran years—The One had left her alone, almost, it would seem, -keeping out of her way. It was as if It realized that she, the only one -of her kind to survive the debacle at the Survey camp, was essentially -harmless. It had not minded her attempts to win over and tame and -domesticate some of the people. After all, she had converted only the -weaker and gentler of them with her synthetabs; she had gained control -over only a small percentage of the killers, the lesser carnivores. No, -she had never really threatened The One's dominance.</p> - -<p>Pritchard was right. Now that her carefully woven veil of illusion was -torn away, she knew that there were killers. Everywhere. Always had -been. Killers, killers, killers....</p> - -<p>The One proved that. It killed a hundred times a day. This world -was Its preserve and It roamed and fed and slew as It chose, only -occasionally for food. Perhaps this was the only reason for existence, -in the last analysis—in a cruel Cosmos one lived only to be killer or -killed.</p> - -<p>It mattered not. This was the end. Angered by the advent of more of -her kind, It had no doubt decided to wipe out both her and them, -recognizing in them all a degree of intelligence which, in force, could -threaten Its control. It would move against the ship, if indeed It had -not already done so.</p> - -<p>But It would certainly destroy her. This attack would have no other -meaning.</p> - -<p>But she would cheat It. The One could not move faster than her knife!</p> - -<p>There was not much time now, and certainly no hope. The battle raging -before her was mounting to its inevitable bloody climax.</p> - -<p>Her people could not hold out much longer. Their courage and faith and -loyalty might not survive so terrible an ordeal. Were not some of the -birds already winging away to distant refuge?</p> - -<p>It was too bad. She would have liked to see the tall hunter once more -before she.... His eyes had been so piercing! She had forgotten what a -man could be like. If only she had not been so balky yesterday!</p> - -<p>But it was not to be. He had come, in one of those two jet cruisers, -thundering across the killer-infested meadow, and he had gone. He -had seen and not understood. Battles between alien beasts were of no -concern to him. He might even return, to make cam-rec footage from -aloft of this amazing battle.</p> - -<p>Hope flashed. She could signal him! What could she use?</p> - -<p>How could she catch a roving eye in a ten-mile-a-minute jet?</p> - -<p>She tossed up her head, eyes suddenly narrowed.</p> - -<p>Something came screaming around the mountain above her, followed by a -second screaming something.</p> - -<p>Then hell erupted beyond the battle line. Blast followed concussive -blast, causing the big gorillas to cower and the other ones to charge -about in helpless panic. Between the jarring blasts sounded the -rippling crackle of dual-mounted automatic snappers.</p> - -<p>The screams faded off into the sky. A stunned silence reigned along the -battle perimeter. An acrid smoke drifted over the ground.</p> - -<p>Then, just as groups were sporadically renewing their death-grips here -and there, the twin screams sounded beyond the mountain again.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">V</p> - -<p>"Two laps around the track and then to the showers!" yelled Greene, his -fingers dancing over the rocket release and snapper buttons.</p> - -<p>Leaning back against the rudder bar, Pritchard grinned. "You forget the -passes along the river banks. They make it four laps."</p> - -<p>Then he threw a quick glance over his shoulder, but he couldn't make -much through the welter of rising dirt columns.</p> - -<p>They came around the mountain in a tight curve. As they flattened for -a run on the meadow they could see things scurrying for the water. The -meadow itself was a churned and pitted mess. Bodies were thickly strewn -everywhere.</p> - -<p>"There she is!" yelled Sturgis. "You were right, chief. See her—over -by the mountain?"</p> - -<p>A tiny figure, mounted on a six-legged equine, was riding furiously -back and forth. The defense arc was swelling outward, as her "people" -rose to the offensive and began charging the demoralized attackers.</p> - -<p>Then the two cruisers were racing through their run on the as yet -unstrafed portion of the meadow furthest from the mountain. Sturgis's -craft bucked as it rode the shock-waves from Greene's rocket blasts. -As they shot in a wide curve around the other side of the mountain -Pritchard said, "We'd better skip our last pass. Let's just sit down -and work in close. I don't want her to get away."</p> - -<p>They cut jets and floated in over the jungle, side-slipping to lose -speed. With feather-light fingers at their controls, the cruisers -skimmed the trampled meadow grass and touched down their wheels. As -they rolled, Pritchard and Sturgis flung open cockpit windows and let -bright fire from their flamers spew over the ground, while Greene and -Kemp sprayed right and left with their snappers.</p> - -<p>Things struggled in the crisping, burning grass, crackling and -roasting. Even as he turned the nozzle this way and that, Pritchard's -face was a mask of disgust. All around the slowing ships, Cornelia's -"people" galloped and raced with a vengeful, slaying lust.</p> - -<p>"All out," said Pritchard. "Everybody take a flamer. We'll have to burn -a path to the girl."</p> - -<p>They climbed out and began walking toward the mountain four abreast, -flame billowing ahead of them. There seemed to be only dead things in -their path.</p> - -<p>Then, suddenly, the girl was there, astride a magnificent six-legged -equine type of animal, shaggy of coat and rather broad in the head. -She had ridden around the wall of fire and her mount was trembling and -shaking its head.</p> - -<p>They turned off the flamers and stared up at her. Rumbling, whinnying -sounds came from the equine's throat. She grunted and cooed back, as if -soothing it. Then she turned her eyes on the men below.</p> - -<p>"We wish to thank you." Her pale face was drawn and there was a -suspicion of tears in her voice. "You came just in time."</p> - -<p>She seemed small and absurdly girlish perched on that long back. Those -inadequate strips of hide were still her only covering.</p> - -<p>Pritchard nodded shortly. "If you'll be so good as to keep your -be—people—out of our way, we'll sterilize this island. Just burn off -all the cover and see to it there's none of them left. Why don't you -herd your—uh—friends over onto what we've already—"</p> - -<p>"That won't be necessary," she cut in. "They'll all be gone in another -minute."</p> - -<p>"What makes you so sure of that?"</p> - -<p>"The One is probably calling them off."</p> - -<p>"The—what?"</p> - -<p>She put her face in her hands. Pritchard frowned his puzzlement. How -had so helpless a child managed to survive in a world like this?</p> - -<p>"I'd like very much to know what this is all about, Miss Boyce," he -said gently. "In fact, the reason we happened along is that we are -looking for you. We thought you might be able to explain what happened -last night."</p> - -<p>As he told her, she lifted her face from her hands and her brimming -eyes grew round. Before he had finished describing what they had found -in the blower, she was shaking her head in despair.</p> - -<p>"This is all your doing. This world was at peace until you came. Now -The One is aroused. You see, it was The One that went into your ship—"</p> - -<p>"The One?" A crispness came into his voice. "Miss Boyce, I think you'd -better start at the beginning and give us a complete explanation. Just -exactly what is this 'One' you keep talking about?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>She closed her eyes again. A slight shudder ran through her body and -she shook her head dazedly.</p> - -<p>"The One," she murmured, "is after us all now. It began by entering -your ship. Then It sent Its people against mine—against me. It won't -stop until It has destroyed us all, and It—It's something I'd just as -lief not describe.</p> - -<p>"My people call it something which I have translated as 'The One'. To -them, it means 'first', or 'leader', or something like that. It was in -control of all the people here on Thisbe when the Survey arrived, and -I'm afraid It still is. It wants to remain in control. You see, It's -quite intelligent."</p> - -<p>"I can believe that," Pritchard said. "It not only figured out how to -get into the ship, but it also figured out how to find McManus."</p> - -<p>"Oh, no, I don't believe it just went after him. Wasn't his cabin the -nearest to the place it entered?"</p> - -<p>"Well, yes, as a matter of fact, it was."</p> - -<p>"Oh, you don't understand The One as I do," she cried. "It would never -be satisfied with just one. It came into your ship to feed on all of -you. McManus was just the first person It found. From what you tell me, -It wasn't even finished with him. There wouldn't be—anything—left...."</p> - -<p>"Then why did It go away?"</p> - -<p>"I couldn't tell you. Perhaps when your blower short-circuited, it -arced a little. The One is very sensitive to fire. But It's not -through. It will come back, one way or another."</p> - -<p>"I think we can deal with it if it does," Pritchard smiled. "And it -sent these unpleasant things at you? How can it do that?" He shot an -appraising glance around the torn and bloody meadow with its mounds of -dead and dying things.</p> - -<p>When he turned back the girl was weeping. Sobs she could not suppress -were shaking those nut-brown, rounded shoulders. "It has some kind -of mental control," came her muffled voice. "Besides, they fear It -dreadfully. Oh, my people, my poor people."</p> - -<p>"Well, now, look," soothed Pritchard, "it's all over now. You'd better -come back with us. I guess you've learned you can't make people out of -all these animals. Besides, you've got an interesting story to tell the -Board—"</p> - -<p>"D-damn the B-B-Board," she said a little unsteadily. "Then you'll take -me with you?"</p> - -<p>Pritchard smiled his broadest smile. "But of course!"</p> - -<p>"Then let's hurry," she pleaded. "We have so little time."</p> - -<p>"Why? What's the hurry?"</p> - -<p>"The One! The One!" she burst out in sudden anxiety. "It'll come for us -any minute, don't you understand?"</p> - -<p>"Okay, okay," soothed Pritchard. He and the others were smiling at -her excitement, when her equine suddenly reared so suddenly that she -tumbled off. They started to her assistance, but she landed light as a -cat on her feet. She stared wildly about her.</p> - -<p>The equine uttered a growl and galloped off. The girl remained -crouched, her eyes darting in every direction.</p> - -<p>"Now what?" said Pritchard.</p> - -<p>"The One," she breathed. "It's somewhere near. My sextuped would never -have bolted like that otherwise."</p> - -<p>"Oh, for Pete's sake," said Pritchard, taking her arm. "Come on—"</p> - -<p>"Say, Mr. Pritchard, what's that thing over there?" Kemp pointed off to -his left.</p> - -<p>"Oh, God, no...." Cornelia's voice was a quavering moan.</p> - -<p>Pritchard glanced where the stocky lad was pointing. What appeared to -be an exceptionally tall and unusually red grass blade was wavering -gently, as if bending to a mild breeze, about fifty yards off.</p> - -<p>"Hell," muttered Sturgis, "that face is familiar."</p> - -<p>Pritchard started walking toward it, the others following him. "Let's -fan out a bit," he said, "until we see what this is."</p> - -<p>"Come back, come back," came the girl's agonized whisper behind them. -"Don't go near...."</p> - -<p>They ignored her. At a distance of ten yards Pritchard halted. They all -watched with consuming curiosity.</p> - -<p>The slender red thing was growing. Or, rather, it was pouring out of -the ground, crumbs of dirt sticking to its glistening scarlet wetness, -its delicately tapering tip now some ten or twelve feet in the air.</p> - -<p>Pritchard shifted the flamer tank on his shoulders and started to say, -"I think—", when a maned gorilla loping across the meadow some hundred -yards away gave a sudden scream and broke into a wild, shambling run -in the other direction. Another animal gave bellowing voice, and -another—and abruptly there was commotion, spreading over the island -toward the mountain.</p> - -<p>Pritchard cleared his throat. "Get around it, boys. Let it keep coming, -but when I say the word give it a lick of fire."</p> - -<p>The waving red spire stood some fifteen feet high now. As he -circled into his position with the others, he noticed two things -simultaneously. Another little scarlet tip was questing up through the -trampled grass close to the first one. And, out of the corner of his -eye he could see the animals that were Cornelia's people streaming -either way along the base of the mountain, in a frenzied rout to get to -the river on the other side.</p> - -<p>Then Cornelia's hands were clenching his arm, her voice panting -hysterically in his ear. "Run, Pritchard! You don't know what you're up -against. Oh, believe me," she sobbed, "please, please, please believe -me. This is The One."</p> - -<p>His eyes focusing on the growing scarlet tips—the second one had grown -almost as high as the first—Pritchard smiled indulgently. "We're going -to stay for the fun," he said. "What happened to all your friends? -Stampeded, didn't they?"</p> - -<p>She opened her mouth to reply but her answer was cut off by Greene's -sudden scream.</p> - -<p>Greene screamed as McManus had screamed last night. Screamed and sank -writhing to his knees. Some kind of frothing slime was running down -over his shoulders and chest, dissolving the acid-repellent cordron -jacket, running down over Greene from what had been his head.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>From between the bases of the now thick, tall red tongues, another jet -of liquid squirted toward Sturgis. He leaped sideways and it missed him -clean. "Holy Damn!" he shouted.</p> - -<p>Pritchard gripped the flamer's trigger. "Give it hell!" he roared.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Three streams of fire converged in a ball of flame on the twin red -spires. They disappeared in the rippling, booming fire.</p> - -<p>"Hold it!" Pritchard shut off his flamer and the others followed suit. -Holding the nozzle before him, he walked to the place where the things -had been.</p> - -<p>There was nothing there, except a hole where the tangled grass had been -disturbed, and a kind of pit in the ground, into which loose dirt was -still dribbling. He backed a step and turned the flamer on, playing -fire into the pit and around it. Then he shut it off.</p> - -<p>"You fool," came the girl's voice at his elbow. "You damned fool. You -just won't believe me, will you?"</p> - -<p>Pritchard lifted his gaze toward what had once been Cadet Greene. -Richard Harrison Greene, a rollicking lad from the Cumberland Gap. -Thomas Guilfoyle McManus, a man with a red-haired soul. McManus, first, -and, now, Greene. The hunter's face was turned to stone.</p> - -<p>"Keep your eyes peeled," he said harshly to the others and stalked -off to the place where the squirt of liquid had landed after missing -Sturgis. Some thirty feet from where it had been ejected, there was no -grass but a four-foot smear where the ground bubbled and frothed. The -stench hovering over this spot was incredible, even to the man who had -encountered it before.</p> - -<p>He turned to confront Cornelia who had followed him. "I don't know -whether I can get it through your thick head or not," she bit out, -"you've simply got to get out of here. You can't—"</p> - -<p>"Get this through <i>your</i> thick head, Miss Boyce," said Pritchard -between clenched teeth. "This thing, whatever it is, has killed two of -my men. I'm quite ready to believe it is intelligent, possibly the most -intelligent organism on this planet. But it's a killer just the same -and we're going to kill it. None of your idealistic theories are going -to stop us, either."</p> - -<p>She stared at him, beginning to shake her head a little wildly. "You -can't kill it! That's what I'm trying to tell you. It can't be k—"</p> - -<p>There was a sudden crash. Cornelia whirled and screamed. The three men -and the girl stood transfixed.</p> - -<p>Over by the river one of the jet cruisers was on its side, resting on -a crumpled wing. The other was forty feet in the air, and rising, held -in the coil of an impossible red monstrosity rearing its long wet self -into the sky.</p> - -<p>It was a worm, a very long, thin worm at least a hundred feet long, not -counting what remained underground. It towered some fifty feet into the -air, about thirty-five feet more of it wrapped around the cruiser. At -its tip two fifteen-feet-long feelers writhed and wriggled, as if still -smarting from the scorching they had received.</p> - -<p>The coil slipped a little. The cruiser, looking more than ever like a -beetle at this moment, slid slowly out and fell. And again it crashed -into the cruiser on the ground and rolled ponderously off it.</p> - -<p>"Good ... God!" came Sturgis's voice shakily at Pritchard's elbow. The -Chief Hunter was still too appalled to speak. He stared as the worm's -rope-like body came curving down out of the sky, down to the cruisers -again. Seeing how that red length alternately thinned to a one-foot -thickness and swelled again to three feet and more as it oozed around -the cruiser that had remained on the ground, he had a vision of how it -had entered the <i>Apollo</i>, shrinking itself to a mere six-inch thread -that poured through the intake port, seeping along the duct, swelling, -bulging at McManus's air-grill ... and coming out of the ground, -probably close to the ship, it had evaded the radar field.</p> - -<p>Cornelia's agonized face swam before his eyes. He felt his body shaking -in the grip of her slender hands. Words—</p> - -<p>"—fool, run! <i>Listen to me!</i> It's busy smashing your ships. We have a -chance. Run—to the mountain! Oh, dear God...."</p> - -<p>At first he was like a sleep-walker. They turned him around and pushed -him into a stumbling run, but his head turned back, his eyes large and -almost vacant on that scene by the river.</p> - -<p>Then he was running. It was a good two hundred yards to the mountain, -but the grass was mashed to a springy tangle under their feet and they -had only to skirt the thickly-strewn bodies. The girl took the lead, -the men not far in the rear, the nozzles of their flamers flapping out -behind them.</p> - -<p>A crash, followed by a dull roar, came to them. They shot quick glances -over their shoulders. The fuel tanks of one of the cruisers had let go -and fire was blooming from the now distant beetle. The worm was arching -wildly away, and then sinking in a curve to the ground.</p> - -<p>"How fast—can it go—on the—surface?" panted Pritchard.</p> - -<p>"Much faster—than under—ground!" Cornelia muttered.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">VI</p> - -<p>She was leading the way to the thin, rough ridge that marched up the -mountain between two of its smooth planes of fracture. She sprang to -the ridge and began running lightly up it. At twenty feet she stopped.</p> - -<p>The men were slower. The ridge was nothing but saw-toothed points of -raw rock, hard and glassy and glittering. They had not had the girl's -practice with it.</p> - -<p>She motioned Kemp past her and called down to Pritchard. "This is our -only hope. I've never seen The One on any of these mountains. I'm sure -It can't climb the smooth sides—"</p> - -<p>"And we can hold It back with our flamers. Good girl."</p> - -<p>"But hadn't we better get a little higher?" queried Sturgis.</p> - -<p>"Higher!" echoed the girl. "We've got to get to the top!"</p> - -<p>Frantically, they climbed, taking insane chances, fantastically -insecure holds, scrambling, cutting their hands on the raw rock edges, -living a nightmare....</p> - -<p>At last Kemp and Cornelia, weak with exhaustion, sank against the -ridge, gasping and heaving. Sturgis, next in line, had no breath with -which to berate them. He could only crouch there and stare helplessly -at them both.</p> - -<p>Pritchard braced his feet and dared to look down. The One was a -straight red line across the meadow, a gleam of highlight from Its wet -side where the afternoon sun struck It. (Unconsciously he thought of It -now as Cornelia did, as a person.) It was heading for the foot of the -ridge.</p> - -<p>They all stared down, sucking in their tortured breaths. Waiting for It -to reach the ridge and start climbing, Pritchard found himself studying -It detachedly. He realized his courage and reason were somehow reviving.</p> - -<p>It was, after all, a worm. It differed from a six-inch Terran -night-crawler only in that It measured about a hundred and fifty feet -in length, and was proportionately much thinner, like a snake. It also -differed in those snail-like tips that probed out into slim, delicate -points or contracted into thick stubs scarce six feet long. Those tips -were investigating the jagged rock of the ridge now.</p> - -<p>And he saw that there were tips at the other end, too. But one was -missing. Only a round stump accompanied the other long trailing -feeler. It was a fair index of The One's terrible strength, Pritchard -thought—realizing where the rest of that tip was now—that, in -trying to wrench Itself clear, It had knocked over a hundred-foot, -five-thousand-ton space ship.</p> - -<p>"It's coming," said Kemp in a shrill, brittle voice. The hunter shot a -glance at the stocky youth and saw he was fighting hysteria.</p> - -<p>The One was rippling slowly up the ridge. Pritchard guessed Its speed -was greater than it seemed at that distance. Like a scarlet river, It -poured steadily up.</p> - -<p>"After I've used this," said Cornelia in an even, conversational voice, -"you gentlemen can have it if you don't mind having to pull it out of -me." She held up her long knife, and there was no expression on her -face.</p> - -<p>Kemp and Sturgis could only stare at her. Pritchard couldn't warn her -by asking them to take it away from her, and anyway this was no place -for a wrestle.</p> - -<p>"And why do you think we would want that?" he asked in as pleasant a -tone as he could manage.</p> - -<p>"So much better than a flamer or jumping," she replied. "Take my advice -and—"</p> - -<p>"I wish you would pull yourself together," said Pritchard. "You're -frightening Kemp up there."</p> - -<p>Startled, Kemp stared back down at his chief, and then he closed his -mouth in a firm line. Pritchard congratulated himself that the remark -was a stone that had slain two birds.</p> - -<p>"You don't honestly think there's a way out of this," exclaimed -Cornelia, "with—with—"</p> - -<p>"What I wouldn't give for my snapper!" breathed Kemp.</p> - -<p>"Or one of those five-inchers," and Sturgis jerked his head at the -little tumbled beetles over at the river.</p> - -<p>"There isn't a rocket-tube down there I'd trust now," said Pritchard. -"They're all bunged out of alignment. Some of the snappers might still -be in shape to use...." His voice trailed off. Something was taking -shape in his thoughts, something revolving about a word Cornelia had -uttered—the word "jump."</p> - -<p>"Well, what <i>can</i> we do?" muttered Sturgis tensely. The worm was still -well below, but coming steadily up. They could see the little scarlet -tips now, questing over the jagged edges. Behind was all humping -redness.</p> - -<p>"We were very foolish—" Pritchard checked himself. "I was very -foolish. I permitted us to be outmaneuvered. The one thing that monster -doesn't want is for one of us to get back to the cruisers—"</p> - -<p>"I've been thinking," Sturgis cut in. "Why don't we empty all our -flamer tanks along the ridge here, climb all the way to the top and -then, as soon as it's almost there, spark the fuel and give it a good -roasting?"</p> - -<p>Pritchard shook his head. "I thought of that. You forget how volatile -that stuff is. By the time it gets there—no, I've got a better use for -the flamers."</p> - -<p>He began unstrapping the tank from his shoulders. "Kemp, pass yours on -down. No, hang on to it, just in case. Sturgis, you take my position -and hold It off as long as you can—" He glanced at the gauge on the -light plastic tank and shook his head grimly. "Okay, children, let's -get going—to the top."</p> - -<p>The mountain wasn't really much of a mountain, being only some five -hundred feet high. Their first frantic scramble up the ridge had -carried them almost two-thirds of the way.</p> - -<p>Behind them, the worm was flowing steadily upward, like a river of -blood, along the narrow ridge.</p> - -<p>"Kemp," panted Pritchard as the short young man finally and painfully -inched over the knife-edged peak.</p> - -<p>Kemp turned, stretching out a hand to Cornelia to help her up and over. -"Yes?"</p> - -<p>"I'm putting this girl in your charge. She's your responsibility—"</p> - -<p>"What are you going to do?" put in Cornelia quickly.</p> - -<p>Pritchard looked up into those gray-green eyes so intent upon him. -A pang of regret stabbed through him. He was no longer seeing her -sweet-lined body. Here was a girl he could have ridden the starways -with. A person with enough courage and resource to have held her own -in this killer-infested Eden.</p> - -<p>"I'm taking a powder, as they used to say back on good old Terra. I'm -gambling. Gambling that I can get back to the one cruiser that hasn't -burnt up all its wiring, and call the ship." He slapped the leg-pocket -of his breeches. Kemp nodded. The pocket contained a ready-packed -emergency chute.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Cornelia shook her head slowly. "You'll never make it—"</p> - -<p>"He might," said Kemp.</p> - -<p>"I'll bet I can," said Pritchard. "I've got to."</p> - -<p>"The One will get you," she said. "It can get into one of those things -easily. It'll take only a little of Its digestive juice...." Her face -puckered and those emerald eyes shone brighter, but she fought for and -regained control.</p> - -<p>"So?" Pritchard smiled. "You'll be well rid, then, of that notorious -big-game hunter, Elmer Pritchard."</p> - -<p>"I don't want to be rid of him," she said softly. "I want him with -me—at the end."</p> - -<p>He bowed. "Thank you, Miss Boyce."</p> - -<p>"Call me Cornelia, please."</p> - -<p>"And you," he said, "may call me Elmer—a name I permit no one to -use—" he bent forward "—but you, now."</p> - -<p>Their lips brushed and clung.</p> - -<p>"Fine time for love-making," muttered Kemp.</p> - -<p>Below them, a flamer squealed suddenly. Sturgis, unknown to them, had -lingered behind. Now, a hundred feet down the ridge, he fired a burst -at the worm—a warning burst, for the dread feelers hung high above his -head on a long, curving tendon of red wetness.</p> - -<p>The flamer had an effective range of only thirty feet, but the slimy -scarlet rope curved away, dropping off to one side and extending -out into the air. The feelers contracted to mere knobs and the end -thickened into a club.</p> - -<p>A haymaker, drawing back, poised and cocked. Pritchard saw it and -howled, "Sturgis! Duck!"</p> - -<p>But there was to be no ducking that swing. Sturgis hugged the thin -spine of crag and threw up a blossom of fire. But the rope came -flailing about, slashing through the flame, and neatly flicked him off.</p> - -<p>They watched the body arcing out over the meadow, the spare flamer of -Pritchard twisting after it, and saw it sink on down, to stop suddenly -against the turf.</p> - -<p>Kemp began to curse. Pritchard pulled the emergency chute pack from his -leg-pocket and began snapping the light harness about his long frame.</p> - -<p>"Cut that out," he said coldly. "Just hang on, Kemp, and watch. If I've -got this baby figured out right, It's going to lose interest in you two -in about as many seconds."</p> - -<p>"Good-bye, Elmer," came Cornelia's voice forlornly.</p> - -<p>The worm's first half was recovering from the follow-through of that -swing, draping itself back along the ridge yard by relentless yard. -Pritchard turned, holding the chute cord in his fist. He forced a grin -that he was afraid looked more like a grimace. "So long, kiddies," he -said, and jumped.</p> - -<p>At this point the leaning peak overhung the ground and he flung himself -as far out as possible, trying for distance. The smooth, almost -polished wall slanted away from him and the meadow swung upward.</p> - -<p>He pulled the cord at the last minute. As the filmy neosilk billowed -above him, and the harness seemed to jerk him back up from the -onrushing ground, he managed to twist a glance back up at the ridge.</p> - -<p>The One was motionless. That was good.</p> - -<p>It had seen him.</p> - -<p>Then he drew up his knees. The ground slammed into him and he lay -there, stunned, letting the filmy folds flutter down over him.</p> - -<p>Then he was up, bruised but whole, on his knees and scrabbling out from -under the light gray stuff. By crawling under every line he avoided -entanglement and in a minute was clear and running, unsnapping the -harness as he went.</p> - -<p>Not until he was well away from the mountain did he dare a glance over -his shoulder. Then he almost stumbled, at the chill terror gusting -through him, freezing every muscle.</p> - -<p>The worm was a red festoon, drooping from the ridge. Even as he looked, -Its whole length came off, to fall writhing out of sight momentarily at -the base of the mountain.</p> - -<p>He hadn't expected that. He had planned for It to back laboriously -down the way It came, giving him a decent margin of time. But it had -crossed him up. Now he had seconds instead of minutes.</p> - -<p>He put his head down and dug in, pumping his tired, aching legs -furiously. This was the worst gamble of his career, against the longest -odds. He had no idea how fast the worm could go on level ground.</p> - -<p>Suddenly, he was racing a shadow. In the slanting light of Piramus, -setting through the afternoon, something like an elongated caricature -of a snail's head crept across the grass beside him—two long slivers -of tapering purple shadow.</p> - -<p>Then he saw his flamer, lying almost dead ahead where it had landed -after being catapulted off the ridge. Sobs rasping his throat, he -slanted toward it, dove and rolled, to come up clutching it.</p> - -<p>There was a spattering sound close by, a spatter that changed to an -angry fizzing. Pritchard swung the nozzle up in the very face of the -glistening red column swaying toward him. He squeezed the handle-grip.</p> - -<p>Through the booming flame, he saw the shape twisting aside and followed -it with fire. It went down to the ground, backing away into a swelling -body. The worm writhed desperately away from that searing plume of -licking flames.</p> - -<p>Pritchard wheeled and ran toward the cruiser that had not burned.</p> - -<p>Evil-smelling juice slashed across the upturned belly of the ship as he -savagely wrenched open the buckled door and tumbled in, dragging the -flamer in after him. He stumbled across the roof-struts and lunged for -the upside-down radio panel.</p> - -<p>The cruisers' radios were on their own battery-powered circuits. -He snapped the power on and heard the slow hum and sputter of the -warming tubes. He poked in the button labeled AUT. EM. SIG. a standard -repeating distress call on a tight beam.</p> - -<p>Then he was flung against the opposite wall. As he struggled back to -his feet, pressure against them told him the cruiser was rising, and he -knew very well it was not doing so under its own power.</p> - -<p>A glistening red wall bulged against the door-frame through which he -had come. Pritchard realized that once again the cruiser was being -hoisted aloft in the worm's coil. It was going to drop him, to kill -him quickly, rather than poke inside and face his flamer.</p> - -<p>Pritchard snatched the flamer and staggered toward the opening. Jabbing -the nozzle into that scarlet slime, he gripped the handles.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Roaring heat beat back at him. He braced himself, ignoring his own -singeing flesh and crisping hair.</p> - -<p>The cruiser struck ground with a crash. He was flung sideways, threw up -an arm, and heard it snap. He dragged himself to the door which now was -turned to the ground. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Pritchard -hung his head through the opening and peered out.</p> - -<p>It was a crazy nightmare. The meadow was a ceiling, to his inverted -eyes, against which a giant red riband rolled and writhed in fantastic -configurations. Every melting convolution, every arching loop, -expressed pain and wrath. And, now and again, a livid blotch appeared -along its length, alternately turning purple and yellow, and dripping -streamers of drool.</p> - -<p>Then came a sound, a great tearing sound in the sky. Pritchard hauled -himself back into the ship and crawled to the radio. He switched off -the automatic signal and cut in the transmission band.</p> - -<p>"—the hell you got down there?" came Captain Savage's rasp. "Is that -you up on the rock, Mr. Pritchard? Mr. Pritchard—"</p> - -<p>"Captain!" yelled Pritchard. "Step on it! Come down on that monster. -I'm all right. Come ahead!"</p> - -<p>Then he snatched up a pair of solar goggles and worked his way to a -viewport, in time to see the <i>Apollo</i>, a magnificent column of metal in -the sky, descend on a pillar of incandescence—at the bottom of which -lay something that bubbled and cooked, rising in a last great arch of -simmering agony.</p> - -<p>The snaggle-toothed horizon of Thisbe II was rising across the dull -indigo disk of setting Piramus. Pritchard and Savage sat in their -gimbal chairs in the Forward Lounge. The old man's wispy white hairs -stirred in the evening breeze sucked in by the blowers.</p> - -<p>"And every time I wonder if my hunting days aren't over," sighed -Pritchard. Experimentally, he worked on the flexicast on his right arm.</p> - -<p>"Huh," grunted the captain. "Not you. One week on Terra and you'll be -telling yourself the next time it just can't be as bad. Or that this -wasn't as bad as it seemed. Anything, you'll tell yourself. Anything to -start—"</p> - -<p>Cornelia appeared in the doorway. "Good evening, gentlemen," she said -coolly. She was wearing cordron slacks and a soft neosilk blouse, that -seemed to enjoy clinging to her contours.</p> - -<p>"Good evening," croaked Captain Savage. He stood up, and stretched -restlessly.</p> - -<p>"Oh, don't go," said Cornelia.</p> - -<p>"Well, if we're blasting off in the morning, I've got things to do. -These days it's the old men who do all the work." He chuckled as he -eased past her through the door, and gave her shoulder a little pat. -"Good hunting."</p> - -<p>The girl watched him go down the passage. "Whatever did he mean by -that?" she inquired. "'Good hunting'."</p> - -<p>"Oh, it's just an expression," said Pritchard vaguely.</p> - -<p>She came over to him and turned about on her bare feet. "No shoes that -fit," she said. "How do you like what I managed to scrounge from the -men?"</p> - -<p>He pulled her down to him with one lazy reach of his good arm. "I'm -afraid," he murmured, "that I liked you better the way you were."</p> - -<p>"You know," she spoke muffledly against his shoulder, "you're something -of a beast."</p> - -<pre style='margin-top:6em'> -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AS IT WAS *** - -This file should be named 63953-h.htm or 63953-h.zip - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/9/5/63953/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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