XII.
Further reading of the log produced no new evidence. There was a gooddeal more information about the early animal and plant life and howdeadly they were, as well as the first defenses against them.Interesting historically, but of no use whatsoever in countering themenace. The captain apparently never thought that life forms werealtering on Pyrrus, believing instead that dangerous beasts were beingdiscovered. He never lived to change his mind. The last entry in thelog, less than two months after the first attack, was very brief. Andin a different handwriting.
_Captain Kurkowski died today, of poisoning following an insect bite. His death is greatly mourned._
The "why" of the planetary revulsion had yet to be uncovered.
"Kerk must see this book," Jason said. "He should have some idea of theprogress being made. Can we get transportation--or do we walk to cityhall?"
"Walk, of course," Meta said.
"Then you bring the book. At two G's I find it very hard to be agentleman and carry the packages."
They had just entered Kerk's outer office when a shrill screaming burstout of the phone-screen. It took Jason a moment to realize that it was amechanical signal, not a human voice.
"What is it?" he asked.
Kerk burst through the door and headed for the street entrance. Everyoneelse in the office was going the same way. Meta looked confused, leaningtowards the door, then looking back at Jason.
"What does it mean? Can't you tell me?" He shook her arm.
"Sector alarm. A major breakthrough of some kind at the perimeter.Everyone but other perimeter guards has to answer."
"Well, go then," he said. "Don't worry about me. I'll be all right."
His words acted like a trigger release. Meta's gun was in her hand andshe was gone before he had finished speaking. Jason sat down wearily inthe deserted office.
The unnatural silence in the building began to get on his nerves. Heshifted his chair over to the phone-screen and switched it on to_receive_. The screen exploded with color and sound. At first Jasoncould make no sense of it at all. Just a confused jumble of faces andvoices. It was a multi-channel set designed for military use. A numberof images were carried on the screen at one time, rows of heads or hazybackgrounds where the user had left the field of view. Many of the headswere talking at the same time and the babble of their voices made nosense whatsoever.
After examining the controls and making a few experiments, Jason beganto understand the operation. Though all stations were on the screen atall times, their audio channels could be controlled. In that way two,three or more stations could be hooked together in a link-up. They wouldbe in round-robin communication with each other, yet never out ofcontact with the other stations.
Identification between voice and sound was automatic. Whenever one ofthe pictured images spoke, the image would glow red. By trial and errorJason brought in the audio for the stations he wanted and tried tofollow the course of the attack.
Very quickly he realized this was something out of the ordinary. In someway, no one made it clear, a section of the perimeter had been brokenthrough and emergency defenses had to be thrown up to encapsulate it.Kerk seemed to be in charge, at least he was the only one with anoverride transmitter. He used it for general commands. The many, tinyimages faded and his face appeared on top of them, filling the entirescreen.
"All perimeter stations send twenty-five per cent of your complement toArea Twelve."
The small images reappeared and the babble increased, red lightsflickering from face to face.
"... Abandon the first floor, acid bombs can't reach."
"If we hold we'll be cut off, but salient is past us on the west flank.Request support."
"DON'T MERVV ... IT'S USELESS!"
"... And the napalm tanks are almost gone. Orders?"
"The truck is still there, get it to the supply warehouse, you'll findreplacements ..."
* * * * *
Out of the welter of talk, only the last two fragments made any sense.Jason had noticed the signs below when he came in. The first two floorsof the building below him were jammed with military supplies. This washis chance to get into the act.
Just sitting and watching was frustrating. Particularly when it was adesperate emergency. He didn't overvalue his worth, but he was surethere was always room for another gun.
By the time he had dragged himself down to the street level aturbo-truck had slammed to a stop in front of the loading platform. TwoPyrrans were rolling out drums of napalm with reckless disregard fortheir own safety. Jason didn't dare enter that maelstrom of rollingmetal. He found he could be of use tugging the heavy drums into positionon the truck while the others rolled them up. They accepted his aidwithout acknowledgment.
It was exhausting, sweaty work, hauling the leaden drums into placeagainst the heavy gravity. After a minute Jason worked by touch througha red haze of hammering blood. He realized the job was done only whenthe truck suddenly leaped forward and he was thrown to the floor. He laythere, his chest heaving. As the driver hurled the heavy vehicle along,all Jason could do was bounce around in the bottom. He could see wellenough, but was still gasping for breath when they braked at thefighting zone.
To Jason, it was a scene of incredible confusion. Guns firing, flames,men and women running on all sides. The napalm drums were unloadedwithout his help and the truck vanished for more. Jason leaned against awall of a half-destroyed building and tried to get his bearings. It wasimpossible. There seemed to be a great number of small animals: hekilled two that attacked him. Other than that he couldn't determine thenature of the battle.
A Pyrran, tan face white with pain and exertion, stumbled up. His rightarm, wet with raw flesh and dripping blood, hung limply at his side. Itwas covered with freshly applied surgical foam. He held his gun in hisleft hand, a stump of control cable dangling from it. Jason thought theman was looking for medical aid. He couldn't have been more wrong.
Clenching the gun in his teeth, the Pyrran clutched a barrel of napalmwith his good hand and hurled it over on its side. Then, with the gunonce more in his hand, he began to roll the drum along the ground withhis feet. It was slow, cumbersome work, but he was still in the fight.
Jason pushed through the hurrying crowd and bent over the drum. "Let medo it," he said. "You can cover us both with your gun."
The man wiped the sweat from his eyes with the back of his arm andblinked at Jason. He seemed to recognize him. When he smiled it was agrimace of pain, empty of humor. "Do that. I can still shoot. Two halfmen--maybe we equal one whole." Jason was laboring too hard to evennotice the insult.
* * * * *
An explosion had blasted a raw pit in the street ahead. Two people wereat the bottom, digging it even deeper with shovels. The whole thingseemed meaningless. Just as Jason and the wounded man rolled up the drumthe diggers leaped out of the excavation and began shooting down intoits depths. One of them turned, a young girl, barely in her teens.
"Praise Perimeter!" she breathed. "They found the napalm. One of the newhorrors is breaking through towards Thirteen, we just found it." Even asshe talked she swiveled the drum around, kicked the easy-off plug, andbegan dumping the gelid contents into the hole. When half of it hadgurgled down, she kicked the drum itself in. Her companion pulled aflare from his belt, lit it, and threw it after the drum.
"Back quick. They don't like heat," he said.
This was putting it very mildly. The napalm caught, tongues of flame androiling, greasy smoke climbed up to the sky. Under Jason's feet theearth shifted and moved. _Something_ black and long stirred in the heartof the flame, then arched up into the sky over their heads. In the midstof the searing heat it still moved with alien, jolting motions. It wasimmense, at least two meters thick and with no indication of its length.The flames didn't stop it at all, just annoyed it.
Jason had some idea of the thing's length as the street cracked andbuckled for fifty meters on each side of the pi
t. Great loops of thecreature began to emerge from the ground. He fired his gun, as did theothers. Not that it seemed to have any effect. More and more people wereappearing, armed with a variety of weapons. Flame-throwers and grenadesseemed to be the most effective.
"_Clear the area ... we're going to saturate it. Fall back._"
The voice was so loud it jarred Jason's ear. He turned and recognizedKerk, who had arrived with truckloads of equipment. He had a powerspeaker on his back, the mike hung in front of his lips. His amplifiedvoice brought an instant reaction from the crowd. They began to move.
There was still doubt in Jason's mind what to do. Clear the area? Butwhat area? He started towards Kerk, before he realized that the rest ofthe Pyrrans were going in the opposite direction. Even under twogravities they _moved_.
Jason had a naked feeling of being alone on the stage. He was in thecenter of the street, and the others had vanished. No one remained.Except the wounded man Jason had helped. He stumbled towards Jason,waving his good arm. Jason couldn't understand what he said. Kerk wasshouting orders again from one of the trucks. They had started to movetoo. The urgency struck home and Jason started to run.
It was too late. On all sides the earth was buckling, cracking, as moreloops of the underground thing forced its way into the light. Safety layahead. Only in front of it rose an arch of dirt-encrusted gray.
* * * * *
There are seconds of time that seem to last an eternity. A moment ofsubjective time that is grabbed and stretched to an infinite distance.This was one of those moments. Jason stood, frozen. Even the smoke inthe sky hung unmoving. The high-standing loop of alien life was beforehim, every detail piercingly clear.
Thick as a man, ribbed and gray as old bark. Tendrils projected from allparts of it, pallid and twisting lengths that writhed slowly withsnakelike life. Shaped like a plant, yet with the motions of an animal.And cracking, splitting. This was the worst.
Seams and openings appeared. Splintering, gaping mouths that vomited outa horde of pallid animals. Jason heard their shriekings, shrill yetremote. He saw the needlelike teeth that lined their jaws.
The paralysis of the unknown held him there. He should have died. Kerkwas thundering at him through the power speaker, others were firing intothe attacking creature. Jason knew nothing.
Then he was shot forward, pushed by a rock-hard shoulder. The woundedman was still there, trying to get Jason clear. Gun clenched in his jawshe dragged Jason along with his good arm. Towards the creature. Theothers stopped firing. They saw his plan and it was a good one.
A loop of the thing arched into the air, leaving an opening between itsbody and the ground. The wounded Pyrran planted his feet and tightenedhis muscles. One-handed, with a single thrust, he picked Jason off theground and sent him hurtling under the living arch. Moving tendrilsbrushed fire along his face, then he was through, rolling over and overon the ground. The wounded Pyrran leaped after him.
It was too late. There had been a chance for one person to get out. ThePyrran could have done it easily--instead he had pushed Jason first. Thething was aware of movement when Jason brushed its tendrils. It droppedand caught the wounded man under its weight. He vanished from sight asthe tendrils wrapped around him and the animals swarmed over. Histrigger must have pulled back to full automatic because the gun keptfiring a long time after he should have been dead.
Jason crawled. Some of the fanged animals ran towards him, but wereshot. He knew nothing about this. Then rude hands grabbed him up andpulled him forward. He slammed into the side of a truck and Kerk's facewas in front of his, flushed and angry. One of the giant fists closed onthe front of Jason's clothes and he was lifted off his feet, shaken likea limp bag of rags. He offered no protest and could not have even ifKerk had killed him.
When he was thrown to the ground, someone picked him up and slid himinto the back of the truck. He did not lose consciousness as the truckbounced away, yet he could not move. In a moment the fatigue would goaway and he would sit up. That was all he was, just a little tired. Evenas he thought this he passed out.