The Heller gave his knife a casual backhand flip. It landed about five centimeters from my left foot.
“You,” he said, looking at me. “Where you from?”
“Springworld,” I said.
“Heard of that place. Supposed to be a pretty rough planet. That true?”
I nodded, pulled the knife out of the ground.
“Well, you got to be more than tough out there.” He nodded his head toward the jungle. “You got to be smart to stay alive.” He looked at his digital. “You won’t get any smarter talking to me. Let’s go.”
I handed him his knife back. I would have tossed it back to him, but I might have missed. It might have made him mad. Never make a Heller mad.
The small floater lifted off, skimming the treetops. As it disappeared, the jungle noises started. They weren’t loud noises, just a background of crunching and scurrying sounds. Occasionally a growl or squeak. We were all standing very close together.
Four paths led away from the clearing. “Which we do we go?” I asked. “The floater went in so many circles I lost my bearings.”
“We find water,” B’oosa said.
“Why?” asked Pancho.
“A stream will lead us to the coast. From there we can find the camp.”
It sounded as good as anything to me. We split into two groups and checked the paths out. Pancho and Alegria found one with a stream running beside it. We followed it.
At first it wasn’t so bad. The path was pretty clear and wide enough for two people to walk side by side. That didn’t last very long. Soon the jungle closed in overhead and the it was pressing in from the sides. The blocking off of the sky made it quite a bit darker. The air was heavy with the smell of rotting vegetation.
“Are you sure this is the right way?” I asked B’oosa. He was behind me as we walked slowly, single file, down the dark path.
“Not really, but it’s close,” he said. “The sun was setting in roughly the right direction. I’ll get a better fix when the stars come out.”
“You studied the star chart for this planet?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said. “Didn’t you?” He laughed and I knew he didn’t need an answer.
“Down!” yelled Pancho. He was guarding the rear of our line.
As I hit the ground, I rolled onto my back. Somehow I had the vibroclub in my hand. By then it was all over.
About a meter above my head I saw the red and yellow flash of the tail end of a slasher. I broke out in a cold sweat. That had been close.
A slasher is something like a cross between a snake and a bat; long narrow body and leathery wings. Its whole body is covered with razor-sharp scales, that bristle forward when it attacks. If it brushes your shoulder you lose an arm.
Shaking, I got to my feet. B’oosa was looking off into the brush where the slasher had disappeared. I swear he was smiling.
“Guess they missed that one,” said Miko.
“Maybe, maybe not,” B’oosa said.
Alegria got to her feet. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“They clear off a lot of animals when they check the island, but not all of them. Some they miss, but some they deactivate.”
“Deactivate?”
“The scales on that slasher were filed down. If it had hit you, it would have bruised you, nothing more. Unless it scared you to death. There are a lot of declawed and defanged animals around here.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“I’ve been doing more research about this planet than studying star charts. Not just in books, either. Last night while you were on guard duty I was out having a couple of beers with the instructors. Bruno gave me that interesting piece of information. They don’t like to kill off students, even if their insurance covers it. Which it does.”
Bruno. “Did your buddy also tell you which paths to follow?”
B’oosa just smiled. “We’d better get moving. It’ll be getting dark soon and we don’t want to have to set up camp by starlight.”
We picked ourselves up, feeling scared and foolish. And headed down what was left of the path. Occasionally we had to hack away some vines or underbrush to make headway. Vegetation grew fast in the humid jungle. We saw another slasher, but it wasn’t near us. I couldn’t tell whether its scales had been blunted or not.
Just as I thought the trail was going to give out, it took a hard left turn and opened into a small clearing. It looked like a good place to set up camp. We couldn’t see where the trail left the clearing, but it was getting dark and we figured we’d find it in the morning.
Alegria and Pancho popped up the tent while Miko started getting dinner ready. B’oosa, Pancho and I checked out the perimeter of the clearing and gathered wood for a fire.
The perimeter seemed clear, for the time being. We piled the wood and broke a couple of fire sticks to start a campfire. The fire was more for our piece of mind than anything else; it might or might not keep animals away. We sat around it and the flickering light played shadows across our faces. Some sort of a frog started croaking and soon it sounded like there were thousands going all at once. At least it drowned out some of the more unpleasant noises.
B’oosa reached into his field pack beside him and drew out a small musical instrument. I assume it was from Maasai’pya; I’d never seen one like it before. He blew through it and the sound that came out was soft and reedy. He played for a long time and I leaned back and listened. It was a side of B’oosa I’d never imagined.
The fire died down and I rolled another log onto it. Pancho and Miko bedded down. It was getting late.
“I’d better go relieve Alegria,” I said. We’d drawn straws for the watches. I had the second one.
B’oosa nodded, stirring coals with a long stick. “Be turning in myself, shortly,” he said.
I walked to the edge of the clearing where Alegria was sitting on a log.
“Quiet?” I asked her.
“Not quiet,” she said, “but uneventful. I don’t think this place is ever quiet.”
“I guess you could get used to it after a while,” I said.
“You can get used to anything after a while,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean you have to like it.”
“Does it bother you?”
“The jungle? No.”
“Do I?”
“Do you what?” she asked.
“Do I bother you?”
“Why do you ask that?” She turned to me, half her face outlined by the fire, the other in darkness.
“You seemed to …” I groped for words. “I mean, since Miko came on the tour …”
“Let’s not start that again, Carl. You’re my friend and he’s my friend. Leave it at that.”
“But I thought —“
“That’s your trouble. You think too much. For a big guy, you sure get messed up by little things.” She handed me the stunner. “I’m going to turn in. Holler if you see any beasties.”
“But Alegria …”
“But what, Carl?” She looked tired.
“Nothing,” I said. “See you in the morning.”
She walked back to the camp without saying anything else. I felt foolish, stupid. I don’t know why I always seem to say the wrong things around her. I’m usually okay with anyone else, but around her my brain gets all fuzzy and my foot heads right for my mouth. Sometimes I feel like such a dightin’ fool.
I saw B’oosa and Alegria stoke the fire and turn in. Feeling restless, I shouldered the stunner and walked around the perimeter of the clearing. That didn’t help much, so I turned around and walked back the other way. As far as I could see, there wasn’t much moving around our camp. There were a lot of grunts and rustlings from the jungle but most were just frog noises. Everything else seemed far away. Once I saw some night bats fly overhead, but they’re not much of a problem unless they come close. I sat back on my rock.
Funny thing, I started thinking about Springworld. I don’t guess I’d given it much though since I got on Starsc
hool.
I was the first in my family to have the opportunity to have such a fine education.
I was the first in eight generations of Boks to be able to escape a life of harvests, a life ruled by the whims of a hostile planet, the whims of heartless traders who have you at their mercy.
I was the hope of the family. Their dreams were pinned on me.
And sometimes I felt like it was all a waste; I didn’t know anything at all, never would.
Sitting on the log, I could just barely make out a few stars through the tops of the trees. I felt a long way from home.
My leg had fallen asleep. I moved it around until the circulation came back. Listening carefully to the night sounds, I walked around the clearing again. Maybe Alegria was right. Maybe I do think too much. Not well, but too much. I kept walking. Soon Miko joined me; he had the next shift.
I gave him the stunner and told him where I’d left the lantern. So far we hadn’t had to use it.
I put a couple more logs on the fire, then I went into the tent and crawled into my bag. Alegria was in the bag next to me, a thousand light years away. I fell asleep quickly and wandered into troubled dreams.
I woke when someone stepped on my shoulder. It was B’oosa, looking out the tent flap. I started to sit up. He turned and put a finger to his lips.
“What is it?” I whispered.
“Trouble,” he said. “Big trouble.”
I got out of my sleeping bag and crawled over to him. Looking out, I could see five or six shapes at the edge of the clearing. Miko was stretched out beside the log, asleep or dead or unconscious.
“What are they?” I asked. “I can’t make them out.”
“Killer snails,” he said flatly.
That was big trouble. They called them snails because they had a shell on their back. That was where the resemblance stopped. They weren’t slow; they moved on about a thousand legs. Quickly. Spaced around their shells were several thick tentacles, which secreted an acid-based poison. Even if the poison didn’t kill you outright, the acid would tear away at your skin.
“Are they, uh, deactivated?” I asked.
“I doubt it. Take a deep breath.”
It was unmistakable, the sharp tang of hydrochloric acid. One of the creatures moved toward Miko. It was going slowly, its tentacles waving ceaselessly in the air.
“What should we do?” I asked.
“Wake the others.”
“We’re awake,” said Alegria from behind me.
“We’ve got to get to the stunner,” said B’oosa. “That’s the only way we can handle them. Miko’s okay so long as he doesn’t move. He may only be asleep. Who’s got the fire sticks?” he asked.
“I do.” It was Pancho. “About a dozen of them.”
“We might be able to create a diversion using them. If you toss them in the fire it might confuse things enough that we could reach the stunner.”
“All of them?” asked Pancho. That would —“
“I know what it’ll do,” said B’oosa. “A lot of noise, a lot of light and a lot of fire. It can only help us.”
“Who goes for the stunner?” I asked.
“We all do. I’ll follow Pancho out of the tent. When he tosses the fire sticks I’m on my way. You all follow. Carl, you take one vibroclub, Alegria has the other. Don’t use them unless you have to. If you’re close enough to hit it with a vibroclub, it’s close enough to hit you with a tentacle. Don’t try anything fancy. Once we get to the stunner we can handle them with no trouble. Try and keep Pancho between you. He’s the only one with no weapon.”
“You,” said Pancho. “Where is your weapon?”
B’oosa reached down beside him and lifted a good-sized staff. “I cut it last night.”
“What about the one by Miko?” asked Alegria.
“We’ll just have to handle it ourselves,” said B’oosa. “I’m counting on the fire distracting it. If we tried to yell to Miko, he’d move reflexively and it’d be on him in a second.”
“I’ve got the fire sticks,” said Pancho. I’d already grabbed one of the vibroclubs; Alegria had the other.
“You get up front,” said B’oosa. “Go when you’re ready, we’ll follow you out.”
Pancho sprang out of the tent, running low, and we followed. I was just untangled from the flaps when I saw the fire sticks arc toward the fire. I grabbed the ground; the concussion lifted me and rolled me over.
I picked up the vibroclub and staggered to my feet. The creatures seemed confused, from the explosion and the sudden variety of meals; they shuffled back and forth as if indecision. Alegria and B’oosa were on their hands and knees, between the fire and one of the killer snails. I moved toward that one.
Vibroclub probably wouldn’t do anything to the shell. I shouted at the beast and it spun around, surprisingly fast. It charged, jaws grinding, tentacles waving. When it was a few meters away I tossed the humming vibroclub underhand, right in front of it. It scurried over the weapon and gave out a terrible gurgling howl, then flipped forward, landing on its back, centipede legs writhing.
I cautiously retrieved the club and looked around. Miko was on his feet now, but there was a killer snail between him and the stunner. B’oosa was holding one at bay with his staff, protecting Alegria as well as himself.
I stood there one second too long, deciding — the upside-down creature’s tentacles were flailing around and one of them brushed my hand. It was like being slapped with a burning torch. I flinched away and dropped the club.
Pancho ran over and scooped up the vibroclub, then charged the snail that was blocking our way to the stunner. He started to circle it warily, but had come in too close; a tentacle whipped out and wrapped around his left leg. I ran to help, but he took care of it himself, banging the monster on the face when it pulled him in for the kill. It flipped with the same somersault reaction mine had; Pancho rolled away holding his leg and moaning.
I went for the stunner and fired off six or seven quick shots and suddenly everything was quiet. Except for the crackling of the fire and Pancho, cursing in a strange, soft monotone.
Alegria and I bent over Pancho. The acid had eaten through his pants leg and was starting on his flesh. B’oosa pushed me aside and pulled a first aid kit from his pack. He ripped Pancho’s pants leg open up to the knee and applied a salve. He seemed to know what he was doing. I noticed B’oosa was the only one wearing his pack. I automatically looked toward the tent where I’d left mine. There wasn’t anything left of the tent but some smoldering plastic and blackened poles.
B’oosa applied some salve to my hand, too. The salve was cold and took away the sting, but left a deep, throbbing pain. I could imagine what Pancho was feeling.
Miko sat down next to me. “What happened?” he asked.
“That’s what I was going to ask you,” I said sharply.
“I must have …” he said. “I mean, I never saw them.”
“What you mean is you fell asleep,” I said.
“I guess so.”
“That could have killed us. All of us.” I was thinking more of Pancho than myself. Suddenly, I was filled with anger and frustration. “That was stupid, plain —“
“Carl,” said Alegria. “That’s not going to get us anywhere.”
“She’s right,” said B’oosa. “We’d better call for help.”
Reaching into his pack, he pulled out the small transmitter. He thumbed the switch, but the red light didn’t go on. Neither did the green one. He flicked it back and forth a few times. Nothing.
“Looks like we’re on our own,” he said.
“I don’t suppose Bruno said anything about this,” I said.
He just shook his head. “How do you feel, Pancho?”
“It hurts, amigo, but I can make it.”
“We’ll leave at dawn,” said B’oosa. “It shouldn’t take too long.”
We gathered up what equipment we could salvage. It wasn’t much. B’oosa and Miko were the only ones who had their field
packs. Everything in the tent was lost.
The rest of the night we just sat around. Nobody slept. Every time my hand would start hurting I’d think of Pancho and try to ignore it. He must have been in real pain. I avoided Miko, though B’oosa and Alegria both had long talks with him. It may not have been rational, but I blamed him for all of this. When it started to get light we cut some poles and made a sling between them with vines to carry Pancho. He couldn’t possibly walk.
Mio and B’oosa found the path leading out of the clearing. The fire had died down and the clearing was a charred mess. The snails weren’t dead, but they wouldn’t be moving for a long time; I hoped something would come along and eat them. We pooled what food we had, shared a little for breakfast, and started out.
Pancho’s leg was infected. It hurt when he bounced around and had ugly red streaks around it. He’d need expert medical attention soon. My hand throbbed and was starting to swell and get puffy.
We settled into a routine. I carried the head of the stretcher and Miko carried the foot end. I had to walk bent over most of the time and even then my end was quite a bit higher than the other. B’oosa took the lead, chopping the path clear and keeping an eye out. Alegria followed, wearing Miko’s pack and keeping an eye on our rear. She saw two slashers; one came too close and she shot it with the stunner. Its plates were razor sharp.
I plodded along behind B’oosa. Pancho wasn’t heavy, but we covered a lot of ground and my arms were beginning to tire. Occasionally, B’oosa would rub some more salve on my hand and on Pancho’s leg. It helped a little. Just before we stopped for lunch, Pancho got delirious and then passed out. We ate lunch without tasting, without talking. Miko sat on a rock, his eyes dull. I couldn’t think any farther ahead than one foot after another. B’oosa fiddled with the transmitter. Nothing seemed to be working. We finished eating and walked on.
I was ready to lie down and give up. My body was throbbing a thousand protests; my hand felt like it was sitting on a bed of coals. We ran out of salve. Pancho was running a high fever. I had a cramp in my left leg and was staggering; I didn’t think we were ever going to get back to the camp. We might even be going the wrong way. Maybe B’oosa was mistaken. I began to feel feverish myself. Things started to get blurry.