The Planet Savers

we're not going to climb it now!" Hestared at me and added, "I hope!"

  "We're not." I was glad of the interruption. If the youngsters andamateurs wanted to amuse themselves plotting hypothetical attacks onunclimbable sierras, that was all very well, but it was, if nothingworse, a great waste of time. I showed Kendricks a notch in the ridge,thousands of feet lower than the peaks, and well-sheltered from theicefalls on either side.

  "That's Dammerung; we're going through there. We won't be on themountain at all, and it's less than 22,000 feet high in thepass--although there are some bad ledges and washes. We'll keep clear ofthe main tree-roads if we can, and all the mapped trailmen's villages,but we may run into wandering bands--" abruptly I made my decision andgestured them around me.

  "From this point," I broke the news, "we're liable to be attacked. Kyla,tell them what you saw."

  * * * * *

  She put down her mug. Her face was serious again, as she related whatshe had seen on the bridge. "We're on a peaceful mission, but they don'tknow that yet. The thing to remember is that they do not wish to kill,only to wound and rob. If we show fight--" she displayed a short uglyknife, which she tucked matter-of-factly into her shirt-front, "theywill run away again."

  Lerrys loosened a narrow dagger which until this moment I had thoughtpurely ornamental. He said, "Mind if I say something more, Jason? Iremember from the 'Narr campaign--the trailmen fight at close quarters,and by human standards they fight dirty." He looked around fiercely, hisunshaven face glinting as he grinned. "One more thing. I like elbowroom. Do we have to stay roped together when we start out again?"

  I thought it over. His enthusiasm for a fight made me feel both annoyedand curiously delighted. "I won't make anyone stay roped who thinks he'dbe safer without it," I said, "we'll decide that when the time comes,anyway. But personally--the trailmen are used to running along narrowledges, and we're not. Their first tactic would probably be to push usoff, one by one. If we're roped, we can fend them off better." Idismissed the subject, adding, "Just now, the important thing is to dryout."

  Kendricks remained at my side after the others had gathered around thefire, looking into the thick forest which sloped up to our campsite. Hesaid, "This place looks as if it had been used for a camp before. Aren'twe just as vulnerable to attack here as we would be anywhere else?"

  He had hit on the one thing I hadn't wanted to talk about. This clearingwas altogether too convenient. I only said, "At least there aren't somany ledges to push us off."

  Kendricks muttered, "You've got the only blaster!"

  "I left it at Carthon," I said truthfully. Then I laid down the law:

  "Listen, Buck. If we kill a single trailman, except in hand-to-handfight in self-defense, we might as well pack up and go home. We're on apeaceful mission, and we're begging a favor. Even if we're attacked--wekill only as a last resort, and in hand-to-hand combat!"

  "Damned primitive frontier planet--"

  "Would you rather die of the trailmen's disease?"

  He said savagely, "We're apt to catch it anyway--here. You're immune,you don't care, you're safe! The rest of us are on a suicidemission--and damn it, when I die I want to take a few of those monkeyswith me!"

  * * * * *

  I bent my head, bit my lip and said nothing. Buck couldn't be blamed forthe way he felt. After a moment I pointed to the notch in the ridgeagain. "It's not so far. Once we get through Dammerung, it's easy goinginto the trailmen's city. Beyond there, it's all civilized."

  "Maybe _you_ call it civilization," Kendricks said, and turned away.

  "Come on, let's finish drying our feet."

  And at that moment they hit us.

  * * * * *

  Kendricks' yell was the only warning I had before I was fighting awaysomething scrabbling up my back. I whirled and ripped the creature away,and saw dimly that the clearing was filled to the rim with an explosionof furry white bodies. I cupped my hands and yelled, in the onlytrailman dialect I knew, "Hold off! We come in peace!"

  One of them yelled something unintelligible and plunged at me--anothertribe! I saw a white-furred, chinless face, contorted in rage, a smallugly knife--a female! I ripped out my own knife, fending away a savageslash. Something tore white-hot across the knuckles of my hand; thefingers went limp and my knife fell, and the trailman woman snatched itup and made off with her prize, swinging lithely upward into thetreetops.

  I searched quickly, gripped with my good hand at the bleeding knuckles,and found Regis Hastur struggling at the edge of a ledge with a pair ofthe creatures. The crazy thought ran through my mind that if they killedhim all Darkover would rise and exterminate the trailmen and it wouldall be my fault. Then Regis tore one hand free, and made a curiousmotion with his fingers.

  It looked like an immense green spark a foot long, or like a fireball.It exploded in one creature's white face and she gave a wild howl ofterror and anguish, scrabbled blindly at her eyes, and with a despairingshriek, ran for the shelter of the trees. The pack of trailmen gave along formless wail, and then they were gathering, flying, retreatinginto the shadows. Rafe yelled something obscene and then a bolt ofbluish flame lanced toward the retreating pack. One of the humanoidsfell without a cry, pitching senseless over the ledge.

  I ran toward Rafe, struggling with him for the shocker he had drawn fromits hiding-place inside his shirt. "You blind damned fool!" I cursedhim, "you may have ruined everything--"

  "They'd have killed him without it," he retorted wrathfully. He hadevidently failed to see how efficiently Regis defended himself. Rafemotioned toward the fleeing pack and sneered, "Why don't you go withyour friends?"

  With a grip I thought I had forgotten, I got my hand around Rafe'sknuckles and squeezed. His hand went limp and I snatched the shocker andpitched it over the ledge.

  "One word and I'll pitch you after it," I warned. "Who's hurt?"

  Garin was blinking senselessly, half-dazed by a blow; Regis' foreheadhad been gashed and dripped blood, and Hjalmar's thigh sliced in a cleancut. My own knuckles were laid bare and the hand was getting numb. Itwas a little while before anybody noticed Kyla, crouched over speechlesswith pain. She reeled and turned deathly white when we touched her; westretched her out where she was, and got her shirt off, and Kendrickscrowded up beside us to examine the wound.

  "A clean cut," he said, but I didn't hear. Something had turned overinside me, like a hand stirring up my brain, and....

  * * * * *

  Jay Allison looked around with a gasp of sudden vertigo. He was not inForth's office, but standing precariously near the edge of a cliff. Heshut his eyes briefly, wondering if he were having one of his worstnightmares, and opened them on a familiar face.

  Buck Kendricks was bone-white, his mouth widening as he said hoarsely,"Jay! Doctor Allison--for God's sake--"

  A doctor's training creates reactions that are almost reflexes; JayAllison recovered some degree of sanity as he became aware that someonewas stretched out in front of him, half-naked, and bleeding profusely.He motioned away the crowding strangers and said in his bad Darkovan,"Let her alone, this is my work." He didn't know enough words to cursethem away, so he switched to Terran, speaking to Kendricks:

  "Buck, get these people away, give the patient some air. Where's mysurgical case?" He bent and probed briefly, realizing only now that theinjured was a woman, and young.

  The wound was only a superficial laceration; whatever sharp instrumenthad inflicted it, had turned on the costal bone without penetrating lungtissue. It could have been sutured, but Kendricks handed him only abadly-filled first-aid kit; so Dr. Allison covered it tightly with aplastic clip-shield which would seal it from further bleeding, and letit alone. By the time he had finished, the strange girl had begun tostir. She said haltingly, "Jason--?"

  "Dr. Allison," he corrected tersely, surprised in a minor way--the majorsurprise had blurred lesser ones--that she knew his name. Kendr
icksspoke swiftly to the girl, in one of the Darkovan languages Jay didn'tunderstand, and then drew Jay aside, out of earshot. He said in a shakenvoice, "Jay, I didn't know--I wouldn't have believed--you're _DoctorAllison_? Good Lord--Jason!"

  And then he moved fast. "What's the matter? Oh, hell, Jay, don't fainton me!"

  * * * * *

  Jay was aware that he didn't come out of it too bravely, but anyone whoblamed him (he thought resentfully) should try it on for size; going tosleep in a