"Jerry Davis - A Long Curved Blade" - читать интересную книгу автора (Davis Jerry)

"The attack was here?" Doug asked. "Inside?"
Several of the colonists nodded. One, who was called Jahk, pointed to planetary west and
said, "Th'skike it dug right through th'floor fence 'n right there."
"Show me."
He trotted with several men to the hole where the skike had entered and then exited after
the kill. The colonists had covered the ground of their village with a tight crisscrossing of
wood everywhere inside the fence, and the skike had dug up underneath and broke its way
through. It was a big one, bigger than the one that usually haunted this area. Doug set his rifle
to scan the tunnel, and followed its path to the edge of the fence and beyond. "It's a short
tunnel," he told Jahk. "It ends right out there."
"Th'other end we'll go 'n we'll wait there," Jahk said. He was armed with a beautifully
crafted crossbow with deadly obsidian-tipped arrows. Doug followed him and the other
colonists through a gate and out to the hole, where they stood with weapons pointing.
Doug was fiddling with the knobs on his scanner. "It's not in there," he said. He took a few
steps to the edge of the jungle, scanning. "Out there," he said, his voice hushed. "About thirty
meters."
"You c'n see it?" Jahk asked him.
"My machine can. It's out there, not moving."
"It listens s'nd smells us," Jahk said. "Th'skike is safen 'n 'n 'n th'jungle."
"It thinks it's safe." Rifle forward, Doug pushed his way into the foliage. "I'm going to kill
the thing. This time I am going to kill it." He ducked his head under a branch, moving
forward, the tart scent of sap burning his nostrils. The colonists were right behind him,
following close.
The beast heard them coming and retreated. Doug watched it with the scanner, creeping
forward, breathing shallow. This was the skike's environment, the skike's territory. Even with
his energy weapon and his motion scanner Doug knew he was at a disadvantage here. This
beast weighed at least one standard ton, a multi-legged, twelve-eyed creature with a large
brain and quick reflexes. The colonist's name for the creature was a perversion of the English
word "scythe" --- two of its forelegs were scythe-shaped blades a good 1.2 meters long,
double edged and razor sharp.
Doug reached a clearing and stopped. The colonists behind him stopped and spread out,
weapons drawn and ready. The beast was a mere 20 meters ahead, invisible in the foliage.
Doug braced himself against a frame tree to keep his aim steady, peering through the screen
at the curtain of leaves and branches in front of them. The skike was there, just beyond. The
bolt from the energy weapon could burn right through to it, but if Doug didn't hit its brain it
would be a wasted shot. As he watched, it began to circle to the right, trying to get behind
them. He could hear it in the warm, heavy air; the rustling of leaves, twigs snapping. The
scanner showed it as a vague blob on the screen, growing sharper.
Doug realized why it was circling. It wanted to cut them off from the village. "Back," he
said between his teeth, "back off!" They moved back the way they'd come, and all the while
Doug was aware that the thing could leap through the hanging foliage and slice him to pieces

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A Long Curved Blade

without him firing a shot. The colonists, spooked, turned and ran.
Hearing them, the skike moved faster.
Doug was walking backwards, his gun pointing toward the beast. If the damn thing would
step into a clearing, he thought, that would be the end. I'll murder it. Instead, the foliage grew
thicker. Doug could only see a few meters before broad spiral leaves obscured his vision.