WHEN NOTHING moved across that circle of light, they dared to
retrieve their packs and go out.
The carrier had plunged full speed ahead, leaving the curve of
the monorail. Under it, but crushed legs pinned to the sand and
rock of the valley floor, threshed one of the monsters, writhing
over the torn remains of the one Santee had shot earlier. Leaping
out of the reach of the prisoned creature's darting head the
Terrans rounded its body and made for the opposite wall of the
canyon.
Here the rock afforded holds and they pulled themselves up. But
the lizard crushed beneath the car appeared to be alone and nothing
menaced their retreat. Panting they reached the top and dared to
look back.
Below the monster still fought insanely against the carrier
which held it down. But if there were others of its fellows alive
they had not joined it. Santee wiped his steaming face with the
back of a hand.
"I still don't know how we got outa that one, kid. It was sure a
close call."
"Too close. I want to catch up to the sled before we run into
any more of those murdering devils."
"Yeah," Santee pulled ruefully at the sling of the rifle.
"Next time I go walkin' I'm gonna have a lotta ammo!. This here
country's got too many surprises."
They set out at a sober pace, too exhausted by their exertions
of the past hour to hurry. It was dusk growing into night before
they found their way down a rise into another grassy plain. In the
distance was a massed shadow of what could only be a wood.
Would they have to fight their way through or around that, Dard
asked himself drearily. But a light reassured him. There was a
campfire down there. Cully had landed the sled this side of the
barrier.
As Santee and Dard dragged themselves wearily into the circle of
firelight they were met with a flood of questions. Dard was too
tired to try to answer. He ate and drank and crawled into his
bedroll before all the tale of their adventure of the afternoon had
been told. Kimber was very sober when it was complete.
"That was too close. We'll have to go better armed when we
explore. But now that we know there is no civilized threat to our
colony it may be some time before we return this way. Tomorrow the
sled will ferry us over the forest and the cliffs and we shall be
home. Those are our cliffs there."
"Home," Dard repeated that word in his mind, trying to associate
it with the sea valley, with the cave house of the star voyagers. A
long, long time ago "home" had had a good meaning. Before the
burning, before the purge. But his memory of that halcyon time was
so dim. Then "home" had meant the farm, and cold, hunger, the
constant threat of danger. Now "home" would be a cell hollowed out
of a colored cliff on a weird world generations of time away from
Terra.
In the morning he lazed about the camp with Santee while Cully,
after a last tune-up of the limping engine, lifted the sled toward
the sea with Kimber as the first passenger. It was an hour before
the sled returned and the engineer ordered Dard into the listing
craft. They flew slowly, skimming the barrier, and Cully did not
take him all the way down the sea valley to the cliff house, but
dropped him with his pack at the edge of the ancient fields.
Dard swished through the tall grass. He could see people moving
in the distant fields, more of them than had been about when he had
left. More of tthee sleepers had probably been aroused.
Then a clear, lilting whistle announced the boy, some years
younger than himself, who came driving before him three calves. He
stopped short when he caught sight of the battered explorer and
smiled.
"Hi! You're Dard Nordis, ain't you? Say, you musta had yourself
a time—seein' them ruined cities and the lizards and all! I'm
gonna go out and see 'em, too—when I can get Dad to let me. I'm
Lanny Harmon. Can you wait 'til I stake out these critters? I'd
like to go back with you."
"Sure." Dard eased his pack to the ground and watched Lanny
tether the calves in the pasture.
"They sure do like this kinda grass," the farm boy explained as
he came back. "Hey, let me carry that there pack for you. Mr.
Kimber said you had a big fight with some giant lizards. Are they
worse'n those flyin' dragons?"
"They sure are," Dard replied feelingly. "Say, is everybody
awake now?"
"Everybody's that's goin' to." A shadow darkened the boy's face
for a moment. "Six didn't come through. Dr. Skort—but you knew
'bout him, and Miz Winson, and Miz Grene, Looie Denton and a coupla
men I didn't know. But the rest, they're all right. We were awful
lucky. Whee—look out!"
Dard overbalanced as he tied to stop in mid-step and landed on
the ground beside Lanny, who had squatted down to sweep away the
grass and display a dome of mud-plastered leaves and grass.
"What in the world?"
Lanny chuckled, "That there's a hopper house! Dessie, she found
one yesterday and showed me where to look, Watch!" He rapped
smartly with his knuckles on the top of the dome.
A second later a hopper's head popped out of the ground level
door and the indignant beast let them know very plainly its opinion
of such a disturbance of the peace.
"Dessie, she got a hopper to stand still and let her pet him, My
sister Marya—now she wants a hopper—says they're like kittens.
But Ma says they steal too much and we ain't gonna bring any in the
cave, I'd like to try to tame one, though."
They detoured around a field of the blue-pod grain, meeting the
harvesters working there. Dard shook hands with strangers,
bewildered by all the new faces. As he went on he asked Lanny:
"How many are there of us now?"
Lanny's lips moved as he counted. "Twenty-five men— counting
you explorers—and twenty-three women. Then there're the girls, my
sisters, Marya and Martie, and Dessie and Lara Skort—they're all
little. And Don Winson, he's just a baby. That's all. Most of the
men are down rippin' up the ship."
"Ripping up the ship?" Why did that dismay him so?
"Sure. We ain't gonna fly again—not enough fuel. And she was
made to take apart so we can use parts of her for machine shops and
things like that. Well—here we are!"
They came out on what was now a well-defined path running up to
the main entrance of the cave. Three men were working on a swinging
platform suspended from the top of the cliff, fitting clear glass
into a hole ready to receive it as a window:
"Dardie! Dardie! Dardie!"
A whirlwind swept down upon him, wrapping thin arms about his
waist, burrowing a face against him. He went down on his knees and
took Dessie into a tight hug.
"Dardie," she was sniffling a little. "They said you would come
an' I've been watching all the time! Dardie," she smiled at him
blissfully, "I do like this place! I do! There are lots of animals
in the grass and some of them have houses just like us—and they
like me! Now that you've come home, Dardie, everything is
wonderful—truly it is!"
"It sure is, honey."
"So there you are, son," Trude Harmon bore down upon him.
"Hungry, too, I'll wager. You come right in and rest and eat. Heard
tell that you had yourselves some excitin' times."
With Dessie holding his hand tightly and Lanny bringing up the
rear still carrying his pack, Dard came into a room where there was
a long table flanked by benches. Kimber was already sitting there,
empty plates before him, talking to an excited Kordov.
"But where did they go—those city dwellers?" the little
biologist sputtered as Dard waded into the food Trude Harmon spread
before him. "They could not just vanish— pouff!" He snapped his
fingers. "As if they were but puffs of smoke!"
Kimber gave the same answer to that question as Dard had made.
"Say an epidemic following war—germ warfare—or radiation
sickness—who can tell now? By the weathering of the city they have
been gone a long time. We found no traces of anything but animal
life. And nothing to fear but the lizards . . ."
"A whole world deserted!" Kordov shook his head. "It is enough
to frighten one! Those Others took the wrong turning
somewhere."
"It is up to us to see that we don't follow their example,"
Kimber cut in.
That evening the voyagers gathered about a giant campfire in the
open space before the cliff house, while Kimber and the others in
turn recited the saga of their journey into the interior. The city,
the robot-controlled battery, the battle with the lizards, held
their listeners enthralled. But when they had done the question
came again:
"But where did they go?"
Kordov gave the suggested answers, but then he added:
"It would be better if we asked ourselves now why did they go
and be governed by the reply to that. They have left us a deserted
land in which to make a new beginning. Though we must not forget
that in other continents of this world some remnants of that race
may still exist. Wisdom suggests alertness in the future."
Dessie, sitting in Dard's lap, leaned her head back against his
shoulder and whispered:
"I like hearing about the night monkeys, Dardie. Do you suppose
they will ever come here so I can see them too? Knowing them would
be fun."
"Yes, it would," he whispered back.
Maybe someday when they were sure of safety beyond the cliffs,
all the Terrans could venture out and he could show Dessie the
night monkeys. But not until the last of that scaled death had been
found and exterminated!
Since Kimber could not use his arm until the shoulder wound
healed, Dard became hands for the pilot, working with Cully on the
damaged sled. Seeing that he could and did follow instructions,
Cully went back to his own pet project of dismantling the engine of
the carrier they had rescued from the sea tube. He intended some
day, he insisted, to hunt out that second car from the lizard
valley and compare the two.
Dessie kept near them as they worked. She was Dard's shadow in
the waking hours, as she had always been since taking her first
uncertain steps. The other children were objects to be watched with
sober interest, but as yet she preferred company she knew. And,
since she was perfectly content to sit quietly, absorbed in the
antics of the hoppers, insects, and the butterfly-birds, they often
forgot she was with them.
"No—"
Dard was startled into turning by her sudden cry. She was having
a tug of war with the largest hopper he had yet seen, a grandfather
of a clan at least. But Dessie's strength was superior, and she
wrenched away the prize the animal had just stolen from the blouse
Dard had discarded in the heat.
"He opened your pocket," she told the boy indignantly, "and he
took this out, just as if it were his own! What is it? Pretty—"
She crooned the word as she fingered the sheets in which colors ran
in waving bands.
"Why—I'd forgotten all about that. It's a book—or I think it
is, Dessie. It belonged to Those Others."
"A what!" Kimber reached for it. "Where did you get it,
kid?"
Dard explained how he had found it in the hidden room of the gun
emplacement and of his theory that Those Others might have used the
bands of color as a means of communication.
"I was going to compare it with those shots you took on
microfilm of that doorway in the city. And then so much happened I
forgot all about it."
"You do have a feeling for word patterns—I remember."
"Dard makes pictures out of words." Dessie answered for him.
"Show how, Dardie."
Under Kimber's interested eyes Dard sketched out the pattern of
a line of verse. The pilot nodded.
"Patterns for words. And that must be how you understood the
importance of this. All right. Remember those rolls of some kind of
recording tape we found in the first carrier? Rogan believes that
they can be read by the help of our machines. You're going down to
the ship right now and tell him to get out that equipment. We
didn't see any use for it yet and it's been left down there. But I
want to know—Yes, go right now!"
So Dard, with Dessie still in tow, set off down river to the
seashore where the remains of the starship was being dismantled as
fast as they could use its materials at the cliffs. The red spider
plants were again floating in wide patches on the water, but not
cloaking all the river as they had on the day the ship landed.
"I haven't been down here yet," Dessie confided. "Mrs. Harmon
says that there are bad dragons."
Dard was quick to underline that warning. Dessie might just try
to make friends with one of the things!
"Yes, there are, Dessie. And they are not like the animals at
all. Promise me that if you see one you will call me right
away!"
She was apparently impressed by his gravity for she agreed at
once.
"Yes, Dardie. Mr. Rogan brought me a pretty shell from the sea.
Might I just go down and see if I can find another?" Dessie
asked.
"Stay in sight of the ship and don't wander away," he told her,
seeing no reason why she should not hunt for treasures along the
water's edge.
The ship which had been so solid and secure against the dangers
of outer space was but a shell of her former self. In some places
she had been stripped down to the inner framework. Dard squeezed
through open partitions to a storeroom where he found the techneer
checking the markings on a pile of boxes. When he explained his
errand Rogan was enthusiastic.
"Sure we can try reading those tapes. We'll need this, and this,
and"—he pushed aside a larger container to free a third—"this.
I'll go to work assembling as soon as we get this back to the
cliff. Might be able to try running off one roll tonight or early
tomorrow. Want to give me a hand?"
Dard took one of the boxes under his arm and hooked his fingers
in the carrying handle of another before tramping back over the
ramp to the sand.
"Dessie came down with me. She wanted some more sea shells. I'll
have to round her up."
"Sure thing." Rogan set down his large box and came along. They
were almost at the shore when the scream sent them into a run.
"Dardie! Dardie! Quick !"
Dard's hand went to the ray gun Cully had given him after the
adventure with the lizards. It had a full charge in it now. But
they had seen no trace of the monsters here!
"There she is! By those rocks!"
But he didn't need Rogan's direction. Dard had already sighted
Dessie, her back to some sea-washed rocks, shying stones at one of
the flying dragons, while she continued to shout for help. To
Dard's surprise she made no move to join her rescuers but stood her
ground valiantly until he used the ray to slice the head of the
dragon and send its body flopping into the sea.
"Come here!" he called but she shook her head. He saw tears on
her cheeks.
"It's the sea baby, Dardie, the little baby out of the sea. It's
so afraid! We must help it—"
Dard stopped, catching at Rogan to bring him to a halt also. He
trusted Dessie's instincts. She had been protecting another
creature, not herself, and he had a feeling now that her act was of
vast importance to them all. He schooled his voice to a low, even
level as he said:
"All right, Dessie. The dragon is dead. Can you get the sea baby
to come out now—or shall I come to help you?"
She smeared her hand across her wet face. "I can do it, Dard.
It's so frightened and it might be more afraid of somebody as big
as you."
She squatted down before a small opening between two rocks and
made soft coaxing sounds. At last she turned her head.
"It's coming out. But you must stay away—please—"
Dard nodded. Dessie held out her hand to the hollow between the
rocks. He was sure he saw something hesitatingly touch that small
palm. Then she wriggled back, still coaxing.
What followed her brought a gasp from Dard, even inured as he
now was to the surprises this world had to offer. Some twenty
slender inches tall, it walked upright, the four tiny digits of one
hand confidently hooked about Dessie's fingers. In color the
creature was a soft silvery gray, but when a shaft of sunlight
touched the fluff of thick fur which completely covered it, rainbow
lights twinkled from each hair tip.
Its head was round, with no vestige of ears, the eyes very
large, turning from Dessie to the two men. When it caught sight of
them it stopped short and, with a gesture which won Dard
completely, put the other band to its wide, fanged mouth, chewing
on its finger tips shyly. The small feet were webbed and sealed
with rainbow tints, as were the hands. He continued to examine it,
puzzled. It was akin to the night-howling monkeys, but it was much
smaller and plainly amphibian. And it appeared to be able to see
perfectly well in the daylight.
"Where did it come from, Dessie?" he asked quietly, trying hard
not to alarm the engaging little thing.
"Out of the sea," she waved her free hand at the waves. "I was hunting shells and I found a pretty one. When I went down
to wash the sand off it there he was, coming out of the water to
watch me. He was sleeked down with the wet then—he's a lot
prettier now—" She broke off and stopped to address her companion
with a series of chirrups such as Dard had heard her use with the
wild things of lost Terra.
"Then," she continued, "that bad dragon came and chased him into
the rocks and I called you—like you, told me to, Dardie, if I saw
a dragon. They are bad. The sea baby was so frightened."
"Did it tell you so?" asked Rogan eagerly.
Perhaps it was the vibration of his deeper voice in the air
which sent the sea creature crowding against Dessie, half hiding
its face against her.
"Please, Mr. Rogan," she shook her head reprovingly. "He's
afraid when you talk. No, I don't think he talks like us. I just
know what he feels—here," she touched a forefinger to her head.
"He wanted to play with me so he came ashore. He's a nice baby—the
nicest I ever, ever knew! Better than a fox or a bunny or even the
big owl."
"Great Space! Look there—off the rocks!"
Dard's eyes followed the line of Rogan's pointing finger. Two
sleek round heads bobbed out of the water, great unblinking orbs
were turned to the party on the beach. Dard's grasp on Rogan's arm
tightened.
"Keep quiet! This is important!"
Dessie beamed at their interruption.
"More sea people! Look, baby!" She directed the mer-child's
attention seaward.
Instantly it slipped its hand free and ran to the edge of the
water. But, just as it was about to plunge into the waves, it
stopped and looked back at Dessie. While it teetered there, toes in
the lapping waves, the two others of its race swam into the
shallows and arose to their feet to wade in. The merchild made up
its mind and splashed out to meet the shorter of the two advancing
figures and was gathered up in eager arms. The largest of the
three—an inch or two above four feet Dard judged—moved in between
its mate and child and those on shore.
"See what it's carrying!" Rogan schooled his voice with an
effort.
But Dard needed no one to point out that discovery. The merman
was armed with a spear, a spear with a mean looking many barbed
head. And about his loins was a belt supporting a small, fastened
case and a long dagger of pointed bone. This was no animal!
The merchild struggled to free itself, slipped under the
reaching hand of its father, and darted back to Dessie. Grabbing
again at her hand, it tugged her toward the couple in the water.
Dard moved up, he didn't like the look of that spear.
But before he could get to Dessie the merman thrust that weapon
at something washing along the rocks. When he raised the spear its
point impaled the headless body of the dragon. With a gesture of
fury the merman smashed the battered corpse down on the stone,
ripping it off the barbs. Then he splashed up to Dessie and caught
the merchild, giving it a smart slap across its buttocks with a
very human expression of exasperation. Dard chuckled and forgot his
momentary fears.
The merpeople were unhuman in appearance but they appeared to
share certain emotions with the Terrans. Dard stepped cautiously
into the water. The merman was instantly alert, his spear on guard,
backing toward his mate and the child he had pushed out to her.
Dard held out empty hands in the gesture of good will as old as
time. The merman's big eyes searched his. Then slowly that spear
was lowered, to be laid on wet sand, with webbed toes curled over
it to hold it safe, and the rainbow-scaled paws were raised in the
right answer.
WHEN NOTHING moved across that circle of light, they dared to
retrieve their packs and go out.
The carrier had plunged full speed ahead, leaving the curve of
the monorail. Under it, but crushed legs pinned to the sand and
rock of the valley floor, threshed one of the monsters, writhing
over the torn remains of the one Santee had shot earlier. Leaping
out of the reach of the prisoned creature's darting head the
Terrans rounded its body and made for the opposite wall of the
canyon.
Here the rock afforded holds and they pulled themselves up. But
the lizard crushed beneath the car appeared to be alone and nothing
menaced their retreat. Panting they reached the top and dared to
look back.
Below the monster still fought insanely against the carrier
which held it down. But if there were others of its fellows alive
they had not joined it. Santee wiped his steaming face with the
back of a hand.
"I still don't know how we got outa that one, kid. It was sure a
close call."
"Too close. I want to catch up to the sled before we run into
any more of those murdering devils."
"Yeah," Santee pulled ruefully at the sling of the rifle.
"Next time I go walkin' I'm gonna have a lotta ammo!. This here
country's got too many surprises."
They set out at a sober pace, too exhausted by their exertions
of the past hour to hurry. It was dusk growing into night before
they found their way down a rise into another grassy plain. In the
distance was a massed shadow of what could only be a wood.
Would they have to fight their way through or around that, Dard
asked himself drearily. But a light reassured him. There was a
campfire down there. Cully had landed the sled this side of the
barrier.
As Santee and Dard dragged themselves wearily into the circle of
firelight they were met with a flood of questions. Dard was too
tired to try to answer. He ate and drank and crawled into his
bedroll before all the tale of their adventure of the afternoon had
been told. Kimber was very sober when it was complete.
"That was too close. We'll have to go better armed when we
explore. But now that we know there is no civilized threat to our
colony it may be some time before we return this way. Tomorrow the
sled will ferry us over the forest and the cliffs and we shall be
home. Those are our cliffs there."
"Home," Dard repeated that word in his mind, trying to associate
it with the sea valley, with the cave house of the star voyagers. A
long, long time ago "home" had had a good meaning. Before the
burning, before the purge. But his memory of that halcyon time was
so dim. Then "home" had meant the farm, and cold, hunger, the
constant threat of danger. Now "home" would be a cell hollowed out
of a colored cliff on a weird world generations of time away from
Terra.
In the morning he lazed about the camp with Santee while Cully,
after a last tune-up of the limping engine, lifted the sled toward
the sea with Kimber as the first passenger. It was an hour before
the sled returned and the engineer ordered Dard into the listing
craft. They flew slowly, skimming the barrier, and Cully did not
take him all the way down the sea valley to the cliff house, but
dropped him with his pack at the edge of the ancient fields.
Dard swished through the tall grass. He could see people moving
in the distant fields, more of them than had been about when he had
left. More of tthee sleepers had probably been aroused.
Then a clear, lilting whistle announced the boy, some years
younger than himself, who came driving before him three calves. He
stopped short when he caught sight of the battered explorer and
smiled.
"Hi! You're Dard Nordis, ain't you? Say, you musta had yourself
a time—seein' them ruined cities and the lizards and all! I'm
gonna go out and see 'em, too—when I can get Dad to let me. I'm
Lanny Harmon. Can you wait 'til I stake out these critters? I'd
like to go back with you."
"Sure." Dard eased his pack to the ground and watched Lanny
tether the calves in the pasture.
"They sure do like this kinda grass," the farm boy explained as
he came back. "Hey, let me carry that there pack for you. Mr.
Kimber said you had a big fight with some giant lizards. Are they
worse'n those flyin' dragons?"
"They sure are," Dard replied feelingly. "Say, is everybody
awake now?"
"Everybody's that's goin' to." A shadow darkened the boy's face
for a moment. "Six didn't come through. Dr. Skort—but you knew
'bout him, and Miz Winson, and Miz Grene, Looie Denton and a coupla
men I didn't know. But the rest, they're all right. We were awful
lucky. Whee—look out!"
Dard overbalanced as he tied to stop in mid-step and landed on
the ground beside Lanny, who had squatted down to sweep away the
grass and display a dome of mud-plastered leaves and grass.
"What in the world?"
Lanny chuckled, "That there's a hopper house! Dessie, she found
one yesterday and showed me where to look, Watch!" He rapped
smartly with his knuckles on the top of the dome.
A second later a hopper's head popped out of the ground level
door and the indignant beast let them know very plainly its opinion
of such a disturbance of the peace.
"Dessie, she got a hopper to stand still and let her pet him, My
sister Marya—now she wants a hopper—says they're like kittens.
But Ma says they steal too much and we ain't gonna bring any in the
cave, I'd like to try to tame one, though."
They detoured around a field of the blue-pod grain, meeting the
harvesters working there. Dard shook hands with strangers,
bewildered by all the new faces. As he went on he asked Lanny:
"How many are there of us now?"
Lanny's lips moved as he counted. "Twenty-five men— counting
you explorers—and twenty-three women. Then there're the girls, my
sisters, Marya and Martie, and Dessie and Lara Skort—they're all
little. And Don Winson, he's just a baby. That's all. Most of the
men are down rippin' up the ship."
"Ripping up the ship?" Why did that dismay him so?
"Sure. We ain't gonna fly again—not enough fuel. And she was
made to take apart so we can use parts of her for machine shops and
things like that. Well—here we are!"
They came out on what was now a well-defined path running up to
the main entrance of the cave. Three men were working on a swinging
platform suspended from the top of the cliff, fitting clear glass
into a hole ready to receive it as a window:
"Dardie! Dardie! Dardie!"
A whirlwind swept down upon him, wrapping thin arms about his
waist, burrowing a face against him. He went down on his knees and
took Dessie into a tight hug.
"Dardie," she was sniffling a little. "They said you would come
an' I've been watching all the time! Dardie," she smiled at him
blissfully, "I do like this place! I do! There are lots of animals
in the grass and some of them have houses just like us—and they
like me! Now that you've come home, Dardie, everything is
wonderful—truly it is!"
"It sure is, honey."
"So there you are, son," Trude Harmon bore down upon him.
"Hungry, too, I'll wager. You come right in and rest and eat. Heard
tell that you had yourselves some excitin' times."
With Dessie holding his hand tightly and Lanny bringing up the
rear still carrying his pack, Dard came into a room where there was
a long table flanked by benches. Kimber was already sitting there,
empty plates before him, talking to an excited Kordov.
"But where did they go—those city dwellers?" the little
biologist sputtered as Dard waded into the food Trude Harmon spread
before him. "They could not just vanish— pouff!" He snapped his
fingers. "As if they were but puffs of smoke!"
Kimber gave the same answer to that question as Dard had made.
"Say an epidemic following war—germ warfare—or radiation
sickness—who can tell now? By the weathering of the city they have
been gone a long time. We found no traces of anything but animal
life. And nothing to fear but the lizards . . ."
"A whole world deserted!" Kordov shook his head. "It is enough
to frighten one! Those Others took the wrong turning
somewhere."
"It is up to us to see that we don't follow their example,"
Kimber cut in.
That evening the voyagers gathered about a giant campfire in the
open space before the cliff house, while Kimber and the others in
turn recited the saga of their journey into the interior. The city,
the robot-controlled battery, the battle with the lizards, held
their listeners enthralled. But when they had done the question
came again:
"But where did they go?"
Kordov gave the suggested answers, but then he added:
"It would be better if we asked ourselves now why did they go
and be governed by the reply to that. They have left us a deserted
land in which to make a new beginning. Though we must not forget
that in other continents of this world some remnants of that race
may still exist. Wisdom suggests alertness in the future."
Dessie, sitting in Dard's lap, leaned her head back against his
shoulder and whispered:
"I like hearing about the night monkeys, Dardie. Do you suppose
they will ever come here so I can see them too? Knowing them would
be fun."
"Yes, it would," he whispered back.
Maybe someday when they were sure of safety beyond the cliffs,
all the Terrans could venture out and he could show Dessie the
night monkeys. But not until the last of that scaled death had been
found and exterminated!
Since Kimber could not use his arm until the shoulder wound
healed, Dard became hands for the pilot, working with Cully on the
damaged sled. Seeing that he could and did follow instructions,
Cully went back to his own pet project of dismantling the engine of
the carrier they had rescued from the sea tube. He intended some
day, he insisted, to hunt out that second car from the lizard
valley and compare the two.
Dessie kept near them as they worked. She was Dard's shadow in
the waking hours, as she had always been since taking her first
uncertain steps. The other children were objects to be watched with
sober interest, but as yet she preferred company she knew. And,
since she was perfectly content to sit quietly, absorbed in the
antics of the hoppers, insects, and the butterfly-birds, they often
forgot she was with them.
"No—"
Dard was startled into turning by her sudden cry. She was having
a tug of war with the largest hopper he had yet seen, a grandfather
of a clan at least. But Dessie's strength was superior, and she
wrenched away the prize the animal had just stolen from the blouse
Dard had discarded in the heat.
"He opened your pocket," she told the boy indignantly, "and he
took this out, just as if it were his own! What is it? Pretty—"
She crooned the word as she fingered the sheets in which colors ran
in waving bands.
"Why—I'd forgotten all about that. It's a book—or I think it
is, Dessie. It belonged to Those Others."
"A what!" Kimber reached for it. "Where did you get it,
kid?"
Dard explained how he had found it in the hidden room of the gun
emplacement and of his theory that Those Others might have used the
bands of color as a means of communication.
"I was going to compare it with those shots you took on
microfilm of that doorway in the city. And then so much happened I
forgot all about it."
"You do have a feeling for word patterns—I remember."
"Dard makes pictures out of words." Dessie answered for him.
"Show how, Dardie."
Under Kimber's interested eyes Dard sketched out the pattern of
a line of verse. The pilot nodded.
"Patterns for words. And that must be how you understood the
importance of this. All right. Remember those rolls of some kind of
recording tape we found in the first carrier? Rogan believes that
they can be read by the help of our machines. You're going down to
the ship right now and tell him to get out that equipment. We
didn't see any use for it yet and it's been left down there. But I
want to know—Yes, go right now!"
So Dard, with Dessie still in tow, set off down river to the
seashore where the remains of the starship was being dismantled as
fast as they could use its materials at the cliffs. The red spider
plants were again floating in wide patches on the water, but not
cloaking all the river as they had on the day the ship landed.
"I haven't been down here yet," Dessie confided. "Mrs. Harmon
says that there are bad dragons."
Dard was quick to underline that warning. Dessie might just try
to make friends with one of the things!
"Yes, there are, Dessie. And they are not like the animals at
all. Promise me that if you see one you will call me right
away!"
She was apparently impressed by his gravity for she agreed at
once.
"Yes, Dardie. Mr. Rogan brought me a pretty shell from the sea.
Might I just go down and see if I can find another?" Dessie
asked.
"Stay in sight of the ship and don't wander away," he told her,
seeing no reason why she should not hunt for treasures along the
water's edge.
The ship which had been so solid and secure against the dangers
of outer space was but a shell of her former self. In some places
she had been stripped down to the inner framework. Dard squeezed
through open partitions to a storeroom where he found the techneer
checking the markings on a pile of boxes. When he explained his
errand Rogan was enthusiastic.
"Sure we can try reading those tapes. We'll need this, and this,
and"—he pushed aside a larger container to free a third—"this.
I'll go to work assembling as soon as we get this back to the
cliff. Might be able to try running off one roll tonight or early
tomorrow. Want to give me a hand?"
Dard took one of the boxes under his arm and hooked his fingers
in the carrying handle of another before tramping back over the
ramp to the sand.
"Dessie came down with me. She wanted some more sea shells. I'll
have to round her up."
"Sure thing." Rogan set down his large box and came along. They
were almost at the shore when the scream sent them into a run.
"Dardie! Dardie! Quick !"
Dard's hand went to the ray gun Cully had given him after the
adventure with the lizards. It had a full charge in it now. But
they had seen no trace of the monsters here!
"There she is! By those rocks!"
But he didn't need Rogan's direction. Dard had already sighted
Dessie, her back to some sea-washed rocks, shying stones at one of
the flying dragons, while she continued to shout for help. To
Dard's surprise she made no move to join her rescuers but stood her
ground valiantly until he used the ray to slice the head of the
dragon and send its body flopping into the sea.
"Come here!" he called but she shook her head. He saw tears on
her cheeks.
"It's the sea baby, Dardie, the little baby out of the sea. It's
so afraid! We must help it—"
Dard stopped, catching at Rogan to bring him to a halt also. He
trusted Dessie's instincts. She had been protecting another
creature, not herself, and he had a feeling now that her act was of
vast importance to them all. He schooled his voice to a low, even
level as he said:
"All right, Dessie. The dragon is dead. Can you get the sea baby
to come out now—or shall I come to help you?"
She smeared her hand across her wet face. "I can do it, Dard.
It's so frightened and it might be more afraid of somebody as big
as you."
She squatted down before a small opening between two rocks and
made soft coaxing sounds. At last she turned her head.
"It's coming out. But you must stay away—please—"
Dard nodded. Dessie held out her hand to the hollow between the
rocks. He was sure he saw something hesitatingly touch that small
palm. Then she wriggled back, still coaxing.
What followed her brought a gasp from Dard, even inured as he
now was to the surprises this world had to offer. Some twenty
slender inches tall, it walked upright, the four tiny digits of one
hand confidently hooked about Dessie's fingers. In color the
creature was a soft silvery gray, but when a shaft of sunlight
touched the fluff of thick fur which completely covered it, rainbow
lights twinkled from each hair tip.
Its head was round, with no vestige of ears, the eyes very
large, turning from Dessie to the two men. When it caught sight of
them it stopped short and, with a gesture which won Dard
completely, put the other band to its wide, fanged mouth, chewing
on its finger tips shyly. The small feet were webbed and sealed
with rainbow tints, as were the hands. He continued to examine it,
puzzled. It was akin to the night-howling monkeys, but it was much
smaller and plainly amphibian. And it appeared to be able to see
perfectly well in the daylight.
"Where did it come from, Dessie?" he asked quietly, trying hard
not to alarm the engaging little thing.
"Out of the sea," she waved her free hand at the waves. "I was hunting shells and I found a pretty one. When I went down
to wash the sand off it there he was, coming out of the water to
watch me. He was sleeked down with the wet then—he's a lot
prettier now—" She broke off and stopped to address her companion
with a series of chirrups such as Dard had heard her use with the
wild things of lost Terra.
"Then," she continued, "that bad dragon came and chased him into
the rocks and I called you—like you, told me to, Dardie, if I saw
a dragon. They are bad. The sea baby was so frightened."
"Did it tell you so?" asked Rogan eagerly.
Perhaps it was the vibration of his deeper voice in the air
which sent the sea creature crowding against Dessie, half hiding
its face against her.
"Please, Mr. Rogan," she shook her head reprovingly. "He's
afraid when you talk. No, I don't think he talks like us. I just
know what he feels—here," she touched a forefinger to her head.
"He wanted to play with me so he came ashore. He's a nice baby—the
nicest I ever, ever knew! Better than a fox or a bunny or even the
big owl."
"Great Space! Look there—off the rocks!"
Dard's eyes followed the line of Rogan's pointing finger. Two
sleek round heads bobbed out of the water, great unblinking orbs
were turned to the party on the beach. Dard's grasp on Rogan's arm
tightened.
"Keep quiet! This is important!"
Dessie beamed at their interruption.
"More sea people! Look, baby!" She directed the mer-child's
attention seaward.
Instantly it slipped its hand free and ran to the edge of the
water. But, just as it was about to plunge into the waves, it
stopped and looked back at Dessie. While it teetered there, toes in
the lapping waves, the two others of its race swam into the
shallows and arose to their feet to wade in. The merchild made up
its mind and splashed out to meet the shorter of the two advancing
figures and was gathered up in eager arms. The largest of the
three—an inch or two above four feet Dard judged—moved in between
its mate and child and those on shore.
"See what it's carrying!" Rogan schooled his voice with an
effort.
But Dard needed no one to point out that discovery. The merman
was armed with a spear, a spear with a mean looking many barbed
head. And about his loins was a belt supporting a small, fastened
case and a long dagger of pointed bone. This was no animal!
The merchild struggled to free itself, slipped under the
reaching hand of its father, and darted back to Dessie. Grabbing
again at her hand, it tugged her toward the couple in the water.
Dard moved up, he didn't like the look of that spear.
But before he could get to Dessie the merman thrust that weapon
at something washing along the rocks. When he raised the spear its
point impaled the headless body of the dragon. With a gesture of
fury the merman smashed the battered corpse down on the stone,
ripping it off the barbs. Then he splashed up to Dessie and caught
the merchild, giving it a smart slap across its buttocks with a
very human expression of exasperation. Dard chuckled and forgot his
momentary fears.
The merpeople were unhuman in appearance but they appeared to
share certain emotions with the Terrans. Dard stepped cautiously
into the water. The merman was instantly alert, his spear on guard,
backing toward his mate and the child he had pushed out to her.
Dard held out empty hands in the gesture of good will as old as
time. The merman's big eyes searched his. Then slowly that spear
was lowered, to be laid on wet sand, with webbed toes curled over
it to hold it safe, and the rainbow-scaled paws were raised in the
right answer.