[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
The teeth set in the upper and lower jaws were triangular and razor-edged,
while those on the side
90
were square, serrated on top, and curved slightly backward to shove food into
the ever-hungry gullet.
Three eyes, spaced across the top of the head, lay just back of the jaws.
There were three tentacles, one on either side of the head and another below
that were equipped with jagged, tearing suckers on the tips for holding prey.
In color the Akaki were a distinctive rusty orange, eyes and legs bright
black.
Despite the triple oculars their sight was rumored to be poor.
"This is countered somewhat by their sense of smell and of touch," Born
concluded, "which is very good indeed."
"An eating maching in multiples," Logan declared quietly. "Very well designed,
very efficient." She shook her head, murmured, "God on a seat, I wouldn't care
to tangle with one of them. And we have to fight thousands." She looked evenly
at Born. "You people really think you can stop something like this armed with
a few glorified blowguns and spears?"
"No," said Bom, wiping the polished wood clean with a forearm. "I have things
to do now." He turned to leave.
"There's no hope for them, no hope at all," a dis-
gusted Cohoma blurted when Born was out of earshot.
"I'm afraid there's not much left for us, either, Jan."
VIII
They heard the sound while they were resting just outside the first ring of
the Home's pod-laden vines.
Initially it was only a soft rustling in the distance, like wind moving
through far-off branches. It grew stead-
ily louder, became a hum, a buzzing like a billion bumblebees aswarm at a new
nest.
91
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It intensified, swelled, and resolved into a deafen-
ing crackling sound neither Cohoma nor Logan would ever be able to forget. The
sound of hundreds of tons of organic matter vanishing down innumerable
throats.
A familiar form bounded up from a liana below. "Be ready, giants. The Akadi
near," Losting advised them.
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Logan's grip tightened on the shaft of the ironwood spear and she checked to
make certain bone axe and knife were still strapped securely to the belt of
her rapidly disintegrating shorts, though she intended never to get close
enough to one of the carnivores to use either. They would run before that.
Losting moved to go by them. Cohoma gestured at him to pause. "We haven't seen
Bom for a couple of days now, Losting. I know he's been busy. Is he manning
another part of the line?"
"Born." Losting's face went through several changes of expression ranging from
satisfaction to disgust.
"You've not see Born for some days because he's been gone for some days."
Losting clearly relished the shock on the faces of the two giants. "He left
the
Home one night and has neither been seen nor heard from since. It is certain
he did not go toward the
Akadi. We have had scouts out marking their prog-
ress toward the Home. His furcot has vanished with him." The implication was
clear the hunter had run.
"Born, a coward?" Logan sounded confused. "That doesn't make sense, Losting.
When the rest of you were afraid, he was the only one who would come down to
our skimmer."
"Those who are mad act for reasons of their own, which no man can comprehend,"
Losting countered.
"Your sky-boat was an unknown quantity, unlike the
Akadi, who are known too well. With them, one knows exactly what to expect.
Death. Born is a hunter and a solitary person by habit. If the Home dies and
the village dies with it, he could survive alone. There is no doubt he is the
cleverest among us." His expres-
sion darkened. "But he has not been clever in this, for if there is any
village to come back to, he will not be allowed to live among us. The chiefs
and the sha-
man have ordained this already." He spun. Gripping the vine nearby, he pulled
himself up to the branch
92
immediately above to check on the readiness of the defenders there.
"I still don't believe it," Logan whispered, turning back to face the forest.
"I consider myself a better judge of human nature than that."
"I told you they'd abandoned their humanity in making concessions to this
world," Cohoma grumbled.
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"Oh, come on, Jan! How could they have regressed so much in so short a time?
The earliest colony ships only go back a few hundred years." She quieted. "I
could swear I had that Born figured."
"There's another possibility, you know, Kimi," Co-
homa ventured after a pause. He eyed her appraisingly.
"Even someone like Losting, who doesn't like him, admits he's a smart boy.
Maybe . . . maybe he's figuring on us bailing him out."
Logan looked at her companion curiously. "How do you mean?"
"Well, think a minute," he said, warming to the subject. "He's out there
somewhere" he gestured back through the palisade of sharpened stakes toward
the other end of the village "waiting for us to join him if the battle goes as
badly as everyone expects.
We circle clear as soon as the end is in sight. He joins us, we make it to the
station, he gets that burn-
ing curiosity of his satisfied plus he saves his life."
"That would imply," she countered vociferously, "that he cares nothing for his
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Home or his friends.
I don't believe that. I think the tie is as strong, if not stronger, in Born
than in any of these folk. I
could understand such an attitude in some soldier-of-
fortune, the kind of gun for hire you might meet in the back streets of
Drallar or LaLa or Repler, but not in Bom."
Cohoma grinned. "I think you see a little too much of the noble savage in our
stunted cousins. Our friend
Born is just resourceful enough to make the break, just iconoclastic enough
to "
The first line of Akadi broke through the dense wall of green and all
conversation died. The column measured seven or eight Akadi across and
extended into the forest until it disappeared in verdure. They were packed
body to body, so close that the front
93
resembled a single monstrous snake, all woolly orange fur, clawed legs,
weaving tentacles. Filtered green light shone on orbs like ebony cabochons,
dark wells of unsapient malignance.
Tiny explosive pops sounded as the ring of care-
fully positioned hunters let loose with a dozen tank seeds at once. The Akadi
crumpled, tentacles and clawed legs digging in blind fury at the pricking
thorns, chewing at themselves. Even before the frantic
Sailings of legs and tentacles ceased, the first row had been shoved aside and
tumbled and bounced off branches and epiphytes into the depths below. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
The teeth set in the upper and lower jaws were triangular and razor-edged,
while those on the side
90
were square, serrated on top, and curved slightly backward to shove food into
the ever-hungry gullet.
Three eyes, spaced across the top of the head, lay just back of the jaws.
There were three tentacles, one on either side of the head and another below
that were equipped with jagged, tearing suckers on the tips for holding prey.
In color the Akaki were a distinctive rusty orange, eyes and legs bright
black.
Despite the triple oculars their sight was rumored to be poor.
"This is countered somewhat by their sense of smell and of touch," Born
concluded, "which is very good indeed."
"An eating maching in multiples," Logan declared quietly. "Very well designed,
very efficient." She shook her head, murmured, "God on a seat, I wouldn't care
to tangle with one of them. And we have to fight thousands." She looked evenly
at Born. "You people really think you can stop something like this armed with
a few glorified blowguns and spears?"
"No," said Bom, wiping the polished wood clean with a forearm. "I have things
to do now." He turned to leave.
"There's no hope for them, no hope at all," a dis-
gusted Cohoma blurted when Born was out of earshot.
"I'm afraid there's not much left for us, either, Jan."
VIII
They heard the sound while they were resting just outside the first ring of
the Home's pod-laden vines.
Initially it was only a soft rustling in the distance, like wind moving
through far-off branches. It grew stead-
ily louder, became a hum, a buzzing like a billion bumblebees aswarm at a new
nest.
91
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0Midworld.txt (77 of 181) [1/16/03 7:03:43 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Foster,%20Alan%20Dean%20-%20Humanx%2001%20
-%20Midworld.txt
It intensified, swelled, and resolved into a deafen-
ing crackling sound neither Cohoma nor Logan would ever be able to forget. The
sound of hundreds of tons of organic matter vanishing down innumerable
throats.
A familiar form bounded up from a liana below. "Be ready, giants. The Akadi
near," Losting advised them.
Page 59
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Logan's grip tightened on the shaft of the ironwood spear and she checked to
make certain bone axe and knife were still strapped securely to the belt of
her rapidly disintegrating shorts, though she intended never to get close
enough to one of the carnivores to use either. They would run before that.
Losting moved to go by them. Cohoma gestured at him to pause. "We haven't seen
Bom for a couple of days now, Losting. I know he's been busy. Is he manning
another part of the line?"
"Born." Losting's face went through several changes of expression ranging from
satisfaction to disgust.
"You've not see Born for some days because he's been gone for some days."
Losting clearly relished the shock on the faces of the two giants. "He left
the
Home one night and has neither been seen nor heard from since. It is certain
he did not go toward the
Akadi. We have had scouts out marking their prog-
ress toward the Home. His furcot has vanished with him." The implication was
clear the hunter had run.
"Born, a coward?" Logan sounded confused. "That doesn't make sense, Losting.
When the rest of you were afraid, he was the only one who would come down to
our skimmer."
"Those who are mad act for reasons of their own, which no man can comprehend,"
Losting countered.
"Your sky-boat was an unknown quantity, unlike the
Akadi, who are known too well. With them, one knows exactly what to expect.
Death. Born is a hunter and a solitary person by habit. If the Home dies and
the village dies with it, he could survive alone. There is no doubt he is the
cleverest among us." His expres-
sion darkened. "But he has not been clever in this, for if there is any
village to come back to, he will not be allowed to live among us. The chiefs
and the sha-
man have ordained this already." He spun. Gripping the vine nearby, he pulled
himself up to the branch
92
immediately above to check on the readiness of the defenders there.
"I still don't believe it," Logan whispered, turning back to face the forest.
"I consider myself a better judge of human nature than that."
"I told you they'd abandoned their humanity in making concessions to this
world," Cohoma grumbled.
file:///F|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Foster,%...%20Dean%20-%20Humanx%2001%20-%2
0Midworld.txt (78 of 181) [1/16/03 7:03:43 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Foster,%20Alan%20Dean%20-%20Humanx%2001%20
-%20Midworld.txt
"Oh, come on, Jan! How could they have regressed so much in so short a time?
The earliest colony ships only go back a few hundred years." She quieted. "I
could swear I had that Born figured."
"There's another possibility, you know, Kimi," Co-
homa ventured after a pause. He eyed her appraisingly.
"Even someone like Losting, who doesn't like him, admits he's a smart boy.
Maybe . . . maybe he's figuring on us bailing him out."
Logan looked at her companion curiously. "How do you mean?"
"Well, think a minute," he said, warming to the subject. "He's out there
somewhere" he gestured back through the palisade of sharpened stakes toward
the other end of the village "waiting for us to join him if the battle goes as
badly as everyone expects.
We circle clear as soon as the end is in sight. He joins us, we make it to the
station, he gets that burn-
ing curiosity of his satisfied plus he saves his life."
"That would imply," she countered vociferously, "that he cares nothing for his
Page 60
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Home or his friends.
I don't believe that. I think the tie is as strong, if not stronger, in Born
than in any of these folk. I
could understand such an attitude in some soldier-of-
fortune, the kind of gun for hire you might meet in the back streets of
Drallar or LaLa or Repler, but not in Bom."
Cohoma grinned. "I think you see a little too much of the noble savage in our
stunted cousins. Our friend
Born is just resourceful enough to make the break, just iconoclastic enough
to "
The first line of Akadi broke through the dense wall of green and all
conversation died. The column measured seven or eight Akadi across and
extended into the forest until it disappeared in verdure. They were packed
body to body, so close that the front
93
resembled a single monstrous snake, all woolly orange fur, clawed legs,
weaving tentacles. Filtered green light shone on orbs like ebony cabochons,
dark wells of unsapient malignance.
Tiny explosive pops sounded as the ring of care-
fully positioned hunters let loose with a dozen tank seeds at once. The Akadi
crumpled, tentacles and clawed legs digging in blind fury at the pricking
thorns, chewing at themselves. Even before the frantic
Sailings of legs and tentacles ceased, the first row had been shoved aside and
tumbled and bounced off branches and epiphytes into the depths below. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]