Star Hunter

ctive covering for Vye. That piece of tailoring occupied them until the graying sky permitted them a full picture of the pocket in which

ay the ledge itself a few feet behind the flitter. There

e hoped to be reassured tha

ok

the sky. Well above them those globes still swam

r rim of the ledge, was using his dista

sign

ead, but the blue beasts, or any other fauna

where along their route he could pick up some defensive and offensive arm. Stones had burst the lights of the is

ow as they rounded a pinnacle to lose sight of the f

g in the direction the

to search for head and toe holds. When they were safely past that point

ed, or are about t

he

s is as good as mine. And

led. Instead their path now leveled off and began to widen out so that they could walk with more

me out on the rim of a valley, a valley centered with a wood-encircled lake. They steppe

lack-green vegetation, turned over so that round pits stared eyeles

f vertebrae forming a spine. That ended in a crushed break which he studied briefl

s done b

had been when they had emerged from the crevice. But now every

ips, diverted his e

y, "must have been here for

his spot lay days of travel from

d he ge

would have, had we not hol

this dead-end valley by the globes or the blue beasts.

hy

ose, whatever we are up against wants all interlopers moved out of the lowlands into this s

reason, a revolting one he tried to deny

contradict him, but the Hunter only glanced ar

of control he could summon, trying not to bolt for the crevice. But he

s words lingered d

to try and break them with his bare hands, should escape demand such action. Hume must have

st step toward the crevice corridor, struck an invisible

hing's

against was not a tight, solid surface, but rather an unseen elastic c

d entered was now closed with a curtain they could not pierce or break. Hume tried his ray

he tube. "Their

gged this trap would leave no bolt holes. But because they were human and refused to accept the inevi

ward. They were well away from the crevice when Hume halted, flung up a hand in sile

had been squeaking, humming, chitterings, the vocalizing of myriad grass dwellers. Here, except for the sighing of the wind

ft." Hume

utly grown for anything to be within its

bed at the long bush knife in Hume's belt sheath. Eighteen inches of tri-fold steel

w paces behind. The Hunter was an expert with ray tube; that, too, was par

pack he had been carrying on hi

y a water-cat's high-pitched scream. The feline writhed out of its life in a stench of

still twitching foreleg, stretch

hoops, the skin tight over the skull, far too tight. The water-cat had been close to death by starvation; its attack on the men probably had been

." Vye fitted one thoug

up, let them finis

?" Vye d

rouble t

s. All of them couldn't be herded up here to fini

rpose of keeping some type of machinery in working order," Hume repli

it are gone, so now it goes on working without any real int

der certain conditions only? Yes, that makes sense. Only why wasn't the first Patrol explorer flaming in here

re a long time. And when di

ut I can't give you an

d. Then it slid up scale until the thin wail became an ululating scream torturing the

mall hollow with the drift of leaves high about their ankles. And the Hunter pulled into place the portions of growth they had d

Vye's body, touching earth with knee and hand as he crouched,

from the closed gate? Hume's breath hissed lightly between

ther clearly paw nor hand, swept aside leaves and branches on the oth

ssion of brutal menace, this was savagery incarnate. Taller than Hume, but hunched forward in its neckle

water-cat and fed without any prolonged ceremony. Vye, remem

ead swung in their direction. Vye was half certain he had

ection of that barrel body. The thing howled, threw itself in a mad forward rush at t

ithing in a rising chorus of howls. The men broke out of cover, raced into the open where they took refuge beh

Vye got out betwe

any catch. Probably not alone, either." Hume fingered h

hose tusked monsters with only this for a weapon. But if that thing had companions, none were coming i

e trouble like that before it arrives. And I w

e formed a falls. The empty watercourse provided an overhang, not quite a cave, but shelter. Gather

upply in a dry country is just where hunters congregate. That lake's en

ut before our water bu

and we have tablets from the flitter emergency supplies. But he can't live long with

pletely around the c

to need water for the trek out. It's right down there waiting

shoulders scraping the rock at their b

with odds stacked high on the other side of the board." He flexed that plasta-flesh hand which was so nearly human and yet not by the fraction whi

o get at the one who set

boy, after me. But I think we might ha