Despite the density of the forest, nothing hindered his walking, as before. After he’d left Mafkona, he’d made only one stop. Warmed up by his striding, he almost didn’t feel hunger, and he liked that more than the rumbling in his stomach during rest stops.
At the same time, quenching his thirst gave him real pleasure, especially on such a hot day. Now, too, the traveler stopped in front of two plants that had fallen on one another and had almost rotted. He pulled his flask out from a belt pouch and, having taken out its cork, pressed its neck to his mouth. Satisfied, he replaced the cork and was about to return the vessel to its place, when the flask slipped out of his hands and fell on the dry leaves at his feet. Ama bent to pick it up and at the same moment felt a sudden jolt. A heavy object had crushed on to his back.
Staggering at the unexpectedness of it, Ama nearly fell down, but somehow managed to take one step back and remain on his feet. He immediately felt a familiar appalling stench, and then between his spread legs he saw a claw flying right towards his stomach!
His consciousness hadn’t yet managed to catch up to what was happening, so he simply reacted to what his eyes were seeing. He felt rather than realized that there was no time to think. He gathered all his strength and straightened up with a jerk. Obviously, the beast had not foreseen the behavior of its prey. It missed sticking its “spear" into the body of this biped creature, its formidable claw piercing only the air, it fell on the ground.
Ama kept on operating quickly and without hesitation, relying only on his instincts. The scout turned to the predator behind him and at the same time reached for the maser on his shoulder. At that moment something rushed to him from behind of those fallen logs.
If the first time his flask had saved Ama, now his own reaction helped him. He instantly realized that he had no time to shoot. Therefore, he simply bounced to the side, trying to avoid the attack of the other animal. His maneuver turned out to be quick enough, and this predator also missed stabbing its deadly claw into its victim’s body; instead the beast flew over the place where Ama had stood an instant ago.
Meanwhile, the first animal had already jumped to its feet and was preparing to attack this strange enemy again. Unfortunately for the beast, the state of the battlefield had already radically changed. Ama now was pointing an activated maser at it. The animal only managed to bend its legs for a jump, but it didn’t even have the time to straighten them. Right at that second an impulse of electromagnetic energy penetrated its body.
The next moment, the legs of the beast, slightly bent so far, finally gave way. Ama fired again. The animal fell onto its stomach, its head hit the ground, and its trunk turned into a lifeless piece of rope.
The other predator held back its attack for a moment, casting its vibrating glance at its comrade in distress. The beast appeared unable to connect the poor condition of its fellow and this strange creature, who stood motionless and simply extended its elongated limb. Seeing no jeopardy from it, the beast rushed at the biped, which had already turned to it. The animal ignored the paw now pointed at it, because there was no sharp claw on it. It seemed to be just a piece of wood with growths on it.
The beast had almost jumped when something painfully pierced its guts. The predator did not yet even understand where it hurt, when it was as if a fire was being poured into its head and that was the end.
After his two shots at the second beast, the young man jumped to the nearest wide trunk and leaned his back against it. The scout kept his maser ready, and the index finger of his right hand was seemingly glued to the start button of the weapon. He listened carefully. The forest remained as quiet as a moment ago, when they’d assailed him. The traveler examined the corpses lying in front of him and made sure that they were ordinary LC-1s.
It seemed that the threat had finally disappeared, but for some reason Ama only now began to tremble. He looked around again and, not seeing anything dangerous, moved away from the plant. The young man realized that he now had no reason to fear. Then he looked again at the two corpses, and remembered the time five years previously when he’d killed two similar predators at the coast. Later, from time to time, he’d participated in expeditions to exterminate predators in the vicinity of the colony; but in those cases, it hadn’t been a matter of getting ahead and having rapid reactions.
Now Ama thought he might be faster than an LC-1. He’d beat them a second time. Other predators were probably no faster than these, although who knew?
The traveler once again examined both the forest and the dead animals. After that, he picked up his flask, which lay next to one of the corpses, and resumed his cautious journey.
From then on, he simply looked up from time to time to see where Ro was, and that acted as his space navigation. Ama was already feeling tired when he noticed that the forest was growing thin, and soon it ended completely. Before his eyes, about a hundred meters from the edge of the woods, the coveted mountain rose. As soon as Ama saw it, he stopped and breathed a sigh of relief.
Chapter 66
After standing still for a short time, Ama walked another twenty meters and ended up on a flat plain free of vegetation. In his understanding, he’d now entered the place where he planned to see the crystal. At least, he’d imagined arriving at this area exactly in such a way. For example, some pieces of crystal should be lying here, from the moment when nature had created them. The young man hoped that he would easily find among them a suitable chunk, but there was not even one.
From where he stood, the area looked discouraging. There was no trace even of a single piece of natural glass visible anywhere around, and it seemed that it had never existed here. Although Ama actually didn’t know what a deposit of the mineral should look like, so he just stared absently at this area. Then, realizing that he wouldn’t find anything by standing still, the scout headed to the hill.
At the same time, he began to speculate on where the mineral might be. Was not this mountain itself a crystal field? At least the GPC-5 had said so. Or was the mineral underground? And how could he dig if he didn’t have the right tool?
But no, the GPC-5 had said the mineral was on the surface. Then what should he do? Just walk and seek it out? Well then, he had to go around this hill and search the whole place.
Ama neared the foot of the hill and headed to the right. Soon, he’d already examined the other side of the knoll and the adjacent meadow, illuminated by Ro, which was falling onto the horizon. There wasn’t the smallest bit of the mineral here either. The scout wanted to go further around the hill, but then a fresh thought came to his mind. He considered getting to the top of the mountain, and from there examining its sides, because it was always much better to look down from a height.
The traveler directed his steps to the top of the hill, which, according to the topographic data, towered above him by over a hundred meters. Its slopes constituted shallow ravines, or rather gutters, with a depth of about one and a half meters, and the same width. Because of them, the hill looked like it had been upholstered with a corrugated, light gray fabric. Ama strode along the bottom of one of these gutters and thought about their origin. He concluded that the rains that had poured down here for many millions of years had probably created these natural aqueducts.
As he rose, Ama constantly examined his surroundings, and especially the direction in which he was going. Climbing appeared to be easy, as the slope had a gentle rake. During his next inspection, he noticed some object almost on the summit, flickering in the rays of Ro, which had almost plunged into the ocean of forest. What could it be? The young man thought, Maybe it is the crystal? Hope arose in his heart.
He immediately forgot about his tiredness and hunger, increasing the frequency of his steps. Climbing still remained easy, because although the gully had a flat bottom, it was rough, not slippery, and the soles of the sandals had a sufficient grip.
“Here it is,” Ama said with relief, going to the source of the glitter and seeing it close up.
The object before him
appeared to not just be a fragment of crystal, but the deposit itself. A huge baulk of mineral about a meter wide protruded from the bottom of the aqueduct, and conically extended downward parallel to it. It ended with a tip resembling a sawn-down cow’s horn. Its diameter at first glance was suited for Ama’s purpose. It was exactly this “horn” that had attracted his look by shining, reflecting the almost direct rays of the descending luminary.
The scout inspected the crest of the hill about twenty meters above him. Then he again examined his vicinity. There seemed to be nothing suspicious here. He glanced down. Both the meadow around the foot of the hill, and the forest next to it, looked peaceful.
After completing his careful study, he put down his maser, took off his backpack and pulled out the ax-hammer from it. Then he went a few steps higher, approaching the mirror surface of the glass ledge.
Ama intended to break off a piece of crystal a few centimeters long. This would have been the thickness of the future magnifier, and the radius of this part of the cone turned out to be at least fifteen centimeters, just the right size. He took these measurements using a ruler that was plotted on the handle of his instrument. Ama thought a little about which side of the tool he should use, the cutting edge or the hammer face.
Only now did he remember what they’d missed before starting the outing. They’d forgotten to read the manual on the collecting of geological samples. Now he understood that even the use of such a simple tool as a hammer needed proper knowledge. Actually, it wasn’t an omission, because if they hadn’t lost their UDs he could easily have found the necessary information. Yes, if not for that loss, everything would be different…
He quickly abandoned these useless thoughts; Ro had already touched the forest on the horizon, and had started to pull it upon itself, like a blanket before going to bed.
Ama examined the crystal log again. Then he dropped to one knee and put the index finger of his left hand on the selected point ten centimeters from the lower edge of this truncated cone. Then he raised the tool with his right hand and sharply hit this point with the hammer face, having previously removed his finger from there.
An instant later he absolutely hadn’t gotten what he’d expected. Instead of one large piece, he’d created innumerable small fragments of natural glass, which splattered, tinkling, along the bottom of the aqueduct. One of them had painfully pierced the cheek of the beginner neialogist.
Surprised, Ama looked perplexedly at the scattered glass fragments and tried to understand what had happened. He noted with disappointment that only half the meter-long cone remained: the rest had turned into wreckage.
Ama averted his eyes from the mineral and looked around. Natural glass, intended for the future lens, now lay in the form of debris all over the bottom of the gutter. It had spread further down the slope, even beyond the place where the maser and his rucksack awaited him.
Seeing this, the young man realized his luck—the crystal splinter which now stuck out of his cheek could have hit his eye. Ama touched it and groaned immediately, feeling a terrible pain. He removed his finger from it instantly. In addition, the young man first felt and then saw that the blood flowing from his wound had already run down his chin, and now, like red rain, was dripping onto his formerly white shirt.
The scout sighed and raised his thumb and forefinger to the splinter in his cheek, this time more carefully. Such a delicate approach gave him the required result: he pulled the splinter out of his skin almost painlessly, and threw it away. The young man immediately felt that the bleeding had intensified. Ama had no other way out, and he simply pressed his index finger to the cut, stopping the flow in this way.
After completing the medical procedure, he noticed that the rim of the crystal bulk, shiny until now, had darkened suddenly—Ro’s beam had jumped off of it. Thus, time reminded him of itself.
The scout had to hurry. He understood that if he didn’t finish his work now, then later, in the light of Seler or using the flashlight of his maser, it would be much more difficult for him. He rose, shifted slightly up to the base of the horn, and then got down on his left knee again. Next, the explorer again measured ten centimeters along the surface of the rest of the cone and hit, this time with the cutting edge of his tool. Before the blow, he turned aside his face and closed his eyes.
The next moment, he again heard the familiar sound of debris scattering along the bottom of the aqueduct. Therefore, he already knew exactly what he would see when he opened his eyes. Indeed, as soon as he looked at the result of his action, he became convinced that he still didn’t have a billet of the required size. Also, there was almost nothing left of the crystal horn. The young man looked thoughtfully at its remnants.
Despite the lack of time, Ama began to calmly and carefully examine the part of the glass boulder that was still intact. About a minute had passed when he noticed a crack in the lower part of the remainder of the cone, almost at its base. It stretched parallel to the bottom of the gutter and then disappeared into the depths of the mineral.
Ama examined it for some time, after which he again moved to the main boulder, and this time simply knelt down in front of it. Another brief study later, the scout got ready to hit the hammer face exactly on this crack. He lifted his instrument for the third time and almost hit it on the glass, but at the very last moment he restrained himself.
Ama remembered that he had already hit twice with all his might and gained only garbage. The explorer reluctantly examined the aqueduct and realized that he needed to change his approach. But what should he do? After a short and hasty reflection, the traveler logically concluded that a weak blow would be a real alternative to a strong blow. But what could weak tapping give him? Who knew? In any case, he had no choice; a strong blow appeared to be fruitless.
He began slowly pounding the crack with the hammer of his tool. Nothing happened. Ama gradually increased the effort, and simultaneously moved the hammer along the split. Suddenly, the crack, previously visible only on the surface, quickly penetrated into the depths of the natural glass, and a muffled crackle sounded immediately.
He was scared. He expected to see wreckage again, but his fear turned out to be baseless; nothing had changed, and the piece of glass looked intact. Ama held his breath and knocked again, with extreme caution.
This time, a sharper and louder crunch sounded, as a result of which Ama felt numb for a moment. Then a smooth piece of mineral in the shape of a giant peach pit quietly broke away from the rest of the crystal and slowly slipped from its glass base to the bottom of the gutter.
“What a good piece of glass,” he said. “Finally, circumstances and processes have arranged themselves in the right order or, as the saying goes, I am lucky man.”
Ama was about to take the billet when he heard a hiss from behind him.
Chapter 67
Mafkona, sitting by the stream in a field brightly lit by the rays of Ro, threw cold water on her injury. When her hands grew tired, she, without getting up, gathered a bunch of soft plants around herself and tied them together with the stem of one of them. Then she moistened this bundle in cold water and applied it to her wound as a compress. From then on, she only needed to moisten the bunch from time to time.
The girl constantly watched her environment and listened to the thicket. Especially she often looked at the left side, where a grassy strip no more than five meters wide separated the forest from the reservoir. In addition, in the beginning she hoped to placate her hunger with the frequent drinking of water, but actually used this method only a couple of times.
“Water helps nothing,” she informed herself, finally admitting that the liquid could not suppress the obnoxious feeling in her stomach.
The girl remained in the same place until the end of the day, only occasionally changing her position. From time to time, she reclined, leaning on the grass, or got up and stood on her healthy leg. With the approach of darkness, she went into the tent, lay down and fell asleep almost immediately. The fatigue accumula
ted over the past day easily suppressed her noticeably abated pain.
Chapter 68
Ama quickly turned around, and a few steps down the slope from him he saw a terrible beast. Neither the colonists nor the robots had ever met such a creature. The young man didn’t know that only a few hours earlier, someone in the person of Omis had already encountered such a beast, and even called it the BLC-1.
The scout quickly realized why the predator had hissed and warned him of his danger. One of the sharp fragments of glass that Ama had “produced” in such a large quantity had gotten stuck in its front paw. Trying to get rid of the splinter, the animal had awkwardly rubbed its foot against the bottom of the gutter. If not for this chip, the scout wouldn’t have noticed the approaching animal, being too busy with his work. At that moment, Ama saw something else—the left hind leg of the beast stood on the butt of his maser.
The experience of previous clashes had already developed a conditioned reflex for the traveler. Now it warned him that there could be other enemies, too. Ama immediately looked around. His intuition really helped; in spite of being unable to see anything, he heard a rustling from behind the right wall of his gutter, just above the place where he stood. Ama shot one brief glance at the maser, then turned and rushed to the top of the hill.
First he jumped onto the crystal boulder, and then ran along it for about a dozen steps. Here he stopped and turned around. Momentarily the throbbing of his heart had increased by seemingly not less than twofold—he saw another beast crawling out from a neighboring aqueduct. The only thing that allowed him to feel himself in no real danger was the short legs of these creatures. The owners of such limbs definitely looked like they wouldn’t be the best runners and climbers. But they turned out to be really great masters of ambush. The animals had practically surrounded him, and only a splinter of glass working as an alarm had saved him!
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