Of Man and Manta Omnibus

by Piers Anthony

  So now, perhaps, the bodily resources that had been so long suppressed were reappearing, and he was ready for the dinosaur. It was a good feeling.

  Tyrann lunged at the tree, but this time did not swing about to threaten with his tail. He put his head beyond the slanted, trunk and stopped.

  Cal scooted a quarter of the way around, but halted when he saw that his opponent was there too. One giant leg came down beside the tree, while the nightmarish head descended from the opposite side. Tyrann could close the circle, when he happened across the right technique!

  But with difficulty. This was an unusual maneuver, and the dinosaur's reflexes were geared more for crashing through than for curling around. The closure occurred slowly, and the tail could not make it at all. The highly flexible neck was the principal instrument, coming to meet the tremendous thigh - Cal between.

  Saliva dripped from the grinning mouth, spilling over the double-edged teeth. The stench of reptile was oppressive. Cal peered into the near eye, just a yard away and huge from this vantage. The lower jaw widened just-below it, making anchorage for bulging facial muscles. The skin was rough, covered irregularly with tubercles, puckered in the region of the ear hole, and hung below the chin in a kind of extended wattle: the dewlap. Oh for the lost quarterstaff now! He could have; used it to poke out that eye!

  He glanced down, seeking some weapon, but there was only loam and acorns. A handful of coarse gravel hurled into that eye might start the job; but acorns?

  Slowly the jaws parted, the lipless skin peeling back from every dagger-jagged tooth, and sliding across the muscle-filled fenestrae, the windows in the skull. The alien reptilian breath blasted out, hot, not cold. It was a misnomer to describe reptiles as cold-blooded; their body temperatures were variable, determined by external conditions and exertion. In this warm valley, the reptile ran about as hot as the mammal and functioned about as well.

  The stunted forelimbs turned out to be as large as Cal's own arms, their claws long and sharp. Useful for holding the slowly dying meat firmly against the mouth, certainly: much as a busy executive might hold the telephone receiver against his ear by hunching his shoulder, aided by a little harness. Hardly essential, but useful upon occasion.

  One tooth was broken, leaving a gap, and the gum there was black. Tyrann's temper could hardly have been improved by that recent accident! But already the replacement tooth was pushing up.

  This was a strange situation: he was about to be bitten in half, in slow motion! If he ran for it, Tyrann would catch him; he could see the tension on the ponderous leg muscles, ready for that forward thrust around the tree. But if he remained -

  Closer. Tyrann's nostril, inconspicuous from a distance, now seemed large enough for Cal to put his fist into. But the eye, though within reach, was guarded by a heavy overhanging ridge of bone and skin; he was sure that if he struck at it the eye would blink shut, and he would smash his hand against that protection painfully. The ear indentation did not even penetrate the head; skin covered the canal just inside the depression. Yes, the dinosaur was well protected.

  Still, Tyrann could hear well enough. Cal leaned toward the head until only inches separated his face from the skin of the monster. The rank odor made him want to gag, and he could see body parasites in the folds.

  'Boo!' he yelled.

  The dinosaur jumped.

  Cal was off and away, sprinting again for the copse of sorted firs. Tyrann recovered in a moment, merely startled the unexpected noise, but too late. A jump reaction, in a creature of that size, was a matter of seconds from start to finish. The prey had won another round.

  The firs were not large, but were close together and thickly spoked. The proximity of the trees served to break off useless lower limbs - but many of the stubs were jammed into neighboring trunks, forming rungs. Cal scraped himself getting through them, but was grateful for their protection. Tyrann had to crash through headlong, and that was noisy, painful and time-consuming. Cal was able to catch his breath again as he slowed to a walk and scramble, threading past the worst of the maze.

  But it was another brief respite. Tyrann could knock aside those slender trees and bulldoze them down, and was doing so. The stand was not as extensive as Cal had hoped; a few minutes would see little besides cordwood here. And the dinosaur, stung by repeated jabs of fir spokes, was beginning to grow perturbed.

  Beyond this was palm-dotted prairie. That was sure victory for Tyrann.

  Except - there was a herd of Triceratops in sight, lazing in the shadow of the trees and browsing on the fronds. If he were able to play one species off against the other -

  Cal ran out toward the herd. A bull winded him and looked up, a morsel of palm stalk projecting from his tremendous beak. Then the Tricer spotted the carnosaur behind. Why the herd hadn't noticed the intrusion before, Cal could not say. Perhaps they had been aware of Tyrann right along, but had known he was after other prey and therefore no immediate threat to the herd. That, combined with the discomfort of having to walk through the sun to find other shade, must have kept them where they were. It was a complacency that armored,, brutes of this magnitude could afford - but no lesser creatures!!

  By running at the herd, however, Cal was luring Tyrann too close. The bull gave out an oddly regressive hiss, and suddenly there was motion elsewhere. The adult Tricers bullied their young into a confined area adjacent to the trunk of largest palm, then turned about and formed a ring outside, just at the fringe of the shade, armored heads pointing out. It was a formidable phalanx, executed with military dispatch.

  Cal was daunted himself. These were tremendous animals and dangerous. Those beaks, intended for slicing through palm wood, could as readily amputate his limbs; and as for the horns ... ! But he had no choice. Tyrann was closing the gap again, and there was no other cover. He ran at the defensive circle of behemoths.

  The nearest bull didn't like it. He hissed his challenge again and charged out of the pack. Sunlight glinted from his polished horns. The adjacent bulls rocked over to fill the gap, keeping the circle tight. Cal, per force, brought up short. No living animal ever resembled a tank more than Triceratops. Then he used the trick applied earlier to Tyrann, and jumped to the side.

  Almost eight tons of armored flesh thudded by. The Tricer was not as large as Tyrann, but was more solidly built. Its body, exclusive of the tail, was twenty feet long, the head taking up about a third of it. Two devastating horns jutted above the eyes and a third, shorter but thicker, perched on the broad beak. Behind the head was a tremendous bony shield large enough for a man to ride on. The astonishing jaw muscles anchored to this, making even Tyrann's face seem flabby in comparison. There was more bone and muscle on Tricer's head than in the entire body of most other creatures. The skin of the rest of the torso, though technically unarmored, was ribbed like the hide of a crocodile, and Cal was sure it was just as tough.

  Now Tricer confronted Tyrann - a situation neither had sought. Tyrann tried to skirt around the bull to get at Cal, but Tricer would not permit an approach near the herd. To it, the small mammal was an annoyance - but the carnosaur was a threat.

  And so they came to unwilling battle, these two giants of the age of reptiles. The one would not relinquish his chase; the herd would not permit passage.

  Tyrann, goaded to fury by the unreasonable interference of bull, roared and gestured: an impressive spectacle. Tricer merely waited, the three fierce horns focused on the enemy. Tyrann skittered to the side, seeking a vulnerable point beyond horn and shield. Tricer whirled with surprising finesse, the neck muscles flexing hugely, and gored him in the thigh. Tyrann screamed and bit at the briefly exposed rump. The teeth sank in, but Tricer whirled again, the three horns swinging about like the machine-gun turret of the tank he resembled, and the hold was broken. Cal observed that the broad bony shield did double duty: the neck musculature also anchored to it. Just as a flying bird needed a strong keelbone to brace the flying muscles, so Tricer needed that shield to whip his massive head about. Wha
t an engine of defense!

  Blood speckled each combatant, but inhibited neither. Tyrann did not take lightly to being balked, but Tricer would not give way,!

  Then a second bull came out, and Tyrann backed off hastily. Two trios of horns could destroy him. But this one was after Cal, and the man had to flee even more precipitously. Apparently the herbivores had decided that he was too much trouble to entertain. Or they had realized that Tyrann would not leave until the mammal did.

  The two bulls were between Cal and Tyrann, each herding its object before it. Cal was amenable; this allowed him to increase his distance from the camosaur. He spied an inlet of water and headed for it, congratulating himself for a winning tactic.

  Tyrann finally freed himself from the harassment of the bulls and charged in Cal's direction. Cal threw himself down a short steep bank and into the bay.

  It was shallow. He had succeeded in covering himself with muck, but knew that two feet of water would hardly balk Tyrann for long. The carnosaur probably chased after water reptiles to depths of ten feet or so. He had made a tactical error.

  Tyrann splashed down, sending muck flying. And sank in to his tall knees. Instead of firm bottom, it was ooze bottom, and the dinosaur's much greater weight put him as deep, proportionately, as the much smaller man. They were even. Cal chided himself for not realizing that beforehand. So far, he had prevailed more by chance than by application of brain, and that was not as it should be, if he were to prove anything.

  Again in grotesque slow motion, man and reptile staggered through the swamp. But again the pursuer was gaining. Cal had supposed that Tyrann was basically a hide-and-pounce hunter, or a take-from-other-hunter bully: neither occupation requiring much stamina. But this chase had passed beyond that stage.

  Cal looked for deeper water, hoping to lure Tyrann out beyond his safe depth. He was sure the dinosaur could not swim. Both of them would risk attack by swimming predators, but Tyrann would be the prime target there.

  This, however, turned out to be a slender ribbon of swamp, extending like a tongue into higher ground. Deep water was too far away. He would have to slough along for a mile or more, and that was out of the question.

  He heard Tyrann panting behind him. At least this was taking as much out of the carnosaur as the man. The creature had a lot more mass to haul around, and his energy requirements right now must be phenomenal.

  Cal angled to the far bank and scrambled up. He gained distance as he hit the firmer footing. With another belated inspiration he ran along the bank instead of away from the water, tempting the dinosaur to chase directly after him. Tyrann did not understand about vectors; to him the direct route was the fastest and surest, whatever the terrain. So he waded after Cal rather than cutting to the bank and gaining high ground first. Cal's lead increased dramatically.

  Tyrann was almost out of sight behind when the terrain shifted to favor him again. Nature played no favorites! Cal had been running downhill, toward the main swamp, and the land was becoming generally lower and flatter. Soon he would have no firm footing remaining, and would have to wade or swim again. That might get him away from Tyrann - but without that close pursuit, there would be nothing to distract the attention of the water predators from him. They were as dangerous in their medium as Tyrann was on his - and Cal's contest was with this reptile, not some aquatic monster. If he had to be eaten, it was only proper that Tyrann be allowed the honors. He had already earned this meal!

  Cal reversed his field and ran headlong the way he had come, ducking down to avoid Tyrann's sight. It worked; the dinosaur continued sloshing downstream. By the time Tyrann realized what had happened, Cal had a lead of half a mile.

  He needed it, in order to cross the plain and achieve new cover. Tyrann came into sight again, making excellent time, probably spurred by increasing appetite. Nothing like a walk before dinner! But the reptile's persistence was amazing. The chase had lasted a couple of hours now, and was far from over.

  Yet this, of course, was the way Tyrann obtained his meals. He was not a swift runner compared to Struthiomimus, the 'ostrich dinosaur', or an agile hunter compared to even primitive mammalian carnivores. He was limited largely to land, which meant that he seldom dined on Brachiosaitrus in quantity. The young Brachs were of course available - but swift and small, and the fleet amphibious duckbills were similarly elusive. Stealth was not, as it turned out, Tyrann's way, nor was he particularly clever. Probably he dined on carrion as often as not, sniffing out the rotting carcases of creatures who had perished by other means, then driving off other predators. But this would be an uncertain living at best, and live meat was a treat worth striving for.

  No - Tyrannosaurus succeeded largely by determination. Once he fixed on his prey, living or dead, he never relented. Other things might intersperse themselves, such as the fir grove, a Triceratops herd, and swamp channel, but Tyrann would keep after his original objective until he ran it down. That way his meal was certain, eventually. And his meager intellect was not strained, and his energies not wastefully dissipated in fruitless asides. Even the fleetest prey must succumb in time.

  It had become a contest of endurance. Though the camosaur was wounded - Cal could see the blood along the thigh where the bull had gored - he still had substantial physical resources - But the prey, in this case, had equivalent mental resources. Which would prevail - muscle or mind?

  Cal headed uphill. Right now he'd be happy to trade a few points I.Q. for a few pounds of striated tissue in the legs and torso. The vagaries of the chase had caused him to by Camp Two, and he was ascending the mountain face beyond it. The climate was changing rapidly, both because of waning of the day and increasing elevation. This had to shift the balance somewhat in his favor, because he was a controlled temperature creature while Tyrann was not. He could function efficiently regardless of the external temperature, theoretically. A reptile in the cold was a reptile helpless.

  Yet Tyrann continued to close the gap, and once more was within a hundred feet. Now Cal had to dodge around trees and rocks, lest he be overrun. Damn that giant, stride of the dinosaur! This should have been superior terrain for the mammal with its myriad crevices, but none were secure for any extend stay. He had to keep moving.

  He was tired. He was in excellent condition, considering past history, but a pressing chase of several hours was than his body had been geared for. Tyrann, on the other seemed to have most of his original vigor about him. Endurrance: yes. Or merely pacing.

  Cal fell. At first he thought that fatigue had brought: low; then he realized that the mountain had thrown him down. The earth was rocking violently, and Tyrann was screaming with cantankerous surprise. It was an earthquake - far more severe than the tremor he had observed while on the raft yesterday.

  Cal was small, light, and lucky. Tyrann was none of them.

  The dinosaur was upended and rolled several hundred feet downhill to crash into the brush. Nature had played favorites this time.

  Cal needed the reprieve, but he resented it. He wanted to win by his own abilities, nothing else. He sat down after the earth was still and waited for Tyrann to resume the chase.

  The dinosaur was slow in doing so. A roughing of that nature was hard on him, because of his size. A mouse might fall a hundred feet straight down and survive nicely; an elephant might fall its own height and be killed on the spot, because of the problems its magnified mass brought. Tyrann had merely rolled - but that probably represented the most brutal punishment he had ever had. Internal organs could have been ruptured, bones splintered...

  But no. Tyrann got up and resumed his ascent - but with only a fraction of his previous vigor. Now Cal could stay ahead without panting.

  So it continued, slower. The air became cool and more than cool as dusk and height came together. Even through his exertions, Cal felt it; his clothing had dried on his body and was fairly good insulation, but still he was not dressed for freezing feather. Yet Tyrann continued, bruised and scarred and shaken more than the thigh, but see
mingly unaffected by the temperature.

  Of course! The dinosaur had considerable mass, and so was slow to cool. And his giant muscles would generate a large amount of heat, keeping him going longer. Tyrann could probably keep up the chase as long as Cal could, even into the snows of the upper mountain.

  Unless Cal could trick him into remaining stationary for a few hours...

  Meanwhile, he would have to drop down into the warmer region. He was quite tired now, and the buoyancy of the chase was giving out. If he rested in hiding, the cold would get him. And he couldn't hide anyway, even in the dark, because Tyrann would locate him by smell.

  Yes, it was brains against brawn - but in what manner could brain mitigate the cold? If only he had warm clothing! Then he could ascend into the very snows, while the dinosaur slowly capitulated to nature. The mammalian form was superior; an airy animal could have lost Tyrann easily here, or even turned and challenged him. A woolly elephant -

  Cal stumbled, pushing himself up with difficulty. Why dream? It was his own body he had to make do with, and his own brain he meant to apply. Tyrann was still hardly more than fifty feet behind, but Cal had become used to that distance. They both knew that the chase had come down to its essential: the first to give way to exposure and exhaustion would forfeit the game. The sudden charges and matching dodges were over, as were the peek-a-boo games around trees. The rules were set, and the mammal could afford to stumble so long as he got up promptly.