Of Man and Manta Omnibus

by Piers Anthony

  The ship was anchored in water of appropriate depth near the mouth of the great swamp. It was a double-hulled military yacht, chemically powered but capable of fifty knots. Veg assumed that the agents had assembled it piecemeal this side of the transport tunnel, since it would have been impossible to beam the entire ship through as a unit. A big job, requiring skill and time, though of course the agents would have been programmed for it. They must have started work the moment the trio set sail on the Nacre. He didn't need Cal to tell him what that meant about the importance of the trio's original mission. They had simply been a test case, human guinea pigs, sacrificial lambs or whatever, sent through on the spur of the moment to verify that the transfer equipment was in working order and that men could survive the jump. A few days to allow for any subtle residual tissue damage, then a few more to make sure there were no slow-acting poisons on Paleo. Probably Noodlebrain had thought he was sentencing them to death, and it had been sheer luck that everything had functioned properly.

  The tiny cutter docked beside the yacht. A derrick hoisted Cal and one of his captors to the deck. In a moment Cal passed across the line marking Veg's area of confinement, and the two friends were together again.

  'There's a force screen or something,' Veg warned him as they watched the cutter cut east. He still felt the awkwardness of their last discussion. How could things be the same between them, after ... Aquilon?

  Cal nodded. He knew all about such things. If any of them attempted to jump ship or even cross the line on the deck without authorization, the invisible alert screen would trigger automatic weaponry that would blast them immediately. The remains would be netted and englobed in seconds, so that the atmosphere would not be contaminated by their corpses. This was mainly for Hex's benefit, since his demise would release a cloud of potent spores. Earth had learned its lesson in that regard.

  ' 'Quilon?' Cal inquired.

  'It didn't work out,' Veg said; then he realized with fierce embarrassment that Cal had not been referring to their sexual liaison. 'I left her on the island, when I heard about - ' He broke off, aware that that was wrong too. Cal had not asked for help, in his contest with Tyrann.

  'So Hex tattled,' Cal murmured, smiling briefly.

  'Yeah. Circe, anyway.' The tension was broken; Cal understood. 'How'd you make out?'

  'Taler shot it.'

  'Oh.' That was too simple. It meant Cal didn't want to talk about it, any more than Veg wanted to talk about his own adventure. And Cal would have explained about the other mantas by now, the missing ones, if he intended to. Something was going on.

  A woman stood amidships, fiddling with radio equipment. She was tall, slender, and blonde - rather beautiful, yet quite unlike Aquilon. Veg had been observing her with covert admiration, wondering what she was doing here on this man's mission.

  'Taner reports island evacuated,' the woman said, every syllable clear though she did not seem to be striving for precision. 'Proceeding to mainland.'

  Cal looked at her. 'Earth is keeping extraordinarily close tabs on its representatives,' he remarked. 'I've seen three agents so far, with evidence of at least two others, and reporting in at every turn.'

  'They figure Paleo will corrupt somebody, otherwise,' Veg said. 'The way it did us.'

  'A telling point. I believe I would have termed it "enlightenment", however.'

  'And a gal aboard too.'

  'That's nothing to interest you,' Cal said with an obscure expression. 'That's a female agent.'

  Veg was shocked. 'That little thing? A superman?'

  She glanced their way and smiled. 'Tamme, at your service.'

  Veg recalled the things the agent Subble had been capable of back on Earth. He looked again at the girl. He shook his head in negation. She would not last long in a lumberman's free-for-all, whatever her training.

  Tamme was watching him. 'I would, you know,' she murmured.

  For the third time in as many minutes he feh quick embarrassment. Damn that mind-reading ability of hers!

  She laughed.

  Cal looked thoughtful, but did not comment.

  'Contact,' Tamme said. 'Bird and woman. Fungoid concealed.' Then she paused, frowning. 'Taner dead.'

  Taler's head appeared in the hatch. At least Veg thought it was Taler; they were all so similar they were hard to tell apart unless they were together. 'So the report was correct. The fungoid can upon occasion dispatch an agent.'

  'She must have had a hand in it,' Tamme said. 'Shouldn't have sent a man for that chick.'

  'You have to admit we aren't exposed much to attractive feminine types,' Taler replied.

  She threw something at his head. The motion was so rapid and controlled that Veg was only aware of the jerk of her full blouse and the flash of metal in sunlight.

  Taler moved simultaneously, plucking the object from the air before his face. He held it aloft, a trophy. It was a tiny stiletto - and had he not been ready for it, the point would have skewered his nose.

  They were only playing, but they were deadly. All of them. That sudden murder of their companion seemed to mean nothing more to them than an ineffective tactic. Unless this whole little episode was merely a show to impress the prisoners.

  Yet Subble had seemed like a decent guy, and he had been an agent not many letters removed. SU compared to TA -SUBble, TALer, TAMme, TANer...

  Taler came to them. 'It appears there is some difficulty picking up Miss Hunt. We are also interested in the three outstanding fungoids. Is the present creature able to contact others, if set free to do so? There is no need to answer.'

  No need indeed! Veg was familiar with this type of interrogation. The agent merely asked questions, and gauged the response from the bodily reactions of the listener. There was nothing an ordinary man could do about it.

  But why were the agents so intent on capturing all the trio and the mantas? They could survey the planet and make their report without reference to those who had gone before. The trio wasn't important any more, if it had ever counted for anything here at all, and this campaign hardly seemed worth the effort.

  Well, Cal would know. Veg would follow his friend's lead.

  'If you do not cooperate,' Taler said gently, 'we shall have to undertake a search-and-destroy mission. That could mean the death of Miss Hunt, too.'

  Cal did not speak, but Veg's pulses leaped angrily. Aquilon - dead?

  'Interesting,' Taler remarked. 'Dr Potter is even more enamored of Miss Hunt than is Mr Smith. But Dr Potter refuses to be influenced thereby. Since a threat of this nature would therefore be ineffective, I make none; I merely advise you that the element of risk does apply to Miss Hunt so long as she is beyond our jurisdiction.'

  Taler now addressed himself completely to Cal. 'We shall begin with a humane nerve gas. This particular formula should render all mammals unconscious on contact. Reptiles and amphibians will be affected to a lesser extent. Plants will suffer some loss of foliage in the following days and a few will rot. Representatives of the third kingdom -'

  'Blinded,' Cal said.

  Taler signaled to Tamme. 'Lift the barricade.'

  Something clicked off. 'You'd better explain it to Hex,' Cal said to Veg. 'He's your manta.'

  'I'm not sure myself what's going on. You want Hex to fetch 'Quilon?'

  'These gentlemen,' Cal said, 'want very much to have all four mantas here on the ship, alive, because if any two should die on Paleo their spores could spread and mate and produce many thousands of mantas to take over the planet.'

  'That wouldn't be so bad. Mantas aren't destructive.'

  'These gentlemen wish to preserve Paleo for human colonization, however.'

  Veg smiled bleakly. 'Oh. They'd have trouble, with all those mantas.'

  Then something occurred to him. I don't want Earth to colonize, and 'Quilon doesn't either. We already had that out.'

  'I have come to agree with you,' Cal said surprisingly. 'Paleo should be preserved as it exists. But although I decided not to make my report, eve
nts have made the issue academic. The agents are now in control.'

  Veg experienced a mixture of emotions. He was gratified to learn that the schism between them was gone, that Cal was now on the side Aquilon had espoused - but angry that Cal should so readily submit to the demands of the agents. It was not like Cal to yield under duress.

  Taler spoke, facing Veg. 'Your friend is very clever. He has already outwitted me once, and I am not a stupid or gullible man. No agent is. Now he is planning to betray us again. I must therefore request that you address your manta immediately, without further conversation with Dr Potter.'

  The manner was polite. Taler could afford courtesy. Veg knew that he was fully capable of enforcing his demand, and needed no bluster.

  But the other remark! So Cal had not surrendered! That was especially good to know. But what had Cal planned? Could Veg figure it out in time?

  'Instruct your manta,' Taler said, his voice still mild but carrying just that hint of urgency required to make his point. Further delay would mean considerable unpleasantness. Veg did not fancy himself to be a fool.

  But what could he do, except as told? 'Hex,' he said, and the manta rotated on its foot to face him. 'These men have - do you know what nerve gas is?'

  Two snaps of the tail.

  Veg turned to Taler. 'I have to explain -'

  'Nerve gas is a substance that can be released into the air,' Taler said. 'It will fill the entire valley within an hour, barring exceptional atmospheric conditions. It will blind all eye-bearing fungoids without killing them - and the damage is probably irreversible.'

  'Do you understand that?' Veg asked Hex. He wondered how the agents had developed and tested this chemical, with no mantas to try it on. Could it be a bluff?

  To his surprise, Hex snapped once. The mantas were getting better at picking up human speech and grasping its content.

  'They will release this gas, if you don't go and tell 'Quilon and the other mantas to come here - to surrender. We can't stop them.'

  One snap.

  'So guess you'd better -'

  Something crackled. Veg saw Cal fall to the deck.

  'Remain where you are,' Taler snapped. He was facing Hex, who had not moved, and his directive was as much for the manta as for Veg. 'Your friend was about to impart inappropriate information to you and the manta. I had to anesthetize him immediately. He will recover in a few minutes, unharmed. Instruct your manta.'

  'They aren't kidding,' Veg said to Hex, furious but helpless. 'I don't like it, but I have to tell you to go bring Circe and Diam and Star back here - and 'Quilon too, of course. They'll kill us all, otherwise.' Inside he was chagrined that he hadn't been able to follow Cal's plan, whatever it was. By the time Cal woke up, Hex would be on his way, and it would be too late.

  'Very good,' Taler said. 'The barrier is down - but the creature will be covered by our cannon until out of sight. We are equipped to englobe the remains in seconds. It has one hour before we release the gas - no more.'

  'One hour, Hex,' Veg repeated dully. 'So make it fast. I - ' He turned to the agent again. 'You promise not to hurt any of them, or us?'

  'If you cooperate. Our interest is in completing our mission; there is no personal bonus. The group of you will be assigned elsewhere, where there need be no restriction on your activities or those of the fungoids. You have my given word. That is not sacrosanct, of course, but is a statement of intent.'

  Veg remembered Subble once more. The man had kept his word all the way, though he hadn't been obliged to. He had to trust Taler that far.

  'It's okay for all of us, if you make it in one hour,' he told Hex. 'Tell them that. Now get going.'

  Hex leaped into the air and was on his way, a disk skipping across the water. He was traveling at something like a hundred miles an hour, and in about a minute had disappeared into the foliage fringing the swamp.

  Veg lifted Cal to his feet as Taler departed. In a few minutes, as predicted, the little man recovered, though he had a scrape on the head where he had struck the deck. Veg raged to see the injury done, but knew that protest would be useless.

  'Sorry,' Veg murmured. 'I couldn't figure out what you wanted, and the bastard wouldn't give me time to think, and he could read my mind anyway, so I just had to send Hex off.'

  Cal gripped his hand momentarily. 'It's all right.'

  'I blew it. I'm just not smart enough.'

  'On the contrary. It was essential that I be out of the way so that I couldn't blow it, as you put it. They were already suspicious of me. You they assumed were safe.'

  'I am safe,' Veg said. 'Mad as hell, but safe. And I can't even slug one of them. I tried that on Subble, and got smeared.'

  'Yes, I'm sure Taler read that fury in you. So now Hex is telling 'Quilon and the other mantas the ultimatum. What do you suppose they'll do?'

  'What can they do? No sense having that gas turned loose.'

  Cal only smiled.

  Half an hour passed before a manta reappeared, alone. It glided in while the cannon tracked it and landed neatly on the deck. It was Circe.

  Taler came out immediately. 'This is not the same fungoid,' he said.

  'It's Circe - 'Quilon's manta,' Veg explained.

  'Miss Hunt is ready to be picked up?'

  'I guess. The swimming isn't so hot hereabouts.'

  Taler swung lithely over the rail and dropped into a second cutter. In a moment he was speeding in the direction Circe had come from. Veg wondered how he was so sure of the way, then realized that the sharp perceptions of the agent would make location easy. It was her cooperation Taler required, nothing else. Her agreement would bring in the remaining mantas.

  Tamme was on deck, her efficient yet feminine manner disquieting. She had sex appeal, and he knew she read his appreciation of that, and read his attempt to repress and conceal his reaction. She hardly bothered to hide her amusement.

  Fifteen minutes later Aquilon was brought aboard, along with Hex. She held what had to be one of Orn's eggs in her arms; Veg had no idea how she had come by it. There was a bruise on her cheek that he didn't like to look at, suspecting that he had put it there; but that was the least of the change in her. She was not the same woman he had known and loved.

  'It's been a long time,' Aquilon said. 'Four nights and three earthquakes since we three were last together...'

  'Three nights, two earthquakes,' Cal said.

  'You must have been very busy, not to notice. Four -'

  'Now don't you two start fighting again,' Veg interposed quickly. 'Could have been ten days and nine earthquakes, for all I remember, and what difference does it make?'

  She smiled, becoming the girl he had known. She held no grudge against him.

  Still, they stood there somewhat awkwardly. Veg knew he really hadn't managed things very well. First, siding with her against Cal (and had it been sex that decided him?), then trying to go back to Cal when the man didn't want help, and getting stranded himself. Finally, he played the betrayer to them both by sending Hex off... no, he had no congratulations coming.

  Suddenly he realized that the hour was up - and Cal's two mantas, Diam and Star, had not come in.

  'Release the gas,' Taler said. Tamme, who seemed to handle more than radios, opened a chest and brought out several sealed cannisters. Frost glistened on them; they had been stored cold.

  'That's pointless now,' Cal said. 'The two mantas are already dead.'

  Taler studied him. 'You play a dangerous game, sir.'

  Cal nodded. 'There is a world at stake.'

  Tamme spoke into her mike. 'Parley has failed. Two fungoids have spored. Too late for enclosure. Proceed with alternate.' She returned the cannisters to their compartment.

  'What happened?' Veg demanded. 'I thought they were coming in!'

  Aquilon touched his hand in that way she had. 'They knew what the invasion by the Earth omnivore meant. So they died, and Hex cut them up and spread the spores while Circe reported back here to the ship. By now those spores are all
over the valley. They can't be wiped out.'

  'But I told Hex-'

  Taler cut in, seemingly without malice. 'Dr Potter was aware that Miss Hunt would not honor that request - and that she would correctly interpret its real meaning. Had Dr Potter been conscious at the time your manta left, I would have fathomed his sensation of victory, and thwarted his plan. As it was, I picked up nothing from him except his nonspecific chord of emotions. In my confidence, I failed to read him later, and I attributed Miss Hunt's confused state of apprehension concerning her treatment at our hands following her involvement in the termination of Taner. Therefore I did not question her, assuming that the remaining mantas were on their way separately.' He smiled with good-natured rue. 'I have not before been so readily outwitted by a normal man.'