by Steve Perry
The ooman craft had surely gone in the direction of their dwellings; and if not, it did not matter. They would go and find the ugly small ones wherever they might be. It was only a matter of how long it would take, and that was not a concern.
They had nothing if not plenty of time.
* * *
Chapter 12
Math sucked, and it sucked hard; if Bobby Sheldon had children someday, he would see to it that they never had to do fractions if they didn't feel like it. Because fractions sucked worse than anything. In fact, they sucked shit.
"Bobby?"
He jerked around in his chair and flushed slightly at the sound of his mother's voice. The s-word was totally unallowed, even if he'd only thought about it.
"Yeah?"
"Finish what you're on and go wash up for lunch. You can do the rest later, okay?"
Bobby nodded at his mom. "'Kay"
He looked back at the screen and sighed. One-tenth of ten was one. So three-sevenths of twenty was.
Stupid. Why the hell did he have to know this anyway? He tapped the save control and went to wash his hands. He was going to be a rancher, and what rancher needed to know fractions? His dad said that they came in handy for counting heads, but his dad was a rancher and so fax as Bobby could tell, Dad had never used that shit.
Bobby walked back into the living room of their small house and looked out the window for Dad. Tomorrow was school day, which he looked forward to as usual; not that class was so great, but it was the only time of the week he got to hang out with the guys. They lived too far out of town for him to go every day, like some of the other kids. Although he'd gone to see the ship come in last night, that'd been cool. He had played spy-tag with Dal and Alan and Hung and eaten about a ton of banana popsicles
Bobby heard his dad before he saw him. Actually, he heard Dax first; the terrier always sounded like a bike out of fuel after a morning's work. Dax padded into view a few seconds before his father and headed straight for the water dish at the side of the house.
"Hey, how's the best eleven-year-old in the world?" Bob Senior opened the door in a blast of hot air and smiled at Bobby. The joke was old, but Bobby grinned; he was the only eleven-year-old on the whole planet, at least for another month. And then Hung's sister, Ri, would have a birthday. Stupid girl.
"What's for lunch, hon?" Dad stood in the doorway and patted his thigh. "C'mon, Daxter, we don't have all day." Dax hurried inside and Dad shut the door against the simmering heat.
Mom walked into the room and smoothed her short blond hair down. She was pretty for a mom, although she was old, at least thirty-six or so. She smiled at Dad and kissed him on his cheek.
"Tuna casserole."
"Tuna! Where'd you get tuna?"
"I traded some of our jerky for three cans of it from one of The Lector's crew." She sounded pleased with herself.
"Good deal. Maybe tomorrow when you take Bobby in, you can see what else you can get."
Bobby followed them into the dining room and listened to them talk about their days. Dad's boss, Mr. Cho, was going to give him a raise; Mom still wanted to build another room onto their small house, a reading room. And there was a rumor that some of the rhynth had contracted a virus of some kind, although none of Cho's got sick.
"It's probably just talk," his father said. "Like that thing about the flies last year. That had everyone going crazy, until the doc declared the whole thing a farce."
"I heard the doc was missing," Mom called from the kitchen. "One of Chigusa's people called this morning to tell us to keep our eyes open. He may have been near the gorge . . ."
She carried a steaming dish into the room and set it on the table. Bobby felt his mouth water; they mostly ate meat and canned vegetables.
"This looks great. Yeah, I heard the same thing, but they've already sent out a copter, probably found him by now. I'll check later, but I doubt they'll need any more help."
Mom spooned the casserole onto their plates. Dax ran into the room and started to whine.
"Hey, no chance, Daxter! You'll get yours later." Dad reached for the water pitcher.
Dax whined louder and went to the front door. Dad sighed and pushed back from the table. "Good timing, Dax; why couldn't--"
He stopped short as Dax growled at the door, teeth bared.
Bobby stood. "What is it, boy? What's the matter?"
Dax continued to growl, and then barked, the sound deep and fierce.
"Bob?" Bobby's mother wore a look of concern. Bobby started around the table, but his dad motioned him back. Dax barked again.
"One of those damned briar-wolves again," his father said, and went to the door. "I thought we'd gotten 'em all." He picked up the carbine that they kept by the coat rack and checked it. And then opened the door.
"Sic 'em, Dax!"
Dax ran outside full speed, his barking a continuous war cry.
Dad stepped onto the porch, Bobby and his mother behind him.
Dax stopped in the middle of the yard and circled, growling. He acted like there was something there-but there wasn't. The dog backed away and edged forward, all the time barking and growling at nothing.
Bobby's eyes widened. There was something! A ripple of-dust and light. Dax flickered like he had gone into some kind of magnifier as he circled again.
Bobby felt his mom's hands grip his shoulders.
"Dad? What-?"
"Both of you, in the house, now!"
His mother pulled him backward, but he still watched. And saw as Dax was lifted off of the ground in a gout of blood. A huge beast-a monster!, appeared from out of nowhere, he held the spear stuck into Daxter!
Bobby heard a dull sound like an ax hitting meat. Dax made one short howl of pain and then went quiet.
"Good God-!" his father whispered.
The monster was tall, masked, inhuman. It shook the dead dog on its spear, sent a rain of red to the ground.
"Be careful, Bob!" His mother almost screamed it.
Bobby was petrified, unable to look away.
"Dax?" He watched as the monster tossed the dog over its shoulder and turned to face his father.
Dad brought the carbine up and aimed. There was a sudden shift and creak from the roof, like when Dad had patched the tiling, like somebody was up there-
-and a ripple of light and dust plunged into his father's skull. Bobby screamed. Dad reached up to clutch at the now-visible metal claws that had worked into his face-
Mom spun him to face the kitchen. Her breath came in short gasps.
"Run, Bobby!"
"Mommy? Is-"
"Run! We have to get to the truck! Out the back!"
He tripped and sprawled on the floor. His mother pulled him up and shoved him toward the rear door.
There was a giant, splintering crunch from the front porch. Bobby and his mother both turned.
The monster crouched in the doorway.
Impossibly fast, it reached for Mom, grabbed her-
And ripped her throat open.
Once again, the sound of meat being cut.
Warmth dotted Bobby's face, turned his vision to red.
He screamed, "Mom!"
He ran. There was no time to think, only move. The flier outside his parents' room, Daddy had shown him how-
Bobby ducked across the hall and into their bedroom. Without a pause, he ran and jumped through the thin plastic window. There was another scream, his-as the window shattered, and there was the bike, within reach-
He hit the ignition button as if he had ridden a thousand times. The machine roared to life, raised up from the ground-
-and behind him was the sound of some evil bird, screeching, hoarse and piercing. Something touched his shoe, still inside the house-
-and the bike lurched forward, pulled him away. There was another, and another of the murdering creatures, all claws and hate. They came out of nowhere, appearing like magic.
They reached for him-
-and he took off, tilted wildl
y. He aimed the bike east, toward town.
He kept his sweaty hand jammed to the accelerator. Behind him the things howled and screamed, horrible, horrible, Mom, Dad-
There was a noise like gunfire, but hollow-and the wall of rock in front of him to the left exploded, sharp pieces hammered the bike, stuck into his skin, but it didn't matter, it didn't hurt. And beyond that, Bobby knew nothing.
Tichinde was pleased. True, they had lost one but they had faced the deadly oomans and come away unscathed, with two kills. The escaped one would die soon enough, with the rest. It had surely gone to alert the others; they would have to be prepared . . .
Tichinde watched as the other yautja danced and cried over the victory. He himself had killed the second ooman; it had been without weapon, but as dangerous as he had heard oomans to be, that was allowable. Hunt or be Hunted . . .
Dachande would have disapproved. Tichinde flared his tusks in amusement at the thought. Dachande was thei-de; his opinion no longer held meaning. Besides, with no one to hold judgment over their actions, they would take what they wanted; from what he had seen so far, the oomans were not so dangerous as the yautja had been led to believe.
* * *
Chapter 13
Roth cleaned the dirt from under her nails with her teeth. It was a nervous and dirty habit; Cathie was always getting on her case about it. But considering the circumstances at the moment, she didn't really give a flying fuck about biting her nails.
The two heads of Chigusa on, world stood over her small table in the rec center and glowered at her. Creep snuffled blissfully by her feet, probably thrilled to get out of the sun; she wished she felt the same.
"Do you know what charges you could face if Ackland's rhynth turn up infected with dangerous bacteria or a virus?" Hiroki had always been an amiable sort, but his eyes flashed with anger. At her. "And you were responsible for sending them to Earth?"
Roth opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by the Noguchi woman.
"Ms. Roth-if anything has happened to Kesar Revna, you will be held accountable." She leaned toward Roth, expression cold. "How do you feel about that? He's been missing for almost a day now. He might be injured. Or dead."
Roth nodded slowly. She had lied for Ackland, had put her reputation at stake for him-after all, he was the boss. But she wasn't about to get caught holding this bag; it was just a little bit too heavy.
"Ackland told me to," she said quietly. "I realize that doesn't excuse my actions, but I just work for the man, you know?"
Hiroki and Noguchi exchanged glances.
"So Ackland told you to tell Revna that the spider creatures were in Iwa Gorge?" Noguchi leaned forward again, but her eyes weren't as angry as before.
"Right."
"What the hell is going on here?"
Roth looked up, surprised.
Ackland marched across the room, his face sweaty and red.
"Roth? What have you done?" Ackland stopped at their table and glared down at her accusingly. "What's this I hear about you lying to Doc Revna?"
Roth felt raw anger hit her system. He was going to let her take the fall, after she'd worked her ass off for him for three years!
What a surprise.
She stood abruptly. "Mr. Ackland, I've already explained the situation. And I quit. I'll expect to be paid within the month." Roth nodded at Noguchi and Hiroki.
"Please let me know if I can help in any way, and contact me about charges as soon as you've decided." She whistled softly; Creep jumped up to follow her to the exit. Already she could hear Ackland's voice raised in a huff.
". . . I thought a man had a right to be present when his accusers were testifying against him!"
She was glad to get out. Ackland talked big, there would be quite a scene-but he had enough sense to know when he was caught. Hiroki was a fair man . . . but Noguchi? Something about her was pure steel.
Roth would hate to cross that one; nitrogen queen was right.
"So you were planning to try me in absentia? Don't you need a judge to hold trial? Or is that some old-fashioned notion-"
"Shut up, Ackland."
Stunned, he did.
"You've violated company policy and jeopardized the security of this complex and its personnel, Ackland. I figure that's all the legal authority I need." Noguchi was royally pissed, but she kept her voice low. This overblown rancher had the gall to try to screw things for everyone and then cover it up?
"You really think you've got the backing to make charges stick? In case you haven't noticed, you aren't exactly the most popular person in this settlement." Ackland was shaken, she could tell, but he smirked at her.
"You're right, I'm just the new boss." She had to make a conscious effort not to shout. "But Doc Revna has been here since the beginning, treating the ranchers' stock, treating their families-delivering their babies. So far, he's just missing. But if he turns up dead, who do you think folks are going to side with, you? Or his grieving widow?"
Ackland seemed to shrink a little in front of her. He dropped his gaze to the unlit cigar he held and spoke uneasily.
"Look, I didn't expect the doc to go out looking for more of those things-"
Hiroki stepped in. "But if he did, you wanted to make sure he looked in the wrong place."
Ackland flared again, but his anger seemed weak. "We had no way of knowing whether those rhynth were infected or not! I didn't want to delay the whole operation-"
Hiroki frowned angrily and pointed his finger at the rancher's chest. "Didn't it occur to you that trouble with your herd could be the reason The Lector is still parked out front?"
Noguchi raised her eyebrows. "What?"
"I meant to tell you-" Hiroki started, but she was already headed to one of the wall screens. She punched up a southern compound view and looked in disbelief.
"Those rhynth are going to be hell to manage after standing in the sun all day!" She turned to glare accusingly at Ackland. He looked away.
Noguchi tapped into operations. Collins appeared in front of her.
"Collies-why hasn't The Lector taken its first load back to its orbiter?"
"I couldn't say-ah, Machiko. We've been trying to contact them all day, but they haven't responded . . ."
"Send someone in person."
Collins nodded. "I'll go myself."
"Good. And don't waste your time with Conover, talk to Strandberg. Remind him we're on a tight schedule. Report back immediately, okay?"
"Gotcha."
The screen went blank. At least that was taken care of. She walked back to the table where Ackland had sat down, his face blank.
"If this has anything to do with your little lie, Ackland," she said smoothly, calmly, "I'll see to it that you are put away for it. Until hell freezes solid."
The look in his eyes, defeated and guilty, was exactly what she wanted.
Scott ached all over. It was the hangover, and that Japanese woman, she was responsible
Except he couldn't move his arms. And he was standing up-?
He opened his heavy eyelids and blinked several times. It was dark, but he was inside; there was weak light coming from somewhere . . .
"Tom?" His voice was a raspy croak. God, he was thirsty! He cleared his throat and tried again.
"Tom. Can you hear me?"
No answer. Was he in a med center, maybe? There might have been some kind of accident . . .
He took a deep breath and spoke as loud as he could. "Hello! Where am I? Tom!" His throat protested; it felt like he'd swallowed a bucket of sand.
A slow hissing filled the room. The shadows in the room moved, unfurled themselves from the walls and the dark corners. He could make out
Teeth.
Jesus!
He tried to move, but his arms were pinned.
"Oh, God, no-" His voice was barely a whisper.
The room swam with darkness, and then once again, there was nothing.
". . . the company has billions invested in this project," she co
ntinued. "Where the hell do you get off fucking with us? Not to mention possibly endangering the lives of millions, maybe billions of people? You think the quarantine laws are there just for the fun of it?" She was still on a roll and unwilling to doppler down.
Ackland hadn't spoken for several minutes. Neither had Hiroki.
"Well?"
Ackland looked up at her and said nothing.
The tension was broken by an incoming message over Noguchi's com. "Ms. Noguchi, report to the med center immediately. Ms. Noguchi to the med center." Miriam Revna. She sounded agitated.
Noguchi tapped the received button and looked at the rancher. "You'd better pray they've found Revna, Ackland."
"I didn't make him go out there! And if he hurt himself, it's his own fault!"
She hurried out of the rec center and was blasted by the afternoon heat.
Ackland and Hiroki followed; she deliberately walked ahead of them to avoid further conversation for the moment; by the sound of it, Ackland was trying to reason with Hiroki, his deep voice apologetic and contrite.
Asshole.
Noguchi waited at the entry to the lab for them to catch up; if Revna was dead, she wouldn't want to walk into it alone.
The three of them stepped into the lab together. Noguchi saw what was strapped to an examination table, and took in a deep breath, to scream or faint she didn't know. Dragon
Chapter 14
"So much for your precious quarantine," said Ackland softly.
Noguchi closed her mouth. Miriam Revna and two local pilots were looking at a readout on a small screen across the lab.
One of the pilots, Spanner, turned and grinned. "Hey, look what we found!" He pointed at the creature unnecessarily.
Hiroki took a step toward it and then paused. "Is it-alive?"
