Beast Master's Quest

by Andre Norton

  “Captain, I’ll be making a report of all this and sending it to the Patrol before I go to bed. Please line up the transmitter now; it’ll save me time once the report is ready. Apart from that, I suggest everyone is in bed early. Lift-off to the new landing site will be at eight-hour, right after breakfast.”

  He watched them scatter to their cabins, while he sat, reaching for the screen to draft his report. There was quite a lot to say, and he had a number of ideas of his own to add. He finished the report, transmitted it and sat for a few minutes, gazing through the view-screen at the dark, featureless forest.

  There was something going on out there—some kind of conspiracy between the natives, or perhaps a conflict—liomsa against liomsa? If the ship and its crew stayed, they could become a part of the disagreement, for good or ill. He wasn’t sure which, still less was he sure that they should become involved.

  A night’s sleep did not resolve his doubts, but the ship lifted on time.

  “Checklist clear?” Captain D’Argeis might not absolutely require help—most Garands possessed liftoff and set-down automation for emergencies—but he found it pleasant that his young crew liked completing the full routine. He approved their keenness that was far better than that of some older hands he’d known who ignored not only the routine but also the things they should have done—such as checklists—to secure liftoffs and set-downs.

  “Checklist clear.” Laris’s voice was confident. “All systems are green.”

  “Surroundings clear?”

  Logan ran the viewscreen information and nodded. “Surroundings all showing clear.”

  “Tani, are all teams secured?”

  “All secured.”

  The Captain breathed in slowly, checked the screens one last time, then spoke to the man acting as second-in-command for ship’s routine. “Storm, all secure for liftoff. Double-check and give the word.”

  “All clear; all systems green on the board. Liftoff at eight-hour and counting down—three, two, one, go!” Two index fingers pressed down on buttons at the bridge stations.

  The Tregannan Lady rose almost silently past tree-level, the forest dropping away behind her. Faster and faster she rose as her engines gained momentum. Below, concealed in the heavy vegetation, one of the liomsa they left behind glared viciously after them. A pity the ship hadn’t stayed longer, there’d been plans discussed, but yesterday the blood-damned aikizai may have let out too much. Tomorrow—when his plans might mature more safely—wasn’t here yet, and today the ship lifted beyond his reach.

  Above them the ship turned on its axis, moving into orbit, computers calculating busily. Then, out of sight behind the horizon’s curve, it spun end over end and shifted back into a landing pattern. Those on the ship had their own plans, their own days to consider. The ship dropped slowly, neatly, into another landing site almost five hundred miles away. It settled, landing jacks went out, and full weight crushed the earth.

  “Logan, did you scan the ruins as we came down?”

  “Yeah, good clear pictures. We’re even closer to them than it looked on the first scans. I estimate we’re only three miles away.”

  “Captain?” Storm queried.

  D’Argeis knew the question without needing to hear it in full. “It’s still morning. With a twenty-six-hour rotation and in this season, it’ll be light for another twelve hours minimum. We did all the essential checks at the last site—air, water, earth, that’s all safe enough. I know those liomsa and the aikizai claimed the forest was dangerous—but they made a point about it being that way in the dark. You’ve got more than enough time to make it to the ruins and back long before there’s even a hint of dusk.”

  He paused before adding, “There probably are a few dangerous beasts or plants out there. Just remember the rules: everyone takes a stunner and a personal alarm, don’t touch anything with bare hands, and you all stick together. Otherwise can I see no reason why you shouldn’t eat here, then head for the ruins.”

  Storm agreed. “I want to do that, but it’s possible we could have been seen landing. If they’ve seen us and guess the site they may be on their way.”

  “If they are,” the captain said thoughtfully, “someone should show up in an hour. Why not get ready? If there’s still nothing showing on the long-range sensors, you can take the chance.”

  “You’re happy staying here?”

  The captain grinned cheerfully. “I’m past wanting to hike for miles through forest just to look at alien ruins. You’ll take recorders and sample bags. I’ll see everything you do or find, just a few hours later is all. Besides, someone has to mind the store. Get out of here, lad, and let me relax. I’ll put all the bridge alarms on in case. You’ll only have to yell and I’ll hear.”

  “Then we’ll eat a quick meal now. Tani, will you get that ready, please? Laris, can you please check the water purifiers? We’ll each take two full canteens and emergency purifying tablets, stunners, personal alarms, all-purpose knives, and ration packs for three days. Logan, I’ll leave you to sort out that list for everyone. I’ll load two recorders and adjust their settings. Move, people, daylight’s wasting!”

  They scattered busily while Storm readied the disposable recorders. Both were small but sturdy items; they’d record sight and sound on a tiny disk for twenty-four hours. Storm planned to have Tani take one, keeping it on “record” the entire time, while the one he took would be used to record only the really important or interesting finds as backup. It would also be used to lengthen the recorder’s ability to make a comprehensive report if anything went wrong and they were out past the normal time twenty-four-hour recording limit for one disposable machine.

  Tani called everyone to the meal in the ship’s mess. [They saved time by eating in the ship and eating trail rations on the move if they were out long enough to get hungry.]

  By the time the meal was done the captain could report that there was still nothing showing on the viewscreens or on the long-range sensors.

  The ship had been programmed to come in for this last landing from over the sea, so it was possible that either the aikizai and their liomsa in this area had not noticed the ship’s arrival or were still unsure where it had set down. If that was so, this day might be the only one in which they would be free of spies and could visit the ruins without being watched.

  Storm made a final decision: they’d go, and right now. He’d had military experience so he gave the orders, which were mostly phrased as suggestions. But all knew that in an emergency he’d order and they’d listen.

  “Tani, please fly Mandy as overhead cover, have Minou and Ferrare ahead on point. Once we’re halfway, it would be good if you have Minou drop back to check our back trail. Logan, I’d like you to lead. Tani, can you follow at two paces behind him and one to the right side wherever you can manage that spacing? Keep your stunner ready, Logan; you’ll be recording. Laris, you and Prauo together behind Tani, keep your stunner handy. I’ll be rear guard.

  “Now, listen everyone. If Tani or I call ‘Halt,’ you all stop where you are, keeping the original spacing as much as possible. If we add the word “Danger’ to that, Logan, put away the recorder and have your stunner ready. And this is important: If I call ‘Danger, reverse,’ I want you four to move backward until you’re past me. I’ll be rear guard again and we’ll move back like in leapfrog: short runs, one at a time, with the others watching to either side. For anything else required you’ll have to use common sense. Just stay alert.”

  They moved off steadily, walking along at a brisk pace while Mandy drifted overhead on silent wings and the coyotes vanished ahead into the forest. Tani was in light link with her team. She’d know at once if they saw or smelled anything Storm should know about. Ho and Hing had remained at the ship. They’d have loved grubbing in the ruins but Storm didn’t want to risk them.

  And after all, Storm thought, after just over an hour’s marching, he could have done so, perhaps. There’d been no sight or sound of any danger and the ruins w
ould be in view any moment. They rounded a solid clump of trees and halted at the sight before them. The ruins were half-melted, wildly colorful structures, in shades that could have been the original material or could have been caused by whatever had produced the damage.

  “The team has checked. There’s no one nearby, no scent indication that anyone has visited here in a good while,” Tani reported.

  “Everyone should retain their own gear,” Storm said slowly, as he stared about. There was reasonable cover right by the doorway and he pointed to it. “Logan, it would be good if you took cover there to keep watch on the path from the west with your stunner on heavy stun. Tani, can you call in one of the coyotes and have them double-check inside first, please? If there’s still no sign of anyone and no recent scent, we’ll take a look inside ourselves.”

  Ferrare could find no recent scent, he reported, Mandy was firm that nothing moved nearby. Transfixed by a circle of imploring eyes, Storm relaxed.

  “Okay, I can see two possible entrances nearby. It should be safe if we’ll split up. Tani, you’re with me, if that’s okay? Logan, you and Laris can check this building right here.” He’d barely finished the sentence before Laris and Logan were gone, leaping for the opening before them.

  Storm had turned to make for the other doorway when Laris shrieked.

  “Bright Sun! Storm, come and look, quickly!” Storm was there before the echoes died, with Tani at his heels. For a long moment they, too, could only stand dumbstruck in the doorway, staring at what the room revealed.

  Chapter Eleven

  Logan was already recording the startling walls of the small chamber. Storm raised his own recorder and followed suit. As he turned he could see that this small, half-melted building was only an antechamber. From one corner a long ramp descended into darkness. He raised his flashlight, and using the powerful beam he swept its light downward to show the ramp and walls that enclosed it. This time it was Tani who cried out.

  “Storm! Look!”

  “I see. Logan, over here. Record everything you can see.” There were more exclamations as Logan and Laris saw what Storm was already capturing on his recorder.

  “Odd perspective,” Tani commented.

  Storm shrugged. “Maybe it represents a god’s-eye view?”

  They studied the illustrated walls. Around them in a full-blown riot of color ran murals depicting the aikizai and their liomsa. All intelligent beings were shown three-quarter-faced, while the perspective from which they were painted was from a position slightly above them and the landscapes they inhabited. As if whoever had depicted them was hovering ten or twelve feet in the air.

  Storm had been studying the work. “Look at the differences in the depiction of the peoples. The aikizai seem smaller in comparison to their liomsa. That may be merely an artistic convention, or it may suggest that to the painters the humanoids are more important or more intelligent than their companions. But the depiction of the liomsa isn’t quite the same as the ones we met, either.”

  Logan looked more closely. “The murals could be old.”

  “Maybe.” Storm swept the light along the ramp walls. “Look here.”

  Tani was using her own flashlight to illuminate the walls by now, while Laris turned her own beam on the ramp.

  “Storm, how long would it take for this material to be affected?”

  “Affected?” He saw what her flashlight was showing and dropped to one knee on the ramp’s first few feet. He touched the ramp, attempted to dig his fingers into the material, and rubbed his gloved fingertips over the marks Laris had pointed out. Then he looked up.

  “Logan, toss me a sample bag and a brush.” He swept the ramp’s surface, collecting a tiny pile of what appeared to be dust from the material which composed it. This he placed in the sample bag before handing that and the brush back to Logan.

  “I’m not sure what the material is, but it’s pretty hard. I’d say it’s taken a long time to make those marks.”

  They all stood considering the wide, shallow, worn-in hollows down the ramp. A large number of feet and paws had traveled up and down the surface to leave wear like that. Prauo had his nose to the ramp, breathing in slowly.

  *Many many people, liomsa and aikizai, most of them young. Some time ago: the scents do not seem recent.*

  “How long ago?” Tani asked. “Can you tell?”

  *Maybe sixty to ninety days in this place.* He moved down the ramp, checking it from side to side. *I smell older scents, from earlier, and earlier again. I think it may be that the liomsa and my people come here regularly, perhaps to teach their young or to show them the walls or something below us.*

  Laris went to him. “If the scents are spaced out, how much time between them? Can you tell?” Inwardly she was happy again. Here it was just her and Prauo working together as they had for years.

  *I cannot be certain, but the time between seems fixed. I would say it is the same period as I said before.*

  Storm’s head jolted around to look at the doorway. “That makes more sense than I like. It indicates these buildings could be some sort of religious center or historical shrine. If the people bring their children and aikizai cubs here every couple of months, then what Prauo is saying suggests they could be due to come here again any time now.”

  He moved to check the surrounding forest before touching his com. “Captain D’Argeis? Storm here. Please check in our direction. Can you see any movement coming from the natives’ direction?”

  His com crackled, then they could hear the captain. “Nothing so far. Do you want me to set an alarm for that?”

  “If you would, please. Keep listening just now. I want to see how well we can transmit and receive from inside these ruins.” Turning, he walked slowly and deliberately into the building, halting at the top of the ramp. “Can you hear me from here?”

  “Yes. No trouble.”

  Storm paced on down the ramp until his head was well below the floor line. “Can you hear me now?”

  “Say again?”

  “Can you hear me?” Storm raised the instrument’s volume with a flick of his finger.

  “Yes, but you were almost too faint.”

  After several minutes of experimenting they found that they could stay in touch using a form of relay. If one of their party remained just below the floor line and those who continued down the ramp spoke to him, he could relay their words to the captain.

  “Captain D’Argeis, Logan will stay near the top of the ramp to remain in contact with you. If you see any signs of natives approaching the ruins, please let him know at once. I don’t want to lose the opportunity to record this place, but I don’t want the natives to discover us here and think we’re committing sacrilege, either.”

  “What if the natives approach from the rear of the building?”

  “We have Tani’s team.”

  Tani was kneeling, mind-touching the coyotes and Mandy. After a short communication all three vanished out the door again and into the forest. There they would scout towards the natives and return to bring warning if any of them came in the direction of the ruins. On Storm’s com the captain was asking,

  “How long do you think you’ll be?”

  “As fast as we can manage safely. Storm out.” He looked at his half brother. “Sorry, but I think it should be you who stands guard. Tani, give him your stunner and take his recorder.” To Logan, he said. “We’ll try not to be long. Keep alert and check in with the captain every ten minutes.”

  Logan nodded, looking disappointed. Storm slapped him gently on the shoulder, lingering to speak very quietly to his half brother as Prauo and the girls started down the ramp. “I’m relying on you. I can’t be in two places at once. It’s better I’m with them in case there’s anything dangerous down there.”

  Logan produced a reluctant grin. “Don’t say that in front of them. They’re fighters—they won’t like the idea you have to protect them.”

  Storm looked rueful. “It isn’t that so much as I’m the o
nly one here with war training. Tani’s sent the team out. They’ll move well toward the natives. If they come back in a hurry or if the captain sees indications the natives are coming this way, call us to come back. And Logan, it’d be better to be wrong about that than to wait to be sure.”

  “I understand. Okay. You get going and don’t worry about me. I’ll stay on guard.”

  Storm nodded. “I know, I trust you. See you again soon.” He walked down the ramp following the three ahead and was lost to view, only the beam of his flashlight lingering. Logan settled in to wait.

  Below Storm, Prauo was leading, his nose working overtime. Tani came next, the recording picking up the vivid murals down the left side of the ramp. Above them, Storm recorded down the ramp’s right side. Laris watched everything, her stunner out and at the ready. They didn’t pause to chatter or do more than record the artwork. Storm didn’t want to risk being found here; the others understood the possible implications of that.

  Now and again one of them gasped at a new pictorial revelation. Sometimes they slowed to wonder at a more obscure portion, but mostly they kept moving. It was almost thirty minutes before they reached the floor and halted. Laris shone her flashlight down the passage. Prauo wandered first one way then the other.

  *The scent trail goes this way.*

  “Stay here: don’t move yet.” Storm checked in the opposite direction, only to return almost at once. “The passage stops just around that bend. I don’t know if it’s been blocked or if that’s really the end of it, but there’s a solid layer of stones cemented in.”

  “If they’ve put a false wall in, doesn’t that say the passage once continued further? Anyway, why else would they have this blind section?” Laris was curious.

  Storm grinned at her. “I’m afraid not. This place was built by aliens. Don’t automatically ascribe human reasons to them. The wall could be there just to stop falls of loose earth. The extra section of passage could be to let people pass before they start up the ramp.