Seeing them, Indri called out to the trio, “Your ship is as dead as ours. There is no immediate way off this moon. I told you we must work together to escape.”
After a moment, the woman’s voice came back. “You may be right. I’m sure if you haven’t left us here, it’s because you can’t leave. We should work together.”
Indri Mindsinger glanced at his two compatriots. “She’s lying. They intend to betray us at the first opportunity.”
“It is what I would do, given the chance,” said Rastheln’iq.
“I can’t say the thought hadn’t crossed my mind,” admitted Noomi. “Well, what now? Let them in and betray them before they betray us? I can’t say I’m in favor of fighting on their home ground. There may be all sorts of nasty surprises hidden in here that we don’t know about.”
“I agree,” said Indri. To those outside, he said, “All we want is the computer from the wreck and to leave in peace.”
“That sounds fair to us,” said the feathery-haired female.
“Still lying,” the Delph announced ruefully. He called out, “What do you want?”
“Everything else in the wreck,” said the woman. “Your offer sounds fair.”
“You three should come up with a plan how to get off this moon,” suggested Indri through the door. “We shall do the same.”
“You’re not going to let us in now?” came the irritated voice of the female.
“I think we should all sleep on it.”
Profanity in at least three languages erupted outside the Lightrunner.
Noomi grinned at the sounds. “I don’t think they liked that.” In a more serious tone, she added, “If we’re going to fight it out, I’d rather get it over with sooner than later. We may have other problems to deal with later. I can see in the dark and you have your psychomancy, Indri.”
“I can also see in the dark,” announced Rastheln’iq. “I detect radiation not visible to many of the animal species. The radiation given off by Yuncan illuminates this world quite nicely for me.”
“Then we should strike tonight,” said Indri.
“They will be weak from hunger in a few days,” Rastheln’iq reminded his fellow convicts.
“Huh-uh,” said Noomi. “If it was me, I’d be using my time out there to create ranged weapons like spears. And there might be plenty of food out there, for all we know.”
“True,” agreed Indri Mindsinger. “The sooner the better.”
“Very well,” conceded the Vir.
In the wee hours of the night, when circadian rhythms tell animals to sleep, the trio of fugitives disembarked the Lightrunner, after having rested for a few hours. The three enemy adventurers were not difficult to find. They concealed themselves, once again indicating that they were professionals who earned their livelihood in a dangerous manner.
Though they had disguised their location well, it was not proof against the senses of the three fugitives of the Imperium.
Rastheln’iq, as a plant being, and Noomi Bloodgood, as a night hunter, could both see well in darkness. Indri Mindsinger’s eyesight having evolved in the waters of Shadut, the Delph homeworld, the priest could also see in the dark, though to a lesser degree of success than his two compatriots. His task was the most difficult – dealing with the heavy gravity worlder.
The three fugitives had discussed a strategy for defeating the three latecomers to the moon of Yuncan.
It was thought that Rastheln’iq would be undetectable to the furry giant, for he emitted no odor as animal species did, at least none that would interest a meat eater such as the brute. Predators tracked by scent, and giving off none recognizable would give the plant man the advantage of surprise.
Despite her experience and natural fighting ability, Noomi could probably not injure the Hi-G’er. If so, it would have to be some particularly vulnerable area like his eyes – which would put her in dangerously close proximity to him. So she was to fight the feathery-haired woman, then, if possible, aid Indri.
Pai-ti, the Delphite martial art, had both offensive and defensive components. While the offensive moves would not be very effective against such an opponent, the defensive ones might very well save Indri’s life. That was the plan, anyway.
Prior to leaving the Lightrunner, Rastheln’iq had shed his clothes. Noomi had not seen him without clothes before, and his appearance startled her. He had never looked less like a sentient being. He reminded the Tatar of one of those insects that camouflages itself as a plant or part of one to ambush its prey.
A chill ran through Noomi despite the humid heat of the night. She had never before been frightened by Rattlesnake – as she affectionately called the Vir. Now, she considered that perhaps he was the most dangerous of the three criminals. She could see how he had acquired his reputation as “Wormwood”.
Noomi had also removed her clothing – such as it was – a contraption of leather straps onto which she had affixed a number of holsters and pouches. None of these would do her any good now, and the slight squeaking of the straps might give her position away. Her only accouterment now was a large serrated-edged dagger.
Indri Mindsinger retained his loose clothing, tunic and trousers. This was not due to modesty, however. Although exposing flesh was not uncommon in Delph society, it was not normally practiced in the company of others races, more to spare those members embarrassment than the Delph.
The Delphite priest took up a position on the edge of the clearing, many yards from the impromptu encampment of the professional adventurers, as Noomi scaled a tree and moved in. Indri watched as Rastheln’iq disappeared into the dark foliage, which was almost black in the dim light of the night sky. The plant man was the most vulnerable of the trio, for he possessed no combat skills, and was rather fragile, having neither exo- nor endoskeleton for protection. In some ways, the Vir was more resilient than many animal species, being able to recover from temperature extremes that would kill creatures, for example. But his mass was insufficient to afford him much protection from impact damage.
Rastheln’iq moved as silently as he was able through the vegetation, though, in the stillness of the night, this was not very quiet at all. It attracted the attention of the sharp-eared beastly giant – just as the plant man expected.
“Where are you going, Buch?” came a female voice.
Buch – the furry monster – barked in response and kept moving. When he heard the furry creature plunging through the jungle in search of him, the Viridian scientist stopped moving. The giant, he calculated, hunted like many predators – relying on sense of smell to track, hearing to detect the movement of nearby prey, or sight to spot a flash of sudden movement. As long as he stood still, Rastheln’iq was immune to detection by the monstrous creature.
The giant slowed his pace when he failed to detect stimuli that roused his hunting instinct. He was confused. He was accustomed to his charging about setting others to fleeing, which made them easy to find. This had not happened.
Rastheln’iq was poised motionlessly amid the stalks of the underbrush. In broad daylight, which was rather diffuse due to the distance of Yuncan and its moons from its sun, it would not have been impossible to walk by him without being aware of his presence. In the dark of night, he resembled any one of the various plants in the jungle.
He did not even breathe. He could go without carbon dioxide for longer periods than most animals could without oxygen. And certain sections of his anatomy took in atmospheric gas discreetly through aspiration, like insects.
When the great beast passed in front of the Vir’s position, the plant man expelled a plume of yellow gas from his mouth that he had breathed in before nearing the enemies. Buch, unable to avoid it, breathed it in and promptly began sneezing. Not being an animal, Rastheln’iq was immune to the effects of his creation, which he had been holding in what passed for lungs for a few minutes.
The furry giant’s mighty form shook with convulsions as he sneezed, unable to stop.
Enraged, the creature t
hrashed about, breaking stalks and low branches with his powerful limbs as he sought the source of the attack. But the force of his rampage was blunted by his sneezing fit.
Rastheln’iq normally carried a number of gadgets with him that could not truly be called weapons, but served a variety of uses. These had all been rendered useless by the moon’s unusual energy field. His vest also contained a number of chemicals that singly, or when combined, could produce a variety of results. He had mixed a few concoctions on the Lightrunner to deal with his animalistic opponent. The sneezing gas was one of those. Now, the Viridian scientist moved to apply the second such chemical.
Rastheln’iq’s hands, slick with the slimy substance, brushed across the fur of the giant as he thrashed about. Then the plant man moved away and waited, becoming all but invisible again.
The liquid worked its way down into the fur of the beastly giant Buch, driven by his own movements. His flesh absorbed the substance. It seeped into his bloodstream.
Rastheln’iq waited patiently.
Minutes later, the creature’s limbs grew stiff. His momentum carried him forward, causing him to pitch onto the jungle floor. His body shook as he attempted to regain control of his limbs, to no avail. He gulped in air, unable to get enough.
Rastheln’iq’s neurotoxin paralyzed the big creature’s muscles, including the ones that allowed him to draw in breath.
Buch stopped breathing and died a few minutes later.
Noomi Bloodgood moved silently through the high branches of the towering trees. These grew to enormous heights because of the moon’s low gravity, which was somewhat less than standard but not so reduced that ordinary movement was hampered.
Perching herself in the fork of two limbs, she watched the three adventurers. It wasn’t long before the tusked giant’s ears pricked up, and he wandered off into the brush to locate the scent’s source, growling a few words to his two comrades.
Noomi, down wind from the encampment, smiled. She, too, heard Rastheln’iq moving through the jungle, inaudible at this range to any of those below but the monstrous giant.
After a few moments, Noomi began calling out softly to the two that remained, imitating the cry of a bird. It was not a very good imitation, but it didn’t matter. She got the attention of the two adventurers. That’s what counted. That was her intent.
From her position, the Tatar heard the feathery-haired woman say to her companion, “I’ll handle this, Bronk. It’s coming from up in the trees.”
This was exactly the reaction that Noomi Bloodgood was hoping for.
“Be careful, Meru,” grunted the Hi-G’er named Bronk.
Noomi watched the female called Meru leap up onto a limb, and repeat the action, quickly attaining the canopy where the criminal refugee concealed herself. She was astonished at the feat. The woman’s mode of travel was worthy of a professional gymnast. Even the Tatar could not duplicate it. Meru possessed amazing leg muscles.
After one last call, Noomi moved away.
From her new position, the Tatar watched the one called Meru make her way through the trees, scanning for the source of the faux birdcalls. She moved slowly, but sure-footedly.
Noomi Bloodgood concluded that the woman could not see in the dark as she could. She was also unaccustomed to brachiation, apparently, for she never used her hands – unlike the Tatar, who was able to locomote using any of her four appendages, and did so in the trees. Here, Noomi had the advantage. She could move as easily along branches as she could on the ground.
When Meru came within range, Noomi launched herself at her opponent. The lithe woman sprang away, landing on a lower branch. The Tatar followed, using her claws for traction.
This time, instead of fleeing, Meru lashed out with a long leg. Noomi twisted to avoid it, but her momentum carried her into it. The foot slammed into her midsection like a sledgehammer. It knocked the Tatar back, off the branch. Like a cat, Noomi righted herself midair and landed safely on a limb below.
Meru leapt down after her foe. Noomi dodged aside. A foot followed her. Then another. The feathery-haired woman kept up the attack, pressing the Tatar girl so that she could not respond in kind.
Noomi dodged and dodged, but did not retreat. Finally, she grabbed a foot that came at her. She held it fast as Meru tried to pull it free.
Her leg strength was tremendous. She finally wrested her foot loose, leaving skin beneath Noomi’s claws.
The foot was tender. Meru favored it now.
“Kickboxer, eh?” Noomi grinned savagely. “You might have had a chance on the ground, but up here, I’m in my element. I don’t care how agile you are, you’re no match for a Tatar at height.”
Meru glanced downward to the ground below. “You may be right.”
Noomi was surprised when no desperate attack came. Instead, the feathery-haired woman dropped to a lower branch, and began descending to the jungle floor as rapidly as she was able.
The Tatar girl scrambled after her foe. She caught Meru before she had reached the ground. Noomi’s body struck the other’s back, sending the two women in separate directions. Meru went off the limb, her fingers clawing for a hold as she fell. They were not strong enough to arrest her descent and she plummeted to the ground below.
Noomi Bloodgood, holding onto a limb by the claws of her fingers, which were sunk deep into the cellulose, gazed down at the lifeless form of the feathery-haired woman, Meru.
Part of pai-ti, the Delphite martial art, was movement by stealth. Indri Mindsinger, a defrocked priest of Telmadot, quietly moved close to the impromptu encampment of the three surviving professional adventurers. Only the short, squat heavy gravity male named Bronk remained, his two compatriots having been drawn off by the Delph’s own companions.
The Delphite priest had given much thought to the prospect of dealing with the Hi-G’er. Not many possibilities had presented themselves to him. Really only one that he felt had a chance of success. The others were merely delaying tactics.
Fortunately, Rastheln’iq had scanned the topography of the area as the shuttle landed, and the Delph recalled this quite well.
Focusing his attention on his opponent, Indri gave his mind a nudge using psychomancy. It could not be used to control the minds of others, but it was possible to suggest certain thoughts or actions to another being. He prodded the massive Bronk out of the camp, and away from the clearing where the courier ship had crashed.
The Delphite priest, who had caused the Hi-G’er to feel that he was being observed, took up a parallel course, thinking it was better to avoid direct confrontation for as long as possible. This might allow him to survive the inevitable encounter. The best way to do this, he’d decided, was to remain undetected by Bronk.
Indri remained concealed quite effectively as he led the massive man by the mental ring in his nose, driving him further and further into the jungle. At a mile from the camp, the roar of a mighty river became audible. It grew louder as the priest prodded Bronk.
At the edge of the roaring river, the heavy gravity fellow stopped. The presence of the water broke the spell he was under. He gazed about, searching for some sign of the sentient he was seeking, but found none.
Bronk turned, and made to return to the camp. But something stopped him.
Indri Mindsinger now showed himself, stepping from the dark foliage at the river’s edge some distance from Bronk. Despite his psychomantic skill, the Delphite priest could not force his enemy to jump into the river, where he would undoubtedly drown, his tremendous weight preventing him from escaping; for, unlike normal sentients, the mass of heavy gravity beings kept them from floating in water. They sank like stones.
The Hi-G’er went into action, glad to have at last found his quarry. Due to his enhanced musculature and lesser gravity of Yuncan’s moon, he moved extremely quickly – more quickly that the Delph could. Bronk sprang across the intervening distance in three long bounds. He pounced, expecting to catch his prey in his hands, which would then crush the life out of him.
Indri Mindsinger found Noomi Bloodgood as he made his way back to the clearing. Rather, she found him, for she had come silently upon him. She was practically on top of him before he heard her. But his psychomancy had alerted him to her presence some minutes before. She seemed to be toying with him, trailing him for some distance before revealing herself.
“You may reveal yourself,” the Delphite priest announced, spoiling the Tatar girl’s fun.
“I wanted to see your pai-ti techniques,” Noomi pouted. “I’ve never seen it.”
“We can spar in the Vishnu’s gymnasium if it still exists and we can reach it.” They walked for a time without speaking. Each knew what the survival of the other meant – the death of their enemies. While Indri was troubled at taking a life, no matter how necessary, he sensed no such remorse in Noomi. Hers was a natural born killing species, and they accepted death as a natural part of life.
“Wormwood?” the Delph asked finally.
Noomi shook her head. “No sign of him. But I found the big furball.”
That meant Rastheln’iq had survived, as well. Indri wondered where he could be.
Suddenly, a star descended from the dark night sky. It grew larger and larger as it came down – obviously a ship. But whose?
“That’s the Vimana!” Noomi exclaimed, recognizing the transport’s silhouette against the background of stars as it swung around, taking its spotlight from them. “What took that skivver so long to come for us?!”
She laid a hand on Indri’s arm as the transport slowly came down – it wasn’t certain that its pilot had seen them, and it would have been very easy to be incinerated or crushed by the descending ship. The Vimana landed, and the pair watched as the hatch opened and Tully emerged.
Four in the Way Page 6
