Beast Master's Ark

by Andre Norton; Lyn McConchie

  Tani had seen what was happening on Arzor. It didn't take two to make a fight. Only one who didn't care. If they let the Xiks have their way, far more people would die and Arzor would be a desert everywhere. She'd dreamed that, and she wasn't going to let that happen in real life. She rose slowly.

  "Let's go find the clickers." She whistled to Destiny softly, turning to look at Storm as he mounted Rain, who had also obeyed a summons.

  "We'll ride until we get close. It'll take less time and we don't have time to waste." Her hand went out as the filly walked forward.

  Storm took Tani's hand, holding firmly. The link tightened as they moved forward, searching in their linked minds for the feel of the lethal insects. Several times they lost the line but always they came back to it. In the back of Storm's battle-trained mind, seconds ticked away. If they didn't find the entrance soon, the Xiks were almost certain to notice the comline was broken. If they sent one of their soldiers to seek out the break and he saw the war party before they saw him, it could be disastrous. Finally, they halted their mounts near where a cliff face rose above them.

  Tani nodded toward the cliff face. "In here!"

  The war party left their mounts to move quietly to the cliff. Kelson ran his hands over the rock and nodded. He called Logan, who ran an echo-sounder over a lower edge of the rock face.

  "Hollow behind there, all right. But no entrance I can see."

  Storm turned. "Bring Hing and the others, they're good at this, and hurry. Tani's getting worried."

  He looked to where she stood, her hands against the harsh surface. Her face was intent, listening. This close to so many of the small killers she could read them without the link. She was sweating, her face white and strained. Logan looked and ran, calling in soft bird-cry signals to several of his men. They were back shortly, each with a clinging meerkat. Storm took Hing. Gently he reached out to tell her what was required. She understood and trotted busily away; her mate scurried off with her and Storm turned to the kits.

  It was harder with them. But at last they, too, knew what they hunted. A way into the hollow places behind the rock. They would search. They vanished, intent on the hunt. Storm sat abruptly. Impressing his request on a team, most members of which were untrained, was exhausting. Tani still stood, her fingertips against the rock. Her face was twisting slowly into an expression of fear. Hing was back. She'd found something. Storm ran to look. Then he moved away. He spoke, keeping his voice very low and signaling the others to do the same.

  "Kelson, Hing can get inside here. It looks like an air vent. What's the rock thickness?" Time was growing very short. He could read that from Tani. The echo-sounder was brought and used. Logan nodded, moving away before he answered.

  "I think it's an air vent above a major tunnel. There's a fault in the rock there. We could drill a hole big enough for one at a time to go in, but it can't be done without some noise."

  He moved close to the vent and something leapt. Instinctively Storm struck out. The clicker landed and leapt again. Kelson stunned it in midair and moved back hastily, waving the others back as well.

  "The guards seem to be rather alert today. Lucky they didn't get your meerkat."

  Storm was feeling the same way. But Hing had known the danger. She wouldn't have entered if the clickers had been too close. They must have moved up the vent, most likely following the sounds she'd made.

  He recalled the First Leader's words. "Kelson, have your boys check for anything else they can find. Sample the air, use everything you have. That Xik said they had other safeguards for the laboratories. We could just drop a flame bomb down the air vent but I'm worried they may have a counter to it."

  "Okay." He turned to give quiet-voiced orders. Equipment was moved up, nothing large; all of it had come on horseback, but even on technology-poor Arzor that could be some really sophisticated gear in small packages.

  Storm saw that one of the instruments was attracting increased attention from Kelson. He padded over quietly to touch the liaison man on the arm and mouth the words.

  "You've found something?"

  Kelson moved back some distance to where he was less likely to be heard. "Oh, yes, we've found something, all right. First, the instruments say the few Xik personnel in there are deep underground beyond the breeding vats. If we get in without making too much of a noise about it, they may not know we're here until we're tapping them on the shoulders. They could be relying on the guard post to alert them. Apart from that, they prefer a world that is less bright. Here they'd sleep most of the day. It's right at the brightest hottest part of the day now, so they could be asleep."

  "A lot of could be."

  "It's what we have."

  "Go on."

  "The instruments aren't certain of this, either. But from the emanations, it's possible the Xiks have a bomb down there."

  "What sort?"

  "The sort that drills downward once it's set, then explodes."

  Storm shivered. "I know that sort. If it's big enough it can reach magma, then start a volcanic eruption when it blows."

  "Exactly." Kelson's expression was grim. "But there's a couple of things going for us. If the instruments are right, that bomb is placed nearer to where we are here than to where the Xiks are now. Tank Kilgariff thinks it will be on two systems. One is manual; any Xik with the codes can set it off, but that could take several minutes. He thinks it's probably on an automatic system as well, one that will set it off if we drop a flame bomb down to clear out the clickers. In other words, if we can go in without alerting the Xiks and get between them and the bomb, they can't set it off manually. If we don't use flamers of any type it may not go off on automatic, either."

  "They could still fire something toward it. If they picked the right weapon to use, the bomb's automatic systems would detonate it."

  Kelson nodded. "We'd not be around to worry about it, if that happened. But what's the alternative? Leave them here to overrun Arzor with clickers?"

  "I know. Right now we need more information about the clickers." Then we can decide what to do." Storm crossed to Tani, who had been maintaining a light link with the deadly creatures, and laid a hand on her arm.

  "How many clickers do you hear?" Her eyes were vague, her voice quiet and almost inaudible. "Many. Like a living carpet within the walls. They wait. The little ones can't hatch until it is time or they will die. They must guard them. They will not harm the Xiks, they've been programmed to leave them alone, but they will kill any other who enters. They wait. They hunger." She started to shake. Her gaze lifted to focus on him. Her voice strengthened. "Storm, the new ones hatch tonight. We have to laser the vats before that happens."

  "Why?" Kelson blurted. "What's the hurry?"

  "The clicker guards. They're held here until the new breed hatches. Once that starts they're free. If we're still here then in the dark ..." She broke off as Kelson also took on a sick look.

  Logan looked at them. "How do these things breed?"

  Tani roused. "Kady says they have a queen."

  "Can you sense one in there with the guards?"

  "Not a guard queen, no. There's ones in the vats for the new clickers."

  "Then if we can get in now and laser the vats, if we kill most of the guards, the ones left can't breed?" She nodded, her eyes on him. "Then that's it. We get it done and be out of here by dark just in case. What sort of a life span do individual clickers have?"

  "Weeks." Logan opened his mouth again and Storm cut him off.

  "Yes. Kelson, get your men to blow the tunnel here and here." His hands sketched out the areas. He turned to Tani; she muttered something emphatic and he held up a hand in surrender. "Tani and I will go in to laser the vats." There was an inarticulate sound of protest from the rangers. "You'll have work to do as well," Storm snapped. "Cut us a path through and then sweep the sides of it away from us."

  Dumaroy's bull voice echoed. "Sure, but some of the clickers are gonna get through. It only takes one if they've got a deadly poi
son now."

  Tani smiled at him. A small weary grin. "We'll douse our clothes in the repellent. It will make them reluctant to attack us but it won't hold a whole swarm off. Some will ignore it. It's just the best we've had time to make so far. Storm and I think we can link tight enough to stop the others attacking us. If it was the whole swarm we couldn't. But if it's only a few trying at a time we should be able to persuade them we aren't there at all." She saw the horrified, mutinous look the big rancher wore and walked over to him. "Please, Mr. Dumaroy. Storm and I are the only ones who have a chance." Her voice lowered so that only he could hear her.

  "I trust you. Storm said you were a marksman in the war, and you're one of the best shots on Arzor. The guard clickers are poisonous. But it may take five or ten minutes to die even if they bite somewhere vital. If... if any of them bite us, I want to die before the others hatch. Please, promise me. I don't want to die the way your hand did."

  He looked at her a moment. "You remind me of my ma. No size an' all courage." He looked at the laser rifle he held. "Yeah. I know how Jarry died. You go in there and I'll keep them off you. And ... I promise."

  Her fingers went out to touch the back of his hand where it rested on the rifle. "Thank you."

  Her terror lifted a little as she turned to rejoin Storm. She was afraid, so afraid. But she couldn't let Storm go alone. He'd die without the link they shared. It was the link they could use. They'd tried it once with the laboratory clickers. Pretended to be not there, shut down the feeling of human and substituted it for that of rock. If she stayed back Storm would go anyhow. Watching him die would be worse than dying with him. And she trusted Dumaroy. He'd keep his promise. She wouldn't die, screaming silently, unable to move as she was eaten alive.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The rock face between the tunnel and the outer air vaporized, and the lasers were ready. They carved an explosive path through the clicker guards as they streamed out to face the invaders. Each ruby fan exploded clickers by the dozen. Dumaroy wasn't firing yet. A laser pulse rifle's power pack had a finite amount of power time. He had a spare power pack, but it took a few seconds to change them; someone could die in those few seconds. It was better to wait for the right time to start shooting. When he'd been discharged he'd taken his top-line laser pulse rifle with him. Like many of that type it was geared to his handprint. It was useless to anyone else. He'd been allowed to keep it because of that, although according to the letter of the law it should have been taken from him. For the last five years it had lived in a locked cabinet in a hidden cupboard.

  Now he knelt, staring straight down the tunnel. Behind him Logan held steady the light from an atom light. Something in the loss of the tunnel's integrity had also put out its internal illumination. Many of the clicker guards had died, others milled at the edge of the blazing path of light. Kelson produced the container of repellent and doused the two waiting figures.

  Storm smiled wryly as he turned in place, making sure his exposed flesh and clothing were all coated with the repellent. "Thanks be it doesn't smell too bad."

  Tani took her turn and winced at the scent. It smelled bad enough to her. She opened her mind cautiously and fought back the urge to retch as the feel of the clickers, only yards away, invaded her mind. Storm took her hand.

  "You don't have to do this."

  She shivered, then straightened, chin setting in determination. "Yes, I do. Brad said he told you about Wolf Sister. She was a warrior and my father was proud he was descended from her. My father didn't let Trastor die, I'm not going to see the enemy that murdered him win here. Now let's move before I'm shaking so hard I fall over instead."

  Storm's fingers tightened. Steadily he walked forward, the link between them beginning to project. Rock. There was nothing edible here. Just the reddish-yellow unchanging rock. Tani wrapped herself in it. Rock. They were rock, nothing more. The clickers closed in, confused. Rock? Rock did not move, but these things felt like rock. Dumaroy knelt, beginning to fire, smoothly, expertly, in single laser pulses as he picked off any clicker that came too close. One leaped and exploded with a tiny acrid puff and pop in midair.

  They were rock. See the crevices in the rock, the dust across its surface. Rock!

  Logan moved, as another flashlight joined his. Together the beams lit up the tunnel length. Far down it they could see the dull gleam of metal. The breeding vats? Both Tani and Storm cradled the short-barreled, widemouthed lasers. Sweep those across the breeding vats; miss nothing, do it over and over, and it was certain the internal liquid would heat sufficiently inside the vats to cook their occupants. She looked straight ahead to where the vats must be. If she looked to either side and saw the waiting guards she might lose her nerve. If she ran screaming from the tunnel Storm would die. Her clan-friends, the Quade ranch, then Arzor would follow. She gritted her teeth, fought down the sickness trying to drain her courage, and projected savagely.

  They were rock. Just rock. Rocks did not move, therefore she did not move. It was an illusion caused by the strange lights. She was—they were—rock!

  So far the repellent was working, but they were moving deeper into the tunnel. The clickers were programmed not to permit that. Rock was not supposed to move and this rock smelled bad. The clickers were confused. Dumaroy fired and a clicker that had decided to test the rock died. He swept a pulse to each side of the moving figures so that more clickers died. He didn't know how that pair were doing it, but no one could say he didn't do his part. The kid had trusted him. He wasn't about to fail her, not Rig Dumaroy.

  Step, and another step. A small door caught Storm's attention. It was an ordinary-sized aperture, and half open. He moved them on a diagonal as they continued to walk slowly down the tunnel. He could see past the door as they approached. There was a chair, the deep, soft, comfortable type an officer might choose. In front of it was a screen and keyboard with a set of buttons. One was red, secured under a heavy clearplas cover. He noted it in the back of his mind as they moved on down the tunnel, one pace at a time.

  Tani was holding the illusion with all her strength. Rock. They were rock. Several clicker guards were becoming anxious. There'd been no rocks in the tunnel. They were here to prevent anything approaching the breeding vats. Maybe that included strange rocks? They closed in—and died. The scent of their dying roused others. Maybe the rocks were a danger? Dumaroy swept another pulse to either side of the figures. They were nearing the cave at the end of the tunnel, the breeding vats were in there.

  Tani's every pulse-beat said she was rock. She was rock. Laid down by ancient seas. Perhaps prehistoric shells lay within, fossils of things that had once lived. No, nothing that had ever lived. She was rock! Unliving, never-living rock!

  At the end of the tunnel, the long tube opened out into a vast room. The light flooded down, leaving shadows around the edge but illuminating the vats. They bulked large. Panels along the sides showed where they would break open for the hatching. Tani allowed a thread of her mind to reach out. The impact was so great that she almost lost the projection. She gripped. Dragged it back over her as the clickers moved closer.

  With her face set in a grimace of effort she dragged Storm back to the door of the room, turned to face the far entrance. It was hard but she managed to hold the link and project her rockness, even as she signed with her free hand. At the mouth of the tunnel they'd set up a vid-relay; it would send back the picture of her signals.

  "Quickly. Hatch now very soon. Very very soon!"

  She couldn't manage more. There was no strength to explain that there'd been still other safeguards no one had expected. The new clickers would be slightly immature. But they could be decanted a few hours ahead at need. That need had been triggered by the change in pressure in the tunnel, as they vaporized a portion of the tunnel wall. Storm raised his gun from where they had remained in the hatching room's doorway and began to sweep the nearest vat methodically. They could see and hear nothing of any reaction. They could only hope it was working. He cont
inued as Tani took up the strain of projection. Most of the guard clickers were staying back, but not all of them.

  They were rock. She was so tired of rock, why not be a horse, a silver three-quarter-bred duocorn filly? The clickers converged on her and from the entrance the laser pulsed again and again. Rock! She was—they both were—rock! Tired rock. Tani grabbed at her slipping projection. They had to be rock. So tired, her mind seemed to blur, but she was rock. She'd always been rock. She couldn't remember being anything else but rock. Rock that walled out danger, kept Storm and her safe. Rock, always and only rock.

  Storm, too, was faltering. His arm was hurting. He'd brushed it against the rock. Or was he rock? No, rock didn't hurt. He shut down that line of thought hard. He was rock. Rock felt nothing. He was rock. The laser died and he took the other laser from Tani's hand. The second vat seemed to take forever. He must be certain to cover every inch. The clickers inside had to die. All of them. But it must be in the lowest tech way possible so as not to trigger the bomb.

  Tani felt herself fading. She—no—rock did not get tired. She was rock. She felt Storm turn her and give a small tug. They could start the long walk back down the tunnel to safety. To the daylight and green growing things. To friends and clan, to Destiny and—no, she was rock. Rock did not care, it had no one and nothing. They were rock!

  She faltered again. Her spirit was fighting still but the drain on her strength had been impossible. Storm hooked his good arm under her shoulder. They were halfway back. In the light Logan could see what was happening. With a muffled, desperate curse he thrust his flashlight into Kelson's hands.

  "Keep that lighting up the tunnel."

  He trotted down past clickers beginning to turn toward him. Laser pulses swept them aside in puffs of death. Before the confused clicker guards reacted, he had reached Tani and Storm.