Starfall Muta

by Alan David

  Clark was ready with his semantics transmuter, and he spoke in what he hoped were reassuring tones.

  ‘Don’t be afraid. We will not harm you.’

  She stared at them for a few moments, then spoke quickly in gutteral tones, her voice sending harsh echoes into the shadows around them. Clark waited, and she spoke again, quickly, imperiously. Balfin was covering her with the Laser, and she glanced at him, understanding the menace he constituted.

  ‘Keep talking,’ Clark said, although he knew she could not understand him. ‘Be kind to us and give the transmuter enough to work on.’

  She obliged, breaking into a tirade of seemingly angry questions, but she glanced from time to time at the dead Ogrin and seemed to know that they must have destroyed it and probably had saved her life.

  Then the transmuter began working, and Clark sighed with relief when the unintelligible sounds were suddenly translated into English.

  ‘You three are some of the aliens who have landed on our planet,’ the woman was saying. ‘Our people are searching for you. What are you doing now? Are you seeking to destroy us?’

  ‘On the contrary,’ Clark said into his microphone, and waited for his words to be translated. ‘We are aliens and we have only one wish. That is to leave your planet peacefully as soon as possible. Our spaceship was shot down, like the one that came before us, and we are stranded here on Muta. Tell me, have your people, the Brutans, mastered space travel?’

  She was silent for a moment, surprised because his voice was reaching her via the transmuter and in her language. Clark watched her large face, hoping she would not attempt violence. They would have to kill her to silence her.

  ‘We have proved our friendship,’ Clark went on smoothly.

  ‘The Ogrin was abducting you and we killed him to save you.’

  ‘Beware!’ Searby called urgently. ‘The aircraft is coming back.’

  The Professor’s voice reached the transmuter and was translated into the Brutan language, and Clark saw the woman glance up into the sky.

  ‘Please do not attempt to communicate or signal our presence,’ Clark said quietly. ‘If you do we shall be compelled to kill you.’

  The woman seemed to understand the threat, for she glanced at the watchful Balfin, then looked at the dead Ogrin. There was silence while they crouched and watched the alien craft moving silently through the darkness of predawn …

  Chapter Seven

  The Brutan female got slowly to her feet after the craft had passed over, and Clark found her towering over him. She was perfectly proportioned to her size, and he felt a strange thrill in his heart as he let his gaze take in what details he could in the poor light. But he forced his mind to concentrate upon essentials.

  ‘Where do you live?’ he demanded. ‘How did the Ogrins capture you?’

  ‘They raided our farm. My parents were killed.’ There was no emotion in the woman’s hard tones.

  ‘Where do the Ogrins live?’

  ‘In villages on the edge of the forest. We are slowly exterminating them, but they are hard to kill. You must come with me to the town and I will hand you over to the security guards.’

  ‘I’m afraid we cannot agree to that,’ Clark said. ‘We have heard that your people kill for the pleasure of it. We arrived in orbit around your planet in a ship carrying four hundred crew members, and all except four of us died when the ship was struck by a missile fired from the planet. It was the second of our ships to be destroyed in this manner. Your people were responsible, and we cannot permit ourselves to fall into their hands.’

  ‘You will be picked up in a matter of hours from dawn,’ the woman said, and started walking rapidly in the direction Clark and his companions had been taking.

  Clark found that he had to trot to keep at her side, and Balfin followed, his Laser ready for action. Searby was soon being left behind, and Clark reached out and seized hold of the woman’s arm. She jerked herself free with no trouble and looked down at him.

  ‘Not so fast,’ Clark said. ‘Let us talk.’

  ‘I cannot help you in any way,’ she intoned. ‘If I were found in your company I would be killed along with you.’

  ‘But we saved your life,’ Clark retorted. ‘Surely you have some gratitude or appreciation.’

  ‘We are alien to your way of life, and it would be difficult for you to understand us. We are not concerned about dying. We kill to survive. We wage a constant war against Ogrins, Avics, Merscs and the wilder animals. Death is common among us, and we do not hold any great attachment to our relatives. My parents were killed a short time ago and this does not concern me.’

  ‘What are Merscs?’ Clark demanded. He hadn’t heard them mentioned before, and he wondered what other type of life survived on this horrific planet. He felt they couldn’t be any worse than the Ogrins.

  ‘They live on the water, in the swamps, and they are little people, about half my size. But they are carniverous and they live on a diet of Brutan and Avic.’

  Clark shook his head slowly as they walked on, and he held the woman’s arm. She kept up her fast pace, and Clark was soon breathless, but she would not slow, and they went on and on through the darkness that attended the planet in the hour before dawn.

  Eventually Clark spotted a cluster of buildings ahead, and when he saw they were making for them he commanded the woman to halt. She stopped and turned to face them, and Balfin came up to Clark’s side, holding the Laser ready.

  ‘We are determined not to be captured,’ Clark said. ‘If you have no wish to die then you must do as I say.’

  She considered for a moment, her shoulders hunched, looking down at them as if they were boys and she an angry adult. Clark could feel the beginnings of despair in the back of his mind. He knew he could not permit her to be killed if she refused to obey him, and a sense of impending doom tried to grip him.

  ‘I will die anyway if I help you,’ she said. ‘The weapon you carry would make a quicker job of my death than the methods used by my people.’

  ‘I can quite believe that,’ Clark retorted. ‘But there is no need for you to die. We do not want to kill you. We take no pleasure in bloodletting. Just agree to hide us until the next period of darkness and we shall leave you in peace.’

  ‘And when you are caught you will tell my people that I hid you!’ She shook her head. ‘I will not help you.’

  ‘Then you’ll die,’ Balfin said, lifting the Laser.

  She bowed her head and stood waiting to be killed, and Clark clenched his hands. He shook his head as he looked at Balfin.

  ‘We can’t kill her,’ he gritted between his teeth.

  ‘That is what I gathered from your words,’ she retorted with a low laugh, and turned and went on towards the buildings.

  Balfin uttered a low curse and swung up the Laser. Clark pushed the weapon aside.

  ‘It’s our life or hers, Commander,’ Balfin rasped.

  ‘Let’s go to the farm with her. If we have to we can make her a prisoner and hold her captive until we move on.’

  ‘But if the Ogrins raided the place then there’ll be a bunch of security guards buzzing around tomorrow,’ Balfin retorted.

  ‘That’s a chance we’ll have to take. We’ve got to start looking for a place to hide. We shan’t be able to move during daylight.’

  ‘That’s all right by me, but I’m not turning squeamish about these aliens,’ Balfin said harshly. ‘They’ve already killed around eight hundred of our people. Don’t be fooled by the fact that she’s a woman, Commander. She’s more cold blooded than any man I’ve ever met.’

  ‘It’s her way of life. She doesn’t know any different!’ Clark tried to make excuses as they hurried after the tall female. ‘If we can make friends with her it will half the difficulties facing us. What we need is an ally who can get information for us. I can think of no one better than a Brutan female.’

  ‘All right, we’ll try it your way,’ Balfin agreed reluctantly. ‘But I’ll kill her quickly enough if I
have to. Our lives are forfeit on this planet. From what we’ve learned about these people so far we can have no real expectation of survival. If they want to fight then that’s all right by me, and I’ll play it according to their rules. No quarter and no mercy!’

  ‘I’d go along with that if we had any chance of winning,’ Clark said tensely. ‘But we can’t fight a whole nation, Kester. The best we can hope to do is find a suitable spacecraft and escape. If we can’t manage that quickly then I see no chance for us. We’ll either be killed or taken prisoner, or have to flee into the jungle and live out the rest of our days with the Avics.’

  ‘I don’t even fancy that,’ Balfin said through his teeth, ‘and I don’t like the idea of being captured by these Brutans. I figure we’re in a bad hole, Commander. I’m ready to listen to any reasonable plan for escape.’

  ‘I’m trying to think of one,’ Clark retorted.

  They were almost running to catch up with the Brutan female, and Searby was straggling, evidently exhausted by their long trip. The woman glanced back at them, and lengthened her stride, and Clark saw they would soon be at the nearest of the farm buildings. If there were other occupants there then he guessed they would be discovered. He was aware that it was pointless trying to parley with the woman, and he took his personal gun from his belt, setting it for minimum emission. He fired at the big figure, and Balfin stared at him in surprise as the woman went down in a crumpling fall.

  ‘What the hell!’ Balfin exploded.

  ‘I’ve merely stunned her,’ Clark said through stiff lips. ‘We can’t take any chances, Kester. If she bursts in on others at this place then we’re going to find more trouble than we can cope with. We don’t have much time. Daylight is coming, and with it will come trouble. Let’s bind her if we can, and gag her, then go check out the farm. If it is deserted we’d better try and find a hiding place there until tonight. Then we’ll push on.’

  ‘Now you’re talking my language,’ Balfin said. ‘You hold the Laser while I bind her, Commander. We could dump her in that ditch over there if it’s dry. We don’t have a big time margin now.’

  Clark mentally agreed, and they bound the unconscious woman and gagged her, then struggled to carry her into the ditch, which was dry and overgrown with weeds. They set her down gently and covered her over with undergrowth. Clark intended returning for her as soon as possible, and figured she would come to no harm where she was for thirty minutes or so.

  ‘Now let’s get on to the farm,’ Balfin said, holding out his hand for the Laser. Clark handed it over and they went on, moving swiftly, leaving Searby behind once more. When they reached the outbuildings they eased into cover and examined the place.

  ‘It looks deserted,’ Clark said.

  ‘I’ll handle it,’ Balfin retorted, getting to his feet. ‘It’s my job. Stay put with Searby, Commander. If I run into trouble there’s no need for all of us to find it. I’ll go through the place.’

  Clark nodded, and lay looking around intently as Balfin moved forward. Daylight was beginning to creep across the plain, and to Clark it seemed that the nightmare was not ending with the coming of the sun. He watched Searby crawling in the last few yards, and realized that he shouldn’t have brought the older man along. But they were committed and they had to go on taking their chances, regardless of the outcome.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Searby demanded, flopping down at Clark’s side.

  ‘The Major is checking out the farm.’ Clark did not take his attention from his vigil. He fancied that as soon as full daylight arrived there would be a large scale search of the area by the Brutans. They would be looking for Ogrins, without a doubt, but any extra activity was against Clark’s plans.

  Tense moments passed, and Clark was expecting trouble. Nothing had seemed to have gone right for them from the moment they detached from Probe 2, Clark thought remotely. But presently Balfin appeared, waving to them, and they got up and hurried forward.

  ‘The place is deserted,’ Balfin said. ‘There’s no one around here, only some farmyard animals in some of the other buildings. What happens now?’

  ‘We’d better get our prisoner into the house and lie low,’ Clark said slowly. ‘Let’s go get her.’

  Balfin nodded. He seemed more cheerful now. They went back to the ditch and had a tough time dragging the woman out of it. She weighed as much as the two of them combined, Clark thought, and as the sun began to peer over a distant ridge he was able to get his first good look at her.

  The Brutan woman was like an Amazon, he discovered.; While she was not beautiful by Earth standards — her features were too broad and squat for that — she was enough like an Earth female to give Clark some faint stirrings of homesickness. She was still unconscious as they lifted her with difficulty, and Clark was hard put to get his hands around her limbs. They stumbled into the farm, and Searby was waiting at the door of the house to let them in.

  Clark sighed with relief as they lowered the woman on to a couch. He moved to a window to peer out across the plain.

  ‘I looked around from an upper window,’ Balfin reported. ‘I saw what looked like a town in the distance. I figure it’s where we’ll make for come nightfall. But it doesn’t look large enough to contain what we need.’

  ‘If we could pick up some kind of transport,’ Clark said suggestively, ‘we would cover more ground and make our attempt with less risk.’

  ‘There are one or two smaller buildings around that I haven’t checked out yet,’ Balfin reported. ‘I’d better go look them over now, although I doubt if they house Brutans. You’d better watch our female prisoner pretty closely, Commander.’

  ‘I won’t let her out of my sight when she regains her senses,’ Clark said. ‘Searby, you look around and find out what kind of food these Brutans eat and see if it’s suitable for us.’

  Balfin departed and Searby went through the lower rooms of the house. Clark remained with the prisoner, watching her intently. Daylight was upon them now, and the first rays of the sun were spreading across the ground outside.

  Clark saw the woman was dressed in a short skirt of some heavy dark material, and an open-necked blouse. Her face was asiatic in appearance, dark and stolid. Sight of her made Clark think of Magenta Sabir, and he sighed sharply as he fought down his imagination and tried to keep the more important aspects of the situation in mind.

  Searby came back shortly, pausing in the doorway to look at Clark.

  ‘There’s plenty of food here, Commander,’ he reported. ‘It is eatable. The Avics have some very much like it. It will sustain us with no ill effects.’

  ‘Perhaps you can throw us some breakfast together then,’ Clark said.

  Balfin returned shortly, and there was a tight grin on his gaunted face. He glanced at the unconscious Brutan female and then turned his attention to Clark.

  ‘You’ll never guess what I’ve found in a shed outside,’ he said.

  Clark shook his head. He didn’t feel like guessing games. Balfin stared at him for a moment, then widened his grin.

  ‘One of those skyrafts we’ve been seeing in the air,’ he said. ‘Think you can fly it, Commander?’

  Clark felt a surge of hope, but then tightened his lips. He shook his head.

  ‘I don’t think we could make good use of it even if we could fly it,’ he said. ‘We couldn’t use it during the day, and it might be dangerous after dark.’

  ‘Take a look at it anyway,’ Balfin said. ‘It might come in handy if we have to get out of here fast.’

  ‘I’ll wait until the girl comes to and talk to her about it. Let’s get something to eat, then organize watches so some of us can start resting. It’s going to be another tough night tonight.’

  Balfin nodded. ‘These Brutan males are around ten feet tall, aren’t they?’

  ‘That’s what I gather, and looking at this female, I can quite believe it.’ Clark studied Balfin’s serious face for a moment. ‘What’s on your mind?’

  ‘It would have helped i
f one of us could have masqueraded as a Brutan and gone into that town for a look around.’

  Clark shook his head. ‘Too risky,’ he decided. ‘We’re going to have to do this the hard way.’

  ‘That’s what I was afraid of.’ Balfin grinned tiredly. ‘What are our chances of getting away from this planet, Commander?’

  ‘Not good, I’m afraid.’ Clark didn’t want to talk about it. He was tired and dispirited, and yet he had to find hope from somewhere and use it to instil the same emotion in his subordinates. If he became hopeless then his men would quickly lose determination and ability.

  ‘The woman is coming to.’ Balfin moved across the room and stared down into the female’s face.

  Clark went across, and when the woman opened her eyes he spoke to her.

  ‘I had to render you senseless for a time,’ he said. ‘But you are recovered now, and nothing else will happen to you if you do as you are ordered. We must stay here in your house until darkness falls again. It will be a long day, but you will have to endure it the same as we shall.’

  She made no immediate reply, but stared intently into his face with large brown eyes. Clark stifled a sigh. She was going to be awkward, he knew, and that kind of complication they could very well do without.

  ‘Be on your guard, Kester,’ he said at length. ‘I’ll go check out that skyraft. Where is it?’

  Balfin explained, and Clark left the house, carrying his personal sidearm. He stared around before walking out into the open, feeling uneasy as he gazed across the empty plain. Nothing moved out there in the bright sunlight, and the sky was empty. He wondered about it as he crossed to the shed Balfin had mentioned. Back on Earth if this situation had existed there would have been troops and aircraft out in force after a raid such as had been carried out by the Ogrins, but here on this alien planet no one seemed to care what happened.

  He went into the shed and found the skyraft, his professional instincts instantly aroused. For a moment he stood looking at the craft. It was about forty feet long by ten wide, and the cupola to the rear was barely large enough for four persons. Clark walked around it, realizing that it was too large to pass through the doorway, and when he looked up at the roof he discovered that it would open.