Dinosaurus Planet Survivors
- Автор: Маккефри Энн
- Серия: Dinosaur Planet #2
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «Dinosaurus Planet Survivors». Краткое содержание книги:
Varian had gone no more than a few feet before she struggled to maintain her balance. Kai reached out to steady her.
“The chasm hasn’t gone anywhere.” She knelt down, her hand and arm disappearing as she sought the gap. “The vines have bridged it. And that doesn’t follow because the giffs have kept their own palisades clear of vine.” She resumed her seat, elbows on her knees, slapping one fist into the other. “Attack one, protect one. Makes no sense at all.”
“Just how intelligent are the giffs, Varian?”
“I can’t gauge it but the two attitudes are incompatible. Except that… the giffs are protective. Remember the one that got back-stranded? Instant adult assistance. But…” and she held her forefinger up as she paused dramatically, “no aggressive move toward us that day and we were only a few meters from them. Today-swap!” Abruptly she sat up and stared at Kai so intently he was startled. “But there were only two giffs…” she pointed her finger at him, high up when we climbed out of the cave. Then it rained. And we were under cover when the sun came out. So… we were not seen leaving the cave. They think we don’t belong there!”
Kai peered at the cliffs through the screening leaves. The giffs were settling in to watch.
“So we wait until dark, when they’ve all gone to roost or whatever giffs do at night. Here, have another hadrosaur nut!”
“My, aren’t we brave! Natural food!”
They had to break the tough shell of the nut between two stones before they got to an irregular pale brown kernel. Varian looked at it curiously, sniffed and broke off a fragment. She grimaced at its taste and chewed it thoughtfully before swallowing.
“Maybe you have to acquire a taste for ’em,” she said, inspecting the remainder of the kernel. Then she slipped it over her shoulder and smiled reassuringly at Kai’s anxious expression. “I’ll opt for the melon. You can taste that.”
They had finished the sweet and juicy melon when they heard a whistling, bugling commotion. Varian sprang to the break in the vegetation, Kai just behind her.
The fishers had returned and all the adult giffs were assisting the net carriers. Varian remarked that either the community hadn’t expanded much or fishing and carrying were limited to certain giffs. The two humans watched as the heavy woven grass nets were lowered and emptied on the flat surface that served the giffs as central food dump. There was a great coming and going as giffs filled their food pouches and delivered the day’s catch to the cave-or nest-bound. The greed of the younger giffs was supervised by their elders.
“If only…” Varian began through gritted teeth and, sighing with frustration, she sat back against the tree trunk. Resignedly, Kai joined her. Despite the confusion of feeding, they could not have returned to the cave unnoticed. Then she grinned at Kai with a resurgence of her usual wry humor. “I wonder what they’d make of the Thek if it appeared?”
As they waited, rain fell in torrents again. The sun shone to make the jungle a steaming bath which they had to endure. Eventually they dozed.
It was the silence that roused them, for the wind had briefly abated at sunset. Disoriented, they struggled to their feet, staring uncertainly at each other in the fading light.
“The watchers are still watching!” Varian commented after peering through the leaves.
Nine golden fliers perched at various levels of the adjoining cliffs, all heads turned in one direction.
“Can they see us here?” Kai asked in a muted voice. “Or smell us?”
“Not when we’re downwind of them. I can’t believe they’d be aware of us.” Varian did not sound certain. “That’s not within the capability of their species. Smell-that’s debatable. I think they rely heavily on sight. And I don’t think that extra sensory gifts are a likely development on this planet.”
“Comparing them to the Ryxi?”
“No, to what Trizein said about the primeval Terran life-forms they resemble.” She slapped her hand against her knee. “If only we hadn’t kept that man walled up in his lab, we might have resolved at least one of this planet’s anomalies. How could creatures that lived in Mesozoic Terra come to be here on Ireta? Every xenobiologist in the FSP knows identical life-forms cannot spontaneously develop on distant planets-no matter how similar the worlds and their primaries!”
“Does that observation offer any clue as to how we can get back to our cave and Tor? I don’t fancy rappelling down a vine in the darkness.”
“Nor do I.” Varian straightened suddenly. “Wait a sec! Before we slept, Triv and the others were back and forth to the ravine collecting for the synthesizer. The giffs were only interested: they watched, as I remember, and were certainly not aggressive. But-”and she shook her forefinger, emphasizing the condition-“they are protective of their young. Extend that and it’s just possible that they’re protecting the cave because it’s within their territory.”
“You mean they got protective over us after a single meeting and few furtive vegetable raids?”
“It’s possible. If only we knew how long we had slept! However,” and Varian pointed at him, “if the heavyworlders got here and were their usual aggressive selves while trying to find the space shuttle, the giffs would resent such an intrusion. Well, let’s say they did. So it is the heavyworlders who changed the giffs’ passive curiosity into active aggression. Only… that doesn’t really explain the vine screen! Protectiveness can be conditioned, learned. Giffs are the smartest creatures we’ve met on Ireta, but could they be that intelligent. I don’t think they’ve progressed that far.”
Kai could only shrug as her voice trailed off: he knew little xenopsychology.
“Isn’t that a mist rising?” Varian asked, straining to see in the gathering gloom of Ireta’s swift twilight. “That might give us cover.”
They watched eagerly as mist swirled up from the sea and over the cliff edge, but they hadn’t taken more than ten paces from cover before four winged objects hurtled toward them, beaks ajar, wing talons extended. Varian and Kai reached shelter as giff claws tore strips from the leaves over their heads.
“How did they know? They couldn’t bloody see!” Kai demanded when he recovered his breath.
“Sound!” Varian regarded her boots in disgust. She stamped a boot contemptuously. “These broadcast our movements. To demonstrate…”
She located a handful of loose chippings and threw them out onto the cliff. Though they knew they were safe, they both ducked at the whir of wings as the giffs responded to the sounds.
“So?” asked Kai.
“So, while we’re waiting…”
“How long is that likely to be now?”
“Giffs are not nocturnal. Sooner or later, habit is going to be too strong for them and they’ll want to get back to their nests. Particularly,” she added at his skeptical expression, “if we give them reason to doubt our continued presence here. Like a small avalanche down the ravine…”
“Ah…”
“Then, with our boots off, we tip toe quietly home…”
“Sounds simple enough.”
“I know.” Her tone admitted that simple plans can suddenly develop serious flaws.
Nevertheless, they began quietly searching the ravine edge for a suitable natural slide. They then dammed it with a fallen branch to which they attached a vine. It was difficult to find enough stones and rubble to place behind the branch. Once a small shower cascaded into the ravine and they suspended all movement until the whir of wings disappeared. They worked quickly for Ireta’s night would soon complicate things. As it was, they finished the last of their arrangements in the dark. Removing their boots, they secured them to the blanket packs across their shoulders.