The rain was coming down harder than ever as Brad, Drrm, and Lnng sloshed across the compound to Grrl’s hut, staggering in the hard-gusting wind that raised whitecaps across the flooded hollow. The clouds were so thick that it was almost as dark as night across the village. Even with his night-vision optics Brad could barely see the building they were heading for.
Could be a dozen big cats slinking around here, he told himself, and I wouldn’t spot them until they were nearly on top of us.
The water was getting deeper, up to his knees, making each step forward a real struggle. At least it should slow down any cats that come after us, he thought.
The two Gammans were straining too, bent almost halfway over as they pushed themselves through the rising floodwater. Brad almost laughed bitterly to himself as he thought, They’re not taller than I am now.
Drrm staggered and reached out an arm to Brad for support. Despite himself, Brad felt a shudder of revulsion flash through him. His arm was a twisted mass of ropy, muscular tentacles. Alien. Frightful.
Drrm’s arm coiled around Brad’s shoulders, then withdrew as the Gamman righted himself. Brad hoped Drrm couldn’t sense the irrational disgust he’d felt.
“Thank you,” said Drrm as he separated from Brad.
“You’re welcome,” Brad replied through gritted teeth.
“I don’t see any monsters,” Lnng shouted over the pounding of the rain.
Trying to buck up his courage, Brad figured.
Then Drrm answered, “Monsters are out there, lurking in the dark.”
Pleasant thought, Brad grumbled to himself.
“Look out!” Lnng shouted. A young tree was sailing through the air, branches fluttering, roots flailing. All three of them ducked low as it hurtled past.
At last they reached the hut they were heading for. Its door hung open, swinging in the wind and banging against the wall. Brad saw the hut’s interior was pitch black, silent, and still.
He switched on his helmet’s lamp, making Drrm and Lnng flinch with surprise. His IR goggles automatically swung away from his eyes.
Inside the hut half a dozen bodies were sloshing in the floodwater, mangled, chewed, dead. The water was dark with their nearly black blood.
“Too late,” said Lnng. “The monsters have been here.”
Where are they now? Brad wondered. All the other villagers are back in the longhouse. I told them to close their door so the cats can’t get in, but one of those beasts got up to the roofline, for god’s sake. And there’s nothing barring the window.
Drrm sank to his knees in the bloody water, clasped his hands together, and bowed his head. Brad’s computer picked up a few of the words he was muttering, “Thanks … sacrifice … death time … sacrifice…”
A prayer for the dead, he realized. Giving thanks for their sacrifice.
Brad turned back to the open door, still banging in the wind. There’s at least one cat out there, maybe more. I wonder if we’ll be able to get back to the longhouse without being attacked.
Drrm got back to his feet, slowly, painfully, as though he’d aged fifty years in the past few minutes.
“Let’s go back,” Brad said as he pulled his pistol from his belt. In the light from his helmet lamp he saw that the charge was not even one-tenth depleted. Good, he thought.
“Come on.”
* * *
Felicia didn’t return to her lab. Instead, she made her way to the monitoring center, halfway across the ship’s interior and two levels up.
If Yussif is on the monitoring crew, why did he have to ask me how Brad’s doing? she wondered. Aren’t they watching Brad?
As she walked the long, curving passageway she used her wrist communicator to query Emcee.
“Emcee, aren’t the monitors watching Brad on Gamma?”
“Yes, they are,” answered the master computer’s avatar.
“Then why…?” Suddenly Felicia understood. Yussif was trying to strike up a conversation with me! She wondered if Littlejohn had been right and Hamibi was coming on to her. No, she decided. He was only being sociable, happy to have somebody to talk to.
She stopped at the entrance to the monitoring center. ADMITTANCE TO AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY, said red-glowing letters on its electronic signboard.
Biting her lip in indecision, Felicia finally made up her mind to go home, back to her own room. Littlejohn is piping the imagery from Gamma to my quarters, she reminded herself; I can watch Brad at home. Even if he doesn’t want to be with me, I can be with him. Sort of.
* * *
As they waded across the village compound, fighting against the raging wind, Brad heard a prayer in his own mind: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death …
And suddenly there was death standing less than fifty meters in front of them in the pelting rain. A drenched monster from Beta glowered at them, its head lowered, its fangs bared.
Another huge cat splashed through the floodwaters to stand beside the first. And a third joined them. Brad saw that their muzzles were dark with crusted Gamman blood, despite the rain.
They can’t be hungry, he thought. Not after gorging on the Folk in the hut.
But the cats paced slowly toward them, spreading out slightly as they came. Cutting off our line of retreat, Brad thought; trying to surround us. Then he felt inane. As if we could run away in these floodwaters.
Drrm and Lnng were on either side of him, frozen with terror. The cats kept padding closer. Brad’s mind was churning: There goes my idea that they ignore you if you stand still. Something deep inside him was screaming, Run, run!
Before the cats could come close enough to leap at them, Brad raised his pistol and shot the nearest through its left eye. The monster yowled and writhed, then collapsed with a splash.
The other two paid no attention. They kept on coming. And Brad heard a growl from somewhere in the darkness behind them. Turning, he saw two more cats slinking toward them from the other direction.
He turned back and fired at the closest one, burning a line through its shoulder. It howled and shuddered but still kept coming, limping badly.
“There’s too many!” Lnng cried.
“Stand your ground,” Brad commanded, hoping that the computer could translate his words adequately as he fired at the wounded cat. It shuddered and sank into the wave-filled water.
At his side, Lnng shouted, “Drrm, no!”
Brad saw the village leader walking straight at the two cats behind him. Turning back, he saw the two in front of him crouching, ready to spring. He shot one in the neck, nearly severing its head as its companion leaped at him. Brad’s laser beam burned into the beast’s chest, between its forelegs. It howled as it slammed into Brad, knocking him into the choppy water. Brad felt as if he’d been hit by a truck as he toppled backwards into the water, the monster on top of him.
But the brute didn’t move, didn’t slash with its claws or bite with its fangs. Painfully, Brad struggled out from under its dead body.
As he climbed to his feet, he saw that Drrm was between him and the other two cats.
“Drrm, get out of the way!”
But the village chief simply replied, “It is our way, Brrd.” And he kept walking toward the cats, who had stopped and were watching his approach, heads lowered, bellies in the water. Lnng stood to one side, petrified, and watched Drrm wading slowly toward the waiting cats.
Brad rushed past Lnng, trying to get an angle for shooting the monsters. Drrm was muttering again. Brad’s computer translated, “Sacrifice … new Folk … death brings life…”
With a sudden roar one of the cats leaped at Drrm, knocking him down, splashing into the water. Instantly the second cat joined in the killing. Brad shot them both; it took several shots before the laser beam found their vital spots.
Drrm lay between the two fallen monsters, one arm torn from his shoulder, his face and chest furrowed with slashes from their claws.
“It is our way,” he breathed. Then his eyes closed.
Furious, Brad wanted to chop the cats into mincemeat, but his rational mind countermanded his seething emotions. Save the pistol’s energy. You’ll probably need it before the day’s over.