improperly set. Only
for a minute or two. Someone else had spotted it and sent them back
inside, fast. And those two men, anxiously watched by their fellows, had been
fit and healthy for twenty-four hours, and then they had gone down with acute
bellyache, vomiting, cramps and bloody discharge, to be prostrate and weak for
several days, and then, by degrees, to get well again. And
that after only a breath or two. He shivered again at the thought.
The
water grew steadily and slowly shallower now, and he felt his feet stirring up
mud. He was on the point of suggesting that his floating burden might just as
well roll over and try walking it, when he felt the water about him tremble,
and from far away there came a sudden,
massive, slurping sound, a bursting, a huge wet explosion that echoed across
the oily water.
"What the hell was
that?" Evans grunted.
"The
last of our derelict ship," Query answered, but his gaze was ahead and
suddenly intent in amazement, for it was as if the sound wave, rushing on past
him, had struck a vast hillside there and set it afire with washes of faint
color, muted tinges of rainbow light. He was still staring, watching the
miracle fade and die, when, out of the same enigmatic loom of land came a gargantuan sound, a monstrous gargling screech that shook the air and
made his spine run chill And the entire slope of land flared up in a glorious
blaze of every color imaginablel
"What
the hell was that?" Evans demanded, in a
totally different tone of voice, as his daughter gave a terrified wail and
started thrashing in the water. Query stared breathlessly, heedless of her
struggles, as the wonderful rainbow shivered and faded away.
"That,"
he breathed, "was one of the local inhabitants, raising objections to our
intrusion. Powerful objections!"
"I t
was a monster !"
Lieutenant Evans babbled, clutching at him so that he had to thrust her off
roughly. "We'll all be killed!"
"Hold
on!" he snapped. "Get your feet on the bottom. It's not deep. You too, sir. It's shallow enough for wading. We're almost
inshore."
"What was it?"
She clutched at his arm.
"How should I know?"
"Get
a grip on yourself, Christine!" her father yapped, getting his feet down
solid and peering ahead. "This is no time to go to pieces. We're not dead
yet. Come on!" He started wading. "Damn this light. Can't see more than a yard or two. Need landmarks of some
kind, damnit Better not get
too far before daylight. Don't want to get lost. Can you see anything,
Sergeant?"
We're back to that, are we? Query thought, and said, "No, not a
thing, apart from some trees. I think they are trees, that is. That's no help.
I haven't a clue where we arel "
"That's no way to look at it, man! Keep
your chin up! Did a first class job back there. Saved
our lives! First class. Resourceful! Can't give up
now, damnit ! We need you, your experience. You know
the planet, the local conditions, stuff like that. All in this together nowl "
They
waded on in sweating silence and the mud grew deeper as the water shallowed , was no more than waist deep, and the dark
columns of soaring trees came slowly closer in the gloom. Not quite gloom, Query
thought It was a strange light, with a curious luminosity of its own, and
deceptive, so that sometimes one had the illusion of seeing a long way, and the
next minute it was as if a blue green curtain hung there just beyond the nose.
All at once Lieutenant Evans gave a weary wail.
"I'm tired! How much further?"
"Chin
up, my dear. Keep on. Can't be much more of this. Soon's we're out and dry, get a little breather, take our
bearings, you'll feel a lot better. Not long, now."
"But I can't seel "
she complained drearily. "It's all dark!"
Query
turned to peer at her in the gloom. The greenish glow made her skin show dead
white and lost the black of her uniform altogether, so that she was just the
face and bust of a woman seemingly floating in mid-air. He stooped to peer
closer, and said, "You could try taking off your