SOS the Rope by Piers Anthony Read Free Book Online

His own foolishness had led him to frustration.
        "We'd better sleep," he said gruffly, lying down again.
        She waited for him to get settled, then crawled upon him without a word. She placed herself face down upon the backs of the two men. Sos felt her head with its soft hair. nestling upon his right shoulder, ticklish tresses brushing down between his arm and body suggestively, though he knew this aspect of her repose was accidental. Women were not always aware of the sexual properties of long hair. Her warm left breast flattened against his back, and her smooth fleshy thigh fell inside his knee. Her belly expanded 'as she breathed, pressing rhythmically against his buttock.
        In the dark he clenched his fist.
     
        CHAPTER FIVE
     
    "Next time, advisor, if you tell me to smash my own hand to pulp with the club, I will do it gladly," Sol said, acknowledging his error about the moth sting. His features were pale, but he had recovered. They had dressed him in new trunks from the pack before he woke, and let him guess what he might about the loss of the other clothing. He did not inquire.
        Sola had found small green fruit on a wild apple tree, and they made a distasteful meal of it. Sos explained about their flight from the shrews, skimping on certain details, while the woman nodded.
        "So we can't use the valley," Sol said, dismissing the rest of it.
        "On the contrary-it is a fine training ground."
        Sola squinted at' him. "With the shrews?"
        Sos turned seriously to Sol. "Give me twenty good men and a month to work, and I'll have it secure the year around."
        Sol shrugged. "All right."
        "How are we going to get out of here?" Sola wanted to know.
        "The same way we came in. Those shrews are defeated by their appetites. They can't wait around very long in any one place, and there was hardly anything for them to eat in that valley. They must have moved on to fresher pastures already, and soon they'll die off. Their life cycle is short They probably only swarm every third or fourth generation, though that would still be several times a year."
        "Where did they come from?" Sol asked.
        "Must have been mutated from the fringe radiation."
        He began his description of evolution, but Sol yawned. "At any rate they must have been changed in some way to give them the competitive edge, here, and now they are wiping out almost every form of ground life. They'll have to range farther and farther, or starve; they can't go on indefinitely like this."
        "And you can keep them clear of the valley?"
        "Yes, after preparations."
        "Let's move."
        The valley was empty again. No trace of the tiny mammals remained, except for the matted grass flattened by their myriad feet and brown earth showing where they had burrowed for fat grubs. They had evidently climbed every stalk in search of food, bearing it down by the weight of numbers and chewing experimentally. Strange scourge!
        Sol eyed the waste. "Twenty men?"
        "And a month."
        They went on.
        Sol seemed to gain strength as he marched, little worse for wear. The other two exchanged glances occasionally and shook their heads. The man might make a good show of it, but he had been very near death and had to be feeling the residual effects now.
        They set a swift pace, anxious to get out of the badlands before dusk. Travel was much more rapid now that they knew where they were going, and by nightfall they were near the markers. Stupid remained with Sos, perched on his shoulder, and this protection encouraged them to keep moving through the dusk toward the hostel.
        There they collapsed for a night and a day, basking in its controlled temperature, safe sleeping and ample food. Sola slept beside her man, no longer complaining. It was as though their experience of the last night in the badlands meant nothing to her-until Sos