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.Iproceeded to disobey it.I marched out of the tent.Straight into the arms of Max Volta-Tartaglia.It just wasn't my day.He didn't give me time to speak."It's a good job you're ready," he said."We've got to get back to Danelin a hurry.I wasn't expecting to find him clapped out.He's dead weight, and we're going to have to carryhim.The bugs have definitely got to him.He needs help quickly."I was very tempted to lose my temper.But it would only have made matters worse.Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html"Don't you think," I said mildly, excerdsing masterful control, "that you could have notified us that youwere going? Don't you think that it would have been friendly to leave the caller? Also the gun? You'replaying silly games with our lives.""I couldn't leave the caller or the gun," he said."You know I've got orders.""Orders!" I spat."What about discretion? How about reason?""I knew you'd be all right," he said confidently."I was only going to be gone a couple of hours.It took abit longer than I thought.I should have been back before morning, along with Danel.I was sure he'd stopwhen he found out he couldn't make it.""Why didn't you tell us?" I hissed.He shrugged."Didn't seem necessary," he said.I knew damn well that the reason he hadn't told us was that we'd had an argument not long before he'ddecided to set out on the joyride.But it didn't make sense, even if it was the reason, and there was nopoint in airing it right now.We had to get back on the road."Okay," I said."Let's move.But this time leave the gun and the caller.""Not the gun." he said."They were very insistent about the gun.But I'll leave the caller.Fair enough?"It wasn't, but what was the point in arguing?We compromised, and we set off.It took me five miles to walk the burn out of my seething anger.It took another seven or more before thetrail we were following suddenly thinned out.A glance at Max served to confirm my suspicion.We had got there.And the cupboard was bare."This is where he was," said Max."I swear it.""What did you leave with him?" I asked."Nothing.He was out cold.There was no point""What did you take away from him?""Nothing," he said again."I.""I know," I said."You didn't see the point.So he still has the gun as well as the ax.But no food and nowater.""I guess so.""Thanks for the confirmation," I said."Well, there's no point in hanging around.He went thataway."Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlI pointed in the direction of the trail.It was the same direction he had been heading before.It was agood direction.Straight as a die.Anyone else wandering around in a forest with trees so big that visibilitywas never more than thirtv yards would have wandered about erratically.But without a compass, Danelwas taking the shortest route to wherever he wanted to go."He must be delirious," said Max."Or determined," I said."What's he heading for, do you know?""There's supposed to be a mountain," said Max."Not a big one.The ground rises quite a bit as we gointo the forest from here.The trees still maintain total cover, but the undergrowth isn't so thick higher up.But I don't know for sure that's where he's headed.For all I know he's just going on and on without anyidea of a destination."I decided to hope that wasn't true.I began to walk on."Wait," he said."I think you ought to go back.""Why?" I asked."They'll be expecting us back at the camp.The situation's changed and they ought to be informed.Soshould home base.We can't just go on walking forever.We can't rely on finding Danel today.""This burst of consideration," I pointed out, "seems most out of character.""Okay," he said."Okay, so I should have told you where I went last night.If you must know, I onlyintended to take a short walk.It wasn't until I'd gone a couple of miles that I decided to keep going.That's why I didn't take any of the supplies or leave the caller.Well, now things are different, aren't they?We have to think things out.I'll find him, if possible.If it's not, I'll come back.You'll be all right, if you sittight.Base will send the copter out to you.If you complain about the arms situation, they might evenrelent enough to drop you another gun."I didn't want to go on alone, because this struck me as being a potential wild goose chase anyhow.Therefore, I decided, if anyone was going back it had better be me.And someone ought to go back-Iwas sure enough of that.I made a mental note to write the whole of the farce out of my memory at theearliest possible moment.Everything had gone wrong for some time now.The whole expedition lookedlike a washout.Not even a hard-fought failure.Just a deflatory collapse.I was in the right frame of mindto jack it all in and go home, at that particular moment.Wearily, I began to trudge back along the well-worn trail.I was far from happy.It seemed like a longway.About a mile from camp, I noticed a sudden profusion of cropper tracks crisscrossing the trail.They hadnot been there on the outward journey.We had seen cropper tracks often during the previous few days.They came in all sizes-the term just meant "harmless animal" or something like it.They didn't makeanywhere near the mess of the ground cover that we did, of course, unless they were cow-sized andmoving in sizable herds, but they always left a noticeable track.The undergrowth was very quick toregenerate, but the track was always obvious for a day or two.There was nothing particularly sinisterabout finding a lot of cropper tracks intersecting our trail, but they did seem slightly odd.Herds ofGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlcroppers moved in single file, as a rule, so that they didn't trample more vegetation than was necessary.But this herd-if it had been a herd and not several groups-had been moving with a much greater degreeof independence.Almost as if they had been in too much of a hurry to stick to the etiquette of the situation.Within half a mile of the camp, I began to hear noises.It was a distant rustling.It seemed to be comingfrom a fairly wide range of direction.I wasted no time in building up a healthy degree of fright.There wassomething nasty in the vicinity, and I was unarmed.So was the camp.I took the knife from my belt, notbecause I anticipated its proving useful, but because it made me feel better.I didn't run, but I moved forward quickly.There was a noise of somebody running, and almost as I heard it, I saw who it was.It was Mercede, and she was coming toward me as fast as she could go.She didn't seem to see me.She seemed to have every intention of passing right by me and running forever.She was running awayfrom something that she was very frightened of indeed.My first thought was spiders, but then Iremembered Max's offhand dismissal of the things he called magna-drivers.Driver ants.Large ones.I moved into her way, and called her name.She looked at me, suddenly, without any expression in herface.Then she cannoned into me.I caught her and held her still [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]