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Then suddenly he was staring at the sky-devil from between the leaves. It
battered and dug in frustration at something deep within the blue metal disk.
The moaning, Born now was sure, came from somewhere inside. Taking a deep
breath and wishing for a more stable footing, he lined up the end of the
snufBer with the skull of the demon, a difficult target that was bobbing and
weaving on a long flexible neck.
39
Born jerked the trigger. There was a tiny explosive puff as the tank seed
popped. The jacari thorn hit the devil just behind the left eye. It quivered,
its slow nervous system reacting dully to the poison, then it spun to look in
the direction of the shot. At the same time Born yelled, "Be strong!" at the
top of his lungs, to alert those within the blue metal, then he turned and
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raced ba
A tremendous thrashing sounded immediately be-
hind him as the sky-devil, showing unexpected strength, smashed through the
outer wall of branches and vines in its drooling desire to get at him. Born
fan-
cied he could feel its fetid breath hot on his neck.
The giant orchid loomed ahead.
That crawling leathery horror was at his spine. At any second long teeth might
close on his neck and snip his head off. There was no time to look back, no
time to think or consider. He dove past the soil ball of the flower, reaching
out with the end of the snuf-
fler so that the green wood pipe brushed several of the dozens of dangling
rootlets.
Born fell another couple of meters before landing
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file:///F|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Foster,%20Alan%20Dean%20-%20Humanx%2001%20
-%20Midworld.txt with a jolt in a bed of hyphae below. Above him, the tiny
rootlets he had brushed and everything around them curled protectively inward
against the bulk of the plant. The sky-devil burst through the undergrowth,
reaching with claws and jaws for Bom, who stared up in helpless fascination at
that descending abomination.
Too quick to see, the thick white petals of the pseudo-orchid thrashed in
blind fury in all directions.
Three of the petals struck the rampaging devil, curled shut about it and
contracted. The devil seemed to explode, eyes shooting like ripe seeds from
the skull, wings crumpling, guts and innards shooting in all di-
rections. The plant continued thrashing about for sev-
eral minutes before the petals began to relax.
As it returned to its normal shape and form, the orchid released the mangled
pulp that had been the sky-devil. The shattered corpse fell bouncing into the
depths. Born sat up and watched it fall, his heart beating fast. The devil had
died too quickly to scream, never knowing what had hit it.
Using his snuffler as a brace. Born pulled himself
40
erect and climbed over to where Ruumahum lay, watching him quietly. "I think,"
he said, trembling slightly, "we can go help the people now." The furcot
nodded silently.
They started back toward the world-well, once again giving the now quiescent
pseudo-orchid known in
Bern's village as "Dunawett's plant" plenty of room.
Born parted the broken stems and walked out into something he had experienced
only a few times in his life. Something few people ever experienced
the open air. He stared upward, but from here the sky was a distant circlet of
blue pasted against an otherwise green heaven, "Will watch Upper Hell,"
Ruumahum announced, sitting himself down by the edge of the well. His head
inclined and he studied the distant blue disk stolidly.
Born extended a cautious foot, set it down easily on the deep blue surface of
the object. It was cool and hard, just like the axe blade. Reassured, he
walked out onto the curving surface, making his way toward the half-dome in
the center. As he neared it, he saw it covered a circular cavity in the metal.
Looking down at the broken, jagged edges of the dome he saw tangles of tiny
vines and roots inside, which were also made of some shiny, hard substance.
An inspection of the interior of the disk showed one side made of more metal
that was filled with dents and abrasions from the claws and probing beak
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file:///F|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Foster,%20Alan%20Dean%20-%20Humanx%2001%20
-%20Midworld.txt of the sky demon. Bom thought he heard a slight moaning
coming from behind it.
"Hello. Is anyone alive here? It is safe to come out.
The devil has gone to its cousins in Hell."
The moaning ceased abruptly and was followed by clicking, metallic sounds.
Then the section of rectan-
gular metal began to disappear inward, on hinges.
A man peered out and up at him uncertainly. Some-
thing small and reflective shone in his hand. Born caught his breath. It was
an axe No, no ... a knife made of the same material as the axe, only far
cleaner and smoother. After a long stare the man's gaze went around the open
cavity in the metal.
When he satisfied himself that Born's words were true and the sky-devil was
safely gone, he emerged into the open space and commenced a detailed survey of
the mass of tangled instrumentation and components while keeping a watchful
eye on Born.
Born studied the giant. Though he was only a normal-sized man by normal man
standards, he tow-
ered a good twenty-five centimeters over Born. He dis-
played other surprising characteristics, as well. He was undeniably a person,
but the differences were striking. His hair was orange-red instead of brown,
his eyes blue instead of green, and his skin his skin was so pale as not to be
believed, though among his own people he was considered moderately well
tanned.
His build was slim and his face freckled and friendly.
"Jan?" A second voice, slightly higher. "Is it clear to ?" Then the speaker
caught sight of Born, stand-
ing quietly on the surface of the skimmer. She was a couple of centimeters
taller than the man. Her body beneath the torn single-piece jungle suit was
bony and athletic. Short hair the color of tarnished silver in-
dicated she was somewhat older, as well. Strong, long legs showed from the
beige shorts and their color was also, to Bom, unbelievably pale; She seemed
less nerv-
ous than the man, a little more assured.
"Who the hell is that?" she asked with a jerk of her head. The man she had
called Jan continued picking disgustedly at the crushed remnants of the
skimmer's controls.
"The man who just saved our lives, I think. For the moment." He stared up at
the sky uneasily.
"The sky-devil is dead," Bom informed him. "It went too near a stimulated
Dunawett's plant. It will not trouble you again."
The man digested this information, grunted some-
thing noncommittal, and turned back to his discouraged probing. "Board's shot [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]