Missing Link | Page 5

schedule for another appointment."
* * * * *
Out of the corners of his eyes, Orne saw more shadows dropping to the mud around him. The sled shifted as someone climbed onto the load behind the cab. The someone scuttled agilely for a moment.
The native climbed down to the cab's side step, opened the door. The rifle was held at the ready. Again, the lipless mouth formed Galactese words: "What do you carry in this ... vehicle?"
"The equipment every R&R field man uses to help the people of a rediscovered planet improve themselves." Orne nodded at the rifle. "Would you mind pointing that weapon some other direction? It makes me nervous."
The gun muzzle remained unwaveringly on Orne's middle. The native's mouth opened, revealing long canines. "Do we not look strange to you?"
"I take it there's been a heavy mutational variation in the humanoid norm on this planet," said Orne. "What is it? Hard radiation?"
No answer.
"It doesn't really make any difference, of course," said Orne. "I'm here to help you."
"I am Tanub, High Path Chief of the Grazzi," said the native. "I decide who is to help."
Orne swallowed.
"Where do you go?" demanded Tanub.
"I was hoping to go to your city. Is it permitted?"
A long pause while the vertical-slit pupils of Tanub's eyes expanded and contracted. "It is permitted."
Stetson's voice came through the hidden speaker: "All bets off. We're coming in after you. That Mark XX is the final straw. It means they have the Delphinus for sure!"
Orne touched his throat. "No! Give me a little more time!"
"Why?"
"I have a hunch about these creatures."
"What is it?"
"No time now. Trust me."
Another long pause in which Orne and Tanub continued to study each other. Presently, Stetson said: "O.K. Go ahead as planned. But find out where the Delphinus is! If we get that back we pull their teeth."
"Why do you keep touching your throat?" demanded Tanub.
"I'm nervous," said Orne. "Guns always make me nervous."
The muzzle lowered slightly.
"Shall we continue on to your city?" asked Orne. He wet his lips with his tongue. The cab light on Tanub's face was giving the Gienahn an eerie sinister look.
"We can go soon," said Tanub.
"Will you join me inside here?" asked Orne. "There's a passenger seat right behind me."
Tanub's eyes moved catlike: right, left. "Yes." He turned, barked an order into the jungle gloom, then climbed in behind Orne.
"When do we go?" asked Orne.
"The great sun will be down soon," said Tanub. "We can continue as soon as Chiranachuruso rises."
"Chiranachuruso?"
"Our satellite ... our moon," said Tanub.
"It's a beautiful word," said Orne. "Chiranachuruso."
"In our tongue it means: The Limb of Victory," said Tanub. "By its light we will continue."
Orne turned, looked back at Tanub. "Do you mean to tell me that you can see by what light gets down here through those trees?"
"Can you not see?" asked Tanub.
"Not without the headlights."
"Our eyes differ," said Tanub. He bent toward Orne, peered. The vertical slit pupils of his eyes expanded, contracted. "You are the same as the ... others."
"Oh, on the Delphinus?"
Pause. "Yes."
Presently, a greater gloom came over the jungle, bringing a sudden stillness to the wild life. There was a chittering commotion from the natives in the trees around the sled. Tanub shifted behind Orne.
"We may go now," he said. "Slowly ... to stay behind my ... scouts."
"Right." Orne eased the sled forward around an obstructing root.
* * * * *
Silence while they crawled ahead. Around them shapes flung themselves from vine to vine.
"I admired your city from the air," said Orne. "It is very beautiful."
"Yes," said Tanub. "Why did you land so far from it?"
"We didn't want to come down where we might destroy anything."
"There is nothing to destroy in the jungle," said Tanub.
"Why do you have such a big city?" asked Orne.
Silence.
"I said: Why do you--"
"You are ignorant of our ways," said Tanub. "Therefore, I forgive you. The city is for our race. We must breed and be born in sunlight. Once--long ago--we used crude platforms on the tops of the trees. Now ... only the ... wild ones do this."
Stetson's voice hissed in Orne's ears: "Easy on the sex line, boy. That's always touchy. These creatures are oviparous. Sex glands are apparently hidden in that long fur behind where their chins ought to be."
"Who controls the breeding sites controls our world," said Tanub. "Once there was another city. We destroyed it."
"Are there many ... wild ones?" asked Orne.
"Fewer each year," said Tanub.
"There's how they get their slaves," hissed Stetson.
"You speak excellent Galactese," said Orne.
"The High Path Chief commanded the best teacher," said Tanub. "Do you, too, know many things, Orne?"
"That's why I was sent here," said Orne.
"Are there many planets to teach?" asked Tanub.
"Very many," said Orne. "Your city--I saw very tall buildings. Of what do you build them?"
"In your tongue--glass," said Tanub. "The engineers of the Delphinus