"This way," Ven said, emitting a faint yellow aura that lighted the
area around her. "Follow me." She staggered a little under the weight
of the equipment she was carrying. I wished that we had enough power
to energize an air sled---but we had none to spare. The robots had used
up most of our scanty power metal reserves in camouflaging the ship and
the adaptor had taken the rest. This was going to be a miserable trip.
It was going to be painful, uncomfortable and perhaps even dangerous.
It was.
We went across rocks, through sharp-twigged brush--across the saw-edged
grass of the meadow below us, over more rocks, and down-hill along a
faint double trail that never seemed to end. I was nearly dead with
weariness when Ven's aura flicked off and the dark closed in. My
proprioceptors were screaming as I sank to the ground and panted the
rich air of this world in and out of my aching chest.
"They're just ahead," Ven whispered. "Around that next group of rocks.
Be careful."
We moved forward cautiously. "There was a fire," Ven whispered.
"There isn't now," I said. "I can't sense any heat." The night air
blew a rank odor to my nostrils. My spines stiffened! I knew what Ven
meant when she said that these natives repelled her. I had smelled that
scent before--the scent of our ancestral enemies! So _these_ were the
natives, the dominant life on this planet! I gagged, my tongue thick in
my throat.
"You see?" Ven asked.