Venus Boy
BY LEE SUTTON
Illustrated by Richard Floethe
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., INC.
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1955, by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 54-7882
Printed in the U.S.A.
All rights reserved
[Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any
evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
To Mildred and Blake
"Everything that lives is Holy."
--OLD MARVA SAYING.
_A Hero of Venus_
If you ever make a trip to the green planet of Venus, the first thing
you'll see will be the fifty-foot high statue of Venus' greatest hero.
It stands on the very top of towering New Plymouth Rock at the edge of
the old colony of New Plymouth. Even from the rocket cradle, anyone
can tell that the statue is of a twelve-year-old boy smiling up at the
Venusian jewel bear perched on his shoulder. Cut into the huge rock
below the statue are the words,
"Virgil Dare (Johnny) Watson
And the Marva, Baba.
May their Friendship Endure!"
Virgil Dare Watson, called Johnny by his friends, was the first human
being born on Venus. He was named after Virginia Dare, the first
pioneer child born in North America, and for a long time he was the
only child on all Venus. And that would have been a lonely thing to be
if it had not been for Baba. Baba, the bear, was not only Johnny's pet,
but his best friend, too, and the only one who knew about his three
secrets.
Because of these secrets, Johnny got himself, his jewel bear, Baba, and
the whole colony of New Plymouth into desperate trouble. And because
of these secrets, he also became a hero worthy of a statue--Venus'
greatest hero.
Contents
I THE FIRST TWO SECRETS 1
II THE TREASURE OF VENUS 9
III A DANGEROUS TARGET 18
IV THE THIRD SECRET 25
V A MYSTERY INDEED! 34
VI INSIDE NEW PLYMOUTH 45
VII THE RHINOSAUR STAMPEDE 54
VIII ONE SECRET IS REVEALED! 66
IX THE PRICE OF A BROTHER 71
X ALONE IN THE JUNGLE 81
XI THE FRIENDS ARE SEPARATED 97
XII THE PRICE OF A BOY 107
XIII OUTWITTING THE OUTLAWS 116
XIV CAPTURED! 129
XV A CITY IN THE TREES 140
XVI THE THUNDER OF RHINOSAUR HOOVES 155
XVII TEACHERS CAN'T PLAY HOOKEY 172
FACTS ABOUT VENUS 178
CHAPTER ONE
_The First Two Secrets_
It was rocket day on Venus!--the day the yearly rocket from Earth
arrived, and it was like Christmas, Fourth of July and your birthday
all rolled into one!
In the windowless, one-room New Plymouth school, Johnny Watson, a
stocky twelve-year-old, sat toward the back of the room, a big Venus
geography propped up in front of him. Johnny was supposed to be
studying. Every time Mrs. Hadley, the teacher, glanced his way, a page
of the book slowly turned. The teacher was much too busy with the half
dozen squirming, excited first graders to notice that a small black paw
fastened to a furry blue arm was really turning the pages.
On Johnny's lap sat Baba, a perky-faced little blue bear with stand-up
ears and bright blue eyes. To fool the teacher, the little bear, his
eyes twinkling, flipped the pages one by one.
"We gotta do something quick, Baba!" Johnny whispered to his bouncing,
jewel bear cub in a tight worried voice. "It's only two hours till
school's out."
The little bear peered over at the clock on the wall. He lay a tiny
black paw on his blue button nose and cocked his head as if he were
trying to tell the time.
When school was out everyone would go to the rocket field. Johnny knew
that above all, he and his bouncing bear must not be there! Why Johnny
and Baba dared not go was one of Johnny's three secrets.
There was only one thing to do, Johnny thought. He would have to behave
so badly that as punishment he would be forbidden to go.
"Nudge me when Mrs. Hadley turns around," Johnny whispered. "We're
gonna get out of here!"
The little bear shoved his furry blue snout around the geography and
peered from behind it. His bright eyes followed every move the teacher
made.
The instant Mrs. Hadley turned to write on the blackboard Baba gave the
boy a kick. Johnny slipped down on to his hands and knees in the aisle
and Baba hopped upon his back. Rapidly and silently Johnny crawled
toward the armor room. Behind him a little girl kindergartner began to
giggle.
"Look at the horsie!" she yelled.
Johnny heard the teacher call, "Quiet, children!" The little girl
giggled louder. But he hadn't been seen! He scurried into the armor
room.
As Johnny jumped to his feet and grabbed for his suit of rhinosaur-hide
armor, Baba leaped toward the wall and hooked his claws into the
concrete. Then he scurried straight up the wall like a fly and snatched
up Johnny's headglobe in his tiny black paws. While Johnny wriggled
into the armor Baba fitted the headglobe over the boy's tow head.
Without waiting to zip up, Johnny started toward the door. Baba jumped
from the headglobe shelf and landed on his shoulder with a smack. The
boy's hand was scarcely on the latch when the teacher turned around,
her mouth making an O of surprise. Quickly, Johnny jerked open the door
and dashed through, slamming it closed. There was a space of a few feet
and then another door. Holding the second door open, Johnny snapped
tight his headglobe, while Baba's small fingers pushed and pulled at
the zippers fastening the armor. Both of them scanned the sky.
No arrow-birds.
Johnny grabbed a stone from beside the step and wedged it in the outer
door so it could not close. To keep out these murderous flying lizards,
all buildings were windowless and had double doors. When one door was
open the other automatically locked.
"Johnny, Johnny! You come right back in here!" a muffled voice called.
Johnny sighed regretfully as he slipped out of the schoolhouse into the
pearly green light of Venus.
Baba on his shoulder, he started out at a dead run through the
collection of windowless buildings that made up colony headquarters.
The two had barely made it to the foot of a tall heavily leafed tree
when the door of the main headquarters building began to open.
"Up the meat tree!" Johnny yelled.
Baba leaped from Johnny's shoulder and rolled himself into a furry blue
ball as he fell. The little bear smacked the ground with the sound of
a bouncing basketball and bounced high into the air! At the top of his
bounce his arms and legs shot out; he hooked his claws into the trunk
half way up the meat tree. Baba wasn't called a bouncing bear for
nothing!
Johnny jumped for the nearest branch. Weighed down by his arrow-bird
armor, he was slow pulling himself up--too slow. Baba scurried down the
trunk like a squirrel, his claws scattering bits of bark on Johnny.
Hanging on with three paws he reached out and hooked his claws into
Johnny's armor. One pull from that tiny but powerful arm and Johnny was
sitting on the branch. From there up it was easy. The branches made a
perfect ladder. Soon they were entirely surrounded by green shadowy
leaves.
Johnny carefully pushed aside a green fruit the size of a cantaloup and
looked out. Striding across the dusty road came a tall man in headglobe
and black armor--Captain Thompson of the colony guard. The teacher must
have phoned for help. The man's square face was set in anger as he
kicked the rock away from the schoolhouse door. The teacher stepped out
and Johnny could hear their angry voices.
After a moment Mrs. Hadley went back inside and the guard captain
strode purposefully away toward Mayor Watson's office.
Sitting on a branch swinging his legs, Baba winked a shiny blue eye. He
reached over and patted Johnny on the spot where the boy was likely to
pay for his pranks.
"I think we've done it this time," Johnny whispered. "I hope it's not
just another spanking." Johnny spoke with deep feeling. He had had
three spankings in three days.
The little bear looked sadly down his blue muzzle and made an odd deep
clicking noise in the back of his throat.
"Sure," Johnny said, as if answering the bear's clicks, "I want to go
to the planet-fall, but we just can't."
The bear clicked again.
"I know," Johnny went on, "I know the earthies would give you
chocolate. Besides I was going to have a job." Johnny's eyes began to
shine with tears he wouldn't let come. For the first time he would have
been working on the rocket field with the men instead of being on the
sidelines watching with the women and little kids.
The little bear patted him on the shoulder and clicked in low tones.
"All right, I won't be sad if you won't." Johnny shook the tears away
and tried to make a joke. "Gosh, Baba, you talk funny since _you know
what_." Johnny screwed up his face. "You're such a mushmouth now I can
hardly understand what you say."
Baba stuck out his long blue tongue.
This was Johnny's first secret. His little bear could talk!
Baba's clicks were really the words of his own language. Although he
couldn't make the sounds of the human voice, he could understand people
perfectly. Johnny could both understand what the bear said and speak in
the same clicking language.
This hadn't started out to be a secret at all. As a little boy, Johnny
thought everyone knew that those clicks were Baba's words. When Baba
came to live with him, the little bear cub already knew his own
language, but Johnny was just learning to talk. He learned human words
and click words at the same time, and thought everyone understood them.
When he was almost five, Johnny discovered to his amazement that no one
understood Baba but him. He then went proudly spreading the news that
he and his bear could talk together. When the first person laughed,
Johnny didn't mind. But when everybody laughed at him he began to get a
little mad. The crowning insult was being spanked for lying.
After that, Johnny decided if telling grownups that Baba could talk
only got him licked and laughed at, it might as well be a secret.
Besides, it was fun keeping it secret.
After a few minutes of waiting, Baba scurried along a branch and hung
by his black claws while he thrust his blue button nose through the
twigs and leaves. Johnny followed along another branch.
"Looks clear," Baba clicked. "Let's go!"
"Wait a minute." A quick movement in the distance caught Johnny's eye.
Four men came out of a long grey building marked Hunters Hotel.
Johnny was instantly alert. Colonists always kept a sharp eye on such
men. These were the dangerous marva hunters, whose only law was an
ato-tube gun.
Johnny swung to a branch where he could see better.
"What's up?" Baba clicked.
"Hunters!" clicked Johnny. "They're watching the guard change at the
old stockade."
"Oh."
The two looked at each other. Both knew what was in the stockade,
locked away in the big safe. Marva teeth and claws. Jewel claws and
teeth from grown-up bears just like the cub Baba!
"Come on, Baba." Johnny shinnied back to a place where branches forked
from the trunk of the meat tree. "We'd better check your nails 'fore we
go down."
After making sure no arrow-birds were feeding on the meat fruit, he
undid one of his armor zippers and pulled a bottle of black liquid and
a small brush from an inside pocket. Baba plopped down on his lap.
"Smile," Johnny commanded.
Baba pulled back his lips, showing black teeth. Johnny looked at them
carefully, grunted, and then picked up one of the little bear's paws.
All the nails seemed perfectly black, but on the tip of one of them
there sparkled a point of bright blue.
"Dang it, we gotta find something better than this nail polish. A
little climbing and it's all scraped off." Johnny scowled and dipped
the little brush in the bottle of black liquid. Carefully he painted
the tip of the claw. Looking over the little bear's paws he found four
more claws that showed blue. He painted them, too.
"Now don't climb down when we go, Baba! When the polish is dry, jump."
The little bear nodded.
This was Johnny's second secret. Everyone thought Baba still had his
valueless black baby claws and teeth. But, under the coating of black
nail polish, each of Baba's claws was really a precious blue jewel.
Johnny Watson owned a million dollar pet!
CHAPTER TWO
_The Treasure of Venus_
Yes, a million dollars, maybe even more, and all for one little bear!
Johnny sighed shakily at the thought and hugged his bear to him.
"What's the matter, Johnny?" Baba clicked, waving his claws to dry
them, like a lady getting ready for a party.
"You know," Johnny said, "I was just wishing for the good old days when
you had your baby black nails and your pretty squeaky voice, and we
didn't have to be afraid of anything."
"I'm sorry," Baba clicked. "I couldn't help it. I just grew." Baba
looked so sorrowfully down his nose that Johnny laughed, swung the
little bear up above his head and sat him down on a branch.
"You're a silly," Johnny said. "I know you couldn't help it. I was just
wishing."
Most of all he was wishing that bouncing bears didn't have jewels for
claws at all. But he knew that was a silly wish, too.
Grabbing a branch, Johnny swung himself back to a spot where he could
see the hunters. As he watched, more were arriving. About a mile away a
battered hunting tank came lumbering through the sliding doors of the
fifty-foot high concrete wall surrounding the colony. Outside those
walls, Johnny knew, lay the murderous animal life of the jungle planet.
Every living thing on Venus attacked men. Not just the huge rhinosaurs
and the horned river snakes, but even tiny scarlet apes and pigmy
antelope. Johnny knew the colonists and hunters would never have come
to such a savage place at all without the lure of tremendous wealth to
be made from bouncing bears' claws.
Harder than diamonds and just as clear, these magical jewels shone
soft blue in the night and were blindingly bright in the sun. But that
wasn't the only reason claws were valuable. A tiny piece of claw, or
even of the duller teeth, melted in thousands of tons of plastic, made
that plastic tough enough to be used for the hulls of rocket ships. Men
called it marvaplast.
With such a treasure beckoning, man could not stay away from Venus.
Rockets came hurtling across space filled with hunters. Traders
followed. After the traders came the colonists, led by Johnny's father
and mother.
Johnny sighed again.
"Don't be so sad," Baba clicked. "We've been real lucky so far."
"I suppose so." Johnny had to admit they'd both been lucky. Baba had
been lucky not to be killed as his mother and brother had been. And
Johnny had been lucky to get Baba at all. If there had been any other
way of raising the bear until his black baby claws turned blue, Johnny
never would have gotten him. All other young marva that had been
captured had died. They refused to eat or drink. They simply squatted
down and whimpered piteously until they died of what seemed to be
loneliness and heartbreak.
When Baba had been captured, Mrs. Watson brought him home, hoping to
save his life. Two-year-old Virgil Dare, as Johnny was called then, was
fascinated.
"Ba-ba," he had cried, trying to say bear, and had thrown his arms
around it. Surprisingly, the little bear had stopped whimpering and had
hugged Johnny back. A few minutes later it had eaten some diamond-wood
nuts.
After a week, the colonists had decided that the little bear would
live and he was taken away and put in a small diamond-wood cage for
safe keeping. The little bear promptly refused to eat and almost died,
whimpering over and over a sound that was just like "Johnny, Johnny,
Johnny." It was the only sound he could make beside the clicking noise.
He had to be sent back to the little boy. From then on Virgil Dare was
called Johnny.
He and Baba went everywhere together, even to school. As the years went
by they became closer than brothers and it was easier and easier to
forget that the blue cub was really colony property.
Then, Baba's voice had deepened; the black nails had gradually
loosened; and, all in one Venus night, during Baba's long sleep through
five earth days of darkness, the new nails had come in. Johnny had
a mixture of india ink and nail polish all ready. It had worked for
two months now. But the polish _did_ chip off and the claws had to be
painted over and over.
"Oh, Baba, why can't you be a sensible little bear and stay home where
people can't see you," Johnny said.
"You know why, Johnny," Baba clicked. "You're my kikac." This was a
word in the clicking language that meant friend, pet and brother, all
in one. Baba said kikacs should never be parted.
That was the reason Johnny could not go to see the rocket come. If he
went, Baba was sure to follow. Everyone, colonists and hunters, was
going to be at the field, and if one of them caught sight of a flash of
blue from Baba's claws, it would mean the end of Baba. The colonists
liked the little bear but the colony was very poor. They wouldn't think
long about killing him for his jewel claws. The hunters wouldn't think
at all. They would steal him as quick as the flight of an arrow-bird.
It was a very dangerous situation. But if he could keep from going to
the rocket field, Johnny had a plan. The plan depended on Johnny's
third secret.
Draped over his branch, Johnny kept his eye on the hunters. They just
seemed to be strolling about the settlement now--getting used to the
fact that they were out of the dangerous jungle where they lived in
concrete forts. When the door of the settlement headquarters opened
again, Johnny pulled his head back in among the leaves.
A grey haired man with heavy eyebrows stepped out of the door. It was
Jeb, the old hunter, one of the first men to come to Venus hunting
marva. Now he was one of the colony guards, and a very good friend of
Baba and Johnny.
When the old man came close enough for him to hear, Johnny crawled out
where he could be seen, called down to him, and waved.
"Hi, Jeb--whatcha doing?"
The old man stopped in his tracks, looked carefully around him, then
cocked an eye up into the tree. He frowned, his grey eyebrows making a
V over his deep-set eyes. He shook his head in disapproval, but said
nothing until he was directly under the tree.
"What I'm doin' isn't important," Jeb said in a gruff voice, looking
up at Johnny. "But what are _you_ a-doin' up that tree when you're
supposed to be doin' book work?"
"Aw," Johnny started, "I just...."
"You just made your paw boiling mad, that's what," Jeb interrupted,
"locking the teacher in that way." He snorted.
"Did Dad say anything about keeping me away from the rocket landing?"
Johnny demanded anxiously.
"Nup," answered Jeb. "Cap'n Thompson wanted him to, but he says no,
that you worked real hard all year. But I'm warning you. You better get
on inside that school house, unless you want a good tannin'. Your ma's
out lookin' for you with fire in her eye." He started to walk away.
"Hey, wait a minute Jeb," Johnny called.
"Well?"
"I was watching those hunters. They're sure interested in the stockade.
You better tell Cap'n Thompson."
"We know they're interested. I don't think they'll do anything. That
old reprobate of a Trader Harkness'll keep 'em in line. _You'd_ better
watch out, though. I might tell Cap'n Thompson where he could find him
a hooky-player." With a fierce snort the old man was on his way.
Johnny smiled. He knew Jeb would never tell where he was hiding, in
spite of the gruff warnings. Jeb was a nice old fellow. He'd shot his
marva years before, gone down to earth, spent his millions in a few
wild years and returned to Venus dead broke. In twenty years hunting he
had never made another kill. Marva were as hard to find as they were
valuable.
"Guess you just weren't quite bad enough!" Baba clicked to Johnny. "My
claws are dry. Let's go before your mother finds us."
Johnny crawled down to the little bear.
"We gotta think of something else bad to do. It's that or just plain
refuse to go. But then they'd think something was funny, sure as
shooting!"
"There's lots of ripe meat fruit in the tree," Baba clicked, and
grinned. "Maybe you could drop one on Captain Thompson!"
"Oh boy!" Johnny exclaimed in excitement. Then he frowned. "Aw, he
probably won't come by here again."
"Somebody will!" Baba said. "Let's keep an eye out."
The two of them posted themselves in different parts of the tree and
watched for possible targets for ripe meat fruit. No one seemed to
want to walk under the tree. Finally Johnny caught sight of a short
fat bald-headed man and a tall redhaired man leaving the Hunters Hotel
together. One was Trader Harkness, who all but ran the colony, and the
other, his bodyguard, Rick Saunders. They seemed to be headed for the
trading post and would have to pass directly under Johnny's tree to get
there. Baba saw them at the same time.
"How about Trader Harkness?" the little bear clicked. "Do you think
he'd be a good target?"
"A kind of dangerous one," Johnny clicked back, his heart racing. "But
where's that meat fruit?"
There wasn't any question about his getting into enough trouble this
time. He just hoped he wouldn't get into too much trouble!
Trader Harkness was a very important man, but Johnny didn't like him.
He had started as a hunter and then had turned trader. By killing off
most of his opposition, he had become the only important trader on
Venus. If he hadn't wanted a walled settlement to protect his goods,
the colony might have failed. A hunter would stop at nothing to get
what he needed and the colony had had more than one of its tanks
ambushed and stolen to hunt marva.
A red, ripe meat fruit was not hard to find. Johnny wrenched one from
the branch and held it carefully by its long stem. The size of a small
melon, green meat fruit must be cooked before eating. Once ripe, their
thin skins are plump full of a sweet strong-smelling paste--a natural
high protein baby food.
"There's plenty more," Johnny clicked softly. "Think we ought to get
Rick, too?"
"He's too good a friend," Baba clicked back. "Besides he might not give
me any more chocolate."
Johnny agreed with a laugh, and pushed leaves aside so he could see.
He shivered. Below him came the most powerful man on Venus--a short,
immensely fat man, who waddled forward rather than walked. On earth he
would have been laughed at, but on Venus he was feared and respected.
He liked that respect and demanded it.
Johnny swallowed hard. The man he was going to drop the fruit on had
once been ambushed by five hunters--none of them had survived.
CHAPTER THREE
_A Dangerous Target_
As the two men moved closer to Johnny's and Baba's meat tree, they
appeared to be arguing about something. The trader glittered as he
waddled forward. His armor was of the clearest, brightest marvaplast
plastic, and his fingers were studded with marva jewel rings. They
stopped just a few feet away from the tree. Johnny could tell the
trader was angry. Though he was keeping himself under tight control,
his heavy jaw was set and his little black eyes flashed under his
smooth, hairless brow.
"I'll put it to you straight, Rick," the trader's heavy voice rumbled
up to Johnny. "I couldn't stay in business a year if I did as you asked
me to."
The redhaired bodyguard was flushed. "Well, then, I guess I'll have
to do it," he said in a tight, defiant voice. "If you won't warn the
colonists, I will."
Harkness' jaw tightened. "Better think it over, Rick." His voice was
still controlled and level. He gripped Rick's shoulder with a pudgy,
jeweled hand. "Remember, those hunters trusted me. They figure my
bodyguard wouldn't do anything I told him not to. If you warn the
colonists, I'll have to make it clear you were on your own." His voice
held a threat.
"What do you mean?" Rick demanded, pushing the hand from his shoulder.
"The least I would do would be to fire you back to Earth," he said
ominously.
Johnny drew in his breath. He knew how much Rick wanted to stay on
Venus. The trader got his bodyguards by paying their way to Venus. He
agreed to stake them for hunting if they did good work for a year.
Otherwise they were sent back to Earth. It was said that men who
crossed Trader Harkness never made it alive.
"I'm sorry, Trader," Rick said, "but I'll take my chances. If you don't
like what I do, I'll join the colony."
"I should have guessed it," the trader said contemptuously, "when you
began hanging around that worthless Jeb." The trader paused and then
the threat in his voice was no longer veiled. "Believe me, Saunders,
join that colony and you'll regret it." The heavy man turned slowly and
moved toward his trading post.
Fascinated, Johnny had all but forgotten the meat fruit in his hand.
The trader was almost past him when he remembered. With a little toss
Johnny let go of the juicy fruit. For an instant he thought he had
thrown too far, but the trader waddled forward just right.
With a sickening plop the red fruit exploded on the top of Trader
Harkness' shining headglobe. Dripping purple gobs splattered through
the air slits, smearing the stone-bald head. A strong sweet smell
floated up to Johnny. For a moment Harkness stood perfectly still in
shocked amazement.
Then the tremendous man began to dance about in sheer rage and
discomfort.
"Water!" he yelled, his rumbling voice rising to a shrill cry. "Get
some water!" He was bouncing up and down in an odd way, his clenched
fists hitting the air. All his dignity was gone.
Johnny stared open-mouthed, awed by his own daring. Rick Saunders stool
still a second, and then broke into a guffaw.
"I tell you, get me some water!" Trader Harkness roared. Three or four
hunters and Jeb, the old guard, came running up. They took one look and
they, too, broke into laughter. Jeb was carrying a fire bucket.
"Never thought I'd ever get this chance, Will," Jeb cackled, and
sloshed a bucket of water over Harkness. The water splashed on the bald
head and washed the bits of fruit down the trader's neck and under his
armor. The big man stood there dumb with anger.
Johnny's throat ached with the laughs he'd kept back. He glanced up to
the branch where Baba sat. The little bear's fur was shivering with
fun. His eyes opened wide, and with a whir of clicks meaning, "Watch
me, Johnny," he leaped into space. He kicked up a flurry of dust as he
bounced to the ground and up to his feet in front of the trader and the
other men. By this time the crowd had grown to a dozen men.
Baba stopped a moment to make sure everyone was watching him. Then
the round little bear began a dancing, bouncing waddle up and down.
He clenched his forepaws into little fists and beat the air. His face
was screwed up into a mighty frown. It was a perfect imitation of the
trader. The men's laughter swelled to a roar.
"Rick!" Harkness' voice rumbled out, tight and cold with rage. "Shoot
it!"
The laughter stopped suddenly, almost as if it had been switched off.
It had been so long since anyone had made fun of the trader that the
man had lost his head.
"I can't do that!" Rick's lean brown face was horrified. Then he became
angry. "I wouldn't shoot a kid's pet!"
"Well, I will!" Moving with more speed than it seemed a large man could
muster, the trader's hand snaked toward his holster.
Baba saw the joke had gone too far. He leaped into the air, came down
with a bounce and shot up the tree beside Johnny before the trader
could level the gun at him.
Johnny's mouth went dry. Already the trader was searching the tree for
Baba, his pistol up, the safety switch off. The men stood in shocked
silence.
"He's right beside me, Mr. Harkness!" Johnny shouted, and crawled into
full view. "C'mon, Baba, get on my shoulder. He can't shoot _me_." As
Johnny came into full view, the trader's face grew angrier yet. "Baba
didn't drop that meat fruit, Mr. Harkness," Johnny said firmly. "I did."
"Kid's got guts," one of the hunters muttered.
As Johnny slid down to the ground, he saw his mother pushing her way
through the group of men. Her lips were tight together, her face white.
"You're going to get it," Baba clicked. "Here come your pa and Captain
Thompson, too."
Mrs. Watson strode straight up to Trader Harkness, her eyes blazing.
"You ought to be ashamed!" she said to the man. Then she turned on
Johnny. "And so had you, young man. No planet-fall for you!"
Johnny's heart leaped. He'd done it at last!
"Now, Mr. Harkness," Johnny's mother's voice was very low, "what Baba
and Johnny did was very wrong. I apologize for them. And Johnny will
certainly be punished. Nevertheless, I never want to hear of you or
anyone else threatening Baba again. Is that clear?"
Taken aback, the trader nodded.
"That goes for the whole family, Mr. Harkness." Johnny's father stepped
forward straight and tall and put his arm around his wife's shoulder.
"Not to mention the colony," he went on. "We have a pretty big stake in
that bear."
The fat, short trader seemed suddenly as cold as ice. His heavy jaw
thrust out and his little black eyes looked straight at Johnny's father.
"Valuable or not, I don't have to put up with insults. Not from those
two or any of you. If that's the kind of thanks I get for ten years of
working with you, I'm through. You can fight your own battles now." He
jerked his head around toward Rick. "C'mon!"
"I'm staying," the young man said.
"All right. Stay." The smooth bald head swiveled back to the Watson
family. "I told this man I'd fire him back to Earth. But let him stay.
After the hunters have picked your bones, I'll take care of him." He
turned, and with heavy footsteps walked away. His slow waddle did not
seem funny now. The hunters in the crowd stood for a moment, and then
followed him.
Captain Thompson addressed Johnny's father. "That sounded like a
declaration of war."
Johnny's father nodded grimly. "I think our colony is getting too big
for him," he said slowly. "He's been looking for a way to break with us
and Johnny gave him just the kind of excuse he needed."
"Yep," said Jeb. "But don't be too hard on Johnny. Maybe it's just as
good it happened now when we got marva claws to buy us some extra fire
power."
"You might not have those claws long enough to do any good," Rick
Saunders cut in. "I was just going to warn you. Four hunters just asked
Harkness in on a plan to rob the stockade. The trader turned 'em down,
but...."
"Which four hunters?" Captain Thompson broke in.
A shadow passed over Rick's face. "I don't know which ones." He looked
at Mr. Watson eagerly. "I want to help, though. I'm hoping you'll take
me on as a guard."
"We can sure use you." Jeb stepped up and slapped the young man on the
back.
Mr. Watson appeared to consider for a moment. He looked Rick up and
down, and then glanced at Captain Thompson, who nodded.
"All right, Rick," he said. "You go on over to the guard barracks and
Jeb'll check you out. When you're through, report to Captain Thompson."
Rick Saunders grinned. Old Jeb threw an arm around his shoulder and
they walked off together.
When they were out of hearing Captain Thompson turned to Johnny's
father. "I don't know if I like this," he said. "Harkness may have
planted that man on us. I'm certainly not going to let him get anywhere
near our claws. I'll keep an eye on Saunders personally."
"But, gosh," Johnny broke in, "I heard him arg...."
"I think, Johnny," said his father sternly, "you've said and done
enough for one day. The trader is a proud man and by making a fool of
him you've given the colony a deadly enemy." He turned back to Captain
Thompson. "We'd better change our plans, Captain. It looks like we
should double, maybe even triple the guard...."
CHAPTER FOUR
_The Third Secret_
Three hours later, boy and bear were trudging through the marshberry
fields toward New Plymouth Rock. Johnny's bottom was still warm from
his recent session with a strap. The boy was in full armor. A leather
harness was strapped to the little bear's furry blue back.
The last 'copter had long since left for the rocket field and, except
for guards, the settlement was nearly empty. Because of this Johnny
had been forbidden to leave his house. A lone person without a gun was
supposed to be just what the arrow-birds were looking for. But Johnny
wasn't afraid. He had his third secret.
Johnny reached up and carefully picked one of the apple-sized
marshberries for himself. It was a rich ripe yellow color.
"They are just right this year," Johnny said to Baba.
The little bear nodded gravely. Both he and Johnny had worked hard in
those fields. Everyone did. Marshberries prevented a disease called
colds that Johnny had never had, and were the only crop the colonists
could send back to Earth. They had to be ripe for the yearly rocket or
a year's work was wasted.
Johnny trudged on under the weight of his armor while Baba bounced
along beside him. A mile away loomed New Plymouth Rock. The huge
mesa-like rock made up one corner of the settlement's barrier against
the animals. The thick concrete walls of the settlement, topped with
live wires, were joined to the rock on two sides. On its summit, stood
a stunted diamond-wood tree. This was Johnny's and Baba's destination.
Baba jumped high in the air, made himself into a ball and bounded on
ahead.
"Hurry up!" he clicked.
"Hungry for nuts, eh?" Johnny asked.
"Crunchy ones," the little bear clicked back, turning a somersault in
the air. "Come on, hurry!"
Johnny made a face at Baba. "Bear," he said, "you're certainly getting
bossy lately."
Baba did another somersault, bounced, and landed on Johnny's shoulder
with a thump, almost knocking the boy down. He put his nose in Johnny's
ear.
"I'm a grown-up," he clicked in heavy tones. "Hear my beautiful new
voice?"
Johnny hunched his shoulders hard, spilling Baba to the ground. Then
he grabbed him by the harness, and stood up. While Baba squeaked
piteously, Johnny swung him round and round. At the top of one of the
swings he let go, tossing Baba high into the air.
"Help! Help!" clicked Baba, beating paws into the air, and screwing up
his face. Just before he hit the ground he made himself into a ball. He
hit with a smack and bounced higher than Johnny had thrown him. Both of
them were laughing when he stopped bouncing.
"Gosh, I wish we could have done that for the Earthies!" Johnny said
The two fell silent, both thinking of the fun they were missing at the
rocket field.
They were coming to the end of the marshberry fields. Before them were
the great boulders surrounding New Plymouth Rock. Johnny had made the
harness Baba was wearing for forays among the boulders--forbidden
forays, for arrow-birds nested there. Baba, with his strong nails and
bouncy body, could go straight up the face of rocks. He was small
enough to ride on Johnny's shoulder, but he was powerful too. By
hanging on to Baba's harness, Johnny could go straight up and over
large boulders, armor and all.
"Let's go right by the nests," Baba clicked. "I want to be sure, right
off."
"O. K., worry bear, you lead the way." Johnny began to chant,
"Grandpapa Baba sat in a corner, 'fraid that his shadow would burn in
the fire."
Baba bounced over the smaller rocks in the way. Johnny, weighed down
with headglobe and armor, made his way slowly over them and between
them. Baba helped Johnny over one steep place and then stayed beside
him. It was hard going and Johnny's clothes were drenched with sweat
under his armor before they clambered down the last boulder and on to
a little flat place. They were already high above the level of the
settlement. On one side they were surrounded by high red boulders. On
the other side loomed the sheer cliff of New Plymouth Rock.
Far above them, from many round holes in the rock, came strange
squeaking sounds. Here were the arrow-bird nests! Johnny was deathly
afraid. He'd seen what an arrow-bird could do when it shot itself at a
man.
"Get ready, Baba," he whispered.
"Those are just babies up there," Baba clicked. "No danger yet!"
"Let's climb up and get rid of them!" Johnny suggested. "Then there
won't be any here to...."
"No!" Baba interrupted.
"But why? I'd be protected by my armor and...."
"No!" Baba clicked more firmly. There was a stern but puzzled
expression on the little bear's face. "The arrow-birds are my
friend-pets, I must not hurt them." He used a word in the clicking
language which meant both friend and pet. It was something like the
word "kikac," which he called Johnny--"friend-pet-brother."
"All right," Johnny said, "but I don't understand."
"You mustn't harm them, either," Baba said. "Remember, I brought you
here. Otherwise you wouldn't know where the nests were. Even if you
just tell the grownups and they kill them--well, it would be wrong. I
would have--"
Baba was interrupted by a high whistling, shrieking noise, and the
whir of wings. So quick you couldn't have followed his motions, Johnny
squatted down, curled his feet under him, thrust his hands and forearms
into special armor pockets. Six strangely shaped creatures were diving
straight at him.
Arrow-birds! A dirty greenish yellow, they were long and slender,
over a foot long. One could not tell where their heads left off and
their necks began. They were shaped like long arrow points. Their
gossamer-thin wings were a blur of motion.
Johnny braced himself so that if they hit him he would not be knocked
over. In a fraction of a second they dived within fifty feet of him.
"Go away friend-pets," Baba clicked, as loudly and as fast as he could.
"Go away! Bother us not!" He repeated his cry in a kind of chant, so
rapidly it was almost a trill.
The shrieking whistle changed to a low hum. The arrow-birds pulled out
of their dive. They floated in mid-air, their wings awhir. One had
almost reached Johnny and was hovering in the air only a couple of
yards away. It bent its neck out of arrow position and looked straight
at him. Its little purple eyes glittered against the yellow green skin
of its head.
Then, like a flash, they were gone.
"Whew!" Johnny breathed. He took his hands out of his armor and stood
up. He turned around just in time to see the flight of arrow-birds
crawl into the holes in the rocks that were their nests. This was
Johnny's third secret.
The arrow-birds obeyed Baba!
Right after Baba's voice had changed and his jewel claws had come in,
the two had made this astonishing discovery. They had stumbled upon
this nesting place, and the arrow-birds, frightened for their nests,
had slashed down at Johnny for the first time in his life. But Baba had
cried out desperately in his new deep clicks for them to go away--and
they had. It was like magic.
Staring up at the sheer cliff, Johnny was excited, but afraid. Such
a climb was too dangerous to do just for the fun of it, but Johnny
thought he might have a way of saving Baba. Even when they were much
younger the little bear had been willing to leave Johnny in order to
climb for diamond-wood nuts fresh from the tree. It was the ideal place
for Baba to hide. If Johnny could climb up with him they would be able
to visit often-and Baba was so fond of fresh nuts he might be willing
to use it for a hideout.
Johnny hadn't told Baba about his plan. If they could make it to the
top he would tell the bear then.
The high shrieking whistle began again.
Johnny suddenly had an idea.
"Friend-pets, friend-pets, bother me not. Bother me not," Johnny
clicked quickly, shaping deep clicks just like Baba's in the back of
his throat.
As the birds half-pulled out of their dive, the little bear started to
speak.
"No, let me keep trying," Johnny clicked. "Friend-pets, friend-pets,
bother me not."
At this, the birds hovered about him making squeaking noises, their
heads still in striking position.
"They're puzzled," Baba clicked. "They sense something's wrong. They
expect to be shot at by people. I'll tell them to go and it will be all
right. In a second they could kill you."
"I've still got my armor," said Johnny. "Maybe if I tell them to come
here they'll trust me." Johnny spoke the last in English and the words
sent the birds fluttering farther away. They seemed to be on the point
of making another dive.
Johnny was pale under his headglobe, but clicked, "Friend-pets, come to
your friend."
The flying lizards slowly quieted, squeaking among themselves. Their
wings humming, they hovered closer and closer. There were five of them.
Finally their heads snapped out of arrow position. One of them hovered
in very close.
"Come to me, friend-pet," Johnny clicked to it, and held out his hand.
The creature, watching him carefully with its little purple eyes,
floated even nearer, its wings humming. Very gingerly it came to a
perch on his hand. Its claws were cold and it smelled faintly of meat
fruit.
Johnny breathed deep. He was the only human being who had ever made
friends with an arrow-bird.
Slowly, while the other birds hovered in the air about him, Johnny drew
in his hand and stroked the bird on its folded wings. It shivered under
his touch. But, as he did it no harm, the other birds came closer and
lit on his arms and his shoulders. One peered into his face. Another
poked the air slits of Johnny's headglobe with its sharp bill.
"Baba! Baba!" Johnny cried out. "Do you see this? Do you think I could
sneak one home with us?"
"Your people would kill him, Johnny," Baba clicked. "Go away,
friend-pet," he clicked to the arrow-bird.
The bird looked at Johnny.
"Go, friend-pets," Johnny clicked regretfully to the five birds about
him. With a flash of wings they were gone.
"Gosh," said Johnny. "Gosh!" He unzipped and wriggled out of his armor.
"Baba, I don't _have_ to wear armor ever any more. Do you understand? I
can just walk around like you do!" The words fairly bubbled out of him.
Baba was quiet for a moment, frowning.
"Johnny," he clicked, "I've done something wrong. Something very bad.
I'm not sure why, but I just know it's wrong. Those are my friend-pets,
not yours. If _you_ use the word 'friend-pet' to them, that means you
can never hurt them. You must always help them. But they will always
try to kill your mother and father. It is all mixed up."
"Gee, Baba," Johnny was frowning now, too. "C'mon, let's try the climb
and forget it." From one of the armor straps he unhooked a flashlight
he always brought along for exploring caves. He fastened it to his belt.
A few moments later the two friends were looking up at the bare rock
face that extended three hundred feet straight up.
"Golly, Baba, do you really think you can take us up _there_?" Johnny
asked.
"If you can hold on, I can take you," Baba said from Johnny's shoulder.
"Start up!" Johnny yelled. Baba leaped up onto the wall of rock, his
claws cutting into it. Johnny grasped the harness and hooked his toes
into a crack in the stone.
CHAPTER FIVE
_A Mystery Indeed!_
By the time Baba and Johnny had gone fifty feet up the cliff, Johnny
felt as if his arms were about to be pulled from his shoulders. The boy
helped push with his feet, but that took only a little weight from his
arms. Below him there was nothing but boulders and sharp jagged rocks.
In spite of that danger, he felt that he could hardly keep hold of the
harness. Sweat poured down into his eyes.
"Hurry, Baba," he said through clenched teeth.
"Ledge soon," the little bear clicked. As he speeded up his climb he
slapped his claws deep into the rock, making sharp clapping noises
that echoed among the boulders below. He stopped short and Johnny saw
a place where the rock jutted out a few inches. Gratefully he felt
something solid beneath his feet. He couldn't put his whole foot down,
but he could rest his arms a little.
"Whew," Johnny said, "doesn't the ledge get wider?"
"In a minute," Baba answered. Crabwise, with Johnny still hanging on,
Baba worked along the ledge, which slowly widened until Johnny could
stand alone. They were now on the jungle side of the rock.
A few feet farther on, there was a narrow slit in the rock face that
widened into a small cave. Deep in the cave's darkness Johnny heard
the squeaking of young arrow-birds. As he crept inside he whipped his
flashlight from his belt. Purple eyes glittered at him in the circle
of its light. There was a flutter of wings. Johnny and Baba started to
click at the same time. The fluttering stopped and the birds' heads
disappeared into their nests. The cave ended in a pile of large stones.
Johnny sat down.
"Boy, do my arms ache!" Johnny said. "How about you, Baba?"
"I can climb," Baba answered. "But can you hold on? We have far to go."
"Aren't there any more ledges?" Johnny asked.
"Small ones," Baba answered. "None are wide like this one. Do you still
want to go up?"
"Maybe we could tie me on some way," Johnny said. "Mountain climbers do
it that way."
In a moment the boy and the bear were trying to see what they could
work out. Finally Johnny had Baba use the razor sharp point of one of
his claws to cut a pair of long thin straps from the wide ones on the
harness. These they tied to Johnny's belt and then to Baba's harness
again.
When the straps were finished, Johnny felt rested and they started out
of the cave. They were stopped by the sight below them.
At the foot of the rock there was a wide space of cleared ground,
and then the jungle stretched out. About a half mile away some large
greyish beasts were breaking out of the undergrowth.
"Rhinosaurs!" Johnny shouted, pointing. "Golly, a whole herd of them!"
There were more than thirty of the huge grey-blue saurians. Even at
that distance they could hear the low thunder of the gigantic hooves.
The beasts stayed close to the brush, knocking down small trees as they
came. Johnny knew that heavy ato-tubes were trained on the rhinosaurs
from the guard towers. The guards in the gate towers would have a full
view of them. Johnny also knew that unless the beasts began to charge
the walls, the guards would not fire. If they did, the whole herd might
charge. Topped as they were with electric wires, the heavy fifty-foot
high walls would be hard to breach. But rhinosaurs had smashed those
walls once--before they were thickened and electrified.
"Remember when they attacked and killed a lot of colonists?"
"I remember," Baba clicked. "Your people killed them, too. These
straps...."
Johnny nodded. Because it was made of the skin of an animal the
colonists had killed, he had had a hard time getting Baba to wear that
harness.
"Let's go!" Johnny said.
This time the going was not so hard for Johnny, though they climbed
much farther before he and Baba could rest. The next ledge they reached
was not large enough to let them sit. Baba had to hang to the rock, but
it didn't seem to tire him.
Three more rests, and slowly but surely they were reaching the top. At
the last rest Baba clicked to Johnny in warning.
"The rock is getting softer. If my claws tear away from the rock, just
relax and fall with me. I'll grab again further down."
"All right," he said.
Johnny didn't dare look down. He had been climbing with Baba since he
was three, but never this high before.
They had gone up only a few more feet when Baba's claws began to slip.
Johnny let himself go limp just in case anything happened. Very slowly
Baba's claws slipped down the rock. Then they caught hold again.
"We will have to move to the side," Baba clicked.
Johnny didn't answer. It was up to Baba. The little bear scuttled
crabwise along the side until he found rock that didn't scale off. Then
up they went again. Finally there was a ledge. The two scrambled onto
it. Above the ledge was a gap in the rock, some boulders--and they were
on the top!
A faint wind was blowing, and Johnny could hear it sing through the top
of the stunted diamond-wood tree growing on the summit.
The top of New Plymouth Rock was flat, a hundred feet or more wide,
but with many jutting boulders. Here and there grew small bushes and
patches of grass. The diamond-wood tree sprang directly from the bare
rock.
With shaking fingers Johnny untied the straps and threw himself down on
a patch of green. As he lay there, his breath rustling the grass, he
heard Baba pattering about and wondered how the little bear had so much
energy left.
"Johnny," Baba clicked, "do you want some berries?" Johnny looked up to
see the little bear holding some clear, almost transparent red berries
in his paw. The colonists called them antelope berries because they
grew mainly in antelope country. At that moment Johnny realized he was
very thirsty.
"Thanks, Baba!" He crushed the berries with his teeth and felt the
sour-sweet juice trickle down his throat. He suddenly felt thrilled
with triumph. He was now where no other human had ever been before!
Johnny was just raising his head to look around when he heard the
patter of tiny hooves behind him.
"Look, Johnny!" Baba clicked.
Johnny turned. Running toward them was a herd of the tiniest antelope
he had ever seen. They were barely six inches high, their curled horns
almost as tiny as needles. Head down, they charged directly at him.
Johnny jumped to his feet.
"Friend-pets," Baba clicked gently, "bother us not." The tiny
creatures wheeled about and started back in the direction from which
they had come.