success with the arrow-birds, he himself clicked in a low tone, "Come
here, friend-pets. Come here."
The antelope with the longest curled blue horns stopped, turned slowly
around and pawed the ground, his long neck arched. It was just seven
inches high. Johnny laughed. The regular antelope were seven _feet_
high, but otherwise looked exactly the same as these.
Johnny squatted down and, as he moved, the herd turned and ran, making
little whinnying noises. Then they wheeled and returned. The leader
pranced closer and closer and came to a halt within a foot of Johnny.
It was soft blue all over, marked with spots of deeper purple. Its
tiny hooves were blue black, and its eyes glistened with deep purple
highlights. Johnny reached out both his hands and laid them before the
little creature.
"Come," Johnny clicked. Trembling, the little antelope pawed the grass.
Then with mincing steps he came forward and placed his forefeet on one
hand, his hind feet on the other. Very slowly Johnny raised him from
the ground. The small hooves were sharp and dug into the palms of his
hands. The little animal's eyes widened and it snorted in fear. Johnny,
afraid it might fall, set his hands back on the ground.
"Go, friend-pet," he clicked. With a bound the creature returned to his
herd. Together the antelope leaped high over a small boulder and were
gone behind a clump of bushes.
Johnny looked up to see Baba watching him steadily. The little bear
looked at Johnny the same way as when he had spoken to the arrow-birds.
"Friend-pet-brother Johnny," Baba clicked, "I am sure I am doing wrong.
First the arrow-birds and now the antelopes are your friends. But they
are your people's enemies."
"Not the antelopes!" Johnny said. "They fight us some, but we don't
ever bother them except for meat."
"Your people kill them," Baba said, as if that settled matters. "Now
you can't. You've said they were your friends."
"Is that some kind of rule?" Johnny asked.
"You said they were your friends," Baba repeated. "You help your
friends and your friends help you. That is the law and will be the law
as the trees stand. Between friend and friend there is no parting more
than the fingers of a hand." Baba said this in a sort of sing-song of
clicks, like the song of a bird. It was something like a poem.
"Baba," Johnny asked, "how do you know all this? You've never talked
this way before." Johnny squatted down before the little bear, whose
face was screwed up into a puzzled frown.
"I guess I've always known it," Baba clicked. "But it just came back to
me. I don't remember much before I came to live with you, Johnny. But
I do remember being in a high tree. There was one like me whom I loved
very much, and she sang the song I just sang to you. I remember going
to sleep while she sang it. It is a true song, too."
"Would you sing it again?" Johnny asked.
The little bear began again:
"You help your friends and your friends help you.
It is the law,
And will be the law as the trees stand.
Between friend and friend there is no parting
More than the fingers of a hand."
This time the little bear really sang, trilling the clicks to a tune
like the roll of a mockingbird's song. Johnny felt very strange. He
patted Baba on the head and then stood up.
"I think I understand," he said, and looked out over the surrounding
countryside, thinking about the little antelope he had just held in his
hands.
"I'm hungry," the little bear clicked. With a jump and a bounce he
started for the stunted diamond-wood tree.
"Baba," Johnny called. The little bear bounced back. "Aren't there
plenty of those nuts here for you to live on? I mean, enough to feed
you regularly if you lived here all the time?"
The little bear nodded yes, but frowned.
"I want to live with you, Johnny," he clicked.
"I know, Baba. But you're in danger. I hoped that if I could show you
I'd be able to visit you, maybe you'd stay."
At the unhappiness on the little bear's face, Johnny hurried on. "Look,
Baba, I can't make you stay here. But somebody's going to find out
about your nails if you stay with me. If you live here, I could come up
and visit you when the nights come, and if we were lucky, I could see
you most every wake-time down by the rocks...." Johnny's voice trailed
off. Baba was looking unhappier and unhappier.
"I want to live with you," Baba repeated. "Remember what the song says
about parting. You stay here with me."
It was Johnny's turn to look unhappy. He didn't want to leave his
father and mother, any more than Baba wanted to leave him. The hard
climb was all for nothing.
"I can't, Baba. You know that," he said sadly.
"I can't either," Baba said.
Johnny continued arguing for a long time but it did no good. Baba
wanted to be with Johnny: there wasn't anything more to say.
"I'm still hungry!" clicked the little bear, plaintively. Then, with a
bounce, Baba was up and away. The little bear was crazier about fresh
diamond-wood nuts than anything else, even chocolate.
Johnny felt sad and confused. He got up. Below him stretched the sweet
green lands of Venus. The hard angles of the walls and the squat grey
buildings of the settlements were somehow out of keeping with the rest
of the land.
There was an almost park-like look about the jungle from this height.
In the distance the towering groves of diamond-wood trees, where the
marva lived, shone blue green against the light green clouds that
were the skies of Venus. Between the blue groves of diamond-wood were
the meadow lands, soft and rolling. At the edges of the meadows were
the lower and darker green meat trees, where the saber-tooth leopards
stalked. The land was laced with rivers that shone in the green light.
It was all so beautiful, and so deadly. In a few hours evening would
begin--almost three Earth days of twilight. Venus turned so slowly that
there was a whole Earth week each of daylight and dark. But of course
people had to sleep and work by Earth days. The thick permanent clouds
surrounding Venus glowed with light hours after sundown, making the
twilight last and last.
Beyond the marshes was the sea--filled, too, with savage life,
flying crocodiles who made nests of the bones of their prey, great
dinosaur-like monsters and shark-snakes. But none of these dared come
onto the land, for the land animals fought them as fiercely as they
fought man.
Except for Baba, all the animals on Venus were determined to kill
Johnny's people. And he had just been making friends with some of those
enemies. He felt strange, as if he were being a traitor to his own
kind. Johnny didn't like that feeling. Suddenly he thought of Baba
living among people and wondered if the little bear felt the same way.
Johnny turned away from the edge of the cliff and kicked a stone. He
began to wander over the top of New Plymouth Rock, peering into bushes
and piles of boulders. He passed near the antelopes grazing on some
grass. They lifted their heads and whinnied, but went on grazing.
Johnny liked that. Beside a pile of small boulders, he found some
arrow-bird nests. He spoke to the birds and all was well.
"That's an odd pile of boulders," Johnny muttered to himself. It didn't
look just right, somehow. He pushed one of the stones and it rolled
down almost to his foot. There was a dark empty space beyond it. He
took his flashlight from his belt and shined it down into the opening.
He almost dropped the flashlight.
The light revealed the shape of a bouncing bear, a marva, just like
Baba!
"Baba!" Johnny turned and yelled, "Come here, quick!"
When he looked back, the bear in the opening had not moved. It was not
blue, but the color of the rock. Johnny stopped shaking. The opening
was the entrance into a cave, and on the wall of the cave was carved
the figure of a bear he had thought was alive.
But he was sure that the bear had been blue!
CHAPTER SIX
_Inside New Plymouth Rock_
Johnny and Baba excitedly started clearing away the pile of boulders
and stones from the mouth of the mysterious cave. Immediately the
arrow-birds began flying around, their heads snapping into striking
position.
"They don't like us doing this," Baba clicked. "They don't like it at
all." He turned to the fluttering birds. "Bother us not! Bother us
not!" he repeated. The birds retreated, but hovered in the air not far
off.
"Go away!" Johnny clicked. The birds squeaked among themselves and went
a little farther away. "I don't understand," Johnny said. "We aren't
bothering their nests." He and Baba each picked up a stone and carried
it away from the cave opening. Johnny watched the arrow-birds from the
corners of his eyes. They dived in closer.
"Go away," came a firm, deep click. The birds stopped in mid-air and
then were gone.
"Gosh," Johnny said to Baba, "you sure made them go that time."
Baba's eyes opened wide.
"I didn't say anything," he clicked.
The bear and the boy looked at one another, puzzled, and then into the
opening. The bear cut in the stone was all they could see.
"Come on, Baba!" Johnny rushed to the opening and knocked down a few
more stones. Baba pushed them farther away. In a few minutes of hard
work the opening was big enough for Johnny to squeeze through. Around
the edge of the cave, the rock was carved with the shapes of many
animals. The floor slanted sharply downward.
"Hurry, Johnny," Baba clicked anxiously. "He may have gone away." The
little bear's eyes were shining with eagerness.
Johnny's heart sank. Baba had not seen another live jewel bear since
he had been captured. He had never seemed interested. But now he was
quivering with excitement. If they found marva, maybe Baba would want
to stay with them! Johnny wanted Baba to be safe, but he didn't want to
lose him for always.
The little bear was already scurrying down the steep slope. Without
stopping to think of danger ahead, Johnny plunged after him. The
ceiling was just high enough for him to stand upright. Flashing his
light into the darkness, Johnny saw that the cave was a long passageway
that curved down into the heart of the great rock.
Soon they were too deep inside for any light to reach them from the
mouth of the cave. Except for the beam of Johnny's flashlight, they
were surrounded by complete darkness. The air was musty and cool and
their footfalls echoed, making scarey hollow noises.
"Stop!" Johnny said. He held his fingers to his lips. His words echoed
and re-echoed in front of them. Then there was almost silence. A soft
padding and clicking sound came from far in the distance. It was the
same kind of noise Baba's feet and claws made on stone.
The two started out again at a half run. The slope was almost too
steep, and Johnny had to slide to a halt to keep from falling. Baba
went bouncing along ahead and out of sight. As the slope became steeper
yet, Johnny had to slide forward carefully. He stumbled and went down
on his back. His flashlight slipped from his hand and went rolling on
down the passage and out of sight.
In a second it was pitch black.
"Baba," Johnny yelled at the top of his lungs. His only answer was his
own voice echoing down the long corridor. He pushed himself up into
a sitting position and slid on forward on the seat of his pants, his
heart beating rapidly.
A few very long minutes later, he saw a light shining in the distance.
It was Baba, the flashlight in his paw.
"Hurry, Johnny!" he clicked. "Hurry."
With the way lighted for him, Johnny got to his feet and could move
faster. As he reached Baba, the passage began to widen and the slope
became less steep.
"I saw him," Baba clicked excitedly. "He was big. I'm sure if we could
catch him he'd be a friend! I tried to talk to him but he went on ahead
just when you called. Oh, Johnny, I do want to find him."
Johnny had never seen Baba so excited.
Suddenly, the passageway ended and they were in a great underground
room. Johnny flashed his light around the walls. They, too, were carved
with scenes of life on Venus. Beneath each carving was a small doorway
leading into a side room. There was one large doorway opposite the one
through which they had entered.
"It looks like a meeting house," Johnny said. "With seats and
everything." He flashed the light on one of the carvings. He had heard
of carvings like these and had seen one once. His father said that they
must have been made by an intelligent life form that had visited Venus
from the stars. This cave must have been where they had hidden from the
animals, just as men now hid from them behind the settlement's great
walls. Johnny was awed.
"Johnny, don't just stand here," Baba clicked. "We've got to find him!"
Johnny looked from opening to opening.
"Which way, Baba?"
The little bear sniffed the air. "I can't tell," he said. "I can't
tell." Hurriedly they made a circle about the great room. When they
came to the large opening, Baba sniffed carefully.
"Maybe here," he clicked, and plunged through.
Down they went as before. This time Johnny grabbed Baba's harness and
they were able to move faster. This corridor was just as steep and
curving as the first one.
In a few minutes they emerged into another room. It was smaller than
the room above and had three small doorways and one large opening.
"Let's try them all," Baba said. Through each of the three small
doorways they entered similar rooms. The fourth opening was another
corridor. Again Baba thought he smelled the path of the marva.
Down that corridor they went, down and down. Finally it ended in
hundreds of the rooms, large and small, the rock was like a honeycomb.
Johnny's flashlight was already growing dim, and they didn't dare try
to search much longer.
Trying to follow the scent they took a side corridor that led from one
small room to another, and came out into a narrow passageway. A faint
light glimmered at the end of it. Baba bounded on ahead, Johnny running
to keep up with him.
The light seeped through a pile of rocks. Johnny flashed his light
through one of the cracks. Behind the pile of rocks the tunnel
continued for several feet. In the light of his flashlight Johnny could
see bits of leather on the floor of the outer part of the cave. Just
beyond them on the other side of the rocks was the cave Johnny and
Baba had rested in while climbing up, the cave in which they had cut
the long straps they had used to tie themselves together for the long
climb upward. The bits of leather on the floor were scraps that had
been left over.
"Why, we're almost to the bottom," Johnny said.
"Yes," Baba clicked. "I guess we can't find him. I don't smell anything
now but arrow-birds," he ended sadly.
"We gotta try," Johnny said firmly. He felt hollow inside when he
thought Baba might go away for good, but he was convinced now that this
was the only way to keep him safe.
"Let's try farther down." Johnny turned around and a few minutes later
they were going down one of the curving main corridors again.
This corridor gradually straightened out. Soon it hardly slanted down
at all. It finally turned into what seemed to be a long underground
tunnel. Johnny had to stoop over to keep from hitting his head on the
ceiling.
The passageway was no longer going through solid rock, and its walls
and floor were a sticky clay. Johnny's and Baba's feet made squishing
noises as they walked. It seemed as if the tunnel would never end. They
walked on and on.
"I think we're going away from New Plymouth Rock," Baba clicked.
"I think so, too," Johnny answered. "We must've already gone 'most a
mile."
The walls had narrowed until Johnny and Baba had to walk single file.
Suddenly the passageway slanted upward and a faint glow of light could
be seen far away. As they began to climb toward the light the ceiling
became so low Johnny had to crawl on his hands and knees. It was a
long, sticky climb.
As they approached within a few yards of the light, Baba stopped,
blocking Johnny's way.
"This cave must end up in the jungle outside the colony wall," the
little bear clicked. "Maybe we ought to stop." He sounded worried.
But Johnny was not going to let this chance pass.
"Go on," he urged.
"But the rhinosaurs...."
"Who's afraid of an old rhinosaur?" Johnny demanded.
"You are," Baba clicked. But he scrambled on.
They emerged into the blinding light in the center of a tangle of
thick, high brush. They were out in the jungle, far away from the rock!
The boy and his bear were covered with mud from head to foot. They
peered carefully around, listening. In the distance they could hear the
rumble of moving rhinosaurs.
As they crept away from the cave, their view continued to be blocked
by large bushes and trees. They couldn't even see New Plymouth Rock.
Stepping quietly and carefully they finally came to an opening in the
brush. Far to the right was the Rock--and, farther in the distance, a
guard tower.
"Get back," Johnny shouted. "The guard will see us." The two jumped
back.
There was a grunt behind them. They turned. Behind a screen of brush, a
great blue-scaled rhinosaur was waking up. It was between them and the
opening to the cave. It snorted with the sound of a deep bass drum, and
heaved up on its feet.
Ahead, at the edge of the clearing, was a tall meat tree. They had two
chances. They could turn quietly and creep away into the brush, hoping
the big beast would not see or hear them. Or, they could make a run for
the meat tree--in full view of the guard tower.
CHAPTER SEVEN
_The Rhinosaur Stampede_
The decision was made for them by the rhinosaur. The great scaled beast
began to turn around, crashing down brush as he moved. In a few seconds
he would be facing directly toward them.
"Tree," Baba clicked very softly. Johnny nodded. The two slinked like
hunting cats toward the tree. They didn't dare look back.
"I think the guard saw us," Baba clicked. "He was waving his arms." The
jewel bear had already climbed part way up the trunk. He motioned for
Johnny to grab the harness.
Not making a sound Johnny took hold of the harness, and the two of them
started up the tree. When they reached the first branch, Johnny let go
the harness and clambered up as quickly and quietly as he could. Only
when they were screened from view by the fleshy leaves of the meat tree
did he dare to look down.
Through little openings between the leaves he could see the rhinosaur.
It was shaking its ugly horned head. Its little black-blue eyes peered
about under blue scaled eyelids. It trumpeted. The deep blasting sound
echoed against the settlement walls. For some minutes it moved around
in the brush, snorting. It paused, snuffing in air in great gulps. Then
it headed straight for the tree and began to trot back and forth under
it.
It had smelled Johnny!
Its hoofbeats on the ground made the limb Johnny sat on tremble. If the
rhinosaur sensed that Johnny was in the tree it was the end. The tree
was easily four feet thick at the base, but a rhinosaur could knock it
down with one rush. Johnny and Baba were on the highest and smallest
branch, but they were barely twenty feet above its head.
The rhinosaur's shoulder brushed against the lowest branch and the
whole tree swayed back and forth as if hit by a hurricane.
Johnny was struck by an idea. "Baba," he whispered, "do you think it
might obey you--just like the arrow-birds?"
"I don't know, Johnny," Baba clicked softly. "I'll try."
Baba started to climb down. By the slow careful way Baba moved, Johnny
knew the little bear was afraid, too. It was an awful chance to take.
Johnny was about to call him back, but as he opened his lips, the
little bear looked up and grinned.
Down Baba went. He was now halfway down the tree, thirty feet from the
ground and level with the eyes of the rhinosaur. It caught sight of
him, snorted, and pawed the ground, digging up shovelfuls of dirt with
each movement.
"Friend-pet! Friend-pet!" Baba clicked and Johnny suddenly wanted to
giggle. Imagine having something that size for a pet!
"Friend-pet!" Baba clicked again, "Go away! Go away! Bother us not!"
The big creature stopped still. Muscles rolled and bunched under the
heavy blue-grey scales. Was he going to charge or leave?
They never found out.
There was a roar of motors behind the beast, the clank of metal, the
deafening blast of an ato-tube gun. The ground shook; leaves showered
down on Johnny.
The guards had sent a tank to rescue them!
Things began to happen too fast for Johnny to keep track. The rhinosaur
roared with pain and wheeled. It had been hit! It charged toward the
oncoming tank--one of the colony's light duty tanks, built for speed
and quick turns. The driver jockied for position. The tank shot down
the clearing, turned and stopped. Its guns were too light to kill the
huge beast, so the gunner did not bother to fire again. They were
trying to draw the rhinosaur away from the tree.
The rhinosaur's hooves thundered, echoing against the walls and the
rocks as it gathered speed. It was almost on top of the tank. With a
roar of the motors the tank shot forward. The rhinosaur was going too
fast to stop or turn. It plunged on past the tank, bellowing its rage.
Almost immediately the tank screeched to a stop beneath the tree. Its
manhole swung open. Rick Saunders' red head emerged.
"Get in here! Quick!" he shouted over the noise of the motor.
Johnny needed no invitation. He was already halfway down the trunk of
the tree. Baba jumped from his perch into the open manhole. As soon as
Johnny was low enough, he grasped a branch, swung on to the top of the
tank, and started down the steel ladder. The tank jumped forward with a
lurch.
The rhinosaur was bearing down on them. Their guns roared, but the
rhinosaur did not stop. As a hand grabbed him, pulling him inside,
Johnny saw the tree topple over as the rhinosaur crashed into it.
"Fire the gate rocket!" someone's shout echoed in the tank. Johnny
recognized Captain Thompson's deep voice.
"Check!" Johnny heard Rick answer. Rick was up in the gun turret.
After the outside light, it seemed very dark in the tank. It smelled
of grease and the burnt air of cannon fire. There was the swish of a
rocket. Johnny knew this rocket was a signal for the guard on duty at
the steel gateways to be ready to open up.
The motors were roaring with a high whining sound which meant they were
going at full speed. The tank bounced and jolted, shaking Johnny from
side to side.
"Get ready for the gate!" warned Captain Thompson from the driver's
seat. The tank seemed to be almost flying now. Johnny set himself
for a violent turn. Like the doors of the houses, the wall gates were
double. Each was a heavy steel portcullis, a great sliding door that
could be raised and lowered. When a tank came in the outer gate its
weight tripped a switch. That switched turned on motors that made the
first gate fall and the second rise. Otherwise fast moving tanks would
have smashed into the second gate.
Johnny slid over to an observation slit. To his left he could see that
the heavy steel gate was rising. His heart raced. When being chased
by rhinosaurs a driver sped straight along the wall and then turned
sharply through the open gate. If he timed it right the rhinosaurs
plunged on and the tank was safe. It took split second timing.
They were right by the gate. Johnny grabbed a brace. With a scream of
the treads, the tank started into a turn.
"Rhinos on the side!" shouted Rick. His guns blasted.
Captain Thompson fought to straighten the tank out of the turn. Baba
was sitting with his paws over his ears, his claws glowing.
There was a bone-shattering crash.
Then Johnny felt himself flying through the air. Everything went
topsy-turvy. He banged his shoulder against the side of the tank. Then
he felt Baba's furry body against his. Rick's feet seemed to come from
nowhere and dig into his back. Johnny grabbed on to something solid and
wedged himself in tight.
The tank was rolling over and over. Something crashed against it again
and again. There was a heavy thud and the sound of breaking metal.
Then everything was still. The motors had stopped. From outside came
the roar of guns and the bellowing of rhinosaurs.
Johnny found himself sprawled on top of Rick Saunders. He was terribly
shaken. Baba was hanging onto one of the rungs of the steel ladder. It
was almost pitch dark. Rick struggled to his feet as Johnny scrambled
from on top of him.
"We're upside down," Baba clicked softly to Johnny.
"What happened, Saunders?" Captain Thompson's heavy voice demanded from
the driver's compartment. "Didn't Harkness teach you to shoot?"
"Four of them rushed us right at the gate," Rick answered. "Did we make
it inside?"