"Just scratched a little," Johnny answered.
"Good," Captain Thompson grunted. "Is the righting jack O.K.?"
Rick tested a lever.
"O.K."
"Let her rip!"
"Hang on, Johnny," Rick said. "We're going to right her."
Johnny knew just what was going to happen. A tank turned turtle had
meant a dead crew until the righting jack had been attached to each of
the tanks. Compressed air pushed out two rods fore and aft and flipped
the tank right side up.
Johnny braced himself. There was a rush of air. Johnny felt the tank
tip slowly under him. Then it went over with a crash. The tank was
right side up.
"The gate!" Rick exclaimed.
Just above his head Johnny saw light from the observation slit. He
looked out. Then he knew what Rick meant. They and the four rhinosaurs
had reached the gate at the same time. The rhinosaurs were inside. They
had knocked the tank through the outer gateway and had smashed into the
steel door before it was halfway down.
The inner door must have met the same fate for Johnny could see that
the sliding steel plates were bent and jammed open. The rhinosaurs had
kept after the tank until now it lay fifty yards inside the settlement.
Even as Johnny watched, another rhinosaur charged through the opening
and headed into the settlement.
Captain Thompson was grinding on the starter and Rick was working up in
the gun turret.
"The rhinosaurs got through," Johnny clicked to Baba.
"And the tank is broken?" Baba clicked back.
"Yes."
"I have to get out," Baba said. "Maybe I can get the rhinosaurs to...."
"No, Baba," Johnny said. "They're just plain crazy now."
Captain Thompson climbed down out of the driver's compartment.
"The motor's gone. How are the guns?"
"Out of action," Rick answered. "Must be filled with dirt. We can't do
any good here."
"O.K.," Captain Thompson said. "Let's get moving. I'm needed out there!"
Rick undid the wing nuts on the manhole and pushed. Metal squeaked, but
the door stayed in place.
"Jammed!" Rick said. "Get me a crow bar out of the box."
Johnny dived for the tool box and came up with a pry bar. He handed it
to Rick.
"Hurry, man," Captain Thompson said as Rick went to work. His black
angry eyes fixed themselves on Johnny.
"We should have left you out there."
"I'm sorry," Johnny said.
In answer the man cuffed Johnny with the back of his hand. Johnny
couldn't be angry. He knew what a rhinosaur raid was like, and this one
was his fault.
"Oh, leave the kid alone," Rick said from above.
"Leave him alone!" Thompson snorted, and glared first at Johnny and
then at Baba. "The kid and that bear have caused more trouble...."
Captain Thompson stopped talking and stared at Baba. He reached out
suddenly and grabbed the little bear by the paw.
"Well, look at this!" he said in a hushed tone.
In the steamy darkness of the tank Baba's nails shone clear and blue.
The climbing and running had worn off all the paint.
Thompson held up Baba's paws into the light of an observation slit. He
scraped with one of his finger nails.
"Nail polish!" he exclaimed.
The manhole came open with a clang.
"She's open!" Rick called.
Captain Thompson paused only a fraction of a second over Baba and
climbed the ladder.
"Lock the kid and bear in the tank," Thompson ordered. "There's less
danger here for the boy than there would be in the trip to the wall.
You, Rick, go back to the gate. I'll run for headquarters. Make it
fast!" Without another word he was up the ladder and gone.
Rick Saunders reached down and patted Johnny on the shoulder.
"Tough luck about your bear, son," he said, and then he, too, was gone.
The manhole door clanged and Johnny heard a lock click into place. He
hugged Baba to him.
"Gosh, Baba," Johnny said, "what are we going to do now?"
Baba, for once, had nothing to say. Johnny hugged the warm, furry
creature closer to him. Tears began to streak down his cheeks. Baba
didn't like this. He cocked a blue eye at the boy.
"Don't cry, Johnny!" he clicked. "Come on, stop it!" he pleaded. "Why
don't we go up in the turret and see what's happening."
Johnny wiped his tears away and the two climbed into the gun turret.
His stomach tightened. Through the four-inch thick bubble of marvite
plastic he could see the destruction he and Baba had let loose. The
whole settlement lay within view. A half dozen of the giant lizard
beasts had turned, the colony into a dusty hell. Even within the tank
the bellows of the beasts and the roar of guns was almost deafening.
Most of the marshberry fields had already been trampled in the mud. One
of the concrete houses lay crushed into rubble. Johnny was grateful
that almost everyone was at the rocket field.
He gave thanks, too, for Captain Thompson. He could see the big man
marshaling tanks into an organized row. They were going to try to herd
the great beasts out the open gates.
Johnny turned his eyes toward the gates. Someone had manhandled one of
the big ato-tube cannons into the opening, pointing it into the jungle.
His friend, Rick Saunders, ran up to help. A dying rhinosaur lay not
far from the muzzle of the gun. Evidently the other rhinosaurs were too
sensible or too frightened to try the power of that cannon.
Baba was pulling at Johnny's sleeve.
"Look, Johnny, look!" Baba clicked.
Johnny turned and looked toward the settlement again. A heavy duty
hunting tank stood before the settlement stockade and store house. Its
heavy cannon spoke once and the door dissolved. Four men leaped from
the tank and ran inside.
"They're stealing our claws!" Johnny cried out.
Weighed down by the colony's strong box, the four men came out of the
building. Inside that strong box were the colony's precious marva
claws!
The four hunters heaved the safe into the tank's carrier and climbed
inside. With a spurt of dust, the tank rolled on.
A few minutes later it had fought its way through the rhinosaurs and
was passing the place where Johnny and Baba stared out of the turret.
As it came up to the gate the hunting tank's manhole opened and a man
emerged. He waved to Rick, standing beside the cannon. The redhaired
ex-bodyguard waved back. Then he climbed up on the tank and down
inside. The tank rolled on out into the jungle.
Johnny stood, shocked and silent. Out that gate went the last valuable
thing the colony owned!
"I don't understand," Baba clicked. "I thought Rick was the colony's
friend."
"I did, too," Johnny said sadly.
CHAPTER EIGHT
_One Secret is Revealed_
It was now early evening and the Venus skies were a deep clear green.
It was over an hour since the last rhinosaur had been killed or driven
out. The gates had been temporarily repaired. Here and there a small
building had been trodden into rubble.
Johnny and Baba were still locked inside the tank which had been
dragged away from the dangerous fighting. From the turret they were
watching a group of men gathered outside the administration building.
Johnny wished someone would come and let them out.
Finally the crowd broke up. One group of men hopped on to the back of a
tank and headed toward Johnny and Baba. The rest of the crowd followed
on foot.
"I wonder what's up," Johnny said.
Baba shook his head.
"I don't like the looks of it," Johnny went on. "We're in an awful
pickle." He looked down at the little bear's paws. He had painted the
nails again with the nail polish, but he didn't think it would do any
good.
The tank came rumbling to a halt beside them. The two crawled down
from the turret. Johnny heard the men working on the lock. The manhole
door was opened.
"Come on out, Johnny." It was his father's voice. Baba jumped on his
shoulder and Johnny climbed slowly out. Johnny's father and Captain
Thompson were standing on top of the tank, surrounded by a crowd of
grave-faced Venus pioneers. It was odd. None of the men looked angry.
Johnny knew they should be very angry with him. He tried to shape words
to say he'd try to make up for the trouble he'd caused, but the words
would not come.
Mr. Watson reached out and picked Baba from Johnny's shoulder. He
lifted up one of the little bear's paws and looked at it carefully.
"The claws still look black to me," he said. Disappointment, mixed with
relief, came over the faces of the men.
"Let me show you." Captain Thompson, not ungently, took Baba from
Johnny's father.
The little bear looked straight at Johnny, an odd expression in his
deep blue eyes. But he didn't struggle.
Captain Thompson set Baba down on the top of the tank and took one of
the paws in his hands. With his fingernail he scraped at one of the
claws, then another and another. He held the paw up for the men to see.
The claws glowed clear blue in the evening light.
"You see," he said, triumphantly, "it is just as I said. The boy has
been covering them up." The crowd sighed with wonder.
Captain Thompson turned back to Johnny's father. "You'd better tell
the boy right away. It will be easier." Many of the crowd nodded their
agreement. For the first time Johnny made out the object that Captain
Thompson had been carrying. It was a small cage made of diamond-wood.
Johnny's father reached out and touched him on the shoulder.
"You know what happened here today, don't you, Johnny?" he asked in a
grave tone.
"Yes, sir," Johnny answered in a low, shamed voice. "The crop's been
ruined, and those hunters stole our claws."
"That's right," his father said. "And I think you also understand that
if it hadn't been for you, this needn't have happened."
"Yes, sir." The words were almost a whisper. Johnny felt the tears
coming up into his eyes.
"You can understand, then, it's up to you and us to make amends to the
colony."
"Yes, sir." Johnny's whisper was even lower.
"Well, son, I'm sorry to do this, but I have to. I know Baba has been
your pet for a long time, but you are going to have to give him up.
I've just given him back to the colony. Now, get him into the cage, so
we can get this over with."
"But you'll kill him!" Johnny cried out. He reached down and swept the
little bear into his arms.
"No, son, not right away," his father answered. "The rocket captain
says the colony could make some money by showing him alive on Earth
before they--put him to sleep."
"But you know that he'll die. Oh, Daddy, please don't!" Johnny looked
up, pleading, at his father.
Frederick Watson's eyes met Johnny's. They were kind but stern. He
shook his head firmly.
Johnny looked around him through his tears. Baba was warm and furry in
his arms. The men stood about; their faces were grave and determined.
Most still held ato-tubes in their hands. Even at that, Baba had a
chance. Johnny began to click in the ear of the little bear.
"Baba," he clicked very softly, "you can get away, over the wall by the
rock. It isn't very far. I'll throw you as far as I can. If you bounce
like crazy they could never hit you."
But the little bear jumped to the steel tank top.
"No, Johnny," he clicked. "You are my friend-pet-brother, no matter
what happens."
Then, just as if he had been told to go by Johnny, the little bear
walked over to the cage. Captain Thompson was holding a sliding door
open. Baba climbed in. He squatted there and made a little whimpering
noise that was the only sound he could make beside his clicks. He waved
a paw at Johnny.
"The little devil acts almost human," the old guard, Jeb, said from the
crowd.
Only Johnny knew how true that was.
"Better hustle that kid inside a tank," someone shouted. "He hasn't got
any armor on."
Frederick Watson's head jerked around. His eyes widened. In one motion
he took Johnny into his arms and jumped to the ground. Seconds later
Johnny was in a big hunting tank headed for home, a home for the first
time in ten years empty of a little bouncing bear.
CHAPTER NINE
_The Price of a Brother_
Johnny had some tall explaining to do about his lack of armor. He was
in a tight spot, for the less he let anyone know, the more chance he
had to find some way of rescuing Baba.
Johnny was very careful about his explanation. There might still be a
way. The fact that he had been seen on top of New Plymouth Rock made
his explanation easier. He simply said that he had been looking for a
place to hide the little bear and, in order for Baba to help take him
up the rock, he had had to chance taking off his armor. He said nothing
about Baba and the arrow-birds.
Being found in the jungle was harder to explain without telling a
lie--but he managed it. He said that he and Baba had taken a route
down that had made them land on the jungle side of the rock. It didn't
explain why they were beyond the clearing, but his parents seemed to
assume that he had been trying to get among the brush where he could
hide from the animals. He said nothing at all about the caves in the
rock. It was a pretty thin story, but his family was too relieved that
he had come home alive to worry much about it.
It was long past supper time when the explaining was over and his
mother began to prepare a meal.
Ordinarily Johnny's father would not have been home even for supper.
Rocket day was a busy time for the leader of the colony. But with all
the confusion, the business of the day had to be put aside.
It was a strangely sad and silent house. Johnny himself was so good his
parents could hardly recognize him. He had showered without being asked
and changed into clean clothes. His hands were perfectly clean at the
table. His mother had hidden Baba's high chair away; the little bear
had always sat with them at table. It was a quiet meal.
Often after the before-sleep meal Johnny and his father worked on model
rockets, but this evening models were forgotten. Johnny got a book and
his father busied himself with papers. But Johnny didn't read. He kept
thinking of Baba, all alone in the settlement storage house, surrounded
by guards. The whole area was lit up in case hunters should try to
steal the little bear just as they had stolen the marva claws.
The family sat in silence. Once Johnny saw his mother wipe a tear away
from her eyes. He knew she liked Baba, too. But she liked him only as a
pet.
"Dad," he said suddenly. His father looked up from his work. "Would
you--?" Johnny didn't know how to put the question he had to ask. "I
mean ... well, the colony's in pretty bad shape, isn't it?"
"Yes, son," his father said gravely, "it is."
"The million dollars we get for Baba will help out a lot, won't it?"
Johnny was very serious. "But, without it, would everybody starve to
death?"
"A million dollars will help the colony out," his father answered. "But
even without it, nobody would starve. There are the meat fruit and
berries to gather and the animals to hunt. But everyone would have a
very hard time. It isn't a simple thing to keep a colony going. It is
very difficult and very important. Mankind is reaching out, son, and
some day we may inhabit planets of all the stars in the heavens. But
only if Venus colony succeeds. It is a big thing, Johnny." Mr. Watson's
voice was serious, as if he were talking to another man. Johnny was
quiet a minute.
"Dad," he said slowly, "in order to get that million dollars would you
have mother or me"--he paused--"put to sleep?"
"Johnny!" Johnny's mother broke in in a horrified voice. "That's no
question to ask your father."
"I've got to know, Mother. I've just got to," Johnny said earnestly,
his brow wrinkled.
Johnny's father looked at him strangely.
"Did you really think," he asked in a tight, hurt voice, "I would do a
thing like that?"
"Not even Uncle Nathan?" Johnny persisted. Nathan was his mother's
brother.
"All right, Johnny," his father said in a firm voice. "I'll answer you.
No, I wouldn't have you, your mother, _or_ your Uncle Nathan 'put to
sleep' for any amount of money--for the colony or for myself. But you
must understand, Johnny, you aren't the same as a little bouncing bear."
"But Baba--" Johnny began.
"Baba is an animal," Johnny's mother broke in. "I know how you
love him. But you have to understand that your father could not do
differently from what he did." She came over to Johnny and put her arm
around him. "We love Baba, too, and it hurts us to give him up. Still
we must. You do understand, don't you?"
Johnny looked up into his mother's face and smiled. It was a very small
and very weak smile, but a smile none the less.
"I understand," he said, and turned back to his father. "Thanks for
answering my question, Dad." Johnny felt better for the first time
since Baba had been put in the cage. Now he knew just what he had to
do. It was right to do it. Baba was as close to him as _any_ brother.
"Do you think I could go see Baba before sleep time, Dad? You know he
won't eat if I'm not there."
Johnny's father looked at his mother.
"It couldn't do any harm, Fred," she said. "Let the boy go. But he must
be in bed soon."
"All right, son," his father answered. "But remember, the whole thing
is out of our hands now. You'll just have to accept what is going to
happen."
"O.K., Dad," Johnny said. Everything was going to be all right, but
he'd need every ounce of courage he had.
* * * * *
A few minutes later Jeb, the old guard, let Johnny and his father into
the store house.
The little bear sat quietly in his cage. There were a dozen uncracked
nuts on the floor. An untouched bar of chocolate lay beside him.
"I'm sure glad to see you!" said old Jeb. "Ever since he got here
the little critter's been sitting just like that, kind of crying to
himself. He wouldn't pay attention even when I gave him the chocolate."
"He'll be all right now," Johnny's father said.
"It probably oughtn't to bother me so much." Jeb closed the door and
stood there with them. He took off his headglobe and scratched his
head. "But my partner'n me caught one of the little ones once. We
watched it just waste away, crying like that all the time. I always
figured we should have let it go. But then there was always the chance
it'd grow up and be worth a million." He glanced down at Johnny, who
was removing his armor, and came to a stumbling halt. "Sorry, kid," he
said. He put his headglobe back on and went out.
As soon as he saw Johnny, the little bear's ears perked up.
"Hi!" he clicked.
Johnny winked.
Johnny's father stood there and watched them.
"Remember, Johnny," he cautioned, "this is just a visit. What the
colony decides in this matter goes."
"I know, Dad," Johnny answered.
"I'll be back in half an hour," his father said. "Get him to eat, if
you can. Night will be here in a few hours and he'll sleep then." With
this he opened the door and left.
Johnny rushed to the cage. His hand was on the latch when the door
opened again. It was old Jeb.
"Sorry, son, but I got orders not to leave you alone with the critter.
If he ever got out he'd be mighty hard to catch." Jeb walked over and
seated himself on a box.
"That's all right," Johnny said, and squatted down in front of the
cage. It wasn't part of the plan for Baba to get away--yet. "Besides,
he wouldn't run away while I'm here," he said.
"Can't take no chances." Jeb sprawled out as if glad to be off his
feet. Johnny turned to Baba.
"Baba," Johnny clicked in the marva language, "can you get out of here,
if you want to?" Johnny didn't like to talk in the clicking language
with Jeb around, but there was no avoiding it.
"Yes," the little bear answered after a time. But then he whimpered
again.
"Doggone it, stop that!" Johnny said in English. Then he clicked, "If
things work out right, you aren't going to have to go to Earth _or_ get
killed."
"But how?" Baba asked. He seemed to revive a little. "If I got out and
came to you they'd just bring me back here."
"I know, but they don't think you're smart enough to do anything else.
They don't know anything except that we were up on the rock."
The little bear grinned. Then suddenly he began to sniff. He looked all
around him, found the chocolate and began to stuff it into his mouth,
making loud smacking noises. Johnny gave a sigh of relief. Baba was on
the mend.
"Now, listen, we've gotta make plans."
"But what can we do, if they know we were on the rock?" Baba clicked
through a mouthful of chocolate mixed with nuts--his favorite
combination.
Johnny took a deep breath. "We could run away into the jungle!" he
clicked. He jumped when Jeb moved away from his box.
"That's quite a racket you two're making." Jeb walked over and peered
at them from under jutting grey eyebrows. "Well, you've got the little
devil to eatin'!" He smiled and waved at Baba. Baba waved back and the
guard laughed. "It's a pity, that what it is. It's just a pity you're
worth so much money!" He went back to his seat.
"But, Johnny," Baba clicked, "you couldn't live in the jungle."
"_You_ can't live _here_--or on Earth. Sooner or later they're going
to--well, they're going to want your claws and teeth. Out there we
would have a chance. Why, we might even find some of the--" He put
in the word 'wild' in English, for there was no word for it in the
clicking language, "--marvas, and we could live with them."
"No!" Baba interrupted. "You might be killed. I can make the
arrow-birds go away, but there are the horned snakes and the leopards
and rhinosaurs and...."
"Wasn't that old rhinosaur about to go away?" Johnny broke in. "Just
because you said so?"
"Maybe," Baba admitted. "He stopped a second. But then we don't know
for sure!"
"I've got to take the chance. I've just got to!" Johnny insisted. "I
can't let them take you away and use you for making somebody's rings
or a mess of plastic. Remember that song you sang." Johnny tried to
sing the little lullaby that Baba had sung on the top of New Plymouth
Rock. The little bear grinned and put his paws over his ears.
"The words are right," he said, "but the tune is all wrong. Listen!"
The little bear sang the song that was like the roll of a mockingbird's
call.
"That's right pretty," Jeb said from his box. "I'd heard men say that
the critters sang, but never did hear one myself. Old hunter friend of
mine said he came on a marva once singing to her little ones that way.
It was so pretty he stopped to listen and by gum if she didn't smell
him and bounce off 'fore he could draw a bead on her."
"Baba sings real well--when he's happy," Johnny said, and turned back
to Baba. "And you sing true, too, Baba," he clicked.
"All right," the little bear clicked. "How will we do it?"
The plan came out in a rush. Johnny had it all worked out. "It's Venus
evening now," Johnny said, "and we're supposed to be in a sleep period.
That means there won't be too many people up but guards. I'll take some
food for me and some matches and a flashlight and some other things."
He paused. "They leave you alone in here, don't they?"
"Yes," clicked Baba.
"Do you think you can cut a hole in the bottom of the cage?" Johnny
asked.
"Easy!" The little bear touched a bar with his claws.
"Good. When you're out, dig a hole in the floor. But be careful. They
have guards walking all around, and they already have lights rigged up.
The switch is in between the double doors. Get your escape holes all
made, turn out the lights, and then scoot! I'll be waiting for you by
the rock. O.K.?"
The little bear nodded. "We'll have to find a place to be when it gets
dark," he clicked. Baba didn't sleep as people did, but during the four
day period of darkness he had to sleep most of the time.
"We'll find some place," Johnny clicked. "Now, listen. I'll try to get
some sleep and I'll be ready in five hours. Don't try to get out before
then. My folks will be asleep and I can slip out of the house. If it
takes you longer, I'll wait."
"Leave it to me," Baba said.
They had everything settled and were playing together through the bars
of the cage when Johnny's father came after him.
"Time for bed, son," his father said. "Say goodbye, now."
Johnny got into his armor, said goodnight to Jeb and followed his
father outside. In the deep green twilight every building of the
settlement stood out sharp and clear. A cool breeze was coming up.
Johnny looked over to New Plymouth Rock. Behind that towering rock lay
the vast and menacing jungle.
CHAPTER TEN
_Alone in the Jungle_
Johnny was afraid. Behind a boulder by New Plymouth Rock, he had been
sitting and waiting for Baba for almost one hour. It was too long a
time to wait with nothing to do but imagine what might happen in the
jungle. Johnny was dressed for the cold night to come in a synthetic
fur parka. Strapped on his back was a pack containing food and jungle
equipment. Beside him was Baba's harness. He was very tired and sleepy.