Martt stood in the starlight at the top of the slope, frozen into
immobility with horror. Frannie was struggling in the grip of the red
vine, being dragged along, with others of its kind leading the way.
Grown and taught for nothing but the blood-red day of the Ice City,
these things with single purpose were dragging Frannie there.
Martt stood stricken for an instant. The red thing paused. All
its green eyes turned. Beyond it the other things came to a stop,
irresolute, and then slithered on. But the one with Frannie lay
momentarily quiescent; only its eyes were quivering.
Martt became aware that Zee and Degg were beside him. Eeff was
crouching at its master's feet, whimpering with terror. Martt shouted,
"Zee, run back! Come on, Degg!"
He caught a glimpse of Degg's face, gray with fright. But his eyes
showed a sudden determination. And Degg leaped, with Martt after him.
The red thing flung up its forward tentacles, and shoved Frannie
farther back within its folds. Degg leaped for the clump of its
branches where Frannie was entangled.
Martt, running forward, abruptly stopped. One of the drug cylinders
within his pockets had bumped his thigh. A thought swept him--the
drug for smallness! He stopped; recklessly poured from the cylinder
nearly half its contents. And stood, with a huge buckle of his jacket,
crushing the white tablets into a powder in his hand.
Degg had fought his way to Frannie. He had torn her loose, thrust her
violently away, but was himself entrapped. He fought, ripping, tearing
at the red branches, struggling to avoid the sinuous tentacles which
curled back at him. A thick tendril of the vine had wound itself about
his legs. . . .
With the powder in his left hand, Martt rushed forward. There was a
part of the red thing which seemed of lesser size and strength. Martt
rushed in among its lashing brambles. They entwined him. He ducked the
sweep of a tentacle thick as his body. Eyes on the branches peered
into his face. He seized one, pulled it off. A slime with a red
phosphorescence was on his fingers. A pod struck his face; he tore it
open and scattered its seeds. A red, noisome juice spattered him. . . .
Martt was fighting only with his right hand. One of his legs was
gripped and held; he kicked, striving to free it.
These smaller branches were easily broken. They mashed, some of them
like a porous, tropical plant, oozing sap. They were spongy. Martt
scattered a little of the white powder; sifted it through his fingers.
The vegetable growth sucked it up--the drug mingled with the sap of its
bruises.
The branches were dwindling. Upon vegetable the drug acted more
swiftly than upon animal cells. The smaller tendrils shriveled. Then
branches of greater thickness. Martt could feel them letting go their
hold--shrinking, loosening their grip.
Around him in a moment was a shriveled, shrunken bramble. He kicked
himself free. A huge tentacle from another portion licked back and
seized him; whirled him aloft. But he kept his wits. Tore at it with
his fingers; rubbed the drug into its bruised bark. Along all its
length, the drug acted. Martt's weight brought its shriveled strength
to the ground. He fell upon his feet; tore himself loose again. Stamped
and tore, and leaped away.
Throughout all the length of the monstrous vine, now, the drug was
acting. Martt momentarily stood inactive, panting. He saw that Degg had
freed Frannie--saw her and Zee huddled at a distance on the slope near
by. Degg was still fighting; one of his legs seemed queerly twisted; an
arm of the red vine held him, but he kept his feet. Eeff was darting
forward and back, too much terrified to approach, yet anxious to help.
The vine everywhere was shrinking. Martt ran to free Degg. But he was
too late. The largest remaining tentacle lashed forward; it caught
Degg, whirled him up in the air and flung him heavily to the ground.
Degg lay still.
A moment. Then the vine was so shriveled that Martt waded throughout
its lashing length. Tore it apart. Scattered it. Stamped upon its
twisting, slithering red segments.
All dwindling. Separate, dismembered segments quivering around
him . . . smaller . . . red, twisting lines, with tiny green
eyes. . . . They winked and vanished into smallness. . . .