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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] me." He turned away from her to pick up the backpack. "Then you're really not going to kill me." She was still hesitant. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html "I've already told you: those who believe in the Purpose-" "Yeah, yeah. Some of your allies take a less exalted attitude on the battlefield." He took a step toward her. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to render you unconscious again. Just to preserve my lead. Nothing personal." She sighed. "If you must. I hope you trip over a rock and break both legs. Nothing personal." He smiled. "I must tell you that your appearance borders on the attractive." Her gaze narrowed. "Don't go getting any funny ideas. We're different species." "Ah," he said, gratified. "Then you don't think we're that much alike after all." Holstering the heat gun, he hefted his club. Chapter Eight Under normal circumstances he wouldn't have been trapped so easily, but his unnatural attraction to the Human female had made him careless. The result was that he fell victim to a relatively clumsy ambush. By the time he realized what was happening it was too late. Fur bristling, triple eyes staring, the Yula stepped out from behind the boulder in front of him while the Hivistahm-Hivistahm!-rose from behind the fallen log off to his right. Each held a stinger focused on different parts of his body. He didn't recognize the weapons type . . . not that it mattered. He was furious with himself. A moment ago he'd been preparing to set off into the real mountains, better equipped to remain at large than he'd been since his initial escape. Now all was lost. Not to Human or Massood Trackers, but because of a native and a Hivistahm, noncombatants both. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html The Hivistahm he thought he could outmaneuver, but he knew nothing of Yula reaction time. The triped spoke through a translator. "Put your right hand atop your head and drop the club you hold to the ground, then put your left hand atop your right. Do it quickly, please!" As soon as Ranji had complied the Hivistahm bounded forward and, trembling slightly, removed the heat pistol from the service belt and retreated. "Good." The tiny black eyes never wavered. "Please keep your hands where they are so that I may note the position of your manipulative digits at all times." Out of the corner of an eye Ranji saw that the Hivistahm was still trembling, and he wondered how the highly civilized, inoffensive creature had been talked into participating in the ambush. The Human rose and brushed at the back of her suit. "It's about time relief got here, though I was expecting one of my own kind. Not that I'm complaining, mind." She started toward him. "Stop there, please." Halting, she gaped at the Yula. It had remained motionless while confronting the prisoner, but under that Human stare it quivered ever so slightly. Ranji noted the reaction. "What is this?" she murmured. "I'm one of the designated Trackers. You two have done well and will be suitably commended. I'll see to that myself. But you're not trained soldiers. I am. I'm not trying to steal your thunder. I'll hold the gun while you take my stuff off him. Then we'll call for a sled to lift us all out of here." She took another step. The Yula retreated an equal distance and flicked the muzzle of its weapon in her direction. "Stay where you are, Human. Do not make me tell you again. Your presence here complicates matters and I am trying to decide how to proceed." Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html Hands atop his head, Ranji watched and waited silently for an opening. "You want to take it back alive, to keep it here on Omaphil for observation and study," the Yula was saying. "Of course." The woman continued to stare at the triped. "I cannot let you do that." Its fluffed-up fur made the native look twice as big as it actually was. "The thing has to die." "What are you talking about?" Trondheim's gaze was focused on the stinger. "Don't you realize what an impressive accomplishment this is for one of your species, how you'll be feted when the word gets out that you and a Hivistahm captured an escaped Ashregan warrior?" "We do not want to do anything 'impressive,' " the Yula told her. "Truly feted we do not wish to be," added the Hivistahm. With the rocking, jerky motion of its kind, the Yula took a double step toward Ranji. "The thing needs to die. It is a dangerous mutation, an aberration that could wreak havoc on Omaphil were it to escape from captivity. As it already has. So much for vaunted government safeguards." He gestured with the pistol. "Look at it! Twisted and distorted by the addition of Human fighting characteristics. Can one imagine anything so grotesque? It will be better off dead." "How did you know that I had escaped?" Ranji asked curiously. The Yula did something with its tiny mouth which might have been the equivalent of a smile. "I have well-informed friends." "Then your friends should've told you that its fate is not for you to decide." Trondheim glanced in Ranji's direction. "There's a sled on its way here now. How are you going to explain their dead specimen to them when they arrive?" Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html "We did not think of that.'' The Hivistahm scanned the sky uneasily. "Truly we did not think of that." "Be quiet!" Teoth snapped. "The female attempts to preserve the monster's life with the aid of a fabrication." He aimed the pistol. "This will only take an instant and then we will be away from this place." "As a Human soldier of the Weave I am ordering you to turn your weapons and this prisoner over to me!" Trondheim took a step toward the triped, eyes glittering. "Or are you going to shoot me, too?" "You may kill me after, but that does not matter." Teoth was calm, anesthetized [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |