"Damn!" said Duke. "I knew it."
I looked at him. His expression was impossible to read behind the goggles and O-mask. I said, "What are you talking about? This is incredible! There must be a whole colony of these creatures."
"-Unless your critter doubled back over his own path."
"Why would he do that?"
"To confuse us," Duke said. "Are you confused?"
"Uh... I don't think so."
"Uh huh." Duke looked at me funny. "Then which way is back?"
I pointed past his shoulder. "That way."
"You sure?"
I looked at him curiously. "Do you know something I don't?"
He turned slowly, studying the dunes. "Remember Shorty? He and I were in Pakistan together. The black pajama boys used to do this exact same trick. They'd let one of their number be seen. As soon as he was spotted he'd take off into the trees. There was always at least one jackass stupid enough to chase after him, so he'd leave the most complicated, zigzag, twisty, serpentine trail he could-but he always made sure it was clear enough to follow. As soon as you were deep enough to be confused about the way back, the trail would stop. That's when his friends would come out to play. We lost an awful lot of jackasses that way."
I glanced around nervously. A steady breeze rustled the surface of the dust, stirring pink wraiths into the air. Everything looked pink. There was no horizon any more, no sky, no ground-just a fine pink haze. We had some bleak-looking bushes and dunes. Nothing else.
I shuddered. For some reason, frosty pink things weren't charming any more. I looked back to Duke. "Do you think that's what's happening here?"
Duke looked grim. "I don't know. I didn't see your creature and I can't guess what he wants or how his mind works. And this isn't Pakistan. But that's what I keep thinking of. Sorry, son-that's the only thing I have to compare it to-Pakistani Poker."
I considered it. Duke only called me "son" when he thought something was important and he wanted me to listen harder than usual.
"Let's head back," I said.
"I thought you'd agree." He pointed. "It's that way."
"You lead," I said. I fell in behind him.
Our path wound back through the bushes. I didn't remember making this many twists and turns
Suddenly, Duke stopped and pointed ahead. "Look-"
Our path had been crisscrossed again and again by paddlefoot tracks, until our original prints were no longer visible. Something had been following behind us. "Urk-" I said.
Duke swung the torch around slowly, covering the bushes on all sides. "Well... now they know that we know." His eyes narrowed behind his goggles. "If they're going to attack, now's the time. "
"Well let's not stand here talking about it. Let's keep going!"
"Just a minute-" Duke pulled a small plastic disc off his belt. "We're going to need the beeper." He studied it for half a second, then pushed off at a new angle. "Follow me."
The dust was coming down heavier now. We could see it floating in like snowflakes. The particles were bigger now-big pink clumps, turning as they drifted. They looked like dandelions. I reached out to catch one as it floated down. It disappeared when it touched my hand-it puffed into dust and was gone, it was that light.
"We're in the thick of the storm," I said.
"Uh huh-and the wind is rising. We'd better hurry. We'll be at the limit of our masks soon."
I nodded and followed him. The visibility was getting worse. I couldn't see more than twenty yards ahead of us.
"Jim, it's getting deeper. You'd better start freezing again."
"Right." I came up even with Duke and sprayed a quick cold cloud of chill ahead. The liquid nitrogen looked like steam when it hissed into the air. The dust crackled and broke as we moved through it. The frozen crust beneath crunched.
Duke checked his beeper and pointed. I moved ahead and sprayed again. We moved forward cautiously.
"You think they can attack in this dust?" I asked.
"It's their natural element," Duke said. "And they don't seem to have any trouble moving around in it. I won't feel safe till we're back in the chopper." He checked his beeper. "More to the left, Jim. We should be almost to the slope-"
"Urk-"
"What's that?"
I stopped and pointed. Duke came up behind me and peered through the pink gloom.
There were three of them.
They looked like flop-eared bunnies. Or puppydogs. They had little squat bodies covered with frosty pink fur. I couldn't tell if that was just the dust or if it was their natural color.
They seemed to have large round faces and short, blunt muzzles. The pink frosting that covered everything made it hard to tell. Their noses and mouths were invisible, and their eyes were narrowly slitted against the powdery dust. They were thoroughly covered with it; they stood waist deep in the bright powder. They looked like little Chinese bunnies in a cotton candy factory.
Bunny ears. Puppy faces. Not my idea of aliens from space. Certainly not my idea of a Chtorran intelligence.
I couldn't tell if they were friendly, hostile, or just curious. But they were staring at us. There was no question that we were the focus of their attention.
I looked at Duke-and then looked past Duke in horror. Five more of the little bunnydogs were just creeping up behind us.
I whirled around-there were more of them just coming out of the bushes behind me. They were coming out on all sides of us, too many to count.
There were bunnydogs to the left of us, bunnydogs to the right of us-
We were surrounded.
FIFTEEN
DUKE SPOKE first. "Well..." he said, very softly, "here's another fine mess you've gotten me into."
I looked over at him. "I must say, you're taking it rather well." Duke ignored the remark. He was studying the bunnydogs, trying to figure out which one was the leader.
He said, "You're supposed to be a scientist. What's the Chtorran word for friend?"
"The only Chtorran word I know translates out as 'lunch."'
"Better not," Duke said. "Not until we know what these things eat."
"Well ... they're not herbivores," I said.
"How do you know that?"
"Their eyes are on the front of the head. Predators need stereoscopic vision for tracking prey. Prey animals need their eyes on the sides of their head for avoiding predators. At least, that's how it happened on this planet. I could be wrong. But... if they're meat-eaters, then there's also a potential for intelligence."
"Why?"
"How much brains does it take to sneak up on a blade of grass?" I replied. I'd credit the joke later.
Duke considered the idea and nodded. During all this, the bunnydogs still hadn't moved. They just sat and stared at us.
I added, "Pray that these things are omnivores. According to the Cohen models, intelligence develops first in hunters, but it survives in creatures who aren't totally dependent on the hunt."
"So?" Duke asked, "Are we in trouble here or not?"
"Well ... they're not carrying any weapons. If they're intelligent, then they could be just as curious about us as we are about them."
Duke turned slowly, studying the circle of little pink eskimothings. They were remarkably patient little creatures. Duke said slowly, "You may be making a false assumption here, Jim."
I turned in the opposite direction, also studying. "What's that?" I asked.
"You're assuming that these things are sentient. What if they're not? What if this is just a wolf pack?"
The idea startled me. Duke was right. I'd been anthropomorphizing the bunnydogs from the very first sighting. I'd just naturally assumed that anything with a humanoid form would have to be intelligent. "You're right. I'm sorry."