Marrella shot off into the forest, its legs moving at blurring velocity, its gills buzzing. It scooted over the dirt, stirring up a little cloud, and under twigs and leaves. Its body armor knocked obstructions out of its way.
It was not fleeing. It was moving under Nona’s direction. It was her familiar, and its senses served her mind. It had no eyes or ears, but its antennae picked up the vibrations in the air, and the smells. This provided it with an excellent awareness of its surroundings, which Nona tried to translate into a mental picture. But the needs of Marrella and the needs of the party did not match, and the picture was so foggy as to be useless.
“Maybe if Seqiro routed Mary’s impressions through to Burgess, he could shape them up for us better,” Colene suggested. “Because he understands this world.”
Seqiro connected Marrella’s awareness to Burgess’ mind, via Colene’s. Burgess had both hearing and sight, so understood the need. He translated the foggy sound/smell picture into a clearer sight picture for them all.
Now Darius and Colene saw the scene as Nona saw it. The ground was passing rapidly under the fifty-two little feet, and the various smaller bugs, worms, and roots that Marrella fed on were all around. None of the predators Marrella feared were close, because Marrella was staying well out of their way. There was a gentle wind, bringing news of the plants and animals upwind, shaping a picture of some depth.
There was a thick tangle of vegetation near the party, but the giant crab had forged a partial channel through it. Beyond was an aisle formed by a huge tree which had crashed down and rolled to the side. Beyond that was deeper forest where the undergrowth was slight. And beyond that was water.
“I think we’ve found a way through,” Colene said. “We just have to get Burgess to that aisle, and he’ll be fine.”
Darius looked at the crab’s trail. “This is good enough for us to use, but it would take a lot of work to make it level enough for Burgess.”
“Why make it level? Just carry him over.”
Darius considered. “Pick him up? He must weigh four hundred pounds!” He used Colene’s system of weights.
“You take one end, Nona and I take the other, and he lightens himself as much as he can with his air cushion. It’ll work, for a few feet. Seqiro can strengthen us for the occasion, too.”
Burgess was alarmed. “Lift me? This has never been done.”
“You never became an anchor for a Virtual Mode before, either,” she reminded him. “You can keep your canopy stiff enough to bear your weight?”
“I do this whenever I settle on the ground. My canopy is formed of what in earlier creatures were legs, with my gills now under my body and my contact points above. But I have always lifted myself on air.”
“Except that you can’t rise more than maybe an inch,” Colene said. “We can heave you up maybe three feet, to get you over that brush and root tangle. Once you’re over, you’ll be on level ground again.”
Nona felt Burgess’ doubt. She searched for a suitable analogy, and found it: she would have similar doubt if alien creatures proposed to carry her by her breasts and knees.
Colene laughed, “Well, you have better handles than I do!” she said. Then she had to pause to explain that to Burgess. “We girls don’t like to have our breasts touched, unless we decide it’s okay. Or even other parts of our bodies. But men keep trying to do it. It’s a bad scene.”
Burgess concluded that the aliens understood his situation. He agreed to be carried.
They rehearsed it with a heavy branch, tramping along the ragged path to the aisle beyond. They set the branch carefully down. Everything seemed to be in order.
They approached Burgess. Darius put his hands on two of the floater’s front canopy-scales, and Colene and Nona did the same with the rear scales. They were bone-hard and smooth, easy enough to grip. But could Darius actually heave up two hundred pounds, and each woman one hundred?
Then strength surged through Nona’s body. She heaved, and the body came up. The three of them were perfectly coordinated. They marched in step along the path, then set Burgess down in the aisle.
Nona’s surge of strength left her as she let go. “What happened?” she asked, amazed.
“Seqiro governed us,” Colene said. “He can make a person very fast and strong, for a while, and he made us all act in synchromesh. It’s part of his telepathy. He’s used to managing our kind.”
“Then next time we have to fight off any predators, he must do it again,” Nona said, impressed.
“Say! Good idea.”
But something huge loomed ahead of them, now. “The crab’s back!” Darius cried.
Indeed it was. The thing looked worse by daylight than it had at night. It had fresh scars and a missing antenna, but its huge claw remained devastatingly functional.
“Because poor Seqiro can’t fend it off when he has to concentrate on stunning Mary, or rerouting Mary’s impressions through Burgess, or giving us temporary strength,” Colene said. “Gee, I’m sorry, horsehead; I just tend to think of you as all-powerful.”
For you, I try, Seqiro answered her in pure thought. But I am near the end of my resource.
Colene looked at the crab barring their way. “Well, we’ve just got to help you out. Darius, can you advance threateningly on the thing, while Seqiro gives it a little bit of fear? Maybe the combination will make it think it’s more afraid than it is, and it’ll back off again.”
Darius took his axe and strode forward. “Hoo-hah!” he yelled loudly. At that moment Seqiro sent a terrible jolt of fear that made Nona wince, until she realized that it was actually Darius’ yell that accounted for much of the effect.
The crab scuttled back, and in a moment was gone. They heard the noises of its retreat. The ploy had been effective.
“Now ease up, Seqiro,” Colene said. “Conserve your strength. It should be a while before the stupid thing realizes that it’s not scared any more.”
Nona knew that she herself would not have thought of that device to spare the horse. She envied Colene’s practical sense.
Colene glanced at her. “I’d trade you for some of your measurements.”
“You would be foolish to do so, and you aren’t foolish.” Then they both laughed.
Now they were on their way. Burgess pumped up his air and floated along the aisle, and the others followed. Soon they were in the deeper forest, and had no further difficulty.
Marrella was waiting at the bank of the lake, hiding under some brush. Nona would never have been able to find it, if she had not had mental contact.
The lake itself was wide. It extended to the sides, Burgess indicated, until it intersected the plains where the hivers lurked, effectively isolating this section of the wilderness. Burgess knew that the greatest part of the wilderness lay beyond the lake; they could traverse much of the continent without leaving it. The crabs were not there, as far as Burgess knew; apparently they preferred the isolated niches. He floated out on the water, dipping his intake trunk for a drink.
But how were they to cross the lake? They could swim, but it was a fair distance, and Nona hesitated to trust unknown water. Something else bothered her, and she chased it down, in case it was important. Then she had it: “The floaters,” she said. “Why aren’t they on the water, cutting us off?”
That triggered a memory in Burgess. “The water predator! We can not cross that water.”
Colene focused on him. “We have to cross, Burgess. Because Seqiro can’t stay awake forever, fending off the crab. What’s with this predator, that the whole hive stays off this water?”
Burgess made a picture of a huge, flat swimming creature with tentacles in front, eyes on the sides, and a circular mouth below. “That’s Anomalocaris!” Colene exclaimed. “What’s it doing here in the present?”