The day broke suddenly. The sun was so bright that its rays illuminated everything from the instant it started over the horizon. There were long shadows cast by the rocks and the hills, but we could see easily as we got ready to start. We ate some rations and headed out, moving up towards the pass.
The way grew steeper and steeper. I felt that we were lucky that the gravity was perhaps a little less than Earth normal. Weighing less, because of our time in lower artificial gravity, helped with the climb. We strung out in a line, Frank following up behind Erin, who followed Whistle and me. Whistle sometimes got a little too close on my heels, and I had to explain to him that it might not be safe since if I slipped, I’d surely knock him down as I fell. He’d back off a bit, but the next time I would look, he’d be right behind me again. I took it to mean that he was very nervous about our safety.
We kept on steadily until about mid-day as I judged from the shortness of the shadows. There was no glancing at the sun. You couldn’t move your eyes within forty-five degrees of the brilliant orb; it was just too bright, and you risked your sight looking in its direction. You might not have been blinded, if you happened to look directly at it, but, as we each found out inadvertently for ourselves, a brief glance dazzled you and left your eyes watering and unable to see accurately for several minutes afterward. After experiencing that brightness, we each carefully kept our line of sight close to the ground.
The moment the sun was directly overhead corresponded almost precisely with the moment that we crested the pass. The view was magnificent. The mountainside descended in a vast, smooth slope and gradually blended into the omnipresent veldt. The tree-lined paths of rivers were visible in the distance, and one large area was covered in heavy vegetation. I took this to be a swamp. Unfortunately, it was directly in our path. By this point, I thought we were about forty percent of the way there, so with luck and if the swamp was not too difficult, we might be reaching our goal sometime towards the end of the day after tomorrow.
The way down the mountain was almost designed for easy walking, but after an hour of holding back on the downward slope, my calves and thighs were burning. Going downhill was harder than it seemed. We finally came to a flatter place that was covered with broken rocks. It looked as if they’d fallen or rolled down the hill behind us. As we were crossing this area slowly, necessitated by the numerous, rounded stones, the incessant wind shifted direction and blew down the mountain from behind us. When I glanced back, I could see a huge storm, like the one that had caused us to crash in the first place, building on the far side of the mountains.
Without warning, a powerful gust of wind struck us. It was falling off the storm’s sides, and rolling down the mountainside only increased its strength. It was easily hurricane force, knocking Erin and Whistle off their feet. Frank leaned backward slightly but kept his feet easily. As for me, it staggered me, but then I didn’t weigh as much as the big man. He had a hundred pounds on me, and the extra weight really helped him resist the wind.
Within five minutes of the wind strengthening, the first rock came rolling downwards at a high rate of speed. I could see that it was being followed by numerous others, and the wind wasn’t slowing. In sudden alarm, I shouted to the others that we had to find shelter. We crouched behind a massive boulder that was conveniently nearby and listened to the rocks bouncing off it and to either side of us. After about ten minutes, the wind died down somewhat, and the rockfall slowed to the point where we felt safe enough to proceed.
We hurried out of the area of fallen stones and eventually started up a low grade on the other side of a valley. Only a few rocks had blown up this slope, so we’d probably made it clear of the unexpected hazard. We came over the side of the valley and descended into a large, depressed-looking area of land.
This area was shaped like a bowl and was surprisingly full of small trees. A brief distance into the grove found us in an open meadow area. The normal grass plants were there, but there was some kind of a battle going on at the far side of the grassy area.
We could see a cloud of dust and hear various snarls and screeches coming from the spot. We got our weapons ready and rapidly moved through the grass to a better vantage point. As we approached, I tried to sense what was going on from a mental perspective since the dust obscured most of our view.
Mentally, it was confusing. It was as if there were a curious doubling of thought. One part was rational but quite angry, and the other strongly echoed those attributes. If it hadn’t been for the temporal factor—the stronger thoughts were echoes, so the first ones must be the originals—I would have sworn that there was only one creature, and it was having a fight with itself.
The wind picked up again as we neared the site, and suddenly, the dust blew away. Two creatures were engaged in a battle to the death. The one that I found most familiar was a green-striped, tiger-like beast with no tail and a smaller, secondary pair of arms folded out of the way against its chest. The primary arms were hugely muscular and had very deadly-looking claws, which it was attempting to use to get free of the other animal.
The other animal was as close to the legendary hydra as I’d ever hoped to see. It had several thick tentacles with both eyes and a lamprey-like mouth on the end. There was too much action to count the tentacles, but there were at least seven or eight. One of them was lying on the ground below the tiger’s feet, mostly detached by a bite which had severed the main muscles. It was far from dead, though. It was still snapping its many circular rows of teeth and thrashing around.
It managed to latch onto the tiger’s rear foot with one of its thrashes, eliciting a roar of pain and rage. With the roar, the mental activity increased, and I understood then that the tiger was the original source of the thoughts. Somehow, the tentacled hydra was echoing the tiger’s thoughts.
As I realized that, one of the rear hydra heads holding back from the struggle swiveled towards me, and I had a momentary shock. Instead of the two animals, all I saw was Liz standing there, smiling at me. She motioned with her arm as if to beckon me to her side. I shook my head and looked again. There she stood in the midst of the dust cloud, waving her arm.
Suddenly, the image of her faded, and I was able to see the two animals again. The tiger had just severed a second tentacle, and the one that had been focusing on me was now trying to wrap around the tiger’s neck.
I sent a thought towards the tiger to break off the fight, and it jumped hard in response but was unable to break free. Not wanting to injure it, I pulled out my splinter-gun and carefully aimed at the slime-covered body of the hydra. It had come out of a den and was still partway in the ground. The leverage of its body in the hole gave it more strength than it would have if it were fully exposed.
There was a moment when the tiger flung itself to one side, and the hydra’s body was more fully exposed. I fired a single splinter into the slimy flesh. The poison-covered projectile was spectacularly effective. It instantly dissolved a large hole in the thing’s side, and noxious black fluid came gushing out. The heads all hissed in dismay and simultaneously released the tiger, which staggered back and landed on its haunches in a sitting position. It immediately recovered and jumped away from the hydra’s lair.
The hydra was not doing well from the effects of the poison, but it had the energy and presence of mind to know who had caused its injury. The remaining heads focused on me, and I was instantly under a multi-pronged mental attack that immediately threatened to overwhelm my defenses. The space in front of me was filled with images that I recognized were ripped from my memories, and I could barely stand, so great was the confusion in my mind. My consciousness retreated, and things became black for a moment.
Then, there was a merciful cessation of the attack, and I gathered myself to fight back, realizing as I did that the hydra was no longer a threat. Frank had used his anti-matter rifle and disintegrated all of the heads and most of the body. It wasn’t a moment too soon because I had been on the verge of going completely under.
I stood there looking in shock at the remains of the mind-controlling beast. Then, I became aware of another, weaker mental voice that seemed to come from the sides of my head. The tiger thing was looking at me and rather clearly projecting thoughts of gratitude, although there was a kind of prideful, prickly air about them.
I gathered my wits and thought back at it, emphasizing that we were friendly and not interested in fighting. I told it that I’d realized that it was fighting for its life, and I’d decided that it needed assistance.
“Not much!” it sent in return. “I was defeating the vision beast.” It abruptly turned and started towards the edge of the clearing.
“Wait!” I sent. It stopped and turned towards me. As it did, I observed that its motion wasn’t cat-like at all. It was more of a simulation of an earthly tiger than a true cat. I decided at that instant to refer to it as a “Sim-tiger.”
“What?” impatiently. It looked over its shoulder as if it were late for an appointment.
“We need help, ourselves. I was hoping that you’d at least give us information.” I sent.
“I can do that,” it somewhat grudgingly admitted. “You did help me with the vision beast after all.”
It came close to me, and I could hear Erin and Whistle gasp in fear that it meant to attack.
“What kind of creature are you?” it was inquisitive, and I suspected that it had always intended to find out more about us. The feigned leaving was a show to ease its ego and show us that it was truly independent. In that hiding of its interest, it was more like a cat. I had an image of Jefferson that popped into my mind, and on a whim, I sent it to the Sim-tiger.
It generated an instant surge of interest. “What’s that creature? It looks somewhat like me, but it has a tail.”
“We’re from another world, and that creature is a valued hunting partner of mine,” I intended to emphasize the equality and partnership that Jefferson surely felt.
This statement caused the creature to narrow its eyes, “You’re not like the ones that came earlier that we killed. You seem both stronger mentally and softer in your body. What are you? Do you mean to try and take our world away like those others?”
For an answer, I envisioned a Pug-bear and a Pug. These images garnered a hissing snarl: “So, you know them! Are you teamed with them?” The tiger crouched as if to spring, gathering its haunches under its massive body.
I hastened to explain, “No! They have attacked our world, and I managed to stop their invasion, but now they’re coming back to attack us again. I discovered that some creature on your world had fought them and won. It must have been your people. We came here to find out what you did and to seek assistance in fighting them.”
“My people do not work with others!” The response was vehement. “We are the people of the grasslands and forest edges, and we kill what we want and go where we desire.”
“In that you are very like the creature that I showed you, yet he and I have a strong affinity for each other and make a good team. If you won’t help us, perhaps you’ll at least give us information. That would be very greatly appreciated.” I tried to emphasize our need as I sent this last thought.
It paused, then yawned widely, showing an impressive set of teeth and leaving no doubt that it was entirely a carnivore. “I have decided that I will give you information about how we defeated the invaders. If they are coming back to your world, they must think they can defeat you. Although they cannot defeat us, they may decide to try again after they defeat you. If I help you, perhaps you’ll defeat them, and we won’t have to put ourselves at risk of killing them again.”
This was direct and to the point. I realized that the Sim-tiger was, in many ways, a primitive. It didn’t seem terribly interested in falsehoods. It said what it thought directly, although it apparently had a rather large ego associated with its fighting ability. I had detected a hint of intense interest when I said that I’d stopped the Pug-bears, and I suspected it was not quite as confident as it appeared.
“We had a problem with our spacecraft, and it lies over the mountains, broken and unable to fly. In order to leave your planet, we must go to the invaders’ landing site and try to use some of their leftover equipment,” I explained. “We’ve had some problems with your world.” I sadly sent an image of Ted’s demise.
It paused as it received my thought that Ted had been a fierce fighter, and we hadn’t known anything about such a creature until it grabbed him.
The Sim-tiger’s next thought was more sympathetic, “I can see how you’re upset, losing a friend and good fighter. You’re like young ones of my people. You have no experience of our world and need guidance.”
I nodded weakly. This might yet work out. I sent it some images of the mystery beast’s attack on the shuttle wreck, which fully got its attention.
“You defeated the night-stalker? It retreated from your location? That never happens! Once they set their sights on prey, they persist until they’ve eaten it. There is no escape from them, even for us,” he sent with a definite air of respect for our demonstrated fighting ability. “There is no question! I will help you, and you will tell me what you know! This can be a good partnership for both peoples!”
The Sim-tiger was enthusiastic. It had taken some time for it to accept us as potential allies, but now I seemed to have given it the right idea. It turned back towards the woods and, looking over its shoulder at the rest of my party, sent, “Let’s leave this place. The vision beast stinks, and we have a long way to go before reaching the camp of the invaders.”