Yuen-Mong's Revenge Read Free Page A

emergency rations in his
survival kit would not last more than six days.
          He decided to climb the hill to the east. The tops of the rock outcrops
might offer a good view of the area, and he should be able to reach it in
about an hour, provided the passage through the tall grass tufts and the
forest undergrowth was possible and the planet did not spring any other
unpleasant surprises on him.
          He switched off the main power supply and then slipped his rip-and-scratch-protective outer gear over his clothing, donned his helmet, its
protective visor pushed back, strapped his survival pack to his back, hung
the night-vision binoculars around his neck, shouldered his laser gun,
attached an extra charge pack to his belt, and put on his protective finger
gloves. Only then did it occur to him that carrying all this gear he would
not get through the ceiling hatch. So he took most of it off, placed it onto
the roof, and put it on again, once he was outside.
          After closing the hatch he looked for a way to get down from the
shuttle roof. Finally, he just let himself fall backwards onto a grass bunch
and slid to the ground. He fingered one of the sharp grass blades and let
it go promptly when saw it cut the outer layer of the glove. Alarmed he
checked his protective clothing and discovered several superficial cuts
on his sleeves and pant legs. He suddenly worried how he would get back
onto the shuttle roof again.
          The grasses almost completely blocked out the sky. Which direction
is that hill now? he wondered. Using the laser gun and the survival pack
as side protection, he searched a path over bare earth between the huge
tufts in the direction he guessed the hill to lie. He was relieved when he
emerged much quicker than expected and was almost immediately under
the forest cover. To his surprise, there was no undergrowth, but only
smooth earth, as if an army of gardeners had meticulously cleared all
plants and raked away any leaves and debris. Even the trees seemed to be
spaced evenly apart, allowing quick progress through the ranks of smooth
dark brown trunks. Only occasionally did a thin leafless pole protrude
from the ground, usually at a place where another tree might have stood
some time earlier.
          The open ground at the top of the hill was either rock or the same
clean-swept earth as in the forest. The rock outcrops were more difficult
to scale than he expected. He had no choice but to shed his gear. He
placed the survival pack, the laser gun and the spare charge pack on a
ledge at shoulder height and then climbed the ten to twelve yards to the
top of the rocks. Looking back in the direction he had come, he was again
amazed by the swath his shuttle had imprinted into the forest canopy and
the giant grasses. Had it not been for this, he probably would not have
been able to locate the shuttle. From this distance, it blended perfectly
into the gray grasses.
          He clambered across to the other side of the rock. A small valley
sloped away, its center an oblong open field—meadow came to his mind,
except there was no visible vegetation. A movement caught his eye less
than two hundred yards from his viewpoint. He quickly cowered down
and observed what was happening through his binoculars. It was a group
of six small, but stocky men, only wearing a garment that looked like a
loin cloth. Their brown skins, curly black hair—two of them already
graying, the brown cloth, all blended perfectly in with the color of the
field. That was why he had not noticed them until they moved. Human
or at least human like? The data on Aros had not mentioned any presence
of intelligent life. They were armed with bows and arrows. Savages?
Hunters and gatherers? Two were cutting up a featherless bat-like
creature, about equal to them in size.
          Suddenly, he heard a peremptory whistle. The men immediately stood
up and reached for their bows. Following the direction of the sound, Atun
saw a