Of Man And Manta - Ox Part 28

"Odd that we should differ on something so easy to verify," he said. "Shall we compare notes in detail?" It was as though he were inviting her to a duel, certain that she would lose.

Aquilon was intrigued. "Let's."

"You and Veg went to the island -- "

"Not that much detail," she said, embarra.s.sed. Then she reconsidered. "No -- let's put it out in the open. You wanted to make a report on Paleo that would surely lay it open to exploitation and destruction -- "

"I changed my mind."

"Let me finish. I wanted to help Orn and Ornette survive because they were unique, intelligent birds and I liked them. Veg went with me." She took a breath and forced herself to continue. "Veg and I made love that night. Next morning he went to see you at the raft -- and the first tremor came."

"Yes. After he left the raft, I set sail. I was aware of the tremor; it made the water dance. About fifteen seconds, mild."

"Even a mild earthquake is horrible," she said, giving her head a little reminiscent shake. "That was the first day, the first quake. So we agree."

"So far." She could tell from his tone that he was still sure she was wrong about the tremors. She was also a bit uneasy about the seemingly bland response to her confession concerning Veg. "The second day Circe came and told us a predator dinosaur was after you, but you wouldn't let the mantas help you. I thought we should leave well enough alone. Veg hit me and headed off."

"He should not have done that." Again, too mild a response.

"Cal, I didn't want you to die -- but I thought it was more important that you be allowed to do what you felt you had to do, your own way."

"Precisely. Veg blundered."

So it was all right. Cal understood. She should have known he would. "Later that day the second quake came. It shattered the eggs -- all but one. It was violent, awful."

"I was on the mountainside. The tremor knocked Tyrannosaurus off his feet and rolled him down the mountain. I was afraid he was too badly hurt to continue the chase. Fortunately, he suffered minimal damage."

Aquilon grimaced, knowing he was not being facetious. Cal had wanted to conquer the dinosaur himself, without the help of an act of G.o.d. "So we agree on the second day, the second quake."

"We agree. I continued on up the mountain and slept in a volcanic cave. Next day the agents came -- Taler, Taner, and Tamme."

"No," she said firmly. "Next day there was a third quake. It tore the island apart. A plesiosaurus got Ornette, so Orn and I had to ferry the egg to the mainland the day following -- the morning of the fourth day, the day the agents came. I'll never forget that awful journey through the water, protecting the egg! I had to use Orn for support -- "

Cal nodded thoughtfully. "So you really did experience an extra day and tremor!"

"You lost a day, Cal. What happened to it?"

He sighed. "This suggests something too fantastic to believe. In fact, I don't believe it."

So there was something! "This sounds fascinating! You have a secret?"

"In a manner of speaking. I didn't think it was anything significant. You would have been the first to know had there been anything to it. All men have fantasies -- and all women, too, I'm sure. But now -- I wonder. Alternates do exist, and in some of them are virtual duplicates of ourselves. The woman you met, the naked Aquilon -- "

"Don't tell me you dream of naked Aquilons!" she said, pleased. But at the same time, the memory of the lost egg upset, her. She had so wanted to save the Orn species...

"More than that, I'm afraid. After all, I have seen you naked in life."

She remembered the time she had run nude on Paleo before they found the dinosaurs. She had not realized that he had paid attention. "You always loved me. You said so back on Planet Nacre. And I love you. But there's never been much of a -- a physical component, has there?"

"The major component," he said seriously.

"Oh? I thought all things were intellectual to you."

He peered at her over the machine. "You are leading me on."

"That's what I mean. You are too smart for me, and we both know it. I couldn't deceive you with feminine wiles if I tried. You intellectualize everything to the point where you feel no physical pa.s.sion." She felt a little s.h.i.+ver as she said it, wanting him to deny it. She had taken the initiative with Veg, and that had been wrong; he had resented it and repaid her with a blow. Not a conscious motivation, perhaps -- but she was sure that it had been one of his unconscious ones.

"Intelligence is irrelevant. You have shown me my error in the counting of tremors, for example."

"That's right. What did you do with that day and that quake? Chase naked Aquilons?"

"Yes."

She looked at him sharply, for he sounded serious. "You did?"

"Bear with me if I affront your sensitivities. I think this is something you should know."

"I'm not affronted," she said, keeping her eyes on her diagrams. "Intrigued, though..." She certainly was; the three-dimensional life-game a.n.a.lysis was now no more than a pretense.

He buried his head in the machine so that only his voice reached her. She returned to her work with an effort and listened, visualizing what he described.

"I escaped Tyrannosaurus by hiding in a volcanic cave, the night of the day we had the second tremor. It was warm in there, for the water of the stream was hot. I was extraordinarily tired, yet keyed up: It had been the greatest adventure of my life. I had, in my fas.h.i.+on, conquered the dinosaur!

"I found myself a comfortable ledge, sprawled out, and fell into a perspiring stupor. I thought of dinosaurs and conjectured that one of the duck-bills like Parasaurolophus, with the enormous nasal crest, might have been able to survive the heat of that cave. Its breath through the inside of that crest would have cooled its tissues, as the breath of a dog cools its tongue and thus its body. But if the creature stayed too long or strayed into the cave and got lost, it might have died and been washed out through the river-canyons of the far side of the mountain range. Idle speculation of the type that entertains me."

"I know," she agreed softly. Who else but Cal would care whether the body of a duck-billed dinosaur washed out one side of the mountain or the other?

"I must have slept off and on. It was not really comfortable in that heat. Toward morning that conjecture about the duck-bill roused me. Could it get out of the dinosaur enclave through the mountain? Could I? Driven by curiosity, I began to explore the cavern, going far back into the mountain. The heat was terrible; when it reached about one hundred forty degrees Fahrenheit I turned back. I was naked; I was sweating so profusely that clothing would have been useless.

"Then I saw something. It was nestled in a recess, invisible from the mouth of the cave. I would have missed it but for my acute night vision, sharpened by my night in the cave. It was a little machine. Its presence amazed me, for it suggested that man had been there before. I fiddled with it, trying to ascertain its condition and purpose. I lifted a kind of key from it.

"A cone of pale light projected from the device and bathed me. I felt a strange wrenching. For an instant I feared I had been victimized by some type of b.o.o.by trap, though why anything of that nature should be placed there I could not guess. Then the machine was gone, and I stood in the cave, the key in my hand.

"Astonished, I set it down on a convenient ledge and looked about. Far down at the mouth of the cave I saw a glow; dawn was coming.

"I went back to that entrance to check on Tyrann, my reptile nemesis. He was still there, sleeping, his great nose almost touching the cave. In fact, his bulk blocked the flow of water, making it form into a puddle. Beyond him was the snow of the mountain, covering the canyon rim where the heat of the river did not reach. An odd sight: dinosaur in snow!

" 'Cal!' someone cried. 'I thought you were dead!' "

"I turned, startled. You were there, 'Quilon, nude and lovely. Your yellow hair floated down your back like the glorious mane of a thoroughbred horse, and your blue eyes were bright. I doubt you can appreciate how lovely you were to me in that instant. I had come very near death, and you were an angel.

" 'I escaped, thanks to this convenient cave,' I said, as though it were of no moment. I do not remember my exact words, of course, but it was something equivalently inane.

" 'So did I,' " you said. 'Cal, I could have sworn I saw Tyrann get you! It was awful. Then he came after me, and I just made it here -- '

" 'I told the mantas not to interfere. Why did you come?'

" 'I love you,' you said.