Crisis On Doona Part 3

"s.p.a.cedep and Codep both sent representatives,' Todd added. "I was a little surprised to see Varnorian there himself, instead of sending a deputy as s.p.a.cedep did."

"A good thing you went to keep them honest,5 Kelly said, making a face. "I've been hearing all about the two of you from my little cubbyhole in Alreldep block! You're considered to be quite a pair of heroes there.

Todd waved her words away embarra.s.sedly.

"You must tell us all about your experiences, as soon as the Hunt is over,' Hrriss said, showing his fangs in the widest Hrruban smile.

"Absolutely!" she promised them.

Kelly's mention of Alreldep brought back to Todd the full memory of his s.h.i.+p's pa.s.sage into the interdicted zone around Hrrilnorr, and the fact that two weeks had gone by and there hadn't been the least hint that their "rescue' had been recorded, or even mentioned to the Treaty Council.

He would be interested to know if she had heard any rumors: especially one that might suggest the beacon had been planted by factions unsympathetic to the Doona Experiment. This was not the time to bring up such a sensitive topic. Riders needed their wits about them in the Hunt. Plenty of time to take her aside and get her reactions later on.

"That medical kit been renewed lately?" Todd asked her, nodding at the roll neatly strapped to the cantle.

"You bet. Mike made it up special,' and Kelly gave him a wry sideways glance, "in case you fall off again!" Todd snorted. "And when was the last time you saw me fall off?" he demanded in mock outrage.

"You have two to your credit,' Hrriss said, his eyes narrowing slyly. "Did not Ken say it takes thrrree falls to make a rider?" Todd laughed and patted his sides tenderly.

"More like two hundred, friends." The rest of Team One began to close up to the leaders. Two more old friends, Hrrin and Errala, from one of the distant Rralan villages, rode up behind and greeted them happily. The three shook hands with the Hrruban mates. Todd checked them off his list.

Places in the teams were always reserved for friends and friends of friends. The prestigious first six Hunter teams had to open further to admit high powered guests whose inexperience sometimes tested the experience and skill of their hosts. But their presence meant a healthy contribution to the success of the Hunt and thus had to be tolerated.

Hrrubans and Humans in equal numbers joined the ride every year.

Though Hrrubans required slight alterations to the standard saddle to accommodate the difference in their skeletal structure, they were keen on any opportunity to ride their beloved hrrsses. Ocelots, gifts to the Rralans from their Human friends, prowled alongside their masters' mounts, waiting for the signal t9 go. The spotted hunting cats were among the few animals that were fearless in the presence of snakes, and kept down other pests that troubled the settlements. The more skillful, working in teams of four or five, even brought down young snakes and killed them.

Hrrula skillfully guided his horse to join theirs, followed by the rest of Team Two. The sudden crowd caused Hrriss's two pet ocelots, Prem and Mehh, to go on guard. He swung off his mount to soothe them.

Hrriss found that he did not recognize most of the Hrrubans who made up Team Two.

They were undoubtedly visitors, probably from the new colony worlds. Hrrubans who lived on Rrala did not have such a wild, predatory look when discussing the Hunt, and those who still lived on Hrruba were revolted by the thought of slaying fresh meat. Though understandably excited about the pursuit and kill, Rralans were more concerned with staying alive throughout the Hunt. Hrriss calmed Prem, who seemed to have caught his agitation. The fierce little cats had been a gift from Todd and had already proved themselves in battle with the snakes. It seemed they were as eager as he was to confront them again.

Each team leader checked in with Todd as soon as he or she arrived in a.s.sembly Square. Inessa, Todd's younger sister, hailed them from Team Six, waving a throwing stick. Hrriss poked his friend in the elbow and pointed to Inessa. They both waved.

Since their older sister, Ilsa, had married and returned to Earth, Inessa and her two younger brothers, Dan and Robin, took it in turns every year to ride with the Hunt or help guard the family ranch.

Hrriss, the only offspring of his parents, used to envy Todd his many siblings until he found that they regarded him as an extension of Todd.

Suddenly Todd groaned. "Will you look at that?

Spare me!" He tossed his head in the direction of the a.s.sembly Hall, to their left.

Obediently Hrriss and Kelly glanced that way.

From the doorway, a young man swaggered out wearing the very latest in hunting pinks, and boots that had to have cost the equivalent of starfare between Earth and Proxima Centauri. He swung a six-foot length of polished wood between his fingers.

"Don't they ever read the advisories we send out on what kind of protective clothing to wear for rough riding?" Todd said in a low but disgusted tone.

"But, Todd, he's trying. I heard him tell me that he researched both hunting garb and polo accoutrements and decided on this compromise as being appropriate,' Kelly said, her eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with devilment.

"I heard him every mealtime, in fact."

"And you didn't warn him?" Todd shot her an aggrieved glance.

"What? And ruin our fun?"

"He was on the ssshuttle with you?" Hrriss asked.

"Indeed, and at my table. That, dear hearts,' Kelly said, amused, sitting back in her saddle to watch their expressions, "is Jilamey Landreau, s.p.a.cedep's nephew. He's harmless." I'll give you any odds, Kelly dear old thing, that he's going to be trouble for whatever Team he's on,' Todd said, summing up the stranger with a practiced eye, as Jilamey mounted the horse chosen for him with a modic.u.m of expertise, though the quarterstaff proved an immediate enc.u.mbrance. "I don't like the stable he comes from."

"It is not the stable he comes from that should concern us, Zodd,' Hrriss a.s.sured him, his eyes glinting mischievously, "and his trouble will be in conzrolling his hrrss. He will not be in our way."

"Ah, but he said he's on Team One,' Kelly replied, delighted at the shock on Todd's face.

He fumbled for the Team list in his pocket. "I've got a J.

Ladrulo. . . Oh, no."

"I wondered at him being on Team One,' Kelly said, her face full of mischief. "I thought you knew what you were doing. However, don't worry about him. I'll make him my responsibility. I owe him a couple." Now her eyes took on a gleam similar to Hrriss's, her expression bland. "For aspersions cast like bread upon the surface of our table."

"You're mixing metaphors again,' Todd said, ready for the banter they always enjoyed. "Didn't they teach you anything useful at Alreldep?"

"How to manage little men like Jilamey, sweetheart,' she said, giving him a coy and insincere smirk.

But she sighed as Jilamey urged his animal over to Todd and Hrriss.

He threw them a jaunty salute and banged the quarterstaff painfully against his knee. The horse snorted, flicking an ear at such an unusual appendage. ""Lo, Kelly. Didn't think I'd have the pleasure of your company so soon again, much less with Team One. Jilamey Landreau, at your service.

Nearly missed my chance-shuttle was late. I've heard all about your local menace. Read up on the subject, too. I'm expecting great things of this day.

I want to catch a really big snake. I'm a.s.sured that you're the best. My friends'-he threw a sly glance over his shoulder at his s.h.i.+p companions-'could only get on Teams Three and Four." And why he wasn't with them, instead of complicating Team One, Kelly did not know. She'd have a small talk with the village elders later, she a.s.sured herself.

Punctiliously, she introduced Todd, Hrriss, Hrrin, and Errala to Jilamey. At least he had enough manners not to gawk at the Hrrubans.

"Landreau, you say?" Todd asked with cool courtesy. "Not any relation to Admiral Landreau, by any chance?"

"The Admiral's my uncle.

That's why I got on your team." Jilamey grinned amiably.

"Isss zat so?" Hrriss said, taking up Todd's lead.

"I find it amazing that he would perrmit one of his kin to take parrt in a Snake Hunt."

"Why not?" Jilamey appeared surprised.

"Supposed to be the best hunting available."

"The Admiral told you that?"

"He didn't need to. Everyone knows that, Jilamey ingenuously a.s.sured them.

The three old friends exchanged glances. The boy couldn't possibly be so naive. Or was it simply that no one had ever dared tell him how his uncle was linked with the Doonan snakes? Quite possibly.

The settlers had escaped Landreau's attempt to dispose of witnesses to his humiliation by driving a swarm of snakes down on the barn where he had imprisoned the colonists. He had never returned to Doona, nor would he have been welcome. It was amazing enough that his nephew had been allowed to come. However, now that Landreau was head of s.p.a.cedep, in charge of s.p.a.ce exploration and defense, he was also not someone to antagonize. If his nephew had inveigled a place on Team One, there might be reasons not yet known to Todd and Hrriss. But it galled Todd to have to protect a Landreau from snakes. Inwardly he also winced at the comments likely being made by other teams about Team One.

"Read up on the Hunt, you say?" Todd asked.

"Everything I could find about the great snakes of Doona,' Jilamey replied, grinning at everyone.

Could the fellow-Todd pegged him at the midtwenties-really be so naive? Or was he disguising a covert a.s.signment for his uncle with this behavior?

"Team One is only one of many, then, you realize. There are dozens of teams,' and Todd gestured broadly to the various groups around the village green, awaiting the reports of Sighters.

"Each team supports each other ." Jilamey nodded his head as Todd made each point. " . . and we may be called upon to break off and go to another team's a.s.sistance if they're in trouble."

"But Team One takes the most chances, doesn't it?" And Jilamey looked anxious.

"Always,' Hrriss a.s.sured him. "You will have the best of sporrrt with us!" His eyes glistened.

A Sighter's craft suddenly appeared and made an almost impossible swing to land in front of the a.s.sembly Hall in a cloud of dust. The pilot leaned out of a hastily opened window.

"We've spotted the main swarm! They're starting to come out of the hatching ground! Should be due east of here in two, three hours at the most. We've left watchers with handsets in the brush along the way." The announcement charged the atmosphere with eager antic.i.p.ation.

Only the uninitiated shouted and whirled their horses in glee at the coming test of courage. Todd and Hrriss trotted their horses over to the man, demanding details. The snakes could move along with unbelievable speeds. The best way to minimize the danger to livestock and Human was to intercept the swarms as far to the north of the main settlements as possible.

Don and Jan, a husband and wife from one of the Amalgamated Worlds colonies, galloped across the village green, slowing only when near the sled.

"I was afraid we wouldn't make it,' Jan panted.

"We rode all the way from the Launch Center."

"Your timing's as good as ever,' Todd said. The pair were good friends to Doona. "We're just getting ready to go. You haven't missed a thing." Don and Jan had moved up steadily from the other teams over the years, and were genuine a.s.sets to Team One. A slender woman woven out of ~p~~, Jan was a fine rider who had worked with the rare horses on Earth, and also a skilled hand with la.s.so. Don had keen vision, and was a dead shot with a rifle. With their arrival, Team One's complement was filled. To Todd's relief, there were no more duffers a.s.signed to them.

Team leaders made their way to prea.s.signed positions, marked out on the maps Hrriss had distributed the night before. Transmitters of featherweight Hrruban design were now being handed out to riders. If anyone became lost or injured, he or she was to call for help immediately. No place could be guaranteed as safe from adolescent snakes.

"I don't want to carry a radio set,' Jilamey complained when he was handed his unit.

"It doesn't weigh much,' Kelly said, snapping hers to a belt hook.

"But I don't wear a belt with this garb. It spoils the sit of the jacket. I'm already wearing this silly safety helmet."

"Mr. Landreau,' Todd said, resisting an impulse to tell the young fool simply to belt up and go home, "the transmitter is not elective wear.

It could mean your life, or the safety of others." Could Landreau have deliberately planted this imbecile in the hopes that he'd be killed and the Admiral could blame Doonans? Todd shook his head. That was too farfetched. He pointed a finger at Jilamey.

"When you asked to hunt, you also signed an agreement, did you not, that you would abide by our rules?" Startled, Jilamey nodded. "If the sit of your jacket means more to you than your life, and others in this team, you don't have to wear the radio." Jilamey brightened. "But you'll have to stay in one of the snake blinds until it's over."

"Not a chance!" Jilamey protested, his eyes opening wide as he finally realized that Todd meant exactly what he said. "Oh, all right. I don't see what all the fuss is, anyway." With ill grace, he slung the transmitter belt bandolero-style across his chest.

The giant reptiles of Doona made their way to sp.a.w.ning grounds on the plains once a year, but for some reason returned from the sea along the river.

They were fearsome to behold one at a time, but when they swarmed, as they did during this season, it was a sight beyond terror. The largest ones, "Great Big Mommy Snakes' in Doonan parlance, were the stuff of campfire stories to terrify small brothers and sisters on moonless nights. The most horrifying thing about the stories was that they were true. The snakes could reach lengths of twenty meters, with maws that could ingest a full-grown horse. Their smooth-muscled bodies were as large as tree trunks and covered by tough protective scales.

Fortunately the snakes were not invincible.

Biologists had arguments over whether or not the snake stench stunned smaller creatures. Or whether, after all, the snakes were smart enough to hunt upwind of their intended prey. The young snakes, the two-year-olds, making their first return trip to the plains, were the most dangerous, because they weren't canny enough to avoid trouble.

The small ones were only small by comparison.

Even in their second year, they measured three meters, usually more. The combination of their youthful energy and inexperience and their pangs of wild hunger made them deadly adversaries. A young snake could bring down one of the fierce mdas all by itself. Weaker animals were snapped up as tidbits.

Doonans and Rralans had the advantage of knowing their terrain, the horses they rode, and of having witnessed many Hunts. But for outworlders who arrived with more bravado than training, the objective could be fatal. The prey was tricky and very dangerous. The contest was even weighted somewhat on the side of the young snakes. After all, none of the Hunters were five meters long and muscled in every inch.

Then some wit decided to add an extra fillip, awarding "coup' points for using the least technology or hardware possible in making the capture.

Every year, a few of the would-be heroes got hurt while trying to capture a young snake that was too big or too wily. Todd didn't remember who had started the newest nonsense, but it had come to be a big headache for him and the other Hunt team leaders. He sympathized belatedly with the original masters, who had been in charge when he pa.s.sed the adulthood ritual himself years before. He had pulled off a highly pointed coup by using a firehardened lance and a garrote to finish off the snake, and carried home more eggs than anyone else that year.

Every ranch had its own defenders, well prepared with bazookas, rifles, even shouldermounted missiles to discourage reptiloid invasions.

It was preferable to deter entry rather than kill.

Some said that snakes remembered where they'd been deflected and stayed away.

The snake stench was fierce along the river embankment, where the snakes had pa.s.sed on their way to the sp.a.w.ning ground. The Appaloosa mare rolled her eyes and twitched, but showed none of the other signs of hysteria displayed by the younger mounts. Kelly patted her neck and settled into the comfortable saddle. Kelly favored the style invented by the gauchos of old Earth, which protected rider from horse with layers of soft padding between each and the saddle frame. The fluffy sheepskin which Kelly bestrode on top of all made the contraption look heavy and ridiculous. In reality, it was lighter than most leather saddles, and held her so snugly it was almost impossible for her to fall off. She was grateful for her choice, feeling her tailbones where she had lost her saddle calluses.

If she rode a day on leather now, after four years' absence, she'd be crippled for a week. Chaps, like the ones worn by Todd and most of the other Hunters, protected her legs from trees and scrub.

Fastened by her knees, she had two small crossbows, loaded with the safety catches on, and half a gross of quarrels, some of them explosive.

She also had a spear with a crosspiece for protecting her hand at close quarters, and the traditional paint-capsule gun for marking troublesome snakes she couldn't reach, for the next teams to pick out.

Kelly noticed that Jilamey had an almost daintylooking slug-throwing revolver slung on the horn as well as a number of the approved weapons and that c.u.mbersome quarterstaff. Clicking her tongue at his naivete, Kelly smiled. Wait until he saw one of the Great Big Mommy Snakes. His pistol would do no more harm than flicking sand at a leviathan would.

They pa.s.sed one of the snake blinds that lay next to the path.

The reek of the citrus perfume, like citronella, was powerful enough to divert Humans as well as snakes. Kelly was glad to see that the newer snake blinds were situated close to thick, climbable trees.

If one of the Hunters got hurt, there was a quick haven available.

Above them, Saddle Ridge was nearly invisible through the trees.

As soon as they reached a landmark rock, they turned inland away from the river path and cut through the forest into hilly gra.s.slands.

Todd was leading them up as close as possible to the dunes without breaking cover. Once the snakes finished laying their eggs, they headed in whatever direction they thought led to food on the way back to their territories. The job of the teams was to cut off their other options, riding alongside the bulk of the snake swarm, guiding it back to the sea without giving it a chance to stop.

"The safest thing,' Todd reminded the guests, "is to expedite the snakes' pa.s.sage. There's plenty for them to eat in the water. We try not to kill the snakes that are willing to go peacefully. We want the wild young ones that endanger other creatures.