CHAPTER 10
"Hal-loo-ooo!"
Astro's voice boomed out over the tops of the trees, where the birdsfluttered in sudden fright. It echoed through the darkness around him,where smaller creatures crawled and slithered into the protection oftheir holes. The voice of the big cadet was loud, but it was not loudenough for his mates to hear.
Astro was lost.
He couldn't understand how it had happened. Over and over during thepast six hours he had retraced his steps mentally, trying to visualizethe trail, trying to locate the telltale marks he had made with hisjungle knife, and so find Major Connel, Tom, and Roger. It was dark nowand the big cadet had to face the dangerous jungle alone. He laughedironically. Connel had given him the point because he knew the jungle!And now he was lost.
Astro was a little frightened too. It was his frank realization oftrouble that made him afraid. He knew what was in the jungle, and thoughhe had been there alone before, he had never been in it as deeply asthis, nor had he ever been lost in the nightmarish place after sundown.
While he was desperately anxious to find his unit mates, he had notfired his rifle. The threat of exposing his position to a possibleNationalist patrol prevented him from signaling with the blaster or evenfrom building a fire. During the last hours of the day, when thesuspicion that he was lost became a concrete fact, the big cadet hadbeen reluctant even to yell. Now, with pitch-black night closing aroundhim, he dared to call, hoping it would be heard and recognized by hisfriends, or if not, considered the howl of a jungle beast by an enemypatrol should one be near.
He stood with his back against the rough bark of a teakwood tree toprotect his rear and to face out toward the pitch-black night. More thanonce the big cadet felt the sudden ripple of a crawling thing movingaround him, across his toes or down the tree trunk. There was a suddenthrashing in the underbrush near by and he brought the shock rifle upquickly, ears tuned for the growl, or scream, or hiss of an attackingbeast.
The luminous dial of his watch showed it to be three thirty in themorning, two and a half hours to go before the sun would drive thefearful darkness away. He had been calling every five minutes. And everytime he shouted, the movements in the darkness around him increased.
"Hal-loo-ooo!"
He waited, turning his head from one side to the other, intent on thesounds that came from a distance; the answering call of the waddlingground bird that had confused him at first until he recognized it; theshrill scream of the tiny swamp hog; the distant chattering of themonkeylike creatures in the treetops. But there was no sound from ahuman throat.
Astro called again and again. The seconds dragged by into minutes, theminutes into an hour, and then two hours, and finally, as every musclein his body ached from standing backed up to the tree all night andholding his rifle on alert, the gray murky dawn broke over the jungleand he began to see the green of the jungle around him. When the sun atlast broke over the Venusian horizon, the night's frost on the leavesand bushes danced and glittered like jewels.
He washed his face in a near-by pool, careful not to drink any of thewater. He opened a can of synthetic food, and after eating his fill,cleared away the brush down to the naked black soil and banking it highon all sides he stretched full length on the ground. He dared not sleep.Hungry animals were moving about freely now. A paralo-ray gun and therifle, both cocked and ready to fire, were held in his hands. He relaxedas completely as he could, idly watching the mother of a brood of theanthropoids scamper through the branches of the trees overhead, bringingher squalling young their breakfast. An hour later, refreshed, hestarted through the jungle again, eyes open for signs of recentactivity, human activity, for the big cadet wanted to return to hiscomrades.
Stopping occasionally to climb a tree, Astro searched the sky above thetreetops for smoke that would mark a campsite. He felt that sure ifthere was any, he would find Roger, Tom, and Connel, since a Nationalistpatrol wouldn't advertise its presence in the jungle. But there were nosmoke signs. The top of the jungle stretched green and still as far ashe could see, steaming under the burning rays of the sun.
Astro knew that it would be impossible to spend another night like thefirst in the jungle, so after searching through the forest until threein the afternoon, he stopped, opened another can of synthetic food, andate. He was used to being alone now. The first wave of fear had lefthim and he was beginning to remember things he knew as a young boy;jungle signs that warned him of dangers, the quick identification of theanimal cries, and the knowledge of the habits of the jungle creatures.
After eating, he took his jungle knife and hacked at a long, tough vine,yanking it down from its lofty tangle. He started weaving it into atight oblong basket and two hours later, just before the sun droppedinto the jungle for the night, he was finished. He had a seven-foot bagwoven tightly and pulled together with a small opening at one end. Justbefore the sky darkened, the big cadet crawled into this makeshiftsleeping bag, pulled the opening closed with a tight draw cord, and inthirty seconds was asleep. Nothing would be able to bite through thetough vine matting, and the chances of a larger beast accidentallystepping on him were small. Nevertheless, Astro had pulled the bag closeto a huge tree and placed it deep between the swollen roots.
He awoke with a start. The ground was shaking violently. He was sweatingprofusely and judged that it must be late in the morning with the sunbeating directly on him. Carefully he opened the end of the makeshiftsleeping bag and peered out. He gasped and reached for his shock rifle,bringing it up into firing position. The sight that confronted him wasat once horrifying and fascinating. A hundred yards away, a giant snake,easily a hundred feet long and five feet thick, was wrapped around araging tyrannosaurus. The monsters were in a fight to death. Astroshuddered and pulled back into the bag, keeping the blaster aimed at thetwo struggling beasts.
_Astro kept his blaster aimed at the monsters_]
The big cadet deduced that the snake must have been surprised in itsfeeding by the tyrannosaurus, and was trying to defend itself. Therewasn't a living thing in the jungle that would deliberately attack atyrannosaurus. Only man, with his intelligence and deadly weapons,could win over the brute force and cunning of the jungle giant. And eventhat had failed with this monster. Astro quickly saw it was the samebeast that had chased the three cadets out of the jungle!
With three coils wrapped around the tyrannosaurus's body, the snake wastrying to wrap a fourth around its neck and strangle it, but the monsterwas too wily. Rearing back, it suddenly fell to the ground, its weightcrushing the three coils around its middle. The snake jerkedspasmodically, stunned, as the tyrannosaurus scrambled up again. Theground trembled and branches were ripped from near-by trees. All aroundthe jungle had been leveled. Everything fell before the thrashingmonsters.
Recovering, the snake's head darted in again, trying to circle thetyrannosaurus's head and complete the last and fatal coil, but the giantbeast lunged, its massive jaws snapping, and the snake drew back.Suddenly its tail lashed out and circled the left legs of thetyrannosaurus. Astro could see the beast straining against the suddenpressure, at the same time alert for the swooping head of the snake. Thepressure on the leg was too great, and the beast fell to the ground,giving the snake a momentary advantage. Its head darted in again, butthe tyrannosaurus drew its head into its narrow shoulders, then shot outagain as the snake missed. Astro saw the snake quiver and jerk back asthe tyrannosaurus clamped its jaws closed and bit a chunk out of thegreen, scaly body.
The snake had enough. It wanted to get away, to slip to the top of thetallest tree in the forest, out of reach of the tyrannosaurus, and waitfor the wound to heal or for death to come. It unwound in a maddenedconvulsive movement and slithered toward the tree where Astro lay. Butthe monster was after it, immediately grabbing it by the tail andjerking it back. The snake was forced to turn and fight back.
Astro knew that if the snake could get away it would head for theteakwood above his head, the highest tree around, and the tyrannosauruswould stamp the gr
ound around its base into powder. He had to move!
A hundred feet to the left was a wild thicket of ground thorns, theirneedlelike tips bristling. Even the snake would stay away from them. Itwas his only chance should the snake get loose from the tyrannosaurusagain. Making up his mind quickly, the cadet opened the end of thesleeping bag and shoved his weapons out before him. Then hugging theground, he dashed across the clearing. This gave the tyrannosaurus itsfinal advantage. The snake pulled back, momentarily attracted by Astro'smove, and the tyrannosaurus struck, catching the snake just behind thehead in a grip of death.
The thorns ripped at Astro's tight-fitting jungle dress, tearing intohis flesh as he dove into the thicket. But once inside the cadet laystill, pointing his rifle at the tyrannosaurus who was methodicallyfinishing off the giant snake. In a few seconds the snake was dead andthe tyrannosaurus began to feast.
Astro stayed in the thicket, watching the monster devour nearly all ofthe dead reptile foe and then rise up and move off through the jungle.Astro knew that in no time the scavengers of the jungle would beswarming over the remains of the snake. Once again he had to move.
Getting out of the thicket was painful. From every direction the thornsjabbed at him, and but for the toughness of his jungle suit, Astro wouldhave been ripped to shreds. After easing his way back into theclearing, the cadet pulled out the remains of his jungle pack. He thensaw that his suit was torn to ribbons, and the many slashes on his chestand arms were bleeding profusely. The scent of the blood would attractthe carnivorous creatures, so he stripped off the bloody jungle suit,dropping it back in the thicket, and hurried away. A short time later hecame to a water hole where he sponged himself off and applied medicationfrom his emergency kit to the scratches. Finished, he took stock. Thenight's sleep had refreshed him, and except for the loss of hisprotective clothing, he was in good shape. He shouldered the pack,strapped the paralo-ray gun to his hips, and gripping the rifle tightly,he moved off through the jungle once more. He decided to follow thetyrannosaurus. The beast would leave a path for him, saving him theeffort of hacking his way through the vines and creepers, and should anenemy patrol be out, it would stay away from the tyrannosaurus. Finally,he knew Tom, Roger, and Connel would go after the beast if they saw it.
The sun shone down on the half-naked giant moving through the jungle, anew white-skinned animal who was braver than the rest, a creature whodared to trail the king of the jungle.
* * * * *
"It's all my fault!" said Connel disgustedly. "I should have been ableto read his trail signs."
Tom did not answer. He pulled the straps of his jungle pack tighter andslung it over his shoulder. Roger stood to one side, watching MajorConnel. Both boys sensed what was coming.
"Well, this is the last day we can spend searching for him," saidConnel. "We've already lost two days."
Roger glanced at Tom and said casually, "It wouldn't hurt to keep oureyes open for signs of him, would it, sir?"
"Now listen, boys," said Connel firmly, "I know how you feel aboutAstro. I have to admit I have a liking for the lad myself. But we'vebeen sent out here to locate the base of operations of the Nationalists.The best way to do that is to work around the jungle in a given area. Wehaven't done that so far. We've put all our time and effort into arandom search for Astro. We can't signal him, build a fire, shoot off ablaster--or use any of the simple communication devices. We have to workunder cover, for fear of giving away our presence here in the jungle."He slung his gear over his shoulder and added, "We'll continue oursearch for Astro until noon and then we simply will have to abandon it.And stop worrying about him. He's a big strong lad and he's been in thisjungle alone before. I have every confidence that he can make his wayback to Sinclair's plantation safely."
The Solar Guard officer paused and looked at the two downcast cadetsbefore him. "None of that sulking business!" he growled. "You're cadetson an urgent mission. Now move out. I'll take the point first and youbring up the rear, Corbett." Without another word, the burly spacemanturned and moved off through the jungle.
Roger hung back to talk to Tom. "What do you think, Tom?"
Tom shook his head before answering. "He's right, Roger. We're on a job.It's the same here in the jungle as it is in space. We know thatsomething is liable to happen to any one of us at any time. And themission always comes first."
Roger nodded. "Sure, that's the way it is in the book. But this isreal. That big hick might be hurt--or trapped. Maybe he needs our help!"
"I know how you feel, Roger," replied Tom. "I want to take off and huntfor Astro myself, but Connel needs us. Don't forget that bunch of guysin uniforms back at Sinclair's. Commander Walters and the others don'thold conferences like that one back in Venusport for the fun of it. Thisis serious."
Roger shrugged and started off after Connel, Tom following slowlybehind. Their march through the jungle was made in silence, each hopingfor a miracle. But as the sun grew higher and the deadline hour of noonapproached, they steeled themselves to the fact that they might neversee the Venusian cadet again. A short time later, when Tom was takinghis turn at cutting the trail through the brush, he broke through into aclearing. He stopped and called out, "Major! Roger! Quick!"
Connel and the blond-haired cadet rushed forward, stopping beside Tom tostare in amazement. Before them, a large area of the jungle was poundeddown and lying amidst the tangle of giant creepers and uprooted busheswas the remains of a giant snake.
"By the rings of Saturn!" gasped Connel, walking forward to inspect theclearing. Tom and Roger followed, breaking to the side, their rifles atready. The two boys had become jungle-wise quickly and knew that deathlurked behind the wall of green surrounding the cleared area.
"It must have been some fight!" Connel pointed to the tracks of thetyrannosaurus. "The tyranno must have stumbled on the snake while it wasfeeding," said Connel. "Otherwise it would have lit out for that treeover there." He pointed to the giant teakwood that Astro had sleptunder. The three spacemen saw the makeshift sleeping bag at the sametime.
"Major! Look!" cried Tom and raced to the base of the tree.
"It's Astro's, all right," said Connel, examining the woven bag. "Iwonder if he was here when those two things were going after eachother."
"Yes, sir," said Roger in a choked whisper, "he was." He pointed to theragged remains of Astro's jungle suit dangling on the near-by thornbush.The blood was stiff on the material.
The three Earthmen stared at the suit, each too horrified to speak.
Connel's face was set in hard lines as he finally found his voice andgrowled, "Our search is over. Let's get back to our job."