There was no answer from the ground when came and Calhoun the Med Ship to a position for a call. He repeated, over and over again, that Med Ship Aesclipus Twenty its and coördinates for landing. There should have been a of the direction from the planet's center at which, a time so many hours or minutes later, the force-fields of the would it to lock onto and the Med Ship. But the silent.
"There is a landing-grid," said Calhoun, frowning, "and if they're using it to fresh meat for Dara, from the I'm told about, it should be manned. But they don't to to answer. Maybe they think that if they I'm not here I'll go away."
He reflected, and his deepened.
"If I didn't know what I do know, I might. So if I land on emergency-rockets the may decide that I come from Weald. And in that case it would be to blast me I land and some men. On the other hand, no ship from Weald would land without that it was safe. It would bombs." He to the girl. "How many Darians below?"
She her head.
"You don't know," said Calhoun, "or won't tell, yet. But they ought to be told about the of that ship at Weald, and what Weald thinks about it! My is that you came to tell them. It isn't likely that Dara news direct from Weald. Where were you put from Dara, when you set out to be a spy?"
Her to speak. But she them tightly. She her again.
"It must have been away," said Calhoun restlessly. "Your people would have a ship, and papers for it, and they'd travel so from this part of space that when they nobody would think of Dara. They'd use to the spots, but maybe it was so away that had been of!"
Her looked pinched, but she did not reply.
"Then they'd land a dozen of you, with a supply of for the patches. And you'd separate, and take ships that ways, and arrive on Weald one by one, to see what be done there to...." He stopped. "When did you out positively that there wasn't any any more?"
She to pale.
"I'm not a mind-reader," said Calhoun. "But it up. You're from Dara. You've been on Weald. It's that there are other, agents, if you like that word better, on Weald. And there hasn't been a on Weald so you people aren't of it. But you it in advance, I think. How'd you learn? Did a ship in some of trouble land there, on Dara?"
"Y-yes," said the girl. "We wouldn't let it go again. But the people didn't catch—they didn't die—they lived—."
She stopped short.
"It's not to me!" she passionately, "It's not fair!"
"I'll stop," said Calhoun.
He to the control-board. The Med Ship was only from Orede, now, and the in motion across its screen. Then a huge, shape appeared, and there were of that color which is sea-bottom, and which were and forests. Also there were mountains. Calhoun the image and at it.
"The mine," he observed, "was by members of a hunting-party, killing wild for sport."
Even a small has many millions of square miles of surface, and a single on a whole world will not be easy to by search. But there were to this one. Men for sport would not choose a an to in. So if they a deposit, it would have been in a zone. Cattle would not be in a terrain. The mine would not be on a prairie. The settlement on Orede, then, would be near the of mountains, not from a such as wild would frequent, and it would be in a climate. Forested be out. And there would be a landing-grid. Handling only one ship at a time, it might be a very small grid. It need be only hundreds of yards across and less than a mile high. But its would be distinctive.
Calhoun among low near in a zone. He a speck. He it many-fold, and it was the mine on Orede. There were of tailings. There was something which a long, shadow. The landing-grid.
"But they don't answer our call," Calhoun, "so we go unwelcomed."
He the Med Ship and the emergency-rockets boomed. The ship planetward.
A long time later it was in the planet's atmosphere. The noise of its had thunderous, with air to and to the sound.
"Hold on to something, Murgatroyd," Calhoun. "We may have to some ack."
But nothing came up from below. The Med Ship again itself, and its pointed toward the and out pencil-thin, blue-white, high-velocity flames. It slightly, but to descend. It was not directly above the grid. It until almost level with the of the in which the mine lay. It again, and over the mountain-tops, and then once more and up the in which the landing-grid was visible. Calhoun it on an course, there be opposition.
But there was no sign. Then the bellowed, and the ship its motion, momentarily, and settled to the of the grid. The was small, as Calhoun reasoned. But it toward the sky.
The cut off. Slender as the had been, they'd melted and thin drill-holes into the soil. Molten and below. But there no other sound. There was no other motion. There was all around. But when Calhoun on the a faint, sweet of high-pitched came from under the of the mountainsides.
Calhoun put a in his pocket and up.
"We'll see what it looks like outside," he said with a grimness. "I don't what the show."
Minutes later he to the ground from the Med Ship's exit-port. The ship had a hundred from what once had been a building. In it, from the was and the away by a conveyor-belt to make a of stone. But there was no longer a building. Next to it there had been a an ore-crusher. The still be seen, but the was fragments. Next to that, again, had been the shaft-head of the mine. They also were to match-sticks.
The look of the ground about the building-sites was and purely impossible. It was a of hoofprints. Cattle by thousands and of thousands had everything. Cattle had in the of the buildings. Cattle had themselves up against the until the collapsed. Then had gone over the until there was nothing left but chaos. Many, many had died in the crush. There were of about the metal which were the of the landing-grid. The air was by the of carrion.
The settlement had been destroyed, positively, by in or hundreds of thousands through and over and upon it. Senselessly, they'd each other to shapelessnesses. The mine-shaft was not choked, had across and it. But else was pure destruction.
Calhoun said evenly;
"Clever! Very clever! You can't men when stampede! We should accept the that some herd, making its way through a pass, somehow and for the and this settlement got in the way and it was too for the settlement. Everything's explained, the ship that to Weald. A stampede, yes. Anybody can that! But there was a man-stampede! Men into the ship as as the this little town. The ship off into space as as the cattle. But a of men and cattle, in the same place,—that's a little too much at one time!"
"How," asked Calhoun directly, "do you to in touch with your friends here?"
"I—I don't know," she said distressedly. "But if—the ship here, they're to come and see why. Won't they? Or will they?"
"If they're sane, they won't," said Calhoun. "The one thing, here, would be on top of cattle-tracks. If your friends are a meat-getting party from Dara, as I believe, they should up their tracks, off-planet as fast as possible, and pray that no of their presence are discovered. That would be their best move, certainly!"
"What should I do?" she asked helplessly.
"I'm from sure. At a guess, and for the moment, nothing. I'll work something out ... I've got the of a job me, though. I can't too much time here."
"You can—leave me here...."
He and away. It was naturally that he should another being on a planet, with the knowledge that it might actually be uninhabited, and the knowledge that any visitors would have the of possible to themselves away.
He that there were Darians here, and the girl in the Med ship—so he also believed—was a Darian. But any who might be had so much to if they were that they might be hundreds or thousands of miles from a space-ship would land—if they hadn't after the of the space-ship's with its of passengers.
Considered detachedly, the were that there was again a food-shortage on Dara. That blueskins, in desperation, had or were or would the cattle-herds of Orede for food to to their home planet. That somehow the on Orede had that they had neighbors, and died of the of their terror. It was a to make on such as Calhoun he had, but no other was possible.
If his was right, he was under some to do what he the girl her mission, to all that Weald would presently try to them on Orede, when all must upon Dara for punishment. But if there were men here, he couldn't a for them in of contact. They might not it, and a search-party of Wealdians might. All he possibly do was try to make and give by such means as would no that he'd done so. Weald would a sure proof of guilt.
It was not satisfactory to be limited to which might not be up, and were to be acknowledged. But he settled with the to make the attempt.
He called on a GC wave-length and form. It was that would use general-communication to keep in touch with each other, but it had to be tried. He broadcast, as as possible, and up and the GC spectrum, his and without for a reply. He did one spot on the where there was re-radiation of his message, as if from a receiver. But he not a on it, and nobody might be listening. He the normal pattern. Then he on old-fashioned which a modern would not up at all, and which therefore might be used by men in hiding.
He for a long time. Then he and gave it up. He'd to the that any Darians—blueskins—on Orede ought to know. There'd been no answer. And it was all too likely that if he'd been received, that those who him took his message for a to if there were any hearers.
He off at last and up, his head. Suddenly the Med Ship empty. Then he saw Murgatroyd at the exit-port. The door of that small was closed. The tell-tale said the was not locked. Someone had gone out, quietly. The girl. Of course. Calhoun said angrily;
"How long ago, Murgatroyd?"
"Chee!" said Murgatroyd indignantly.
It wasn't an answer, but it that Murgatroyd was that he'd been left behind. He and the girl were close friends, now. If she'd left Murgatroyd in the ship when he wanted to go with her, she wasn't back.
Calhoun swore. Then he certain. She was not in the ship. He the outside-speaker and said into the microphone;
"Coffee! Murgatroyd and I are having coffee. Will you come back, please?"
He the call, and it again. Multiplied as his voice was by the speakers, she should him a mile. She did not appear. He to a small and and himself. A Med Ship man was not to fight, but there were blast-rifles available for emergency.
When he'd a power-pack over his and the airlock, there was still no of his late stowaway. He in the door for long minutes, about. Almost she wouldn't be looking in the for men of Dara come here for cattle. He used a pair of binoculars, at low-magnification to search as wide an area down-valley as possible, and then at power to search the most likely routes.
He a small, a far-away hillcrest. It was her head. It the hilltop.
He a to Murgatroyd, and when the was on the ground outside, he locked the port with that that nobody but a Med Ship man was at all likely to or use.
"She's an idiot!" he told Murgatroyd sourly. "Come along! We've got to be too!"
He set out in pursuit.
The girl had a long start. Twice Calhoun came to places where she have either of two onward. Each time he had to which she'd followed. That cost time. Then the ended, abruptly, and a plain away to the horizon. There were at least two large and many smaller of what only be animals together. Cattle.
But here the girl was in view. Calhoun his stride. He to on her. She did not look behind.
Murgatroyd said "Chee!" in a tone.
"I should have left you behind," Calhoun dourly, "but there was and is a I won't back. You'll have to keep on hiking."
He on. His memory of the around the settlement told him that there was no in the girl's mind. But she was in no such as to want to be lost. She'd guessed, Calhoun believed, that if there were Darians on the planet, they'd keep the landing-grid under observation. If they saw her that area and see that she was alone, they should her to out the meaning of the Med Ship's landing. Then she identify herself as one of them and give them the necessary of Weald's suspicions.
"But," said Calhoun sourly, "if she's right, they'll have me after her now, which her scheme. And I'd like to help it, but the way she's going is too dangerous!"
He into one of the of the plain. He saw a of a dozen or so a little away. The looked up and snorted. The him truculently. Their air was not one of tranquility.
He was up the and out of the himself up to a charge. Then Calhoun one of the in the data about he'd looked into just the other day. He himself pale.
"Murgatroyd!" he said sharply. "We've got to catch up! Fast! Stay with me if you can, but ..." He was jog-trotting as he spoke—"even if you I have to hurry!"
He ran fifty and walked fifty paces. He ran fifty and walked fifty. He saw her, a of the ground. She came to a full stop. He ran. He saw her turn to her steps. He to the safety of the blast-rifle and let off a blast at the ground for her to hear.
Suddenly she was desperately, toward him. He on. She into a hollow. Horns appeared over the she'd just left. Cattle appeared. Four—a dozen—fifteen—twenty. They moved in her wake. He saw her again, over another of the prairie. He let off another blast to her. He ran on at top speed with Murgatroyd behind. From time to time Murgatroyd called "Chee-chee-chee!" in not to be abandoned.
More appeared against the horizon. Fifty or a hundred. They came after the clump. The first-seen group of a and his were moving faster, now. The girl from them, but it is the of beef-cattle on the open range—Calhoun had learned it only two days before—to any they on foot. A man to their minds is a to be or from, but a on is to be and and gored.
Those in the lead were definitely now, with low. The with eyes, as do, but the many-times-more-deadly with their wide open and alert, and with a speed much than the girl manage.
She came up over the last rise, chalky-white and gasping, her flying, in the last of terror. The nearest of the were ten yards when Calhoun from twenty yards beyond. One as the blast-bolt struck. It and others into it and over it, and more came on. The girl saw Calhoun, now, and ran toward him, panting, and he very and to check the by the leading animals.
He did not succeed. There were more the first, and more and more them. It appeared that all the on the plain joined in the and charge. The of a and then a and then a growl. Plunging, past on either side. But and up over the of animals Calhoun had shot. He them too. More and more came past the of his victims, but always, it seemed, some elected to climb the of their and fellows, and Calhoun and shot.
But he the herd. The animals had been a enemy. Others had it is the of to join their in they feel. There was a dense, pounding, of and and calves; bellowing, wailing, grunting, puffing, thick and clouds of which had but going past on either side.
It for minutes. Then the of diminished. It ended abruptly, and Calhoun and the girl were left alone with the of animals which had the into two parts. They see the of animals, the charge—hardly different, now, from a stampede—whose original none now remembered.
Calhoun touched the of his blast-rifle and at its heat.
"I just realized," he said coldly, "that I don't know your name. What is it?"
"M-maril," said the girl. She swallowed. "Th-thank you—."
"Maril," said Calhoun, "you are an idiot! It was half-witted at best to go off by yourself! You have been lost! You have cost me days of for you, days needed for more matters!" He stopped and took breath. "You may have what little I've got to do something about the plans Weald's already making!"
He said more still;
"And I had to Murgatroyd to to you in time! He was right in the path of that charge!"
He away from her and said dourly;
"All right! Come on to the ship. We'll go to Dara. We'd have to, anyhow. But Murgatroyd—"
Then he a very small sneeze. Out of a of still-roiling dust, Murgatroyd appeared forlornly. He was dust-covered, and draggled, and his drooped, and he again. He moved as if he put one another, but at the of Calhoun he yet again and said, "Chee!" in a voice. Then he sat and waited for Calhoun to him up.
When Calhoun did so, Murgatroyd to him and said, "Chee-chee!" and again "Chee-chee!" with the of one telling of and endured.
Calhoun for the valley, the settlement and the Med Ship. Murgatroyd to his neck. The girl Maril visibly shaken.
Calhoun did not speak to her again. He the way. A mile toward the mountains, they to see from the now-vanished herd. A little further, those to notice them. And it would have been a of no moment if they'd been dairy-cattle, but these were range-cattle gone wild. Twice, Calhoun had to use his blast-rifle to by or more cows. Those with Calhoun of designs upon their offspring.
It was a to enter the again. But it was two miles more to the landing-grid with the Med Ship it and the of in the air.
They were two hundred from the ship when a blast-rifle and its past Calhoun so close that he the heat. There had been no challenge. There was no warning. There was a which came close to Calhoun's career in a fashion.
