Hal Clement - Close to Critical

Jane finished her account, was asked a question or two by Raeker on points he had not fully taken in, and then settled back to let Oliver show his map. Raeker’s assistant photographed it, Raeker himself made sure that the recording tape was still feeding properly, and the two relaxed once more—or came as close to relaxation as the local confusion permitted. Raeker was almost ready to decide that he needn’t stay, and to catch up on his overdue sleep.

He had not actually said anything about it, though, when the cave scout caught sight of John. Within three seconds after that, the biologist lost all intention of leaving.

The scout reacted practically instantaneously. He had been crouching as low in the vegetation as his anatomy permitted; now he leaped to his walking legs and started traveling. John was south and west of him, Fagin and the rest south and east; he headed north. Immediately Betsey rose into view in that direction, and he stopped in momentary confusion. Nick, who had never lost sight of the fellow’s crest since Betsey had first pointed him out, interpreted the situation correctly even though he could not see John and Betsey. He sprang to his walking legs, interrupting Oliver unceremoniously, and began issuing orders. The others were surprised, but reacted with relatively little confusion; and within a few seconds the whole group was streaming down the hillside toward the point where the cave dweller had vanished, leaving the human observers to shout futile questions through the speakers of their robot. Seeing that words were useless, Raeker started the robot in the same direction as his pupils, and used language which made Easy raise her eyebrows as the machine was steadily left further and further behind. Nick and his friends disappeared over the hilltop where the scout had been hiding, and not even their shouts could be heard over Raeker’s voice in the control room.

It was Easy who turned his words into more constructive channels, less because she was shocked than because she was curious.

“Dr. Raeker! Did I hear one of them say that there was a cave dweller to catch? How did one get there so soon? I thought you said you’d left them behind at that river.” Her question was so exactly the one Raeker had been asking himself that he had nothing to say in reply for a moment; but at least he stopped talking, and had the grace to turn slightly red.

“That’s what it sounded like to me, Easy. I don’t know the way they found us any more than you do; I have always supposed this was a long way outside their home grounds, so I don’t see how they could have known a short cut around the river—for that matter, I don’t see how there could be such a thing; that river was over a mile wide. We’ll have to wait until Nick and the others come back; maybe they’ll have a prisoner we can question. I suppose that’s his idea; I think he said ‘catch,’ not ‘kill.’ ”

“That’s right; he did. Well, we’ll be able to see them in a minute or two, when the robot gets up this hill, unless they’ve gone over another one in the meantime.”

It turned out that they hadn’t; the human watchers had a very good view of the chase, not that it was much to see. The valley into which the cave scout had fled was almost entirely ringed with the low, rounded hills so typical of much of Tenebra; John and Betsey had managed to get to the tops of two of these before being seen, so that they had a considerable advantage on the cave dweller when it came to running. He had made one or two attempts to race out through the wide gaps between Betsey and John and between them and the main group, but had seen after only a few moments on each dash that he was being headed off. When the robot came in sight he was standing near the center of the valley while Fagin’s people closed in slowly around him. He was rather obviously getting ready for a final dash through any gap that might present itself, after his pursuers were close enough to have sacrificed their advantage of elevation. He might also be planning to fight; he was two feet taller than Nick and his friends, and had two efficient-looking short spears.

Nick seemed to have picked up a smattering of military tactics, not to mention diplomacy, however. He halted his people a good fifty yards from the big cave dweller, and spread them out into an evenly spaced circle, With this completed to his satisfaction, he shifted to Swift’s language.

“Do you think you can get away from us?”

“I don’t know, but some of you will be sorry you tried to stop me,” was the answer.

“What good will that do you, if you are killed?” The scout seemed unable to find an answer to this; in fact, the very question seemed to startle him. The matter had seemed so obvious that he had never faced the task of putting it into words. He was still trying when Nick went on, “You know that Fagin said he was willing to teach Swift whatever he wanted to know. He doesn’t want fighting. If you’ll put your spears down and come to talk with him, you won’t be hurt.”

“If your teacher is so willing to help, why did he run away?” the other shot back. Nick had his answer ready.

“Because you had taken him away from us, and we want him to teach us too. When I came to your caves to get him, he came with me to help me get away. He carried me through the river, where I could not have gone alone. When you first attacked our village, he wanted us to talk to you instead of fighting; but you gave us no chance.” He fell silent, judging that his antagonist would need time to think. However, another question came at once.

“Will you do anything your Teacher tells you?”

“Yes.” Nick didn’t mention the times he had hesitated about obeying Fagin’s commands; quite honestly, he didn’t think of them at that moment.

“Then let me hear him tell you not to harm me. He is coming now. I will wait here, but I will keep my weapons, until I am sure I won’t need them.”

“But you don’t know his language; you won’t know what he’s telling us.”

“He learned a few of our words while he was with us, though he couldn’t say them very well. I think I can ask him if he is going to hurt me, and I’ll know if he says yes or no.” The scout fell silent and stood watching the approach of the robot, still keeping a firm grip on his spears with two hands each. He was ready to stab, not throw.

Even Raeker could see that readiness as the robot glided into the circle, and felt a little uneasy; he would be a good two seconds slow in reacting to anything that happened. Not for the first time, he wished that the Vindemiatrix were orbiting just outside Tenebra’s atmosphere, with three or four relay stations to take care of horizon troubles.

“What’s happened, Nick? Is he going to fight?”

“Not if you can convince him it isn’t necessary,” replied Nick. He went on to give a precis of the scout’s recent statements. “I don’t quite know what to do with him myself, now that we have him,” he finished.

“I wouldn’t say you really had him, yet,” was Raeker’s dry rejoinder, “but I see the problem. If we let him go, Swift will be on us in a matter of hours, or in a day or so at the outside. If we don’t, we’ll have to keep a continuous watch on him, which would be a nuisance, and he might get away anyway. Killing him would of course be inexcusable.”

“Even after what happened to Alice and Tom?”

“Even then, Nick. I think we’re going to have to put this fellow to a use, and face the fact that Swift will know where we are. Let me think.” The robot fell silent, though the men controlling it did not; plans were being proposed, discussed, and rejected at a great rate while the natives waited. Easy had not been cut off, but she offered no advice. Even the diplomats, able to hear from the communication room which they still haunted, kept quiet for once.