Гарри Гаррисон - Planet Of No Return

By the time he first heard the distant rumble of jets overhead the sun had dropped close to the horizon, where it glowed ruddily through a thin bank of cloud. He looked up to see a tiny point of light burning down. It was far brighter than the setting sun, and grew rapidly into a tower of flame that dropped the lifeship safely to the ground. It touched down, right onto the ‘X’, incinerating it neatly, and he was running towards it even as the motors were still cutting out. The airlock ground open and a flexible ladder rattled down to the ground just as he reached its side.

Brion seized the rungs and began pulling himself up, hand over hand, not wasting time trying to set his boots into place on the flapping length of ladder. His arms worked as smoothly as pistons to haul him up the side of the ship and into the airlock. Lea was just turning from the controls when he appeared behind her, seizing her in his solid embrace, kissing her soundly before releasing her.

“It’s wonderful to see you he said,” turning and diving towards the storage racks. “It’s been interesting but lonely, I want the HLP — here it is! Goodbye. Get this ship back into orbit as soon as I am clear.”

He skidded to a stop because she was standing in front of the lock barring his exit. Blazing with anger.

“That’s enough, my lightning lover. It’s time we had a chat — “

“There is no time. You must get out of the way, get back into orbit, we could be attacked at any instant.”

“Shut up. Go get a remote controller. I’ll wait for you on the ground.”

Lea had picked up a heavy bag, turned and started down the ladder while he was still trying to think of an answer. Should he order her back, force her inside if she refused, try to argue with her, convince her that what she was doing was dangerous? All these thoughts rushed through his mind, to be replaced by the realization that none of them would do any good. They must breed for firm-mindedness on Earth because once she had decided what to do there was no altering the course of events. He bowed to the inevitable, even admitting to himself that having her with him was infinitely superior to being alone …

This was taking too much time! He jumped to the control panel and tore the remote controller from its socket; its ready light switching on automatically. He clipped it onto his belt next to the HLP as he dived into the airlock and dropped headlong down the ladder, jumping the last few yards to the ground. Stabbing at the buttons on the controller. He could hear the inner door of the lock slam shut as the ladder clattered back up into the ship. He ran.

Lea had not waited for him, knowing his superior turn of speed. Though she was running as fast as she could he overhauled her quickly, going two yards to her one. He scooped her up in passing and thundered on, not slowing in the slightest. When he heard the jets ignite he dropped to the ground, his body between her and the blast. Putting his arm around her as the ground rumbled and shook and a heated cloud of dust enveloped them. Lea sat up, coughing, wiping at her eyes.

“You stupid, musclebound caveman — do you realize that you almost cooked us with that lightning takeoff?”

“Not really,” he said, smiling, rolling onto his back with his head cradled in his arms looking up at the receding flame of the lifeship. They were safe, at least for the moment. “I knew I could be clear of the blast with at least three seconds to spare. Allowing seven seconds for the lock mechanism … I felt that!”

“How wonderful!” Lea said, kicking him in the side again, just as hard as she could. The toe of her boot merely bounced off his rock-hard muscle, but the moment of protest gave her immense satisfaction. Brion grunted with surprise, then rolled over and sprang to his feet. Lea smiled up at him sweetly. “Well here we are, alone at last on this strange planet. What do we do next?”

Brion started to protest — then burst out laughing. She would never cease to amaze him. He unclipped the two instruments from his belt. “Are you wearing anything metallic — or is there any metal in that pack?”

“Negative to both. I planned this little expedition with care.”

“Very good. There is a stand of heavy grass concealing a ditch, just over there. Go to it and I’ll join you as soon as I get rid of these.”

He loped back to the crater and jumped into it, carefully putting the two pieces of equipment under the twisted metal of the wing, whistling happily through his teeth. Almost done. It looked like they were getting away with it.

Lea was already under cover when he dropped down into concealment beside her. “Isn’t it about time you told me just what is happening?” she said.

“You should not have done this. You should have remained safely in the ship.”

“Why? The thing can fly itself as you have just proved. And two heads will be better than one now that you have found some of the natives. There is no other reason to want a Heuristic Language Processor in such a hurry, is there? In any case, the deed has been done. I’m here, our transportation is back in orbit — so what do we do next?”

She was right. What was done was done; Brion had trained himself to always accept the reality of a situation that could not be changed. He pointed towards the tree-covered hills that bordered the plain.

“We stay under cover here until we’re sure that there is no military interest in us. Then we go up into those hills and look for a simple-minded and filthy primitive whom I met. If we are lucky maybe we can find some of his friends as well. Once he has located them we are going to talk to them with the HPL to see if we can’t get some answers to all those questions we have about this planet.”

The hush of the evening was broken only by the hum of insects, the occasional distant cries of the flying reptiles. Brion felt the knot of tension lessen and vanish with the realization that they had not been observed, that there would be no retaliation for the landing. But as he relaxed, the sensation of tension was instantly replaced by one of hunger; it had been a long time between meals. He dug one of the dehydrated ration bars from his bag and peeled off the covering with a growing feeling of distaste.

“Not exactly a steak dinner, is it?” Lea said, seeing his expression.

“You can live forever on these things, though it’s not much of a life. And, please, don’t let me even think about steaks.”

Lea swung her pack around and opened the top flap. “I only mentioned it because I brought you one.” She smiled innocently at his dumbfounded expression. “It’s a recipe I read once in a historical cookbook. It was recommended for attending the races in the winter, whatever that meant.” She began to strip plastic wrappings from a large bundle. “Very simple to do really. You cut an entire loaf of bread down the middle and put a thick, hot, broiled steak into it and pour all the meat juices onto it before you close it up. After that you sort of press it so the bread absorbs the juices and …”

She held up flattened loaf and Brion growled deep in his throat as he reached out for it. He bit off the corner and chewed on it slowly with a blissful expression. “Lea, you are a wonder,” he said, muffledly around the mouthful.

“I know it — and I’m glad you found it out as well. Now tell me about your smelly native.”

Brion did not speak again until a good third of the massive sandwich had been consumed. With the first pangs of hunger reduced, he finished the rest more slowly and appreciatively as he talked.

“He’s as simple as a child — but he’s not a child. His name is Vjer, or something sounding very much like that. When I first confronted him he was terrified, but once he accepted me the fear vanished completely. It was simply unbelievable the way it happened. Like throwing a switch. But later, when I started to follow him, he became so upset that he actually cried. I let him go on alone after that, because I’m sure that I’ll have no trouble finding him again.”