Гарри Гаррисон - Planet Of No Return

“Is he some sort of mental deficient — an outcast perhaps?”

“There’s a chance, but I don’t think so. If you consider him in relation to his environment, you must admit that he is basically adapted for survival. He successfully tracked and killed one of the herbivores, and seemed perfectly happy to eat it raw. When he left he took the meat with him back to whatever camp or settlement he lives in. But there is really no point in theorizing at this time. We don’t have enough facts to make even an educated guess. We are going to have to find him and learn his language, then let him answer our questions for himself.” Brion glanced at the sun that was just slipping below the horizon. “This is as good a place as any to spend the night. We’ll leave the equipment in the crater for the night, then go on at dawn.”

“That’s fine by me. There has been more than enough excitement for one day as far as I’m concerned.” She took an insulated sleeping bag from her pack and spread it on the ground. “It’s all right for you to travel rough, perhaps you’re used to it. But I appreciate some of the more sophisticated pleasures — such as a warm bed. I also brought some sandwiches for my own dinner. And some wine in biodegradable container. You can share the wine as long as you don’t think it is too sophisticated.”

“I gratefully accept. I am really beginning to believe that your planet Earth really is the home of mankind.”

“Womankind. You aren’t getting this kind of service from any men that I have noticed.”

They both slept well — until Brion woke suddenly during the night. Something had disturbed him, but he had no memory of what it was. He lay quietly looking up at the stars. He had noted the major constellations the night before, so now he could work out the time from their movement. It was well after midnight, just a few hours before dawn. There was no moon, Selm-II didn’t have one, but the ground was bathed in soft light from the stars. This solar system was somewhere close to the centre of the galaxy so that myriad stars burned down from the wide belt that spanned the sky above.

What had disturbed him? The night was quiet, so still that he could hear Lea’s soft and regular breathing. Had he sensed emotions then? He reached out and was barely able to detect something. At the very edge of his perception. It was human. And feeling a single emotion. Hatred. Blind hatred, and rage, and the desire for death. It wasn’t a single person either, but was coming from more than one source. Directed at him.

Brion rolled over slowly and shook Lea awake, his finger resting lightly across her lips when he saw her blink and open her eyes. He put his lips against her ear and spoke in a quiet whisper.

“We’re going to have some company soon. Better get your things packed together and be ready to move.” He was aware of the sudden tenseness and fear in her body as she pushed herself up on her elbows.

“What’s happening?”

“I can’t be sure yet. But I can feel them, people out there in the darkness. They are coming this way. I can’t tell yet how many there are. But one thing I know, it is me they are after — and there is very little love in their hearts. Wait …”

He concentrated on the single emotion pattern, trying to separate out this individual from all of the others. Putting to use all of the skills that he had been perfecting ever since the day he had discovered that he was an empathetic. He willed himself into the other’s skin. Yes, the identity was positive. Brion nodded into the darkness.

“One mystery solved. Vjer is among them. At least we know now that he’s not living alone out there in the hills. There must be a fair-sized population at home because he is bringing a good number of them with him to look for me.”

“I thought you said he was your friend,” Lea whispered.

“I thought so too. But that seems to have all changed. I’d like to know why — and I have a feeling that we are going to find out soon enough.” He rose quietly and loosened the large knife in its sheath. “You just stay here out of sight while I sort them out.”

“No!” Her fingers bit hard into his arm. “You can’t go out there alone, in the darkness …”

“I certainly can. Please believe me when I say that I know what I’m doing.” He took her hand gently away. “I need plenty of space around me when I meet them. And I don’t want to have to worry about you at the same time. It’s going to be all right.”

Then he slipped away into the half-lit darkness. Staying flat on the ground and moving silently in the direction of the night stalkers. Stopping when he was well clear of Lea’s hiding place. The emotions that he had been feeling were stronger now. There were at least a dozen individuals out there. Perhaps more. He waited until he could see their dark forms — there appeared to be about twenty of them — before he jumped to his feet and shouted. “Vjer! I am here. What do you want?”

He could feel their dismay washing over their other emotions, sudden fear replacing hatred at his unexpected appearance. They stopped — all except one — who ignored the burst of fear, letting it be carried away by the hatred that had swallowed all other sensation. This man was still moving forward, doing something.

A spear appeared out of the night and buried itself in the ground a yard from Brion’s feet. The situation was growing dangerous. He could sense that the others were getting over the first shock, were feeling the same hatred well up again. They started forward, one after the other.

Brion moved back from their steady advance, retreating towards the lake, away from the spot where Lea was hidden. She would be safe. He was not concerned about his own safety, feeling sure that he could take care of himself if the men attacked him — particularly if they were all like Vjer. He could outrun them if he couldn’t outfight them. But why were they doing this? He shouted again to draw their attention.

That was when Lea screamed — and he felt her explosive burst of panic at the same moment.

Brion hurled himself in her direction. There was a man, two men, rising up before him — but he hit them at top speed, brushing them aside like insects, not even slowing. Lea screamed again and he could see the people who were holding her, the upraised spears. He never even thought of his knife as he crashed into them; his fists were weapons enough.

It was a wild melee in the star-touched darkness. They were so close that weapons were useless, even a danger to those who wielded them. Hoarse cries of pain sounded as Brion picked up one of the men and hurled him into the largest group of attackers. His fists crushing down the three who had seized Lea. He thrust her behind him for protection, taking the frenzied blows of the spear hafts on his upraised arms. Striking back with fists more dangerous than clubs. The attackers fell back away from him — and the first of the stones crashed into the side of his head.

Brion roared in pain as more stones hit him, aware for the first time of the women who had been following behind the spear-armed attackers. Their weapons were rounded stones and they were deadly accurate with them. Brion seized up one of the spearmen to use his body as a shield — but too late. There were sharp blows on his neck and skull, impacts he never felt as he swayed, unconscious, toppling to the ground like a fallen tree. His last memory was of Lea’s horrified screams and his inability to struggle to her through the enveloping blackness.

After that. Confusion. Mixed awareness. Blackness, redshot with pain. Swinging back and forth, pain in his wrists, his hand, his head. Motion. Blackness again. Once the stars were visible, swaying unsteadily before his eyes. He called out hoarsely to Lea. Did she answer? He could not remember. Pain and oblivion were his only reward.