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.As the younger spaceman reached him, the captain lowered the glasses andspoke:"Take your knife, Thorson, and hold it close to that rock--over there." He pointed to a rounded black knob protruding from the soil alittle off their path.Dane obeyed, only to have the blade jerk in his hand.And when he loosened his hold in amazement, the steel slapped tight against thestone."Magnetic!""Yes.Which might explain our crash.Also this." Jellico held out a field compass to demonstrate that its needle had gone completelymad."We can use the mountain range itself for a guide," Dane said with more confidence than he felt."True enough.But we may have trouble when we head west again." Jellico let the lenses swing free on their cord about his neck."Ifwe were wrecked on purpose"--his mouth tightened and the old blaster burn on his cheek stretched as did his jaw set--"then someoneis going to answer a lot of questions--and fast!""The Chief Ranger, sir?""I don't know.I just don't know!" The captain grunted as he adjusted his pack and started on.If fortune had failed them earlier, she smiled on them now.Asaki discovered a cave before sundown, located not too far from amountain stream.The Ranger sniffed the air before that dark opening as the Hunter pilot shed his equipment and crept forward on hishands and knees, his head up and his nostrils expanding as he, too, tested the scent from the cave mouth.Voodoo Planet 13/38 Voodoo PlanetScent? It was closer to a stench, and one ripe enough to turn the stomach of an off-worlder.But the Hunter glanced back over hisshoulder and nodded reassuringly."Lion.But old.Not here within five days at least.""Well enough.And even old lion scent will keep away rock apes.We'll clean some and then we can rest undisturbed," was hissuperior's comment.The cleaning was easy for the brittle bedding of dried bracken and grass the beast had left burned quickly, cleansing with both fire andsmoke.When they raked the ashes out with branches, Asaki and Nymani brought in handfuls of leaves which they crumpled and threwon the floor, spreading an aromatic odor which banished most of the foulness.Dane, at the stream with the canteens to fill, chanced upon a small pool where there was a spread of smooth yellow sand.Knowingwell the many weird booby traps one might stumble into on a strange world, the Terran prospected carefully, stirring up the stand witha stick.Sighting not so much as a water insect or a curious fish, he pulled off his boots, rolled up his breeches and waded in.The waterwas cool and refreshing, though he dared not drink it until the purifier was added.Then, with the filled canteens knotted together bytheir straps, he put on his boots and climbed to the cave where Tau waited with water tablets.Half an hour later Dane sat cross-legged by the fire, turning a spit strung with three small birds Asaki had brought in.One foot closerto the heat began to tingle and he eased off his boot; his cramped toes suddenly seeming to have doubled in size.He was staringwide-eyed at these same toes, puffed, red, and increasingly painful to the touch, when Nymani squatted beside him, inspected his footclosely, and ordered him to take off his other boot."What is it?" Dane found that shedding the other boot was a minor torture in itself.Nymani was cutting tiny splinters, hardly thicker than a needle, from a stick."Sand worm--lays eggs in flesh.We burn them out or you have bad foot.""Burn them out!" Dane echoed, and then swallowed as he watched Nymani advance a splinter to the fire."Burn them," the Khatkan repeated firmly."Burn tonight, hurt some tomorrow; all well soon.No burn--very bad."Dane ruefully prepared to pay the consequences of his first brush with the unpleasant surprises Khatka had to offer.IVDane regarded his throbbing feet morosely.Nymani's operations with burning splinters had been hard to take, but he had endured themwithout disgracing himself before the Khatkans, who appeared to regard such a mishap as just another travel incident.Now, with Tau'ssalve soothing the worst of the after affects, the Terran was given time to reflect upon his own stupidity and the fact that he might nowprove a drag on the whole party the next morning."That's queer
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Tematy
IndexJon Rappoport The Secret Behind Secret Societies, Volume 1 Liberation of the Planet
Boyd John Ostatni statek z planety Ziemia
Bova Ben Planety Tom 1 Wenus
Bova Ben Planety Tom 3 Saturn
Brooks, Terry Word 03 Angel Fire East
Christie, Agatha Karibische Affaire
Jerzy Strzelczyk Zapomniane narody Europy
Laini Taylor Córka dymu i koÂści 02 Dni krwi i Âświatła gwiazd
Benton Frank Dorothea Pojednanie
Rozdzial 16