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device along with his arms.
 That s right, yes! Over here, I m down here!
No question now but that they d detected him. It was a small skimmer, he saw, squinting up through the
rain. Now it was descending rapidly in his direction. He could finally relax and save his curses for
whoever had set him up. Soon he would be back in Taulau, sipping something cool and sweet while
giving his story to the authorities. For once, he would be glad to cooperate with them.
The skimmer continued to head for him. By now they ought to have spotted his own downed and
useless craft, if not the gesticulating, waving figure standing atop part of the broken canopy. They were
still heading rapidly in his direction. Rather too rapidly. He frowned. Behind him, unexpectedly and
inexplicably, a couple of telltales on his skimmer s own main emergency beacon had sprung to life, after
being dark ever since his abortive touchdown.
His rescuers should be slowing down by now. But there was no indication they were reducing velocity
preparatory to making a soft landing alongside his vehicle. It was close enough now for him to notice an
occasional shudder, as if the skimmer was proceeding under competing forces. Fascinated by the sight,
he was as rooted to the spot as the trees that emerged from the slow-moving water around him. Only
when it became clear that the oncoming craft was not only not slowing down but also showing no
indications of stopping did he make a frantic last-second dive for the safety of those same trees.
 Hauea,do something!
Masurathoo s eyes bulged out even farther than usual as he struggled with the controls of the bucking,
plunging skimmer. Moments earlier the craft s automatic detection equipment had signaled the nearby
presence of a suddenly activated emergency beacon. Homing on it, they had quickly made visual contact
with a downed skimmer that could only belong to the human they had been sent to rescue. The instant the
Deyzara had locked their skimmer s tracker on the signal, control of their own craft had been lost.
Now Masurathoo was desperately trying to regain it, fighting the manual instrumentation as they sank
downward in an uncontrollable dive. He was too busy to wonder what had happened. The agitated
Sakuntala waving his long arms in the seat next to him was not helping matters.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
 I assure you that I am doing the very best that I can! At the moment Masurathoo was wishing for more
than his two arms.  Nothing is responding properly. It is as if, I am remorseful to say, control of our craft
has been taken over by an outside source.
 Override it! Jemunu-jah stared helplessly at the bank of instruments. Though he could not pilot one
himself, he knew that flying a skimmer was not as complicated as operating certain other Commonwealth
machinery. It was designed to be easy to operate. What was the problem? Why was the stupid Deyzara
letting this happen? It served him right for placing his life in the hands of one of the two-trunks! The fact
that if they crashed Masurathoo might also die was not allowed to intrude on this line of reasoning.
Crash they did, snapping off branches and smashing through small trees before coming to rest alongside
the same craft they had been sent out to find. Water erupted in every direction, scattering all manner of
small life-forms. As the skimmer began to settle, Masurathoo leapt from the pilot s seat (which is to say
he extricated himself as rapidly as was possible for one of his kind to do so) and began grabbing food
paks and other items from an emergency locker. Stunned by the sudden turn in their fortunes, a dazed
Jemunu-jah joined him.
As if in a dream, their mortally wounded craft began to slowly sink into the depths of the Viisiiviisii.
Though Fluva was in the first third of the Big Wet, there was still twenty to thirty meters of water under
their vehicle, which was not designed to cope with an extended period of submersion. As Masurathoo
threw the emergency release and several portions of the canopy slid aside, Jemunu-jah found all his
childhood fears of being trapped in the water flooding in on him.
 This way. Hurry, please! It was not so much that Masurathoo was desperate to save his Sakuntala
companion as he was fearful of being caught alone out in the Viisiiviisii.
Jemunu-jah snapped out of his reverie long enough to grab some gear of his own. Shoving the compact
food containers into the storage pouches that hung from his waist and chest straps, he sprang clear of the
subsiding skimmer, easily passing the less athletic Deyzara in the process. Pausing on a lower
half-submerged branch, Jemunu-jah reached back to help his companion to safety. Together they stood
there in the rain watching as the skimmer sank beneath the surface. Loud bubbles constituted its only
tombstone.
 What happened? Standing in the rain in now sodden bright wraps of fabric, clutching a couple of food
paks in one two-digited hand and a small pistol in the other, a despondent Masurathoo gazed blankly at
the spot where the skimmer had been swallowed by the Viisiiviisii.  What could I possibly have done
wrong?
Jemunu-jah paid little attention to the Deyzara s mumblings. As soon as they had emerged from the
skimmer, old instincts had taken over. His sharp eyes were scanning their immediate surroundings,
looking for any sign of the numerous and resourceful predators that stalked the flooded forest.
 I don t know you do anything wrong, two-trunk. But I do know we stand here very long on this place
by the water surface where so much disturbance occur, we quick-soon have nothing to worry about
except how fast something else can digest us. He glanced upward.  We have to get higher. Up away
from water. Eyeing a suitable branch, he swung himself upward.
With a resigned sigh, Masurathoo moved to follow. Everything Jemunu-jah accomplished with ease was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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