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on the ground."
Pick 'em up; put 'em down. Except for a few breaks, we didn't stop-even when night came. Our exertion
kept us warm. The horizon never seemed to grow nearer. The longer we slogged ahead the duller my
mind grew. It must have been days, my mind gone numb as my feet, when I fell through the purple weed
into a hole. Immediately, everything grew dark, and I felt a pain in my right leg. I felt the blackout
coming, and I welcomed its warmth, its rest, its peace.
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"Uncle? Uncle? Wake up! Please, wake up!"
I felt slapping against my face, although it felt somehow detached. Agony thundered into my brain,
bringing me wide awake. Damned if I didn't break my leg. I looked up and saw the weedy edges of the
hole. My rear end was seated in a trickle of water. Zammis squatted next to me.
"What happened?"
Zammis motioned upward. "This hole was only covered by a thin crust of dirt and plants. The water
must have taken the ground away. Are you all right?"
"My leg. I think I broke it." I leaned my back against the muddy wall. "Zammis, you're going to have to
go on by yourself."
"I can't leave you. Uncle!"
"Look, if you find anyone, you can send them back for me."
"What if the water in here comes up?" Zammis felt along my leg until I winced. "I must carry you out of
here. What must I do for the leg?"
The kid had a point. Drowning wasn't in my schedule. "We need something stiff. Bind the leg so it
doesn't move."
Zammis pulled off its pack, and kneeling in the water and mud, went through its pack, then through the
tent roll. Using the tent poles, it wrapped my leg with snakeskins torn from the tent. Then, using more
snakeskins, Zammis made two loops, slipped one over each of my legs, then propped me up and slipped
the loops over its shoulders. It lifted, and I blacked out.
I was on the ground, covered with the remains of the tent, and Zammis was shaking my arm. "Uncle?
Uncle?"
"Yes?" I whispered.
"Uncle, I'm ready to go." It pointed to my side.^ "Your food is here, and when it rains, just pull the" tent
over your face. I'll mark the trail I make so I can find my way back."
I nodded. "Take care of yourself."
Zammis shook its head. "Uncle, I can carry you. We shouldn't separate."
I weakly shook my head. "Give me a break, kid. I couldn't make it. Find somebody and bring 'em back."
I felt my stomach flip, and cold sweat drenched my snakeskins. "Go on; get going."
Zammis reached out, grabbed its pack, and stood. The pack shouldered, Zammis turned and began
running in the direction that the craft had been going. I watched until I couldn't see it. I faced up and
looked at the clouds. "You almost got me that time, you kizlode sonofabitch, but you didn't figure on the
Drac . . . you keep forgetting . .. there's two of us ..." I drifted in and out of consciousness, felt rain on
my face, then pulled up the tent and covered my head. In seconds, the blackout returned.
"Davidge? Lieutenant Davidge?"
I opened my eyes and saw something I hadn't seen for four Earth years: a human face. "Who are you?"
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The face, young, long, and capped by short blond hair, smiled.. "I'm Captain Steerman, the medical
officer. How do you feel?"
I pondered the question and smiled. "Like I've been shot full of very high-grade junk."
"You have. You were in pretty bad shape by the time the survey team brought you in."
"Survey team?"
"I guess you don't know. The United States of Earth and the Dracon Chamber have established a joint
commission to supervise the colonization of new planets. The war is over."
"Over?"
"Yes."
Something heavy lifted from my chest. "Where's Zammis?"
"Who?"
"Jeriba Zammis; the Drac that I was with."
The doctor shrugged. "I don't know anything about it, but I suppose the Draggers are taking care of it."
Draggers. I'd once used the term myself. As I listened to it coming out of Steerman's mouth, it seemed
foreign: alien, repulsive. "Zammis is a Drac, not a Dragger."
The doctor's brows furrowed, then he shrugged. "Of course. Whatever you say. Just you get some rest,
and I'll check back on you in a few hours."
"May I see Zammis?"
The doctor smiled. "Dear, no. You're on your way back to the Delphi USEB. The . . . Drac is probably
on its way to Draco." He nodded, then turned and left. God, I felt lost. I looked around and saw that I
was in the ward of a ship's sick bay. The beds on either side of me were occupied. The man on my right [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]