[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
had thrown away the spear on which the rope was
wrapped. The brush became more thick, and now there
were also long vines. These vines would be good to tie
logs together for a raft. He would try to remember them
when they came to build a new raft. He was going to
speak of it to Big Ones' Friend, but when they stopped
to catch their breath, Big Ones' Friend was saying the
funny mean-nothing Big One words. Maybe he was
frightened. This was a bad place to be, with the fire so
near.
At first the moon, Zerk-Zees, which was more than
file:///F|/rah/H.%20Beam%20Piper/Beam,%20Pip...20H%20-%20Fuzzies%20and%20Other%20People.txt (119 of 154) [2/4/03 10:05:39 PM]
file:///F|/rah/H.%20Beam%20Piper/Beam,%20Piper%20H%20-%20Fuzzies%20and%20Other%20People.txt
half round, was on their left as they ran, and a little in
front. After a while, he saw that it was almost directly in
front of them, though it was only a little higher. He
spoke of this to Big Ones' Friend and also to Stabber.
They stopped, and Big Ones' Friend got out his point-
north thing, and made a light with his firemaker. Then
he said more Big One words.
"Wind change. Maybe change more, maybe bring
fire to us. Come, make run fast."
They floundered on through the brush and among the
vines and trees. After a while they came to a big moving-
water, not as big as the one that made wide lake-places,
but still big. They could not cross. There was argument
about what to do. The fire was up the river, but if they
went down they would come to where it came into the
lake, and that would be a bad place to get out of. He
looked in the direction of the fire and was glad that he
could not see yellow flames, though all the sky was
bright pink. The wind still blew toward the fire, so they
decided to go down the river.
The brush became less thick, and here were tall long-
leaf trees. There were animals all about, moving in the
woods, frightened by the fire. Then, ahead they saw the
light of Zerk-Zees shining on the lake.
"Not go that way," somebody Wise One thought it
was Stonebreaker said.
"Not go across moving-water either," Big She said.
"Too deep."
772
H. Beam Piper
"Make raft," Big Ones' Friend said. "Little raft. Get
big sticks, tie together with rope, put things on. Some
get on raft, some swim. Who has rope?"
Nobody had the rope. Lame One and Big She had
thrown it away to run faster. Big Ones' Friend said one
of the mean-nothing words, then thought for a moment.
"We go along lake, that way." He pointed east, where
the thin edge of Dry-As was just above the horizon.
"Go back to place fire start. Maybe all dead, ground
cool. Then we be safe."
Fruitfinder said he was hungry. Now that it was said,
everybody else was hungry too. They found a goofer, so
frightened that Stabber just walked up to it and speared
it. Big Ones' Friend took out his knife, skinned it, and
cut it up. They did not make a fire to cook it. Nobody,
not even Big Ones' Friend, wanted to make fire here,
and they did not want to wait while it cooked. They all
ate it raw.
file:///F|/rah/H.%20Beam%20Piper/Beam,%20Pip...20H%20-%20Fuzzies%20and%20Other%20People.txt (120 of 154) [2/4/03 10:05:39 PM]
file:///F|/rah/H.%20Beam%20Piper/Beam,%20Piper%20H%20-%20Fuzzies%20and%20Other%20People.txt
While they were eating he smelled smoke, but thought
it was an old smell in his fur.. Then Carries-Bright-
Things said she smelled smoke, and so did Stone-
breaker. They stopped eating and looked about. The
fire was much brighter, and they could see yellow flames
among the red-pink glow over the trees.
Big Ones' Friend said, "Jeeze-krise go-hell bloody
damn! Wind change again. Fire that way, wind come
from fire, bring fire here!"
Jack Holloway was bringing a hangover home from
Mallorysport, but even without it he'd have felt like
Nifflheim. Traveling east was always a bother three
hours air-time and three hours zone-difference. You
had to get up before daylight to get in by cocktail-time.
He winced at the thought of cocktails; right now he'd as
soon drink straight rat poison.
He'd done too much drinking since since Little
Fuzzy got drowned, go ahead and say it and it hadn't
done a damn's worth of good; as soon as he sobered up,
he felt worse about it than ever. Hell, he'd had friends
killed before, on Thor and Loki and Shesha and Mimir.
Everywhere but on Terra; people didn't get killed on
Terra anymore, they just dropped dead on golf courses.
If it had been anybody but Little Fuzzy . . . Why, Little
Fuzzy was just about the most important person in the
universe to him.
His head thumped and throbbed as though an over-
powered and badly defective engine were running inside
it. Too many cocktails before dinner at Government
House when he got in, and then too many drinks in the
evening with all that crowd after dinner. And the
cocktail party after the opening of the Fuzzy Club; he'd
needed a lot of liquor to keep from thinking how much
Little Fuzzy would have enjoyed that.
174
FUZZIES AND OTHER PEOPLE
H. Beam Piper
775
They were going to put in a big commemorative
plaque for Little Fuzzy, eight feet by ten: Little Fuzzy in
gold with a silver chopper-digger on a dark bronze
ground. He'd seen the sketches for it. It was going to be
beautiful when it was done, looked just like the little
fellow.
And then, when he'd wanted to go home, Ben and
Gus had insisted that he stay over for the banquet for
the delegates, and he wanted to help get them in a good
humor. And, God, what a gang! One thing, they were
all in favor of lynching Hugo Ingermann.
file:///F|/rah/H.%20Beam%20Piper/Beam,%20Pip...20H%20-%20Fuzzies%20and%20Other%20People.txt (121 of 154) [2/4/03 10:05:39 PM]
file:///F|/rah/H.%20Beam%20Piper/Beam,%20Piper%20H%20-%20Fuzzies%20and%20Other%20People.txt
George Lunt, beside him, had tried to make conversa-
tion after they'd lifted out, then gave it up. He'd tried to
sleep, and must have dozed off in his seat a few times.
Each time he woke, his head hurt worse and he had
a fouler taste in his mouth. He was awake when they
passed over Big Blackwater; not a sign of smoke or any-
thing going on. Grego'd moved everything he had there
up to Yellowsand and was bringing men and equipment
in from Alpha and Delta and Gamma. He'd seen one of
the Company's big contragravity freighters, the Zebra-
lope, lifting out of Mallorysport air terminal for Yel-
lowsand when he was leaving Government House. He
hoped Grego got out a lot of sunstones before the trial.
Coming up Cold Creek, he couldn't see any activity
where they'd been holding the raft-building classes.
There weren't many Fuzzies running around the camp
either, though there was a small archery class. Gerd van
Riebeek met him and shook hands with him as he got
out. George Lunt excused himself and went off toward
the ZNPF Headquarters. He'd have to look at his desk;
he hated the thought of having to deal with what would
be piled up on it.
Gerd was silly enough to ask him how he was.
"I have a hangover with little hangovers, and some of
the little ones are just before having young. Is there any
hot coffee around?"
That was a silly question, too; this was an office, and
offices ran on hot coffee. They went into his office;
Gerd called for some to be brought in. There was a stack
of papers half the size of a cotton bale he'd been right
about that. He hung up his hat and they sat down.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]