Balook

by Piers Anthony

  "It's the only way!" she cried. "I don't like it myself! The Project has already paid a five thousand dollar toll—"

  "Five thousand dollars!" he exclaimed, outraged anew.

  "Because they'll have to close it to all traffic for at least an hour. Duke says it was either that or a suspension bridge—"

  Thor was appalled. "Balook would jump off a bridge!"

  "That's right."

  "We'd have been better off with a random route!" Thor exclaimed. "Balook picked his own route, coming over, and it had no problems."

  "He was lucky. What did he eat?"

  "He didn't eat. He—" Thor realized what he was saying. "That's right—it'd never do this time. Still, they could've avoided the city!"

  "They should have," she agreed. "But it's too late to change it now. We're stuck with it. That's the price we pay for paying more attention to the rhinos than to the Project people."

  "And I thought this trip was going to be fun!" Thor said, shaking his head glumly. Too late he realized the folly of leaving all the details to others who did not relate as closely as he to the foibles of the rhinos. He should have assumed far more responsibility. Actually, it had not only been the rhinos that had taken his attention; it had been Barb.

  Responsibility: that was an adult quality. In certain ways the Project had been like a parent to him, automatically taking care of his needs as well as those of the rhinos and freak animals. He had grown dependent on that. It was time he grew up and made decisions for himself.

  The freak zoo—that gave him a notion that—

  "Why, am I such bad company?"

  "Hey, I didn't mean—" Then he saw her smiling, and realized that she was teasing him. He had exclaimed about the developing horrors of this trek, and she was pretending that it was her he objected to. Well, he could fix that. "Look, I didn't hold you to that swim in the lake. I could change my mind, you know."

  She assumed a look of sheer terror. "No, don't do that! Please don't do that!"

  "You think only women can change their minds?" he inquired evilly.

  She glanced sidelong at him. "Is there dirt on your fur?"

  Thor opened his mouth, but his reply was lost in a logjam in his brain. Had she been talking to him in the night? Or had she realized his confusion, and now was rubbing it in?

  She laughed. "I think I won that one."

  "I think I'm overmatched. But it won't be funny if we have trouble in this trek."

  "Most of it's okay," she said. "Just a few bad hurdles."

  Thor didn't answer. He was thinking of that tunnel, and the center of town. Of the gawking spectators, and Balook's nervousness around people. And he was trying to remember the intriguing thought he had had about the freak zoo. There was something about it that might solve a significant problem—but the distraction had caused him to lose the thread.

  WELCOME TO EAGLE STREAM the sign said.

  It wasn't a town. It was a city. Now it was clear why the yellow line followed so many kilometers of highway: the entire neighborhood was so developed that there was no other safe route through. Decentralization had spread the population more evenly, but some industrial centers remained, and this was one of them.

  All vehicles and pedestrians had been cleared from the roadbed, but in this case it was impossible to exclude the curious citizens from the region. At the fringe of that right-of-way they pressed in by the thousands. Bicycles, rickshaws, adult tricycles and electric cars jammed the accesses. Blimps and sailcraft hovered above. Balook grew increasingly nervous as the kilometers passed, and more irritable. Any little thing could set him off. Thor could tell by Theria's reactions and the tight lips of her rider that she was little better off. Only Blooky enjoyed himself; to him the massed faces were curiosities.

  Another problem developed: the hot, hard pavement was uncomfortable for the rhinos' feet, which were made for treading the variable forest floor. Short stretches of concrete were all right, but this was a long stretch. The Baluchitheria were generally of amiable disposition, but every kilometer on this hard, hot highway eroded that.

  If only there were some way to get them off this concourse, to take a break. But the throngs of gawking people filled every exit—and in any event, there were only more roads and houses to the sides. A city was such an awful place!

  At last they came to the tunnel. Balook was so eager to get away from the sea of faces and hot pavement that he hurried into the shaded aperture without hesitation. To him it was a cave, a refuge. Where Balook led, Theria and Blooky followed.

  Then some idiot turned on the tunnel lights. Balook halted so suddenly that Thor almost slid off his shoulder, and Theria nearly collided from behind. "Douse the lights!" Thor cried. "They want the shade!"

  Barb got on her radio. Thor, thoughtlessly, had left his in his pack, where he could not immediately reach it. Another lesson in foresight! "Will you ask them to turn off the tunnel lights, please?" she said dulcetly, though her face was set in something very like a snarl. Thor would have admired that, if he had not been so concerned about Balook's reactions. "Yes, the rhinos can see very well in the darkness. They like the night. There will be no trouble. Please turn off the lights." She was almost grinding her teeth.

  She got through. The lights went out. Balook relaxed, and so did Thor. "Thanks, Barb," he called.

  "The morons!" she muttered angrily. "Those lights were supposed to stay off."

  They proceeded forward in the darkness. The half-oval of the tunnel entrance receded behind. This was a big tunnel, built to accommodate the largest rigs. The ceiling was ten meters above the street surface: ample even for Balook, whose head was normally carried at an elevation of six and a half meters when he wasn't reaching up for leaves. Thor had feared the animals would suffer claustrophobia, but it was possible for them to walk abreast. Thor was vastly relieved; instead of being a hazard, the tunnel was a respite. Perhaps the rhinos thought of it as a kind of nocturnal forest, with continuous tree trunks at the sides and overhanging branches.

  But they could not tarry within it. The toll covered an hour, but that included the time it had taken to clear the traffic and the time it would take to restore it. To be sure that the total interruption fell within that limit, they had to pass through in fifteen minutes or less. That was no problem, as the distance was only two kilometers, but it left little time to dawdle. The light of the far end showed as the light of the near end faded; they were passing the slight curve at the middle.

  Now Thor discovered that someone had thoughtfully put a mat of synthetic turf on the roadbed. Probably its real purpose was to protect the surface from the strike of the huge rhinos' hooves, but it also gave relief for their feet. If only they could have that on the road outside the tunnel!

  Emergence was a shock. The sunlight was brilliant, and there was the noise of concentrated traffic on adjacent streets. The crowd was horrendous; it seemed as though the entire city had turned out to witness the show. They were treating it like a parade, cheering and pointing and jostling each other. Police kept order, but Thor could hardly blame Balook for disliking it. Thor could almost feel his own feet heating on the pavement, and his own sensitive ears affronted by all the noise. His own temper fraying. "Easy, Balook, easy," he repeated, over and over. "We are headed out of town, back to the forest. Just keep steady, keep walking. Ignore the freak zoo out there." Balook seemed to understand.

  Then it happened. They were approaching a major intersection, and though it was cordoned off, cars were moving just beyond the ropes. The moment the animals passed, this crossing would be opened for traffic again, so that the vehicles could feed into the tunnel.

  A boy ducked under the rope and ran out into the street. He threw something. The object landed just behind Balook and exploded loudly.

  It was a firecracker.

  Balook, already near the breaking point, jumped. His head swung around, and his body jerked so violently that Thor was almost dislodged. Thor knew why: Balook thought it was a gunshot.


  Blooky also spooked; the noise had occurred closest to him. He broke away from Theria and ran toward the boy, not realizing that the child had been the real cause of the bang. The boy scooted to the side, laughing so hard he could hardly stand up. Now there was a murmur of laughter in the crowd, too. They thought it was funny to tease the huge animals.

  "Easy, Balook!" Thor cried. The rhino heard him, trusted him, and settled down. Thor knew it was largely because of confusion; Balook didn't know what to do, so he accepted the only guidance offered. Thor saw that Barb had had the presence of mind to clap her hands over Theria's ears, perhaps muffling the sound of the firecracker, and certainly making it harder for the rhino to orient for action.

  But Blooky was still running, bleating piteously while the mirth of the crowd increased. The firecracker boy capered beside him, playing up to the audience. "Stop it!" Thor cried. But they ignored him, intent on their cruel fun, and he dared not dismount from Balook. The big rhino was barely under control as it was.

  Blooky, terrified, careened into the barrier-rope. He now weighed a hundred and fifty kilograms. The rope spanged, and several people leaning on it tumbled to the ground. One young woman landed with her skirt whipped up over her head, to the delight of nearby voyeurs. The cries of surprise, glee and dismay alarmed Blooky further. He bounced off the rope and staggered on toward the intersection. Then he saw an opening in the crowd, leaped over the rope, and ran into the traffic beyond.

  "No, Blooky!" Thor and Barb screamed together. But the animal kept going, blindly. He ran out in front of a slowly moving car. The car struck him, knocking him down. He gave a bleat of anguish.

  Balook obviously had not seen precisely what had happened; his daytime sight was not sharp. But Blooky's cry electrified him. Thor's alarm flared too; he had noted the way Balook regarded any potential threat to his offspring. Balook normally did not seem to pay Blooky much attention, reacting mainly to Theria's signals. But now every muscle in Balook's back went taut. Theria, oddly, seemed more relaxed; perhaps she was deferring to Balook on this matter. Violence was mostly male business.

  "No, Balook!" Thor cried—with no more effect than before. Balook lurched into motion, enraged. He charged the car.

  The firecracker boy was still dancing about, reveling in the attention of the crowd. Balook's lifting forefoot struck him, hurling him aside like a plastic doll. Then the rope snapped as the rhino plowed through it. All Thor could do was hang on, knowing he was amidst ongoing disaster; he had lost any semblance of control.

  The car that had hit Blooky had stopped. Balook reared like a stallion. Thor grabbed a double handful of skin and fur and hung on desperately, nine meters high as the massive shoulders lifted. His feet dangled. The supply pack swung around. Then the expansion of Balook's muscles snapped the pack's strap, and it dropped to the street. Thor didn't dare try to grab for it; he had to maintain his hold, lest he fall too. He could be crushed if he fell.

  The rhino's two forefeet came down on the roof of the car. The metal crumpled like tin foil, and from inside came an awful scream and crackle of shorted electricity.

  Now the police had appeared, and they were drawing guns. That was all that was needed to complete the disaster! The moment a gun fired, Balook would go berserk, striking at anything that moved. Thor knew it, and knew he could do nothing to stop it.

  Except—to get Balook out of here! It was the rhino's natural instinct to stampede when alarmed. If he could just start Balook going—

  "Run, Balook, run!" Thor cried, kicking the huge shoulders. How often they had played this game as youngsters, he and the rhino. Charging about the Project...

  It worked! Balook, seeing the open road ahead, ran. The pavement shook under the impact of his mighty feet, and small cracks radiated. People scrambled out of the way, and cars screeched to the side to make a clear passage. Balook was larger than he had been, and more powerful, and more aggressive, and he moved faster: a good fifty kilometers per hour in the charge. Thor hung on.

  At least he was getting Balook out of immediate danger. Already the houses were thinning, and the open countryside was manifesting. Balook had forgotten Theria and Blooky for the moment; that was the limited advantage of limited intelligence. By the time he remembered, he would be safe, and Barb would be seeing to the other two.

  But how would the five of them get back together again, and back on the yellow trail? Thor had done what was necessary, what was expedient at the moment, to prevent Balook from doing any more carnage in the city. But already he was sick at the thought of the consequence of what had already happened.

  CHASE

  6

  BALOOK COULD RUN, and swiftly, but not forever. Gradually he slowed. By this time the city was behind, and the countryside was back: fields, farm, and islands of trees. Thor relaxed, no longer in danger of being shaken loose.

  But now that he was able to think, Thor found little comfort. People had been hurt or killed—he wasn't sure which—and that could mean that Balook's life was forfeit. They could cut cross-country to intersect the yellow line and in due course reconnect with Barb and Theria and Blooky—but what use would that be now? The authorities would set up a posse and come after Balook, and that would be that. Outside folk wouldn't care that Balook was special, or that he had not been at fault; he was an animal, and therefore had few if any rights.

  He brooded on that. Why didn't animals have rights? Was the human species so selfish that it could afford to consider no welfare but its own?

  Thor had no radio; that had been in the pack. He could not call Barb to learn the worst. Was Theria all right? Had Blooky survived? He had seen Blooky struck, seen him fall, but the car had been moving slowly; it should not be serious. But how could he be sure? There was no way to find out except to go back— and he couldn't do that until he knew the nature of the charges against Balook. He was not going to deliver Balook into execution, or even into doubt!

  So they walked on, staying off the road and away from farmsteads. Thor was hungry, but food was secondary. How could he save Balook from whatever threatened him?

  By hiding him, he realized. But how could he hide a creature whose head rose seven or eight meters above the ground? Balook was as tall as small trees; he had to be, to graze on them! But he did not look remotely like a tree! How, then, could he be hidden among trees?

  Thor considered, and decided that it was possible. After all, deer and other wild animals hid pretty successfully in the forest. The trick was to leave little or no trail, and to be where the pursuers were not. One tree could not hide a huge animal, several trees could not, but a forest full of trees could.

  "Let's go another way, Balook," he said, kicking gently on the side from which he wanted to turn. Balook obeyed. Thor guided him along the hardest ground he could spy, so that he left few clear prints. Dogs could sniff them out, and probably experienced woodsmen could follow the spoor, but the average posse would perhaps soon lose it. That was the best he could do.

  They approached a power line. Tall metal towers extended in a straight line across the landscape. Was this part of the same corridor he had seen two years before, when searching for Balook? Possibly; those lines extended all over the continent, and were interconnected, so they could be considered all parts of the same monstrous system. The giant rhino of wires, the biggest of the big! The corridor was fenced off, but Balook merely stepped over the two-meter fence and proceeded to munch the foliage within at the six and seven meter elevation. For the moment he seemed to be satisfied to remain away from Theria and Blooky, but Thor was not sure how long that would last.

  He crawled down Balook's sloping back, slid along the broad rump, and caught hold of the tail. He handed himself on down, using the tail like a rope. Balook was of course used to this, and tolerated it; it would have been a different matter with a stranger. The tail's tassel hung about two meters above the ground, which made it quite handy as a ladder.

  They were safe, for a while. There had been no evidence o
f pursuit, and much of the ground had been hard enough to make Thor's effort of obscuration successful. Who would suspect Balook of hiding in the corridor of a power line? In fact it offered fair concealment, because the high wires would screen the view somewhat from above.

  Balook seemed calm now. If he missed his mate and calf, there was still no evidence of it. That seemed to be a difference between the animal nature and human nature: the human worried about his absent friends and relatives. There was no doubt that Balook cared, as his attack on the car that hit Blooky had shown, but he simply did not concern himself about absent rhinos. Unless they happened to be in heat, so that the smell alerted him. Awareness was immediate. Probably the animal lacked the ability to visualize distant things, or to make theoretical constructions.

  Could that account for Baluchitherium's extinction? If family members got separated from each other, and saber-toothed tigers attacked one while the other was peacefully grazing elsewhere... or if a baby fell in a hole and disappeared, and the mother didn't hear, so had no concern. A fatal flaw in the species, perhaps.

  Thor shook his head. He was no paleontological scholar; probably the reason the species died out was something comparatively mundane, like insufficient foraging room when the climate changed. If there were a blight on suitable trees, the species would be in trouble in a hurry, because of its huge feeding demands. It was dangerous to make assumptions based on comparisons with human beings, whose lifestyle was quite different. Few animals needed the ability to theorize!

  But right now, Thor almost wished the human mind were the same. Then he would not be bothered by phantoms. If anything had happened to Barb...

  He found a stream crossing the power line aisle, about a kilometer along. He flung himself down and drank deeply. Water had never tasted so good!

  Balook heard him and moved to the stream. When he drank, the river threatened to dry up!

  There were a few wild berries growing beside the fence. Thor walked along, picking the ripe blackberries and popping them into his mouth. It was a slow way to get a meal, but it was sure. When he came to a particularly plentiful patch, he sat down and cleaned it out. He realized that he would have been out of luck in winter, while Balook—well, the big rhino preferred deciduous foliage, but could handle pine needles, and of course much of his sustenance was derived from the twigs and branches and bark. So yes, Balook could survive in winter, in the wild. If left alone.