“Stop!” Teddy called to him. “Don’t go! I am lost!”
The Gringg roar only served to speed the gelding on his way.
Teddy pulled himself up out of the sand and brushed at his coat. Now it was not only matted, but dust and grit were ground in all the way to the skin. He scratched at his belly, which emitted a deep, rumbling sound.
“They did not feed me yet,” Teddy said wonderingly, “and I am hungry.” Such a thing had never happened to him before. But what was there to eat in this hilly desert overlooking the smelly marsh, or in the big river he could see down the hill to his left? If his new friends were here, he could have asked them. This was their world. They would know what to eat here.
Wait, there was a smell! It was faint because the air was so dry, but he was sure he had caught it.
The breeze that carried the scent was coming from behind him. He turned and clambered on all four paws up the dune. At the top, he saw a dark-furred being with its head busy over its front paws. It was eating! Teddy was so excited that he scrambled toward it.
The crest of the dune gave, and tumbled him bawling with surprise into the bottom of a sandy cup. In the midst of a sandy nest of eggs, a mda looked up, startled. When Teddy appeared at the top of the next dune, it met his eyes.
“Are you Gringgish?” Teddy asked hopefully. It was unlikely that more true Gringg had come here, but he might be one of the sort of Gringg that lived here. It was not impossible, Teddy thought, remembering katz and Hrrubans. “I am Weddeerogh, of the Wander Den, cub of Grrzzeeraoghh and Eonneh. Can you help me? I am hungry and lost. What are you eating? It smells good. Can I have some?”
The mda, accustomed to living by itself and avoiding creatures that talked, was taken aback to hear unfamiliar sound emitted by another mda. It eyed Teddy with suspicion. The animal was fully his size, Teddy noted, and obviously meant to attack to defend its find. But surely courtesy would require this Gringgish creature to offer him some?
“Please. I am only a little Gringg. Will you not share?” Teddy waited politely. The strange Gringg did not reply, other than to start a low growling which reverberated in gibberish through the voder. Confused, but unwilling to leave a source of food, Teddy rolled back on his tail and settled in to wait.
That calculated act suddenly unnerved the mda. Attack it could understand, and knew how to defend itself. But the smell of this creature was different, subtly menacing. Suddenly the mda decided that it had had enough egg. Growling with annoyance, it picked its way gingerly across the hot sand and disappeared among the marsh plants.
That was a decision of sorts, Teddy realized, galumphing down and up the hill of sand toward the good smell. If the strange Gringg had none of his words, this was his way to tell him it was all right to share, and that he wouldn’t measure how much food Teddy ate.
The stranger had already eaten many eggs, to judge by the number of shells strewn around, but the nest contained many more, half-uncovered in the sand. Teddy picked one up carefully and it sagged around his handpaw. He sniffed and the smell was good, not tainted by unpleasantness. His father had told him that most of the food the planet offered was good for Gringg to eat. Reassured by both smell and paternal remarks, he tore it open with his claws. He plunged his muzzle into the heart of the egg and drank the delicious yolk. Extending his long tongue, Teddy licked his lips and square muzzle with pleasure. There were enough eggs here to make several good meals for a small Gringg. He would not be greedy. He’d eat only enough to take the edge off his hunger. He picked up another egg, pierced one end of the shell, and sucked the contents out. That way he would keep his face fur clean.
He had emptied quite a few eggs in this fashion when he heard hoofbeats. Teddy stood up and, peering over the dunes, saw Alec approaching on Tornado. He pulled so hard on the reins that Tornado stood up on two hind legs, which delighted Teddy.
“He’s here!” Alec cried, and the others quickly joined him. “But you’re in the dunes, Teddy! We’ve got to get you out of here! It’s dangerous.”
“You’ve found him?” Alison cried in relief. “And Teabag, too? Is he all right? What’s he doing?”
Alec squinted at the little round figure, who was waving something white at him. “Teabag’s not here, but Teddy’s eating snake eggs.”
They climbed up to meet him, panting in the dry air. Teddy was ecstatic that his friends had found him.
“Have some!” he said. “These eggs are good to eat, and I am so hungry. The strange Gringg let me have some. Are you hungry?”
“Well, yes,” Alison admitted, but looked queasily at the raw egg. “But we usually eat these cooked.”
“Ooh, cooked!” Teddy opened wide red eyes. “That would be good, also!”
“I like zis little guy,” Hrrunival said. “He’s got class!”
“Wait,” Alec said, squatting down beside Teddy. He, too, refused the egg, so Teddy felt obliged to eat what he had opened. Then Alec looked at him queerly. “What other Gringg?”
Teddy swallowed a mouthful of yolk and pointed the way the stranger had gone. “He never spoke to me, but that is not unheard of,” he said.
Hrrunival scrambled to look at the tracks that led away from the snake nest. “It was a mda!” he gasped. “And it left you alone?” His voice cracked on the last word.
“Reh. It did not speak to me, but we have not been introduced.”
Alison was laughing. “Mda can’t talk. They’re not intelligent.”
“Like the katz?” Teddy asked.
“Not like cats at all,” Alison said, her face screwed up in earnest. “Mda’re dangerous carnivores, Teddy.”
“What is carnivore?”
“It eats meat!”
“So do I eat meat!” the young Gringg protested.
Hrrana, ever cautious, was checking the perimeter for snake signs. “I see no tiddlers, but zere are ozzer nests already made. We should go away as quickly as possible.”
“It’s zoo earrrly for anyzing but tiddlers,” Hrrunival said, holding his head up to sniff the breeze.
“Snake Hunt is only dayz away,” his sister reminded him.
“But not yet.”
Since no one moved away, Teddy went back to eating eggs. They were so delicious, he could not understand why his friends did not want to share them. Nor why they kept looking around them nervously at the dunes.
* * *
Gallup spotted the white-eyed horse with the torn pack saddle plunging toward him on the swamp trail. The young Gringg had been thrown off, then. He had only to find the cub now. The horse saw him and shied away, continuing its panicked gallop down the track. Gallup palmed sweat out of his face and kept moving. He surveyed the path for footprints, but there were none except those the horse had just left. It must be heading for home. All he had to do now was follow its tracks back to the cub. The stink of the marsh was dying away as the terrain sloped up and into less fertile soil. Ahead of him were the snake dunes. Wonderful Spacedep maps warned him against going into the desert unarmed. The big Rraladoon snakes were capable of eating an entire horse, let alone a winded lieutenant.
As he topped the next rise, he looked down onto the dunes. And there, on the top of one of the sandy hillocks was the little bruin. Alone, too! A perfect opportunity! Gallup reached for his side arm. If the kid agreed to come quietly, Gallup wouldn’t have to use force, but after a chase like that one, his patience was gone. The kid was looking down, busy with something messy. Gallup crept around the edge of the dune, staying just out of sight.
Behind him, he heard rhythmic pounding on the sand. He jumped into cover just in time to avoid being seen by the four youngsters riding out of the woods. The little Gringg glanced up and waved. Gallup snorted in annoyance at the lost opportunity. By mere seconds. He hoped Walters would get to him quickly with the flitter. He checked his tracer stud to see that it was still working. This was t
heir last chance to grab the Gringg. He and Walters would have to carry him off in full view of the other children. If they protested, he’d have to take care of them, too.
* * *
Kelly was busily preparing a big lunch for the kids, who would surely be hungry after swimming. It was only as she walked into the living room that she realized there were no sounds coming from the direction of the pond. She had also just realized that there was a horse tied up to the door-post and a hovercar on the drive, when the doorbell rang.
“Who—?”
“Kelly, my dear!” She opened the door to see Jilamey Landreau, finger poised over the bell for a second stab.
If she’d thought that Jilamey had toned down his wardrobe in the years since she had first met him, she was profoundly mistaken. He was dressed in bright, bull-angering red that stood out from the surrounding landscape like an out-of-season poppy. Still, when Kelly considered it, the color was perfectly becoming to him. She didn’t know why she thought men shouldn’t wear bright colors.
“Hello, dear Jilamey,” she said, leaning over to collect a kiss. “Barrington, this is an occasion.” The gentleman’s gentleman was waiting down beside the hover. He was clad in sober brown, a color that blended into the scenery as thoroughly as his master’s garb did not.
“Mrs. Reeve.” Kelly thought for a horrible moment Barrington would bow to her, but he only nodded.
“Old Caution there insisted on following me here in the car,” Jilamey said plaintively. “You see why I don’t bring him to Rraladoon very often? He mothers me, Kelly. Make him stop.”
Kelly shook her head. “You need it sometimes, sweetheart. Come in, both of you. Where are Todd and Hrriss?”
Jilamey laughed. “Oh, likely in their office in the government building,” he said. “I thought I heard something about ‘too much to do before Snake Hunt’ as they left.”
“Sometimes, I wish they were both twins,” Kelly said, her hands on her hips. “I love having these visitors, but I wish that things would calm down a little so I could see my husband once in a while.” She sighed. “I can’t damn the man for having priorities, but it does get a little lonely.”
Jilamey laughed and seized her hand. “Now I know you’re telling a fib, beautiful lady. Where are the children?”
“I’d just realized that it was too quiet out there,” Kelly said. “Teddy, Grizz’s cub, came today. With all the mighty discussions at full spate, no one has time for the youngster. Well, they won’t want to miss their favorite uncle.”
“Good!” Jilamey said. “I have a special present. It finally arrived from Terra on the latest shuttle.”
“Good heavens,” Kelly exclaimed, going over to the comunit and punching in the twins’ codes. “What is it?”
“A model airplane, made from blueprints from centuries ago. It really flies! I tried it from the roof of Alreldep block.”
“Only you could get away with that!” Kelly said, all too aware of the repressive character of Terran society. “That’s funny. There’s no answer.” She punched in the code again, thinking she had gotten the signal wrong. “Nothing.”
Nrrna arrived with her sleeping cub, greeting Jilamey graciously before she saw the anxious expression on Kelly’s face. “Somezing is wrong?”
“I told those children to take their radios! —No, they did take them,” Kelly said, glancing at the rack which held only one, hers. “I remember the Cats picking them up as they went out the door.”
“So why do zey not answerrr?” Nrrna asked anxiously.
“I don’t know,” Kelly said, biting her fingers. “Oh, wait, maybe they’re out in the barn. No need to turn the units on there. Only, surely we’d hear them . . .” She looked anxiously at Jilamey.
“Barrington? Search the barn for the youngsters, would you?” Jilamey said, and his servant moved with great alacrity, covering the distance to the main barn in seconds. “He keeps fit,” Jilamey remarked as he gently extracted the comunit from Kelly’s hand and punched in a sequence. “Just a little trick I learned . . . to see if the units are broadcasting. Ah, that’s odd. There’s interference from somewhere.”
“A jammer?” Kelly cried, really alarmed now.
“Could be natural . . .”
“Maybe David’s seen them.” Kelly ran to her computer and called the ranch manager on the land lines. “He hasn’t seen them at all,” she said, severing the connection. “I wonder . . .” She punched in another number. “Todd? Hi. Are the children with you?”
“No,” Todd told her. “Are they on their way here? I’ll keep a lookout for them.”
Kelly winced, for suddenly she was sure that the kids were in trouble. But Todd had broken the connection before she could tell him that. Then Barrington mounted the steps to the porch.
“I’m sorry to report that there is no sign of the children in the barn or the pond. Further, five stalls are empty. Would that be significant?”
“It would! Oh God,” Kelly said, “they should have told me they were going riding. And with a total novice in tow, too.”
“The hovercar could be used to search,” Barrington offered.
“And I can summon my personal heli from the house,” Jilamey added. “We’ll find the children in next to no time, Kelly. Don’t you bother your head.” He took the comunit back and called for his pilot to bring the heli immediately to the Double Bar Gemini. Then he strode to the wall where the big map was tacked. “Hmmm, let’s see. Where do the children usually ride, Kelly?”
She shrugged. “They ride everywhere.”
“But not everywhere with a complete novice like Teddy.”
Kelly frowned, glancing at Nrrna for help. “No, they would probably go across the meadows and into the forest . . .”
“Well, that would require the heli. Barrington, you take the road toward the village in case they went that way. Your children are very resourceful, Kelly, Nrrna. I wouldn’t worry—yet! No sooner do we leave than they’ll come back, having done a tour of the meadow for Teddy’s sake.”
Not quite convinced, Kelly and Nrrna nodded uncertainly, each thinking of all the dangers that could befall five small children on Rraladoon so close to Snake Hunt time.
Just then, four things happened: a riderless horse clattered into the barnyard, Ourrh was found in the barn, asleep in the hay, Jilamey’s heli arrived, and so did the big Gringg shuttle.
ALTHOUGH KELLY and Nrrna waved frantically at the shuttle, it took off once it had deposited Grizz.
“Oh, Lord! And that’s Teabag coming in all a-lather, too,” Kelly groaned, hiding her face in her hands.
“With a pack saddle on?” Jilamey inquired, mystified.
“When I get hold of those twins, I’ll larrup them to within an inch of their lives,” she said so fiercely even Barrington regarded her in some surprise. “Jilamey—” She pushed the entrepreneur toward the porch. “You meet the captain, be gracious, offer her food and drink, while I see what I can find out from Teabag.”
“He talks?” Jilamey said to Kelly’s back as she strode off to intercept the gelding, wearily plodding toward the safety of his stable.
“No,” Nrrna said, her eyes flashing, “but ze mud on him and ze grasses caught in ze girt will tell us where he has been. The young Gringg cub would be more comfortable riding a pack saddle zan a normal one. At least, zat Hrrunival cub of mine had some sense!” She was not one bit less annoyed than Kelly, though her aggravation was expressed by the lashing of her tail.
As he obediently went to greet Grizz, Jilamey mused on the maternal trait that caused each of the women to blame her own offspring for whatever had happened to Teddy. He devoutly hoped nothing had, for it might have a devastating effect on the delicate negotiations now in progress.
“How nice to see you, Captain,” he said cheerfully. “Didn’t realize you were expected. Kelly’s had to go tend to that loose
horse,” he added, waving in that direction. “Are you hungry or thirsty? Kelly offers you hospitality. You’ve been here to the ranch before, I understand? Great place, isn’t it.”
Teabag, only too grateful to be home, allowed Kelly to approach him, especially as he had just stepped on the longer of the broken reins and answered the tug on his bit. But that was the least of the details she observed. The blanket under the pack saddle looked to have been sliced by a sharp object; Teabag’s neck bore shallow scratches. His hide was sticky with half-dried sweat, so he hadn’t come from all that far; the still slightly wild white eye he gave her as she caught up the shorter dangling rein proved that his fright hadn’t been that long ago. She soothed him as she examined the claw marks on the crosspiece and noted the scratches on the thick leather of the reins, but apart from his scratches, there were no other bloody spots. Kelly tried to reassure herself that falling off a horse was part of learning how to ride. Probably even ol’ bomb-proof Teabag had found a Gringg too much to bear. A real all-out howl from a fallen Teddy might well have made Teabag bolt. Nonetheless, spooking was most uncharacteristic of the docile Teabag. She felt his legs—warm but not hot, so no tendon damage. Her hand came away with swamp mud, the stink apparent even at arm’s length.
“Well, clues of sorts,” she said, still trying to reassure herself that Teddy had merely fallen off. In the swamp—which Teabag would have avoided on his own—Teddy would at least have had a soft landing. But why didn’t the kids call in? Ask for reinforcements? Why were the comunits dead? That was disturbing. Quickly then, she stripped off the saddle, dropped some feed in his manger, and left Teabag in his stable to recover.
Jilamey and Grizz were booming at each other on the porch as she returned to the house. Kelly gritted her teeth. The truth was always preferable, even if it showed her up as a less than careful guardian.
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