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- Chapter 10
thing, she could pinpoint its position, call the park rangers from the car,
and give them a story that would get them there in a hurry. They could do the
rest. If she found nothing, she could consult with Robane about the next moves
to make. Even if he didn't want to take a direct part in the search, he might
be willing to give her some help with it.
Chomir would remain here as sentinel. She'd plant a trace of uneasiness in his
mind, just enough to make sure he remained extremely vigilant while she was
gone. At the first hint from him that anything dangerous was approaching the
area, she'd use the car's communicator to have everybody pile into the other
two aircars and get off the ground. Gikkes was putting them in the right frame
of mind to respond very promptly if they were given a real alarm.
Telzey hesitated a moment longer but there seemed to be nothing wrong with the
plan. She told herself she'd better start at once. If she waited, the
situation, whatever it was, conceivably could take an immediately dangerous
turn. Besides, the longer she debated about it, the more unpleasant the
prospect was going to look.
She glanced down at Dunker's watch on her wrist.
"Robane?" she asked in her mind.
The response came quickly. "Yes?"
"I'll start over to your house now," Telzey said. "Would you watch for my car?
If there is something around that doesn't like people, I'd sooner not be
standing outside your door."
"The door will be open the instant you come down," Robane's voice assured her.
"Until then, I'm keeping it locked. I've turned on the scanners and will be
waiting . . ." A moment's pause. "Do you have additional reason to believe "
"Not so far," Telzey said. "But there are some things I'd like to talk
about after I get there . . ." She didn't really intend to go walking into
Robane's house until she had more information about him. There were too many
uncertainties floating around in the night to be making social calls. But he'd
be alert now, waiting for her to arrive, and might notice things she didn't.
The aircar was her own, a fast little Cloudsplitter. No one objected when she
announced she was setting off for an hour's roam in the starblaze by herself.
The fan club looked wistful but was well trained, and
Pollard had allowed himself to be reclaimed by Gikkes. Gikkes clearly regarded
Telzey's solo excursion as a fine idea . . .
She lifted the Cloudsplitter out of the mouth of Cil Chasm. At a hundred and
fifty feet, as the sealed engine lock clicked in, the little car automatically
stopped its ascent. Telzey turned to the right, along the forested walls of
the mountain, then swung out across the plain.
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Bureaubl...z,%20James%20-%20Telzey
%20Amberdon/0671578510_10.htm (10 of 28)10-1-2007 15:03:45
- Chapter 10
It should take her about twenty minutes to get to Robane's house if she went
there in a straight line; and if nothing else happened, she intended to go
there in a straight line. What the park maps called a plain was a series of
sloping plateaus, broken by low hills, descending gradually to the south. It
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was mainly brush country, dotted with small woods which blended here and there
into patches of forest. Scattered herds of native animals moved about in the
open ground, showing no interest in the aircar passing through the
clusterlight overhead.
Everything looked peaceful enough. Robane had taken her hint and remained
quiet. The intangible bubble of the psi screen about Telzey's mind thinned,
opened wide. Her awareness went searching ahead, to all sides . . .
Man-killer, where are you?
* * *
Perhaps ten minutes passed before she picked up the first trace. By then, she
could see a tiny, steady spark of orange light ahead against the dark line of
the forest. That would be Robane's house, still five or six miles away.
Robane hadn't spoken again. There had been numerous fleeting contacts with
animal minds savage enough in their own way, deadly to one another. But the
thing that hunted man should have a special quality, one she would recognize
when she touched it.
She touched it suddenly a blur of alert malignance, gone almost at once. She
was prepared for it, but it still sent a thrill of alarm through her. She
moistened her lips, told herself again she was safe in the car.
The creature definitely had not been far away. Telzey slipped over for a
moment into Chomir's mind.
The big dog stood a little beyond the circle of firelight, probing the land to
the south. He was unquiet but no more than she had intended him to be. His
senses had found nothing of unusual significance. The menace wasn't there.
It was around here, ahead, or to left or right. Telzey let the car move on
slowly. After a while, she caught the blur for a moment again, lost it again .
. .
She approached Robane's house gradually. Presently she could make it out well
enough in the clusterlight, a sizable structure, set in a garden of its own
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