“That way, about two kilometers,” Oberholzer said. “Help
yourself. If you want to settle in there, you’ll save us the
trouble of toting Private Hannes with us on a stretcher.”
“Of course,” the Consort of State said. “We’ll take care
of him. But, Sergeant . . .”
“Yes, Your Excellency?”
“If this stunt of yours still leaves us all alive afterwards,
and we do get back to any base of ours, I will certainly see
to it that a complaint is lodged. I’m not disowning you now
because it’s obvious that we’ll all have to work together
to survive, and a certain amount of amity will be essential.
But don’t be deceived by that.”
“I understand, sir,” Oberholzer said levelly. “Cassirir, let’s
go. We’ll backtrack to where we nabbed the worm, and then
follow his trail to wherever he came from. Fall in.”
The men shouldered their Sussmanns. 12-Upjohn and
Robin One watched them go. At the last dune before the two
would go out of sight altogether, Oberholzer turned and
waved, but neither waved back. Shrugging, Oberholzer
resumed plodding.
“Sarge?”
“Yeah?”
“How do you figure to spring this joker with only four
guns?”
“Five guns if we spring himI’ve got a side arm,” Ober-
holzer reminded him. “We’ll play it by ear, that’s all. I want
to see just how serious these worms are about leaving us
alone, and letting us shoot them if we feel like it. I’ve got a
hunch that they aren’t very bright, one at a time, and don’t
react fast to strictly local situations. If this whole planet is
like one huge body, and the worms are its brain cells, then