Anne McCaffrey – Dinosaur Planet II – The Survivors working area and four small sleeping sections. Dimenon and Margit elected to return to their secondary camp. Portegin, Aulia in tow, settled on a site for their dome. Triv took a single, as did Kai. Then a place for the largest dome, meeting room cum mess hall was chosen. As the supply of domes had been generous, two more were placed, one for Varian and another for such visitors as might care to stay over. As Kai once again surveyed the natural amphitheater, its forcescreen spitting as it demolished unwary insects, he could not fail to notice that none of the newly erected domes had been sighted where those of the first encampment had been. An understandable phenomenon.
Among the volunteers were two stewards from the Zaid-Dayan and they supplied a midday meal utilizing some of the Iretan fruits and greens.
“Surprised me, it did,” the man said, “considering how this planet stinks. Wouldn’t have thought anything would taste halfway edible: And it does!”
“I think we can’t taste right, is what I think,” the second caterer said, “with all that smell messing up our tasters and smellers.”
“Just goes to show, doesn’t it,” Margit allowed, “that neither looks nor smells is everything. So, Kai, shall Dim and I get back to our bailiwick?”
An ear-piercing whistle interrupted any answer Kai would have made. As he glanced upwards, thinking the globe was alerting them, he saw Ford depressing a knob on his wrist comunit. A momentary flash of disappointment crossed the officer’s face but was quickly erased. He turned to Kai with a rueful smile, nodding to his men who had been alerted by the noise.
“I’m sorry, Kai, that’s recall. We’ve been on yellow alert since we landed. It’s now red.” He rose to his feet, making a broad sweeping gesture with his arm. “All right, now, crew. Recall.”
Disappointed mutters and groans could be heard but the crew members moved quickly toward the door.
“Don’t like to eat and run. Me mammy said it was bad manners,” the older caterer said, grinning apologetically at the disarray in the catering area.
“We’ll save ’em for you to come back to,” Margit called in a good-natured taunt as she followed the crew out.
“If I can, I’ll let you know what’s up,” Fordeliton said as Kai jogged with him to the pinnace. “I don’t think you need worry about anything with the globe up there.”
“Good luck,” was all Kai could think to say.
Triv opened the veil of the forcescreen to permit the sleds and pinnace to exit, then closed it and walked purposefully back to Kai.
“Does their emergency mean we’re stuck in here?”
“Ford didn’t mention any restrictions on us.”
“Then shall we indeed pick up where we left off?”
“Portegin, is the new core screen working?”
Portegin raised his eyebrows, a knowing expression on his face. “It is indeed and a very interesting tale to tell us.”
“How so?” Kai asked as they all climbed the rise to the shuttle.
“You’ll see,” Portegin replied confidently. His meaning was as plain as the blips lighting the screen in the shuttle’s main cabin. Where once the duality of core lights had confused the geologists, only single clear lights formed a network.
“The Thek have recovered all the old cores?”
“That’s what it looks like. Did they eat ’em, d’you think, Kai?”
Portegin asked. “Dimenon thinks they do.”
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Anne McCaffrey – Dinosaur Planet II – The Survivors
“I wouldn’t put it past them,” Triv said.
“How long have the faint cores been gone from the screen?”
“There were still fifty or more yesterday when I was setting the screen up and testing it,”
Portegin replied. “I didn’t have it on today until we’d finished setting the domes up. I had a look at it just before they rang the chow gong. There were only a few left,” Portegin indicated the edges of the screen, “and now, not an unblessed one of ’em. They must eat ’em. Cores will register through anything.”
“Except a Thek,” Margit said.
Triv smiled. “Cores should register even through the silicon of a Thek.”
“Then they did eat ’em.” Portegin would not be dissuaded from that opinion. “And digested every last morsel.”