“Get aboard,” Kerk said. “But keep out of the way or you’ll get trampled.”
This time, with a definite destination ahead, the ffight was much faster. Meta took the ship into the stratosphere, in a high ballistic arc that ended at the islands. Kerk was in the copilot’s seat, Jason sat behind them where he could watch the screens. The landing party, twenty-five volunteers, were in the hold below with the weapons. All the screens in the ship were switched to the forward viewer. They watched the green island appear and swell, then vanish behind the flames of the braking rockets. Jockeying the ship carefully, Mets brought it down on a flat shelf near the cave mouth.
Jason was ready this time for the blast of mental hatred-but it still hurt. The gunners laughed and killed gleefully as every animal on the island closed in on the ship. They were slaughtered by the thousands, and still more came.
“Do you have to do this?” Jason asked. “It’s murder, carnage, just butchering those beasts like that.”
“Self-defense,” Kerk said. “They attack us and they get killed. What could be simpler. Now shut up or I’ll throw you out there with them.”
It was a half an hour before the gunfire slackened. Animals still attacked them, but the mass assaults seemed to be over. Kerk spoke into the intercom.
“Landing party away-and watch your step. They know we’re here and will make it as hot as they can. Take the bomb into that cave and see how far back it runs. We can always blast them from the air, but it’ll do no good if they’re dug into solid rock. Keep your screen open, leave the bomb and pull back at once if I tell you to. Now move.”
The men swarmed down the ladders and formed into open battle formation. They were soon under attack, but the beasts were picked off before they could get close. It didn’t take long for the man at point to reach the cave. He had his pickup trained in front of him, and the watchers in the ship followed the advance.
“Big cave,” Kerk grunted. “Slants back and down. What I was afraid of. Bomb dropped on that would just close it up. With no guarantee that anything sealed in it couldn’t eventually get out. We’ll have to see how far down it goes.”
There was enough heat in the cave now to use the infrared filters. The rock walls stood out harshly black and white as the advance continued.
“No signs of life since entering the cave,” the officer reported. “Gnawed bones at the entrance and some bat droppings. It looks like a natural cave-so far.”
Step by step the advance continued, slowing as it went. Insensitive as the Pyrrans were to psi pressure, even they were aware of the blast of hatred being continuously leveled at them. Jason, back in the ship, had a headache that slowly grew worse instead of better.
“Watch out!” Kerk shouted, staring at the screen with horror.
The cave was filled from wall to wall with pallid, eyeless animals. They poured from tiny side passages and seemed to literally emerge from the ground. Their front ranks dissolved in flame, but more kept pressing in. On the screen the watchers in the ship saw the cave spin dizzily as the operator fell. Pale bodies washed up and concealed the lens.
“Close ranks-flamethrowers and gas!” Kerk bellowed into the mike. Less than half of the men were alive after that first attack. The survivors, protected by the flamethrowers, set off the gas grenades. Their sealed battle armor protected them while the section of cave filled with gas. Someone dug through the bodies of their attackers and found the pickup.
“Leave the bomb there and withdraw,” Kerk ordered. “We’ve had enough losses already.”
A different man stared out of the screen. The officer was dead. “Sorry, sir,” he said, “but it will be just as easy to push ahead as back as long as the gas grenades hold out. We’re too close now to pull back.”
“That’s an order,” Kerk shouted, but the man was gone from the screen and the advance continued.