Hogg had set his double noose snare over the mouth of the hole plugged by the sandstone block. The eighty-pound creature which had tripped the triggers now hung in the air, flailing in the grip of the pair of springy branches Hogg had used to tension the trap.
It was white and hairless except for bushes of red-gold hair in its armpits. It had four broad, stubby limbs and a neck so thick and powerfully muscled that the nooses which should have choked the creature unconscious by now merely served to suspend it. It gripped the right-hand tether with blunt claws, jangling the rattles Hogg had attached to the rig to warn him when he’d made a catch.
“By God,” Hogg muttered, easing closer and cocking the shovel back for a thrust. Its broad blade would let the creature’s life out faster than an explosive bullet. “That little bastard’s untying the damn knots.”
“Wait,” said Daniel. He put his hand on Hogg’s right shoulder, emphasizing the warning. “Don’t. We don’t need food.”
The creature’s screams had turned to mewls as Hogg and Daniel came into sight. Its eyes were large and round, set in circuits of bone. When it closed them in terror, sheets of muscle rather than thin skin covered the orbs.
The noose gave way: untied from the springy branch, just as Hogg had said. The remaining noose flicked the creature sideways like the popper of a whip. From behind it looked like a grub worm, ugly beyond easy description. Daniel might have underestimated its weight because there was no hair to bulk up its form.
Hogg swore softly. The creature squirmed both forepaws under the bark cord and tugged outward. Interrogatory chirps were coming from the burrow; Daniel could see fairy lights deep within the ground.
“Master,” Hogg said, poising the shovel again.
“No!” said Daniel.
The tensioned branch sprang back. In a reciprocal motion, the creature leaped for the opening and vanished within as smoothly as water swirling down a hole.
Hogg was breathing hard. He kept the shovel pointed at the burrow even after the sandstone plug thudded into the opening and was wedged into place with a series of clacks muted by the surrounding bank.
“Did you see its face?” Hogg said. “When it jumped, it looked at us. Did you see?”
“Yes,” said Daniel. “I did. Let’s get some sleep. We’ve got a long way to walk tomorrow.”
He turned and started back for the tent. He was panting too, though he hadn’t been exerting himself.
“Christ, master, it looked human,” Hogg said.
“Yes,” said Daniel. “It did. Let’s get some sleep.”
Chapter Eighteen
Hogg put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder, pointed to the ravine ahead of them, and said, “Not a bad place to take a break, master.”
Daniel glanced toward the back of the line where Sun, as senior petty officer, should be marching to chivy in stragglers. He was there, all right, but little Vesey was guiding him along. Barnes walked alongside, carrying Sun’s pack as well as his own.
Which Hogg had already noticed. “Unit, fall out in the ravine!” Daniel ordered. “Ten minute break! Captain out.”
The spacers were tired, but they broke into a jog and grinned as they passed Daniel and Hogg. Dasi took Sun’s left arm and helped Vesey move the gunner’s mate into a trot also. Sun’s legs moved when prodded, but his eyes had no life in them.
“We’re going to be carrying him by the end of the day,” Hogg murmured. “Fuck me if we’re not.”
Daniel looked at his rotund servant. “Yes,” he said. “Maybe we’d better look for suitable poles here, just in case. We can use the ground cloth for a bed.”
He followed Hogg down the bank, which sloped because wind had recently undercut the lip and dumped it as a scree of pebbles and adobe clay onto the base of the ravine. Midway he paused to survey the bank to either side, then went the rest of the way down. The crew had already chopped a small clearing in the brush so that they didn’t have to hunch under arched branches.
Sentino sloshed water from the last of their three jerricans into a cup. The osmotic pump they’d set in the underground aquifer overnight had made up the seven or eight gallons they’d drunk from the original supply, but by mid-afternoon of this second day the spacers marching in dry air had absorbed ten gallons.