Niall said: “According to Simeon, the Delta gets more dangerous as you get closer to the centre.”
Doggins grunted. “How does he know? He’s never been to the centre.”
Niall stooped, and tried to pluck a blade of grass. It was unexpectedly tough, and he had to wind the blade around his index finger to gain more purchase. As he gave it a second tug, he experienced a twinge of shock which made him let go. It was like the faint tingle he experienced when he handled the telescopic rod, but stronger.
Doggins asked: “What is it?”
“Try plucking a blade of grass.”
Doggins bent down, grasped a blade firmly between his thumb and forefinger, and tugged. He let go with an exclamation of astonishment, looking at his fingers.
“The damn thing gave me a shock!”
Niall bent down and place his hand, palm downward, on the grass. It was a mistake. The shock was so powerful that it made him snatch his hand away with a shout of pain. They stared at one another. Niall asked: “What is it?”
“Electricity. Ever come across an electric eel?” Niall shook his head. “It gives the same kind of shock.”
“Then why don’t we feel it through our feet?”
“Because you’re wearing rubber soles.”
Niall looked down at the grass with an expression of puzzlement.
“Then why didn’t I feel it the first time I touched the grass?”
“Perhaps because you hadn’t tried to pluck it then.”
Niall took a few cautious steps forward.
“Do you think it’s safe to walk on it?”
“So long as we’re wearing boots, yes.”
But as they advanced towards the rocky ridge Niall trod warily, unable to believe that the soles of his boots could afford protection. He asked:
“Why should the grass want to give shocks?”
“For protection, I suppose. Ordinary grass can’t defend itself.”
A hundred yards further on, they passed mouldering corpse of a large bird; Niall guessed it to be an eagle. They could see that its talons were still clenched in agony, while the wide-open beak in the eyeless face looked as if it was screaming.
“But what’s the point of killing a bird? Birds don’t eat grass.”
“But their corpses replenish the soil.”
Niall looked at the wiry grass with distaste.
“It’s not as attractive as ordinary grass.”
“That’s the price you pay for self-defence.”
Now, at last, they were climbing towards the top of the ridge. Some of the broken fingers of granite were large enough to conceal an animal; so they advanced warily, their Reapers held at the ready. But when they reached the top, it was clear that their caution had been unnecessary. The ground before them sloped down for perhaps a mile before it was replaced by a belt of jungle that was rich in colours. Beyond this, they could see the nearer of the two rivers that flowed from the southern end of the Delta; in places, this was apparently no more than a meandering stream, winding its way through jungle and marshland. On the far side of the stream, immediately ahead of them, stood the hill with the tower-like protuberance. Now it was hardly more than three miles away, it no longer looked like a head, and the protuberance was obviously not a tower. At this distance it might have been some kind of vegetable extension of the hill, or the shattered remains of a mighty tree.
Doggins said thoughtfully: “Looks as if it’s been struck by lightning.”
From this vantage point, they could also look down on the junction of the two rivers at the foot of the hill’s northern slope. The more distant of the two, invisible on the far side of the hill, was evidently swifter and stronger than the one they could see, for, beyond the junction, the two united into a broad and powerful stream.
Doggins pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his brow.
“I feel stifled.” He blew out a long breath. “The temperature must be a hundred and ten.”
Niall also felt suffocated, although they were standing in the shadow of a tall finger of granite. The sudden change in temperature surprised him; on the far side of the slope it had been warm, but not oppressively so. Struck by a sudden suspicion, he reached inside his tunic, and turned the thought mirror. The instant sense of concentration was succeeded by a feeling of relief; suddenly, the heat was no longer stifling.
“Have you got your thought mirror on?”
Doggins said: “Of course.”
“Turn it over.”
Doggins did as he was told, and looked at Niall with surprise.
“What happened?”
Niall said: “It wasn’t the heat. It was the underground force.”
“I don’t understand. How can it make you feel hot?”
“By lowering your resistance. If you feel stifled, you automatically think it’s hot.”
“Do you think it’s aware of our presence?”
“I don’t know.” It was a question that troubled Niall deeply. The force seemed to be as unconscious and impersonal as the wind. Yet at times it could behave intelligently — as when it resisted their control of the squid funguses. The possibility that it might be aware of their presence made Niall’s heart contract.
Doggins said: “I’d like to sit down for a rest, but I don’t think we can risk it. I don’t fancy being electrocuted. So we may as well get on.”
They marched on down the slope. The air no longer suffocated them, yet there was an unpleasant quality in the atmosphere, as if the sun itself was throbbing like a beating heart.
Doggins said: “What’s that?”
To their left, a granite boulder projected from the earth, and below this there was a hollow. Something white gleamed against the blue-green grass in its depths.
Niall said: “Bones.”
Doggins walked closer. “My God, it must have been a monster!”
They could see the immense rib-cage, and a skull that was pointed like that of a giant rat. Behind the skeleton, the vertebrae of the long, powerful tail were laid out neatly, as if the flesh had simply dissolved from the bones.
A shimmer in the air made Niall shake his head and blink; it was as if someone had shaken a transparent curtain in front of his eyes, blurring his vision. Suddenly alerted, he raised the Reaper. Doggins looked at him in astonishment.
“What are you doing?”
As he looked back, his face drained of colour. The bones were moving. The vertebrae of the tail stirred and braced themselves against the ground, the ribs heaved, then the whole skeleton twisted as it moved into the upright position. The bony jaws opened, and emitted a deafening sound that was a combination of a roar and a shriek.
Niall and Doggins fired together. Since the Reapers were set on their lowest power level, the thin blue beams were almost invisible; but as they struck the skeleton where the chest joined the neck, the roar ceased as abruptly as it had begun. Carried forward by its own momentum, the creature toppled towards them; both jumped back instinctively. It struck the ground with a crash — not the rattle of bones that they had expected, but the solid thud of flesh on hard earth. The neck twisted in the reflex agony of death, and they stared appalled at the hate-filled eyes that met their own for a moment. Both were prepared to shoot again, but it was clearly unnecessary; the energy beams had almost severed the creature’s neck.
Now it lay still, it was apparent that it had a neck. But the flesh was as transparent as jelly, and they could see the network of veins, and the powerful tendons that had been torn apart by the blast of their weapons. The body was also semi-transparent, and inside the ribcage they could make out the outline of the heart, as large as a man’s head.
They walked cautiously around it, starting nervously as the legs gave a convulsive twitch. Now the monster was dead, it was impossible to understand how they had failed to see that it was a living creature, and not a heap of whitening bones.
Niall reached out and touched the tail; the skin was hard, cold and leathery. In death, the jelly-like flesh was taking on a purple tint, and they could see that the animal was a giant lizard. The muscular development of its back legs suggested that it had been able to walk upright.
Doggins shook his head in bafflement. “But how did we fail to see it?”
The question seemed unanswerable. The semi-transparent flesh might have been invisible in cloudy water, or in semi-darkness, but not in the glaring sunlight of mid-morning. The blood that ran from the gaping wound in the neck was almost as clear as water, but was still perfectly visible. And the long, curved claws on the front legs were covered with a crust that was obviously dried blood.
Staring at the body provided no answer; so they moved on down the slope. When they were less than a hundred yards away, they were startled by a flapping of wings; a large bird of prey was swooping towards them. They raised the Reapers, then lowered them again; the bird was interested only in the dead saurian. It landed on the head and attacked the eyes. Within moments, other birds were swooping down on the carcase, tearing with their claws and beaks. Niall was struck by a sudden insight.