“No. 2 had jumped, when there was only one tempusfudger, to become No. 2 of the five. No. 1 and No. 2 jumped forward and then back to also become No. 4 and 5 of the five.
“No. 4 and 5 then jumped ahead to the period when there were only two. Meanwhile, No. 1 had leaped over three seconds, No. 4 didn’t leap, and No. 5 did. So there were only two at that instant.”
He grinned at their lax faces. “Now do you understand?”
“That’s impossible,” Tharmas said. “Time-travel! You know it’s impossible!”
“Sure, I know. But if these animals aren’t time-traveling, what are they doing? You don’t know any more than I do. So, if I can describe their behavior as chronosaltation, and the description helps us catch them, why object?”
“Why don’t you use your beamer?” Rintrah said. “We’re all very hungry. I’m weak after chasing those flickering on-again-off-again things.”
Wolff shrugged and arose and walked towards the fudgers. They continued eating but kept watching him. When he was within thirty yards, they hopped away. He followed them until they were getting close to the blind wall of the canyon. They scattered. He put the beamer on half-power and aimed at one.
Perhaps the tempusfudger was startled by the raising of the weapon. It disappeared just as he fired, and the beam’s energy was absorbed by a boulder beyond it.
He cursed, flicked off the power, and aimed at another. This leaped to one side and avoided the first shot. He kept the power on and swung the beam to catch it. The animal jumped again, narrowly escaping the ray. Wolff twisted his wrist to bring the fudger within touch of the beam. The animal disappeared.
Quickly, he swung the weapon back towards the others. A fudger sprang across his field of vision, and he brought the white ray upon it.
It disappeared at the same time. There was a shout behind him. He turned to see the Lords pointing at a dead animal a few yards to his left. It lay in a heap, its fur scorched.
He blinked. Vala came running and said, “It dropped out of the air; it was dead and cooked when it hit the ground.”
“But I didn’t hit anything except just now,” he said. “And the animal I hit hasn’t reappeared yet.”
“That fudger was dead on arrival three seconds ago, maybe a little more,” she said. “Three seconds before you hit the other.”
She stopped, grinned, and said, “What do I mean . . . other? It’s the same one you hit. Killed before you hit it. Or just as you hit it. Only it jumped back.”
Wolff said, slowly, “You’re telling me I killed it first, then shot it.”
“No, not really. But it looked that way. Oh, I don’t know. I’m confused.”
“Anyway, we have something to eat,” he said. “But not much. There’s not enough meat there to satisfy us.”
He whirled and brought the beam around to describe a horizontal arc. It struck some rocks, then came to a fudger. And the beam went out.
He continued to aim the beamer steadily at the fudger, which stood poised upon its hind legs, its big eyes blinking.
“The power’s gone,” he said. He ejected the power pack and stuck the beamer into his belt. It was useless now, but he had no intention of throwing it away. The time might come when he would get his hands on some fresh packs.
He wanted to continue the hunt with sticks. The others vetoed him. Weak and hungry, they needed food at once. Although the meat was half-charred, they devoured it greedily. Their bellies quit rumbling a little. They rested a moment, then got to their feet and went after the tempusfudgers again.
Their plan was to spread out in a wide circle which would contract to bring all the animals within reach of the clubs. The fudgers began hopping wildly and flickering in and out of existence … or time. At one moment, there were none, when all must have simultaneously decided to jump forward or to jump backward. It was difficult to tell what was going on during the hunt.