Of Man And Manta - Ox Part 34

"No problem here," Veg said cheerfully. "Just vegetables, like me."

"Trouble enough," Tamme murmured.

"I know. You wish I'd lay you or forget you. Or both. And I guess it makes sense your way. But I don't have that kind of sense."

Good. He was coming to terms with the situation. "These plants are strange."

He walked to the nearest and squatted beside it. "I've seen strange plants before. They all -- oh-oh!"

She had seen it, too. "It moved."

"It's got thick leaves and tentacles. And what look like muscles."

Tamme surveyed the a.s.semblage. "We had better find the projector rapidly. The plants are uprooting themselves."

They were. All about the two intruders, the plants were writhing and drawing their stems from the earth.

"I'm with you!" Veg cried. "Next thing, they'll be playing violins... over our bones."

Together they ran up the slope, casting about for the projector. This brought them out of the region where the plants were walking and into one where the foliage had not yet been alerted. But the new plants reacted to the alien presence the same way.

"They can't move rapidly, but there are many of them," Tamme said. "You'd better arm yourself with a stick or club if you can find it."

"Yeah." Veg ran over to a stem lying on the ground. He put his hands on it. "Yow!"

It was no dead stalk but a living root. The thing twisted like a snake in his hands, throwing him off.

Meanwhile, the other plants were accelerating. Now they were converging with creditable alacrity, their thick, round roots curling over the ground, digging in for holds.

"Here's a weapon," Tamme said, drawing a yard-long metal rod from her clothing.

Veg paused to stare. "Where'd you hide that? I've worn that outfit of yours! No club in it."

"It telescopes," she explained. "Be careful -- it's also a sword. It weighs only ounces, but it has a good point and edge. Don't cut yourself."

"Edge? Where?" He looked at the blunt-seeming side.

"There's an invisibly thin wire along the leading face, here. It will cut almost anything with almost no pressure. Trust me; don't rub your thumb on it."

Veg took the blade and held it awkwardly in front of him. He had obviously never used such a weapon before, but she had no time to train him now. "Just do what comes naturally. Stab and hack. You'll get the feel of it."

He stepped out and chopped at a branch of the nearest plant. The sword sliced through easily, the broad part wedging open the cut made by the wire. "Hey -- it works!"

Tamme let him hold off the plants while she searched for the projector. She hoped there was one; they always ran the risk of a dead end, a frame in which the original projector had been destroyed or was inaccessible.

The walking plants did not seem to feel much pain, but after Veg had lopped off quite a few branches and stems, they got the message and withdrew. Veg was able to clear a path wherever Tamme wanted to go. He was enjoying this, she knew; though he would not kill animal life to eat, he would kill attacking vegetables.

Then something else appeared. Not a plant; it was vaguely humanoid, yet quite alien. It had limbs that terminated in disks and a head that resembled a Rorschach blob. It emitted a thin keening.

"Is that a machine, plant, or fungus?" Veg asked.

"Mixture," she replied tersely. "Inimical."

"I'll hold it off," Veg said. "You find the projector."

"No, the thing is dangerous. I'll tackle it."

"Thanks," Veg said sourly. But he moved off, allowing her to make a stand while he searched.

Aliens were hard to read, but the malevolence seemed to radiate out of this thing. Obviously it recognized her general type and intended to exterminate it. Had a human agent done something on a prior visit to arouse justified antipathy, or was the creature a hater of all aliens? Or could it be the farmer growing these plants they were mutilating? In that case, its att.i.tude was more that of a man with bug spray. It hardly mattered now; she had to deal with it.

The creature came close and suddenly charged her, its hand wheels leading. They were spinning like little buzz saws -- which they surely were. She leaped aside, not wishing to reveal her technology by using a power weapon. The longer she fenced with it, the more she would learn about it. Was it intelligent, civilized -- or was it more like a vicious guard dog? The evidences were inconclusive so far.

The saw-wheels came at her again. This time she stepped in, blocking the two arms with her own, forcing the wheels out while she studied the musculature and perceptive organs of the torso. The thing's skin was cold and hairy, like that of a spider.

In the moment her face was close, an aperture opened and spewed out a fine mist. Caught off guard, she did not pull her face away in time. It was an acid, and it burned her skin and eyes, blinding her.

She touched her hip. Her blaster fired through her skirt, bathing the creature in fire. It's body crackled as it was incinerated. The keening stopped.

"Yo!" she heard Veg call.

She ran to him, orienting on the sound. She had been trained to handle herself regardless of injuries. She used the echoes from her own footsteps to identify obstructions, such as the tall moving plants.

"Here -- in a pile of rocks," Veg said as she came up.

"Is it charged?"

"Think so. I've never been quite sure how you could tell."

"Time to learn." While she talked, she focused on her autonomic system, blocking out the pain. "There's a little dial in the base with red-green markings. Read it."

He stooped. "It's on green."

"Right," she said, though she could not see anything. The flaming in her face retreated as her pain-block took effect, but that was only part of the problem. The damage was still being done, but she could not yet wash the acid off. "Now let's see if you can activate it."

"That I know. You shove this thing, this little lever -- "

She heard the echoes of his voice and knew that the changing walls were there. They had made the shift.

"Now let's see if you know the way to the next projector."

"Hey -- how come all this practice now?" He paused. "Hey -- your face -- it's bright red! What happened?"

"That animal-mineral-vegetable was also a skunk."

"Acid!" he cried, alarmed. "Acid in the face! We've got to wash that off!"

"No water here. Let's move on."