Part 12 (1/2)

'I'll bet you'd like to bring one back, too.'

'Maybe we can fit a young one aboard,' Davison said. 'If we can find a young one.' He turned to Holdreth. 'How's that air a.n.a.lysis coming? I'd like to get out there and start collecting. G.o.d, that's a crazy-looking beast!'

The animal outside had apparently finished its inspection of us, for it pulled its head away and gathering its legs under itself, squatted near the s.h.i.+p. A small doglike creature with stiff spines running along its back began to bark at the big creature, which took no notice. The other animals, which came in all shapes and sizes, continued to mill around the s.h.i.+p, evidently very curious about the newcomer to their world. I could see Davison's eyes thirsty with the desire to take the whole kit and caboodle back to Earth with him. I knew what was running through his mind. He was dreaming of the umpteen thousand species of extraterrestrial wildlife roaming around out there, and to each one he was attaching a neat little tag: _Something-or-other davisoni_.

'The air's fine,' Holdreth announced abruptly, looking up from his test-tubes. 'Get your b.u.t.terfly nets and let's see what we can catch.'

There was something I didn't like about the place. It was just too good to be true, and I learned long ago that nothing ever is. There's always a catch someplace.

Only this seemed to be on the level. The planet was a bonanza for zoologists, and Davison and Holdreth were having the time of their lives, hipdeep in obliging specimens.

'I've never seen anything like it,' Davison said for at least the fiftieth time, as he scooped up a small purplish squirrel-like creature and examined it curiously. The squirrel stared back, examining Davison just as curiously.

'Let's take some of these,' Davison said. 'I like them.'

'Carry 'em on in, then,' I said, shrugging. I didn't care which specimens they chose, so long as they filled up the storage hold quickly and let me blast off on schedule. I watched as Davison grabbed a pair of the squirrels and brought them into the s.h.i.+p.

Holdreth came over to me. He was carrying a sort of a dog with insect-faceted eyes and gleaming furless skin. 'How's this one, Gus?'

'Fine,' I said bleakly. 'Wonderful.'

He put the animal down -- it didn't scamper away, just sat there smiling at us -- and looked at me. He ran a hand through his fast-vanis.h.i.+ng hair. 'Listen, Gus, you've been gloomy all day. What's eating you?'

'I don't like this place,' I said.

'Why? Just on general principles?'

'It's too _easy_, Clyde. Much too easy. These animals just flock around here waiting to be picked up.'

Holdreth chuckled. 'And you're used to a struggle, aren't you? You're just angry at us because we have it so simple here!'

'When I think of the trouble we went through just to get a pair of miserable vile-smelling anteaters, and- '

'Come off it, Gus. We'll load up in a hurry, if you like. But this place is a zoological gold mine!'

I shook my head. 'I don't like it, Clyde. Not at all.'

Holdreth laughed again and picked up his faceted-eyed dog. 'Say, know where I can find another of these, Gus?'

'Right over there,' I said, pointing. 'By that tree. With its tongue hanging out. It's just waiting to be carried away.'

Holdreth looked and smiled. 'What do you know about that!' He snared his specimen and carried both of them inside.

I walked away to survey the grounds. The planet was too flatly incredible for me to accept on face value, without at least a look-see, despite the blithe way my two companions were snapping up specimens.

For one thing, animals just don't exist this way -- in big miscellaneous quant.i.ties, living all together happily. I hadn't noticed more than a few of each kind, and there must have been five hundred different species, each one stranger-looking than the next. Nature doesn't work that way.

For another, they all seemed to be on friendly terms with one another, though they acknowledged the unofficial leaders.h.i.+p of the giraffe-like creature. Nature doesn't work _that_ way, either. I hadn't seen one quarrel between the animals yet. That argued that they were all herbivores, which didn't make sense ecologically.

I shrugged my shoulders and walked on.

Half an hour later, I knew a little more about the geography of our bonanza. We were on either an immense island or a peninsula of some sort, because I could see a huge body of water bordering the land some ten miles off. Our vicinity was fairly flat, except for a good-sized hill from which I could see the terrain.

There was a thick, heavily-wooded jungle not too far from the s.h.i.+p. The forest spread out all the way towards the water in one direction, but ended abruptly in the other. We had brought the s.h.i.+p down right at the edge of the clearing. Apparently most of the animals we saw lived in the jungle.

On the other side of our clearing was a low, broad plain that seemed to trail away into a desert in the distance; I could see an uninviting stretch of barren sand that contrasted strangely with the fertile jungle to my left. There was a small lake to the side. It was, I saw, the sort of country likely to attract a varied fauna, since there seemed to be every sort of habitat within a small area.

And the fauna! Although I'm a zoologist only by osmosis, picking up both my interest and my knowledge second-hand from Holdreth and Davison, I couldn't help but be astonished by the wealth of strange animals. They came in all different shapes and sizes, colours and odours, and the only thing they all had in common was their friendliness. During the course of my afternoon's wanderings a hundred animals must have come marching boldly right up to me, given me the once-over, and walked away. This included half a dozen kinds that I hadn't seen before, plus one of the eye-stalked, intelligent-looking giraffes and a furless dog. Again, I had the feeling that the giraffe seemed to be trying to communicate.

I didn't like it, I didn't like it at all.

I returned to our clearing,and saw Holdreth and Davison still buzzing madly around, trying to cram as many animals as they could into our hold.

'How's it going?' I asked.

'Holds all full,' Davison said. 'We're busy making our alternate selections now.' I saw him carrying out Holdreth's two furless dogs and picking up instead a pair of eight-legged penguinish things that uncomplainingly allowed themselves to be carried in. Holdreth was frowning unhappily.

'What do you want _those_ for, Lee? Those dog-like ones seem much more interesting, don't you think?'

'No,' Davison said. 'I'd rather bring along these two. They're curious beasts, aren't they? Look at the muscular network that connects the -- '

'Hold it, fellows,' I said. I peered at the animal in Davison's hands and glanced up. 'This _is_ a curious beast,' I said. 'It's got eight legs.'

'You becoming a zoologist?' Holdreth asked, amused.

'No -- but I am getting puzzled. Why should this one have eight legs, some of the others here six, and some of the others only four?'

They looked at me blankly, with the scorn of professionals.

'I mean, there ought to be some sort of logic to evolution here, shouldn't there? On Earth we've developed a four-legged pattern of animal life; on Venus, they usually run to six legs. But have you ever seen an evolutionary hodgepodge like this place before?'

'There are stranger setups,' Holdreth said. 'The symbiotes on Sirius Three, the burrowers of Mizar -- but you're right, Gus. This _is_ a peculiar evolutionary dispersal. I think we ought to stay and investigate it fully.'

Instantly I knew from the bright expression on Davison's face that I had blundered, had made things worse than ever. I decided to take a new tack.

'I don't agree,' I said. 'I think we ought to leave with what we've got, and come back with a larger expedition later.'

Davison chuckled. 'Come on, Gus, don't be silly! This is a chance of a lifetime for us -- why should we call in the whole zoological department on it?'

I didn't want to tell them I was afraid of staying longer. I crossed my arms. 'Lee, I'm the pilot of this s.h.i.+p, and you'll have to listen to me. The schedule calls for a brief stopover here, and we have to leave. Don't tell me I'm being silly.'

'But you are, man! You're standing blindly in the path of scientific investigation, of -- '

'Listen to me, Lee. Our food is calculated on a pretty narrow margin, to allow you fellows more room for storage. And this is strictly a collecting team. There's no provision for extended stays on any one planet. Unless you want to wind up eating your own specimens, I suggest you allow us to get out of here.'

They were silent for a moment. Then Holdreth said, 'I guess we can't argue with that, Lee. Let's listen to Gus and go back now. There's plenty of time to investigate this place later when we can take longer.'