Part 5 (1/2)

Hex snapped twice.

”I think you should look at the tracks,” Tamme said. ”Something strange is going on, and we may be in danger.” Understatement of the day!

”Wait,” Veg said. ”The mantas came across with Cal, right? They must know.” But as he spoke, he saw that Hex was ignorant of the matter.

Tamme shrugged. ”I guess that Cal found you missing, so he sent them to find you. While they were gone, something got him.” She perceived his new alarm and quickly amended her statement. ”He's not dead so far as I know. He's just gone. The tracks walk out into the sand and stop. I suspect a machine lifted him away.”

”A flying machine?” He pondered. ”Could be. I didn't see it -- but that ground machine sure was tough. But if -- ”

”I don't think it ate them,” Tamme said, again picking up his specific concern. He had strong ties to his friends! ”There's no blood in the sand, no sign of struggle. The prints show they were standing there but not running or fighting.”

”Maybe,” he said, half relieved. ”Hex -- any ideas?”

Three snaps.

”He doesn't know,” Veg said. ”Circe must be looking for them now. Maybe we'd better just go back to camp and wait -- ”

Tamme reached out, took his arm and hauled him to the side with a strength he had not suspected in her. They sprawled on the ground behind a boulder. Wordlessly, she pointed.

Something hovered in the air a hundred feet ahead. A network of glimmering points, like bright dust motes in sunlight. But also like the night sky. It was as though tiny stars were being born right here in the planet's atmosphere. She had never heard of anything like this; nothing in her programming approached it.

Hex jumped up, orienting on the swarm. He shot toward it.

”Watch it, Hex!” Veg cried.

But Tamme recognized a weakness in the manta. The creature had to be airborne to be combat-ready. Actually it stepped across the ground rapidly, one-footed, its cape bracing against the pressure of the atmosphere. It had to aim that big eye directly on the subject to see it at all. Thus, the manta had to head toward the swarm -- or ignore it. Probably the creature would veer off just shy of the sparkle.

Hex did. But at that moment the pattern of lights expanded abruptly, doubling its size. The outer fringe extended beyond the manta's moving body. And Hex disappeared.

So did the light-swarm. The desert was dull again.

”What the h.e.l.l was it?” Veg exclaimed.

”Whatever took your friends,” Tamme said tersely. ”An energy consumer -- or a matter transmitter.”

”It got Hex...”

”I think we'd better get out of here. In a hurry.”

”I'm with you!”

They got up and ran back the way they had come.

”Circe!” Veg cried. ”There's something after us -- and don't you go near it! It got Hex!”

”Oh-oh,” Tamme said.

Veg glanced back apprehensively. The pattern was there again, moving toward them rapidly. Circe came to rest beside them, facing it.

”We can't outrun it,” Tamme said. ”We'll have to fight.”