The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell

Chapter 12

"It can talk!" Angelina said, "Not only talk—but it can read minds too. That is just what I was thinking before it spoke."

"I wonder if it can read my mind too?" the thing said hoarsely.

Angelina stepped back. "That is what I was thinking. I don't like this thing, not at all. Let's get Out of here."

"In a moment. I would still like to find out what those globes are."

I did find out—far faster than I really wanted to. With incredible speed the branch—like growth whipped towards me. Before I could jump back it wrapped around my neck and pulled me forward.

"Grrkk…", was all I could say as I sawed at the thing with the glass knife. Yellow ichor dripped from the wound; the thing was incredibly tough to cut and I was still being pulled forward.

"Hack it off!" Angelina shouted, seizing me around the waist and pulling back as hard as she could. It helped a bit, but I was still being pulled towards the opening that had emitted the voice.

It had stopped speaking now as the opening gaped wider and wider, moist and filled with sharp, dark edges.

I sawed and choked. I couldn't see very well. I kept on sawing.

The opening was just in front of my face when I cut the last fibrous strand and fell backwards.

I was vaguely aware of Angelina dragging me along the ground away from the thing which was now booming Out loudly and hoarsely.

"I wonder if… it sure… read my ugly…"

I sat up and rubbed my sore throat. "That was …too close."

"How do you feel?"

"Bruised—but all right." I looked down and realized that the knife and my right hand were covered with the thick and sticky liquid. And I was still clutching the severed end of the stalk, with a red globe attached to it, in my other hand.

"Let's go back to the ocean," I said, as hoarsely as our opponent who was still talking, feeding back a mixture of our thoughts to us. "I want to wash off this gunk—and see what this red thing is."

"I'll carry it," Angelina said. "Move—before this monster pulls itself out of the ground and comes after us."

She meant it as a jest, but I did walk that much faster. Back to the shore where I scrubbed and cleaned off the congealing liquid. Angelina was beside me dunking the globe into the water.

"Let me have the knife," she said. "It's my turn to try the local cuisine."

"The knife is getting soft."

"I'll be quick."

Before I could stop her she had sliced the thing open to reveal wet and even redder tissue inside. It looked uncomfortably like flesh. She cut off a sliver and sniffed it.

"Doesn't smell too bad."

"Don't!" I said, but I was too late. She had popped it into her mouth, chewed quickly—and swallowed it.

"Not too bad," she said. "Tastes sort of like a cross between seafood and candy."

"You shouldn't have done that…"

"Why not? Someone had to. And as I said—it was my turn to do the testing. And I still feel fine."

"Well, at least we know why the path went around the clearing, Ouch!" I had touched my sore neck. "We stay on the path from now on. You were right about that. That thing, it's like an angler fish."

"A what?"

"A fish that lives at pelagic depths in the ocean. It has sort of a fishing—pole organ growing out of the top of its head that dangles in front of its mouth—hence the name. It has a lump at the end that glows in the dark and attracts other fish. They snap at it—and get eaten."

"But why the mind—reading stunt?"

I sighed and shrugged. "Anyone's guess. It must work well on the local life forms—what are you doing?"

She had cut off another piece of the red globe and was chewing on it.

"Eating, of course. I still feel fine, and I am more than a little hungry."

I watched the shadows move and tried to estimate how much time had elapsed: Angelina looked at my face, then reached out and patted my hand.

"Poor Jim. You look so worried. I'm fine, but still hungry."

"Let me try some before you eat any more of it. Maybe it is a sex—specific poison."

"What a charming thought," she said and scowled fiercely.

"Sorry, shouldn't say things like that. This place must be getting me down." I cut, chewed and swallowed. "Not bad. But after we finish this fruit I'm not going back for a second try at that thing."

"Agreed. And you have noticed that it is getting dark again?"

"I have. I suggest we doze here until dawn and then press on along the path. Second the motion?"

"Absolutely."

When the sun woke us we were alive and well and hungry. We divided up the fruit and ate it all. Washed off the juice, yawned and stretched and looked at the path.

"Can I have the knife today?" Angelina asked. "So I can break trail."

"Gone," I said, pointing to a damp knife—shaped spot in the sand.

"I'll see if I can find a rock that will do."

She found one shaped not unlike a hand ax, traditional tool of mankind. I looked for another one, then put a few more rocks in my pockets. Angelina led the way since she was as strong and fit as I was, possibly with better reflexes. And I was not about to start discussing the equality of the sexes with her at any time.

With our stomachs full, our bodies rested, we made good time. And followed the path around the clearing. I stopped just long enough to throw a rock at the creature there; I had carried it all the way from the beach just for this moment. It thudded nicely and the tentacle thrashed violently.

"I wish… I had a power saw the thing said.

"Did you think that?" I asked.

"You better believe it."

We struggled up the last and steepest part of the path to the ridge at the top. And stopped.

"Quite a change," Angelina said.

All the green growth ended sharply. As though a line had been drawn along the summit. A bowl in the hills stretched out ahead of us. Completely devoid of life. Sand and rock and nothing more; an empty, barren desert.

"You said that it never rains on this planet?" I asked.

"Never."

"If it did that would also be a sloppy end for the glass life forms. It also means that the carbon and chlorophyll life can't get too far from the ocean. I'll bet they dip their roots into it or get dew from the air. So up here—no water, so no life."

"But the path goes on," she said, pointing.

"Interesting. So I guess that we do too."

We followed it as it twisted and turned between boulders as big as houses, on to a central flat desert of sand.

"What on earth is that?" Angelina asked. I could not think of an answer.

In the sand was a small pyramid apparently made of rock. It was seamless—but hollow. That was obvious because the top was broken off and we could see inside. It was empty. But what was most interesting was the slightly larger pyramid close by. Also with an opening in the top. And the next and the next. Stretching out in a straight line across the desert. Each one with an opening in the top, each larger than the one before.

"An alien enigma," I said brightly; Angelina just sniffed, not considering this worth an answer. We left the path and walked along the line of pyramids. There were over thirty of them, the final one taller than we were.

"The last one," Angelina said, pointing. "The top. It comes to a point—and it is solid. Any explanations?"

For a rare moment I was silent.

"Shall I tell you what is happening?" she said.

"Speak, I beg of you."

"This has obviously been constructed by a silicon life form. It digests sand and excretes rock thus building a pyramid around itself. When it grows too big for the pyramid it cracks out, moves along and builds another one."

"Highly interesting," I said, dazed by her logic. "But how did it get to build the first one in the first place—and how does it build a pyramid from the inside?"

"You can't expect me to know everything," she said, with impeccable logic. "Let's get back to the path."

"Let's not quite yet," I said pointing. "Isn't that something following the path and moving towards us?"

"Some things not a thing."

"You're right. Any reason we shouldn't stay out of sight until we see what they are?"

She nodded and we stepped into the shadow of the largest pyramid where we might see and possibly not be seen. Angelina cocked her head, then pressed her ear to the side of the pyramid. "Listen," she said. "Isn't there a kind of crunching sound coming from inside?"

"Please, not now. Possibly later. One alien mystery at a time if you don't mind."

The marching file of creatures was surely mystery enough. There were eleven of them and they were roughly man—size. But the resemblance ended right there. A fringe of legs or tentacles or something twitched quickly against the ground and carried each creature along. These moving parts supported a solid trunk the color and texture of tree bark—it could be a tree trunk for all we knew. A single stalk, very much like the one on the creature that had tried to eat me, emerged from the top of the trunk with what looked like a bulbous eye at the end. The eyes bobbed and looked about, apparently not seeing us pyramid lurking in the shadow.

They shuffled by in silence, stirring up a quickly settling cloud of dust, climbed over the rim and vanished down the ridge on the other side.

"Now will you listen to the pyramid?" Angelina asked.

"Yes, of course, sure." I listened and perhaps I did hear a distant crunching. "I can hear something…"

"They're coming back," she said.

And so they were. Whether it was the same bunch or a different lot it was of course impossible to tell. Different ones, surely, because in the brief time they had been out of sight they had changed completely. The ribbed trunks had become globeshaped and transparent, expanded from within so the ribbing now formed irregular stripes on the surface.

"They're filled with water," Angelina said, and I nodded dumb agreement.

"Possibly, possibly,' I muttered.

"They march out of the desert and fill with water from a spring or from the ocean. Then march back with it. Why?"

"There is only way to find out—follow them."

Perhaps it was not wise. Possibly dangerous. But there were too many curious and unsolvable puzzles on this planet. We both had the desire to see if we might possibly solve at least one of these. When they were out of sight we followed them down the path.

Nor did we have far to go. The path led to a row of large boulders and vanished between two of them.

"Suspicious," I said. "Those rocks have been placed there."

~'It could be a natural formation."

"It could, but the problem is the same. Do we stay out—or go in to investigate. And you will recall what happened the last time I got nosy..

"Behind you!"

I took one look and jumped aside. Another string of water carriers was approaching—and they were almost upon us. We stood by the path tense and ready to fight.

And while they were aware of us, our presence was completely ignored. The string shuffled on by in silence, each eye focusing on us in turn as they passed.

"They don't seem too interested in us," I said.

"Well I'm interested in them. Let's go."

We did. Slipping between the large boulders, then following the path between a second row to walk inside a circular, rock—girt area. Where we stopped—and did our best not to gape and bulge our eyes as though we had a joint IQ about that of body temperature.

It was so alien that it was hard to make out just what was happening here. One thing at least was certain—we knew where the water was going. The creatures we had been following wandered through a green labyrinth spraying water and shrinking their bodies at the same time. When this was finished, one walked away from the growth, then another and another. They milled about in a little group until, with sudden decision—or obeying some unseen signal—a line formed and they shuffled through the exit and were gone.

We walked closer to the confused growth, stopped when we saw movement under the broad, leaflike structures. In the semidarkness, spiderlike creatures were climbing about, apparently tending the growth. Fragments of green fell down to the ground where other creatures cleaned them up. Another dropped down on the end of a cord or tentacle clutching something red.

"Very much like that fruit you got your neck squeezed for," Angelina said.

"Could be, could be—and look where it's going."

A tall opening in the rock led to some kind of cavern beyond. I bent to try and look inside when there was a light pulling at my leg, a feathery touch.

"What is that?" Angelina asked.

As always on this world there was no easy answer. It was like a soft bundle of sticks, or a complex insect made of twigs. Whatever it was it was plucking at my trouser leg. Then it stopped and shuffled towards the cave. Stopped and waited. Then returned and rustled the fabric once again.

"It's trying to communicate," I said. "I think it wants me to follow it. Well—why not?"

"No arguments. We've come this far."

When we started forward it scurried ahead. Stopped and waited, then moved ahead again. Sunshine filtered through the mouth of the cave, more than enough to see the sprouting creature that sprawled inside.

That was the only way to describe it. It was covered with complex structures that were apparently growing from its green hide. Some I recognized; there was the top half of a water carrier. Another was a bristle of growths bundled together like our guide. And there were others that were totally incomprehensible. Then one of the working creatures hurried by with a red globe which it dropped into an opening in the thing's side.

"It's looking at us," Angelina said, pointing. A group of whip—like tentacles, each ending in a bulging eye, had turned towards us.

"Hello," I said.

"Hello," it boomed out in return.