Warriors Of Latan

Chapter 2

One moment Blade and Cheeky were surrounded by the wire-mesh booth that was linked up to the computer in the Project laboratory. The next moment there was nothing except the indescribable otherness between the Dimensions. Blade lost awareness of his body, and he couldn't tell that he was gritting his teeth and clenching his fists in an effort to hold the mental link with Cheeky so they could land in Dimension X side by side.

The sense of the otherness around him grew stronger, but the sense of Cheeky's mind linked to his grew no weaker. Blade let himself hope for the best. He also began to expect one of the psychedelic displays he'd endured in transitions using the old booth with its electrodes, before the KALI capsule and all the changes since then.

Before that happened, there was a sudden pop of changing air pressure, so sudden that Blade had to swallow to clear his ears. He felt chilly breezes on his face, and underfoot a sloping surface of loose stones.

Then the stones started to slide, and he started to slide with them. He shouted a warning to Cheeky both with his mind and with his voice and threw himself backward, arms outflung to either side. His head struck the rocks with jarring force, but the downward slide stopped. The rattle and clunk of the sliding stones came to an abrupt end. An unpleasantly long time later, he heard the faint sound of those stones hitting the bottom of something a long way down.

All this happened so fast that Blade hadn't opened his eyes while his trained reflexes were operating. Now he looked up to see cold blue sky overhead, and Cheeky's small face peering worriedly into his own. Since Cheeky's face was completely covered with feathers, it was rather hard to read his expressions. However, the mental message was clear-a picture of Cheeky sitting and mourning by Blade's corpse, with an implied question added. As clearly as if he'd been speaking English, Cheeky was asking, «Are you all right?»

Blade sent a mental picture of himself running around in circles and beating his chest like Tarzan, the picture of health. Cheeky made relieved noises. Then Blade opened the mouth of the nylon carrying bag that held Cheeky snugly on his chest. The feather-monkey scrambled out, jumped up and down to stretch his limbs, then scrambled up the slope to level ground, squeaking in protest as sharp stones bruised his paws. Blade followed Cheeky on hands and knees until he was sure of his footing, then rushed the rest of the distance.

Blade's rush sent more stones rattling down the slope to vanish into space. The slope lay on the edge of a canyon, the floor of which was about a mile wide, with a river running through it. In some places the wall of the canyon was climbable, but where Blade had landed it was more than a hundred feet straight down. If he and Cheeky had gone over the edge…

Leighton and his researchers might someday solve all the problems of reaching Dimension X, but they still wouldn't solve most of the problems of staying alive once you got there. Blade hoped anyone who went with him in the future would know that, or at least learn it fast. Otherwise the search for a new Dimension X traveler might have to start all over again right away.

The scenery was spectacular but monotonous-alternating stretches of rock, gray-brown hills, and dense blue forest. On the horizon he could make out high mountains, their lower slopes wrapped in more forest and their peaks white with snow.

Blade decided to follow the canyon down to the river, then follow the river wherever it led him. Rivers usually led to human beings sooner or later, with fish to eat and water to drink on the way. He turned left, heading for the nearest place where the side of the canyon looked climbable.

The movement dislodged more stones, and Blade climbed a little farther away from the edge before going on. Cheeky made approving noises, and sent a picture of Blade lying a bloody and twisted corpse among the boulders at the bottom of the canyon.

A moment later, Cheeky's squeals and the rattle of falling stones were drowned out by a deep rumbling growl from the depths of the canyon. Before the echoes of the first growl died, another one came, and a whole chorus after that. Other cries followed, sounding more like steam whistles than anything made by a living throat. Blade and Cheeky both drew their knives and stepped back a few more yards from the canyon.

Gradually the growls and cries died away. Blade listened carefully and sniffed the air. For the first time he noticed a faint miasma floating up from the canyon-the unmistakable odor of large quantities of well-rotted meat.

Something-several somethings-had their lair down in the canyon. They were large, they were carnivorous, and they sounded hungry, angry, or maybe both. Blade decided to stay out of the canyon. He didn't want anything able to make a noise like that behind him while he was scrambling over boulders that would keep him from moving fast.

Before he started off again, Blade unslung the light rucksack from his back and pulled out a cloth-wrapped bundle. A few minutes' work, and a tangle of fiberglass, nylon, and plastic parts turned into a crossbow with a two-hundred pound pull. It had been decided by Leighton and Blade that an old-fashioned weapon like this wouldn't arouse many suspicions in the Dimensions, and though the crossbow wasn't enough for a battle, it was more than enough to give not-too-subtle hints to even the largest and hungriest carnivore or human hunting party.

Blade slung the crossbow across his chest where Cheeky had been, and Cheeky climbed into the space in the rucksack where the crossbow had been. This kept Cheeky safe and Blade's hands free. He still didn't have quite the freedom of action he'd had before he teamed up with Cheeky, but Cheeky was not only a friend and companion, he was also an extra set of eyes and ears. He pulled his weight; if a human companion did as well, Blade would have no complaints.

Secure with his weapon and companion, Blade almost felt like whistling as he set off toward the river.

It took longer to get down to the riverbank than Blade expected. It had been around noon when he emerged in this Dimension. It was close to midafternoon when he finally knelt down by the cold, gurgling water. While Cheeky kept watch, Blade drank and refilled his collapsible plastic canteen, then watched while Cheeky drank. After that they picked a convenient boulder that gave them a good view in all directions, from the riverbank to the tree-covered hillsides on either bank. Blade unslung his rucksack and started sorting through the contents.

It was pretty much the same amount he'd taken on his last trip-freeze-dried food, spare clothing, a sleeping bag, and a disposable cigarette lighter made entirely of plastic. There was also a plastic pocket compass, and aside from the magnetic compass needle, the only metal he was carrying was the blade of his knife. It was a U.S. Marine Kabar, not as elegant as his old commando knife but a lot more useful for chopping up kindling, gutting fish, and dressing game. Again, it was not a very incriminating piece of equipment.

Everything was in the right place and in good condition. Blade would have been surprised if it hadn't been. The Project's Field Operations officer was a former Royal Marine Commando who knew how a leaky cigarette lighter could be a major disaster if you were a long way from home.

Finally he took off his belt and wrist bracers, and inspected them. They looked like they were made of ordinary pliable plastic from Home Dimension, but it actually was a very special sort of plastic. It was Oltec from Kaldak, part of the harness of the uniform Blade wore back from that Dimension on his second trip.

Normal plastic softened when heated and hardened when cooled. This plastic worked the other way around. Thrust into boiling water, the belt and wrist bracers hardened until they were nearly as tough as steel and much lighter. Laid on a block of ice or immersed in cold water, the plastic softened until Blade could shape it between thumb and forefinger and then put it back on. Most of the plastic was still in the laboratories of the Project's Complex Two, being analyzed. Blade had kept enough for the specially designed belt and cuffs, which, when straightened out and hardened, became a spear and two daggers with sharp points. He could be wearing nothing but his bare skin and the innocent-looking plastic, and still hold a dozen men's lives in his hands. Cheeky wore a harness and belt of the same material.

Blade took off his wrist bracers, straightened them out, held each piece over the flame of a cigarette lighter, and watched them begin to harden. Suddenly Cheeky gave a soft yeeep of warning. Blade looked up, and saw that he and the feather-monkey were no longer alone.