World's End

Page 75

"Sorry." I bobbed my head. He was sorting and dis 93

JOAND. VINGE

carding bits of stone even while he swore. I realized that

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the natives must pick up things of value as well as rubbish in their wanderings, and that they were just as likely to leave him those things in return for his bright trash as they were to leave something worthless. "Did you get your money's worth?"

He frowned at the sarcasm. "Not yet." He kept on sorting; held something up with an exclamation, and put it into the pocket of his coveralls. He glanced at me again, defensive. "They get what they want, and so do--"

Someone screamed.

"What--?" Ang said.

"Spadrin!" I left him and ran along the lake shore in the direction Spadrin and the woman had taken. I broke through the wall of mist into a clear space; found the woman lying on the ground with blood bright on her face and her rags of clothing half torn away. Spadrin was on top of her.

Without thinking I grabbed the collar of his jacket. I dragged him off of her and shoved him away, hit him with my fist. He landed in a thicket of fireshrub.

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I turned back to help the woman, but suddenly there was another scream, behind me. This time it was Spadrin.

I saw him struggling in the thicket. And then I saw what had made him scream--the undulating bag of flesh that clung to his leg with barbed tentacles. Blood streamed down his boot.

"Gedda!" he shouted frantically. "Shoot it! Stun it, kill it, get it off me!"

I lifted my stun rifle. But then I looked over my shoulder at the woman struggling up onto her knees, mumbling incoherencies, while two of the cloud ears buzzed solicitously around her.

"Gedda!" Spadrin shrieked. I looked back at him again, at the white terror on his face. I aimed the gun,

94

WORLD S END