"Go on. . . ."
"So-how long do you think we'll be able to sell that story after these creatures are seen by the public?"
"You're right," she said. "This is bad news."
I continued recording the bunnydogs' cautious inspection of the chopper. "We're going to have to put the lid on this. At least until we know what we're looking at. These creatures could be the most dangerous of all. And we might not find out what the danger is until it's too late, because we're so distracted by how cute they are."
The first of the bunnydogs reached the wind'shield then. It climbed up the side of the chopper and peered in at us, blinking owlishly. With its paws flat against the glass, it looked like a small child peering in the window of a candy store. It sucked at the surface-tasting it, no doubt.
"I keep wanting to say awww," whispered Lizard.
"It's a fucking teddy bear-a goddamned fucking teddy bear!" I growled. "What a dirty trick."
The bunnydog licked its chops politely. I wondered what that meant.
There were other bunnydogs climbing up the side of the chopper now. Within minutes, the window was full of tiny little faces peering in at us.
"I, uh-hate to say this," said Lizard, "but I'm starting to get scared."
"Me too. I never thought I'd be afraid of a herd of teddy bears."
"They just keep staring at us. What do they want?"
"I don't know." I was still recording. "I think maybe they're just curious." I lowered my camera. "I want to try something. Will you record this?"
"Sure." She took the camera from me. "Okay, go ahead."
I leaned forward in my seat and placed my hands up against the glass, opposite the paws of the first bunny. Its paws were no larger than a baby's.
The bunnydog blinked. It tried to sniff my hands through the windshield. It sucked at the glass. Then it stopped and frowned. It looked puzzled. It blinked and tried again. This time, it licked the glass. Its tongue was soft and pink. The other bunnydogs watched curiously.
"That doesn't seem very intelligent," Lizard said.
"It is if you've never seen glass before. It's testing." The bunnydog blinked at me again.
I blinked back at it-a big oversized gesture. The bunnydog showed its teeth.
I showed mine. As wide as I could.
The bunnydog-there was no other word for it-smiled. I smiled too-a big ridiculous grin.
"I think you're communicating," Lizard said.
"I wonder what we're saying to each other?"
"It looks like, `for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.. . "'
"Bite your tongue," I said. But my face was frozen. I was still smiling broadly at the bunnydog. "Maybe we're negotiating a peace treaty... . "
The bunnydog made a face. It pulled its cheeks out into a grotesque expression. And held it.
"I dare you," Lizard said.
I swallowed. "The things I do for my species." I made a face back at the bunnydog. I hooked my fingers in my mouth and stretched it wide. I crossed my eyes and stuck out my tongue and touched the tip of it to my nose.
The bunnydog fell off the window in surprise. So did all the others.
"Oh, God-I think I've insulted them."
The bunnydogs were rolling around in the powder, stamping their feet and drumming up big clouds of pale pink dust. They looked like they were having a collective seizure.
"Or something," Lizard said. "Maybe they're laughing themselves to death."
I looked at Lizard; she had the camera still recording. She pointed it straight at me. "This-" I said angrily to posterity, "-is not the way Captain Kirk always did it!"
TWENTY-SIX
THE BUNNYDOGS climbed back up on the windshield and stared at us for a while longer. I made some more faces at them. They made some more faces at me. Gradually, they lost interest in that game and drifted away to explore other parts of the chopper. We heard them scrabbling across the top of the ship and scratching at the observation bubbles.
"I better see what they're up to-" I grabbed the camera and headed for the back. I stopped and peered up into the turret. One of the little cutenesses was peering back down at me. I waved at it facetiously-it waved back-then I closed the shutter in case Duke woke up again.
On a hunch, I peered out through the tiny accidental window in the door patch. "Holy Hannah-" I jammed the camera against the glass and started shooting. There were bunnies all over the dead worm! The ice had evaporated from its fur-now it was just a big collapsed bag of dead pudding-but the bunnies were climbing up onto its back, patting it curiously and chittering at it. They looked like they were trying to wake it up. One of them was even peering into its mouth
Lizard called me then. "Hey, McCarthy-something's happening. "
"Wait a minute-"
"I mean it! You better get down here!"
She was right. Something was happening. The bunnies were suddenly dropping off the dead worm and moving forward again. I swung down to the front of the chopper and climbed back into my seat.
Lizard pointed off to the left. "Over there. Look-the bunnydogs have all stopped to listen."
She was right. The little round creatures had fallen still-they were listening for something. They had their heads cocked sideways and their expressions were expectant.
Beyond, in the darkness, something was stirring up the dust. It rose brightly in the glare of our lights.
The bunnydogs stiffened expectantly.... I could feel my heart rising. This was it.
And then the first worm poured over the dunes and down into the drifts.
And then a second worm, and a third-
There were more bunnydogs riding on their backs.
Lizard lifted her camera and started shooting. "Well, you got the worms right," she said, "but you missed the time."
I barely heard her. The worms were still pouring over the dunes. "Win one, lose one," I gulped.
Lizard was scanning the group with her camera. "I see six, seven, eight... no, make that ten, eleven-urk, fourteen worms." They were all different sizes. The smallest was no bigger than a pony. The largest was the size of a bus. They swiveled their big black hand-puppet eyes at us, cocked them back and forth, up and down, locked them into place, and stared at the chopper. If they had expressions, they were unreadable.
We could see the coloring of the worms vividly. They were bright red and orange, striped with purple and all over frosted with pink powder. They left trails of glittering dust in the air. They sparkled as if they were made out of magic.
"I hate to say it," whispered Lizard, "-but they're beautiful." She was right. As horrifying as the worms were, they were also fascinating. Each worm was a gaudy calliope of color. Their stripes had the confusing effect of seeming to shift even as we watched. If there was a pattern to the markings, I couldn't tell.
Despite the dust, this was the clearest and closest view of worms in the wild we'd had yet.
I yelped and leapt for the peace-pipe. I fumbled a rocket into it, then looked out the window again.
The worm was peering in at me.
I jumped backward, almost tripping, slamming into the opposite wall. I braced myself and aimed the rocket-launcher straight ahead. Something tapped at the door. It sounded exactly like a knock. "Don't answer it..." squeaked Lizard.
The tapping continued for a long... long moment. And then it stopped abruptly.
I could feel my heart beating like a jackhammer- The silence was terrifying!
Abruptly, the door squeaked and groaned. The worm was trying to work the latch! It didn't rattle. The shelterfoam held. And then silence.
"What's it doing-?" I whispered.
"It's backing away from the door-"
I jumped for the window. She was right. The worm was retreating a meter at a time. It was still studying the chopper door curiously. And then it-scratched itself right between the eyes. It looked ... puzzled!