He turned to Hal. "These things are unimportant in themselves," he said. "I just wanted you to be sure I could be useful to you with the bow. " "You've made your point," said Hal. He turned to Amid. "Amid, we've got a record of all the scopes saw today, haven't we?"
"Why, yes," said Amid. "They're the usual sort of scope. They store images unless you set them not to, and we assumed you might want to check something or other." "I do," said Hal. "Would you have someone check the records for everything seen in them today, to see if we've got any views of even parts of the interiors of the three structures Liu put up down there. Particularly, I'd like any views we might have of the building he's in, himself."
"I can do that right from here," said Amid. He sat back down at his desk, punched a few keys, and looked expectantly at the screen of the scope on the desk that was now showing the brightly lit scene of the soldiers' camp below. The uniformed men around the table had dwindled to two and the bottle had disappeared. The extra men were spread around on the ground in sleeping sacks, unmoving. "They were drinking when I last looked," said Hal. "That underofficer, whatever his name is-" "The Urk," supplied Calas. "Urk. Odd name," said Amid, "looked out just before you came in here and they put the bottle away. He was in the center one of - what do you call those buildings?" "Hutments is the military name," said Calas. "They're a kind of tent."
"The middle one of those hutments," went on Amid. "The officer's in the one on the right of the screen as we look at it now. I caught a glimpse of what looked like a cooker and various kitchen furniture in that same one the Urk's in. Strange, but he and the officer are the only ones under shelter. Of course, at this time of year night showers are unlikely-" "That's one of Liu's little military points," said Calas. "He never misses a chance to point up the fact that rank has its privileges. Making the ranks sleep on the open ground just drives home the difference between them and him and the Urk. "A strange personality," said Amid. "Not so strange, after all," said Old Man softly. "Here we go!" interrupted Amid, as the scene on the screen changed to a still picture which showed Liu's hutment, with one of the two flaps that closed its front entrance folded back. A camp chair, an unfolded and set up desk and the corner of a cot could be seen, the cot already with bedding on it. "Seventeen more views, the screen says. Shall we look at all of them?" "If you don't mind-," said Hal. "Of course not..." Amid tapped his desk controls and they went, one by one, through the various views the scopes had been able to make of the inner area of Liu's hutment. It was furnished with what they had already seen, plus a sort of tall box that could be it filing cabinet or a food and liquor cabinet. "All right," said Hal, when they had examined the last view.
"Liu should be in that cot now and asleep. So should the Urk, in the center hutment. The two guards will probably be changed at intervals. Now-"
He turned his attention back to Amid. "I'm going to go down there tonight," he said, "to try to get Cee and Artur back and leave those soldiers with the impression that they found nothing worthwhile. If I can manage the hypnosis properly, after disabling them with the darts, I'll hope to leave them believing neither Artur nor Cee had anything to tell them - that they both died under torture, and were buried up here - so that they'll go back thinking the whole thing was a wild goose chase. The question is going to be who I take with me.
"Me, for one," said Calas. "Perhaps," said Hal. "We'll see. Now, Amid, who in the Guild knows the forest down there at night, and can move around in it in the dark, quietly?" "Onete, of course," said Amid. "And there are four or five other foragers who like to do night foraging. There're some plants - some tubers particularly - that betray their presence at night more than in the day, by actions like opening blossoms or leaves, or - there's even a tuber that causes the ground above it to glow slightly, at night. But I'm wandering."
He pressed a key and leaned over a speaker grille in his desk. "All those whore particularly adept at night foraging," he said into the grille, "come to my office right away, please." "Good," said Hal. "How many of them, do you know, can use a bow and arrow effectively?"
Amid looked blank. "I haven't the slightest idea. " He appealed to Old Man. "Do you know""
Old Man shook his head. "Calas?" "I haven't any idea," said Calas. "By the way," Hal said to him, "you wanted to come. Can you move quietly through the jungle at night?" "I've been out night foraging, too, if that's what you mean," said Calas. Then, on a more subdued note, he added, "I may not be the quietest, but I know enough to look where I'm putting my feet. No one down there'll hear me." "And you can use a bow?"
"No!" said Calas explosively. "But we've got to have an hour or two before we go down. I'll learn in that time."
He looked at Old Man. "He can teach me." Hal turned his gaze on the quiet, bearded face. "What do you think?" he asked Old Man. "Could you teach him to use one to any good purpose, in just a few hours?" "At short range, perhaps," said Old Man softly. "At any rate I could try. Perhaps you'll have to let me try teaching others along with Calas. Perhaps several people. " "I can use a bow," said Luke. "Shot one for years. Made my own first real bow when I was thirteen. I may not be as good as this magician, here-" He nodded at Old Man. "but I'm good by any ordinary standards. I'll say that and stand on it!" "Then perhaps the two of you can do some teaching," said Hal. "When we finally go down, the six best shots will carry bows and darts. Old Man and I are two, that leaves four to be picked."
He turned to Amid. "You might put out a call for anyone in the Guild who does know how to use one, night forager or not. And Tannaheh, while we're waiting, you might start showing me how the darts work and telling me about them." "Of course!" said Tannaheh, on an explosive outrush of breath that betrayed his chafing at the delay in getting to discussion of this particular subject.
He led Hal to the box and reached down among the dried grass he had used as packing. What he came up with looked like an old-fashioned hypodermic of the kind used back before the human race had first settled the Younger Worlds, three hundred years before. There was a round, tubelike cylinder with a collar at one end that was threaded on the inside. At the other end was a slim needle of a rod, perhaps twelve millimeters in length, ending in a point that was so sharp Hal could not see it, except as a twinkle in the overhead light from the ceiling of the office. All of it was made of the same milky-appearing material as the arrow shaft. "You're lucky I have a library," said Tannaheh, holding up the dart. "You're from Earth, Friend, as I understand it, and there they've still got zoos and refuges with wild animals in them. Consequently, they've got wild animals that need to be tranquilized so they can care for them when they're sick, or whatever. But Kultis hasn't any large fauna, native or introduced. The largest wild variform creatures we've brought in as frozen embryos from Earth have been some rabbits, and big birds, like hawks and vultures. The result was we haven't had any need for tranquilizer darts, or means to propel them into the animal. I had to go back into medical history, to the time of Earth's first ventures into space, to find the information I needed. "
Hal nodded. Tannaheh gave every evidence of wanting to deliver a lecture, but it was too early to put the brakes on him, yet. He let the Guild pharmacist go on. "I managed to dig up illustrations and information on what they were using then, and build on that, making do with substitutes, where necessary - which was in almost every phase of making the dart."