Carson was quiet. His forehead was cool, and his eyes looked clear. When she tried to talk to him, he only urged her not to stop moving. "I can keep up with you," he said.
They followed their own trail through cut thickets, watching for the foliage to open on their left and give them a view of the wall. They had to be dose now.
Without warning, Janet collapsed. Hutch caught her, lowered her gently to the ground. "Break," Hutch said. "Take a minute."
Carson did not sit. He hobbled to a tree, and leaned against it.
Janet was pale and feverish. Drenched with sweat. Hutch activated her commlink. "George?"
"Here, Hutch."
"Please come. We need you."
George signed off and committed the misjudgment that cost him his life. He had succeeded in buying adequate time, and might have disengaged and rejoined his friends within a few minutes. But the crustacean army lined up behind him was too tempting a target. He returned to the tactic that had been working so successfully. Thinking to thin out his pursuers, he turned on them, and walked the pulser beam through their ranks. It was red now, failing quickly. But it was enough.
They scattered, making no effort to come after him. And they burned and died as they scuttled away. He pursued with singleminded thoroughness, killing everything that moved. Fires ignited, and the shrieks of the brachyids filled the twilight.
But when he turned back, the ground before him was moving. He played his beam across the new targets. It did not stop them, and he had to concentrate its power on a single animal to kill it.
They advanced deliberately in that sidewise gait, and the scalpels were erect. To his rear, the fire was building. No escape that way.
High on the dark hill, he glimpsed his comrades' lamp.
It looked very far away.
He plunged through an opening in the shrubbery. And they were waiting for him.
24
Beta Pacifica III. Tuesday, April 12; one hour after sunset
They saw the flames below, in the dark.
"He'll be okay," said Carson.
Hutch hesitated, looking back. The entire world squeezed down to the flickering light. She wanted to talk to him again, reassure herself. But she remembered Henry's anger: Where were you when we were trying to get a few answers? All you could contribute was to hang on the other end of that damned commlink and try to panic everybody.
Miserably, supporting Janet, she set off again. How different everything looked now. The beam from her lamp fell across a tree that had been split by lightning. "I remember this," said Maggie. "We're close—"
Moments later, a scream ripped through the night. It rang across the trees, vibrated in the still air, erupted into a series of short cries. Hutch called out to him and turned back.
But Janet anticipated the move. "No! You can't help him." She grabbed her and held on. "My God, you can't help him, Hutch—"
Janet was considerably stronger, but she could not have restrained her more than a few seconds had Carson not gotten there quickly. They fell in a pile.
"There's nothing you can do," he said.
She screamed.
"You'll make it for nothing." It was Maggie, looking down at her.
"Easy for you," said Hutch, hating the woman. "When other people die, you're always safely away!"
And the tears came.
The wall looked bright and safe in the glow of the lamp.
Get to the upper level. Hutch's vision had blurred, and she was close to hysteria. "Hold on," Janet told her. "We need you."
The lower strip, the portion they had thought of as resembling a roadway, emerged from the hillside to their right. Halfway across the glade, it rose vertically almost two meters. Not much under ordinary circumstances. Bri tonight was another matter.
It was a difficult climb with only one foot available. But Carson, supported by Maggie from below, and pulled by Hutch, and perhaps encouraged by the whisper of moving grass, negotiated it, although not without losing more blood. Once he was up, however, Janet became an easy proposition.
Hutch did a quick survey out across the top of the wall to assure herself there would be no surprises. Satisfied, she sat down and got out the medikit. "Let's have another look at everybody," she said in a flat voice.
Janet appeared to be going into shock. Hutch got her legs up, propping them on a mound of earth, removed her own jacket, and drew it over her. Carson was in better shape. When she had done what she could for both, she looked at Maggie's mutilated hand.
"How does it feel?"
"I'll live."
"I'm sorry," Hutch said. "I really didn't mean what I said back there."
"I know."
She changed the dressing. But tears continued to roll down her cheeks and she kept getting everything wet. Maggie had to finish the job herself. Carson hobbled over and sat beside her.
Hutch stared into the dark. The fires had burned out, and the night was growing cool. A crescent moon floated in the trees. "He's gone," she said.
Carson put an arm around her, but said nothing.
"I don't—" She stopped, pulled back, and waited until she had control of her voice. "I don't want to leave him out there."
"We'll get him back," Carson said.
Janet did not look good. We need to keep her warm. Maggie contributed her jacket. Hutch gathered some branches and built a fire. The wind began to pick up, and the temperature was dropping. Carson looked pale, and Hutch feared he might go into shock. "It's going to get cold," she said. "We don't want to spend the night out here."
Carson gazed wearily into the fire. "I don't see what choice we have."
"We can get the shuttle."
"How do we do that! I can't walk back there. Neither can Janet, for God's sake."
"I don't mean everybody. I mean me."
"And what would you do after you got there?"
"Bring it here."
The treetops were tied together and shut out the sky. "And do what? You can't get through that."
"Sure I can. If we remove a tree or two."
Carson's eyes found hers.
"It's all we've got," she added.
"Wait for daylight."
"We may not have until daylight. Janet's not in good shape."
He glanced at Maggie. "What do you think?"
Maggie's eyes were wide with fatigue and horror. "I think it's her call," she said.
She hasn't forgotten what I said. Hutch felt desperately tired of it all.
It would have been best, of course, if she could start at once. But there were things that had to be done first.
She needed to find the right tree to take down. She thought they could get away with one, and she found it well out along the wall, past the ruined stairway. It was close enough that they could reach it with a pulser; and she judged that it would leave a hole big enough to get through with the shuttle. That latter point was touch and go, but she was hopeful. If it didn't, they'd deal with it when they had to.
Next, she selected a pickup site, and helped get Janet and Carson to it. Just the use of the term seemed to revive their spirits. Once there, she rebuilt the fire. They were far out over the valley now, and close to the treetops. Branches and leaves reddened in the glow of the flames.
While Hutch got ready to leave, Maggie wandered to the edge, studied the target tree, and looked down. It was about five stories.
"You know what to do now?" Hutch asked.
"Yes. We'll be waiting when you get back."
They had only two functional pulsers left. But Maggie's had gone red. Hutch had the remaining one. She held it out.
Maggie shook her head. "Take it with you. You might need it."
"You need it to take the tree down. Anyhow, I'm not going to shoot it out with the little bastards." Janet's breathing didn't sound so good. "Got to go." Their eyes caught and held. "When we get out of here," she said, "I'd like to buy you dinner."