Man-Kzin Wars V Larry Niven (e novels to read .txt) 📖

would thin out and fall within a generation or two. This forest is being managed, and that smacks of intelligence to me."

"You're leaping ahead of yourself," she said, putting on her professional xenobiologist's hat. "A lot of natural phenomena could explain what you've got there."

"Well—" Cuiller was unsure of his ground.

"I like Jared's interpretation," Gambiel said. "Anyway, let's be prepared. Err on the side of intelligence."

"Sounds good to me," Jook put in, from the ship. "I'll watch for them."

"All right," from Krater. "Have it your way. But don't be disappointed if it's a pack of grazing animals with picky appetites, some kind of stream flow, a toxic groundwort, or something."

"We can deal with those," Gambiel said.

"I'm coming out," Cuiller told them, turning around in the patch of groundcover.

"Let's start considering options," the commander said when he was back on the swept floor with the others. He pointed at the spider rigs on the Jinxian's shoulder. "How do these things work?"

Gambiel unslung them, laid two on the ground, and spread one in his flat hands.

"This is an adjustable five-point harness. Over the shoulders, around the waist, between the legs. The takeup reel with motor winder clips on here." He thunked himself in the chest, just below the sternum. "The hand unit—" He picked up a gun-shaped object. "—launches the grapple with a gas charge that vents backward to stabilize your reaction. That's because this rig was designed for freefall, remember,"

Cuiller picked up the grapple. It had a point and three spring-loaded tines—all sharpened. "We'd use a thing like this around vacuum gear?"

"The original head has a suction pad and magnets. This is a terrestrial modification."

"Right."

"What about drag from the trailing line?" Krater asked.

"For one thing, it's all monofilament. Weighs about three grams to the kilometer. But you got to watch out: put it under tension and it'll take your fingers off. Handle the line only with the winder, or with steel-mesh gloves.

"The other thing is, the line goes with the grapple, paying out from a cassette." Gambiel showed them, taking one from his pocket. He fitted and locked the spindle-shaped cassette into the base of the grapple, drew out a meter or so of the nearly invisible line from its end, and clicked the grapple into the gas gun. "Attach the free end to a spare reel on your winder." He took that from another pocket. "Fire the gun—" He pantomimed shooting up into the trees. "—and when the hooks are anchored, jerk it once to set a friction brake on the cassette. Then reel in and up you go."

"What happens when all your line is wound in on the takeup reel?" Cuiller asked.

"You retrieve the grapple, discard both the old reel and cassette, fit new ones, take aim and fire again." Gambiel shrugged.

"How much line in one setup?"

"Ten kilometers."

"Okay. Simple enough. Let's get into those harnesses now."

"Why?" Krater asked, her eyebrows coming together.

"Evasive action," Cuiller answered. "If we meet anything down on the ground here, we may not be able to outrun it. Or outfight it. Our best course might be to disappear. Up into the treetops."

The Jinxian nodded. "When you shoot, try to put the grapple as close to a main trunk as you can. Thicker branches there—more likely to hold your weight."

"But the canopy held our whole ship pretty well," Krater observed. "For a while."

"True," Gambiel said. "So, suit yourself."

Cuiller stepped into the harness, found the adjustment points, and pulled them snug. He fitted the winder motor to his chest, figured out the simple lever controls for its reversible gearing, and clipped the first empty reel onto it. He put a cassette in the grapple, fed out a meter of the silk-like line, and found a loop at the harness belt's left side to hold the grapple. The gun fitted into a flat holster on the right. The three of them divided up their supply of gas cartridges, cassettes, and reels.

"What happens when these run out?" Krater demanded, counting her share with her fingers.

"We won't be here that long," the commander said. He looked to Gambiel. "We still walking that way?" Cuiller pointed the direction, angling his hand around one side of the pentangle of underbrush.

The Jinxian paused, considered some inner sense, and nodded.

They walked along, deviating from a straight line only to pass around any trunks in their way.

"Whoop!" Krater shouted.

She suddenly floated away from Gambiel's other side. Cuiller caught a glance of her white jumper flashing past and in front of them as she soared into the trees. She covered the ninety vertical meters in about twenty seconds, moving so quickly that at the end of her arc Krater barely had time to cock her feet up to reach for a toehold. The lieutenant disappeared into the canopy with the barest rustle of leaves.

"Serve her right if she cracks her head on a branch," Gambiel said. "Should we follow her up?"

The commander pointed ahead. "Our goal is over that way. We'll reach it faster walking on the ground."

"We might lose her."

"We've got visibility of what—?" He looked around. "A hundred meters down here? And less than ten meters up there in the leaves. If she gets lost, she can always drop down and we'll spot her."

"If we're looking in the right direction."

"She'll probably scream or something," Cuiller said.

"Yeah, she probably will."

The two men walked on through the trees.

* * *

The sound came from Navigator's panel. It was a strange burring—full of enough sonics to make a kzin's neck ruff stand out from his chin. Nyawk-Captain searched his memory for a sound like it and finally decided it was not part of normal ship's operation. Perhaps a malfunction? A small, fast motor vibrating out of its bearings? But coming from inside the solid-state circuitry of the panel . . . ? Then a wrinkle of memory surfaced, a significant detail from his early simulator drills with the Vengeance-class interceptor.

"You have a return from the hardsight," he snarled over his shoulder.

"Wh-what—sir?"

"Wake up, root breath! Your station is active—and