Hothouse - Brian Aldiss [36]
Though the bellyelm normally attracted only vegetal creatures into its maw, flesh also satisfied its nutritive require-ments. Seven little humans were very welcome.
The seven little humans fought savagely, slithering in the dirty dark as they attacked the strange plant with knives. Nothing they did had any effect. The syrupy rain came down faster, as the bellyelm worked up an appetite.
‘It’s no good,’ Toy gasped. ‘Rest for a little while and try to think what we can do.’
Close together, they squatted on their haunches. Baffled, frightened, numbed by the dark, they could only squat.
Gren tried to make a useful picture come into his head. He concentrated, ignoring the muck trickling down his back.
He tried to remember what the trunk had looked like outside. They were seeking somewhere to sleep when they came to it. They had climbed up a slope, skirting a suspicious patch of bare sand, and found the bellyelm lying at the top of the incline in short grass. Externally, it had been smooth…
‘Ha!’ he exclaimed in the dark.
‘What is it?’ Veggy asked. ‘What are you haing about?’ He was angry with them all; was he not a man, who should have been protected from this danger and indignity?
‘We will all throw ourselves against this wall together,’ Gren said. ‘That way we may be able to make the tree roll.’
Veggy snorted in the dark.
‘How will that help us?’ she asked.
‘Do what he says, you little worm!’ Toy’s voice was savage. They all jumped at its lash. She, as much as Veggy, could not guess what Gren had in mind, but she had to keep authority… ‘All push at this wall, quickly.’
In the gummy mess they scrambled together, touching each other to discover whether they were all facing the same way.
‘All ready?’ Toy asked. ‘Push! And again! Push! Push!’
Their toes slithered in the tacky sap, but they pushed. Toy called encouragement.
The bellyelm rolled.
Now they were all caught in excitement. They heaved gladly, shouting in unison. And the bellyelm rolled again. And again. And then continuously.
Suddenly there was no further need to push. As Gren had hoped, the trunk began to roll down the slope of its own accord. Seven humans found themselves somersaulting at increasing speed.
‘Get ready to run as soon as you get the chance,’ Gren called. ‘If you get the chance. The tree may split at the bottom of the slope.’
When it hit sand, the bellyelm slowed its pace and, as the incline flattened out, it stopped. Its partner, the leafy creature, which had been pursuing it meanwhile, now caught up. It jumped on top of the trunk and plugged its lower appendages firmly into the runnels of the trunk; but it had no time to preen.
Something moved beneath the sand.
A white root-like tentacle appeared, then another. They waved blindly and grasped the bellyelm round the middle. As the leafy thing scuttled for its life, a killerwillow heaved itself up into view. Still trapped inside the trunk, the humans heard the bellyelm groan.
‘Get ready to jump clear,’ Gren whispered.
Few things could resist the clutches of a killerwillow. Its present victim was utterly defenceless. Beneath the grip of those hawser-like tentacles, it cracked with a sound of snapping ribs. Hopelessly, tugged from more than one direction, it broke apart like a cracker.
As daylight splintered into being about them, the group jumped for safety.
Only Driff could not jump. She was trapped at one end of the trunk as it caved in. Frantically she cried and struggled, but could not get loose. The others – bounding for long grass – halted and looked back.
Toy and Poyly glanced at each other, then ran to the rescue.
‘Come back, you fools!’ Gren cried. ‘It will get you too!’
Unheeding, they ran back to Driff, plunging into the patch of sand. In a panic, Gren rushed after them.
‘Come away!’ he shouted.
Three yards from them rose the great body of the killerwillow. In its poll fungus glistened, the dark crinkled fungus they had seen before. It was terrible to behold – Gren could not understand