Quest for the Well of Souls - Jack L. Chalker [77]
The Oyakot were also talkative; a friendly, practical people, they had made the most of a harsh land. That oxygen was a solid to the Oyakot didn't dim the mental kinship the travelers felt for these clever, industrious people.
Wooley was worried, though. Word had come through the dispatching network that Trelig and his party were also well into Oyakot, and only a few hours behind them. Too, her party was already approaching Pugeesh, and information was still sparse.
"Can't tell much on them," their Oyakot driver admitted. "Much too hot over there. Sure death just to cross the line. Ugly-lookin' place, though, all boilin' and hissin'. I'm told they don't have anybody at Zone, neither—so your guess is as good as anybody's. There—you can see it ahead. Gives me the creeps just to look at it."
It was a jungle, that was for sure. A solid wall of purple plants rose before them, and tremendous vapor veils drifted here and there, between the leaves of thick growths.
As they unloaded, Wooley warned them, "The Sea of Borgun is just to the north of Pugeesh, and it's primarily liquid chlorine, so that will give you an idea of the place. The Oyakot think of it as hot, but it's still extremely cold to any of us."
Mavra Chang and Joshi surveyed the scene uneasily. "No sign of roads, either," she pointed out. "How are we going to get through that crap?"
"There's flat land slightly to the north," the Yaxa replied, looking at a topographic map. We can get around the mountains that way. As to crossing the jungle, well, we might have to cut a pathway."
Ben Yulin was uneasy. "Suppose the plants are the Pugeesh?" he said worriedly. "We start chopping through them and zap! And we've got a long way to go to fight our way through."
"I am fairly certain that they are not plants," the Torshind put in. "Exactly what they are I do not know—but we'll find out. In the meantime, we have the means to be pretty effective through there." The tendrils of the crystal creature it inhabited fumbled in the heavy packs on Joshi's back, finally coming up with several odd-shaped metallic parts. Assembled, these made a rifle with a long stock and a huge low-slung cylinder.
Mavra looked at the curious weapon with wonder. "What's it shoot?"
"Napalm," the Torshind replied.
* * *
To Mavra and Joshi, they rigged long flats that balanced on a single broad, spiked roller. On these the supplies could be carried. The travois were perhaps two meters wide, but balanced properly, they worked very well.
Mavra in particular resented the hookup, especially the halter bit, but the others were sharp with her. "It's why you're along at all," Yulin snapped irritably. "If you don't pull your weight, you're no good to us."
She finally relented, although she was always conscious of the contraption. A beast she might be, but a beast of burden was almost too much.
There were wide spaces once they reached the plain, and the going was relatively easy for a while. The ground was hard and covered with long razor-sharp purple stalks that reacted much like grass when walked on and offered no resistance to the rollers.
Maintaining the proper heading was often difficult, and Wooley frequently had to consult a compass when they had to detour from a straight-line route. The needle always pointed to the Equator, which was sufficient.
As to what kind of being the Pugeesh were, there wasn't a clue. No visible trails, no evidence of moving things. This made them nervous; they would have preferred vicious predators to something they could neither see nor identify until, perhaps, it was too late.
They had traveled a good distance by sundown, and they had to stop and rest. Yulin and Wooley agreed that the inhabitants had to be nocturnal, which meant posting a guard at all times. It was decided to stand in twos: Wooley and Mavra the first shift, Yulin and Joshi the second, with the Torshind—who did not need sleep