The Mystery of Ireta_ Dinosaur Planet & Dinosaur Planet Survivors - Anne McCaffrey [192]
“Dimenon thinks they’ve been gorging themselves. And they have apparently consumed every trace of the ancient cores which were ghosting our core screen.”
Fordeliton swung the pinnace about, almost on its tail fins, and before Kai had a chance to grab a breath, had jammed on the power. Even with the advanced design of the pinnace, the g-forces of supersonic speed were uncomfortable.
“How many have been sighted?” Kai managed to ask through lips pressed against his face bones. Abruptly the pressure eased.
“Nine, three of them nearly as big as the transport. Or so they appear on our sensors.”
Kai was surprised at the magnitude of the visitors. “Any small units?” If only Tor was among them. . . .
“There are three Great-Big Bears, three Medium-Size Bears, and three Teeny-Tiny Bears.” Fordeliton gave Kai a totally unrepentant grin. “Don’t worry. One of Sassinak’s specialities is Thek conversation.” Then he grinned with a definite hint of malice. “Though I wonder if the good commander will be able to cope with such a concentration of our noble allies.”
The speedy pinnace accomplished the journey in ten minutes. Ford was deftly dropping their forward speed when an urgent signal was beamed from the Zaid-Dayan, giving alternative landing coordinates.
“They want us down by the settlement,” Ford said, glancing at the area map, and veered in the appropriate direction as he flipped on the forward screen for a visual check of their arrival. “And I can see why!”
Leaning forward against the seat belts, unwilling to lose a single detail of the extraordinary sight before them, Kai gasped in astonishment.
Fordeliton’s whimsical reference to the awesome Thek caused Kai to grin with a wayward appreciation of that irreverence. His grin broadened as he watched three Teeny-Tiny Bears, which were likely to be taller than his nearly two meters, settling down by the main air lock of the Zaid-Dayan, where sailors were quick-marching into the ceremonial formation. One of the Medium-Size Bears was slowly descending behind the three. The other two Medium-Size Bears could be seen positioning themselves to either side of the massive prow of the heavy-worlder transport. In one quick glance Kai took in that deployment and then turned his incredulous gaze toward the three immense Great-Big Bears which were sedately lowering themselves onto the grid beyond the transport.
“It is extremely lucky, isn’t it,” Fordeliton remarked, “that the Iretans made such a big landing grid. Otherwise those big brutes wouldn’t have risked a landing here. Whooops! Spoke too soon.”
Fordeliton was hovering above the appointed landing site, maintaining the pinnace at an altitude which gave them a superb view of the event. With great dignity and no visible means of propulsion, the three Great-Big Bears lowered their bulks onto the grid. And continued their downward movement while the grid began to smoke, melt, and bubble. Molten iron began to ooze out around the three Great-Big Theks. Fordeliton roared with such infectious laughter that Kai joined in. Suddenly the continued decline of the Theks ceased, the molten metal about their bases went from red to dull cold metal in an instant, solidifying.
“That was close, wasn’t it?” Fordeliton flung out his arms, giving Kai a buffet on the chest for which he instantly apologized. “I just hope someone got it on tape. That’s one to save for posterity. What if they had just kept on melting down, down, down?”
“No chance of that, I’m afraid. The grid was built here because there’s a rock shelf under that plateau that would stop even the Thek.” Kai grinned at Fordeliton. “But I doubt the heavy-worlders meant to accommodate Thek. Have you ever seen any that big before?”
“I thought that they stayed put at that size. Kai, what have you got on this forsaken planet to wrench them out of their comfortable niches? Do Thek inhabit niches? Or mountaintops? Never mind.”
Fordeliton