“Can you defend against another attack by the Whitefoods?”
“With warning-and I shall guard against their approach-the long-range weapons should be more than effective.”
“Begin working on the ship, then. Navigator will assist you. Out.”
“And what will you be doing while we repair the ship?” Navigator asked in a tone that bordered on insolence. “Sir.”
“I will go after the Thrintun box.”
“Yes, the box. That most important box. For which you have jeopardized our mission and put at risk an entire kzinti fleet!”
Nyawk-Captain felt his armor turning, almost of its own volition, to face this errant crew member. It was bending to assume a defensive crouch, conforming to his will almost without conscious command. “Do you have more to say?” he asked stiffly, fully expecting a shrill scream of challenge.
“No, Nyawk-Captain.”
“Then understand this. If we are late for the rendezvous, all three of us will be whistling vacuum-unless we have a suitable peace offering for Admiral Lehruff. That box is now our life. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Nyawk-Captain.”
“Good. You should start on your work. The ship must be ready to lift by the time I return.”
The chastened kzin began the process of climbing in through the airlock.
Nyawk-Captain tongued his comm switch. “Weaponsmaster. Give me bearing and range to the second hardsight contact.”
“Those systems are currently inoperative, sir.”
“Curse it,” Nyawk-Captain said mildly. “Can you rig a hand-held unit?”
“I can modify a ranging sight.”
“Do so at once, and pass it through the airlock.”
“Yes, sir, but I cannot guarantee its accuracy within a thousand cubits.”
“It need only give the container’s general direction and a sense of its proximity.”
“You will have that, at least, sir.”
While he waited for the new tool, Nyawk-Captain used the suit’s claw to cut fillets from the ring of blasted meat girdling Cat’s Paw.
Watching from his hanging point in the forest canopy, Cuiller almost cheered when the Bandersnatch slid over the dome of the kzinti ship. And he blinked back tears of rage mixed with envy when the kzinti weapons blew the creature apart. There, but for the few milliseconds that had padded Jook’s reaction time, might stand Callisto, ready to fly.
Cuiller noted that one kzin remained on guard outside the ship, clad in efficient-looking armor, while the other returned inside on some business. Then the first retrieved something through the hatch and headed off through the trees.
Although Cuiller’s sense of direction had suffered somewhat from remaining suspended in his spider harness, twisting among the branches, for almost an hour, he had no doubt what heading the kzin was taking. The Patriarchy possessed its own form of deep radar.
Time to begin thinking like a soldier, he told himself, instead of a tourist.
The first problem was to coordinate his team without radio transmissions or-given that the walking kzin’s armor was probably enhanced-too much shouting. He dropped cautiously down through the leaf screen into the clear space below the canopy. The whirr of his winder motor must have signaled the others, for first Krater, then Gambiel and Jook, also dropped into view.
“Now what, Boss?” Jook asked conversationally.
“We’re going to keep out of the Big Guy’s way, aren’t we?” from Krater
“Not if we want to get that stasis-box,” Cuiller answered, trying not to whisper.
“Get it-and take it where?” Krater asked. “And how?”
“First things first.”
“What I can’t figure,” from Gambiel, “is why the Bandersnatchi on this planet are so hostile. It’s not their pattern. And they can’t evolve.”
“You’re assuming we’ve seen more than one specimen,” Cuiller said. “The one the kzinti blasted down there may be the same that ate Callisto, coming hack for dessert. Anyway, that’s something to think about later. Right now, we’ve got a fully armed and alerted kzin on the loose… Did anyone see climbing gear on that body armor?”
“He doesn’t need it,” Gambiel replied. “With his power-driven claws, he can go up one of these tree trunks at a dead run.”
“How much does that suit weigh?” Cuiller asked.
“Seventy-five kilos.”
“That means kzin and suit together mass almost three hundred kilos.” Cuiller experimentally flexed his knees and pumped his back sharply-and bobbed like a toy on his almost invisible thread. “He won’t have much mobility among these springy branches and vines, will he?”
“Then he’d better pick exactly the right tree to climb,” Gambiel agreed.
“I have a decision to make,” the commander announced. “Do we all follow Kzin One and try to find the stasis- box ahead of him? Or does some part of our force stay here, to keep an eye on Kzin Two and the ship? Opinions?”
“Kzinti Two and Three,” Gambiel corrected.
“I thought this interceptor class was a two-man affair.”
Gambiel shrugged, and started his own bobbing dance. “Someone had to fight off the Bandersnatch from inside. It wasn’t done by automatics.”
“All right, then it’s three kzinti and a ship to divide among four pairs of eyes,” Cuiller noted. “I think we should stay together;” Krater said. “And go for the box.”
“Reasons?”
“The other two kzinti wouldn’t be going anywhere except to follow the first,” she answered. “And the ship is staying put, too.”
“How do you know that?” Jook asked. “The kzinti might know a lot more about this world than we do. Those two could have a dozen interesting places to visit and things to do. After all, Beanstalk might be their private hunting preserve, or something.”
“Then the kzinti would have found the stasis-box long before this,” Krater countered. “And they wouldn’t have let the Bandersnatch surprise them. Anyway, that explosion damaged their ship.”
“How do you figure?” Cuiller asked.
“Wouldn’t that big a bang have knocked some widgets loose from our hull? And that kzinti sphere isn’t even from General Products.”
“Circumstantial evidence,” Jook scoffed.
“Besides which, from where I was sitting, I saw some pieces hanging loose.”
“I hate to interrupt this,” from Gambiel, softly, “but while we chatter, Kzin One is getting away.”
“Right,” Cuiller said. He made his decision. “We’ll all go. Fan out in line abreast, keeping a space of just one tree between each person. Stay hidden in the lower branches, if you can. And stay ahead of the kzin
“We’ll follow our original vector. At half a klick out, everyone start sorting through the branches around your assigned tree grid. The first to find the stasis-box, takes it. If Kzin One interrupts while you’re doing that, kill him-if you can. Any questions?”
“Why don’t we just shoot Kzin One from up here?” Jook asked.
“That’s ablative armor,” from Gambiel.
“Oh, right.”
At Cuiller’s nod, they all wound up on their lines to get a foothold in the canopy. Alone among the greenery, the commander readied his grapple in the launcher and fired forward along their path-which was also the kiln’s. Around him he could hear the muffled chuff, flutter and thunk of similar activity.
Could Kzin One hear it too?
Swinging through the trees like a goddamn monkey! Trying to find the Slaver box by beating the bushes!
