Voodoo Planet Part 12

"Tau!" Jellico's shout reached them over the cries of the rousing Khatkans. But Dane was there first, catching the medic before he slumped to the ground; but he was dragged with that dead weight until he sat with the medic's head on his shoulder, the other's body resting heavily against him. For one horror-filled moment Dane feared that he did indeed hold a dead man, that one of the outlaw Hunters must have struck a last blow for his discredited leader. Then Tau sighed and began to breathe deeply. Dane glanced up, amazed, at the captain.

"He's asleep!"

Jellico knelt and his hand went to test heart beat, then to touch the medic's worn and dirty face. "Best thing for him," he said briskly.

"He's had it."

It took some time to get the facts of their triumph sorted out. Two of the off-worlder poachers were dead. The other and the s.p.a.ceman were prisoners, while Nymani rounded up in addition the man Dane had burned to save Tau. When the younger s.p.a.ceman returned from making the medic comfortable in the shelter, he found Asaki and Jellico holding an impromptu court of inquiry.

The dazed native Hunters had been expertly looped together by Nymani and, a little apart from them, the off-worlders were under examination.

"An I-C man, eh?" Jellico, smoothing a mud-spattered chin with a grimed hand, regarded the latest arrival measuringly. "Trying to run in and break a Combine charter, were you? You'd better spill the facts; your own head office will disown you, you ought to know that. They never back any failures in these undercover deals."

"I want medical attention," snapped the other, cradling his seared hand to his chest. "Or do you plan to turn me over to these savages?"

"Seeing as how you tried to blast our medic," replied the captain with a grin which was close to shark-like, "he may not feel much like patching up those fingers of yours. Stick 'em in where they have no business, and they're apt to get burned. At any rate he's not going to look at 'em until he's had a chance to rest. I'll give you first aid. And while I'm working we'll talk. I-C going into the poaching trade now? That news is going to please Combine; they have no use for you boys anyway."

His answer was lurid and uninformative. But the uniform tunic the other wore could not be so easily explained away. Dane, worn out, stretched his aching length on a pile of mats and lost all interest in the argument.

Two days later they stood once more on the same terrace where Lumbrilo had wrought his magic and met his first defeat. This time no lightning played along the mountain ridges and the blaze of the sun was so bright and clear that one could hardly believe in the fantastic happenings of that swamp clearing where men had fought with weapons not made by hands.

The three from the _Queen_ moved away from the parapet to meet the Chief Ranger as he came down the stairs.

"A messenger has just arrived. The hunter was hunted indeed, and his going was witnessed by many--though they did not see those which hunted him. Lumbrilo is dead; he came to his end by the Great River."

Jellico started. "But that is almost fifty miles from the swamp, on this side of the mountain!"

"He was hunted and he fled--as you promised," Asaki said to Tau. "You made strong magic, off-world man."

The medic shook his head slowly. "I but turned his own methods against him. Because he believed in his power, that same power, reflected back, broke him. Had I been facing one who did not believe...." He shrugged.

"Our first meeting set the pattern. From that moment he feared a little that I could match him, and his uncertainty pierced a hole in his armor."

"Why on earth did you want 'Terra Bound?'" burst out Dane, still seeking an explanation for that one small mystery among the others.

Tau chuckled. "In the first place, that blasted tune has haunted us all for so long that I knew its rhythm was probably the one you could keep to without hardly knowing that you were beating it out. And, in the second place, its alien pattern was a part of our particular background, to counteract Lumbrilo's native Khatkan music, which was certainly a big factor in _his_ stage setting. He must have believed that we would not find out about the drugged water and so would be prepared for any fantasy he cared to produce. When they saw us coming out over the swamp they counted us easy takings. His practice had always been with Khatkans, and he judged us by their reactions to stimuli he knew well how to use. So he failed...."

Asaki smiled. "Which was good for Khatka but ill for Lumbrilo and those using him to make mischief here. The poacher and the outlaw Hunters will meet with our justice, which I do not believe they will relish. But the other two, the s.p.a.ceman and the company agent, are to be sent to Xecho to face Combine authorities. It is my thought that those will not accept kindly the meddling of another company in their territory."

Jellico grunted. "Kindness and Combine are widely separated in such matters. But we can now take pa.s.sage on the same s.h.i.+p as your prisoners--"

"But, my friend, you have not yet seen the preserve. I a.s.sure you that _this_ time there shall be no trouble. We have several days yet before you must return to your s.h.i.+p--"

The captain of the _Queen_ held up his hand. "Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to inspect the Zoboru preserve, sir--next year. As it is, my holiday is over and the _Queen_ is waiting for us on Xecho.

Also, permit me to send you some tapes dealing with the newest types of flitters--guaranteed against flight failures."

"Yes, guaranteed," Tau added guilelessly, "not to break down, lose course, or otherwise disrupt a pleasant excursion."

The Chief Ranger threw back his head and his deep-chested laughter was echoed from the heights above them. "Very well, Captain. Your mail run will bring you back to Xecho at intervals. Meanwhile I shall study your sales tapes concerning the non-expendable flitters. But you _shall_ visit Zoboru--and pleasantly, very pleasantly, I a.s.sure you, Medic Tau!"

"I wonder," Tau muttered and Dane heard. "Just now the quiet of deep s.p.a.ce is a far, far more entrancing proposition!"