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.Andhe could see casualties.The marines weren t laying down much fire now though,as if there weren t many of them left.The thought flashed:How many? Four? Five?But theMei-Li s starboard gunner, in his armored bubble, was still pumping out the heavystuff.With bursts of rotten wood, bolts blew through the log within ten feet ofStoorvol.To his right, a Wyzhñyñy he d thought was dead, stood as if to flee,then stopped as if in freeze-frame, staring at the marine officer.Stoorvol shot him down, then turning, began to shoot at every Wyzhñyñy hecould see.It seemed the final straw.All along the Wyzhñyñy line, aliens rose to flee.Stoorvol crouched low again, and from his thigh pocket drew his stunner.Tohis left, a Wyzhñyñy cleared the log in a bound, so easily and gracefully itstartled the marine.As it landed, Stoorvol thumbed the trigger.The Wyzhñyñystumbled, pitched forward and lay still.Another followed, and it too fell.The starboard gun hammered a dozen more trasher bolts after the fleeingWyzhñyñy before it stopped.Then, heart in his mouth, Stoorvol stood andjumped onto the log, waving both arms overhead.TheMei-Li s gangway slid open, its ramp extruding.Three marines rode out on an AGfreight sled, followed closely by two crewmen riding another. Over here! Stoorvol shouted, again as if he didn t have a radio. I ve gottwo prisoners stunned. The marines veered to the north as if they hadn theard.It was the crewmen who responded to Stoorvol, quickly setting downwhere he indicated.He helped them load an unconscious Wyzhñyñy on the sled. Your gunner did good work with that heavy weapon, he said. He broke themwith it. Wasn t that, the older crewman grunted, lifting the second Wyzhñyñy shindquarters. What, then? It seemed to Stoorvol the man was going to give him the credit,for taking them from behind. Wyzhñyñy aircraft are on their way, sir.They ll be laying heavy fire inhere. They finished getting the second Wyzhñyñy aboard, and as if that was asignal, an alarm horn blared from theMei-Li. Come aboard, Captain, said the older. That s Mr.Menges twenty-tickwarning. Menges? Where was Gabaldon? And the marines with the other sled? He realizedthen; it was casualties, not prisoners they were collecting.Instead ofgetting on the sled, Stoorvol started toward the marines, but the seniorcrewman drew his stunner and thumbed the trigger.Quickly the two crewmendumped the inert marine officer onto the sled with the prisoners, then sped tothe gangway and inside theMei-Li.The marines, on the other hand, hadn t even looked toward the ship when thegangway slid shut.The senior crewman activated the sled s restraint field,Page 164 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlfelt it snug around him. Jesus, Buddha, and Rama! said the younger. What sthe matter with those marines? They should ve come! Another alarm clamored through the boat, warning of imminent takeoff. They wouldn t leave their buds behind, the elder said. They were probably all dead! Apparently it doesn t make any difference to them. They felt theMei-Li lift, pull backward from the forest edge, then swing about.At once ittook flight, for five seconds of acceleration before warpspace generated.After a long moment s stillness, the senior crewman released the restraintfield.Two others appeared, and helped transfer the inert prisoners onto AGlitters, to be taken to a holding cell.When the two Wyzhñyñy had been taken away, the younger crewman gestured towardthe unconsciousStoorvol, still lying on the sled. He was going to help them, wasn t he? Yep.Who knows? Maybe those hyenas eat enemy casualties. He said it absently.His mind was on theMei-Li s last remaining scooter, with Gunnery Sergeant Gabaldon piloting.It hadleft shortly after theMei-Li landed.The crewman had heard enough to know the strategy: the sergeantwould drop into the depths of the gorge, speed north a couple of miles, thenclimb a couple, to watch forWyzhñyñy aerial reinforcements.Finally he d seen some coming: gunboats andAPCs.A lot of them.Chapter 42Moribund They are both moribund. TheBering had left Tagus s moon less than two hours earlier, and ChristiaanWeygand felt comfortable now about questioning the expedition s scientistsworking on the alien captives.The two Wyzhñyñy lay strapped on examinationtables, wires and tubes leading from them to a life support system and a bankof readouts.If everything above the withers had been covered, and youoverlooked the feet, they might have passed for someTerran mammal in a large-animal clinic. What actually does moribund mean? Weygand asked.Dr.Maria Kalosgouros was a formidable, humorless woman, a vertebrateexobiologist of major professional status. Captain Stoorvol s stunner hadbeen set to render a two-hundred-fifty-pound human unconscious for a period ofone to three hours, she answered wryly. Unfortunately its effect on Wyzhñyñyof similar mass is far more profound.They are dying, and there is nothing Ican do to prevent it.I doubt their own physicians could, working with theirown life support system. Weygand regarded the two Wyzhñyñy glumly.And we paid eighteen marines for them, good men.ValiantNot many, by the standards of war, but they d been his, in a manner ofspeaking. I presume you can still salvage information from them. Valuable information.Subcutaneous injection of minute quantities of Africanbee venom has resulted in encouraging tissue responses.But unfortunatelytheir capillary circulation is virtually nil. She gestured at the bank ofsmall monitor screens, where thin lines of colored light jitteredmicroscopically, or sparsely, or flowed smooth as oil.Esoteric numbers showedoccasional small changes. I have injected the brain of one, she continued,Page 165 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html but that is not analogous to venom reaching the brain systemically.I couldlearn far more with studies on specimens functioning at something approachingnormal. Still, we are learning far more than we knew before.And through Mädchen, she added, referring to theBering s savant, I am sharing our results with Dr
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