He opened his eyes, stared up past a rim3 of broken rock toward the cloudless, blue-green sky. A relay clicked into proper place deep in his mind.
Of course! He had been trying to lure4 a strong-jaws out of its traphole with hooked bait, then his foot had slipped. Rynch Brodie sat up, flexed5 his bare thin arms, and moved his long legs experimentally. No broken bones, anyway. But still he frowned. Odd—that dream which jarred with the here and now.
Crawling to the side of the creek6, he dipped head and shoulders into the water, letting the chill of the stream flush away some of his waking bewilderment. He shook himself, making the drops fly from his uncovered torso and arms, and then discovered his hunting tackle.
He stood for a moment fingering each piece of his scanty8 clothing, recalling every piece of labor9 or battle which had added pouch10, belt, strip of fabric11 to his equipment. Yet—there was still that odd sense of strangeness, as if none of this was really his.
Rynch shook his head, wiped his wet face with his arm. It was all his, that was sure, every bit of it. He'd been lucky, the survival manual on the L-B had furnished him with general directions and this was a world which was not unfriendly—not if one was prepared for trouble.
He climbed up and loosened the net, coiling its folds into one hand, taking the good spear in his other. A bush stirred[21] ahead, against the pull of the light breeze. Rynch froze, then the haft of his spear slid into a new hand grip, the coils of his net spun12 out. A snarl13 cut over the purr of water.
The scarlet14 blot15 which sprang for his throat was met with the flail16 of the net. Rynch stabbed twice at the creature he had so swept off balance. A water-cat, this year's cub17. Dying, its claws, over-long in proportion to its paws, drew inch deep furrows18 in the earth and gravel19. Its eyes, almost the same shade as its long, burr-entangled body fur, glared up at him in deathly enmity.
As Rynch watched, that feeling that he was studying something strange, utterly21 alien, came to him once again. Yet he had hunted water-cats for many seasons. Fortunately they were solitary22, evil-tempered beasts that marked out a roaming territory to defend it from others of their kind, and not too many were to be encountered in cross-country travel.
He stooped to pull his net from the now still paws. Some definite place he must reach. The compulsion to move on in that sudden flash shook him, raised the dull ache still troubling his temples into a punishing throb24. Going down on his knees, Rynch once more turned to the stream water; this time after splashing it onto his face, he drank from his cupped hands.
Rynch swayed, his wet hands over his eyes, digging fingertips into the skin of his forehead to ease that pain bursting in his skull25. Sitting in a room, drinking from a cup—it was as if a shadow picture fitted over the reality of the stream, rocks and brush about him. He had sat in a room, had drank from a cup—that action had been important!
A sharp, hot pain made him lose contact with that shadow. He looked down. From the gravel, from under rocks, gathered an army of blue-black, hard-shelled things, their clawed forelimbs extended, blue sense organs raised on fleshy stalks well above their heads, all turned towards the dead feline26.
Rynch slapped out vigorously, stumbled into the water loosening the hold of two vicious scavengers on the torn skin of his ankle when he waded27 out knee-deep. Already that black tongue of small bodies licked across the red-haired side of the hunter. Within minutes the corpse28 would be only well-cleaned bones.
Retrieving29 his spear and net, Rynch immersed both in the[22] water to clean off attackers, and hurried on, splashing through the creek until he was well away from the vicinity of the kill. A little later he flushed a four-footed creature from between two rocks and killed it with one blow from his spear haft. He skinned his kill, feeling the substance of the skill. Was it exceedingly rough hide, or rudimentary scales? And knew a return of that puzzlement.
He felt, he thought painfully as he toasted the dry looking, grayish meat on a sharpened stick, as if a part of him knew very well what manner of animal he had killed. And yet, far inside him, another person he could not understand stood aloof30 watching in amazement31.
Memory presented him automatically with a picture of a thin woman with a narrow, rather unhappy face, a twist of elaborately dressed hair in which jeweled lights sparkled. There had been something bad—memory was no longer exact but chaotic33. And his head ached as he tried to recall that time with greater clarity. Afterwards the L-B and a man with him in it—
"Simmons Tait!"
An officer, badly hurt. He had died when the L-B landed here. Rynch had a clear memory of himself piling rocks over Tait's twisted body. He had been alone then with only the survival manual and some of the L-B supplies. The important thing was that he must never forget he was Rynch Brodie.
He licked grease from his fingers. The ache in his head made him drowsy34. He curled up on a patch of sun-warmed sand and slept.
Or did he? His eyes were open again. Now the sky above him was no longer a bowl of light, but rather a muted halo of evening. Rynch sat up, his heart pounding as if he had been racing35 to outdistance the rising wind now pushing against his half-naked body.
What was he doing here? Where was here?
Panic, carried through from that awakening36, dried his mouth, roughened his skin, made wet the palms of the hands he dug into the sand on either side of him. Vaguely37, a picture projected into his mind—he had sat in a room, and[23] watched a man come to him with a cup. Before that, he had been in a place of garish38 light and evil smells.
But he was Rynch Brodie, he had come here on an L-B when he was a boy, he had buried the ship's officer under a pile of rocks, managed to survive by himself because he had applied39 the aids in the boat to learn how. This morning he had been hunting a strong-jaw, tempting40 it out of its hiding by a hook and line and a bait of fresh killed skipper.
Rynch's hands went to his face, he crouched41 forward on his knees. That all was true, he could prove it—he would prove it! There was the strong-jaw's den23 back there, somewhere on the rise where he had left the snapped haft of the spear he had broken in his fall. If he could find the den, then he would be sure of the reality of everything else.
He had only had a very real dream—that was it! Only, why did he continue to dream of that room, that man, and the cup? Of the place of lights and smells, which he hated so much that the hate was a sour taste in his fright-dried mouth? None of it had ever been a part of Rynch Brodie's world.
Through the dusk he started back up the stream bed, towards the narrow little valley where he had wakened after that fall. Finally, finding shelter within the heart of a bush, he crouched low, listening to the noises of another world which awoke at night to take over the stage from the day dwellers43.
As he plodded44 back, he fought off panic, realizing that some of those noises he could identify with confidence, while others remained mysteries. He bit down hard on the knuckles45 of his clenched46 fist, attempting to bend that discovery into evidence. Why did he know at once that that thin, eerie47 wailing48 was the flock call of a leather-winged, feathered tree dweller42, and that a coughing grunt49 from downstream was just a noise?
"Rynch Brodie—Largo Drift—Tait." He tasted the blood his teeth drew from his own skin as he recited that formula. Then he scrambled50 up. His feet tangled20 in the net, and he went down again, his head cracking on a protruding51 root.
Nothing tangible52 reached him in that brush shelter. What did venture out of hiding to investigate was a substance none of his species could have named. It was neither body, nor mind—perhaps it was closest to alien emotion.[24]
Making contact stealthily, but with confidence, it explored after its own fashion. Then, puzzled, it withdrew to report. And since that to which it reported was governed by a set pattern which had not been altered for eons, its only answer was a basic command reaffirmed. Again it made contact, strove to carry out that order fruitlessly. Where it should have found easy passage, a clear channel to carry influence to the sleeper's brain, it found a jumble53 of impressions, interwoven until they made a protective barrier.
The invader54 strove to find some pattern, or meaning—withdrew baffled. But its invasion, as ghostly as that had been, loosened a knot here, cleared a passage there.
Rynch awoke at dawn, slowly, dazedly55, sorting out sounds, smells, thoughts. There was a room, a man, trouble and fear, then there was he, Rynch Brodie, who had lived in this wilderness56 on an unmapped frontier world for the passage of many seasons. That world was about him now, he could feel its winds, hear its sounds, taste, smell. It was not a dream—the other was the dream. It had to be!
Prove it. Find the L-B, retrace57 the trail of yesterday past the point of the fall which had started all this. Right there was the slope down which he must have tumbled. Above, he would find the den he had been exploring when the accident had occurred.
Only—he did not find it. His mind had produced a detailed58 picture of that rounded depression, at the bottom of which the strong-jaw lurked59. But when he reached the crown of the bluff60, nowhere did he sight the mounded earth of the pit's rim. He searched carefully for a good length, both north and south. No den—no trace of one. Yet his memory told him that there had been one here yesterday.
Had he fallen elsewhere and stumbled on, dazed, to fall a second time?
Some disputant inside him said no to that. This was where he had regained61 consciousness yesterday and there was no den!
He faced away from the river, breathing fast. No den—was there also no L-B? If he had passed this way dazed from a former fall, surely he would have left some trace.
There was a crushed, browned plant flattened62 by weight. He stooped to finger the wilted63 leaves. Something had come[25] in this direction. He would back-track. Rynch gave a hunter's attention to the ground.
A half-hour later he found nothing but some odd, almost obliterated64 marks on grass too resilient to hold traces very long. And from them he could make nothing.
He knew where he was, even if he did not know how he got here. The L-B—if it did exist—was to the west. He had a vivid mental picture of the rocket shape, its once silvery sides dulled by exposure, canted crookedly65 amid trees. And he was going to find it!
Beyond the edge of any conscious sense there was a new stir. He was contacted again, tested. A forest called delicately in its alien way. Rynch had a fleeting66 thought of trees, was not aware of more than a mild desire to see what lay in their shade.
For the present his own problem held him. That which beckoned67 was defeated, repulsed68 by his indifference69. While Rynch started at a steady distance to trot70 towards the east, far away a process akin7 to a relay clicked into a second set of impulse orders.
Well above the planet Hume spun a dial to bring in the image of the wide stretches of continents, the small patches of seas. They would set down on the western land mass. Its climate, geographical71 features and surface provided the best site. And he had the very important co-ordinates for their camp already taped in the directo.
"That's Jumala."
He did not glance around to see what effect that screen view had on the other four men in the control cabin of the safari72 ship. Just now he was striving to master his impatience73. The slightest hint could give birth to a suspicion which would blast their whole scheme. Wass might have had a hand in the selection of the three clients, but they would certainly be far from briefed on the truth of any discovery made on Jumala—they had to be for the safety of the whole enterprise.
The fourth man, serving as his gearman for this trip, was Wass' own insurance against any wrong move on Hume's part. And the Out-Hunter respected him as being man enough to be wary74 of giving any suspicion of going counter to the agreed plan.[26]
Dawn was touching75 up the main points of the western continent, and he must set this spacer down within a day's journey of the abandoned L-B. Exploration in that direction would be the first logical move for his party. They could not be openly steered76 to the find, but there were ways of directing a hunt which would do as well.
Two days ago, according to schedule, their castaway had been deposited here with a sub-conscious command to remain in the general area. There had been a slight element of risk in leaving him alone, armed only with the crude weapons he could manipulate, but that was part of the gamble.
They were down—right on the mark. Hume saw to the unpacking77 and activating78 of those machines and appliances which would protect and serve his civ clients. He slapped the last inflate79 valve on a bubble tent, watched it critically as it billowed from a small roll of fabric into a weather resistant80, one-room, air-conditioned and heated shelter.
"Ready and waiting for you to move in, Gentlehomo," he reported to the small man who stood gazing about him with a child's wondering interest in the new and strange.
"Very ingenious, Hunter. Ah—now just what might that be?" His voice was also eager as he pointed81 a finger to the east.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
pungent
|
|
| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
nostrils
|
|
| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
rim
|
|
| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
lure
|
|
| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
flexed
|
|
| adj.[医]曲折的，屈曲v.屈曲( flex的过去式和过去分词 )；弯曲；（为准备大干而）显示实力；摩拳擦掌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
creek
|
|
| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
akin
|
|
| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
scanty
|
|
| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
labor
|
|
| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
pouch
|
|
| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
fabric
|
|
| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
spun
|
|
| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
snarl
|
|
| v.吼叫，怒骂，纠缠，混乱；n.混乱，缠结，咆哮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
blot
|
|
| vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
flail
|
|
| v.用连枷打；击打；n.连枷（脱粒用的工具） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
cub
|
|
| n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
furrows
|
|
| n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 )；（脸上的）皱纹v.犁田，开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
gravel
|
|
| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
tangled
|
|
| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
den
|
|
| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
throb
|
|
| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
skull
|
|
| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
feline
|
|
| adj.猫科的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
waded
|
|
| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
corpse
|
|
| n.尸体，死尸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
retrieving
|
|
| n.检索（过程），取还v.取回( retrieve的现在分词 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
aloof
|
|
| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
amazement
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
largo
|
|
| n.广板乐章；adj.缓慢的，宽广的；adv.缓慢地，宽广地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
chaotic
|
|
| adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
drowsy
|
|
| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
racing
|
|
| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
awakening
|
|
| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
garish
|
|
| adj.华丽而俗气的，华而不实的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
applied
|
|
| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
tempting
|
|
| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
crouched
|
|
| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
dweller
|
|
| n.居住者，住客 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
dwellers
|
|
| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
plodded
|
|
| v.沉重缓慢地走（路）( plod的过去式和过去分词 )；努力从事；沉闷地苦干；缓慢进行（尤指艰难枯燥的工作） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
knuckles
|
|
| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
clenched
|
|
| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
eerie
|
|
| adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
wailing
|
|
| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
grunt
|
|
| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
scrambled
|
|
| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
protruding
|
|
| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
tangible
|
|
| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
jumble
|
|
| vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
invader
|
|
| n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
dazedly
|
|
| 头昏眼花地，眼花缭乱地，茫然地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
wilderness
|
|
| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
retrace
|
|
| v.折回；追溯，探源 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
detailed
|
|
| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
lurked
|
|
| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
bluff
|
|
| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
regained
|
|
| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
flattened
|
|
| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
wilted
|
|
| （使）凋谢，枯萎( wilt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
obliterated
|
|
| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
crookedly
|
|
| adv. 弯曲地，不诚实地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
fleeting
|
|
| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
beckoned
|
|
| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
repulsed
|
|
| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
trot
|
|
| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
geographical
|
|
| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
safari
|
|
| n.远征旅行(探险、考察)；探险队，狩猎队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
impatience
|
|
| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
wary
|
|
| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
touching
|
|
| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
steered
|
|
| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
unpacking
|
|
| n.取出货物，拆包[箱]v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的现在分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
activating
|
|
| 活动的，活性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
inflate
|
|
| vt.使膨胀，使骄傲，抬高（物价） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
resistant
|
|
| adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |