In the nightmare of those moments, Norman saw Dorothy's reflection in the fog-smeared glass, tugging6 at the frantic7 brunette, trying to pull her away from him. He saw her hand rise, a wrench8 in it. She brought it down on the Venusian's dark head as the clock swept to its nerve-breaking jump and he spun9 the wheel with all his strength.
It was a timeless instant. His hand lay limp on the wheel, his eyes on Dorothy's dim figure in the foggy glass. She stood there like a bad camera shot of a little girl dressed up in her papa's overalls10. Then, slowly, he realized that what he thought was the reflection of one of her blue eyes was instead a small, luminous11 globe suspended in the bright nothingness of sunlight ahead. He rubbed his sweat-burning eyes.
The blackness of the glass was fading quickly, the seam bulges12 sinking back with the contraction13. Without the slightest tremor14, the counteractive15 had stopped their plunge16 into the Sun, and the reverse rockets had taken over. They were headed out again. The blue globe grew swiftly as they approached. Source of a thousand tales of terror, Vulcan sped toward them out of the distance.
In a few moments, washed air cooled the pilot room as the air conditioning unit purred full speed. Its soft whistle, the brighter light and Norman's instruments were the only evidence that they swam effortlessly in a wild current that swept into the gates of the solar hell.
"If we had enough insulation," Norman said, "we could go into the very flames of the sun. Like we almost did anyhow." Johnny's counteractive had given the universe new eyes—to seek an elixir17 to save his life.
Keren moaned.
Dorothy held a glass of water to Keren's scarlet18 lips. "There's a mirror in the galley19," she told her. "Go freshen up before we land." Keren looked like a wilted20 orchid21 and Norman smiled, finding it difficult to hate anyone after the ordeal22 they had just survived.
Keren's eyes raised to him with an unexpected softness as she stood up. "I'm sorry I acted like an idiot," she said coolly. "You saved my life and you won't regret it." She shook her sleek23 hair and turned to the galley. "Get out of my way, brat24!" she snapped at Dorothy and left the pilot room.
The fifteen year old fugitive26 from a high school journalism27 class grinned back, wrinkling her freckled28 nose. "You wield a wicked heart attack," she said. "Miss Vaun's on your side now if not on mine."
He turned back to the controls. They were but a few minutes from the unexplored planet. There was nothing he could do now but take the girls along with him. A junior miss and a Venusian beauty queen, landing on an unknown world.
As they approached, Vulcan filled their window, a great smooth curve, its blue color lightening to green. Norman switched off the counteractive and cut in the landing rockets.
When Keren's exotic perfume entered the room again, the land below was a map of verdant30 plains, rolling mountains and glassy seas. Quickly it swelled31 to jungle and flashing water and, with a champagne32 tingle33 in his blood, Norman dropped toward an open well of meadow in the trees.
His excitement, however, was tinged34 with sadness. Johnny should be here now. They had dropped upon a score of unknown worlds together. Now he landed without his partner, in a last-hope venture to save that partner's life.
The green vegetation was a colorful contrast against the bright yellow of dead grass. They would have to be careful about fire, Norman knew. He'd seen that thick grass on other Sun-tropical worlds; it burned fast as gunpowder35.
This close to the Sun, Vulcan probably had a constant wind. The gravity seemed approximately the same as Earth's. He plugged in the spectroscope to test the air and as he glanced out the window at the intake36 valve a slow chill trickled37 down his back.
It wasn't only the wind moving the grass outside. The grass was growing.
Norman shook his head as if recovering from a blow, the words of the Mercurian Ambassador ringing in his ears: "Vulcan is a planet without a human footprint...." All science knew of this supposedly untrod planet was suddenly a lie. There, beside the ship, was the unmistakable imprint41 of a human foot.
As Norman looked up he saw a man step out of the jungle and walk toward them across the grass. A jet gun bounced on the stranger's hip40. He wore high-top boots, a checkered42 hunting shirt and his black-mustached face was heavily tanned. Norman tore himself from his bewilderment and turned on the outside speaker. "Who are you! How did you get here?"
"Same way you did," the receiver brought the fellow's voice inside. "Think you're the only one with a counteractive?"
To Norman's verified knowledge, Johnny's counteractive was the only one listed under inter-planetary patents. He turned on Keren. "What do you know about this?" But she held her carmine43 lips tight, staring out the window.
"The air must be all right," he said. "Let's go." He took his jet gun from the compartment44 in the control panel and strapped45 the holster close to his right hand. Hot sunlight burnished46 the room as he threw the panel switch opening the space port.
He walked to the door. The stranger waited below, hairy hands on his hips47. "I hope you've got an Earthian cigarette. They're scarce around here."
Norman dropped the folding steps and Dorothy, curiosity bright in her kitten-blue eyes, walked out into the windy sunlight. As Norman started out, the port clanged shut in his face, hurtling him back into the middle of the room. Rockets hummed as the ship leaped ten feet in the air.
Keren stood before the panel with her hand on the rise lever. Norman sprang across the room and jerked her aside as the ship sailed out of the clearing and plowed48 through the tree tops. "I've had enough of your tricks, lady!" he said through clenched49 teeth.
"No, handsome!" Keren cried. "You've got to get us away from here!" Before he could right the ship she took him from behind and pinned his arms to his sides.
"You fool!" Norman yelled, twisting her hands from him. "We're going to crash!" But the woman fought like a panther, black eyes blazing. Controls gone wild, the ship rolled over on its side, and bumped heavily down into the shadowed mire50 and ground to a halt.
"You crazy witch!" Norman got to his feet, eying the sloping floor and the smoke curling up from the leaves under the ship. The rockets had set the woods on fire. His port rise-rockets dangled51, a twisted mass of tubes. "Why'd you do this?" he demanded, facing her with itching52 fists. "Who was that fellow back there? Talk," he ordered, "before I slap your painted face off!"
Her eyes were like a half-tamed cat's. "I'm not talking, handsome."
Norman looked into her black eyes and ice formed in his heart. "So that was one of Sade's men back there."
The outside speaker was still on and in the silence came the crackle of flame as the wind fanned the jungle fire into a rage of orange tongues around the ship. The thermo glass instantly turned black and its faithfully expanding seams began pushing inward against the heat.
Into the room came the hissing54 of a giant snake. The glass was suddenly drenched55 with a misty56 green liquid.
Antipyrol!
The fire went out as Norman jumped to the window and a silvery bulk floated down into the jungle beside them.
It was a space cruiser, a late model. Twin burnished coils encircled its silvery hull-counteractive coils. Norman knew that, beginning now, was an ordeal that could end only in death for himself or whoever manned that ship. It was Johnny's ship. Inside it could not be a friend.
Through the filter glass, lighted with the fire gone, he could see out but they couldn't see in. A port opened in the cruiser's glittering side, steps fell to the jungle floor and three men stepped out. Norman was not surprised. Two of them wore the fiery red uniform of the Mercurian patrol and Norman's eyes narrowed when he saw their companion. Fat, clad in a silk shirt with his electric arm swinging jerkily, down the steps came the Mercurian ambassador, Gorig Sade.
He and his patrolmen strode through the muddy ashes with their guns drawn57. Norman's fingers itched29 for the triggers of his starboard guns. With one burst—! But the guns were empty. Cursing the Venusian woman, he reached for his pistol. He'd shoot it out point blank from the door. Then as his hand moved toward the panel switch to open the door he barely felt the needle enter his back. He saw Keren jump away with the hypodermic needle in her hand.
If she had been a man Norman would have shot her on the spot. Instead, he just looked at her with all the hate in his soul, feeling now the stinging sensation in his back, knowing that something was already seeping58 into his veins—to knock him out, paralyze him, kill him—just when he had a chance at Sade, just when he had a chance to solve the mystery of Johnny's death sentence and perhaps find something here to save him.
"The crash must have shook 'em up pretty bad," said a voice outside. "We'll have to cut the door open."
Oddly, as Norman stared at the hypodermic syringe in Keren's hand he remembered a trick he'd once pulled on Jupiter. A last ditch trick.
His hand jumped to a lever on the panel and jerked it down. He heard an oath mingled59 with the hiss53 of antipyrol as his full extinguishers spurted60 their jets into the jungle for fifty yards around the ship. When he looked out, he saw Sade and the two red-uniformed patrolmen staggering about blindly in the green rain with their hands covering their eyes.
"They'll be blind as bats for half an hour," Norman laughed, cutting off the spray. He jerked a coil of rope from the panel compartment. "I don't know what you stuck me with," he told Keren, "but if I go out, you are going to be tied up till I come to." In a moment he had her wrists securely tied behind her. Keren remained silent, staring at him with black-cat eyes half closed.
Throwing the door switch, he stepped to the port and found the three men standing61 in the ashes between the ships, digging at their swollen62 eyes. "Get out," he ordered the sullen63 Venusian and she walked down the steps ahead of him.
As he went out a streak64 of flame hissed65 over the woman's head and splattered on the metal hull beside his shoulder.
He jumped backward into the cabin, behind the protecting wall. Peering out carefully, he saw a gun barrel glinting in the cruiser's door. He smiled. "Sade!" he yelled, loud enough for the blinded Mercurian on the ground to hear. "I'm giving you five seconds to tell whoever's in that cruiser to come out. Then I'm shooting you in the legs—then your good arm—then your yellow belly66!"
The fat man groped about wildly, helpless and confused.
"One!" Norman counted. "Two ... three ... four—"
"Come out, Swart!" Sade shouted. "He'll kill me!"
"Throw down your gun and come out with your hands in the air," Norman ordered and to his surprise the dark-mustached man of his first acquaintance appeared in the door with his hands upraised as a pistol plopped into the mud. "Who else's in there?" Norman was taking no chances.
"Nobody, Mr. Norman. That's all of 'em." With excitement in her voice, Dorothy appeared behind the dark-faced Swart and Norman felt a warmth of relief that she was safe. "They picked us up right after you left," she said.
"Come here and hold this gun, honey," Norman said. "Miss Vaun sabotaged67 our ship but we've captured a whole herd68 of pigs and we're going to have a barbecue." Dorothy ran across the mud to him. "Keep this gun pointed69 at the fellow with the mustache. If he tries anything while I'm tying his hands, pull the trigger."
In a moment, Swart was firmly bound and sitting on the cruiser's steps. Sade and the patrolmen stood, rubbing their blind eyes and cursing. "You slimy hog," Norman said, jerking Sade around as he kept an eye on the patrolmen. "If I didn't want you to do a lot of talking first, I'd tie this rope around your neck instead of your hands." It was the first time Norman had ever tied up an artificial hand but he only pulled the rope the tighter. Then he sat the unholy group down on the steps of the ship and surveyed them with a wide grin.
"All right," he said, "who's talking first, before I start skinning each one of you with a pen knife."
"There's a notebook in the cruiser, Mr. Norman," Dorothy said. "I heard the fat one talking about it. They've found something here and the notebook tells all about it."
"So it's all written down for me," Norman laughed. "Watch 'em, Dorothy. If they get fidgety, call me." He entered the snug70, well-remembered cabin. Keren's hypo must have been pretty weak. He still felt nothing.
He frowned, puzzled to see a narrow tank built around the cushioned wall. Pushing aside the space units—life preservers—hanging on their customary hooks, he rapped the tank with his knuckles71. It was heavily insulated, a liquid of some sort sloshing inside. Shaking his head, he went on into the pilot room where his eyes immediately fell on a small black notebook lying on the control panel. He picked it up eagerly.
"Complete life cycle accelerated," he read on with an eerie72 thrill. Then, abruptly73 universal scientific language. "One year equals approximately twenty minutes...." Remembering the quick growing grass, he read on with amazement74. Then, abruptly the page became a cross-word puzzle of chemical symbols—it would take time to figure them out—
"I don't want to stay out there, Mr. Norman," a voice interrupted him. It was Dorothy standing in the door. "They're saying such bad words."
Norman grinned. "Point your gun at 'em to hush," he said. She grinned back, wrinkling her freckled nose and went outside again as he returned to his perusal75 of the symbols.
They were a description of the elements in something, in a very unusual combination. Then slowly his eyes raised from the notebook again. Something deep in the shadows of his mind was trying to speak—not about the symbols—about something else. Something he had done? Something he had seen? Anyhow, Norman had been in enough bad spots to pay attention when that ghostly feeling sounded its alarm.
Closing the notebook, he stepped across the pilot room and walked into the cabin, into a pistol's point blank explosion.
The burst of flame seared Norman's left side. In the same second, as his hand came up to grab the gun, he realized the impossibility of getting it in time. Swart was too close. His hand dropped to his blistered side. Swart had him between death and surrender.
Dazed at the unbelievably swift change of events, Norman obeyed. And as his foot hit the first step he knew what had called him from the notebook.
Dorothy—was no longer Dorothy....
She had been changed when she entered the ship a moment ago but he hadn't realized it. Staring at her full lips, her higher cheek bones, her snub nose that had straightened into a smooth profile—he forgot the sudden switch of gun authority until Swart jabbed him in the back.
He went down the steps, his eyes on what had been the fifteen year old fugitive from a high school journalism class. Just out of pig-tails and giggles—Dorothy Gray was suddenly a woman. Her freckles77 were weirdly78 absent now, her blond hair was longer, her arms were more full—her legs—her—! Her white coveralls had shrunk on what was now a slim, lithe79 figure. But it was really Dorothy—the same pert face, the same kitten-like eyes, wide with an astonishment80 as great as his own.
Sade's laughter broke Norman's blank stare. "Next time you tie up a man with an artificial arm make sure it isn't electric. It's easy to cause a short circuit when you're soaked with fire extinguisher fluid and when they short circuit they burn through rope very easily."
But Norman barely heard him, barely saw Swart untying81 the patrolmen whose swollen eyes were beginning to see again. He was remembering! "Complete life cycle accelerated. One year equals approximately twenty minutes." He offered no resistance as Swart jerked the notebook from his hand. As the grass grew, so had Dorothy—so had Johnny, to the horrible near-completion of his life cycle. But why wasn't Sade, Keren, the others affected82? Why not himself?
"Let's get in the ship," Keren broke into his thoughts. "There's no sense wasting the best years of this girl's life out here." With an unholy smile she walked up the steps into the cruiser.
"Get in the ship, Norman," Sade said, smiling like a puddle83 of oil. "You've got a lot more to see before we waste the best years of your life."
Inside the cruiser, Dorothy sank into a pillowed chair and jerked a small pocket mirror before her blue eyes. She seemed unable to decide whether to laugh or cry. Sade, Keren and the patrolmen left for the pilot room, leaving Swart on guard. Immediately, the green foliage84 fell away from the windows as the ship climbed out of the jungle.
There were tears in Dorothy's eyes but her newly red-bloomed lips were tight. There was horror in this thing that had happened, years of her life whisked away—she must be eighteen now, and she had the radiant loveliness of clear sunshine.
But Norman's thoughts dwelt little on the heart-quickening results of her sudden change. He pondered the change itself. Again he calculated the time she had been exposed to whatever grim atmosphere enveloped86 Vulcan—she couldn't have been out there more than a few minutes. And in those few minutes she had raced through two long years.
"But why wasn't I affected?"
Swart sat across the cabin with his pistol in his lap, hungrily nursing a cigarette he had bummed87 from Keren. "You were in the ship," he squinted88 his amusement through a smoke ring. "She was on the ground." He grinned, eyeing Dorothy. "Shows up better on her too."
So that was it—something in the dank soil. But what about the others? He asked Swart, who only shook his head. "The boss'll tell you all you need to know." And Norman knew there were many questions yet unanswered. Johnny hadn't been one to fall into a trap laid by nature alone. There was something going on here, more than he knew yet, and something told him that he was on the right track—that in Vulcan's strange power that dealt both beauty and decay, there was power here that might save Johnny....
Finally Dorothy decided89 to laugh. "I don't know what happened," she said, her voice no longer a child's, "but there seems nothing to do about it—except to start running around with an older crowd when I get back home."
If we get back home, Norman thought mirthlessly. If he knew Sade, he and Dorothy were both in the same boat, a boat that would not be long afloat. "I'm sorry, Dorothy," he said. "It's my fault you're here."
"Wrong," she shook her blonde head. "I wanted to come with you." He looked away, sensing for the first time that now, somehow, they were on a different basis. Dorothy was no longer a child and her girlish hero worship was apparently90 replaced by something more mature.
He felt the cruiser nose down. They were landing again.
Norman reached up and yanked a space suit from its wall hook, threw it to Dorothy. "Put this on over your coveralls." As he jerked another suit down for himself, he caught a glimpse of a jungle-walled clearing with a peculiar91 shaped building at the end of a small landing field.
As they slid to a quick stop, the port opened and Sade and his little group appeared again. The fat Mercurian laughed as he saw Norman and Dorothy buckling92 on the stiff garments. He made no move to stop them. "Keren tells me you're very interested in our little world," he said. "That tank along the wall there holds what you're looking for, but first we must show you around."
Encircled by the four patrolmen, Norman and Dorothy were hustled93 out of the ship and across the landing field. The odd, light-house-like building stood at the end of the field, a large windowless structure with a conical tower on top. They were led to the building in silence, ushered94 into a huge room and the door closed behind them. Venusian mahogany paneled the tapestry95 covered walls and heavy carved furniture was scattered96 about the room's creamy white floor. Sade opened a heavy door at the side and motioned his prisoner-guests in.
"I haven't time to talk now," he said. "Here's something to entertain you until I return." He flicked97 a button outside the door, then closed the door, leaving them alone in the small room.
Norman glanced at Dorothy, then turned to examine the place as he took off his helmet. The room was small, dark paneled and windowless like the one outside. A furry98 zhak-skin rug covered the black floor. He started to speak, but a panel at the end of the room suddenly glowed with the transparent99 clearness of a window. A television screen—what was Sade up to!
Then Norman sucked in his breath through his teeth as Dorothy clutched his arm. Not the withered100 creature of the hospital but the tousle-headed guy he'd grown up with—Johnny's image appeared on the screen.
Johnny stood in what at first appeared to be a clearing in the jungle but as he kicked at some invisible obstacle, Norman realized a wall of glass separated him from the surrounding field outside. The scene was sparkling clear, as if they were watching through a window Johnny's futile101 efforts to scale the smooth wall. His path around the enclosure proved it to be circular, about eight feet in diameter. Norman ground his teeth. So Johnny had been Sade's prisoner!
Johnny took off one of his metal-soled shoes and started hammering the fine glass as if something whipped him into a frantic effort to escape. Dorothy silent beside him, Norman watched the black-haired boy rub his eyes wearily as he pounded with the shoe. How had Sade gotten this picture? What was his purpose in showing it now? The glass of Johnny's prison must have been superbly invisible but soft for slowly he ground a shallow niche102 at the base of the wall, a foothold.
Norman felt like yelling a cheer but he whispered an oath as he watched Johnny grind out a higher foothold. Trying to carve a niche higher still, his fingers stained the glass red. Quickly the glass was dripping with blood. "Look at his hands!" Dorothy whispered. In Johnny's efforts to cling to the wall, the ground glass was eating away the tips of his fingers.
And Norman shuddered103 to see the gray change creeping over Johnny's face. Before his eyes, Johnny's dark hair became streaked104 with gray and his ashen105 face became furrowed106 with wrinkles. Horror-ridden years, swiftly heaped upon him.
Dorothy covered her face with her hands. But Norman couldn't tear his eyes from the luminous screen. The film had been cut to speed it up. Johnny had hacked107 five slits108 in the glass now. His fingers and thumbs were ragged1 stumps109 as he hung on the splintered glass, ten feet up the blood-smeared wall. And in his terrible fascination110, Norman saw that Johnny's hands healed almost as fast as they were torn. As the dry flesh of age withered his face, as he sacrificed his hands in a mad struggle to escape the invisible terror in Vulcan's sunlight.
Norman slammed his fists against the locked door. "Sade! You scum of the universe!" But there was no answer as his eyes were drawn back to the screen to see Johnny's fingerless paws grasp the rim85 of his prison. A wrinkled, animal-like thing, eyes yellowed and wild, he drew up his gnarled legs and fell over the glass wall into the gravel111 on the other side. Half crawling, half running, he disappeared quickly into the trees.
As though a prolonged roar of sound had suddenly ceased, the panel darkened, leaving only Dorothy's muffled112 sobs113.
But in Norman's brain was a numb114 hate that froze his reason. He didn't hear the door open behind him.
"Interesting, wasn't it?" It was Sade's voice. "But in a moment an even more interesting experiment will take place in my laboratory."
Norman turned slowly. Swart and the two patrolmen stood with the fat man at the door. Norman took one quick step forward. His right hand shot out. His fingers sank like spikes115 into the flabby skin of Sade's throat. Another split second and Norman's fingers would have met behind the Mercurian's windpipe and ripped it out, but in that split second the patrolmen were on him. Then he was on the floor, fighting silently in the blackness of his fury. A heavy boot caught him behind the left ear and the blackness engulfed116 him completely.
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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notch
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| n.(V字形)槽口，缺口，等级 | |
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blistered
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| adj.水疮状的，泡状的v.（使）起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 )；（使表皮等）涨破，爆裂 | |
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tolling
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| [财]来料加工 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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wrench
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| v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受 | |
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spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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overalls
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| n.（复）工装裤；长罩衣 | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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bulges
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| 膨胀( bulge的名词复数 )； 鼓起； （身体的）肥胖部位； 暂时的激增 | |
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contraction
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| n.缩略词，缩写式，害病 | |
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tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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counteractive
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| 反对的，反作用的，抵抗的 | |
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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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elixir
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| n.长生不老药，万能药 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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wilted
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orchid
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| n.兰花，淡紫色 | |
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ordeal
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sleek
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brat
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| n.孩子；顽童 | |
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wield
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| vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等) | |
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fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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journalism
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| n.新闻工作，报业 | |
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freckled
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| adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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itched
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| v.发痒( itch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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verdant
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| adj.翠绿的，青翠的，生疏的，不老练的 | |
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swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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tingle
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| vi.感到刺痛，感到激动；n.刺痛，激动 | |
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tinged
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| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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36
intake
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| n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口 | |
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37
trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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38
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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39
shrilled
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| （声音）尖锐的，刺耳的，高频率的( shrill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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41
imprint
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| n.印痕，痕迹；深刻的印象；vt.压印，牢记 | |
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42
checkered
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| adj.有方格图案的 | |
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43
carmine
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| n.深红色，洋红色 | |
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44
compartment
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| n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间 | |
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45
strapped
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| adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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46
burnished
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| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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47
hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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48
plowed
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| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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49
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
mire
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| n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境 | |
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51
dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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52
itching
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| adj.贪得的，痒的，渴望的v.发痒( itch的现在分词 ) | |
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53
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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54
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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55
drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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56
misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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57
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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58
seeping
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| v.（液体）渗( seep的现在分词 )；渗透；渗出；漏出 | |
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59
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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60
spurted
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| （液体，火焰等）喷出，（使）涌出( spurt的过去式和过去分词 )； （短暂地）加速前进，冲刺 | |
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61
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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62
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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63
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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65
hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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66
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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67
sabotaged
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| 阴谋破坏（某事物）( sabotage的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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69
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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70
snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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71
knuckles
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| 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 | |
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72
eerie
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| adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的 | |
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73
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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74
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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75
perusal
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| n.细读，熟读；目测 | |
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76
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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77
freckles
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| n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 ) | |
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78
weirdly
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| 古怪地 | |
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79
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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80
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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81
untying
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| untie的现在分词 | |
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82
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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83
puddle
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| n.(雨)水坑，泥潭 | |
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84
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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85
rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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86
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87
bummed
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| 失望的，沮丧的 | |
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88
squinted
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| 斜视( squint的过去式和过去分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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89
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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90
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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91
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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92
buckling
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| 扣住 | |
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93
hustled
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| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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94
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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95
tapestry
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| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
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96
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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97
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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98
furry
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| adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的 | |
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99
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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100
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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101
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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102
niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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103
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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104
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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105
ashen
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| adj.灰的 | |
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106
furrowed
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| v.犁田，开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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107
hacked
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| 生气 | |
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108
slits
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| n.狭长的口子，裂缝( slit的名词复数 )v.切开，撕开( slit的第三人称单数 )；在…上开狭长口子 | |
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109
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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110
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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111
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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112
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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113
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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114
numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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115
spikes
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| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
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116
engulfed
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| v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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