Alastair Reynolds by Chasm City

Author:Chasm City [City, Chasm]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780786594788
Publisher: Ace
Published: 2003-05-26T22:00:00+00:00

That night we established the ambush camp.

Orcagna’s trace showed that Reivich’s party was thirty kilometres north of our position and moving south at the same steady rate he had maintained for days. They did not appear to be resting overnight as we did, but as their average rate was somewhat slower than what we were managing, they were not covering much more ground in a day. Between us and them was a river that would need to be forded, but if Reivich made no serious mistakes—or decided against pattern to stop for the night—he would still be five kilometres up the road by dawn.

We set up the bubbletents, this time shrouding each in an outer skin of chameleoflage fabric. We were deep in hamadryad country now, so I took care to sweep the area with deep-look thermal and acoustic sensors. They would pick up the crunching movement of any moderately large adults. Juveniles were another thing entirely, but at least juveniles would not crush our entire camp. Dieterling examined the trees in the area and confirmed that none of them had released juveniles any time recently.

“So worry about the dozen other local predators,” he said, meeting Cahuella and I outside one of the bubbletents.

“Maybe it’s seasonal,” Cahuella said. “The time when they give birth, I mean. That could influence our next hunting trip. We should plan it properly.”

I looked at him with a jaundiced eye. “You still want to use Vicuna’s toys?”

“It’d be a tribute to the good doctor, wouldn’t it? It’s what he would have wanted.”

“Maybe.” I thought back to the two snakes which had crossed our path. “I also know we almost got ourselves killed back there.”

He shrugged. “The textbooks say they don’t travel in pairs.”

“So you did your homework. It didn’t help, did it?”

“We got out of it. No thanks to you, either, Tanner . . .” He looked at me hard, then nodded at Dieterling. “At least he knew what kind of weapon was needed.”

“A bazooka?” I said. “Yes. It worked, didn’t it? But I don’t call that sport.”

“It wasn’t sport by then,” Cahuella said. His mood shifted capriciously and he placed a hand on my shoulder. “Still, you did your best with that laser. And we learned valuable lessons that will stand us in good stead when we come back next season.”

He was deadly serious, I saw. He really wanted that near-adult. “Fine,” I said, wriggling free of his hand. “But next time I’ll let Dieterling run the whole expedition. I’ll stay back at the Reptile House and do the job you pay me for.”

“I’m paying you to be here,” Cahuella said.

“Yes. To take down Reivich. But hunting giant snakes doesn’t figure in my terms of employment, the last time I checked.”

He sighed. “Reivich is still our priority, Tanner.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Everything else is just . . . scenery.” He nodded and vanished into his bubbletent.

Dieterling opened his mouth. “Listen, bro . . .”

“I know. You don’t have to apologise. You were right to pick the bazooka, and I made a mistake.

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