Expendables 04 The Venom of Argus by Richard Avery; Edmund Cooper

Author:Richard Avery; Edmund Cooper [Cooper, Richard Avery; Edmund]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B000HR9H2I
Publisher: Fawcett
Published: 1976-12-14T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

After lunch—Kwango and Mirlena were not present —Norstedt and Maleter harnessed up again and went out in search of more game.

"Let us go up to the hill country," said Norstedt. "It could be that we find quite different types of creatures up there."

"But the hills are more than sixty kilometres away."

"So? You get tired walking in an exo?"

"No, but———"

"If ve see anything good on the way, ve stop and knock it off," said Norstedt. "Zis time I am fully prepared. See! I have plenty sacks for small furry indigenes and other somesuch." He displayed an exo handful of the large plastic bags in which the exo-components had been stored on the Santa Maria.

Having harnessed up, the two men left the perimeter. "I hope you have airholes in those plastic bags," said Tibor. "The commander won't like it if you bring back asphyxiated specimens."

"Listen, sonny," retorted Gunnar with some conviction, "all my specimens will be clean."

It was not long before they encountered several animals that looked oddly like giant pandas. But unlike the Terran pandas they were very fast. In panic, they darted about randomly but at high speed.

Maleter accidently stepped on one, crushing and killing it instantly. But Norstedt was lucky enough to snatch one up without damage. He held it still while Maleter, fumbling with the tiny anagun, carefully shot a dart into its back. The animal uttered a great—almost human—sigh and went limp.

"How long will it sleep, Tibor?"

"Maybe a couple of hours."

"Good. I will pop it in der bag and pick it up on the way back."

Rather clumsily, he dropped the animal into one of the plastic bags and bound the top tightly with a length of steel wire.

"Are you sure that thing has airholes in it?"

Gunnar poked an exo-finger twice through the plastic. "It has now, my friend. I will leave our new playmates where it cannot fail to be seen on the way back."

He found a grassy knoll and dumped the bag containing the unconscious animal on top of it.

They proceeded north. En route they came across a large flock of the flightless birds that had been sighted in the distance a day or two before.

The birds registered the presence of the exos when they were about a kilometre away. They did not seem too concerned, and continued to graze on the leaves of a patch of shrubs.

But when the exos were about a hundred metres away, the birds stopped grazing and stared stonily at the intruders.

"Now, we hef more specimens for Conrad's zoo," said Norstedt. "I vunder how dose big bastards flavour? Unser robots vill have much fun cooking fifty kilos of Argus turkey on Christmas Day."

"Gunnar, your English gets worse and worse," said Tibor. "How do you do it?"

"Iss my secret, friend. I hef much loquacious craft."

The birds had long necks like ostriches and long legs.

They were more than two metres tall. And, like ostriches, they had a remarkable turn of speed.

"Let us go in and get two," said Tibor.

But this was one occasion where the exos were outclassed.

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