Balook by Piers Anthony; Patrick Woodroffe

Author:Piers Anthony; Patrick Woodroffe
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Teenage Boys, Human-Animal Relationships, Animals, Science Fiction, Genetic Engineering, General, Fantasy, Fossil, Prehistoric Animals, Fiction
ISBN: 9780441003983
Publisher: Ace
Published: 1990-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

THE MORNING WAS pleasant, but what it revealed was not. A silent blimp was hovering hardly two kilometers away, and there could be no doubt about its mission. Thor stood at the edge of the forest and watched it slowly move back and forth.

The police had to know Balook was in here, and the blimp was there to make sure he could not escape unobserved. Since fields surrounded these trees, that ploy would work. The patch of forest was smaller than he had supposed yesterday evening; its broadest width was no more than a kilometer.

Thor went back to inspect Balook—and found to his dismay that the rhino had not yet gotten to his feet.

"Balook, are you all right?" Stupid question; a better one would be "How bad is it?"

At Thor's urging, Balook struggled to raise himself, sank down again, lifted, and finally made it to his feet. The wound came into sight. It seemed to have scabbed over somewhat; there was some oozing from it, but the flow of blood had stopped.

Yet Balook was staggering like a newborn calf, hardly able to keep his balance. Thor stepped back, afraid the rhino would accidentally step on him. What was wrong?

He knew what was wrong, when he unblocked his resistive mind. Infection!

No—if that were the case, Balook should have a raging fever, and he didn't. Thor had slept against him all night, and verified that in the morning the fur was warm only where Thor's own body had rested against it. If there was any fever, it was slight. Balook had cooled overnight in his normal fashion.

Then what? With no fever, and no more bleeding, and several hours' rest—

Bleeding? Thor struck the heel of his hand against his forehead. This too he had thought of before, and too eagerly dismissed. There was bleeding—but not where it showed! Balook could be hemorrhaging internally, filling his bowel with blood, liters of it! Now he was out on his feet, weak from that tremendous night's loss. A loss that might still be occurring.

Then Thor heard something ominous. It was the baying of a dog.

The police were on the trail now, and in minutes they would be here. This time there would be no escape, for Balook was too weak to run.

And even if he could run, and got away—how could Balook survive? Thor was no doctor; he could not do a thing about the hemorrhaging. Balook would die anyway. There was no way out.

Balook had heard the dog too. Now that sound was augmented by human voices, and several motors. All getting louder.

Balook tried to run. "Wait for me!" Thor cried, lifting his arms. Balook halted, swinging his head down toward him—and lost his balance.

Down he came, falling as only twelve tons could fall. Thor barely jumped clear in time to avoid being crushed by the tremendous body. But his horror was for the damage he knew that fall was doing to Balook's internal organs. Even an elephant could be killed by a fall of only one or two meters, and Balook was twice that size.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.