Key Out of Time Read online

  2

  Lair of Mano-Nui

  Just under the surface of the water the sea was warm, weird life showedcolors Ross could name, shades he could not. The corals, the animalsmasquerading as plants, the plants disguised as animals which inhabitedthe oceans of Terra, had their counterparts here. And the settlers hadgiven them the familiar names, though the crabs, the fish, the anemones,and weeds of the shallow lagoons and reefs were not identical withTerran creatures. The trouble was that there was too much, such a wealthof life to attract the eyes, hold attention, that it was difficult tokeep to the job at hand--the search for what was not natural, for whathad no normal place here.

  As the land seduced the senses and bewitched the off-worlder, so did thesea have its enchantment to pull one from duty. Ross resolutely skimmedby a forest of weaving, waving lace which varied from a green which wasalmost black to a pale tint he could not truly identify. Among thosewaving fans lurked ghost-fish, finned swimmers transparent enough sothat one could sight, through their pallid sides, the evidences ofrecently ingested meals.

  The Terrans had begun their sweep-search a half hour ago, slippingoverboard from a ferry canoe, heading in toward the checkpoint of thefinger isle, forming an arc of expert divers, men and girls so at homein the ocean that they should be able to make the discovery Asheneeded--if such did exist.

  Mystery built upon mystery on Hawaika, Ross thought as he used hisspear-gun to push aside a floating banner of weed in order to peer belowits curtain. The native life of this world must always have been largelyaquatic. The settlers had discovered only a few small animals on theislands. The largest of which was the burrower, a creature not unlike aminiature monkey in that it had hind legs on which it walked erect andforepaws, well clawed for digging purposes, which it used with as muchskill and dexterity as a man used hands. Its body was hairless and itwas able to assume, chameleon-like, the color of the soil and rockswhere it denned. The head was set directly on its bowed shoulderswithout vestige of neck; and it had round bubbles of eyes near the topof its skull, a nose which was a single vertical slit, and a wide mouthfanged for crushing the shelled creatures on which it fed. All in all,to Terran eyes, it was a vaguely repulsive creature, but as far as thesettlers had been able to discover it was the highest form of land life.The smaller rodentlike things, the two species of wingless diving birds,and an odd assortment of reptiles and amphibians sharing the island wereall the burrowers' prey.

  A world of sea and islands, what type of native intelligent life had itonce supported? Or had this been only a galactic colony, with no nativepopulation before the coming of the stellar explorers? Ross hoveredabove a dark pocket where the bottom had suddenly dipped into asaucer-shaped depression. The sea growth about the rim rippled in thewater raggedly, but there was something about its general outline....

  Ross began a circumference of that hollow. Allowing for the distortionof the growths which had formed lumpy excrescences or reached turretstoward the surface--yes, allowing for those--this was decidedlysomething out of the ordinary! The depression was too regular, too even,Ross was certain of that. With a thrill of excitement he began a descentinto the cup, striving to trace signs which would prove his suspicioncorrect.

  How many years, centuries, had the slow coverage of the sea lifegathered there, flourished, died, with other creatures to build anew onthe remains? Now there was only a hint that the depression had otherthan a natural beginning.

  Anchoring with a one-handed grip on a spike of Hawaikan coral--smootherthan the Terran species--Ross aimed the butt of his spear-gun at thenearest wall of the saucer, striving to reach into a crevice between twolumps of growth and so probe into what might lie behind. The spearrebounded; there was no breaking that crust with such a fragile tool.But perhaps he would have better luck lower down.

  The depression was deeper than he had first judged. Now the light whichexisted in the shallows vanished. Red and yellow as colors went, butRoss was aware of blues and greens in shades and tints which were notvisible above. He switched on his diving torch, and color returnedwithin its beam. A swirl of weed, pink in the light, became darklyemerald beyond as if it possessed the chameleon ability of theburrowers.

  He was distracted by that phenomenon, and so he transgressed the diver'srule of never becoming so absorbed in surroundings as to forget caution.Just when did Ross become aware of that shadow below? Was it when aschool of ghost-fish burst unexpectedly between weed growths, and heturned to follow them with the torch? Then the outer edge of his beamcaught the movement of a shape, a flutter in the water of the gloomydepths.

  Ross swung around, his back to the wall of the saucer, as he aimed thetorch down at what was arising there. The light caught and held for along moment of horror something which might have come out of thenightmares of his own world. Afterward Ross knew that the monster wasnot as large as it seemed in that endless minute of fear, perhaps nobigger than the dolphins.

  He had had training in shark-infested seas on Terra, been carefullybriefed against the danger from such hunters of the deep and oceanjungles. But this kind of thing had only existed before in the fairytales of his race as the dragon of old lore. A scaled head with wideeyes gleaming in the light beam with cold and sullen hate, a gapingmouth fang-filled, a horn-set muzzle, that long, undulating neck and,below it, the half-seen bulk of a monstrous body.

  His spear-gun, the knife at his waist belt, neither were protectionagainst this! Yet to turn his back on that rising head was more thanRoss could do. He pulled himself back against the wall of the saucer.The thing before him did not rush to attack. Plainly it had seen him andnow it moved with the leisure of a hunter having no fears concerning theeventual outcome of the hunt. But the light appeared to puzzle it andRoss kept the beam shining straight into those evil eyes.

  The shock of the encounter was wearing off; now Ross edged his flipperinto a crevice to hold him steady while his hand went to the sonic-comat his waist. He tapped out a distress call which the dolphins couldrelay to the swimmers. The swaying dragon head paused, held rigid on astiff, scaled column in the center of the saucer. That sonic vibrationeither surprised or bothered the hunter, made it wary.

  Ross tapped again. The belief that if he tried to escape, he was lost,that only while he faced it so had he any chance, grew stronger. Thehead was only inches below the level of his flippered feet as he held tothe weeds.

  Again that weaving movement, the rise of head, a tremor along theserpent neck, an agitation in the depths. The dragon was on the moveagain. Ross aimed the light directly at the head. The scales, as far ashe could determine, were not horny plates but lapped, silvery ovals suchas a fish possessed. And the underparts of the monster might even bevulnerable to his spear. But knowing the way a Terran shark could absorbthe darts of that weapon and survive, Ross feared to attack except as alast resort.

  Above and to his left there was a small hollow where in the past someportion of the growths had been ripped away. If he could fit himselfinto that crevice, perhaps he could keep the dragon at bay until helparrived. Ross moved with all the skill he had. His hand closed upon theedge of the niche and he whirled himself up, just making it into thatrefuge as the head lashed at him wickedly. His suspicion that the dragonwould attack anything on the run was well founded, and he knew he had nohope of winning to the surface above.

  Now he stood in the crevice, facing outward, watching the head dartingin the water. He had switched off the torch, and the loss of lightappeared to bewilder the reptile for some precious seconds. Ross pulledas far back into the niche as he could, until the point of one shouldertouched a surface which was sleek, smooth, and cold. The shock of thatcontact almost sent him hurtling out again.

  Gripping the spear before him in his right hand, Ross cautiously feltbehind him with the left. His finger tips glided over a seamless surfacewhere the growths had been torn or peeled away. Though he could not, ordared not, turn his head to see, he was certain that this was his proofthat the walls of the saucer had been fashioned and place
d there by someintelligent creature.

  The dragon had risen, hovering now in the water directly before theentrance to Ross's hole, its neck curled back against its bulk. It hadwide flippers moving like planes to hold it poised. The body, slopingfrom a massive round of shoulders to a tapering rear, was vaguelyfamiliar. If one provided a Terran seal with a gorgon head and scales inplace of fur, the effect would be similar. But Ross was assuredly notfacing a seal at this moment.

  Slight movement of the flippers kept it as stabilized as if it sprawledon a supporting surface. With the neck flattened against the body, thehead curved downward until the horn on its snout pointed the tipstraight at Ross's middle. The Terran steadied his spear-gun. Thedragon's eyes were its most vulnerable targets; if the creature launchedthe attack, Ross would aim for them.

  Both man and dragon were so intent upon their duel that neither wasconscious of the sudden swirl overhead. A sleek dark shape struck down,skimming across the humped-back ridge of the dragon. Some of thesettlers had empathy with the dolphins to a high degree, but Ross's ownpowers of contact were relatively feeble.

  Only now he was given an assurance of aid, and a suggestion to attack.The dragon head writhed, twisted as the reptile attempted to see aboveand behind its own length. But the dolphin was only a streak fastdisappearing. And that writhing changed the balance the monster hadmaintained, pushing it toward Ross.

  The Terran fired too soon and without proper aim, so the dart snakedpast the head. But the harpoon line half hooked about the neck andseemed to confuse the creature. Ross squirmed as far back as he couldinto his refuge and drew his knife. Against those fangs the weapon wasan almost useless toy, but it was all he had.

  Again the dolphin dived in attack on the reptile, this time seizing inits mouth the floating cord of the harpoon and giving it a jerk whichjolted the dragon even more off balance, pulling it away from Ross'sniche and out into the center of the saucer.

  There were two dolphins in action now, Ross saw, playing the dragon asmatadors might play a bull, keeping the creature disturbed by theiragile maneuvers. Whatever prey came naturally to the Hawaikan monsterwas not of this type, and the creature was not prepared to dealeffectively with their teasing, dodging tactics. Neither had touched thebeast, but they kept it constantly striving to get at them.

  Though it swam in circles attempting to face its teasers, the dragon didnot abandon the level before Ross's refuge, and now and then it dartedits head at him, unwilling to give up its prey. Only one of the dolphinsfrisked and dodged above now as the sonic on Ross's belt vibratedagainst his lower ribs with its message warning to be prepared forfurther action. Somewhere above, his own kind gathered. Hurriedly hetapped out in code his warning in return.

  Two dolphins busy again, their last dive over the dragon pushing themonster down past Ross's niche toward the saucer's depths. Then theyflashed up and away. The dragon was rising in turn, but coming to meetthe Hawaikan creature was a ball giving off light, bringing sharp visionand color with it.

  Ross's arm swung up to shield his eyes. There was a flash; suchanswering vibration carried through the waves that even his nerves, farless sensitive than those of the life about him, reacted. He blinkedbehind his mask. A fish floated by, spiraling up, its belly exposed. Andabout him growths drooped, trailed lifelessly through the water; whilethere was a now motionless bulk sinking to the obscurity of thedepression floor. A weapon perfected on Terra to use against sharks andbarracuda had worked here to kill what could have been more formidableprey.

  The Terran wriggled out of the niche, rose to meet another swimmer. AsAshe descended, Ross relayed his news via the sonic. The dolphins werealready nosing into the depths in pursuit of their late enemy.

  "Look here--" Ross guided Ashe to the crevice which had saved him, aimedthe torch beam into it. He had been right! There was a long groove inthe covering built up by the growths; a vertical strip some six feetlong, of a uniform gray, showed. Ashe touched the find and then gave thealert via the sonic code.

  "Metal or an alloy, we've found it!"

  But what did they have? Even after an hour's exploration by the fullcompany, Ashe's expert search with his knowledge of artifacts andancient remains, they were still baffled. It would require labor andtools they did not have, to clear the whole of the saucer. They could besure only of its size and shape, and the fact that its walls were of anunknown substance which the sea could cloak but not erode. For thelength of gray surface showed not the slightest pitting or time wear.

  Down at its centermost point they found the dragon's den, an arch coatedwith growth, before which sprawled the body of the creature. That wasdragged aloft with the dolphins' aid, to be taken ashore for study. Butthe arch itself ... was that part of some old installation?

  Torches to the fore, they entered its shadow, only to remain baffled.Here and there were patches of the same gray showing in its interior.Ashe dug the butt of his spear-gun into the sand on the flooring touncover another oval depression. But what it all signified or what hadbeen its purpose, they could not guess.

  "Set up the peep-probe here?" Ross asked.

  Ashe's head moved in a slow negative. "Look farther ... spread out," thesonic clicked.

  Within a matter of minutes the dolphins reported new remains--two moresaucers, each larger than the first, set in a line on the ocean floor,pointing directly to Karara's Finger Island. Cautiously explored, thesewere discovered to be free of any but harmless life; they stirred up nomore dragons.

  When the Terrans came ashore on Finger Island to rest and eat theirmidday meal one of the men paced along the beached dragon. Ashore itlost none of its frightening aspect. And seeing it, even beached anddead, Ross wondered at his luck in surviving the encounter without ascratch.

  "I think that this one would be alone," PaKeeKee commented. "Where thereis an eater of this size, there is usually only one."

  "Mano-Nui!" The girl Taema shivered as she gave to this monster the nameof the shark demon of her people. "Such a one is truly king shark inthese waters! But why have we not sighted its like before? Tino-rau,Taua ... they have not reported such--"

  "Probably because, as PaKeeKee says, these things are rare," Ashereturned. "A carnivore of size would have to have a fairly wide huntingrange, yet there's evidence that this thing has laired in that den forsome time. Which means that it must have a defined hunting territoryallowing no trespassing from others of its species."

  Karara nodded. "Also it may hunt only at intervals, eat heavily, and liequiet until that meal is digested. There are large snakes on Terra thatfollow that pattern. Ross was in its front yard when it came afterhim--"

  "From now on"--Ashe swallowed a quarter of fruit--"we know what to watchfor, and the weapon which will finish it off. Don't forget that!"

  The delicate mechanisms of their sonics had already registered thevibrations which would warn of a dragon's presence, and the depth globeswould then do the rest.

  "Big skull, oversize for the body." PaKeeKee squatted on his heels bythe head lying on the sand at the end of the now fully extended neck.

  Ross had heretofore been more aware of the armament of that head, thefangs set in the powerful jaws, the horn on the snout. But PaKeeKee'scomment drew his attention to the fact that the scale-covered skull diddome up above the eye pits in a way to suggest ample brain room. Had thething been intelligent? Karara put that into words:

  "Rule One?" She went over to survey the carcass.

  Ross resented her half question, whether it was addressed to him or merethinking aloud on her part.

  Rule One: Conserve native life to the fullest extent. Humanoid form maynot be the only evidence of intelligence.

  There were the dolphins to prove that point right on Terra. But did RuleOne mean that you had to let a monster nibble at you because it mightjust be a high type of alien intelligence? Let Karara spout Rule Onewhile backed into a crevice under water with that horn stabbing at hermid-section!

  "Rule One does not mean to forego self-defense," Ash
e commented mildly."This thing is a hunter, and you can't stop to apply recognitiontechniques when you are being regarded as legitimate prey. If you arethe stronger, or an equal, yes--stop and think before becomingaggressive. But in a situation like this--take no chances."

  "Anyway, from now on," Karara pointed out, "it could be possible toshock instead of kill."

  "Gordon"--PaKeeKee swung around--"what have we found here--besides thisthing?"

  "I can't even guess. Except that those depressions were made for apurpose and have been there for a long time. Whether they wereoriginally in the water, or the land sank, that we don't know either.But now we have a site to set up the peep-probe."

  "We do that right away?" Ross wanted to know. Impatience bit at him. ButAshe still had a trace of frown. He shook his head.

  "Have to make sure of our site, very sure. I don't want to start anychain reaction on the other side of the time wall."

  And he was right, Ross was forced to admit, remembering what hadhappened when the galactics had discovered the Red time gates and tracedthem forward to their twentieth-century source, ruthlessly destroyingeach station. The original colonists of Hawaika had been as giants toTerran pygmies when it came to technical knowledge. To use even apeep-probe indiscreetly near one of their outposts might bring swift andterrible retribution.