Ireta 02 - [Dinosaur Planet 02] - Dinosaur Planet Survivors Read Online Free PDF Page A

getting this far,
why
has the cave been hidden? And how long did it take these to grow?” She thumped the thick vine cable beside her. “After all, we had to go cryogenic because the impassable chasm at this edge of the cliff stood between us and the vegetable matter we needed for the processor.” She scrambled to her feet and began following the vine growth away from the cliff. “Whoops!”
    Varian had gone no more than a few feet before she struggled to maintain her balance. Kai reached out to steady her.
    “The chasm hasn’t gone anywhere.” She knelt down, her hand and arm disappearing as she sought the gap. “The vines have bridged it. And that doesn’t follow because the giffs have kept their own palisades clear of vine.” She resumed her seat, elbows on her knees, slapping one fist into the other. “Attack one, protect one. Makes no sense at all.”
    “Just how intelligent are the giffs, Varian?”
    “I can’t gauge it, but the two attitudes are incompatible. Except that . . . the giffs
are
protective. Remember the one that got back-stranded? Instant adult assistance. But . . .” and she held her forefinger up as she paused dramatically, “no aggressive move toward us that day, and we were only a few meters from them. Today—
swap
!” Abruptly she sat up and stared at Kai so intently he was startled. “But there were only two giffs . . .” she pointed her finger at him, “high up when we climbed
out
of the cave. Then it rained. And we were under cover when the sun came out. So . . . we were not
seen
leaving the cave. They think we don’t belong there!”
    Kai peered at the cliffs through the screening leaves. The giffs were settling in to watch.
    “So we wait until dark, when they’ve all gone to roost or whatever giffs do at night. Here, have another hadrosaur nut!”
    “My, aren’t we brave! Natural food!”
    They had to break the tough shell of the nut between two stones before they got to an irregular pale brown kernel. Varian looked at it curiously, sniffed and broke off a fragment. She grimaced at its taste and chewed it thoughtfully before swallowing.
    “Maybe you have to acquire a taste for ’em,” she said, inspecting the remainder of the kernel. Then she flipped it over her shoulder and smiled reassuringly at Kai’s anxious expression. “I’ll opt for the melon. You can taste that.”
    They had finished the sweet and juicy melon when they heard a whistling, bugling commotion. Varian sprang to the break in the vegetation, Kai just behind her.
    The fishers had returned and all the adult giffs were assisting the net carriers. Varian remarked that either the community hadn’t expanded much or fishing and carrying were limited to certain giffs. The two humans watched as the heavy woven grass nets were lowered and emptied on the flat surface that served the giffs as central food dump. There was a great coming and going as giffs filled their food pouches and delivered the day’s catch to the cave- or nest-bound. The greed of the younger giffs was supervised by their elders.
    “If only . . .” Varian began through gritted teeth and, sighing with frustration, she sat back against the tree trunk. Resignedly, Kai joined her. Despite the confusion of feeding, they could not have returned to the cave unnoticed. Then she grinned at Kai with a resurgence of her usual wry humor. “I wonder what they’d make of the Thek if it appeared?”
    As they waited, rain fell in torrents again. The sun shone to make the jungle a steaming bath which they had to endure. Eventually they dozed.
    It was the silence that roused them, for the wind had briefly abated at sunset. Disoriented, they struggled to their feet, staring uncertainly at each other in the fading light.
    “The watchers are still watching!” Varian commented after peering through the leaves.
    Nine golden fliers perched at various levels of the adjoining cliffs, all heads turned in one direction.
    “Can they
see
us