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

here?” Kai asked in a muted voice. “Or smell us?”
    “Not when we’re downwind of them. I can’t believe they’d be aware of us.” Varian did not sound certain. “That’s not within the capability of their species. Smell—that’s debatable. I think they rely heavily on sight. And I don’t think that extrasensory gifts are a likely development on this planet.”
    “Comparing them to the Ryxi?”
    “No, to what Trizein said about the primeval Terran life-forms they resemble.” She slapped her hand against her knee. “If only we hadn’t kept that man walled up in his lab, we might have resolved at least one of this planet’s anomalies. How could creatures that lived in Mesozoic Terra come to be here on Ireta? Every xenobiologist in the FSP
knows
identical life-forms cannot spontaneously, develop on distant planets—no matter how similar the worlds and their primaries!”
    “Does that observation offer any clue as to how
we
can get back to our cave and Tor? I don’t fancy rappelling down a vine in the darkness.”
    “Nor do I.” Varian straightened suddenly. “Wait a sec! Before we slept, Triv and the others were back and forth to the ravine collecting for the synthesizer. The giffs were only interested: they watched, as I remember, and were certainly not aggressive. But—” and she shook her forefinger, emphasizing the condition—“they are protective of their young. Extend that and it’s just possible that they’re protecting the cave because it’s within their territory.”
    “You mean they got protective over
us
after a single meeting and a few furtive vegetable raids?”
    “It’s possible. If only we knew how long we had slept! However,” and Varian pointed at him, “
if
the heavyworlders got here, and were their usual aggressive selves while trying to find the space shuttle, the giffs would resent such an intrusion. Well, let’s say they did. So it is the heavyworlders who changed the giffs’ passive curiosity into active aggression. Only . . . that doesn’t really explain the vine screen! Protectiveness can be conditioned, learned. Giffs
are
the smartest creatures we’ve met on Ireta, but could they be
that
intelligent? I don’t think they’ve progressed that far.”
    Kai could only shrug as her voice trailed off: he knew little xenopsychology.
    “Isn’t that a mist rising?” Varian asked, straining to see in the gathering gloom of Ireta’s swift twilight. “That might give us cover.”
    They watched eagerly as mist swirled up from the sea and over the cliff edge, but they hadn’t taken more than ten paces from cover before four winged objects hurtled toward them, beaks ajar, wing talons extended. Varian and Kai reached shelter as giff claws tore strips from the leaves over their heads.
    “How did they know? They couldn’t bloody see!” Kai demanded when he recovered his breath.
    “Sound!” Varian regarded her boots in disgust. She stamped a boot contemptuously. “These broadcast our movements. To demonstrate . . .”
    She located a handful of loose chippings and threw them out onto the cliff. Though they knew they were safe, they both ducked at the whirr of wings as the giffs responded to the sounds.
    “So?” asked Kai.
    “So, while we’re waiting . . .”
    “How long is that likely to be now?”
    “Giffs are not nocturnal. Sooner or later, habit is going to be too strong for them and they’ll want to get back to their nests. Particularly,” she added at his skeptical expression, “if we give them reason to doubt our continued presence here. Like a small avalanche down the ravine . . .”
    “Ah . . .”
    “Then, with our boots off, we tiptoe quietly home . . .”
    “
Sounds
simple enough.”
    “I know.” Her tone admitted that simple plans can suddenly develop serious flaws.
    Nevertheless, they began quietly searching the ravine edge for a suitable natural slide. They then dammed it with a fallen branch to which they attached a vine.