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.Unless they happened to be in heat, so that the smell alerted him.Awareness was immediate.Probably the animal lacked the ability to visualize distant things, or to make theoretical constructions.Could that account for Baluchitherium's extinction? If family members got separated from each other, and saber-toothed tigers attacked one while the other was peacefully grazing elsewhere.or if a baby fell in a hole and disappeared, and the mother didn't hear, so had no concern.A fatal flaw in the species, perhaps.Thor shook his head.He was no paleontological scholar; probably the reason the species died out was something comparatively mundane, like insufficient foraging room when the climate changed.If there were a blight on suitable trees, the species would be in trouble in a hurry, because of its huge feeding demands.It was dangerous to make assumptions based on comparisons with human beings, whose lifestyle was quite different.Few animals needed the ability to theorize!But right now, Thor almost wished the human mind were the same.Then he would not be bothered by phantoms.If anything had happened to Barb.He found a stream crossing the power line aisle, about a kilometer along.He flung himself down and drank deeply.Water had never tasted so good!Balook heard him and moved to the stream.When he drank, the river threatened to dry up!There were a few wild berries growing beside the fence.Thor walked along, picking the ripe blackberries and popping them into his mouth.It was a slow way to get a meal, but it was sure.When he came to a particularly plentiful patch, he sat down and cleaned it out.He realized that he would have been out of luck in winter, while Balook—well, the big rhino preferred deciduous foliage, but could handle pine needles, and of course much of his sustenance was derived from the twigs and branches and bark.So yes, Balook could survive in winter, in the wild.If left alone.Thor heard something.It was now midafternoon, and he happened to be sitting in shadow.Balook was on down the line, out of sight for the moment.Thor froze, listening and watching.Something was coming through the field beyond the trees bordering the power line corridor.It was a man—and he carried a rifle.Suddenly Thor's heart was pounding.Nobody carried a rifle or any gun openly, unless authorized—and only the police and military personnel were authorized.There was only one good reason the police would be walking out here.They were after Balook!It had been sheer luck that Balook had run so far along the highway before diverging into the fields and forest, because no footprints showed there.Thor had done his best to eliminate traces, once he realized the danger they represented.So the police didn't know exactly where to start looking, and were combing the area.This was slow and wasteful and probably spread thin—but before long they would surely discover the few tracks Balook had left, and then they would orient and close in on the rhino himself.That would be the end.Thor waited until the rifleman dropped out of sight in a gully.Then he ran for cover behind the power line brush.It was like a thin strip of forest between the fences; rabbits scooted out of sight as Thor ran, and birds fluttered in the line of trees.But it was too thin to hide Balook, especially considering the noise the rhino made, tearing branches off high trunks and crunching them up.Even the rhino's tumultuous noises of digestion could be heard at some distance, and when he broke wind the sound could carry distressingly far.Breathless, Thor ran up to Balook."Trouble!" he gasped."We've got to get out of here!"Balook cocked his head, dangling a mouthful of brush.Leaves, twigs, wood, bark—here was the proof that it was all much the same to this monster appetite! But it had to be stifled now."Balook, this is a matter of life and death.Your life and death! We've got to move out in a hurry!"Balook, of course, could not understand the words.But he caught the urgency of the tone, and lowered his head so that Thor could mount.Thor scrambled over the mouthful of brush, for the rhino, like other animals, was unable to conduct two conscious operations simultaneously, and chewing stopped when attention was distracted.They stepped over the fence opposite the side the rifleman was approaching, and moved out at cruising speed.Thor hoped they would get away unnoticed.If they were spotted, Balook could probably outrun the police vehicles, because he could maintain velocity cross-country while they would be confined largely to roads.Unless there was a copter—but copters were scarce, and it normally took days to requisition one.A car shot across the field ahead."Oh, no!" Thor groaned."That's a floater!"The floaters traveled on a cushion of air.They floated over the terrain at respectable velocity, requiring no pavement.Rocks and ridges hardly affected them, and they could traverse level water too.Thor pondered feverishly.How could they avoid this pursuit? The floater's main weakness was thick forest, because it required space to pass between the trees; close-set saplings could balk it.But here there was no suitable forest.Another problem was hilly country.The floater lost power when too steeply tilted, because the air cushion depended on proper balance.But there were no mountains in the immediate vicinity, or even any good hills.Still, if they could lead it through a gully—"Head for the stream, Balook!" Thor cried.But it was the pressure of his knees, not his words, that made the command clear.Balook swerved, and soon was tramping down toward the little stream they had drunk from.The car followed.There was no doubt it was after them; it reoriented unerringly when their route changed.It did not enter the gully, but moved along the edge.Its driver knew better than to charge that steep incline.Too bad.Thor saw something glint from the car window.A gun! They could shoot Balook down from a distance! The gully was too small to get the rhino out of range; the car would keep following the rim.They had to put the car out of commission.Thor knew only one way.A floater could not function when tilted—or turned over.Like a turtle, it was helpless on its back.If Balook could kick it over.But someone might be hurt in the car, or even killed.Could he afford to risk that?He saw the glint of the gun again.It was taking aim! If he didn't stop it, Balook could be killed!"Charge!" he yelled, urging Balook up the slope, directly toward the car.This was another game Balook understood.He turned and charged.Stones and dirt spewed out of the bank as his giant hooves pounded through.There was a shot.Balook jumped, and Thor knew the animal had been hit.But no ordinary bullet could bring down a creature this size [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]