Read Online Enemies of the System by Brian W. Aldiss - Free Book Online Page B

hounds as they milled by.
    Some of the dogs were dogs, snapping or jumping over one another. Some of them were children of the hunters, running on all fours like real hounds. Dogs and children alike were buttoned into the same type of bristling protective coat the hunters wore. This garment consisted of hundreds of a kind of fir cone stitched on to fabric. In addition, many of the children wore light helmets adorned with fur and upstanding ears. It was hard to tell them from the true dogs. Their hands, their knees, their feet, were calloused and pad-like. Many of them had sharp faces, as if in imitation of canine muzzles.
    While the dog-pack cavorted and peered into the faces of their captives, the hunters were busy ransacking everything piled on the luggage trolley. The tourists had an unrivaled view of knees and scarred calves, and could listen to the harsh language of their captors. More hunters and dogs emerged from nowhere and ringed them round. Rain began to fall in ponderous drops.
    Dulcifer pulled himself into a sitting position, arms folded over knees.
    â€œThey haven’t killed us outright. What do you suppose they will do with us?”
    â€œDepends on whether or not I’ve killed their chief,” Takeido said. “They’re looking into that now.” He began laughing miserably until Constanza hushed him.
    The rain fell more heavily. The chief had been carried off the road. They knew his position by the knot of hunters surrounding him. The sky was dark.
    â€œWhy don’t those damned buses return for us?” Constanza asked. “I know those foolish hostesses, Sonya Rykznel, Bonni Fin, Pru Ganin. Why have they not become alarmed and turned back to look for us?”
    Rain poured down their faces. They were already soaked to the skin. Water hissed and bubbled off the smooth surface of the road. They waited. Kordan hid his face in his hands.
    â€œI am a mere Academician, not a leader … There is a great difference …”
    â€œI have been thinking about what was said earlier,” Burek spoke at last. “They regard us as protein. They will exploit us as food. They have no human values. After all, once a capitalist enemy, always a capitalist enemy. We are in a bad position—I remember an old saying, ‘A man in a lion’s den turns to wolves for friendship.’”
    â€œIf we return to the System, I shall put in a severe criticism,” said Sygiek. “All these creatures should have been destroyed before the planet was opened to tourism. The Minister for Outourism must answer for this. The propaganda also was misleading. I would not have come here had I known the true state of affairs.”
    â€œAgreed,” said Kordan. “Outourist is notoriously lax. All the same, my orders were disobeyed. Utopianist Takeido, you will be criticized for firing your flare-gun without permission.”
    The rain plastered their hair against their foreheads. The dogs whined and slunk ceaselessly about them.
    Takeido brushed moisture from his face and glared across at Kordan. “Academician Kordan, I tell you now, just in case they set the hounds on us in a minute or two and we are torn to bits, I don’t give a cuss for you or your stupid authority. When we met in the hotel, I thought you were a great and wise man—now I have a contempt for you. We are fifty light years from the System, so forget about it, forget the System! It’s only a prison, with your kind as jailers. Right, Vul Dulcifer?”
    Dulcifer shrugged his shoulders. “But you are so like them, Ian Takeido—always appealing to someone else for support. In the world in which we are forced to live, each individual has to guard his own heart.”
    â€œWhat do you say, Mystery Man, Che Burek?” asked Takeido, wiping rain impatiently from his lips. “Have you a similarly feeble answer to Utopianist Dulcifer’s? Or a rustic saying of no marked relevance? Or are you a