a finger and led me outside, Mike and Susan right behind. “In the back of the truck.
Don’t open that door until you’ve had a good look!”
So we climbed the back bumper and all crowded to the window for a good look.
We didn’t get one at first. Whatever it was was mad as all hell, and launched itself at the door hard enough to rattle the window and make the three of us jump back en masse. The door held.
Leo said, “It’s been doing that all the way from Last Edges. Hasn’t gotten through the door yet, but I’m a little worried it might hurt itself.”
“It’s not itself it wants to hurt,” Susan said.
“You’d be pissed, too, if somebody wrestled you away from your mama and shoved you into the back of a truck headed god-knows-where,” Leo said.
The door stopped rattling. I got a foot on the back bumper and hoisted myself up for a second try. Leo’s present glared at me through the window and snarled. I snarled back in the same tone.
Since it was a youngster and I was an unknown, it backed off with a hop, letting me get a good look. In overall shape, it was kangaroo, but it had the loveliest set of stripes across the hips I’d ever seen—and the jaw! Oh, the jaw! It opened that jaw to warn me to keep back, and the head split almost to the ear, to show me the sharpest set of carnivore teeth in history.
“Oh, Leo,” I murmured, stepping down from my perch. “That’s the nicest present anybody’s ever brought me.” I gave him another big hug and a thorough kiss for good measure. “Leonov Bellmaker Denness, I accept both your gift and your suit.”
He beamed. “I knew I got it right.”
“Oh, shit!” said Mike, from behind me. “Susan! It’s a goddam kangaroo rex!” He stared at Leo in disbelief. “Are you telling me this man brought you a kangaroo rex as a courting present?”
Susan, in turn, looked at
Mike in disbelief. “It’s perfect, you idiot! It means Noisy knows exactly what kind of person she is, and how to please her. Don’t you understand anything?”
That would have developed into a squabble—that’s the usual outcome when those two get going—but the kangaroo rex slammed against the door of the trunk again and brought them both back to their senses.
“Leo,” I said, “go on over to my house and get yourself cleaned up. We’ll wrestle the thing into a cage. Then I want to hear all about it.”
He nodded. “Sure. Two things first, though. Pick the right cage—I saw that thing jump a six-foot fence—then contact Moustafa Herder Kozlev or Janzen Herder Lizhi in Last Edges.
Page 27
I told Moustafa I’d make the official report on his Dragon’s Tooth but I doubt he believes me.“
He examined a set of skinned knuckles. ”Not when I punched him to keep him from shooting it.“
“My hero,” I said, meaning it.
He kissed my hand and vanished in the direction of my house. I turned to my available team members and said, “Don’t just stand there with your eyes hanging out of your heads. Let’s get to work.”
By the time we’d gotten an enclosure ready for the creature, Chie-Hoon and Selima had returned from up-country, where they’d been watching those damned hopping fish in the act. Just as well, because it took all five of us to maneuver the kangaroo rex safely out of the truck and into captivity.
Most of us wound up with bruises. It was still mad as all hell. It slammed each side on the fence in turn (didn’t take it but two hops to cross the enclosure either) and once shot up and cracked its head on the overhead wire. That settled it down a bit. I sent Selima to get it some meat.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the thing. I hadn’t seen one for nine years.
“Another outbreak of kangaroo rexes,” said Chie-Hoon. “Just what we needed. I assume it sprang from the kangaroos around Gogol?”
“Last Edges,” I said. That didn’t surprise me, the EC around Last Edges being almost identical to that around Gogol. “Contact Herders Kozlev and
Don’t open that door until you’ve had a good look!”
So we climbed the back bumper and all crowded to the window for a good look.
We didn’t get one at first. Whatever it was was mad as all hell, and launched itself at the door hard enough to rattle the window and make the three of us jump back en masse. The door held.
Leo said, “It’s been doing that all the way from Last Edges. Hasn’t gotten through the door yet, but I’m a little worried it might hurt itself.”
“It’s not itself it wants to hurt,” Susan said.
“You’d be pissed, too, if somebody wrestled you away from your mama and shoved you into the back of a truck headed god-knows-where,” Leo said.
The door stopped rattling. I got a foot on the back bumper and hoisted myself up for a second try. Leo’s present glared at me through the window and snarled. I snarled back in the same tone.
Since it was a youngster and I was an unknown, it backed off with a hop, letting me get a good look. In overall shape, it was kangaroo, but it had the loveliest set of stripes across the hips I’d ever seen—and the jaw! Oh, the jaw! It opened that jaw to warn me to keep back, and the head split almost to the ear, to show me the sharpest set of carnivore teeth in history.
“Oh, Leo,” I murmured, stepping down from my perch. “That’s the nicest present anybody’s ever brought me.” I gave him another big hug and a thorough kiss for good measure. “Leonov Bellmaker Denness, I accept both your gift and your suit.”
He beamed. “I knew I got it right.”
“Oh, shit!” said Mike, from behind me. “Susan! It’s a goddam kangaroo rex!” He stared at Leo in disbelief. “Are you telling me this man brought you a kangaroo rex as a courting present?”
Susan, in turn, looked at
Mike in disbelief. “It’s perfect, you idiot! It means Noisy knows exactly what kind of person she is, and how to please her. Don’t you understand anything?”
That would have developed into a squabble—that’s the usual outcome when those two get going—but the kangaroo rex slammed against the door of the trunk again and brought them both back to their senses.
“Leo,” I said, “go on over to my house and get yourself cleaned up. We’ll wrestle the thing into a cage. Then I want to hear all about it.”
He nodded. “Sure. Two things first, though. Pick the right cage—I saw that thing jump a six-foot fence—then contact Moustafa Herder Kozlev or Janzen Herder Lizhi in Last Edges.
Page 27
I told Moustafa I’d make the official report on his Dragon’s Tooth but I doubt he believes me.“
He examined a set of skinned knuckles. ”Not when I punched him to keep him from shooting it.“
“My hero,” I said, meaning it.
He kissed my hand and vanished in the direction of my house. I turned to my available team members and said, “Don’t just stand there with your eyes hanging out of your heads. Let’s get to work.”
By the time we’d gotten an enclosure ready for the creature, Chie-Hoon and Selima had returned from up-country, where they’d been watching those damned hopping fish in the act. Just as well, because it took all five of us to maneuver the kangaroo rex safely out of the truck and into captivity.
Most of us wound up with bruises. It was still mad as all hell. It slammed each side on the fence in turn (didn’t take it but two hops to cross the enclosure either) and once shot up and cracked its head on the overhead wire. That settled it down a bit. I sent Selima to get it some meat.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the thing. I hadn’t seen one for nine years.
“Another outbreak of kangaroo rexes,” said Chie-Hoon. “Just what we needed. I assume it sprang from the kangaroos around Gogol?”
“Last Edges,” I said. That didn’t surprise me, the EC around Last Edges being almost identical to that around Gogol. “Contact Herders Kozlev and
Similar Books
