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Authors: Harry Harrison
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had been spoken Stallan struck her on the head and hurled her to the ground.
"Worse than useless," Stallan hissed. "Lazy, noisy on the hunt, filled with fear. Slowed me down and almost got us both killed. I want nothing more to do with her."
"Nor does Alpèasak," Vaintè said in quick judgement. "Leave us. Leave the city. Join the ambenin."
Hèksei started to protest, but Stallan kicked her cruelly in the mouth. Hèksei fled, her screeches of agony rebounding from the aerial roots and leaves overhead. Vaintè put the worthless creature instantly from her mind and pointed at the bundle.
"Is this the killer animal?"
West of Eden - Harry Harrison
"It is."
Stallan pulled at the covering and Hastila's corpse rolled out onto the damp earth.
At the sight of it Vaintè spoke wordlessly of horror and amazement. Controlling her feeling of revulsion she stepped forward slowly, then prodded it with her foot.
"There were four of the creatures," Stallan said. "All smaller than this one. I found them and I followed them. They did not walk on the shore but were in the ocean. Nor did they have a boat. Instead they sat on a tree in the water and pushed it forward with bits of wood. I watched them kill other fur animals, just as they must have killed the males and their guards on the beach. They do not use teeth or claws or horns because they are hornless as you can see, while their teeth and claws are small and weak. Instead they do their killing with a thing like a sharp tooth fixed to a length of wood."
"They do many tricks, these fur animals. They have brains."
"All creatures have brains, even a primitive hèsotsan like this," Stallan tapped the weapon hanging from her shoulder.
"But this hèsotsan is not dangerous by itself if handled correctly. These things are. Now, if you would, look closely at the beast. They have much fur here, as you can see, on the top of their bodies about the head. But this other fur, lower down, does not belong to the creature but is bound about it. It bears a pouch, and in the pouch I found this. What appears to be a shaped piece of stone with a sharp edge. See, this bound-about skin comes away and the creature has its own fur beneath."
"It is a male!" Vaintè shouted. "A male fur-creature with a dim and bestial brain that now is bold enough to threaten us, the Yilanè. Is that what you are trying to tell me? That these ugly beasts are a danger to us?"
"I believe so, Vaintè. But you are Eistaa and you are the one who decides what thing is what thing. I have merely told you what I have seen, shown you what I have found."
Vaintè held the hard sharpness of the stone between her thumbs, stared down at the corpse for a long time before she spoke again.
"I believe that it is possible that even a ustuzou might grow to have a low kind of intelligence and cunning. Our boats understand a few instructions. All animals have brains of some kind. Enteesenat can be trained to search out food in the sea. In this savage part of the world so far from our own, who can possibly say what strange things have happened since the egg of time? Now we are beginning to find out.
There are no Yilanè here to order and control things. It is therefore possible, and hard to deny since the evidence is here before our eyes, that a species of disgusting mammal has attained some form of perverted intelligence. Enough to find bits of stone and learn to kill with them. Yes, it is possible. But West of Eden - Harry Harrison
they should have remained in their jungle, killing and eating each other. They mistakenly ventured forth.
Vermin like these, male vermin, and they have killed our males. So understand now what we must do.
We must seek them out and slaughter them all. We have no choice if our city is to live on these beaches.
Can we do that?"
"We must do that. But we must go in strength, taking everyone who can be spared from the city. All of them armed with hèsotsan."
"But you said there were only four of the beasts? And
"Worse than useless," Stallan hissed. "Lazy, noisy on the hunt, filled with fear. Slowed me down and almost got us both killed. I want nothing more to do with her."
"Nor does Alpèasak," Vaintè said in quick judgement. "Leave us. Leave the city. Join the ambenin."
Hèksei started to protest, but Stallan kicked her cruelly in the mouth. Hèksei fled, her screeches of agony rebounding from the aerial roots and leaves overhead. Vaintè put the worthless creature instantly from her mind and pointed at the bundle.
"Is this the killer animal?"
West of Eden - Harry Harrison
"It is."
Stallan pulled at the covering and Hastila's corpse rolled out onto the damp earth.
At the sight of it Vaintè spoke wordlessly of horror and amazement. Controlling her feeling of revulsion she stepped forward slowly, then prodded it with her foot.
"There were four of the creatures," Stallan said. "All smaller than this one. I found them and I followed them. They did not walk on the shore but were in the ocean. Nor did they have a boat. Instead they sat on a tree in the water and pushed it forward with bits of wood. I watched them kill other fur animals, just as they must have killed the males and their guards on the beach. They do not use teeth or claws or horns because they are hornless as you can see, while their teeth and claws are small and weak. Instead they do their killing with a thing like a sharp tooth fixed to a length of wood."
"They do many tricks, these fur animals. They have brains."
"All creatures have brains, even a primitive hèsotsan like this," Stallan tapped the weapon hanging from her shoulder.
"But this hèsotsan is not dangerous by itself if handled correctly. These things are. Now, if you would, look closely at the beast. They have much fur here, as you can see, on the top of their bodies about the head. But this other fur, lower down, does not belong to the creature but is bound about it. It bears a pouch, and in the pouch I found this. What appears to be a shaped piece of stone with a sharp edge. See, this bound-about skin comes away and the creature has its own fur beneath."
"It is a male!" Vaintè shouted. "A male fur-creature with a dim and bestial brain that now is bold enough to threaten us, the Yilanè. Is that what you are trying to tell me? That these ugly beasts are a danger to us?"
"I believe so, Vaintè. But you are Eistaa and you are the one who decides what thing is what thing. I have merely told you what I have seen, shown you what I have found."
Vaintè held the hard sharpness of the stone between her thumbs, stared down at the corpse for a long time before she spoke again.
"I believe that it is possible that even a ustuzou might grow to have a low kind of intelligence and cunning. Our boats understand a few instructions. All animals have brains of some kind. Enteesenat can be trained to search out food in the sea. In this savage part of the world so far from our own, who can possibly say what strange things have happened since the egg of time? Now we are beginning to find out.
There are no Yilanè here to order and control things. It is therefore possible, and hard to deny since the evidence is here before our eyes, that a species of disgusting mammal has attained some form of perverted intelligence. Enough to find bits of stone and learn to kill with them. Yes, it is possible. But West of Eden - Harry Harrison
they should have remained in their jungle, killing and eating each other. They mistakenly ventured forth.
Vermin like these, male vermin, and they have killed our males. So understand now what we must do.
We must seek them out and slaughter them all. We have no choice if our city is to live on these beaches.
Can we do that?"
"We must do that. But we must go in strength, taking everyone who can be spared from the city. All of them armed with hèsotsan."
"But you said there were only four of the beasts? And
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