THE GULF BETWEEN TOM GODWIN CODE

Two more answered it from farther back, then a third. He changed his course slightly so that he could walk down the center of a shallow valley where it grew the thickest, listening for the sand hound to scream again. The character of the desert had changed as the elevation decreased and a dry, wiry grass was replacing most of the vegetation. They were gone from view before he could be sure he had not imagined seeing them. He wondered if it would be Resso and the others, making certain he would not be hard to find when morning came. He could not see it but he saw something else when he looked to the rocky ridge west of him flitting shadow-shapes that seemed to be dragon-beasts were keeping pace with him. The bright moonlight greatly increased the danger of being seen by a sand hound and he had not gone far when one screamed from somewhere behind him. He could see well, then, and he hurried faster down the long slopes that led to the sea. They lifted above the horizon in a flying wedge formation, flooding the desert with cold, white light. It was the dawn of the three moons the moons that brought the Big Tide with them. Not long afterward the sky to the east turned pale a whiteness that grew swiftly brighter and obscured the eastern stars. When it did not reappear at the end of two more minutes he got up and resumed his journey to the sea.

THE GULF BETWEEN TOM GODWIN CODE

It blinked for several minutes in a code he did not understand, then went out. It was there that he saw a tiny, distant red spark a signal fire on the hill north of camp. Shortly before midnight he stopped on a sand dune, to rest for the first time. He was grateful that it had not swerved inland and turned the dim starlight into total darkness. The last of the clouds disappeared from the eastern sky as the storm went its way across the Southern Gulf. He had to backtrack and then climb a long ridge to get around them. Only the good fortune of the wind being in his favor prevented them from detecting him and charging. Once he almost walked upon a band of wild dragon-beasts, grazing silently in the starlight. At intervals, however, he came to dense and wide-spreading thickets of the poison-thorned desert vegetation and these he had to bypass with time consuming detours. It would attract the attention of sand hounds for miles around.įor the greater part, his way was along relatively clear stretches of the wind-packed sand and his progress was fairly fast. He had no light and without a blaster he would not dare to use one if he had it. He was no more than well started when dark came. These he would have to avoid at all costs since they were the lairs of the ten-foot sand hounds. Some of the ridges were of limestone, honey-combed with natural caves. The desert was miles of red iron sand, across which rocky ridges lay like a hundred randomly flung barriers. I hope my last one, tomorrow, will have at least a little dignity to it.

He went, walking past them with the glum thought: This makes Ignominious Exit Number Two. 'Do you have the insolence to question what I say? Be on your way-run, human, and find your hiding place!' Resso took a step forward, glowering in quick anger.

'Why should we harm the furry ones? They are only your slaves and not responsible for what humans do.' 'I want to ask a favor of you,' he said to Resso. Rider felt a great sense of relief-Resso was going to let him pass. 'Tomorrow I will make you eat it before I kill you.' 'I think I can put it in your throat before I can be killed-but I ask you to let me save the Altairian first and match it against your rifles tomorrow.' 'This is my only weapon,' he said to Resso. The three rifles centered on him as he did so. He took the long knife from his belt, spun it in the air and caught it by the blade. You might lose your way and be troublesome for us to find in the morning.' 'Between here and the sea are many by-paths. Resso rubbed the breach of his rifle, his eyes thoughtful and hard. 'I would go to the sea,' he answered in the same language, and told them why.

'Where would you go, human?' Resso asked in the native language.

The gulf between tom godwin