"Except that we"ve demonstrated we can kill them if they try either," Hanford said thoughtfully. "Remember the spookies on Tacta? If the mojos have a similar sense for relative danger they may recognize that their best bet really is to sit and wait."
There was a long moment of silence as the others digested that. "I suppose it"s reasonably self-consistent, as theories go," one of the zoologists said at last.
"Hard to see how a system like that would get started, though. Not to mention how you"d prove it."
"Given a telepathic ability, it seems pretty straightforward to me," Banyon said. "The mojos need some predator strong enough to take on a bololin in order to get access to their embryo-hosts. Maybe the mojo acts as long-range spotter for the krisjaw in return or something."
"Though with the mojo"s control the relationship doesn"t have to be particularly mutual," Hanford murmured. "The birds may be out-and-out parasites."
"Yeah," Banyon said. "And as for proving it... Dale, target the mojo nearest you, all right? Head shot; fast and clean, without affecting the krisjaw directly."
"Okay," the voice came in his ear. "Ready."
Banyon targeted the appropriate krisjaw and eased his weight onto his right leg.
If this worked he wanted his antiarmor laser ready to fire. "Okay: now."
A flicker of light from beside and behind the krisjaw caught the mojo-and an instant later the krisjaw screamed and charged. Banyon leaned back as he activated the automatic fire control, his leg swinging up to fire point blank at the creature"s face. There was a blaze of reflected light, and the krisjaw"s fur blackened as the laser flash-burned it. The animal slammed heavily to the ground-
And Banyon looked up just in time to see the remaining krisjaw"s mojo streaking for his face.
The landscape tilted crazily as his nanocomputer threw him out of the way of the bird"s attack-but not before he saw the the krisjaw, too, was in motion. He hit the ground, rolling awkwardly on his left shoulder as someone screamed... and he came up into a crouch to see the krisjaw spring toward Hanford.
Banyon snapped his hands up in a fast dual shot at the predator, but what saved the zoologist"s life in that first half second was his own reflexive shot with his flash net gun. The krisjaw hit, slamming Hanford to the ground, but with claws and teeth temporarily blocked by the netting it could do little except gouge at its victim. Banyon scrambled to get his legs clear of the undergrowth... but before he could bring his antiarmor laser to bear two brilliant spears of light lit up the forest and the krisjaw collapsed in a charred heap.
Banyon got to his feet, looking quickly around. The mojo was still unaccounted for...
But not for long. The bird was perched atop one of the other zoologist"s crossed forearms, wings beating at the man"s head and shoulders as it tried to work its beak in to the face.
Banyon was on it in a second, grabbing its neck with both hands and squeezing.
The mojo released its grip, fluttering wildly as it tried to get at its new attacker. But Banyon"s grip had Cobra servos behind it... and within a few seconds the bird lay limp in his hands. "You okay?" he asked the zoologist, wincing at the blood oozing through the other"s sleeves.
"Arms and head hurt like crazy," the other grunted, lowering his guard hesitantly. "Otherwise... okay, I think."
His face, at least, was unmarked. "We"ll get you right back to the aircar,"
Banyon told him, turning back to Hanford. The other Cobras had the krisjaw carca.s.s off him now, and Dale was kneeling beside him. "How is he?" Banyon asked.
"Might have a cracked rib or two," Dale said, getting to his feet. "Not a good idea to carry him far; I"ll go bring the aircar here."
Banyon nodded and knelt beside Hanford as Dale set off at a fast trot. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Scientifically vindicated," Hanford murmured, managing a weak smile. "We"ve now proved that mojos in the wild serve the same role they do for the Qasamans. They help the krisjaws fight."
"And apparently help decide when fighting"s the best approach," Banyon nodded.
"As opposed to simply getting out of the way?"
Banyon looked up to meet the angry glare of the team"s uninjured zoologist. "I wasn"t running out on you," he said quietly.
"Of course not," the other snorted. "Just getting to a place where you could line up a clear shot, right? While it was busy with the rest of us. Fine job-really fine." He turned his back.
Banyon sighed, closing his eyes briefly. They would never learn-neither the people who a.s.signed Cobras as bodyguards, nor the bodyguarded people themselves.
In a pinch a Cobra"s computerized reflexes were designed to protect him and him alone. There was no provision for heroic self-sacrifice in the nanocomputer"s programming... and the civilians would never understand that, no matter how many times they were told.
There was a quiet click in his earphone: a relay from the split-freq equipment in their aircar. "Banyon? This is Telek; come in."
"Yes, Governor. What"s up?"
"Any results on your hunt yet?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. We can send them to you as soon as we get the recorders tied into the transmitter."
"Don"t bother," Telek said, and Banyon could hear a new undertone of tension in her voice. "Just get yourselves and the data back to the Menssana-you"ve got our current location?"
"If you haven"t moved since last night, yes. What"s gone wrong?"
"Nothing, really," she sighed. "At least nothing unexpected. But I want to be able to pull out quickly if we need to."
Banyon grimaced as something tight took hold of his stomach. "The Qasaman convoy has reached outrider-one?"
"Ten minutes ago. And the team"s under attack."
Chapter 29.
The forest was alive with the stutter of rapid-fire guns and the furious sleet of bullets tearing at leaves and undergrowth and blasting great sprays of splinters from tree trunks all around. Flat on his belly behind the largest tree he could find near his station, Justin hugged the ground and waited for the barrage to ease up or shift direction. It did, and he took a cautious peek around the bole. A hundred meters away six Qasamans were running back toward the convoy from the tree trunk the Cobras had felled across the road. They"d been placing explosives, Pyre had guessed... and even as Justin watched, the barrier erupted with yellow fire. The smoke cleared to show a section of the trunk had disintegrated.
"Barrier down," one of the Cobras reported in Justin"s ear. "Convoy starting up again."
The hail of lead intensified, almost covering the sound of car engines, but little of the fire was coming in Justin"s direction. "I"m on it," he said into his mike. Twenty meters closer to him was the next of the trees along the road they"d prepared so carefully last night. Raising his hand out of the matted leaves, he targeted carefully and fired.
The rope holding the precut tree snapped; and with a crack of breaking wood audible even over the gun shots it toppled gracefully across the road. "Barrier replaced," he reported.
"Stand by to pull back," Pyre said tersely. "Smoke...?"
In response, the forest on both sides of the road erupted with black smoke.
"Lead team, pull back," Pyre ordered.
Justin began backing away from his tree, balancing the need for speed with the need to remain low. The smoke would block visual and infrared targeting, but there were always lucky shots to worry about. So far the Qasamans" lack of experience with warfare had showed up clearly in their unimaginative tactics; but they more than made up for that with enthusiasm.
He was midway to his new cover, smack in the middle of nowhere, when a new stutter opened up from above. He froze, m.u.f.fling a curse.
The helicopters were back.
Or at least one of them was. It was off to the east a ways, he estimated from the sound, probably blowing up some of the hundred or so "warm-body" infrared decoys they"d spent the morning setting up. But the machine was drifting closer.