“I’d like to know how some of these half-kilometer-high emergents draw water from the surface and pump it to that height.” It was not quite as big around as an interstellar cargo carrier. She leaned back on the drifting raft and stared at the bole of the growth passing on their right. “Obviously these trees, despite their enormous requirements, can’t handle all the rainfall,” Logan ventured thoughtfully.
You can figure this world is built on a sea of liquefied peat and compost the Church only knows how deep!” When you consider how many tons … tons of already decomposing animal and vegetable matter fall on every square kilometer of the surface every day … Then consider the stifling heat down here.” He mopped his forehead. “The bacterial count in this swamp must be nothing short of astronomical. His nose was sufficient to tell him that the substance they were gliding on was not fit to drink. He had no advanced degrees, no knowledge of biochemistry to draw on. Born’s nose wrinkled as the noxious smell struck him. He dropped to his knees and bent his head to the murky water. They had been traveling on the raft for several hours when Born discovered he was thirsty. There was still enough to make out their course between the tree boles which supported the world above. With the torches out, their eyes adjusted to the lesser light emanating from the glowing life around them. Reluctantly they removed the protective globes and dipped the torches in the water, but not before two fresh ones were readied just in case. A man caught at night in the hylaea without light had no chance to see his enemy, but Logan and Cohoma managed to persuade them to try it. “Internal lights can attract others of the same species for purposes of mating,” Logan mused, “as with certain deep-sea fish on Terra and Repler. Axes rose and fell on articulated limbs until the crippled carnivore slipped back into the slime. No sooner had the carcass been disposed of than something that resembled a pineapple with sixteen long thin legs tried to crawl onto the deck. The long jaws snapped frantically till Geeliwan shattered its skull with a single swipe of a clawed paw. They closed on one wing, and the flier screeched, crumpling to the raft. Rearing up on hind legs, Ruumahum brought powerful forepaws together. Both hunters were readying their snufflers for the second swoop. Its first dive missed completely and it hooked around, wheezing like an old man. Enormous goggling eyes gave Losting time to sound a warning. It dove silently at them from between the soaring roots of a great tree.
#Midworld alan dean foster full#
The first assault came from the air, in the form of a four-winged flier equipped with a long mouth full of needlelike teeth. They encountered nothing which approached the size of the armored colossus which had attacked the silverslith. Fortunately, neither of the creatures was bigger than a man. They saw nothing till they were set upon. On what should have been the morning of the following day they were attacked twice in the space of fifteen minutes. There was no sunrise to bring peace to the tiny knot of humans and furcots who rode the orange speck between wooden towers, beneath a black sky speckled with pseudostars. From his tone, one might almost believe he took the suggestion seriously. “I don’t like dogs,” Cohoma replied flatly.