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.It made no difference: she was, staring directly intohim, making her grief a part of his life.A still-faced grief, too profound for anytears, if she knew of tears.The green cat eyes lowered; she stabbed her spear intothe ground and lifted her arms, a giving, yielding motion.Her lips moved inprayer, surely, since all but one of the men were bowed, performing ritual gesturestoward whatever lay on the ground.The one who did not bow never ceased to watchthe sky.The prayer was brief.The woman's left hand dropped meaningly, the hidewas unrolled, and its bearer raised what the grass had hidden no more than askull and a few bones, a broken spear, a muddy scrap that might have been a grassskirt.The hide was folded gently over these; the group went on."Dorothy those things you saw running when we were circling down I missed'em," Wright said."Poor eyesight, and seems to me the air was still misty fromArgo's crash in the lake.They were going south, away from here? And they couldhave been people like these?""Yes.Hundreds or thousands of them.I suppose the crash of Argo must haveseemed like the heavens falling.The lifeboats too.""I think we interrupted a war.""These would be survivors? Live in this part of the jungle maybe? Looking forwhat's left after those those flying beasts ""It makes sense," Wright said."They're more afraid of the sky than of our setupover here.Maybe we're gods who came down to help them.If we did help them.Look: they've found another& Yes, now the prayer& Wish Mijok wasn't so afraid ofthem.Inevitable.To them I suppose he's an ugly wild animal.Different species,similar enough to be shocked at the similarity.'Tain't good.""Do we try for a foot in both camps?" "Paul, I think I'll take a rain check on answering that& Ach if I could go outthere now communicate ""No!" Dorothy gasped."Not while the others are still sick.""You're right of course." Wright fretted at his beard stubble."I get sillier all thetime.As Ed would tell me if he were up and around.It's the high oxygen& "There were brown splashes in the sky.The pygmies saw the peril first and dartedfor the woods an orderly flight however the woman with the hide in front, theblue-skirted woman next, then the bowmen.Three of the latter turned bravely andshot arrows that glittered and whined.The brown beasts wheeled and flappedangrily upward, though the buzzing arrows dropped far short of them.The pygmiesgained the trees; the omasha scouted the edge of the woods, squawking, three ofthem drifting toward the lifeboat, weaving heads surveying the ground.Paul gaveway to unfamiliar savage enjoyment."Do we, Doc?""Yes," said Wright, and took aim himself.All three were brought down, at a cost of four irreplaceable rifle bullets and twoshots from Dorothy's automatic.Mijok bellowed with satisfaction but recoiled asWright dragged a dirty brown carcass into the clearing."A dissection is in order."Mijok grumbled and fidgeted."Don't fret, Mijok." Wright pegged down the wingsof the dead animal with sharp sticks and drew an incision on the leathery belly withhis hunting knife."Good head shot, Paul this one's yours.We'll do a brain jobfrom one of the others, but I think well let that wait for Sears oh my, yes& !Doesn't weigh over thirty pounds.Hollow bones like a bird's, very likely.Hopethey'll keep.""You hope," Dorothy sniffed."What do you do when I turn housewife andinstruct you to get that awful mess the hell off my nice clean floor?""Dope! And you my best and only medical student." He worked at the cuttingdubiously, inexpertly."Conventional mammalian setup, more or less.Small lungs,big stomach.Hah two pairs of kidneys?" He spread the viscera out on the wing."Short intestine, also like a bird.And she was preparing a blessed event multipliedby count 'em six.""Too many," said Paul."Altogether too industrious.""What I really want to know Oh& ? " With the lungs removed, it could be seenthat the hump on the back was caused by a great enlargement of four thoracicvertebrae, which swelled into the chest cavity as well as outward
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