第52节

He wondered briefly if anyone

had found the wreckage of Blue-Bird that an MX field team had carefully

hidden in a tangle of undergrowth a hundred and ten miles northwest of

his present position, then he fell asleep.

A few hours later, Steve was woken by the yapping bark of the

wolfcub.

Pulling his boots on, he grabbed the crossbow, loaded it and stepped

outside cautiously.

There was no sign of any movement. The sun, rising above the trees

into a clear sky, had begun to melt the heavy overnight frost.

Crystal-clear droplets, filled with trapped sunlight, hung from the

curving blades of grass, sparkling like diamonds scattered by a mad

millionaire.

Buds were straining to burst through the smooth bark on the leafless

branches of the trees and new shoots of bright orange grass were

already pushing up between the yellowing seed stalks that had somehow

weathered the White Death.

Steve drank in the cool sweat-tasting air, felt it cut deep into his

lungs, felt his heart quicken. Once again he felt the same sense of

belonging, a sense of unity and, with it, the realisation that he was

now truly alive. And, once again, he did not dare ask himself why.

His reverie was broken by Bar, the wolf-cub leaping up at his legs,

barking and whining alternately. Steve untied him and let him into the

hide where Bar cajoled him into handing over part of his own breakfast

of freshly grilled buffalo meat.

As he watched the cub eat, Steve reflected on his relationship with the

animal he had acquired at Rio Lobo. In the beginning, it had seemed a

strange idea to live in close proximity to a smelly beast that, when it

grew bigger, might revert to its savage state and attack without

warning. The instructor had emphasised the importance of regular

physical contact and, once he had overcome his initial revulsion,

Steve's curiosity and interest had been aroused. Gradually, he had

become used to handling it and now, as it finished its share of the

meat and came to him for more, he rubbed its head and let it wrestle

with his hand.

According to his instructor, some renegades had developed a rapport

with certain overground animals.

The two main types were wolves and falcons, of which young wolves were

the most common. When trained, the wolves provided companionship and a

source of warmth during the winter and could be harnessed to pull loads

through the snow. They acted as sentinels, and in skilled hands they

could be trained to hunt down game. And when their keeper was faced

with starvation, they could always be killed and eaten.

Bar gave up trying to bite Steve's hand off and rolled over onto his

back and begged to have his belly stroked.

Steve laid a hand on the cub's chest and shook him playfully. 'Okay,

that's enough." He reached for a piece of wood and tossed it towards

the door of the dugout.

Bar leapt after it, pinned it down with his paws and began to gnaw one

end.

As he watched, Steve wondered why Mutes, who were formidable hunters,

had not developed a similar relationship with animals. He concluded

that the Plainfolk, who he judged to be totally in tune with their

environment, probably related to animals in a way that he did not yet

fully understand. He had, after all, only spent a little under six

months among the Mutes and his knowledge of them was based entirely on

the M'Calls, who were She-Kargo Mutes. The customs of othei clans.

such as those belonging to the D'Troit, the San'Paul, the C'Natti and

M'Waukee might be quite different.

Steve had been ordered to live in the dug-out for a week before setting

out to find the M'Calls. Those seven days would allow him to put his

mark on the place and give him time to explore his immediate

surroundings. It would also enable him to improve his control over

Bar.

The videotapes he had watched at Rio Lobo had already given him a

working knowledge of the area; now he had to physically cover the