Fear closed its leaden claws around his guts.

7

Traveller Thote:

The attempt to remove the tors from the two Russian hunters, who actually remained together through a number of time-jumps, was a failure that killed both of them and Traveller Zoul when we tried to transplant one tor onto him. It seems these organic time machines genetically encode to their hosts. Zoul was dragged back by the next shift, but the web of temporal energy the tor created in him did not match his physiognomy and what arrived at the shift’s end died, thankfully, very quickly. We need to get to torbearers earlier in their journey, before the jumps accelerate, to give us more time to complete our task. Our chances of doing this are good, as more and more torbearers are being detected every day.

It was leopard-skinned and it was gigantic. Comparing it against the trees it had just emerged from, Tack estimated it to stand nearly two metres at the shoulder, and be five metres long. Though doglike, its movement was feline, its sinuosity only hampered by its huge weight. But this thing was to the family pet dog what a great white was to a goldfish. And no animal should have jaws of that size: they seemed unnaturally out of proportion, like some cartoon depiction of Father Wolf.

Tack considered just keeping on walking, in the hope that the beast wouldn’t notice him; he would, after all, provide only a snack for it. But it swung its huge head in his direction, paused for a moment, then began loping along the strand towards him. Tack turned and ran just as fast as he could.

The sand hampering his progress, he moved to the more compacted ground at the edge of the forest. Glancing into its shadows, he considered heading for one of the fruit trees, which appeared eminently climbable. But the creature behind him looked big enough to stretch its jaws up to the highest branches, and heavy enough to push the trees over. Sweat broke out all over him, soaking his ragged clothing and trickling into his eyes. In this kind of heat he might keep up his pace for a few kilometres only, but wouldn’t have the energy for anything else, least of all defending himself.

The nearby estuary was narrowing now, and Tack thought about taking to the water, until he noticed that those floating seabirds were in fact fins. No escape that way, then. The forest had become mainly deciduous, but still the trees were too small. Glancing again at his pursuer, he saw that it did not seem in any great hurry to catch him. It kept loping along like some great big dog, as if too lazy to put on that last spurt of speed. Nevertheless, its long stride was eating up the distance between them.

Keep running, as you are now, and when I give the word, turn immediately into the forest.

‘Traveller!’

There came no reply, but Tack felt suddenly so very glad. Not only did Traveller have the weaponry to bring down this monster, but he would then once again reclaim his charge, and Tack was sure his chances of survival with Traveller were higher than with his more recent companions.

The creature was now so close that Tack could see a red tongue lolling from its panting mouth between teeth as large as cannon shells, and wide bloodshot eyes dispassionately observing him. The greatest horror, he felt, was that should it catch him he would be one brief crunch then gone; he would be killed with neither anger nor hate and for no more purpose than to assuage an ever-recurring hunger.

Now he could hear the regular tread of its great splayed paws thumping into the sand. Though it did not possess claws, that was more than compensated for by the sheer quantity of ivory in its huge mouth.

Now.

Tack turned instantly, dodging trees as he ran. The beast turned in behind him, clipping a pine and releasing a shower of cones, branches and needles. With its snout raised, there seemed an excitement to its mien—the chase was finally becoming interesting.

Further to your left.

Tack changed course again.

That’s enough. In a moment you’ll see a large tree ahead of you. Climb as fast as you can. I don’t want to have to fire on friend andrewsarchus there, as the umbrathants would detect the energy spike.

Tack soon spotted the tree, and slowed to ascertain his route up it. Then a deep mooing bark behind accelerated him on. He hit the trunk with his right foot, running almost vertically up it for a couple of paces, before grabbing branches at random and hauling himself higher. Under his feet he caught sight of a wide furry back passing like an express train. Pulling even higher, he saw the monster swerve and shoulder into a pine trunk. The tree snapped and went down whip-fast. The creature turned, ploughing up debris from the forest floor. It launched itself towards Tack, its massive paws tearing bark from the tree trunk as its head crashed up through the lower branches. Its mouth opened into a glistening red well, then its huge jaws slammed shut on a bough Tack’s foot had just left. Then the creature slid to the ground, growling in exasperation.

‘It would seem you’re hardly even out of my sight before getting yourself into terminal danger,’ said Traveller.

Tack glanced up at the man lying comfortably along a wide bough, his feet wedged against the trunk.

‘What did you say that thing was?’ Tack gasped, continuing upwards until he was higher than Traveller.

‘Andrewsarchus. You’ve just evaded the largest carnivorous mammal ever to roam the Earth. Don’t you feel privileged?’

Tack gazed down at the monster sitting doglike at the foot of the tree, its head tilted to one side as it observed them.

‘Oh, I can think of better ways to pass the time.’ Tack then clammed up, remembering how Traveller’s tolerance of him was only slightly greater than Coptic’s. Traveller seemed unperturbed, though. His eyes were dead and his expression weary as a result of vorpal travel, but he seemed quite relaxed.

‘Can you summon the mantisal to us up here?’ Tack asked hopefully.

‘Now why should I do that?’

Tack gestured to the andrewsarchus. ‘So we can escape him, and those two lunatic umbrathants, and continue our journey.’

‘Ah, you are learning. However, sometimes one’s plans must remain protean to accommodate opportunities.’ Traveller paused to gaze at an instrument propped on his stomach. ‘You know, arriving in a time like this, and observing the evidence of predation scattered all along the beach, the seasoned traveller should first locate a handy tree as a refuge. Such caution is only sensible, yet Meelan and Coptic have not bothered to do so, which is a sign of both inherent arrogance and stupidity. That neither of them has bothered scanning the hardware inside your head is another sign.’

The andrewsarchus, growing bored with sitting waiting, was now up and prowling around below them. Many metres above it they might be, but if the mantisal could not be summoned up here, then at some point they must climb to the ground. Tack did not find the prospect inviting.

‘What might they have found in my head?’ he asked.

‘Let me put it this way,’ said Traveller. ‘No matter where or when you are, I’ll always be able to find you. Though I might not have the required energy to get to you.’

‘You put a bug inside my head.’

‘Not quite what I would call it but, in essence, yes.’

‘So now you’ve found me shouldn’t we continue our journey to this Sauros place?’

‘No, because of those protean plans I mentioned. Now, detail to me what has happened to you since I last saw you.’

Tack told him about the brief journeys, and that strange communication with the woman in the rock.

‘Iveronica: the leader of an Umbrathane cell that has been a thorn in our side for too long,’ Traveller explained. ‘They seem to follow no coherent plan, so are not amenable to prognostic apperception. We have never been able to predict when they will strike, nor to locate their home base. Her hostility ably demonstrates how Coptic and Meelan are not entirely trusted or accepted by her. It seems those two have never been allowed to that base, but that now you are their ticket there.’