Robin wondered whether there might in fact be more bubbles without
light than with. He realized that that was probably the case; it very
likely explained the nearly complete lack of pigment in the flesh of
the native animals, the presence of the light stalks on all of them. It
had probably evolved originally in lightlessness, and the Glassies had
moved into the caverns fortunate enough to have natural phosphorescence
only after they had discovered them much later in their history. This
possibly also accounted for the single eye of Moon creatures--the
conditions for the use of two eyes to develop perspective and delicate
differentiations of shading and coloring simply never existed.
"Are there animals here without eye or light?" asked Robin thoughtfully.
"Yes," Korree answered softly. "Big eaters, they--"
There was a sudden rush of sound ahead, a crashing of plants nearby,
an instant winking out of all headlights, including Korree's, and then
Robin felt himself thrown to the ground as something vast and huge and
heavy seemed to envelop him.
He felt himself being smothered under a pulsing blanket of warm flesh,
a veritable wall that covered him from head to foot, crushing out his
strength. Robin recovered, ripped out with his hands, kicked with his
feet. He felt his strong Terrestrial muscles tearing into the tissue of
the creature, and swinging wildly, he got to his knees and then to his
feet, veritably lifting the entire bulk of the creature.
He reached for his knife and as he got it open he felt the sharp edge
of a jaw and the hot breath of a large mouth near his ear. He thrust
out with the knife hard and furiously, cutting the mass to bits.
There was a sharp screech and he felt the blanket of flesh pull away
and struggle to withdraw. He got his flashlight with his other hand,
flicked it on to see his opponent better.
He saw a wall of gelatinous flesh rolling back before him. It rolled
off the prostrate but unharmed body of Korree, gathered itself in a
mass and rolled rapidly away, uttering loud screeches. The thing was a
ball of flesh, several yards across. It had a wide, many-toothed mouth.
It had several flat flanged spots which were probably ears, and it was
lacking an eye, lacking any light organ.
It hardly needed them. Obviously the thing simply rolled around in the
darkness of the cavern, guided by the sounds of moving animals, rolling
over them, flattening out, and devouring them.
Korree got to his feet. He said nothing, seemed to take it for granted
that the great Earthling would have bested this thing, of course, and
started off again. Robin frowned, decided he'd have to watch himself
lest the Glassie sometime really overestimate his capacities.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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