The tiny forward and backward movements of its body steadied, and it
arched through the air, brought down the ape. A pitting, snarling tangle
rolled across the slope--and was gone!
Asaki's hands shook as he drew them down his sweating face. Jellico
readied a second clip in the needler mechanically. But Tau was swaying
so that Dane leaped to take the shock of the other's weight as he
collapsed. Only for a moment did the medic hang so, then he struggled to
stand erect.
"Magic?" Jellico's voice, as controlled as ever, broke the silence.
"Mass hallucination," Tau corrected him. "Very strong."
"How!" Asaki swallowed and began again. "How was it done?"
The medic shook his head. "Not by the usual methods, that is certain.
And it worked on us--on me--when we weren't conditioned. I don't
understand that!"
Dane could hardly believe it yet. He watched Jellico stride to where the
tangle of struggling beasts had rolled, saw him examine bare ground on
which no trace of the fight remained. They must accept Tau's
explanation; it was the only sane one.
Asaki's features were suddenly convulsed with a rage so stark that Dane
realized how much a veneer was the painfully built civilization of
Khatka.
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