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.She whirled in time to see the dun snout of a female Rhunk poking through the soft loam amid clumps of its own excrement.She stepped back gingerly, eyes riveted to the enormous block-like head, twitching ears and blinking yellow pupils.The smell became overpowering.It hadn’t seen her yet, so she moving backward silently, merging with the surrounding undergrowth… watched in repugnant fascination as the thing heaved its rhino-like bulk out of the damp earth and yawned enormously.It was everything both field manual and Commander had described…* * *“Now, I’m sure you’ve made yourself familiar with the wildlife on this planet, Sheffield.Let me emphasize that the three hundred and sixty-eight pages before you do not exaggerate in describing the ferocity of these creatures.They are many and varied—and nearly all lethal.I realize that swordplay is very much the fashion of the day—that some of you young people are quite proficient with a blade.However, I’m going to insist you also carry a sidearm.”“But sir—““Please.I’m well aware of your prowess and reputation, Sheffield, and that the blade has recently been recognized as an official Fleet weapon.But this planet is different.Aside from this AWOL, only seven men have ventured outside these steel walls.We lost two of them because we weren’t sufficiently prepared.I’ll not allow that again.”“Yes, sir.”“Take a look here at page twenty-nine of the manual, Sheffield.Tell me what you see.”“A Rhunk, sir.”“Ugly brute, isn’t he?”“He is, sir.”“Ugly and huge and deadly.You’ve heard stories of how they can rend animals twice their size to shreds with those tusks while holding them securely with those ghastly tentacles.You’ve heard and read how their hides are comparable to the finest alloys we know, how a certain percent of their make-up is non-molecular.You know they’re virtually indestructible.”“Yes, sir.”“Patently unstoppable.But! They can be fooled.”“Fooled, sir?”“Hoaxed, conned! There’s only one animal on the planet a full grown Rhunk won’t attack and immediately disembowel.Do you know what that animal is, Sheffield?”“Another Rhunk, sir?”“That’s very good, Sheffield, very astute.Yes, another Rhunk.And we can make another Rhunk! We have made another Rhunk--here in our labs at the Colony.With the aid of this instrument you see in my hands.”“What is it, sir?”“It’s called a Colifax.”* * *A Colifax.It hung now from the gold chain of her G-string, the cold metal pressing uncomfortably against her bare tummy, banging distractingly when she walked.Until this moment, it had been a heavy, unwanted piece of Colony technology she’d have given a week’s pay to be rid of.Top Secret or not.Now she wasn’t so sure.If it could somehow protect her from this incredible monstrosity erupting from the soil…For it was obvious now that nothing else could.The emerging Rhunk was an awe-inspiring study in armor-plated destruction.Nothing short of a T-3 missile could bring it down, of that she was sure.Even with sword in hand she felt, for the first time in her life, totally ineffectual.That guy from Colony Twelve must have been out of his mind, or—like her—had never seen a real Rhunk in the flesh.She stumbled back through the creepers as it lifted its nose to sniff the evening air.She emerged into a small clearing on the other side.As she turned, she came face to face with another Rhunk.A big one this time.A male.She stiffened.The thing was staring directly at her, had heard her coming, in fact.The thick lattice of jungle hemmed her in from all sides.There was no place to run, no place to even turn.For the first time in her young life, real fear found her.Stay frosty.That was the rule.Her rule.With palsied fingers she tore the Colifax from her waist and knelt slowly to the wet earth, setting it in front of her—eyes never leaving the bloated form of the big Rhunk before her.Its nose was in the air now as the female’s had been, taking in the full scent of the human with the aid of a steady evening breeze wafting directly toward it.The thin, veined membranes of its four nostrils flared red, and she thought she detected a sudden tremor pass along the great ridges of its broad back.Methodically then, as if confident of the helplessness of its prey, the monster advanced on her, muscles riding in sensuous rhythm along its muscular flanks, tentacles twitching in eager anticipation.She reached out for the Colifax, depressed a red button.The hotness that flooded her body was immediate and not altogether unpleasant.No pain, really, but it left her with the distinct feeling she was being pulled slowly apart from all sides like heated taffy, pulled and softened and molded.Changed.She refused to panic; she knew, as Colony Command had warned, the morphing process would reverse itself the moment she touched the green button.Even now her fear was ebbing as she took on the proportions and character of her new body.Even the approaching Rhunk appeared less menacing with the advent of her new height, her muscular girth.Its nostrils didn’t flare any less, however, and the tremors riding its back increased if anything.It was still intensely interested in her for some reason.But if not as food…what?Even before it moved over and deliberately crushed flat her Colifax with its massive hoof, sealing her fate forever, she knew: even before it wrapped its twenty tentacles about her ardently and adjusted her to mounting position she understood.For she had looked deep into its eyes and they revealed all.Perfect as the Colifax was at imitating, it couldn’t quite disguise the familiar personality behind those eyes, the quiet, introverted but highly imaginative brain.And in that instant, she knew exactly why Leakwood had led her this merry chase, and what piece of Fleet equipment he’d stolen.She’d miss her friends, of course, and life at the Colony.But most of all, she’d miss her sword.Even with the highly sensitive tentacles at her command, with seven thousand pounds of female Rhunk behind them, it was difficult to be as gracefully as Dejah Thoris.Here’s a nasty little piece of work.I’m not particularly proud of the story that follows.Not because I don’t think it well written; I wouldn’t have included it were that the case.Not because of the obvious sexual overtones either; sex is probably the least prevailing theme of this short tale
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