Robert J. Sawyer - Quintaglio 2 - Fossilhunter

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Fossil Hunter

Book 2 of the Quintaglio Trilogy

by Robert J. Sawyer

Major Characters

Capital City

Afsan (Sal-Afsan)--advisor to Dy-Dybo

Bogkash (Det-Bogkash)--Master of the Faith

Cadool (Pal-Cadool)--aide to Afsan

Drawtood)--dockworker, Afsan's son

Dybo (Dy-Dybo)--Emperor

Galpook (Lub-Galpook)--hunt leader, Afsan's daughter

Gathgol (Var-Gathgol)--undertaker

Maliden (Mek-Maliden)--imperial bloodpriest

Novato (Wab-Novato)--leader of the exodus project

Geological Survey of Land

Babnol (Wab-Babnol)--team member

Biltog (Mar-Biltog)--mate aboard the Dasheter

Delplas (Bar-Delplas)--team member

Keenir (Var-Keenir)--captain of the Dasheter

Toroca (Kee-Toroca)--leader, Afsan's son

Edz'toolar Province

Rodlox (Dy-Rodlox)--governor

Prologue

The First Sacred Scroll

Five thousand kilodays ago, God laid the eight eggs of creation.

When they hatched, the world was born.

From the first egg came all the water. God let it run in a vast

circular path and it became the Great River.

From the second egg came Land itself, and God set Land floating

down the River.

From the third egg came the air, and God allowed it to flow

everywhere that was not the River and not the Land.

From the fourth egg came the sun, source of light and heat.

From the fifth egg came the stars, planets, and moons, and God

raised them high above.

From the sixth egg came all the flowers and trees and vegetables

and roots and every other thing that is a plant.

From the seventh egg came those lesser beasts that eat the plants,

including the shovelmouths and thunderbeasts and hornfaces and

armorbacks. Also from the seventh egg came the fish and lizards

and shelled creatures of the water.

And from the eighth and final egg came the greater creatures that

dine on flesh, the terrorclaws and blackdeaths and runningbeasts

and fangjaws and more.

But even with all eight eggs hatched, God was not pleased. She

wanted something else, something that would think and pray. So,

after much contemplation, She bit off Her own left arm and let it fall

to Land. The blood flowing from the stump of Her arm made the soil

rich. The fingers of Her hand detached, and each became one of the

five original great and proud hunters: Lubal, Mekt, Katoon, Hoog,

and Belbar, five females of strength and courage and acumen. And

the five hunters pleased God and She watched them hunt

throughout Land.

But the hunters themselves were not pleased, and so they prayed

to God. "You have laid the Eggs of Creation," they said, "but we,

too, wish to lay eggs and have creations of our own."

For the first time, the Land quaked, for God was angered by the

impudence of the Original Five. But then God relented. "Only I may

create on my own," She said, "but I will give you the power to

create jointly." And God sacrificed of Herself again, biting off Her

right arm. It, too, fell to Land, and blood from it made the soil even

richer. Its five fingers became five more Quintaglios, and these

Quintaglios were the same and yet different, for they were male.

They each began a different task: Varkev was the first explorer;

Dargo, the original healer; Takood, the first scholar; and Jostark,

the craftsperson before all others. And, to keep the rest properly

obedient to God, the fifth finger became Detoon the Righteous, first

of all priests.

The ten who had been the fingers of God came together and

produced five clutches of eight eggs. But God said soon all of Land

would be overrun with Quintaglios if all those egglings were allowed

to live. Therefore, She charged Mekt with devouring seven out of

every eight hatchlings, and Mekt was thus the first bloodpriest.

But then Lubal declared that this portion of Land was hers; and

Katoon said, and this portion is mine; and Mekt delineated a

territory she called her own; and Hoog likewise claimed exclusive

dominion over a part of Land; and Belbar asserted a territory, too.

And the males, in a similar fashion, divided up the remaining parts

of Land.

God was angry, for this was not what She had intended. But She

had sacrificed Her arms to make five females and five males and

until Her hands regenerated there was nothing that She could do.

*1*

Fra'toolar

One of them was going to die.

Toroca, leader of the Geological Survey of Land, caught sight of the

confrontation purely by accident.

He was working nine-tenths of the way up the cliff face, just below

the. Bookmark layer, looking for fossils.

As usual, Toroca wasn't finding anything. He'd dug his pick

countless times into the gray shale just below the chalk stratum,

and each time he'd found nothing but plain rock. It was tiring work,

so he decided to take a break. He braced himself firmly in a cleft in

the rocks, then gulped water from the shovelmouth bladder he used

as a canteen. He half turned to look out. The cliff face dropped for

more than a hundred vertical paces directly below him. Still, it

bowed out enough that it wasn't a difficult climb in most places, and

in those spots where the rocks themselves did not afford adequate

purchase, his surveyors had set up webs of climbing ropes.

The cliff ended in a narrow expanse of sandy beach, and beyond

that there were choppy gray waves leading out to the horizon.

Above the waves, far, far out, he could see a large wingfinger

circling, its furry, copper-colored wings bright against the purple

sky, a sky that today was free of cloud. The sun was a tiny white

disk about halfway up the bowl of the sky. Three pale daytime

moons were visible.

Toroca's eyes fell back on the beach.

His survey team consisted of eight Quintaglios. Two of them were

visible far below and some distance up the beach. They were almost

too small to identify, although their green skin stood out well

against the beige sands. On the one nearest to him, he could just

make out all four limbs and the tail; on the other one, he couldn't

even make out that much detail.

They were standing awfully close to each other, only five or six

paces between them.

Toroca brought up a hand to shield his eyes. Something funny in

the way they were moving—

Bobbing up and down—

Toroca's claws jumped out in shock. He brought his hands to the

sides of his muzzle and yelled, "No!"

They couldn't hear him. The wind tore away his words. He began to

scramble down the cliff face. Doing so meant turning his back to

them so that he could see the rocks, find the footholds.

Where were the other members of the survey team? Either off

exploring elsewhere, or else when they'd seen the territorial

challenge display, they'd run away, lest they succumb to the sight

of bobbing torsos, rhythmically moving up and down, up and

down...

Toroca's claws were chipping against the rock as he continued his

rapid descent. He came to a little fissure in the rocks and turned to

climb down the web of thick ropes that covered it. He was about

halfway down the cliff now and could see the other two better.

The closer one was Delplas, a middle-aged female. She was still too

tiny to recognize by her features, but her distinctive blue and

orange sash gave her away. Her torso was tipped right over now,

the tail lifted clear off the ground, her body rising and falling over

and over again, pivoting at the hips.

Got to hurry. They'd be at each other's throats any moment. Toroca

paused in his descent long enough to shout "No!" again, but either

the wind was still preventing them from hearing him, or else they

were too deep in the madness of dagamant to listen.

He'd reached the bottom of the ropes now and turned back to the

rocks, the giant claws on his three-toed feet finding purchase in

cracks between the strata. His tail hung behind him, a heavy

weight. Hurrying, not taking the care he should—

Toroca slipped. The cliff face curved out enough that he didn't fall

right off, but he did skid down several paces on his belly, the rocks

badly scraping the lighter-colored skin of his front and tearing open

two of the many pockets that ran the length of his leather

geologist's sash. He clawed frantically for purchase, but the slide

continued, down, down, belly over rocks, skin tearing--

More climbing ropes. He shot out his left hand, the five fingers

seizing the web. His arm felt like it was going to tear from its socket

as he suddenly braked to a halt. He looked briefly at his belly: it

was badly scraped but was only bleeding lightly in a couple of

places. Too bad: it probably would have been a lot more sanitary to

actually have the scrapes flush themselves clean.

Madly, he hurried down the ropes, feet finding homes in the large

squares made between intersections of the braided beige fiber. He

looked again at the two surveyors, just in time to see it happen.

Delplas lunged, her whole body darting forward, her jaws split wide,

showing the serrated white teeth that lined them—

The other Quintaglio—Toroca was now low enough to see that it

was Spalton, a male surveyor a bit younger than Delplas—tried to

avoid the bite, but Delplas had no trouble connecting, her jaws

slamming shut on his shoulder, scooping out bloody red meat...

Toroca turned again and hurried down the remaining height of the

cliff face, the sound of waves pounding against the shore

counterpointing the pounding of his own heart and the roar of the

wind no match for his own labored panting.

Finally, he made it to ground level. He ran toward the fighting

Quintaglios, now locked in a great ball of green extremities, tails

and limbs sticking out every which way. Toroca's own tail was flying

behind him as his feet pounded the sand, sand wet enough from

rain and spray to make running difficult.

The coppery wingfinger he'd seen before, or one just like it, was

now circling high above the two Quintaglios, waiting patiently for

fresh meat to dine on. Toroca thundered on.

"Stop!"

It was the word Toroca would have called if he could have found the

breath to do so, but it hadn't come from him. No, there, nestled in

the rocks at the base of the cliff, back to the fighting Quintaglios,

was giant Greeblo, another member of the survey team. "Don't go

any closer!" she shouted. "You'll be drawn into the frenzy!"

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摘要：

FossilHunterBook2oftheQuintaglioTrilogybyRobertJ.SawyerMajorCharactersCapitalCityAfsan(Sal-Afsan)--advisortoDy-DyboBogkash(Det-Bogkash)--MasteroftheFaithCadool(Pal-Cadool)--aidetoAfsanDrawtood)--dockworker,Afsan'ssonDybo(Dy-Dybo)--EmperorGalpook(Lub-Galpook)--huntleader,Afsan'sdaughterGathgol(Var-Ga...

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Robert J. Sawyer - Quintaglio 2 - Fossilhunter

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