Enemies of the System by Brian W. Aldiss

above its rolling surface here and there, and a channel in the middle where the race was deep, sending up a mane of foam which seemed to run perpetually before a silent wind.
    The leaders of the zebras plunged into the water and the rest followed. One of the rear runners blew his horn again like a challenge. Females and younger members of the group were positioned protectively inside a circle of pressing bodies as they braved the flood. The leaders had reached the deeper water when they were attacked. A tough gray-maned male suddenly fell to his knees and almost disappeared beneath threshing water. Two of his companions grabbed him with their forefeet and pulled him up. A dark-bodied seal-creature came up with him, its fangs sunk into his belly. It was immediately attacked by the other zebra-people.
    More of the seals appeared. General confusion ensued, in which more than one of the younger zebras was hauled screaming beneath the flood. The first seal was dispatched with a stunning blow. It lost its grip and was carried rapidly downstream. Something grey and fast had it almost at once, and it disappeared from sight.
    The zebra herd milled and plunged about. It had backed into shallower water. The horn was blown again; as it was raised in the air to sound three tipsy notes, the watchers saw its elaborate design. Afterward, they were to argue whether it was fashioned from bone, wood, or metal.
    Those brazen notes rallied the indecisive creatures. Wheeling, they moved back to the far bank in good order. Without once looking back at the spot where several among them had been lost, they moved along the top of the cliff with that all-fours gait until they grew small in the distance.
    â€œWe could have driven them off easily, if it had come to it,” said Kordan breezily. “Now, let us gather supplies together and prepare to walk down to the Gorge as soon as we can.”
    â€œI have just remembered something important,” said Jaini Regentop. “Every ten kilometers or so along the road, there are landphones. Presumably it was a system installed for the convenience of the road-builders. I observed the phones from the bus. We can walk to the nearest one and phone for help.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you have the sense to mention this before?” asked Takeido.
    â€œWhy didn’t the guide mention it? She has seen those phones over and over again.”
    â€œI had forgotten,” said Constanza, snapping her fingers. “I have never known anyone have occasion to use those phones. Besides, I’m only a stupid worker, aren’t I?”
    â€œWe have occasion to use the phones now!” said Kordan. “Our plan of action is clear. No more delay. We walk toward the Gorge and stop at the nearest landphone. If it works, we summon help. Then it may be best to return here to the bus and wait—”
    â€œAnd find it already overrun by ferocious animals!” exclaimed Hete Orlon, who was still looking tearful. “I am not leaving the safety of this bus, whatever the rest of you decide.”
    Ignoring the interruption, Kordan continued, “If the phone doesn’t work, we carry on toward the Gorge. Rubyna Constanza has told us that it is only one hundred and eighty kilometers. She also informs me that a routine maintenance crew patrols the road from Peace City at dawn every morning, so relief will be on its way, even if we cannot get through by landphone—and even if one of the tourist buses does not drive back from the Gorge to find what has happened to us. Is this all agreed? May we have a show of hands, comrades.”
    Disagreement immediately broke out. What should be done about Orlon? Others besides her did not want to leave the bus. Would not a big group on the road be a target for attack?
    It took half an E-hour to decide that a small party of six with provisions would go forward. The rest would stay by the bus.
    â€œWho has to go in this small party?” asked Czwartek,