The Winds of Altair by Ben Bova Page A

not understand. Fear was unknown to him, but the hungry wolfcat realized fully that this desert offered no food, no water, only danger and death. Still he padded onward, his six powerful legs working like the pistons of an engine.
    Rocks. Nothing but rocks. Huge boulders, taller than some trees. Tiny pebbles that stuck sharply into Crown's paws. Heat currents danced up from the rocky desert floor, making the whole world swim dizzily. Crown trudged on, slower and slower, forgetting everything, even his hunger, as the fearsome sun climbed higher and higher to blast him with unending pitiless heat.
    The lizard-hawk still circled over him, high above, watching and waiting. Then, in the shimmering heat haze, Crown saw more of them. Four lizard-hawks. A dozen. Many, many more. Circling, circling, off on the far horizon.
    Suddenly he understood what that meant. Crown stopped and watched as the hawks began to descend, swooping down and landing with wide outstretched wings. They were far away, off on the horizon, and he could not see where they were actually touching the ground. But he knew why they were landing. Something in his brain told him what they were doing.
    He turned away from his original path and started toward the congregation of hawks.
    No! He's supposed to go straight to the camp.
    Jeff's still in control, look at the monitors. But he's allowing the animal to turn off.
    Something's gone wrong. We'll have to terminate . . .
    Wait. Wait. Let's see what Jeff wants to do.
    Wearily, baking under the merciless sun, Crown pushed himself toward the place where the hawks were coming down. Something inside his mind told him that, in a desert like this, the hawks could be nothing but scavengers. They landed where there was meat. And since they had started landing only a few minutes ago, the meat must be fresh.
    Boulders bigger than Crown himself shielded the hawks' landing place from his view. He clawed his way across their scorching heat and squeezed between those he could not get around.
    Finally he stood atop a huge, weathered flat rock, blazingly hot, cracked and bleached white by the sun. He no longer noticed the heat or the pain in his paws. He stared hungrily at the scene below.
    Nearly a hundred of the lizard-hawks had gathered around an animal. It was a giant beast, as big as Crown himself. But very different. Its fur was mottled green and brown, and covered with dry, whitish dust. Its head was rather small, but its face showed two good-sized eyeplates mounted side-by-side, for looking straight ahead. Its mouth was armed with strong, sharp teeth, but they were small—not fangs. It had only four legs, and it looked as if only the hind legs were meant to carry the beast. The forelegs were longer, thinner, and ended in paws that had six rudimentary fingers.
    It looks like a bear, an ancient Kodiak bear.
    But those forepaws look more like an ape's than a bear's.
    It was not dead yet. It was down on its back, its hind legs moving feebly on the dusty ground. Its eyeplates looked dull, but it snarled with pain and fear at the hissing, flapping hawks as they awkwardly hopped closer to it. It thrashed its arms whenever a hawk came close. Its stubby fingers ended in sharp hooked claws.
    The hawks circled the dying animal; their toothy beaks seemed to be smiling.
    This is fantastico! Cut in the extra data tapes. No one has seen an animal like this before.
    It hasn't been in any of the reports ?
    None that I've seen. We've discovered a new . . . what's he doing now?
    Oh no!
    Crown bunched his muscles and roared out a challenge to the hawks. Startled, they flapped into the air, making the world crackle with their shrieks and the leathery beating of their wings. Crown roared at them once more as they sped high into the sky.
    Then he turned and leaped for the downed ape's throat.
    Jesu Christo!
    Jeff . . . how could you ?
    The ape was too weak to fight and Crown gorged himself while the hawks hovered overhead, complaining noisily. But