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The truck skimmed away. It was slower than the tanks and it was not as well cushioned against the ground, for it was now ru
Jo
He was thinking fast. Somehow he could play this so as to get the truck as well. It s controls weren't any different, of that he was certain from the quick glance he had had. All Psychlo controls were simple levers and buttons.
What a relief it would be to get rid of this collar. His heart was thudding expectantly. Once again, if he made no mistakes, he would be free!
Chapter 6
It was no more than 1:00 when they thudded to a halt outside the library in the town. Terl got out, shaking the vehicle with his weight.
He was still conversational when he unfastened the leash. “See anything of your horse?”
“Not a thing,” said Jo
“Too bad, animal. This truck is the very thing to carry a horse, or ten horses for that matter.”
Terl went to the library door and with a tool undid the lock. He gave the leash a yank and sent Jo
The place was a quiet tomb of dust, the interior the same as Jo
“Ha!” said Terl. “So that's how you got in before!” He was pointing to the disturbed dust under a window and the unchanged impressions of footprints across the floor. “You even put the guard screens back! Well,” he added, looking around, “let's find data on the western mountains.”
Jo
“Wait a minute,” said Terl. “I don't think you know how to read a library index. Come over here, animal.” He yanked on the leash he had let run long. He was standing by stacks of small drawers. He bent over and opened one. “According to the Chinkos, every book has a card and the cards are in here in these drawers.
Alphabetical. Got it?”
Jo
Tense as he was, Jo
“Yes, I can see that,” said Terl. “Go through it and find 'mountains.' " He moved off, elaborately interested in some ancient posters on the wall, holding the leash.
Jo
"I’ve found something,” said Jo
Terl handed him a pen several sizes too big for Jo
“I have to go over to the shelves now,” said Jo
After a little while, and after a minor battle with a ladder that had sunk into and stuck to the floor, Jo
“Anything about mountains?” said
Terl. Jo
Silos.”
“Yep,” said Terl.
Jo
In rapid order he fought the ladder along the shelves and took out another half-dozen books: Nuclear Physics, Congressional Hearings on Missile Installations, The Scandals of Nuclear Mismanagement, Nuclear Deterrent Strategy, Uranium – Hope or Hell, and Nuclear Waste and Pollution. There were more but he felt rushed, and the seven books were heavy for a man about to run.
“I don't see any pictures,” said Terl.
Jo
Scenic Wonderland, glanced at it, and gave it to Terl.
“That's more like it, animal.” Terl was pleased with the gorgeous views of mountains, particularly since many were purple and the aging ink had turned bluish. “More like it.”
Terl put the books in a sack. “Let's see if we can locate the relief map.” He gave the leash a yank that almost tumbled Jo
Terl didn't lead the way to another floor right then. He wandered over to the door first and seemed to be listening. Then he came back and went up some stairs.
There was a relief map laid out on display, possibly not a permanent fixture. Terl knelt down and looked at it searchingly.
Jo
There, also, was the long canyon, and
Jo
Then he saw that he needn't have bothered to dissemble. Terl's attention was glued on a deep, long canyon. A talon was carefully tracing a cliff face and the river below it. The monster, seeing Jo
Terl stiffened for a moment, head jerking up. Then he became very bland. “Seen all you want, animal?”
Jo
Terl went down the stairs toward the front door, pools of ancient dust stirring as he walked.
The sound of their footsteps had obscured it. Jo
Chapter 7
Terl was standing just outside the library, looking down the grass-grown street.
Jo
A hundred yards away, there was windsplitter!
And somebody on him and three other horses behind him.
Terl was just standing there watching the street.
The moment had come. It was not coordinated. But Jo
He snapped the metal tool out of his ankle cuff and slashed the leash.
It parted.
Like a streak of light Jo
It ripped.
Zigzagging like a hare, Jo
He halted with his back braced against a broad aspen.
It was Chrissie!
And not only Chrissie, there was Pattie.
A sob surged up through Jo
Chrissie's glad cry rang out. “Jo
Pattie yelled with delight. “Jo
And Windsplitter started to trot toward him.
“Go back!” screamed Jo
They halted, perplexed, their gladness turning into alarm. At a distance behind Jo