An hour passed. Deep down in the blackness, in the solid dark, some wisp of consciousness stirred and quickened. It quested, as the black became gray. It flowered into life, Ego once again, suddenly aware of the pale warm sunlight, and an intolerable aching. He looked up at Morley and cursed.
"Why did you do it?"
"Had to." Morley's voice was a harsh whisper. "You'd have been a goner in another step or two, and I couldn't yell. That tree's deadly."
"So that's it." A pause. "If you don't mind my asking, how did you know?"
"Remembered it from a picture in Valdez' book, when I saw you walking into that—thing! Watch this."
He picked up a chunk of shale, and lobbed it into the tree. The reaction was violent and immediate. The formerly quiescent limbs whipped sinuously through the air, their thorny armament glinting in the light. Madsen felt the back of his neck tingle at the hiss of their passage. Dozens of black, hornet-like insects took wing, and buzzed angrily and aimlessly around until the agitated motion subsided and the tree sank slowly into its former somnolence.
"How does it work?" asked Madsen.
"The thorns, they're almost instantly lethal. Notice those wasps, or whatever they are?"
"Yeah."
"Well, they live in those trees, and pollinate them. They lay eggs in the game that the tree polishes off. When the larvae graduate and get their wings, they make a brief nuptial flight, and set up housekeeping in a similar tree. Other insects stay away. It's a beautiful case of highly specialized symbiosis."