Spero heard it, too. For a confused moment, his trigger-finger relaxed as he tried to flick a quick glance toward the source of the sound.
Then the world exploded in his face.
IV
Carl left Spero lying on the floor where he dropped him. Stopping only to scoop the gun off the floor, he ran to the control room. The tattoo on the glass stopped when he entered. A face peered in at him—a face curiously without emotion. It was a hairy-face, except around the eyes and mouth, where three patches of yellow skin peeked through, giving the appearance of three yellow bull's eyes.
Carl stared at the creature, fascinated. In his entire stay on Venus, never had he observed a chowl at such close range. For perhaps five seconds the chowl stared back at him, then quickly bounded off the ship and disappeared toward the forest.
He turned. Diane, standing at the entrance to the control room was regarding him curiously. "They look almost human, don't they?" she said.