Finally, he reached an open spot that was likely to contain food. His mass ached for something to consume, but he flooded himself thin again and waited, feeling. There was no vibration through the surface, nor did his "sense" tell him of anything other than the possibility of nourishment. Xen hesitated only a degree of heat before bubbling excitedly into the open space.
Touch found him something edible almost immediately—he flowed around and over it, absorbing it hungrily. His mass dissolved it almost immediately and ached for more. He slid thin, reaching out in every direction until contact was made, then absorbing the food instantly and moving on.
Curt, lying in meager shade that would be gone in half an hour when the third and largest sun rose, first saw the movement when it was on the rocks. His already frayed nerves gave a frightened leap. He lay perfectly still. Where he had seen the movement on the rocky shelf there was now nothing.
The nothing moved forward.
Curt shivered. He was certain he was seeing nothing, and yet his eyes were trying to tell him there was movement. When it reached the flat place and flowed swiftly forward, he realized that it was a liquid animal and was suddenly pointedly conscious of the weight of the pistol against his hip.
He watched carefully for the eyes and the stinger, but saw none. That frightened him. If he could not find the brain, he had no mark to shoot at. As he watched, the liquid creature flowed against one of the hardy, sun-browned plants and jerked in reaction. Instantly, it flowed over the plant and absorbed it. The liquid turned momentarily a thin brownish green and then cleared again.
Curt watched it with narrowed eyes. It was just possible that this creature ate only plant life. The colonists had realized that the liquid scorpions had fed upon something else before they arrived, but no one had been able to discover what that something was.
Xen was in the process of absorbing a plant when the vibration sense alerted him. Terror shot through him and he spread thinly across thirty feet of ground and lay motionless, his "sense" telling him frantically that a Sting was hunting nearby.