Karn shrugged and sniffed the night air. Better move ahead. No smell of the big cats. But there was a nest of wolves off to his right. They slept now, but soon they’d be awake. Up ahead there was a strange scent, one he didn’t recognize.
Should he go on or turn aside? Ahead there was a glade where a spring bubbled. Small animals came to drink there in the morning. That meant food and water to a man who needed both. Karn moved ahead, but warily.
The rising sun found him only a short distance from his objective. Now there were mingled sounds as the forest came awake. Early-opening flowers filled the air with fresh sweetness. It was good to be alive.
Then, through a thin screen of trees, Karn saw the great ball. It almost filled the glade, reached nearly to the height of the trees. Gleaming gray-green it was, like the eyes of the wolf. The association made Karn pause. He drifted off to one side, picked a likely tree and hauled himself up into its lower branches.
Patience Karn had. He sat immobile, watchful. From inside this strange
orb came sounds that were not too faint for Karn’s keen hearing. An hour passed; two hours. Nothing happened. Still he crouched, waiting.
His patience was rewarded. An opening appeared in the ball. There was a puff of air being released from pressure. A figure stepped through the opening and onto the earth. Another figure followed. What were they?
They were men! Clad in strange garments that covered them tightly, they walked upright on two legs. But what puny men!
Half Karn’s size they were, and hairless. Through their skin-tight garments the bones of their narrow chests were visible. Their delicate fingers hovered at their waists over small sticks. The scent of fear was on them.
Karn’s nose wrinkled in disgust. No danger here. Then a third figure stepped out into the light and Karn’s flagging interest reawakened. This scent he recognized. This was a woman!