Beast of Prey, by Jay Williams—A Project Gutenberg eBook

Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

The little party came through the air lock bearing a limp figure on an improvised litter.

Gorsline pulled off the transparent hood that covered his head and face, and unzipped his suit. He dug his fingers wearily into his eyes.

"Bodkin," he said. "Same as the others." He turned back to the group. "Get him right to the infirmary. Not that it'll do much good," he added, in an undertone, to Fenner.

Fenner sighed, glancing at Bodkin on the litter. Behind the plastic protection of his mask the man's face was a dark purple; his chest rose and fell spasmodically and there was a faint line of foam on his lips.

Gorsline slipped off his suit, and put it over his arm. Then he and Fenner walked together up the ramp to the Common Room.

"I need a drink," he said. "And a smoke. It's awful not being able to smoke out there."

"You should cultivate Aristotelian moderation," Fenner said, with a grin. "It is far wiser in a Planet Biological Survey Station."

"Moderation didn't do poor Bodkin any good." Gorsline threw his suit into a corner and touched the stud on the dispenser. A lighted cigarette dropped into the trough. "Make me a drink, will you, Luke?" he asked, dropping into a reclining chair.

Hagen, the chief of the Station, came bouncing through the iris, walking as usual as if he had springs under his heels. He was a little plump man with a goatee, which he was tugging in a sort of ecstasy of exasperation.

"Hello!" he cried. "Ha, Fenner. Listen, Gorsline, I've just seen Bodkin. This is dreadful. Three in one week!"

"I agree," Gorsline said, taking the drink Fenner had made for him. "Let's pack up and go home. Shall we?"

Fenner relaxed on the middle of his spine in an easy-chair, and folded his hands together, peering over them at the chief who sat down and stood up and sat down again. You'd never know that man was a capable organizer, he said to himself. Astonishing how people can betray their own appearances—seldom what they seem. Aloud, he said, "Excuse me, Hagen. I want to ask Gorsline—did you see any animals nearby when it happened?"

Gorsline shook his head. "I remembered what you said, but I didn't notice anything at all. It was just the same as in the other two cases; well, almost the same." He drank and sat upright. "We were in Area B, you know. Bodkin was taking a series of photographs of the pollination of those red flowers by leptorrhinus. Hakim and I were digging up bulbs and collecting the larvae that live at the roots—you know the ones I mean?"

"Let's see, Staines and Petrucci were taking soil samples. And Bondieu was chasing what he likes to call butterflies. It was very quiet. Those tall plants were just hanging limply. I remember Hakim saying, 'If we were home, I'd say we were going to have a storm.' I said something like, 'It'd be nice to see grass again for a change, even in a storm.' About that time, Bodkin got up and walked away from his cameras. I said, 'Where are you going?' He didn't answer. He took his head in his hands, and stood still, and I knew immediately what it was. But before I could get to him he collapsed."

"Yes, we thought of that at once. We looked to see if any of the leptorrhinae were on him, or any other bugs. There wasn't a thing, not a mark, not a sting or a puncture. Nothing."

He stopped and drew a long breath. "Well, then I thought about animals. I asked Bondieu—he'd been running around, after all. He said he thought he saw the oil-bushes moving, but he couldn't be sure. I set Staines and Petrucci to beating the bushes, but nothing turned up. I thought, then, if we could get Bodkin right back something might be done for him."

As Gorsline had been talking, the others had come in and now Hagen turned to them. "What about Bodkin?" he asked.

Bondieu, the tall, thin, gloomy-looking entomologist, said, "Not much hope, I'm afraid." He tapped his head. "The doctor says he's gone, like the others. Alive, but empty."

Fenner sat up abruptly and slapped his hands together. "I'm certain I'm right," he said. "It must be some sort of animal. The fact that you didn't notice anything doesn't mean a thing; any hostile animal would be exceedingly cautious and probably carefully camouflaged as well. The one thing you noticed—that it was so quiet—seems to me to indicate that something was prowling nearby."

"That is so," said Gorsline. "You remember, Hakim, there were no bird calls, no rustlings, none of the amphibians cheeping."

Fenner went on, "I've said this before, and I'll say it again. It is possible—just possible, mind you—that this mental paralysis represents an emanation of some kind from a predator, a method of paralyzing its prey before attacking. Wasn't Bodkin off more or less by himself, away from the rest of you?"

"And the same was true of Lermontov and Parson, both of them were alone, or at any rate, a little apart from the rest."

He got to his feet. "I'll tell you one more thing I've noticed, on my own field trips, not only in areas A and B, but also in the bush. You're familiar with this, Bodkin, you were with me all four times. But I haven't told you yet, Hagen. Those large banks of red flowers always grow near marshy areas. The marshes are thick with those furry reeds, the ones that look like giant bulrushes that have opened their seed pods. I have found two things: one, numbers of bones and exoskeletons among the flowers and the reeds, and two, in one place, in the mud, a definite mark as if a heavy body had rested there. There was a scent-spoor; the tracker confirmed it."

Hagen twisted the point of his goatee between two fingers. "This is hardly proof of anything," he said. "Now, one minute. I agree, it's interesting and provocative. Was the spoor fresh? It was? Well, it gives us something to think of. We have no definite indication, however—"

"No, of course not," Fenner said impatiently. "But we can't go on this way, losing a man almost every time we send out a party. We'll be afraid to set foot outside, after a while. And how the devil can we study ecology under these circumstances? We've got to know what we're up against."

Hagen stood up, too, and suddenly his wiry little body assumed great poise and authority. "Let me think about this," he said. "We'll have a meeting tonight of the entire Station personnel, and we'll discuss the matter. But I want time to consider all the aspects of it."

He went to the iris. "I want to look at Bodkin, too," he said. "Take it easy, gentlemen."

There was a short silence after he had left. Then Gorsline, looking speculatively at Fenner, said, "Luke, if you're right—you know, it's interesting that in the month we've been here we haven't seen a single large animal, not one larger than a rabbit."

"That doesn't mean much," said Hakim. "Imagine a Station being set up in, say, Sussex. In one month—barring the animals that go with civilization—you would hardly expect to find anything larger than a fox. And nowadays you'd be hard put to it to find a fox, at that."

"Not quite apt, Hakim," Fenner said. "Because in Sussex a larger predator—Man—has cleared away all his lesser rivals. Is it possible that something has swept this region clean, and perhaps only a last few survivors are now hanging about? Perhaps they're delighted to have us visit them, eh?"

He cracked the knuckles of his long, bony fingers, and strode restlessly to the iris. "I'm going to think about it, too," he said.

Gorsline, as if with a sort of clairvoyance, said, "Don't go jumping into things, Luke."

Fenner went out into the corridor. There was a faint odor of pine that blew from the air conditioner, and contrasted oddly with the almost hospital bareness of the hall. He walked down to his own room, musing, and glanced through the large window at the Orphic landscape.

As the Station's head ecologist, it was his duty to evaluate a great many aspects of the survey which might not be apparent even to the chief. For instance, assuming there were such a predator in the neighborhood, what might be the probable results of trying to exterminate it? Or what was its relationship to a region in which there were so many winged creatures—"birds," they called them for the sake of simplicity, although they were actually flying marsupials and some very large insects—and so few ground animals that might serve as its prey? Was it itself winged, or, he asked himself, did its mind-paralyzing ability serve to pluck birds out of the trees?

He stiffened. Even while his mind had been busy with the subject, he had been automatically scanning the view with the involuntary precision of his profession. From the Station, the cleared ground sloped away to a cluster of tall tree-ferns whose upper branches, long and drooping like greatly oversized date-palm fronds, brushed the mossy earth. And among those branches Fenner had seen something long and glossy move swiftly.

All his attention focused at once on that spot. In the same instant, he whipped out the tiny binoculars he always carried in a side pocket, and put them to his eyes.

There was no doubt of it, something was crouching in the shadow of the fronds. He had difficulty making it out, for it was a pale blue-green, but he had an impression of a heavy head and shoulders, and what appeared to be, incongruously, a bunch of feathers.

The creature moved again. It slid sinuously out of the shadows and crouched on the moss. Its color then changed to a darker green dappled with brown. Fenner saw through the glass that the bunch of feathers was a pair of antennae, similar to those of the larger moths, that sprang from the top of its narrow head. It had short legs and a slender body covered with short, fine fur. The general effect was that of a smallish mountain lion.

As he watched, the creature turned on its own length somewhat as a snake might turn, and glided out of sight over the edge of a ridge.

Fenner did not hesitate. Without a second thought, he snatched up his plastic suit and zipped it on. The air of Orpheus was breathable, but the suits had been designed to prevent contact with possibly poisonous spores, pollen, plants, or insects. He took down a Remington which was capable of delivering a bolt sufficient to stun a bear at thirty yards; his intention was to capture the beast for study, not to kill it. He also clipped to his belt a Mark III collecting net, a light, strong, fine-mesh net in a capsule the size of an old-fashioned hand grenade. Then he let himself out the side lock and ran quickly across the moss towards the spot where the beast had vanished.

The moss was crushed and flattened where the thing had lain, and he touched the selector of his wrist tracker and held it over the spot. The scent-cell glowed, and the tiny needle swung over to point. Fenner followed it over the ridge and down the hill on the other side.

The forest began at the foot of the hill, and beyond, looming above the foliage, were the peaks of distant mountains, hazy in the faintly greenish air. Somewhere beyond those peaks the Archeological Survey was at work, and there was something comforting and neighborly in the thought.

The light was always crepuscular here, and because of the color of Orpheus' sun, the sky had a green tint as of a summer pool. This green, against which the dark brown moss and lighter colors of the trees shimmered like waterweed, was extremely restful and yet alien so that in four weeks Fenner had not been able to accustom himself to it. He felt always as if he were walking in a dream, as if his limbs were weighted and languid, although in fact the purity of the air made him feel more vigorous than ever before in his forty-five years.

He entered the forest which here was composed chiefly of a gray-stemmed tree, very slender and rigid with a crown of glossy red-brown leaves. The tall boles rose straight out of the moss, and there was little underbrush so that it was almost like a planted park. The needle of the tracker led him on a winding course but he was not afraid of becoming lost for if by some mischance his homing compass, which was always set for the Station, should fail, he had only to follow his own footsteps back with the tracker.

The trail led for half a mile or so through the gray trees. Now and then one of the long-tailed "birds" flashed like a shining jewel across some cleared space, the yellow-green sunlight glistening on its fur. Once in a while, a giant jointed thing, like a centipede, fluttered lazily past on wide, scaly wings. From the tree-tops came whistles and hoarse calls. He came at last to the bank of a rushing stream and the needle halted. The beast had taken to the water.

Fenner decided to cast up and down the bank for a little way, in case it had come out on the same side again. He had walked only a short distance, when suddenly he had the distinct feeling that he was under observation. He glanced down at the tracker. The needle had swung over to the right.

He turned slowly in that direction, at the same time cautiously raising his gun. In the corner of his eye, movement flickered. He braced himself and tapped the firing button. A halo of white light surrounded the muzzle, and there was the dull "crump!" of the discharge. He saw a flurry in the leaves of the oil-bushes that grew here and there among the trees. Leaves and bits of branches flew. A mottled gray and brown shape darted like a streak away between the trees.

Fenner ran after it. He began to pant for breath, and sweat dripped into his eyes. The trail led upstream, now, and soon the stream grew more sluggish and broadened, and the gray trees thinned away. There were dank, twisted plants here, some of them eight or ten feet high, and wide stretches of reeds between which gleamed brown water and patches of oily mud. A chorus of chirps sounded from the marsh, dying away at his approach and starting again when he moved on.

Without warning, the needle of the tracker spun round, and Fenner stopped. At the same instant, a lithe form shot out of the reeds towards him. He dodged, throwing himself to the ground. The beast bounded past him, and turned. Fenner rolled over and sat up, groping in the moss for his gun. For a moment they regarded each other, Fenner trying to bring his gun into position. The creature, he saw, had a wedge-shaped face, narrower at the top where the feathery antennae were, wide at the jaw which now gaped showing a double row of small but sharp teeth. Its eyes were round and large, and bulged as a frog's do; they were completely dark purple showing no trace of white. They swiveled forward to stare at him, and as he braced his weapon the beast made a coughing sound and sprang into the reeds.

All was quiet again. Fenner got up slowly, holding his gun ready, and glanced at his tracker. There was a crack across the face of it, and the needle was motionless. It had struck against a stone, when he fell.

He tried to see into the reeds, but he knew it was hopeless. By now, the animal must have changed its color and pattern, and without the tracker to guide him he could distinguish nothing. He commenced to walk upstream, in the hope of somehow flanking it. He unclipped his net capsule and held it ready.

It seemed to him that there was a slight movement in the marsh. He stopped. There was no sound about him; the chirpings in the water had ceased, and there was a quality of hush in the air, of almost ominous tenseness as though the marsh itself were waiting for him.

He began to feel a little frightened. He looked from side to side. Where was the thing? He had not realized how much he depended on the wrist tracker. He found that he was trembling, and the perspiration stung his eyes so that he had to keep blinking. Cautiously, he slipped one of his gloved hands under the edge of the hood and wiped his eyes.

Something rustled slightly in the oil-bushes. These were thick clumps of low shrubs, their branches a naked and repellent pink, covered with spiny leaves on which a thick, pungent oil gathered during each day. It apparently served to attract small insects which the leaves closed over in much the same way as the Venus fly-catcher, of Earth. Fenner went towards the bushes, moving very slowly, his gun tight against his hip, his net-capsule in his left hand.

There was nothing in the bushes, and yet he thought the moss beneath them looked flattened, as if something had lain there watchfully. Were there two of the beasts? Was one still in the marsh, among the reeds, while its mate stalked him here? His spine crept, and he glanced over his shoulder.

He went softly on. Beyond the bushes, the ground rose again in a high bank that overlooked the marsh, and all along this bank grew the lustrous red flowers. They were larger than poppies, emphatically vermilion so that they stood out among the dark greens and browns. They had hairy stalks as thick as a man's wrist, and all about them buzzed the snouted little beetles the survey team had named leptorrhinus.

Fenner stood before the flowers thoughtfully. Their leaves were broad, and close to the ground, but underneath one of them he could see a small cage of white: the clean rib bones of some animal. He went closer, bending to peer. Brittle bones, some with rags of skin clinging to them, were scattered here and there on the ground. There were also the empty wing-cases of some very large flying insects, as big as crows, spotted yellow and black.

If he was right, this was the lair of the beast itself. And just beyond these flowers, or even among them, itself vermilion now, the thing might be lying.

He straightened cautiously, holding himself ready for a sudden attack. And as he came erect, he was conscious of a curious light-headedness.

It was like inhaling too much oxygen. His ears rang and he felt giddy. He took a step, and it was as if the ground heaved under his feet like a living thing. A group of flowers before his eyes appeared to increase in size, and to sway towards him.

He shook his head to dispel the illusion. He staggered a few steps away, and it seemed to him that the flowers reached after him on stalks that became incredibly elongated, like red worms, bristling all their length with coarse hairs.

Fenner saw it in midair, and in his dizziness it seemed to move very slowly, so slowly that his automatic movement with the net-capsule was, by comparison, leisurely. He squeezed the capsule; the net shot out and opened in the air. It missed the beast by an inch or so and fell among the flowers. The beast struck Fenner full in the chest and bowled him over. Its antennae bent towards his face, all his weight rested on him. Its jaws were open. He closed his eyes.

Gorsline and Hakim, using their wrist-trackers, found them less than half an hour later. Hakim, a little in the rear, threw up his gun but Fenner snapped, "Don't shoot!"

Fenner was sitting up with one arm around the neck of the beast which, at Hakim's movement, had recoiled.

Fenner looked at the animal. It was now brown, with a bluish tinge from the surface of his plastic suit. He patted its head, and the thing put out a slender tongue and licked his mask.

"I can tell you what it isn't," he grinned. "It isn't very dangerous. Judging by its teeth and general appearance, I suspect it hunts amphibians in the swamp, or perhaps goes after water-creatures like an otter."

"It's timid," Fenner replied. "There were always so many of us, and we made so much noise. Alone, as I was, it was less frightened of me, although I must have scared it by firing at it. I thought it was stalking me. As a matter of fact," he added, "it was stalking me. But not for the purpose I imagined."

"Why, appearances are deceiving. If a man who had never seen a dog before were to see one jump up on its master, he might think the creature was attacking the man. Putting two and two together, I was sure this animal lived among the red flowers and was stalking me for its dinner. But it was stalking me, and it rushed at me, only because it wanted to protect me."

"Well, I was right, you see. There is a beast of prey here which uses a form of mind-paralysis in order to stun its victims." He motioned over his shoulder. "Those are the real predators, those red flowers."

He looked at the lovely bank of vermilion, and shuddered. "I should judge that their use of the mind-paralysis is automatic, but we are too big and too many for them to actually attack us. That is why, although poor Bodkin and the others succumbed, the flowers never tried to go for them. If you'll look over there, you'll see the remains of my Mark III net. It fell amongst them and they devoured most of it before they realized that it wasn't alive."

He stood up. The beast nuzzled his calf and he stroked its neck, behind the feathery stalks.

"I can't tell you how it's done," he went on, "because it only just happened to me. We'll have to study it. But apparently this creature has the ability, by means of these antennae of his, to counter, or nullify the mind-destroying waves of the flowers."

"Great heavens!" Gorsline exclaimed. "Then it must have been lurking—one like it, at any rate—each time we came near the flowers."

"Yes. It would have saved Bodkin," Fenner said, "but it was afraid of the rest of you. You were so many, so noisy—"

Fenner shrugged. "Why did the first dog become domesticated, and how did it happen? Perhaps," he said softly, "there were once other beings here who were its masters. One thing is clear to me: this creature is very intelligent. And like all intelligent creatures it has a profound need—"

"Oh, of course, for food, shelter, propagation, and so on. No," said Fenner, smiling, "it is a deeper need than that."

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works

1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.

1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the United States and you are located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it without charge with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™.

1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Gutenberg™ License.

1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website (www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works provided that:

• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.”

• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ works.

• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of receipt of the work.

• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any Defect you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™

Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.

Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.

The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate

Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works

Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.

Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.

Most people start at our website which has the main PG search facility: www.gutenberg.org.

This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.

BEAST OF PREY

BY JAY WILLIAMS