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Richard.
"I've found a big chunk!"
He put the crusty blob of red jelly into the sample bag, where it
quickly dissolved in the ammonia water. Sheets of dead surface tissue
fluttered to the bottom of the bag, but most of the red blob was now fluid and
active.
*WOW! FLY!*
"And it's alive!"
That put new heart into the others; they knew that Little Red could be
restored, a small piece at a time. Bit by bit, directed by Joe from above,
they picked up more blobs. Soon they each had one or more, and Arielle dove
down to the surface and flew along the search line. As she hovered to a halt
near each searcher, the living contents of the sample bags were emptied into
the waiting rescue bag where they instantly joined together, becoming more and
more Little Red as the blob of red jelly grew in size.
*I fly!* came a reasonable imitation of Little Red's voice out of the
rescue bag.
"You crashed, is more like it," replied Cinnamon, as she dumped her
second bag into the waiting container. "There are still dozens of pieces of
you scattered all across the countryside."
*Find me! Find all of me!* the red blob called out. Then after a long
pause, a much quieter voice asked, *Please?*
"Reiki's lessons on _Prometheus_ must have sunk in," muttered Cinnamon,
but the magic word worked, and she returned to the cold and tedious task of
searching the ice with new vigor.
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It would take time, and the collection of many more of Little Red's
blobs of tissue to restore the alien to his former strength and intelligence,
but it would be done. The humans headed out to the farther reaches of Little
Red's calamity, to find and rescue still more of his shattered flesh. The
force of his crash had spread his body over a wide area, and the humans were
soon out of sight of each other, although all could see the _Dragonfly_
overhead.
Bending over, intent upon the ground, Deirdre was suddenly shocked to
see booted footprints in the snow in front of her! Her Irish bones knew an
instant of superstitious fear, and then she laughed. She was standing in the
area of the snow they had come "fishing" in previously -- for freshly-killed
coelasharks. Now, as she looked about, she saw again the shapeless lump of the
decaying coelashark -- she had left a marker there, to investigate later if
she had the chance. She walked over to inspect it, and was startled again.
There was no trace of coelashark, decaying or otherwise. But there _was_ an
icerug! It was the smallest she had yet seen.
Quickly she looked about her, searching for this infant's parent, but
there was nothing in sight. With luck, she would have time to inspect the
little one carefully before its guardian returned. She began the soft wordless
crooning that worked so well to calm a frightened animal, from a panicky
Rocheworld rogue to an agitated Foxx in free fall. Slowly the clutching
tentacles of the icerug node stopped their searching gyration, and fastened
firmly around her gloved hand, and the eye regarded her with seeming interest.
With the other hand, Deirdre gently probed the dense velvety foliage of
its carpet, and lifted up its edges. This tiny icerug seemed to be completely
unattached to the ice.
"Hey there, little one ... where's your mum, hmm? Left you out here ...
huh? Didums? Wuzza wugga icewuggy..."
As she made absent minded baby-talk, she delicately and slowly handled
the alien, peering closely at the fine fibers that gave it its velvet texture.
They were each a greenish-brown seaweed color, but the whole collection of
them seemed darker, due to the light-absorbing properties of the fiber array.
The single large eye of the node portion was more brown in color, like kelp.
Finally, she straightened, wincing a little as her chilled backbone moved
erect.
"Well, better go find more of Little Red ... keep cool, little one."
With a final pat to the surface of the tiny icerug, she strode briskly
away over the crusted snow, feeling with pleasure the warmth returning as she
stretched her long legs. As she searched the snow ahead of her for red blobs,
moving her head from side to side in a deliberate search pattern, a movement
behind her caught her eye, and she turned abruptly.
What was that? A dark shape on the ice, small, but moving, and coming
closer. With mounting dismay, Deirdre realized the small icerug was following
her!
"Oh, drat the thing..." She stopped, and the small icerug silently
flowed up to stop at her feet, its large brown eye looking at her hopefully.
"Here now, get off with you! Daft beastie." No hint of gentleness now
in the singing voice, only coldness and dismissal. "Off! Off with you! Back to
mama! Or whoever! Sssscat!"
Deirdre turned and started to move away as fast as she dared over the
crusted snow.
_Wwaaoo! Wwaaoo!! Wwaaoo!!!_
Behind her, a hideous deep wailing arose, like a warbling fog horn, and
she stopped, uncertain. Quickly the icerug caught up with her and the dreadful
noise it was making quieted.
"Damn! As if I didn't have enough to worry about! I've no time for
baby-sitting carpets. Go home, blast you!"
She moved off again, but it was instantly evident that there was no way
she could escape the small creature which seemed to have imprinted itself upon
her. She stopped, and glared fiercely into its one huge eye, but it only
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