s [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

flight, a glide. Too weak yet, too undeveloped. More plastic
work needed on that reptile head. Teeth also, still too
carnivorous-looking for a horse. Glad this one is docile, not
like its pappy. Tushes- Remember tushes. After all. he is
supposed to be a male horse, you know. Why won't it eat?
They were working together now, but exhilarated. Intuition
mostly, no mapping. Pointless. To map, you needed the
developed animal to see what its genes would become. And if
they did manage to develop one to suit Abby Bullitt, what
was the need for a map?
More trials. Flying now. Really flying, no tether, comes
when whistled for, obeys hand signals too. Open air, too
large for gym now, needs open air. Try it tomorrow. Call
Mrs. Bullitt.
University Field. Clear, beautiful day. They'd produced a
magnificent animal.
Golden green in color. Its natural position at rest seemed to
file:///F|/rah/Isaac%20Asimov/Asimov,%20Isaac%20-%20Mythical%20Beasties%20(SSC)%20UC.txt (193 of 251) [5/21/03 2:06:12 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Isaac%20Asimov/Asimov,%20Isaac%20-%20Mythical%20Beasties%20(SSC)%20UC.txt
be sitting on its haunches, front feet resting on the ground;
the claws had fused into very acceptable-looking hoofs. Its
great wings not folded flat and down against me body, but
carried high so that their tops, the leading bony edges curving
THE TRIUMPH OF PEGASUS 265
gracefully behind its head and high arched neck, gave it a
remotely haloed look.
The tail, although Colin could not see it from this angle,
was not like a horse's, and not like a lizard's either, but flat
and used like an airfoil. A handsome beast, and, holding it by
the bridle it had learned to wear, Colin was at once proud yet
fearful of it. Made uneasy by the look in its eyes of waiting,
of a biding of time. Where is thai Bullitt woman?
She came, and riding a horse, Ed swore and reached to
help Colin hold their animal's bridle, but it did not shy. It had
never seen any animal larger than a lab dog before, but it
seemed no more than mildly interested and stayed sitting.
But not Abby Bullitt. She'd dismounted and stood in front
of their animal now, hands clasped. "He's beautiful. He's
beautiful," she repeated over and over, looking up at his
great head towering above her.
Colin looked away from the light in her eyes. She looked
hypnotized.
And now Colin felt his animal move. The biding eyes were
looking down at Abby Bullitt, and slowly, magnificently, the
great wings spread. Spread in a movement Colin had never
seen before. Spread upward and outward until they seemed to
blot out the whole of the morning's sun.
"Oh," the woman gasped. "Oh, I must ride him."
"No," Colin said. Something was going on here that he
didn't understand and his feeling of uneasiness was deep. ' 'No,
he's never been ridden before. Never even mounted."
But Abby Bullitt had her hand on the bridle. "Let go," she
said. "I must ride him."
"No," Colin said and then his hand was bloody where
she'd cut it with her riding crop and snatched away the bridle.
She flung herself onto the animal's shoulders, into the
hollow between the high-carried wings, her sharp spurs gouging.
It screamed and it ran. On its hind legs as Colin had so
often seen it do, its grafted front ones tucked in, birdtike, and
then it was in flight. Again it screamed and now Abby
Bullitt's voice was blended in the sound. Was it delight . . .
or terror? Colin could not tell.
266 F.A. Savor
The mount and ils rider climbed higher. The screams were
fainter now, but the terror in Abby Bullitt's was plain.
Toward the nver and the tall cliffs beyond it the animal flew.
file:///F|/rah/Isaac%20Asimov/Asimov,%20Isaac%20-%20Mythical%20Beasties%20(SSC)%20UC.txt (194 of 251) [5/21/03 2:06:12 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Isaac%20Asimov/Asimov,%20Isaac%20-%20Mythical%20Beasties%20(SSC)%20UC.txt
And then it and the screaming were gone. But, airborne, it
had been seen and heard, and now the crowd was gathering.
On the rim of Colin's consciousness the voice of Ed was
shouting.
"Now don't worry. We know exactly where they are. The
transmitters, the police can home in on the data trans-
mitters. ..." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]