Rendezvous With Rama - Arthur C. Clarke Page 0,55

from the monster, expecting at every moment to be seized by its claws when it discovered that more appetizing fare was available. However, it took not the slightest notice of him; when he had increased their mutual separation to ten meters, he cautiously propped himself up in a sitting position.

From this greater distance, the thing did not appear quite so formidable. It had a low, flat body about two meters long and one wide, supported on six triple-jointed legs. Jimmy saw that he was mistaken in assuming that it had been eating Dragonfly; in fact, he could not see any sign of a mouth. The creature was actually doing a neat job of demolition, using scissorlike claws to chop the sky-bike into small pieces. A whole row of manipulators, which looked uncannily like tiny human hands, then transferred the fragments to a steadily growing pile on the animal’s back.

But was it an animal? Though that had been Jimmy’s first reaction, now he had second thoughts. There was a purposefulness about its behavior that suggested fairly high intelligence. He could see no reason why any creature of pure instinct should carefully collect the scattered pieces of his sky-bike—unless, perhaps, it was gathering material for a nest.

Keeping a wary eye on the crab, which still ignored him completely, Jimmy struggled to his feet. A few wavering steps demonstrated that he could walk, though he was not sure if he could outdistance those six legs. Then he switched on his radio, never doubting that it would still be operating. A crash that he could survive would not even have been noticed by its solid-state electronics.

“Hub Control,” he said softly, “can you receive me?”

“Thank God! Are you OK?”

“Just a bit shaken. Take a look at this.”

He turned his camera toward the crab, just in time to record the final demolition of Dragonfly’s wing.

“What the devil is it—and why is it chewing up your bike?”

“Wish I knew. It’s finished with Dragonfly. I’m going to back away, in case it wants to start on me.”

Jimmy slowly retreated, never taking his eyes off the crab. It was now moving round and round in a steadily widening spiral, apparently searching for fragments it might have overlooked, and so Jimmy was able to get an over-all view of it for the first time.

Now that the initial shock had worn off, he could appreciate that it was quite a handsome beast. The name “crab,” which he had automatically given to it, was perhaps a little misleading. If it had not been so impossibly large, he might have called it a beetle. Its carapace had a beautiful metallic sheen; he would almost have been prepared to swear that it was metal.

That was an interesting idea. Could it be a robot, and not an animal? He stared at the crab intently with this thought in mind, analyzing all the details of its anatomy. Where it should have had a mouth was a collection of manipulators that reminded Jimmy strongly of the multi-purpose knives that are the delight of all red-blooded boys; there were pinchers, probes, rasps, and even something that looked like a drill. But this was not decisive. On Earth, the insect world had matched all these tools, and many more. The animal-or-robot question remained in perfect balance in his mind.

The eyes, which might have settled the matter, left it even more ambiguous. They were so deeply recessed in protective hoods that it was impossible to tell whether their lenses were made of crystal or of jelly. They were quite expressionless, and of a startling vivid blue. Though they had been directed toward Jimmy several times, they had never shown the slightest flicker of interest. In his perhaps biased opinion, that decided the level of the creature’s intelligence. An entity—robot or animal—which could ignore a human being could not be very bright.

It had stopped its circling, and stood still for a few seconds, as if listening to some inaudible message. Then it set off, with a curious rolling gait, in the general direction of the sea. It moved in a perfectly straight line at a steady four or five kilometers an hour, and had already traveled a couple of hundred meters before Jimmy’s still slightly shocked mind registered the fact that the last sad relics of his beloved Dragonfly were being carried away from him. He set off in hot and indignant pursuit.

His action was not wholly illogical. The crab was heading toward the sea—and if any rescue was possible, it