Flinx in Flux by Alan Dean Foster Page A

fast and agile they are or how rapidly their toxin acts on the human body. Short of military-class armor or an atmosphere suit, there’s no protection against them.”
    He could feel as well as see the tension in her when Scrap decided to settle anew on her shoulder. Though the young minidrag relaxed, he kept his wings unfurled and ready for instant flight.
    “They must still be out there or Pip would be falling asleep after exerting herself like that. Must be trying to formulate some new strategy.”
    Clarity turned nervously to the window. “Surely they won’t try to rush the room.”
    “Not now they won’t. Pip and Scrap aside, too many guests saw them fleeing. But if they want you as badly as they seem to, they might not act rationally.
    “When they first broke in, the intention was to gas you. Probably me as well, as a safety measure. If they really want you and they have access to a decent volume of the stuff, there’s nothing to keep them from gassing the whole hotel, particularly if it’s strictly morphic in nature.”
    “The police?”
    He grinned slightly. “Mimmisompo’s a small, open frontier town. If the hotel manager lives in, he might, just might, try contacting the cops. The hotel automatics will talk to police automatics. In either event, the police will take their time getting here. If the shooting was reported, they’ll take a lot more time in the hopes that all the shooters will be dead by the time they arrive.”
    He was already at the dresser, throwing his few belongings into the simple carryall pack. “That means we have to move fast, because if your friends intend trying for you again, they’ll want to do so before any police happen to wake up and take an interest in the night’s goings-on.”
    She took a hesitant step toward the door. “How can we leave if they’re still out there?”
    “We have to leave because we can’t stay here. They came in when the door was locked. They won’t stop because a few people happened to see them leaving.” He took her by the hand. “They might be on their way back up already. We don’t want to hang around and find out.”
    She let him pull her along. “Where are you going?” He did not reply.
    Pip rose from Flinx’s shoulder to scan both ends of the hall, whizzing in seconds from one end to the other and back again to her master. Night-lights glowed from their recesses, giving everything an eery olive-hued cast.
    Only one door stood ajar, framing a large older man with a protruding paunch. His whole head had been shaved down to the ears. Hair trailed a dozen centimeters over them, surrounding his head. The effect in the dim light was as if someone had yanked a fringed cap down below his eyes.
    “Hey, what’s happening? What’s going on?” He leaned out into the hall as they approached. “Party’s too loud for me. I’m gonna look for another hotel.”
    “Us, too,” Flinx told him, his eyes working the corridor.
    Pip spread her wings and zoomed ahead. The big man, who looked like he did not fear anything in this or any other world, caught sight of the oncoming minidrag and let out a shocked oath. He ducked back into his room, and Flinx heard the emergency latch click shut electronically.
    “Everyone here knows what a minidrag can do.” Flinx started down the fire stairs. “As long as Pip stays in front of us, no one else will.”
    She was going to need a huge meal, he knew. Hovering and flying so much burned a tremendous amount of energy. It seemed impossible they could maintain flight for so long, but as little was known about the flying snakes’ internal makeup as was known about the rest of their nature.
    They descended carefully, Flinx grateful that the hotel was only three stories high. No one challenged them in the stairwell, where the night-lights were even dimmer than those lining the hallways.
    There were two doors at the bottom, one to either side of the lower landing. One probably led back into the hotel, to the kitchen