Read Cluster for Free Online Page B

Flint muttered nervously, seeing Old Snort's horn almost snag the alien.
    Tsopi dodged aside, right at the brink of the pit. Old Snort tried to twist, and he was now going slowly enough so that his body did lurch over. But his front feet were on the vines, and under his weight they snapped like twigs and let him down. He plowed horns-first into the pit.
    Vine logs flew up in a momentary splay. A foot-thick piece came down on Tsopi, knocking her into the pit.
    â€œOh, no!” Flint cried. Suddenly the peace of Spheres was imperiled. He sprinted toward the pit.
    â€œStay clear!” someone called. “There's no getting out of that hole!”
    But Flint ran to the edge. The dinosaur seemed stunned; he was on his knees and not moving. The Polarian was wobbling crazily, but she was alive.
    Old Snort shuddered. His head turned, and he struggled to rise from his knees. As he had half-slid over the edge, the dirt had been scraped into a pile at the bottom. That, and the cushioning effect of the vines, had spared the dinosaur from immediate harm. Still, a drop of ten feet was a considerable jolt for fifteen tons, and in other circumstances could have been fatal.
    Now the Polarian was in trouble. She could not climb out, even where the edge was broken down, and her gyrations were attracting the notice of the dinosaur. The massive head swung about, the three horns orienting. Half stunned and stupid the monster might be, but in the confines of the pit he would soon smash Tsopi flat.
    Flint slid down the broken wall, landing solidly but safely at the bottom. He drew his handax from its harness and rapped Old Snort's longest nose horn smartly. It clanged like a dry hollow vine. “Hi-ya, stupid!” he yelled.
    The dinosaur lunged to his feet, snorting. He had been well named; the blast was deafening. But his little eye was fixed on Tsopi; he had not yet realized that there were now two creatures in the pit with him. The beast bucked his horns forward.
    â€œPermit me!” Flint screamed over the ringing in his ears from the snort. He threw his arms about Tsopi's torso and heaved the alien into the air. The torso squeezed together like a bag of water. The horns rammed into the wall of the pit, immediately below the Polarian's hanging wheel.
    Old Snort wrenched his head up. Dirt and sand sprayed, and another section of wall collapsed. Flint leaped aside, carrying the alien. The surface of Tsopi's torso was oddly slick, though dry, as though it had been polished. The large wheel spun slowly.
    Flint brushed by the flaring shield of bone that guarded Old Snort's neck; it was taller than he was, and monstrous muscles were attached to it.
    The dinosaur whipped his shield about, trying to smash the two tiny figures. This was one maneuver he was good at. Flint put out one foot. The edge of the shield caught. As it swung through, Flint walked right up over the saddle shape.
    Old Snort bucked his head up and back, and the two were thrown off. They skidded down the corrugated back. They were now above the level of the ground, but there was no way to step across to it.
    Flint half-slid, half-stepped down to the bottom of the pit beside the dinosaur's tail. He set Tsopi down. “Sorry if I squeezed you too tight.”
    â€œI am better now,” the Polarian said. “I shall return the favor.” And she scooted forward.
    Old Snort was just turning, unable to maneuver freely because his flanks kept banging into the walls of the pit. They were in danger of being crushed between the hulking body and the hard sand of the wall. Flint made a mental note: if he got out of this and if he ever had charge of a pit-construction crew, he would dig several man-sized holes in its base. Probably no man would ever again be caught in such a place with a live dinosaur, but...
    Tsopi shot past the broad shield and around the blunt beak, making a keening noise. Even to Flint, that sound had an annoying quality. No doubt that was the