The Project Gutenberg EBook of Survival Tactics, by Al Sevcik

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Title: Survival Tactics

Author: Al Sevcik

Illustrator: Irving Novick

Release Date: March 30, 2008 [EBook #24966]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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SURVIVAL
TACTICS

By AL SEVCIK

ILLUSTRATOR NOVICK

_The robots were built to serve
Man; to do his work, see to his
comforts, make smooth his way.
Then the robots figured out an
additional service--putting Man
out of his misery._

There was a sudden crash that hung sharply in the air, as if a tree had
been hit by lightning some distance away. Then another. Alan stopped,
puzzled. Two more blasts, quickly together, and the sound of a scream
faintly.

Frowning, worrying about the sounds, Alan momentarily forgot to watch
his step until his foot suddenly plunged into an ant hill, throwing him
to the jungle floor. "Damn!" He cursed again, for the tenth time, and
stood uncertainly in the dimness. From tall, moss-shrouded trees,
wrist-thick vines hung quietly, scraping the spongy ground like the
tentacles of some monstrous tree-bound octopus. Fitful little plants
grew straggly in the shadows of the mossy trunks, forming a dense
underbrush that made walking difficult. At midday some few of the blue
sun's rays filtered through to the jungle floor, but now, late afternoon
on the planet, the shadows were long and gloomy.

Alan peered around him at the vine-draped shadows, listening to the soft
rustlings and faint twig-snappings of life in the jungle. Two short,
popping sounds echoed across the stillness, drowned out almost
immediately and silenced by an explosive crash. Alan started, "Blaster
fighting! But it can't be!"

Suddenly anxious, he slashed a hurried X in one of the trees to mark his
position then turned to follow a line of similar marks back through the
jungle. He tried to run, but vines blocked his way and woody shrubs
caught at his legs, tripping him and holding him back. Then, through
the trees he saw the clearing