The Prometheus Project by Douglas E. Richards Page A

at it and then, thinking better of it, hastily retreated back into the woods.
    Ryan couldn’t believe it! But he wasn’t about to wait around to see if the creature was really gone for good. He raced for the safety of the tram, not even stopping to remove Regan from his shoulders until they arrived. They entered the vehicle and quickly began driving back the way they had come.
    “Regan, that was brilliant . I thought we were goners for sure. Then, when you hit it with that rock, I thought we were double goners.” He shook his head. “And I also thought you’d totally lost your mind. How did you know that would work?”
    “I didn’t,” she responded simply. “But I know it works with coyotes and cougars and I thought it might work with this thing.”
    Coyotes and cougars. Ryan had forgotten about that. When you saw one of these animals you were supposed to look as large and threatening as possible so they wouldn’t think you were an easy meal. “Okay, but a coyote or a cougar is like a bunny rabbit compared to that thing. What made you think it would work on that monster?”
    “I guessed it had never seen a human before. That thing has to be used to animals running away from it. So when we changed from two small, unknown animals, into a bigger, two-headed animal, and instead of running actually had the nerve to yell at it, it became confused. Just as I hoped, it wasn’t very smart and decided not to take the risk that we were tougher than we looked.”
    Ryan laughed. “Just about anything would be tougher than we looked . My guess is that a pair of bunny rabbit slippers are tougher than we looked .” He paused. “But you can’t argue with success. You were absolutely right. Nice going!”
    Regan beamed. “Thanks. Who’d have ever thought that Pennsylvania could be this exciting.”
    “Or this far away from Earth, for that matter,” joked Ryan.
    They traveled back to the door leading to the alien city in reasonably good spirits. Outsmarting a carnivorous alien creature instead of becoming its meal could cheer anyone up. After searching through several buildings they found a few things that could serve as containers and carried out their experiment, staying closer to the tram this time and keeping more alert for dangerous animals. It worked. The ice floated in the stream. They congratulated each other, took a few sips of water and then returned to the city.
    They wandered through the city for several more hours and were surprised to find that the lighting dimmed gradually. The city must have been set to the same cycle of light and dark as the Earth. Finally it was dark and they realized they were exhausted. They found a stretch of soft ground and slept soundly through the night.
    When they awoke the next morning, both hunger and thirst gnawed at them painfully. But so far the water hadn’t had any ill effects. They would wait a little longer and return to the wooded planet for more.
    They traveled for about an hour when they ran across another building with a holographic display at its front. The building was shaped like a perfectly cut diamond and it sparkled just as brilliantly. The hologram showed a large triangle facing a semicircle of tiny triangles. Behind the large triangle was a separate holographic image of a solar system in space.
    Ryan guessed the holograms in front of buildings must serve the same purpose as signs in front of public buildings on Earth. The display in front of the zoo building had identified it quite nicely. “What do you think this building is?” he asked Regan.
    Regan studied the hologram. “I’ll bet it’s a school,” she said finally. “The big triangle represents the teacher and the little ones the students.”
    Ryan nodded. “It could be.” Why not? After finding the tram and saving them from the ultimate predator, he was beginning to respect his sister’s instincts. He gestured toward the entrance. “Let’s find out.”
    They entered a room that contained