Away Games: Science Fiction Sports Stories (23 page)

After that it was war. He didn’t know why we wanted to kill him, but he no longer doubted that we did and while there was a time when he would have welcomed an end to his unhappy, solitary existence, he now had a reason, indeed a driving urge, to stay alive at all costs. Because he wasn’t a
he
at all; he was an
it
. The Snark was an asexual animal that reproduced by budding. Its final thought was one of enormous regret, not that it would die, for it understood the cycles of life and death, but that now its offspring would die as well.

I stared down at the Snark’s body, my momentary feeling of triumph replaced by an overwhelming sense of guilt. What I had thought was my triumph had become nothing less than genocide in the space of a few seconds.

I heard the whimpering again, and I walked back to the hollow tree trunk and looked in. There, trembling and shrinking back from me, was a very small, very helpless version of the Snark.

I reached out to it, and it uttered a tiny, high-pitched growl as it huddled against the back of the trunk.

I spoke gently, moved very slowly, and reached out again. This time it stared at my hand for a long moment, and finally, hesitantly, reached out to touch it. The instant we made contact I was able to feel its all-encompassing terror.

Do not be afraid, little one,
I said silently.
Whatever
happens, I will protect you. I owe you that much.

Its fear vanished, for you cannot lie when you are telepathically linked, and a moment later it emerged from its hiding place.

I looked off into the distance. Men would be coming soon. The rescue party would touch down in the next week or two. They’d find Marx’s body in the hold, and they’d exhume the Desmonds and Mbele and the eleven Dabihs. They’d read the Captain’s diary and know that all this carnage was caused by an animal called a Snark.

And since they were a hunting company, they’d immediately outfit a safari to kill the Snark quickly and efficiently. No argument could possibly deter them, not after losing an entire party of Men and Dabihs.

But they would be in for a surprise, because
this
Snark not only knew the terrain, but knew how Men thought and acted, and was armed with Man’s weapons.

The infant reached out to me and uttered a single word. I tried to repeat it, laughed at how badly I mispronounced it, took the tiny creature in my arms, and went off into the bush to learn a little more about being a Father Snark while there was still time.

• • •

In the midst of the word he was trying to say,

In the midst of his laughter and glee,

He had softly and suddenly vanished away,

For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.

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About the Author

Mike Resnick is, according to
Locus
, the all-time leading award winner for short fiction. He has won 5 Hugos (from a record 36 nominations), a Nebula, and other major awards in the USA, Poland, France, Catalonia, Japan, Croatia and Spain. He is the author of 75 novels, almost 300 stories, and 3 screenplays, and the editor of 41 anthologies, and is currently the editor of
Galaxy’s Edge
magazine. Mike was the Guest of Honor at the 2012 Worldcon

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Additional Copyright Information

The Big Guy
Copyright © 2007 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in the June, 2007
Jim Baen’s Universe

The Short Star-Crossed Career of Magic Abdul-Jordan
Copyright © 2001 by Mike Resnick
First appeared, in slightly different form, in
The Outpost

Monuments of Flesh and Stone
Copyright © 2007 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in
Visual Journeys

Monsters of the Midway
Copyright © 1991 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in
The Ultimate Frankenstein

Malish
Copyright © 1991 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in
Horse Fantastic

Siren Song
Copyright © 2012 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in
Going Interstellar

Post Time in Pink
Copyright © 1991 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in
Newer York

When Iron-Arm McPherson Took the Mound
Copyright © 2001 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in slightly different form in
The Outpost

Mwalimu in the Squared Circle
Copyright © 1993 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in the March, 1993
Asimov’s

The Kid at Midnight
Copyright © 2013 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in
Memoryville Blues

A Very Formal Affair
Copyright © 2008 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in the December, 2008
Jim Baen’s Universe

Royal Bloodlines
Copyright © 2010 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in
Running With the Pack

Best in Show
Copyright © 2008 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in
Here Be Dragons

Costigan’s Wager
Copyright © 1989 by Mike Resnick
First appeared on Magicon bookmark

The 73-Hour Rasslin’ Match
Copyright © 2001 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in slightly different form in
The Outpost

Stalking the Unicorn with Gun and Camera
Copyright © 1986 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in the July, 1986
F&SF

Hunting the Snar
k
Copyright © 1999 by Mike Resnick
First appeared in December, 1999
Asimov’s

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