Homindroid Far From Heaven — Robert A. Erickson

Captain Philion Gruyan. ordered to secretly colonize Petris to build homindroids to aid in the war against the Kreglin, discovers that the greatest war is in surviving the death planet.Captain Gruyan ducked quickly as a Pteranodon circled too close for comfort. “Doctor Sallee, you are in a very dangerous position. They are probably just as concerned about your presence as they are of ours. You must come away from there.”“You have failed to understand my point,” Rao replied cherubically. “You are afraid of these creatures. I am not. They are my friends.”Rao turned and spread his arms out from his sides. It only took a moment for a Pteranodon to snatch him from the ledge with strong claws and carry him out over the escarpment. Cael Berton fired his Rhazer. “Don't fire unless attacked,” Gruyan cried. “Doctor Sallee will fall into the chasm if you shoot now. Wait until that thing flies him back over the plateau.”However, there was nothing to wait for. The Pteranodon opened its talons. Doctor Sallee plunged into the chasm with his arms and legs spread wide. Initially Gruyan mistook his cries as terror, but then he realized that Rao was laughing as if enjoying his wild ride through the obscuring miasma that wafted up from the forest below. Gruyan crawled on his belly to the edge and watched in horror as Doctor Rao Sallee vanished below the clouds as if consumed by the hell planet itself.