I would pet him—though I have to be honest here and say that the feel of his flesh made my skin crawl—then he would stare off into space and I would be as good as alone until he came back, however long that might be. They've got those rigged with the new bombs.
His wife and Perine crouched down beside him and the three of them peered warily at the plain and the metal insect crawling laboriously across it?