The Ways Between Worlds: Peter Cooper

by Larry E. Clarke

  It helped that it was dark. I'm not phobic about heights but I'm not fond of them either. The lower steps were fairly well dug. Climbing took energy and concentration but was not extremely difficult. As we ascended the footholds got smaller and more shallow. My arms and legs were already burning from the strain of the ascent. I had no difficulty imagining the price Athead and Balthan-dar had paid for each shallow depression.

  "241, 242, 244. They stop here Dhars whispered down from his position above. "They had the right idea, making each step as small as possible. Perhaps we can do better."

  Both of us knew that we were approaching the level of the slave quarters but still less than half way to the rim. Unless we somehow fared better than the first team we would die with the work still unfinished.

  "We can do it" I replied, more to myself than to Dhars.

  "No, we can't Petar. The digging tools aren't here"

  From far above came a wheezing sort of whistle, like air rushing out through the pinched neck of a balloon. It was good that laughter was rare among the Ixtet.

  "Humaans". . . the voice whined "The great Thark Rhat is amused at your efforts to escape. To view the futile efforts of those before you amused the Majesty. Now she tires of such games. You have nothing with which to dig with and will be watched until you reside within the glyptron. Sleeeep weeelle"

  CHAPTER 25

  The first rays of the sun were seeping down the pit walls, an orange wash of light slipping toward the floor. Strange how even now I noticed the sunrises. On the moon they had come only about once a month. Since my arrival here I had seen more sunrises and spent more hours in the open than in all my previous years. Outdoors the hour of dawn took on special significance. It was a time of day more memorable for me than any of the hours that followed.

  During the night we had watched by turns as the other attempted to sleep. Six times we had moved to avoid foraging glypton. Though slow as slime mold, once these resolute creatures were set on their course there was no turning them. Kicking or shouting at them neither hastened nor slowed their approach. When they approached we had no option but to move out of their paths. Fortunately, they moved slowly enough to make this an easy task. In daylight hours we simply avoided the sunny areas where they usually, but not always, remained.

  Dhars sat and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "That sun would feel good. Lets walk enough to warm up before we sink back in this shade."

  We stretched aching muscles and strolled toward the area where the glyptron were already sunning themselves. As we approached some of their internal organs became clearly visible through their translucent hides. Neither said much as we walked among these ghostly mounds of flesh. We'd said it all last night. Neither had any idea how to escape the pit or do anything to win freedom for the others. Our ultimate contribution might be as part of the breakfast gruel a few days hence.

  The first of many theories about what had gone wrong was that the Ixtet had stumbled onto the steps while in the pit to harvest the meat of the glpytron. Later we concluded it was more likely they had been told about the escape plan. We had been betrayed!

  The Ixtet, for all their agility were not well built for climbing. To have removed the digging tools from the top steps they would have had to enter a basket and be lowered from the rim. They knew where to look and what to look for.

  On the opposite wall of the pit I could now see the shadow of an Ixtet guard. We were being watched, carefully, if not constantly. Neither said it, but both knew we were going to die here. Around noon that day we sat in the small patch of remaining shade. Thirst was our constant, and very unwelcome, companion. Unless some angel or helicopter jockey swooped in to extract us we would die soon, growing weak and delirious, before falling unconscious and being consumed by the glyptron. Better to end it more quickly as Althea and Balthan-dar had.

  I had just drifted off into melancholy thoughts of Earth and of all the things I would never have the chance to do when. . . “Thwack” . . . something landed not 4 salty meters from where we sat. Dhars and I moved to investigate. Probably just more garbage thrown to the glyptron, or an unscheduled dumping of wastes. . .but, we had nothing else to do. We looked.

  There in the salt was roll of canvas 1/2 meter wide and perhaps a meter long. We unrolled it quickly. Inside were several pieces of dried fruit, a small skin of water cushioned in a thick padding of wool to reduce the impact of landing, and two sturdy pieces of metal perhaps as long as my forearm. Each had been sharpened to a rough point. I thought I recognized them as part of the metal hoops of the sort used to bind cases and barrels in the hold of the Dumpling.

  We scurried out into the sunlight to try and see where the package had come from but saw no sign of our benefactor. The package could not have come from the slave quarters. They were a good 50 meters to our right. Friends have occasionally told me that I am too much of a cynic for my own good. Now I had to admit they might be right, for instead of seeing this care package originating from some angelic Samaritan I wondered if Thark-Rhat had a renewed interest toying with us. Was he simply prolonging our misery by holding out some new, but very false hope of escape?

  "Don't" I said as I intercepted the piece of dried fruit Dhars was preparing to put in his mouth. "Let's talk first". I quickly shared my concerns to Dhars.

  "Petar, either you are right and Thark-Rhat is toying with us. . . or these things came from a genuine friend. If from Thark-Rhat they could be drugged or poisoned and we are going to die. . .but we are going to die anyway. If we find he is prolonging our lives for his entertainment we can always climb the steps and end it quickly as Althea and Balthan-dar did."

  He swallowed hard to moisten his throat and went on. "If from a friend these things will keep us alive and perhaps help us to escape. Who knows? perhaps we’ll even get more later."

  He was right.

  We divided the fruit, half now and half for later. The water we consumed until the worst of our thirst was quenched. About 1/3 remained in the skin. The skin had been damaged in the fall and would have lost this if not held so as to keep the water in the undamaged part of the bag.

  We covered the remnants of our meal with the canvas. Its color was so close to that of the salt that we doubted a casual check of by the guard on the rim would reveal it. To further assure that we hastily dug an opening in the wall of the pit, placed the water and fruit inside, and then secured the canvas over the hole by making a narrow slit in the salt above and below and forcing the material into the crack with the end of our flat metal digging tools. We worked adjacent to the area where daily dumps of wastes kept the walls mottled and stained.

  “That's it Dhars!" I grabbed and hug him. He gave me a surprised look as he drew a breath to replace the one squeezed out of him.

  "Don't you see? If we can hide these small things here why can't we hide ourselves. When the Ixtet think we have been eaten they will stop watching the pit and we may yet help the others escape".

  Watching and working in turns, it took most of the day to carve from the salt a space large enough to accommodate the two of us. The opening had to be small enough to be covered by the scrap of canvas less than one meter square. That meant making a relatively large space behind a small opening. . . and we did. We first considered making the opening just a floor level but abandoned that idea after considering that a glyptron could trap us inside simply by stopping in front of the opening. Worse they might sense our presence and extend a pseudopod to digest us as we lay trapped inside that hole.

  We elected to make it a shoulder height. It was cramped, it was unconfortable but it proved to be a lifesaver. Dhars and I agreed that it would be too suspicious to disappear yet. We would wait until the following evening.

  The next day at noon we sat again in the thin crescent of shade which remained. Another bundle fell to the salt from above. We rushed over to find that half the water from the skin bag had already run on to the sand. We drank what remained and devoured what could only have been dried pieces of glypt
ron. Also in the bundle were several stout pieces of rope no more that a few meters long and one substantial roll of heavy twine prehaps long enough to reach the rim of the pit.

  That night I climbed to near the top of the steps, Dhars waited near the middle. I screamed the most blood curdling scream I could conceive and let it trail off at the end.

  From below Dhars joined in a heartbeat later.

  I descended as rapidly as I dared and Dhars and I sealed ourselves into our salt cave for the remainder of the night and all the next day. In the afternoon we heard two Ixtet conversing outside. Through a small hole in the canvass I had a partial view of their activity. They walked casually to the nearest large glyptron, drew a serrated blade from a sheath and proceeded to saw off large chunks of the creatures flesh. Although it quivered and recoiled mildly it neither changed its pace nor seemed the worse for wear afterwards. The raw edges left by the cut oozed a milky fluid for a while then congealed into a new layer of "skin".

  They passed within a few meters of where we lay. Our lair was above eye level and neither appeared to notice as they rattled past screeching comments to each other.

  The day ended. Darkness fell, and we were able to crawl out of our hole and drop stiffly to the sand. A few minutes later we were once again at step 244. Lhars began digging with the sharpened piece of barrel hoop. I followed behind enlarging the steps he made.

  The night was incredibly clear. Overhead the stars still were "new" to me but no longer completely “alien". Near the zenith was a globular cluster that looked the size of a basketball. I wondered if it might be the "Beehive". Toward the horizon were cloudy nebulae. It encouraged me to think that Messier might have cataloged them some clear French night 400 years ago.

  Mostly, we kept digging. We dug without talking, hoping the sound would not be noticed beyond the pit. Most of the “scrape, scrape, scrape” was covered by a rather stiff wind. We could both hear it and see its effects as loose bits of debris were blown across the mouth of the pit.

  The tools were as good, or better, than the wooden ones we had lost. The work went well considering we were now perhaps 75 meters above the floor. Without safety belts we worked with one hand and held on with the other.

  Twice we stopped digging and returned to lay panting and exhausted on the floor of the pit. The effort was felt most in my legs. On the last descent I made the mistake of dropping to the floor without using the very last step. My legs buckled under me.

  Shortly before dawn we were within a few meters of the grate that covered the mouth of the slave quarters. We were forced to retreat short of this goal by the approach of sunrise. We spent the day, cramped and sore, wedged into our hiding place. At noon we listened for a thud which might signal the arrival of another care package. It came, right on time.

  Dhars scrambled out to get it, hugging the wall of the pit to minimize his chances of being seen. We had decided that it was worth the risk to retrieve the package. Left where it fell the glyptron would certainly have enveloped and devoured it long before darkness returned.

  "Take my hand" I said, reaching out of the opening to help draw Dhars back inside. He tossed the package in ahead of him and jumped to grab the rim of the opening. He wiggled inside on his stomach, assisted by my pull on is hair! for lack of any other handhold.

  "I'm getting too old for this Petar" he chuckled as he caught his breath. "Soltiera used to chide me for going off with my Csogers to hunt. I'm sure she would have been shocked to see some of the things you and I have done in the last hapt-van."

  Like kids beneath a Christmas tree we held our breaths in anticipation as we opened today's package. Inside was more fruit, some stale--but still edible--bread, and a note written in charcoal on the back of a piece of torn sail cloth. It read:

  “Noon tomorrow. Return water skins. My help you have all

  of. Much care.”

  It was signed simply "Camille"! I was filled with a joy at the sight of that last word which not even our grim situation could dampen. In the corner of the paper was a sketch of a small spider like creature, a reference to her first practical joke on me.

  "That's our Camille?" Dhars thought aloud. With nothing else to do to pass the time I told him the "spider" story.

  CHAPTER 26

  That night we reached the grill of the Red's quarters. How much simpler it would have been to have begun digging steps from here. It was already two thirds of the way to the rim of the pit. That possibility was eliminated by frequent inspections by the guards and by their capacity to look into the slave chambers at any moment without warning, and by the presence of spies in our midst.

  Diggers from here could in a single night dig past the iron grill blocking the side of the chamber open to the pit. . .that part would be easy. But there remained many hours work to cut enough steps in the wall of the pit to reach the rim. Even without the possibility of being betrayed from within, discovery was almost certain. And, with discovery it was likely the entire Red team would be put to death as a lesson to the others.

  We still might die, but this approach improved our odds actually escaping to the rim of the pit. I was lead digger as we neared the grill and was startled to hear my name softly called by Ghuler Rhan, Eripa's captain. She told us that a constant watch had been maintained at the grill despite the screams heard two nights before. Word had been sent to the Blue team to keep watch for us. The message was smuggled back that despite the screams we had been seen and were continuing to work. Bless Eripa for covering all the bases.

  "We should be able to reach the top by this time tomorrow night. I will bring a small map showing what I know of the town and the tunnels when we return. Alert the Blue team."

  She passed me a cup of gruel which had somehow been saved for the purpose. As usual I nearly wretched at the taste but drank it for the liquid I needed.

  Dhars too was given a cup as he reached the grill. He paused to talk with Ghuler who could scarcely contain her excitement at seeing him alive (She was glad to see me too, but all knew that Dhars was special to her.) She made to awaken the others but Lhars stopped her.

  "Petar and I believe, Althea and Balan-dar were betrayed! Somehow Thark Rhat knew of their efforts. The tools they left were taken by the Ixtet. Tell only those who must know.

  Our last task will be to dig through to the chamber from the outside. We will leave only a thin layer of salt here (he pointed to an area at floor level near the right of the grill). When your are ready to move it should be easy to break through and reach the steps."

  Ghuler motioned him to silence as a near by sleeper turned and fell silent for a moment before lapsing back into regular snoring.

  "We will be ready when you signal."

  In the early hours of the morning Dhars and I made our last climb of the night to the top of the steps. On the way I passed to Ghuler a rough map. I'd sketched it in charcoal on a scrap of cloth that had originally enfolded a bit of yesterday's food. By the light of the small oil lamp burning near the waste pit I was hastily outlined a plan to Eirpa and identified the major points on the map.

  Eripa would have some limited intelligence about the enemy we faced and could plot her own strategy. Dhars and I had described what we had seen in detail. It was now up to her. We dug the tunnel that would lead the captives to the steps outside, hoping the slanted entrance would not cast a shadow obvious to the Ixtet sentries.

  We completed the final steps before dawn.

  This part of the dig had been the hardest. Here almost at the rim of the pit we had to be more concerned about being heard or seen. One dug while the other watched and listened for patrolling Ixtet. The walls of the pit were more or less vertical, but here they seemed to lean ever so slightly inwards. Although slight, the overhang made working incredibly difficult. When at last we dragged ourselves sweating and panting over the lip of the pit there was little sense of exhilaration, only exhaustion. Every muscle ached and burned. In the cold night air the muscles of my leg began to cramp and knot.

/>   The plan called for us to separate during the day to maximize chances that one would remain free to launch the attack. Eripa had set the time for the escape attempt at midnight when the late shift of workers had returned from the shafts and all were permitted a few hours of sleep. By this time tomorrow we should be free or dead.

  After several minutes Dhars and I crawled in silence to the side of what proved to be a storage building. It was low and round or perhaps slightly hexagonal, built of a combination of salt blocks and stone and roofed over with some type of adobe. The door appeared to be part wood, part heavy cloth. In this desert wood was too precious a commodity to be used freely in building.

  If we were discovered now it would be the undoing of all that we and the other conspirators had worked for. We moved with extreme caution.

  "Let’s see what is inside" I whispered to Dhars. "It's risky, but if the building is vacant we can make good use of it."

  We crawled cautiously along the base of the structure to find a point at which we could enter. We strained eyes and ears but saw and heard nothing. The door swung inward on rawhide thongs rather than proper hinges. It was unguarded and unlocked. The interior was quite dark.

  "Nothing" I whispered to Dhars.

  Without speaking we backed from the room. In the cleaner air of the outdoors we decided that I would remain above--out of sight--while Dhars returned with one digging tool to spend the day hidden in the side tunnel near the Red's quarters.

  For my part, I would try to make contact with Lady Camille and to do what could be done to prepare for the assault. I would act conservatively, because even being sighted by the Ixtet would sink the planned escape.

  Dhars and I would emerge at the appointed hour and aid the others in reaching the steps leading to the rim. It could be very helpful for them to have us working from the outside to open the way.

  To sit in the pink sunlight and warm my ever stiffening muscles would have felt better than a week at the spa. . . but I didn't dare. I had to find some shadowy, out of the way place to hide away the day. With luck I would find a spot from which I could also see what the Ixtet were doing.