by Dan Donoghue
With a sort of horrible foreknowledge, Wolf slid open the door of the next ware house. Cold air rushed out and chilled him. Rows on rows of cans all coated with a faint, white, roughness of frost met his eye. He knew what was in them before he prised one out of its rack. It lost its frost quickly in the warmth of the street. Engraved in the metal of the container was a fairly detailed outline of an animal a little like a deer, with the flesh of a shoulder emphasised.
Wolf dragged the door closed. Somewhere down there was probably cans with little pictures of humans on them, with parts emphasised. He did not want to see them.
The power must be close by. One more warehouse stood between him and it. This one contained great barrel-like containers of very thin metal. He stuck a knife, taken from the bones of one of the invaders, into one, and spilled out its contents. His nose told him what it was. The offal had been made into fertiliser.
Then he reached the end of the street, and the building that housed the power source. There were robots inside. They stood in front of fluctuating meters, and took no notice of him. One place in front of a series of slide levers, had no robot. It was as he had hoped. The actual setting of the machine was the office of one of the people.
The levers were in pairs. One of each pair was near the top of its scale, the other was about three-quarters of the way up its. That one was more complicated than its mate, being in two sections with a little screw adjustment between them that widened or narrowed them.
Above the levers was a series of lenses, apparently one for each lever. The first showed a remarkably good view down along a tunnel that Wolf thought was the one he had entered except it had no skeletons. The next showed a scene of plains and distant mountains. The next gave a view of a tunnel again, and this time he could make out the body of the kerry he had shot, and that of Leeli Pa'Lar. The fourth lens showed him the plain he had crossed. He skipped over the fifth. The sixth showed an area of hills and the westering sun.
There were eight sets of levers and lenses. It was like being in the centre of a giant spider's web. Wolf studied each set of lenses in turn. None showed the little plain with its lake out front, and none showed the roof of the city. They, it seemed, were safe.
Back at the set that showed the plain he knew, Wolf slid the double lever gently down. A couple of kerries suddenly came bounding into view, running hard for the mouth of the tunnel. He lowered the lever further. The animals seemed to lose rhythm in their movements. They stumbled about obviously in distress, and confused. For a little they fought each other. Then they drew apart. One lay down, only to spring back up. They were suffering from the withdrawal of the power, though they had experienced it at that strength or level for only a short time.
Wolf slid the lever further down. About half way down its scale it set the bird-like diks moving. In a few minutes the plain was dotted with scuttling specks. Further down, and the specks disappeared as the creatures sank back into cover. Far down near the bottom of the scale, and a swarm of tiny flying creatures swept into the tunnel. Wolf pushed the lever right to the bottom. Then he did likewise with the others. There was a sudden chatter of clicks, and the robots all went neutral, and the meters fell still against their lowest marks. Wolf stood, poised, waiting. The minutes ticked away. A half hour passed, then the hour. No robots came to investigate. The ones about him might have been scrap metal for all the life they now had. It seemed the thing was done.
Back in the streets, Wolf sat thinking on one of the loading platforms. Then he went to find the door into the tunnel. It was not as close as he had expected, but, when he found it, he found another also which opened into the tunnel some metres above the floor snare. Both had simple catches. Inside the tunnel there was no sign of the power at all.
On a sudden thought, Wolf went back, and lifted the double lever to its old position, and the other just high enough to make the meters flicker, and the robots to click alive. Then he returned to the tunnel. Only a faint sensation touched his mind.
Back inside again, he searched through the skeletons until he found one with cap and pack. He removed it, and set the cap on his own head. Then, carrying the pack, he returned to the door. He felt nothing. Five times he returned to lift the lever. Each time the power was stronger without the cap, with the cap, he could feel nothing.
It explained the power. Possibly it explained also the hate that had caused the widespread slaughter. The people of the city had used the power as a weapon, as well as an easy way to harvest domestic animals. Perhaps it was more terrible even than that. Wolf remembered the piles of hides of bird people. Possibly the bird people were cannibals, preying on their less fortunate fellows who must have lived poorly to have left so little behind.
But they had developed a means of countering the deadly weapon, and, all over the planet, they had attacked with the fury of a people long wronged. Was it possible that the ruined city of the plains had been the headquarters of the attackers, and had the people of this city blasted it in a last act of revenge. Then, lastly, set the power against them, and left the robots to keep it for all time. Had the skeletons of the cellar been locked in to keep them from being drawn into the slaughterhouse of their enemies?
If that was so, why could they not have merely worn their caps? Why had they not destroyed the machine when they won the city? Had some relief come to the city before they had had time to do so? If that was so, why were the dead left to rot in the streets? From whom was the city hidden? For whom was the material in the warehouses intended? It was far too much for the needs of the city. There were many questions, and few answers. All might come clear in time. For now, he had done what he had set out to do. He had found Leeli Pa'Lar, and he had turned off the power. He could go back to Hi City, and claim a fortune, an estate, and a bride.
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Chapter 14
It took a long time to locate digging tools in the great city. In a place where robots did the work, there was little need of hand tools. He even defied the robots of the commercial area, and searched along the shelves of goods without success. At last, however, he found a small building that housed such things. It may have been an outfitter for exploratory expeditions, for the shelves held camping gear, weapons, tools, and a variety of equipment whose use was not readily apparent. It had its resident skeleton, but it did not rate a permanent robot, though everything was cleaned and, no doubt, kept in working order.
A rack of spades could have come from any Earth factory, except that the handles were metal, and slightly longer than human ones. Picks, on the other hand seemed more a combination of sledge hammer and pick head, again with a metal handle.
Wolf left the city immediately, carrying only the digging tools, a laser type weapon, one of the little cap outfits, and a new spear fashioned hurriedly from a shaft from the little plain, and one of the knives of the skeletons. Riches he had found beyond his dreaming, but they would remain there a little time yet.
He had not tried to sleep in the city of the dead, he was in far too much awe to attempt that, so, after he had carried the body of Leeli out to the plain, and had buried her by the tiny stream where it came out of the true hills, he fitted the cap to his head in case the robots were programmed to re-activate the power after a lapse of time, found a niche he could barricade against the kerries, and slept the night away.
He travelled leisurely back towards Hi City exploring, and searching for further relics of the bird people. There was amazingly little evidence of the presence of a people. He thought back to what Earth would look like should the people die or leave, and could only conclude that, even after centuries, there would be signs of buildings, ancient roads, and railways, dams, power lines, and irrigation ditches. Here, there was none. Obviously, they had hidden from an enemy, but they could not always have been hiding. There seemed to be only one conclusion possible. They, like man, had come from another planet, but, unlike man, they had not come to make this their home, but rather to rape
it of its minerals and animal life. Perhaps they sought to keep the secret of their wealth from their fellows, perhaps they lived outside the law of their own kind—such people as turned such a horrible weapon on their own kind could easily be so.
Such speculation, however, produced only a multitude of questions, and a complete lack of answers. Wolf's thoughts turned back to Margaret, and the joys that awaited him, and he quickened his pace and took a more direct route. He travelled carefully because he was going against the direction of travel tolerated by the kerries, though, with the power turned off, they seemed to be interested in him only as food, and the couple that did begin to stalk him on the second day out, had killing on their minds.
He had tried the laser against rocks, and had found it roughly similar to a human weapon on the second setting. The first gave a low powered flash over a wide area that would have been effective against charging animals at close range, and didn't need to be aimed. The third setting burned a hole through solid rock at twenty metres with a glare that hurt his eyes. He didn't try it at the fourth, and final, setting. The first setting was sufficient to deter the kerries without really harming them.
The clash, minor though it was, reminded him of the need to keep a constant survey of his route. So it was that he picked up the patrol from a long way back. It surprised him. He didn't think he had been gone so long that the governor would have become all that anxious. Actually he had believed they would not show any great anxiety if he never returned, other than Margaret that was, and he was greatly pleased. He turned to cut the path of the patrol, and, on his last mind sweep before meeting up with them, he was mildly amused to pick up two kerries stalking them. Instinctively, he swept ahead of them also. There were two already in ambush there, The patrol seemed to be walking blindly into them.
With sudden alarm, he swept along their minds to see if they were aware. They were not. He was too far away to get a clear reading, but something was very wrong. They were seeing the forest—it was not even jungle—as alien. They were not High American. They were from Earth. What were they doing?
He sprinted to come within reading range, and was almost there when the kerries struck. The leader's mind flared into shock and horror, and suddenly blinked out. There was distant shouting, and confusion. The kerries from behind struck also. Laser beams cut wild streaks across the sky. Then the kerries withdrew, carrying off two men, and leaving another two dead, and one wounded. One kerry had died. They had all but wiped out an armed Patrol.
It was some time before the confusion died down sufficiently for Wolf to read any sense out of a mind. When he did, he read mainly fear and shock, but he did get a very good description of himself, and the determination to shoot on sight, and the name of Pa'Lar. It was enough.
All that was left of the patrol were common soldiers, bred for the ability to carry out orders quickly and efficiently. They knew little about what was going on except that they had come from Earth to take over High America for Pa'Lar. That Wolf was to be shot on sight was very clear in each mind, but not the reason for it.
About what to do, now that their leadership had been destroyed, they had little idea. Wolf left them to sort it out for themselves, and set off at full speed for the city.
He did not stop for darkness, but used his mind almost continuously to find his path. By dawn he could hear the sounds of battle faintly. It seemed to be scattered. He did not make for the main part of the city but detoured to come up on Cort's holding through the jungle.
From a high place on the last line of hills before the broken plateau country, he got a glimpse of space port. Five great ships needled up from it now. They must have planeted while he was inside the city, or when he was incapable of being aware of anything other than the machine.
As he approached the inhabited area, he came into a region of confused battle. Small groups stalked each other in the jungles, firing on sight. The Earth soldiers, though jungle trained, were not a match for the natives in such forays, and were getting the worst of it, but there was no sense of victory in the minds Wolf managed to touch. On the contrary, all the locals shared a sense of desperation. The city was lost, that was very clear, and so too were most of the holdings. There was no food, or reserve of weapons. Only a terrible anger, and a burning for revenge, kept them fighting grimly. There wasn't one who saw any hope for himself.
Wolf moved through the fighting groups, using his mind to avoid both sides. The Earth men had been given strict instructions to blast him on sight, and there was a substantial reward on his head. The locals were in the mood to shoot first, and question later. There were not many of them who actually knew him by sight, and his size spoke of soldier. He needed to find one of the men from Cort's holding, or the governor.
Actually he found the truck driver who had brought him in from the Star-bird. For a moment it was touch and go, but then the driver recognised him, and let out a shout of joy. “Hey Kys! Here! I found him! The KY the Gov wants! It's him! I'm the one that spotted him! You'll tell the gov, won't you, Ky? I spotted you. Worth a thousand of the best, you are! Old Courteau's going mad for you! Come on you lot! We got him.”
“Make any more bloody noise, and old Pa'Lar'll have the lot of us you crazy hole-head!” growled one of his companions stepping out of the jungle, cradling a laser, and eyeing Wolf with undisguised curiosity. “Come on, then! Let's get him to the Gov. What the hell one man can do in this space-up, I'll be damned if I know, but I won't be sorry to get back to camp for a bit. This bloody jungles giving me space-rot.”
They moved off slowly and cautiously, far too slowly for Wolf's peace of mind, so he offered to warn them of any people they might come near. “How the hell do you plan on doing that?” The truck driver demanded.
“Back home, I was a hunter,” Wolf answered as though that was answer enough.
“Yes, and back home I was a truckie, but it don't make me God.”
“I've hunted in jungles like this all my life.”
“You reckon you can spot them before they spot us, even if they're sitting?”
“You ever know a soldier to be absolutely quiet. Quieter than a kerry?”
“Aren't nothing quieter than a kerry when he's sitting.”
“I can pick up a kerry. I'd be dead now if I couldn't.”
“Yeah, guess you would. You move up there behind Turk. He knows the country hereabouts.”
Turk was a young man with a bandaged arm, and a coldly controlled pair of blue eyes, whose mind was a seething storm of hate. He had seen his father and baby son shot down, and to kill was his only desire. He wasn't normally a sender, but now he was broadcasting like a beacon.
For the rest of the journey through the jungle, along creek beds, and across open spaces, Wolf was too occupied in surveying the area to read minds. Twice he signalled the small group to a stop, and they eased around enemy patrols. Then they entered thick jungle to the south of the city, and into an area controlled by the High Americans. They crossed two defence lines, and entered a hastily constructed jungle stronghold. Courteau was there, looking as though he had aged a decade since Wolf had taken leave of him only a few weeks before.
His face brightened a little as Wolf walked into the camp.
“You got back, eh? Didn't really expect to see you again, and that's the truth. Come in here. I want to talk to you.” He led the way inside a tent where four men were slumped on chairs or ground sheets on the damp earth. All looked as though they had not slept for days, had eaten little, and washed less. They looked like defeated men, and their minds were tired, and had the hopelessness of animals that are ready to accept death, but will fight as a natural thing. All had an underlying anger that burned strongly yet.
One was Cort. He looked up from his chair, and his face lightened for a moment of recognition, and there was genuine welcome in his eyes. Then he sank back into fatigue, and a sad memory of evil done. “You find that thing?” Courteau asked as they entered.
“Yes.” Wolf answered shortly.
“What was it?”
“A machine.”
“Machine! But who—”
“You aren't the first on this planet. Governor.”
“You mean there were people here before us, and they set up that thing?” Courteau was openly incredulous. The others were sitting up, for the moment diverted from their own woes.
“That's right. Governor.” Wolf laid the cap, and pack on the table.
“Take a look at that, and this.” He handed over the laser.
“What's this?”
“It's a cap. It stops the thing from affecting you. The laser is somewhat more powerful than ours. Works on a slightly different principle too.”
“You found them where that—that machine was?”
“Yes.”
“They still work?”
“There's robots that look after them.”
“Robots! You say! How big is this place? How come we've never seen it?”
“It's underground.”
“You find the Pa'Lar girl?”
“Yes.”
“Dead, I suppose.”
“Yes. She's dead.”
“Pity. Old Pa'Lar's up there sitting on a ship load of nuks. If we had his daughter here we could talk to him.”
“What happened?” Wolf asked.
“What happened! I let myself be fooled completely, that's what happened. The bastards came with a story that the sensitives had taken over on Earth, and they were refugees. They wanted to land and live here. It looked all right. Had papers in the right code and everything. I let them land. They said they wanted to meet the full council to get their status straightened out. Then they hit us without warning. Lucky the bastards fouled up the times—our hours are longer you know—or they'd have taken the whole council. As it was, they got some of our best men. Took the weapons, medicine, food, factories, mines, and communications in a few minutes. The bastards must have been planning it for years. Some of the outer holdings held out for a while, and we managed to get some food out, but we're in a hopeless fix. We haven't enough food to feed us properly, and when the charges run out in the lasers, we've had it.”