New Writings in SF 23 - [Anthology]

by Edited By Kenneth Bulmer

  ‘Thanks, Lee. You can have Alice Tuesdays and Fridays.’

  He’s only kidding, thought Lee, but how close to the truth was he ? He had not seen the woman since yesterday, but he was not the only one who had been thinking of her. One woman and seven men. One day a week each, except that on this world which no one had bothered to name they did not have weeks. But it would not be like that. He, Eugene and Steve would be running the village—until one of them decided to take sole charge. Maybe one of the guards would murder the other six in order to get Alice.

  Perhaps, said Lee to himself, I’d better do it before anyone else thinks of it. Winning the nurse was not a very pleasant prospect, but she was better than nothing. Better, anyway, than one of the five thousand grandmothers.

  It was a bloodless coup.

  After it was over, Eugene said to Steve and Lee: ‘I didn’t like doing it, but it had to be done.’

  Lee wondered if he was right. They had lived and worked together for three (Earth) months. Ever since the dome had been occupied. They were a team, reasonably friendly with each other. But now that was ended forever.

  ‘Do you want our guns as well ?’ he asked.

  ‘No,’ said Eugene. He smiled, trying to make it into a joke, and added: ‘Not yet.’

  ‘What are you going to do with the guns ?’ said Steve.

  ‘I’ll handle them.’ With that he left.

  ‘Deputy Lee, I think we’d better watch our step.’

  ‘Deputy Steve, I agree with you. Guess I’ll mosey along down the saloon.’

  Lee found himself walking towards the block which housed the doctor’s office, where Alice was. But he saw a uniformed figure crossing over towards the building and go inside. At that distance he could not make out who it was. He turned around and went back. He wondered what happened next.

  * * * *

  The long column of people shuffled obediently along the path, up the ramp and into the portal. Some had walking sticks. Others were in wheel-chairs. They talked a little among themselves. Despite their nervousness, on the whole they were pleased to be leaving the village.

  The guards stood in two groups and watched them go. One of the group of four occasionally glanced towards the other three, as if wondering if they were going to be made to go through the portal also. The same question was in Lee’s mind.

  Two of this world’s days had elapsed since they had lost contact. Alice reported several people had died for one reason or another and demanded that something be done. Lee had been there when she came to speak to Eugene.

  ‘You’ve got to do something,’ she said.

  ‘All right,’ said Eugene. ‘We’ll send them back through the gate.’

  ‘But it’s not working.’

  ‘We can’t get anything in, but we can get people out.’

  True, thought Lee. The question was: Where did they finish up when they went out? What had happened to Rob? He could have got back safely, they had no way of knowing.

  ‘The sooner the better,’ said Alice.

  And so it was arranged.

  The villagers were told they had to be temporarily evacuated until electricity and everything else was restored. They could take with them only what they could carry. Block by block, they started to leave.

  We’re murdering them, thought Lee, and they’re queuing up to die. Next to him Steve said:

  ‘They might be getting back.’

  ‘Trying to convince yourself?’

  ‘It’s better than them dying here,’ said Eugene.

  ‘Are you going through?’ Lee asked him.

  Eugene was saved from having to reply by the arrival of Alice.

  ‘Can I go back now?’ she asked.

  Eugene hesitated.

  Lee said: ‘Don’t you think you should wait until the others have all gone? In case someone needs treatment.’ It’s we who need treating, he thought; they’re as good as dead already. He tried not to think of them as individuals, as people. Because only when he did so would he comprehend the slaughter in which he was taking part... and he hoped he never would.

  ‘I think you should wait,’ said Eugene.

  ‘Very well.’

  ‘It’ll be about midday tomorrow. We can’t get them all through before it grows dark.’

  ‘More are going to die during the night. They’ll trip and break their necks, or their hearts will fail, or-’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Eugene said, interrupting. ‘I’m doing what I can.’

  Lee wondered how she would react when she realised what the security men had done. Perhaps she would not find out, she would walk into the gate not knowing. Would she enter the portal ? Would he let her ? Lee was determined he would not go through. Inside the apartments he would find enough tinned foods to live on for years. He would rather venture into the unknown beyond the dome than into the other unknown—the portal.

  * * * *

  The next day Chris and Jay were missing. The other two claimed no knowledge of their whereabouts. They could have gone through the portal, no one had been guarding it, but it seemed unlikely. It was equally improbable that they had left the dome and gone outside.

  ‘They must be hiding because they think we’ll make them go through the gate,’ said Eugene. ‘We’ll deal with them later. Let’s finish off the last two buildings.’

  ‘How will you deal with them?’ asked Lee. ‘Are you going to make them go through?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘We will all stay here and guard the dome. That’s our job.’

  ‘If we don’t want to stay ?’ said Steve.

  ‘No one has to.’

  ‘And Alice?’

  ‘That’s up to her.’

  ‘There she is,’ said Lee. ‘Chris is with her.’

  ‘Chris,’ she said when she reached them, ‘has told me what’s going on. I demand that you stop sending people through the portal. You’ve no idea what happens to them. They might die.’

  ‘Where’s Jay?’ Eugene asked Chris.

  ‘Haven’t seen him.’

  ‘Steve, Lee, lock these two up. Unless either of you want to take your chance in there.’ Eugene pointed towards the gate.

  ‘You mean you’re not going to stop?’ said Alice.

  ‘I can’t stop. If they stay here, they’ll die. Through there they might not/

  ‘But it’ll be fixed soon.’

  ‘Three days should have been long enough. Take them away.’

  People started going through the portal again.

  * * * *

  Alice reappeared as the first group from the final dwelling block began to go through. From nowhere, she was suddenly at the head of the queue of villagers and shouting at them, warning them not to go forward, that if they did so they would die. Lee caught sight of Chris. Jay must have broken the lock to free them.

  The people stopped moving forward and the line broke up.

  Lee unholstered his revolver. He saw Eugene at the entrance to the portal raise his gun and fire a single shot into the air. He was trying to restore some sort of order, but his action had the opposite effect. He was shouting, attempting to reassure them. Instead, the old people backed away and started to hurry off, returning to their apartments. A man stepped towards Steve, shaking his fist. The guard shot him. Someone screamed and Steve fired again. Lee decided to take his leave. He saw somebody tackle Steve from the rear and take his revolver. It was Jay. He had shed his uniform, putting on ordinary clothing. Jay saw Lee and shot at him. He missed, then dodged behind a storeroom wall. A mass of people had enveloped Steve’s fallen body, and Lee realised there was nothing he could do for him.

  He saw Eugene firing into the rioting crowd. He could not see Alice anywhere. Pushing away wrinkled hands which clawed at him, Lee forced his way through the fleeing mob and ran towards the nearest housing block. If he could make it, he would be safe there. It had been the first one evacuated. He reached it safely and waited at the door for a minute, catching hi
s breath and watching the fleeing crowd. A man in uniform was running towards him. It was Allan. Lee kept the revolver in his hand as he slowed and stopped in front of him.

  ‘They might be old,’ said Allan, ‘but they can move when they have to.’

  Lee nodded in agreement. ‘I saw Jay jump Steve and take his gun. They got him. You okay?’

  ‘Fine. But they’re tearing Daren to pieces.’

  ‘Eugene?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Alice?’

  ‘I saw Chris pulling her away. What are you going to do ?’

  ‘Who knows?’ Lee shrugged. ‘What about you?’

  ‘I haven’t got a gun. And it ain’t safe around here. I’ll try and bust in Eugene’s room tonight and get mine back.’

  ‘And till then?’

  ‘Are you staying in this place?’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I’ll stay with you if it’s okay.’

  ‘It isn’t.’

  ‘I see.’ Allan walked away.

  Lee reasoned that he ought to kill him before he became a threat; but he let him go. Then he went to the top floor and chose a room.

  * * * *

  There was no reason why the five remaining guards, if there were still five, could not live in harmony. If they united, they could force the remaining villagers through the portal and share what remained—the buildings, the food. They could have two blocks each. Yet Lee knew it was too late for that now; perhaps it had always been too late.

  On the top floor alone he had found plenty of food, but his problem was that he had very little to drink. He was trying the floor below when he found Jay waiting for him behind a door. He dropped his gun.

  ‘How did you find me?’

  ‘Allan said you were in this block.’

  He should have moved to another. It was stupid to use this one after the other guard had seen him.

  ‘Is Allan with you now?’

  ‘He took a short walk. Through the portal. And that’s where you’re going. Come on.’ He picked up the other gun and they went out of the door and down the stairs.

  ‘I’d rather go outside,’ said Lee.

  ‘I’m sure you would. That’s where most of the oldsters are.’

  ‘They went out? They survived?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why not me?’

  ‘I want you out of the way.’

  ‘Because of Alice?’

  Jay did not answer.

  ‘Chris and Eugene still around?’

  ‘They won’t help you.’

  ‘No.’

  They made their way to the exit. Jay kept well back, a gun in each hand, looking around all the time. They reached the ramp. Lee stopped.

  ‘Don’t dawdle,’ Jay told him. ‘I can still shoot you. This way you’ve got a chance.’ He laughed. ‘Maybe the ones who’ve gone through are the lucky ones. The portal might be working in that direction.’

  ‘Thanks for those few kind words.’

  ‘In ten seconds I’m going to empty this in there.’ Jay held up the gun in his right hand. ‘So get running.’

  Lee did as he was told. Perhaps it would be best if he did go straight through. Even if he stopped just inside the blackness and Jay’s bullets missed him, the man would probably wait around to see if he came out. He would not be given a second chance.

  The blackness engulfed him. He could almost feel it, it was so tangible. The same moment, almost lost in the all-absorbing dark, he heard a shot. Without thinking, he sent himself diving to the floor. Ten seconds already? He heard two more shots. Jay said he would empty his revolver and had given the impression that the chambers were full. They might not have been, or maybe he had changed his mind, but a few seconds later Lee crawled back towards the entrance and looked out.

  Jay was sprawled across the ramp and Eugene was picking up the two guns. Swiftly, Lee backed into the tunnel a couple of feet and stood up. He waited a long time before coming out. His only chance now was to find a gun. Eugene had all three, as well as the four he had taken when the others were disarmed. Lee knew he could wait until nighttime and then slip out of the dome, but he would not be safe until the last two were dead.

  He should have followed Eugene, but there were all sorts of things in his life he should have done. The other security man had seen Jay make him enter the portal. He did not know he was back in the village, and that was where Lee’s advantage lay.

  * * * *

  Jay had the right idea in getting rid of his uniform. Lee outfitted himself in a set of clothes he found in one apartment, and took a walking stick from another. He debated whether to make use of a wig he found somewhere else, but decided he need not go that far. A sharpened carving knife provided him with his armament; he fashioned a makeshift sheath and hid the weapon down his left sleeve.

  So far as Eugene was concerned, Chris was the only one left. But what of Chris? He would not know how many there were. Did he still have Alice with him? It seemed likely. If Lee was in his position, he would try to get as far away as possible. Jay had said that almost all the villagers had fled the dome, presumably so they would not be forced through the portal. And that was where Chris would have gone. Eugene would have used the same reasoning. All Lee really needed to do was to wait until one of them killed the other—as Eugene had waited to shoot Jay until he had forced Lee into the entrance of the portal.

  The village seemed totally deserted as, leaning on his stick, Lee slowly made his way to the dome wall. He had expected that everyone had got out via the waste disposal hatches, but instead he found that a hole had been smashed through the double transparent walls. He could not imagine how that had been done, but he had better things to think about. He stepped out on to the surface of the alien world.

  There was no sign of life. Any sort of life. The land was rugged and desolate with very little vegetation, though towards the horizon the slopes seemed far less barren. It did not seem very probable, but that must have been where most of the villagers were hiding. Jay could, however, have been wrong or lying. Most of them could still be within the dome, hidden in their apartments. They were long past the age for clambering over rocks.

  Could something have killed them all? Not the atmosphere, because Lee had unknowingly been breathing it since the wall had been breached. Wild animals? Contaminated water? There had to be a reason for the dome’s existence. Or was it meant not to keep something out, but to keep the people in ?

  There were only three people in whom Lee had any interest.

  * * * *

  He found Eugene first. It was the noise of a shot which attracted him, the day after he had left the dome. He had soon exhausted all his supplies and had even been forced to drink from a pool of water he came across. As yet, he had felt no ill effects.

  When he heard the shot, Lee immediately ducked behind the nearest outcropping of rock. Eugene—it had to be him —was not far away, and for a short while Lee thought he was the target. But there was no more shooting, and after a few minutes he began to crawl in the direction he guessed the sound had come from.

  Eugene was above him, still wearing his uniform, and there was a body a few feet away. It was not Chris’s. The guard held a can to his lips and was pouring its contents into his mouth. Lee gathered that he had murdered the man for his food. Yet why had he wasted a bullet? The man would not have been able to get away from him.

  Lee became still, waiting. He drew out his knife, transferring the walking stick to his left hand.

  Finally Eugene started to move across the rise, and Lee saw why he had been forced to shoot. He moved very slowly and with extreme difficulty, dragging his right leg and putting no weight on it. He kept against a wall of rock, leaning against it and holding himself up with his hands. He was so concerned with not falling that it was easy for Lee to come up behind him and break the walking stick across the back of his head. Eugene fell.

  ‘Are you going to shoot me?’ he asked a few minutes later. ‘You can hardly make me
walk through the portal.’

  Lee stood well away from him, checking the three revolvers.

  ‘I could have shot you with Jay, but I didn’t.’

  Still Lee said nothing.

  ‘I can hardly move. Let me have a gun with one bullet. Put it down there. By the time I reach it you’ll be out of the way.’

  ‘Where’s Chris?’

  ‘I haven’t see him.’