14
Clatclit came lumbering into the chamber, and paused to survey the
remnants of our meal. He pointed to me, then to Snow, then made the
palms-down outward gesture and looked questioningly.
"Yeah," I said. "We're finished, Clatclit. Thanks."
He nodded, then beckoned to me, and pointed toward the tunneled gloom
beyond the archway.
"Come with you?" I said. "Come where?"
He pointed down.
"Downstairs?" I asked.
Furious glare.
It was nearly impossible to think, with Snow sitting right there across
from me, but luckily my memory came through with what that gesture had
meant the last time he'd used it.
"Mars?" I said softly.
Side-to-side motion of the head.
"Something like Mars. The Ancients!"
Brisk nods.
Snow got to her feet, apprehensive.
"It's all right," I said. "Remember. So far, they want me alive. I
don't have to worry unless they think up a scheme that doesn't need me."
"No, Jery, I'm coming with you!" she said, clutching my arm. Those
smooth little fingers bit in like dull teeth. She must have been better
at sports than her pupil, Ted.
"Snow, the way I see it, this is going to be dangerous."
Her fists went to her hips. "And by what omniscience are you certain
that I'll be safe back here?" she queried.
She had me there. The sugarfeet were being buddies at the moment.
However, a quick change of plan, and Snow might end up vaporized,
gnawed, or just left to starve in this devious labyrinth.
"Okay, come along," I sighed. "But hold my hand."
"I won't get lost," she protested.
"That wasn't the reason, honey," I grinned at her.
Her eyes flashed a moment, and her nostrils made a perfunctory flare.
Then she smiled, surprisingly shy, and slipped her hand into mine. "For
moral support," she said.
"Nice rationalizing," I said, but she didn't pull away. Together, we
followed Clatclit out of the chamber.
And that's when I learned the primary function of that red spike at
the tip of the tail. No sooner were we away from the fungus-lighted
chamber, than that tiny trylon began to glow, first pale pink, then a
brighter scarlet, and finally a brilliant yellow-orange. We followed
that bobbing tailtip like the _ignis fatuus_ through the bowels of
Hell. Snow's grip on my hand grew a little tighter as we progressed
along the slippery red rock of the nearly circular passage.
"A regular candy-coated firefly," I joked, to lighten her mood.
"What'll they think of next!"
She didn't answer.
"Bad joke?" I asked.
"No ... it's--Did you notice, Jery? We're going _down_."
We did seem to be descending, at that. I could imagine Snow's mind
conjuring up tons of planet pressing down on us without warning.
"Not down," I said to her. "Downer. If it sets your mind at rest, we
just took off from a place way below ground. If the roof didn't fall in
there, it probably won't up ahead."
"How do you know that?" she asked, her curiosity taking the place of
her trepidation, which was what I'd hoped for.
"The air," I said. "We were breathing in that chamber, remember? For
the air to be that plentiful, we just had to be far under the ground,
already. The atmosphere grows denser as one descends, you know; like on
the canal bottoms."
"I've never been on a canal bottom," she said.
"Come to think of it, neither have I! I must have read that someplace."
We followed Clatclit and his magic taillight a few more yards, then
Snow said, "You don't have to kid around to buck me up, Jery."
"Oh, yes I do," I disagreed sincerely. "For some reason or other, my
main worry at the moment is for you. So if I can keep you happy, I'm
happy. See?"
"Uh-huh," she said softly. Her hand pressed mine more tightly for a
brief moment. "Thanks."
"If you think you can repay my efforts with a mere word of gratitude,"
I said in a villainous whisper, "you have lots to learn about men, poor
child."
"Jery, don't joke any more. I'm frightened, really frightened," she
said, her voice trembling.
"Okay," I said, and left off. I didn't tell her, but my own pulsebeat
wouldn't have qualified me for a hero medal, either. Then, up ahead
in the blackness beyond Clatclit's glowing tail spike, I heard a dull
roaring.
A few hundred yards further on, the roar was louder, and I could feel
it through the soles of my boots.
"What is it, Jery?" Snow whispered.
"It sounds like water!" I said. "Like more water than I thought there
was on this whole spaceborne Death Valley!"
"Jery!" Snow's fingers dug into my palm. "If this is the way to the
Ancients, then this must be what Clatclit meant when he told you he
could only take you so far and no further!"
"Sure it is!" I exclaimed excitedly. "A child could have figured it
out. What else but water could impede these rock-hard things!"
Clatclit was slowing his pace and moving more carefully. Then, not ten
feet in front of him, the fiery glow of his tail tip was reflected
from a million foaming, shifting wet surfaces. He took another few
courageous steps, then halted, pressed back against the curve of the
tunnel wall.
He'd averted his gaze from the raging torrent beyond him, but his
outstretched hand still pointed in that direction. I felt a cold wet
spray on my face, and saw, with a little shock, that some of the
glittering facets of Clatclit's scaly hide were already becoming pocked
and eroded.
"We'll have to go fast," I said, releasing Snow's hand only to clutch
her arm tightly against my side. "If we take too long, our luciferous
friend here will be a sticky red puddle. And I don't intend crossing
that in the dark!"
"_That_" was a jagged ridge of rock that continued forward from where
our segment of tunnel ended, scant feet beyond Clatclit's cowering
form. It was glistening with pools of black water and wet froth, flung
up there by the raging river that passed less than a foot beneath its
slightly arched surface. The torrent rushed angrily from somewhere in
the hollow blackness to our right, leaped and sprayed past the natural
bridge of rock, barely two feet wide, that lay before our feet, and
then--
My stomach grew sick at the sight just to the left of the bridge.
The vaulted tunnel which contained this black Martian river dipped and
dropped. The river, just beyond our frail bridge, was a black cataract
falling into the heart of the planet.
"Jery," Snow said, shivering. "Hold me. Hold me tight, or I'll never
get across that!"
"It's all right," I said, with a calm tone that surprised the hell out
of me. "Here." I got directly behind her and ran my hands along the
undersides of her forearms, gripping them tightly midway to her wrists.
"Now, just walk as I direct you, Snow. Close your eyes if you want. I
won't guide you wrong."
"I trust you, Jery," she said softly.
"Okay then, honey." I kept my voice gentle, soothing. "Left foot
forward. No, a bit more. There! Okay, now the right foot." She swayed
a little in my grasp, on the first slippery section of that dangerous
arch of rock. "Easy! That's it, honey, you're doing fine. Now your
left. Ah! Okay. And then the right. Swell."
Step by nightmare step, we crossed the arch, Snow moving her feet
blindly forward in exploratory shuffles, and I, forgetting my own
danger in my concern for her, moving steadily with her, eyeing each
spot on that rock ahead of her feet for safety. The light grew dimmer
by the minute as we crept further and further from Clatclit.
I wondered how long I could have stood in a spray of liquid caustic or
acid, holding a light for some friends.
Then the last step was made, and without my knowing how it happened,
Snow was tightly in my arms, facing me now, her silky hair against my
cheek, her arms locked about my waist.
"Easy, baby, easy." I mumbled into her ear. "We've arrived, we're okay.
Just relax."
She turned her face up to mine, and I forgot to speak. Suddenly my
mouth was down on hers, hard, my arms crushing her against me. We clung
like that for a dizzy moment, then broke apart.
"Snow," I gripped her wrists and held her there, staring at me. "Snow,
darling, if we ever get out of this alive--"
"I know," she breathed. "I know, Jery. I love you!"
I kissed her again, gently, this time. Then we started off down the
tunnel, away from Clatclit's light. I hoped he wasn't melted beyond
repair. I knew, though, after that shattering exchange of affection
with Snow, that I sure was!
Behind us the light vanished. I looked back, but could discern neither
Clatclit, nor the rock bridge, nor the torrent.
"I guess we feel our way from here on in," I remarked.
"No," said Snow, halting close beside me. "There, up ahead, Jery! A
light."
Together we moved down the tunnel. The light grew in intensity. Then
we'd reached the lighted area. We were face to face with a peculiar
red-bronze stone wall. No other tunnels led off from where we stood.
There was no direction we could go from there except back toward that
perilous underground cataract.
"Could we have come the wrong way?" Snow asked. "Maybe we missed a
turnoff back there in the tunnel where it was darker."
"No," I said. "I had my hands feeling the walls all the way from the
bridge onward, until we could see our way. This must be the right
place."
Then on a sudden instinctive hunch I turned to Snow. "Got a lipstick in
that handbag of yours?"
She looked at me blankly, but nodded, and produced the slim metal tube
for my inspection.
I took it from her fingers, slipped off the cap, and twirled up a
half-inch of the glossy red wax. "Now let's see if I'm right about this
wall," I said, and made a streaking motion across the rough surface
with the lipstick.
The end of the wax cylinder came away a bit disturbed by its apparent
contact with the surface before us, but the wall held no trace, no
mark, not even a smudge. I saw the little curls of sheared-off wax
falling down the face of the wall to the floor of the tunnel.