Garth knuckled under. There was nothing else to do. He knew Brown
wouldn't hesitate to kill him, and, after all, what the devil did Paula
Trent mean to him? Her life was unimportant, compared to the hopeless
quest that had quickened in his mind, despite himself.
For Doc Willard might still be alive. Even if he wasn't, there was
that notebook the Doc had always carried around with him--a book that
contained the medico's theories about the Silver Plague. Even if that
ghastly dream-like memory were not merely delirium--even if Garth,
witless and unknowing, had killed Willard--there was always that dim,
desperate chance that the cure for the Plague might be found in the
Black Forest.
So--damn Paula Trent! She didn't matter, when the lives of millions
might depend on Garth's penetrating the jungle that had baffled him for
five years.
Without a word he turned and started back, Brown keeping close beside
him. The huge chamber loomed before them, filled with its cryptic
shadows. There was time now to see what they had missed in their quick
flight a few moments ago--though not much time, for pursuit might start
at any minute.
Dead silence, and darkness, broken by the crossing beams of the
brilliant lamps. Garth listened.
"Hear anything?"
Brown shook his head.
"Nothing."
"Okay. We'll try this way."
Then went into a passage that sloped down, ending in a vaulted room
larger than the first. Brown swung up his gun abruptly as a figure
seemed to leap from blackness in the ray of the lamp. Garth caught his
arm.
"Robot. Unpowered. They're all over the city."
The robots--slaves of the Ancients, Garth thought, who had died
with them, lacking the fuel that could quicken them to life. No
Earthly scientists had ever been able to analyze the construction of
the machines, for they were built of an alloy that was apparently
indestructible. Acid and flame made no impression on the smooth,
glittering black surface.
This one, like all the others, was roughly man-shaped, nearly eight
feet tall, and with four arms, the hands extended into limber jointed
fingers almost like tendencies. From the mask-like face complex glassy
eyes stared blankly. It stood motionless, guarding a world that no
longer needed guardians.
With a little shrug Garth went on, his ears alert for sounds. From the
walls bizarre figures in muraled panels watched. Those murals showed
a world of incredibly advanced science, Garth knew. He had seen them
before. He spared them not a glance now.