One of the riddled forms floundered and tried to rise. Elonie, no
longer lovely, but an agonized and gory victim. Someone stepped forward
and cooly shot her through the head. It was Gederr.
He faced forward. They brought broadcasting equipment to him, and he
suddenly grew huge on the screen.
"Attention," he bawled, "all true people of Dondromogon! We do not
hesitate to kill traitors, even the highest of rank! Those false folk
who made up the Council--they have died!"
He paused, glared, and swallowed. "I, Gederr, have discovered their
plot! They foisted off upon us a man of the Newcomers as Yandro--caused
us to accept him as a hero, when he was only the tool of their plan to
betray and sell us!"
A cheer came from somewhere, and he went on.
"They are dead! I remain to lead and protect you! And my command is,
find the false spy we accepted as Yandro! Search for him, find him and
kill him!"
* * * * *
Doriza and I looked at each other. "Where now?" she asked.
"Toward the battle zones," I replied. She closed a circuit and steered
us away.
The main corridor was almost deserted--apparently non-combatants had
been cleared out in anticipation of the battle. Again the speaker began
to yammer, Gederr speaking again:
"All defenses on alert! Watch for this man, falsely called Yandro--very
tall, strongly made, dark, young, scar on chin. He wears a red cloak.
With him is a woman of medium height, young, light brown hair, blue
eyes, more robust than common--"
"Not flattering, are they?" Doriza said, and smiled.
Up ahead, two guards gestured and bawled. One pressed a wall-button,
and a folding barrier crept across our way. "Vehicles out of running,"
said a guard as we slowed up.
"We're on the trail of those spies!" I yelled from the dark interior.
"Get that barrier out of our way!"
They hesitated, and Doriza threw in the speed-ahead lever. We smashed
through and away. Cries rang in our wake, and slugs struck the rear of
the vehicle. Two burned clear through the metal. I opened a panel to
kick them out, and they scorched my foot, clear through the stout shoe
sole.
"We must abandon this car, it's marked." Doriza was cutting speed.
"Let's jump, here in the shadows."
I jumped through the open panel, and managed to stay on my feet,
catching and helping Doriza as she jumped after me. The car hummed
onward, and smashed loudly into the wall beyond. Guards ran into view
from a doorway, chattering loudly.
Every back was toward us. We stole forward, and into the guardroom they
had abandoned. I saw dials and mechanism of both televiso and speaker
system. A couple of twists and pulls, and I had them out of commission.
"Slovenly discipline," I growled. "They should have left at least one
man in charge."
Dropping the telltale red cloak Doriza had given me--how long ago?
Yesterday?--I caught up instead a blue military cape, the property
of some officer. There was also an ornate helmet, which I jammed on
my head. "Stoop," Doriza counseled. "You're taller than any man on
Dondromogon. Now, maybe you'll get away with--whatever you're getting
away with."
Emerging, I strode toward the wreck. A man saw my cape and helmet of
authority. "Attention!" he called, and they stiffened respectfully.
"How close is the point of contact with the enemy?" I demanded with
official brusqueness.
One pointed the way. "Not far, sir. We're the last message-relay
station. Everything's in order, and--"
"Thanks," I said, and beckoned Doriza. We walked past. I wondered what
I could have done if these men had paused to think I might be the
culprit for whom Gederr was clamoring.
Up ahead was a cross-tunnel, and beyond that a fork. We heard men
talking and moving in the distance. Doriza pointed to an inscribed door.
"The way to the works below. I've seen it on the televiso. The mined
floor of the main chamber has a second cavern below."
I scowled. "As I remember, Gederr said he had blocked all advance
tunnels of the Newcomers, except at one spot. What kind of explosives
will he use?"
"Glare-rays," said Doriza. "You wouldn't know, Barak, the Newcomers
haven't any such. It's a special vibration-speed that sets atoms at
a pitch ready to fly violently apart. Anything it involves can be
exploded at the first touch of fire."
"Anything?" I repeated. "Weapons, men, earth? Doriza, can you operate
such a ray?"
"I think I can."
"Then come," and I pushed open the panel.
The elevator cage was waiting, and its operation not hard to study out.
Quickly we sped down and stepped forth into another great chamber,
bright and echoing. A sentry confronted us.
"Your pass?" he demanded.
I chose to bluster it out. "What kind of idling goes on here?" I
snapped at him. "I'm from the Council, to see if the report is
true--that you haven't made all ready for the ambush."
"But we have," he protested.
"You give me arguments, you insolent upstart? Where's your commander?"
I turned to face an officer that hurried up. "This sentry needs to be
disciplined, taught respect for his superiors," I scolded. "What have
you to say, sir, about the laxity and slowness of work here?"
"But we're ready and more than ready," the officer assured me. "Look,
sir," and he pointed. "This whole cavern is dug out to completion, the
overhead roof thinned for the explosion. See the play of glares upon
it."
* * * * *
I looked, and nodded as if in sour agreement. The earth floor was a
maze of cables and coils, and here and there, strategically placed,
were little wheeled stands with mechanisms atop. From each of these
beat upward a cone of glaring golden light against the rough ceiling.
It blinded me to look at them.
"The glares," Doriza murmured.
I gazed at the men on duty. "Is nobody armed? What if the Newcomers get
in here?"
The officer shook his head. "You know that weapons would be our own
destruction. Electro-automatics, disintegrators, ray-sabers--they all
give off flame. And a touch of flame in any one of these glare-fields
would explode the whole chamber, and the solid soil around it, into
atoms."