"I've heard of it, but don't know the exact location."
Aarnto pointed to the K'Mari Range, indicating twin peaks that curled
up like devil's horns. "Guide your course directly between those. The
Canal ends somewhere in the foothills below."
"Thanks, Aarnto." Ketrik placed his hand on the man's shoulder, in the
Rajec custom. "May I repay you some day!"
"That day may come soon," the other said calmly. "I can almost promise
it."
Ketrik wondered what he meant by that, but wasted no more time on
words. Turning abruptly, he set out across the desert. The six Martians
watched him go. One of them, who had been silent and surly, frowned
thoughtfully now as he stared after Ketrik's retreating figure.
Ketrik judged the hills to be fifteen miles away at this point. He'd
be lucky if he reached them before nightfall. After that, well, there
were tales about those abandoned Canals....
He directed his course between the curving peaks. In a few hours the
ground began to rise slightly, became firmer underfoot. Still later,
deep little gullies began crossing the terrain. He followed these,
changing from one to the other, searching for some sign of the Canal.
After an interminable search, he was rewarded. He began to notice
peculiarities of the gully in which he trod. It seemed to level out,
and the walls seemed smoother and higher. He scraped away layers of
sand, saw ancient stone.
By this time the sun had dropped below his vision. He knew that any
minute the Martian night would come with awful suddenness. And with it,
would come ... other things.
But Ketrik was unprepared for what came in that moment. He heard a
sudden sharp _whirr_ of blades, and a 'copter appeared above him! It
swept so low he could almost see the pilot. There was no doubt the
pilot had seen him, for a heat-beam sliced downward, swept along the
Canal floor. Ketrik leaped aside, hugged the sandy wall.
Then the 'copter was gone, but Ketrik knew it would circle and return.
That could only mean one thing. The caravan had reached the Station,
and one of those Martians had spoken of him to the Specials.
Ahead, through the gloom, the Canal seemed to dip into a sort of
culvert. He raced for it as he heard the whirring blades again, entered
the dark tunnel just as the heat-beam sprayed downward, sending the
sand into molten froth. Ketrik groped forward in darkness. The tunnel
leveled and continued. Ketrik's heart leaped as he realized where he
was. This was one of the abandoned Canals which had been filled with
slag from the Martian mines. But years ago pirates had conceived the
unique idea of burrowing through it, making a perfect retreat from
Turibek to the mountains!
* * * * *
Suddenly he started. Far behind he heard a scuffle of steps. That could
only be the Martian Special! There was no doubt, now, that word had
gone to Dar Vaajo; they really wanted to stop him! Ketrik grinned and
went on, hurrying his steps a little. Rajecs could see in the dark, but
Martians couldn't. If it came to a showdown....
His grin soon vanished. All about him now he heard vicious little
animal squeals, the scuffing of tiny feet. Scavengers! There must be
thousands of them. He saw their baleful red eyes. They gradually grew
bolder, began nipping at him. Soon his trousers were in shreds from the
knees down, and he felt the flow of blood.
There was one satisfaction. The Martian coming behind must be suffering
the same treatment! But the man kept coming. The footsteps were dogged
and Ketrik knew he had a real antagonist here.
Now the scavengers were becoming more than annoying. He knew that
before he ever reached the city, he would weaken from loss of blood and
they'd pull him down. He could use the electro to clear a path through
the vicious beasts--but he knew the one coming behind was waiting for
that, waiting for any sign of light that would give him a clear target.
Ketrik gritted his teeth and went on, occasionally kicking out at the
beasts in the dark. It didn't do much good.
Then, far ahead, he saw the faintest glow of light. It seemed to come
from around a bend in the tunnel. If he could only get up there in
time--and beyond that light, before his pursuer came into view....
He sprinted ahead now, noiselessly. The scavengers squealed in renewed
fury, racing along beside him. Once he stumbled, felt a horrid mass of
the things swarming. But he fought his way up. By the time he reached
the light, he was sure he had gained a considerable distance on his
pursuer.
He hurried around the bend, saw that the faint light came from a radium
lamp in the ceiling. It had probably been there for years. But what
held his attention, and brought him to a standstill, was the figure
huddling against the wall.
It was an Earthman and he was still alive. His clothes were in shreds
and the rats had been at him--before he reached this light where the
rats did not come. He struggled up weakly, gazed at Ketrik out of
idiotic eyes. Ketrik hurried forward, pulled the man erect.
One look into his gibbering face, and Ketrik felt his stomach turn
over in a prodigious yawn.
_It had taken more than the rats and darkness to do this! The
Earthman's mind had been literally and deliberately blasted!_
Ketrik suddenly remembered what Mark had said of Dr. Ransome, whom
they'd found drifting near the moon ... his mind that of a week-old
infant....
He hurriedly searched the man's clothes, but found nothing. He
knew this must be one of the operatives whom Mark had sent a month
before--E-39 or EV-5. The other must be dead, somewhere in this tunnel
or back at their communications base in the mountains.
He spoke softly to the man, but the other only cringed in terror.
Then, with unexpected strength, he tore himself from Ketrik's grasp
and was scuttling away, back around the bend of the corridor. Ketrik
followed, called a warning. He reached the bend too late. He heard the
hiss of a heat-gun and saw the vivid blue streak of it from out of the
darkness--a streak that touched the Earthman's chest and sent him
crumpling.
Ketrik fired at the spot where the ray had appeared, fired
instinctively but unerringly. He heard a soft moan that ended abruptly,
then a clatter of sound.
He moved slowly forward, hugging the wall. He feared a trick. Past the
little radius of light where the Earthman's body lay, he stumbled upon
the Martian Special. He flashed his electro again and saw that the man
was unmistakably dead. He went back to the Earthman, stared down for a
moment. There was no doubt that he had unwittingly saved Ketrik's life.
"Guess you served your purpose here, after all," Ketrik murmured, but
his thoughts at that moment were not as calloused as the words.
With a few strokes of his electro, he removed the crystyte globe of
radium from the ceiling; and carrying this light, he was no longer
bothered by the scavengers. For hours he proceeded along the tunnel. At
last, infinitely weary and wracked with pain, he reached a blank wall.
Searching around it, he at last found a loose stone which he pulled
away. A tiny metal lever was revealed. After tugging interminably at it
and pounding the rust away, Ketrik managed to pull it slowly back.
The entire wall swung around on pivots. A blast of foul air struck
him. Ketrik stepped into a small passage. He recognized it as one of
the underground sewers of Turibek. He followed it and came to a short
flight of stone stairs leading up to a hinged door. Slowly he shoved it
open.
He was in Turibek! This was one of the narrow, winding streets in the
warehouse district. He glanced at the sky. It was night. Deimos was
gone below the horizon, but Phobos rode high on liquid sapphire.
Ketrik rested there for a few hours until Phobos descended. Then, in
the utterly dark hour that precedes dawn on Mars, he crept forth and
sought the shop of one Jal Thurlo in the Street of the Double Moon.