I seized the little arm; it felt like the shell of a huge crab. For a
moment we were all three entangled, floundering, unable to find a
foothold. Then suddenly I felt Snap pulling me loose.
"We've got him!"
The brown-shelled body of Wyk sank away from us, hit the floor and lay
still. I felt the floor under me, and Snap clutching at me.
In my hand I was clutching Wyk's little shoulder arm, with fingers
still gripping the weapon. I had jerked it out of his shoulder socket.
With a shudder I cast the noisome thing away. Whether Wyk was dead or
not we did not know. He lay on his back; the hideous face stared
upward.
"I cracked the shell," Snap gasped. "We've got to get out of here.
Better try and get the girls loose now."
We wasted no further time on Wyk. Snap snatched several of his weapons
and mechanical devices. We stowed them hastily in our pockets. One was
like another to us; we could only guess at their uses.
"His shoes, Gregg. I can't get the damn things off him."
"Here are shoes."
A small pile of shoes was in a corner of the room; wide, resilient
suction soles, built like sandals. They were very large, but the
things were so placed that it seemed we could fasten them to our
boots.
"But not now, Snap."
We snatched up four pairs of the shoes.
There seemed nothing else to do. Could we get the door open? Snap was
already fumbling at it. "Accursed thing! It won't give."
Then it slid open. The dim corridor was visible. No one, nothing, out
there. "Come on, Gregg! In a rush!"
We went like bouncing rubber figures up the incline ladder.
"Snap, watch out!" He all but cracked his head with an upward leap.
Every instant we expected to be set upon. There was a terraced upper
hall, black with shadow; dark ovals of doorways led into rooms.
No one here. As yet we were not discovered.
We stood at the intersection of two corridors. One went almost
vertically up, like a chimney extending into the dome peak of the
globe. Its sides were latticed; we could go up it hand over hand, like
monkeys. The other sloped at an angle downward.
"Which way?" Snap whispered. "What do you think? Got to find them."
It still lacked about five minutes of our designated time, but it
would not do to burst in upon the girls, perhaps to find Molo and
guards there.
"Let's wait a minute, listen, see if we can't get some idea."
We were backed against the corridor wall, almost in darkness. From the
dark length of the descending corridor came a thump, the sound of a
struggle, and then a muffled scream. Venza! And we heard her words:
"Anita! Look out for her! She's got a knife!"
As though diving into water, Snap and I plunged head first into the
blackness of the corridor.
12
Later, we learned that Anita and Venza had tried much the same tactics
on Meka that we had used on Wyk, but their task was more difficult.
She was suspicious of them. Venza asked her where the control station
was, but she wouldn't answer.
"Your brother said it was just beyond the dark forest," Anita said.
"What is the dark forest?"
"A place with trees where no one lives."
"Off that way." Venza gestured. "That's what Molo said. Will it be day
soon, or will the night keep on?"
"If they cause Wandl to rotate, it will soon be day." An ironic look
crossed Meka's face. "I am in no mood for answering more of your silly
questions. Save the breath."
"Well, if that's they way you feel about it," replied Venza laughing,
"we will. There's not much air in here." She shoved herself across the
floor toward the closed window.
"Get back!"
"Oh, all right--all right!"
Perhaps Meka herself felt there was not enough air. She stood
waveringly upright, and pushed herself with a slow leap for the
window. Her back for that moment was to Anita and Venza. They shoved
from the floor, whirled through the air and were upon her.
It was a brief struggle, and instantly they knew that they had lost.
The huge Martian whirled and flung them off. Her upflung fist, with a
blow like a man's, caught Anita's thigh and knocked her toward the
ceiling. She sank in a heap on the floor, saw that Venza had shoved
back, but was standing upright.
Anita bent double, with her feet braced against a chair, tensed to
shove forward again. At the still unopened window, Meka crouched.
Anita heard Venza's warning outcry. "Anita, look out for her! She's
got a knife!"
Upon this scene, in a moment, Snap and I came with a rush. The closed
door was not barred. We slid it down and catapulted through the
opening. Meka sailed over us. I swam up at her; seized her. The knife
ripped my blouse and slit the flesh of my upper arm with a glancing
blow. Then Snap came and struck against us; we sank to the floor.
Meka had fought silently, but now she was shouting. I twisted her
wrist, seized the knife handle and flung the knife away. I was aware
of Anita lunging to retrieve it. And over us Venza appeared, waving a
metal chair as though it were a huge feather.