Hendricks sat down again slowly. He shook his head. He was numb. He
could not think.
"Do you see?" Tasso said. "Do you understand?"
Hendricks said nothing. Everything was slipping away from him, faster
and faster. Darkness, rolling and plucking at him.
He closed his eyes.
* * * * *
Hendricks opened his eyes slowly. His body ached all over. He tried to
sit up but needles of pain shot through his arm and shoulder. He
gasped.
"Don't try to get up," Tasso said. She bent down, putting her cold
hand against his forehead.
It was night. A few stars glinted above, shining through the drifting
clouds of ash. Hendricks lay back, his teeth locked. Tasso watched him
impassively. She had built a fire with some wood and weeds. The fire
licked feebly, hissing at a metal cup suspended over it. Everything
was silent. Unmoving darkness, beyond the fire.
"So he was the Second Variety," Hendricks murmured.
"I had always thought so."
"Why didn't you destroy him sooner?" he wanted to know.
"You held me back." Tasso crossed to the fire to look into the metal
cup. "Coffee. It'll be ready to drink in awhile."
She came back and sat down beside him. Presently she opened her pistol
and began to disassemble the firing mechanism, studying it intently.
"This is a beautiful gun," Tasso said, half-aloud. "The construction
is superb."
"What about them? The claws."
"The concussion from the bomb put most of them out of action. They're
delicate. Highly organized, I suppose."
"The Davids, too?"
"Yes."
"How did you happen to have a bomb like that?"
Tasso shrugged. "We designed it. You shouldn't underestimate our
technology, Major. Without such a bomb you and I would no longer
exist."
"Very useful."
Tasso stretched out her legs, warming her feet in the heat of the
fire. "It surprised me that you did not seem to understand, after he
killed Rudi. Why did you think he--"
"I told you. I thought he was afraid."
"Really? You know, Major, for a little while I suspected you. Because
you wouldn't let me kill him. I thought you might be protecting him."
She laughed.
"Are we safe here?" Hendricks asked presently.
"For awhile. Until they get reinforcements from some other area."
Tasso began to clean the interior of the gun with a bit of rag. She
finished and pushed the mechanism back into place. She closed the gun,
running her finger along the barrel.
"We were lucky," Hendricks murmured.
"Yes. Very lucky."
"Thanks for pulling me away."
* * * * *
Tasso did not answer. She glanced up at him, her eyes bright in the
fire light. Hendricks examined his arm. He could not move his fingers.
His whole side seemed numb. Down inside him was a dull steady ache.
"How do you feel?" Tasso asked.
"My arm is damaged."
"Anything else?"
"Internal injuries."
"You didn't get down when the bomb went off."
Hendricks said nothing. He watched Tasso pour the coffee from the cup
into a flat metal pan. She brought it over to him.
"Thanks." He struggled up enough to drink. It was hard to swallow. His
insides turned over and he pushed the pan away. "That's all I can
drink now."
Tasso drank the rest. Time passed. The clouds of ash moved across the
dark sky above them. Hendricks rested, his mind blank. After awhile he
became aware that Tasso was standing over him, gazing down at him.
"What is it?" he murmured.
"Do you feel any better?"
"Some."
"You know, Major, if I hadn't dragged you away they would have got
you. You would be dead. Like Rudi."
"I know."
"Do you want to know why I brought you out? I could have left you. I
could have left you there."
"Why did you bring me out?"
"Because we have to get away from here." Tasso stirred the fire with a
stick, peering calmly down into it. "No human being can live here.
When their reinforcements come we won't have a chance. I've pondered
about it while you were unconscious. We have perhaps three hours
before they come."
"And you expect me to get us away?"
"That's right. I expect you to get us out of here."
"Why me?"
"Because I don't know any way." Her eyes shone at him in the
half-light, bright and steady. "If you can't get us out of here
they'll kill us within three hours. I see nothing else ahead. Well,
Major? What are you going to do? I've been waiting all night. While
you were unconscious I sat here, waiting and listening. It's almost
dawn. The night is almost over."
* * * * *
Hendricks considered. "It's curious," he said at last.
"Curious?"
"That you should think I can get us out of here. I wonder what you
think I can do."
"Can you get us to the Moon Base?"
"The Moon Base? How?"
"There must be some way."