The first tests confirmed what Craig had already presumed; that the
explosion had been absolutely clean. What radiation existed had
originated from molecules in the rock itself or in the vaporized snow.
There was no way of guessing at the type of blast; he only knew that
mass had been transformed virtually one hundred per cent into energy in
a very short period of time. No process Craig knew even approached it.
He stared again at the tunnel mouths. He was sure now that something
had come out of them, risen about seven hundred feet above the plateau
and released the blast. He trembled with eagerness to get inside,
danger or no.
He had turned impatiently to Brulieres, when somewhere deep in the
tunnels, shouting broke out. Two pistol shots echoed hollowly. There
was a clatter of running footsteps. Craig found his right hand fumbling
at his hip, and felt foolish. He hadn't carried a sidearm since Korea.
Lieutenant Rabar burst through the tunnel, stumbling in the sunlight,
his face contorted. He ran straight across the plateau and threw
himself over the edge. Dientes, who had jumped to his feet, was only a
step behind him. Craig, eyes fastened on the tunnel, realized vaguely
that the two must have landed in deep snow, since there was no sound of
their falling.
A glow appeared in the tunnel. Craig fought the panic that seized
him; stood his ground and was aware of Brulieres beside him. The glow
brightened.
Its source came into sight--a ball of dazzling brilliance, oval and
about the size of a man's torso. It emerged into sunlight and Craig saw
that it was solid. It looked like incandescent metal, but he somehow
felt that it wasn't hot. It seemed to move at will and to hover without
support.
It acted alive.
It moved a little way toward Craig and Brulieres, then stopped.
A tentative rumble came from it, like the beginning of thunder.
Something like a tentacle lifted, clutching an object that resembled a
flashlight. A blinding lance of heat shot from the object and struck
the rock a few yards in front of the two men. A sound came from the
rock like ice pressed upon a hot stove. Smoke puffed upward. The beam
lasted only an instant, but it left a long curved scar in the rock.
The thing rumbled again, and flashed so brightly Craig threw an arm
over his eyes, and heard his own voice cry out wordlessly. His legs
tensed to run, but something about the behavior of the thing held him
where he was. It seemed unsure of itself, and not really threatening.
When he looked up again, it was moving laterally and up the face of
the wall. He saw the flashlight-like object on the ground where it had
evidently been dropped.
* * * * *
The oval thing, no longer glowing, lifted fast toward the mountain top.
He saw that it _was_ metal, not rusted or corroded but dull with age,
and he saw the two ragged holes near the middle of it. He strained his
eyes for more detail but it grew tiny in the distance and he saw no
joints and no protuberances other than the one tentacle. He lost it in
the shadows of the mountain's brow, then saw it flash momentarily in
the sun as it curved up and over.
After a moment he turned dazedly toward Brulieres. But before he could
say anything there was a sun-dimming flash of light from beyond the
mountain. The ground danced. Sound, echoing from the other peaks and
battering its way through the solid rock of the mountain, beat about
them like monstrous punishing wings.
As the vast thunder dwindled away, Craig, squinting, saw a tenuous,
rapidly dimming mushroom cloud tower above the peak. He flinched, but
knew that this would be another clean explosion. Most of the cloud was
steam. He was sure they were seeing a re-enactment of the blast which
had cleared this plateau.
His mind worked in simple patterns: the thing was destroyed; it had
dropped its weapon.
He started toward the tunnel mouth, but he had hesitated too long.
Brulieres, moving very agilely, was ahead of him.
The priest picked up the weapon and turned toward Craig. Craig, still
befuddled, wondered mildly at his own detached state of mind: is
he going to kill me; I'd love to get that weapon home to the labs;
so that's how he keeps warm. (The latter in reference to the heavy
underwear he'd glimpsed beneath the priest's cassock as the padre bent
over).
But Brulieres' voice was mild. "Please forgive me for taking possession
of this, Doctor. Later, I hope, you will be able to examine it; but I
must think first of my own responsibilities." He looked at the thing
briefly, started to stow it in some fold of his gown, then hesitated.
As if unable to resist the temptation, he aimed it at the rock wall and
put his thumb on something.
The incandescence squirted out. The rock cried out and yielded up a
curl of smoke. Brulieres turned the thing off at once and turned back
to Craig with an expression half guilty, half delighted, like a child
with a forbidden toy. Then he sighed and put the weapon away.
Craig had observed what details he could. The thing was an inch or
a little more in diameter, perhaps ten inches long. All except one
tip was dull and apparently knurled to give a good grip. The tip
looked like quartz or some crystal, translucent except the end, which
was darkly transparent when not emitting the beam. The trigger was
apparently a spot of different color on the body, over which the thumb
could be pressed.
Craig thought of the energy stored in that slender cylinder, the
necessary insulation, the efficiency of whatever system was used to
direct and control the beam. He felt a chill shiver of awe. Then
another thought struck him and he looked wide-eyed at Brulieres. "A
flaming sword!"
Brulieres gave him a quick glance, and nodded. "Primitives might
describe it so."
* * * * *
Rabar climbed back into sight at the edge of the plateau, looking pale.
A moment later Dientes poked his head into view.
"Where is the general?" Brulieres demanded.
"_Muerto_," said Rabar shakily, "in the tunnel. The creature killed
him."