"You did it?"
"No."
"Then who did?"
"Come and I will show you."
"Hunh!" Zen grunted. He made up his mind without hesitation. Starting
toward the back door, he discovered that she was going out the front.
"But that door is probably covered," he protested.
She opened it without answering his protest. Going through it, Zen
thought the night outside was far colder than it had any right to be.
Nedra moved without hesitation. Fifty yards away from the house a
machine gun mounted on a tripod was set up in the street. Two men were
lying on the ground beside it. In the quiet night, Zen could hear them
snoring.
"All right," he said. "I have to admit you knew what you were talking
about. But if you didn't do this, who did?"
"Just a minute and you will have an answer to your question," she
replied.
A block beyond the machine gun, a tall figure lounged in the doorway of
a ruined building.
"Hi, kids," he said.
At the first sound of the deep bass voice Zen knew that this was West.
The craggy man nodded to him. West did not seem in the least surprised
to see Zen.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Zen said.
"I had business here," West said, in a tone of voice that made Zen feel
like an errant schoolboy being reproved by a kind, but firm, teacher.
"Did you make those people go to sleep?" Zen continued.
"Has somebody been sleeping?" West answered. "Hmm."
"Yes," Zen said.
"Did you run into some difficulty?" West asked Nedra. He ignored Zen.
"Sort of," the girl answered. "The fact is, I almost got raped. I was
afraid I wasn't going to reach you."
"I was busy and didn't pick you up at first," the craggy man said. His
voice was a rumble of sound in the darkness. He did not seem surprised
when she mentioned what had almost happened. "The colonel followed you,
eh?"
"Yes. I told you he would."
"How did you know I would follow you?" Zen demanded. With the
lieutenant's gun in his hands, he felt very secure.
"Any woman would know that," Nedra answered. Her laugh tinkled in the
darkness. Finding Zen's arm, she squeezed it. "He is one of the new
people," she said, to West.
Zen wished he could have sunk into the ground. The craggy man did not
seem surprised. "Hmm," he said again. "That is nice." Reserve seemed to
have appeared in the bass tones.
"Let's get inside," Nedra suggested. "It's been a hard day and I'm so
tired I feel as if I'm walking on my leg bones instead of my feet."
"Sorry," West said, without moving.
"What's wrong?" Nedra asked. Alarm suddenly appeared in her voice.
"Don't you believe he is actually one of us? I told you he was."
"I did not say I disbelieved you. But what if you are mistaken?"
"I can't be mistaken. He followed me, didn't he? That proves I'm right."
"Men have been following women since Bhumi started turning," West
replied. "What if you are wrong?"
"Oh," the nurse said, a falling inflection in her voice.
"In that case, who would shoot him?" West continued.
"Oh," the nurse said. Her voice fell lower still.
"You know the rules. We cannot have anyone except true mutants."
"Yes."
"In case someone brings in a person who is not a true mutant, it is the
duty of the person who introduced the interloper to dispose of him."
"I know," Nedra said.
"In this case, it would be up to you to shoot the colonel," West
continued. "Could you do it?"
"Well, I wouldn't want to--" The reluctance in her voice was very
strong. "But I would do it."
"I hope I don't have to hold you to your promise," West said. "But in
that case, come on, both of you. That is, if the colonel wishes."
"You can't kid me," Zen said. "Neither of you are capable of shooting
anybody." He spoke fearlessly but he felt a trace of doubt. Not one of
the new people had ever betrayed their group. This indicated something.
"Lead on. I'm following."
Nedra found Zen's arm.
"Would you cry, after you had shot me?" Zen asked.
"Y--yes."
"But that wouldn't keep you from shooting me?"
"No."
"Well, that would be nice, anyhow, though I do not see what good it
would do me."
"You sound as if you wouldn't care," the girl said.
"There are times when I am sure death would be a blessed relief."
Zen meant every word he said. "That life down there," he jerked his
thumb to indicate the lower ranges and the plains so far below, "gets
tiresome. That's an understatement, if I ever made one."
The nurse was silent. "Yes, I understand," she said at last. "It was
that way with me, once."
"How much farther before we get to--Hell, where are we going anyhow?"
Zen blurted out.
"To the center here," Nedra answered.
"Um," Zen said. He wanted to say something else but he decided he'd
better be careful.
West led them into an old tunnel which bored straight into the side of
the mountain.