"Yes," agreed Isaac.
"It's not bad here, though," said Nesbit. He was still stiff with Matt
and addressed his comments pointedly to the director.
Matt said, "No. I imagine the living quarters are on the top floors.
Some of the men in space suits will have to clear out the rooms. But
that can wait. I'm curious about the source of power for the elevators
and lights. Let's try the basement."
They advanced cautiously into the hall, disturbing a bat which circled
eerily around and around the light. Nesbit flinched each time it
swooped close.
"Nasty beast!"
Matt didn't reply, his eyes searching out the dusty walls for a
stairway. "There." He pointed with his rifle.
The door stood open. Stairs descended into blackness.
The fort proved to have not one basement, but three. The first level
held trucks, tanks, half-tracks, and cars in solid ranks. The second
basement was stored with ammunition, the third held furnaces, a pumping
system and a power plant, the generating force being a massive atomic
boiler.
Matt whistled softly. "We'll have to get the engineers down here right
away."
Isaac said, "Three basements, thirty floors. It'll take us a month to
explore the building."
Matt turned to Nesbit. "Go back to the ship, Hi. Tell Captain Bascom
to send the chief engineer and the first assistant to put these atomic
engines back in operation. The second assistant engineer is to start
one of the trucks, load it with explosives and blow up all the bridges
across Salt River except the highway bridge.
"Tell Sawyer to take two more men and another truck and fortify the
highway bridge. Dismount some of these machine guns if necessary, and
set up a pill box at this end. String barbed wire across the bridge.
Got it?"
"Yes," said Nesbit. He turned to leave. "What should I do then?"
"Get another truck and start hauling our equipment into the fort. Isaac
and I are going to look over the upper floors."
Nesbit nodded and strode toward the stairs. "Come along, Isaac," said
Matt. "We've seen enough here."
* * * * *
During the next hour, Matt got a fair idea of the plan of the lower
floors of the fort.
They had entered through the freight entrance in the rear, the main
doors fronting the highway, on the other side of which lay the small
town of West Point.
The lower levels were largely devoted to storage and offices. The fort,
he realized, had been equipped to withstand a siege. There were tons of
food and equipment. Above, they found forges, foundries, machine shops,
laboratories and even hydroponic gardens.
It was a world to itself; a world without any inhabitants.
They were on the seventeenth floor, examining the modern, well-equipped
guardhouse, when lights began to blink on.
Matt said, "That was quick work." He found an inter communication
televisor, hunted for the engine-room number and buzzed it
experimentally.
After a moment, the screen glowed and the square rough features of the
chief engineer flashed in its depths.
"Any trouble?" Matt asked.
"Nary a bit. The engine had been shut down. That was all."
"What about the elevators?"
"Power's been cut in on all lines."
"Good," said Matt. He snapped the televisor off, just as a dull boom
sounded in the distance.
"There goes one of the bridges," Isaac said nervously.
Matt cut in the walkie-talkie strapped to his back. "Captain Bascom.
Captain Bascom."
"Check," came Bascom's voice through earphones.
"How is the moving coming along?"
"Fine. We have three trucks shuttling between the ship and the freight
hall. Everyone's turned to." Matt glanced at his watch; they'd been at
the fort two hours.
"Arm the women with rifles," he told the captain. "Put Lynn in charge.
Have them bring our captives to the seventeenth floor. There's a brig
here where we can lock them in. Is Lynn handy?"
"She's right here."
"Let me speak to her."
"Right."
There was a silence; then Lynn's voice came clear and small. "That you,
Matt?"
"Yes," he said. "Now listen carefully. I'm putting you in charge of the
women. You're to bring those Amazons we captured to the seventeenth
floor of the fort. If any of them show fight, shoot them!"