Quest For The Well Of Souls Part 20

The face was that of a young woman, very attractive and soft, with a gentle face and voice.

"Gossyn!" Renard exclaimed. It was all coming back, after all these years.

"I am Gossyn of Estuado," she said, her voice so true, the projected holoimage so clear, that they felt as if they were peering through a doorway at her. "One of Antor Trelig's former slaves. I am leaving this record in case one of the ships that left here returns, as I expect them to. No matter-it's too late. This afternoon we gathered all of the weaponry in the main courtyard, keeping the guests back. We are all addicted to sponge, and without it we will die painfully, and by bits and pieces. I can feel it eating at me even as I speak. We, the last of Trelig's slaves, will not face that sort of death. When the weapons were gathered, the others stood among them, and I-" her voice broke, and tears appeared in her eyes-"I fired full beam with the rifle beside me. Nothing remains of them now but a brown spot. Soon I will place the rifle charge on feedback overload, and go as well-the last slave, the last weapon." She paused, overcome with emotion, and then continued.

"I do not care what becomes of the guests. They know that this little world can feed only a small number of them. I leave it to them, with the hope that, if it is Antor Trelig who returns, those who survive will somehow rip him slowly limb from limb, as befits a demon and a monster. I don't even know why I'm making this . . . except-oh, h.e.l.l, I guess I don't want to die." She m.u.f.fled a sob. "I'm only seventeen," she managed, and pushed forward, blanking out the picture.

Mavra sighed. "Might as well switch it off," she said, but, at that moment, the screen flickered to life again.

It was a different person now, a strong-looking woman of perhaps thirty dressed in a utility uniform. She was not terribly attractive, but something extraordinary was revealed in her face and movements.

She was terrified.

"Anyone! Oh, Lord! If you came back and got this far!" She stopped as a hard thud reverberated behind her. It was so realistic that all the listeners' heads turned toward the ruined door. The ghost of a moment was very real in the room.

She hurried. "He's crazy! Listen! Yesterday the guards destroyed the weapons and themselves. Then somebody started killing the rest." The sound of pounding was clear in the background, and she turned again, then back, getting frantic now.

"One of us-Belden, his name is. He's a plant. One of Trelig's people, put in with us as a spy. When his boss deserted him he went crazy-if he wasn't already." More pounding and some slight splintering noises. "He's mad. Killing off the Comworlders, finishing off the men. Some of the women-Trelig has a Chamber of Horrors in mind-control devices here. He's using it, wiping their minds, turning them into animals. He's mad. I may be the only one left. No time. Watch it. Get the b.a.s.t.a.r.d in my name. Please! I-"

The screen went blank. Renard sighed, switched it off. "She ran out of module before he got in," he said.

"Well, now we know." Wooley added. "Did anyone else notice her as she turned around?"

"The tail," Yulin responded almost apologetically. "Yes, Trelig gave everyone a horse's tail."

"But that was twenty-two years ago," Vistaru pointed out. "Who knows what became of them?"

Yulin was thoughtful and concerned. "I think we better find out."

The natural spy was the Ghiskind. A thorough and careful search of the building complex showed no signs of recent habitation, but it was a large world. Yulin pointed out areas of abundant wildlife and groves of fruit trees on a map from the control room files, and the Yugash made for that area while the others camped out on the portico of the main hall, from where they could see anyone coming and prepare themselves.

New Pompeii's rotation was fairly rapid, and not a little disconcerting. The Well World filled half the sky, but it was eerie, distorted by the atmosphere and plasma skin through which it was viewed, and the stars in the brief night periods were equally nebulous.

It took the Ghiskind less than an hour to return. As agreed, it merged with the Bozog for communications purposes.

"They are there," it told them. "A small colony, mostly young and all looking and acting quite wild and animalistic. Two males, five females, four young. Very strange."

"No sign of Belden, then," Mavra noted. "Interesting. I wonder if he died? An accident, or maybe that woman took him with her somehow. I hope so. We'll leave them there. Did they seem hostile?"

"Frightened of their shadows," the Yugash responded. "But definitely without much more than rudimentary reason, which probably explains why there are so few young. Few would survive."

They nodded. Yulin sighed. "Well, then, I propose we leave them, keep on guard just in case this Belden is still around someplace, and go Underside. That's safest anyway."

They were tired and still sore, but they agreed. Underside was much more defensible, and it was where they had to be anyway.

Mavra walked with them to the large stone structure to one side of what was once a park in front of the main hall. It, too, was overgrown now, but both the former syndicate scientist and Renard knew its operation.

"It's pretty cramped in there," Yulin warned them. "I'd say Mavra and Wooley by themselves, and we'll take the backup car. Bozog, you're going to have a rough fit."

The face of the seemingly solid marble cube vanished after a series of carefully s.p.a.ced taps on the outside. The gra.s.s, moss, and vines didn't vanish, though, and had to be pulled off.

The car before them had eight seats designed for humans. Wooley managed to fit in back by scrunching down and flexing her wings uncomfortably. Mavra managed to sprawl across the front three.

"See you down there-and be careful. Belden would know about this, too," Yulin warned, and punched a new combination.

"Now I understand why Yulin wasn't eager to be on the first car," Wooley noted sarcastically. "Our big brave bull is about as cowardly as I have known." I understand why Yulin wasn't eager to be on the first car," Wooley noted sarcastically. "Our big brave bull is about as cowardly as I have known."

Mavra said nothing. The drop was too uncomfortable. It was a long way to Underside, and although the rate of descent was controlled, it felt as if they were falling at all times-an uncomfortable sensation, and it was a long, long ride.

Above them the others clambered into the service car, which was not quite as roomy as the first one. The Bozog managed, with great difficulty, although if the Ghiskind had had feet or if Vistaru and Renard had been larger, it would have been stepped on the whole way. Yulin was scrunched up trying not to step on the strange creature.

Finally it ended, and the front of the car dissolved again. Mavra climbed out with difficulty, and Wooley almost snagged a wing doing the same. They found themselves in a sterile, brightly lit hall, resembling any of the tens of millions of halls in the stark technological centers common since the dawn of technical civilization. The others arrived almost immediately; the smaller car's speed was determined by the larger one, and let out a floor above.

Yulin's bull's head nodded and he looked around in satisfaction, tail swishing back and forth in antic.i.p.ation. This was his element-the metallic walls and artificial lighting, the bowels of a great machine. He had helped design the place and supervised its construction. It seemed a part of him.

They walked along the hall, ready for anything. After a bit, it opened to reveal a broad platform and an overlook from which stretched a great wide bridge across a huge, impossibly deep pit.

"No bodies again," Yulin noted, surprised. "Then Belden has been here."

"Look!" Renard called. "Out there-across the bridge! Isn't that that a body?" a body?"

They all strained. The Yaxa had the best vision, and her death's head nodded. "Yes. A man. Outlandishly dressed, too. Very dead, I think-maybe for an awfully long time. A good deal of decomposition is evident."

Yulin considered it. "Looks like he tried for the computer. In the defense mode he'd just about get across before the lethal charges. .h.i.t him. Even at this end, it's got fifty volts as a discouragement, so he was nuts, driven, or determined. Probably all three."

"Think it's Belden?" Vistaru voiced the other's thoughts.

"Probably," Wooley replied. "The man has a horse's tail, he's big, and he's dressed in flowing robes, a wreath on his head. Looks like the new Emperor of New Pompeii finally got bored Topside and decided he was able to defy the computer. That explains everything, I think."

Renard was thoughtful. "Well, if it's just an electrical defense, I can walk right through it," he noted confidently.

"It's about ten thousand volts where Belden got," Yulin pointed out. "It's not on until needed, of course. The system senses a life form, then zaps it, then there's no life form any more and it shuts off."

"Ten thousand wouldn't bother me," the Agitar replied. "The excess would simply discharge."

"But only Obie can open that door," the Dasheen told him. "And it will defend as it has to. There are guns here, too, as a fail-safe. Lots of nasty stuff. No, it's got to be by proper code, everything done in the proper sequence, or no go," he said earnestly.

"Want to get it over with?" Mavra asked him. "What do you have to do?"

He was thoughtful. "All right, first I walk out on that bridge in a certain manner-that will cancel the voltage to a particular point. Then I say the pa.s.sword and advance in the same manner. The door will open as I approach it. Then I must go to the panel and cancel the defense mode or it will be reinstated."

"One of us will go with you," Wooley said suspiciously.

He shook his head. "No, it's got to be one, only. Don't worry. Even if I don't cancel the mode you'll know how to break into it, right? h.e.l.l, haven't I played square with you all up to now?"

He had, but he'd played square with Trelig for years, too.

"Perhaps the Ghiskind," Mavra suggested.

"No!" Yulin was adamant. "n.o.body! Sure, it might might be ignored, but then again it might not, and it sure as h.e.l.l can't say the pa.s.sword-and the Bozog can't make the gestures. Neither could you. It's me alone." He threw up his hands. "Come on! What the h.e.l.l are we arguing for? In five minutes we could all be inside and that would be that." be ignored, but then again it might not, and it sure as h.e.l.l can't say the pa.s.sword-and the Bozog can't make the gestures. Neither could you. It's me alone." He threw up his hands. "Come on! What the h.e.l.l are we arguing for? In five minutes we could all be inside and that would be that."

They were uncertain, and there were whispered conferences, but the conclusion was inescapable, as Yulin knew it had to be. Wooley voiced it.

"We haven't come this far to turn back now," she pointed out. "All right, Yulin. Go ahead."

He nodded to her, satisfaction and confidence mirrored in his manner. He turned and walked to the foot of the bridge, then raised his arms and turned palms out. He hesitated a moment, as if expecting a jolt, then stepped onto the bridge and started across.

A bit more than halfway he was a small figure that they watched anxiously. Wooley and Renard drew weapons and aimed them at Yulin without a word.

Yulin walked nervously, head bobbing, trying to look at both sides of the bridge. Long ago he'd shot a mark into it for the proper place. For a moment he was afraid that the mark had somehow been erased, or that his less efficient vision would miss it, but then-there it was! It was farther along than he remembered, but he hadn't been zapped yet, so that must be it.

Keeping arms upraised, palms out, he stopped and nervously cleared his throat.

"Obie!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing across the chamber and up and down the great shaft. "There is no G.o.d but Allah and Mohammed is His Prophet! Hear me, Obie? There is no G.o.d but Allah and Mohammed is His Prophet!"

He hesitated a moment more, took a deep breath, and walked on.

Nothing happened.

He reached the other end of the bridge, a tiny figure very far away and almost invisible to all but Wooley, whose pistol remained firm and dead on.

Yulin looked down at the body. It was badly charred and decomposed. Very ugly. That b.a.s.t.a.r.d Belden deserved every volt of it, he thought without pity.

The door slid back and he was surprised to feel a warm blast of air greet him. He stepped inside, then to one side and immediately to the control panel.

He flipped it on.

"Defense mode returned to my voice signal cancel only!" he said quickly, entering a series of numbers through the key pad on a control panel. The door slid rapidly shut.

"Defense mode on," Obie's voice said, as if from thin air. "You haven't changed a bit, have you, Ben?"

He chuckled. "h.e.l.lo, Obie. Well, a little. I-" He stopped suddenly, noting that the dish-the platform used by Obie, the one from which the guests had received their tails and from which he'd received the disguises he used to escape from New Pompeii-was on active, ready to energize.

"Cancel that energize!" he ordered into the operator's mike. He walked over to the rail and looked down.

He saw a large oval, more than a hundred meters across at its widest by about seventy. A railed three-meter-wide balcony on which were located three control consoles was elevated above it. From the balcony, stairs led to the lower level, in the center of which was a metal disk raised perhaps a half-meter. Above it Obie's dish hung from its boom.

Ben Yulin gasped. Someone was on the disk-two people in fact. Humans!

"Hey! You on the disk! I'm Ben Yulin! Who are you!"

They looked slightly fearful, glancing at the little dish above them.

"Obie can't help you," he called, his voice echoing. "I control him now. Who are you?"

One of the figures sighed. "h.e.l.lo, Ben." It was a pleasant, soft female voice. "I guess we're back to the beginning again. I'm Nikki Zinder, and this is my daughter, Mavra."

"Well I'll be d.a.m.ned!"

The Other Side of the Bridge

Renard had tried the system after the door slammed shut, and Wooley had fired a shot, but it was too late, meaningless.

It took the Agitar only a few steps to discover that the bridge was indeed still energized.

"Renard! Come on back!" Wooley called. "Maybe he was lying about those guns, maybe not. But you'll never get that door open on your own! Why take the risk? The b.a.s.t.a.r.d's double-crossed us and we have to retrench!"

Reluctantly the Agitar agreed with her, turned, and walked back. The voltage pulses struck him repeatedly until he reached the center of the bridge, but to no effect-except that he was fully charged for the first time in many years. It was a heady feeling to carry over eight thousand volts; it made an Agitar male light-headed and gave him the feeling he could do anything. Still, he made his way back to the far end of the bridge.

"Don't touch me!" he warned them. "I'll have to discharge some of this, or I'll kill somebody!"

He finally found a section of metal rail that didn't seem to be connected by a conductive material to anything nearby, tried a short jolt, then discharged about two thousand volts.

"So, now what?" he asked.

The Ghiskind merged with the Bozog. "I will see if I can get in," it said. "The electricity and guns won't hurt me even if I am detected, and if I can get inside I can take his body, I am certain."

They agreed to let the Yugash try. It floated over the bridge and was soon invisible to them. They waited for several minutes, then watched it return.

"No good," it told them, again through the Bozog. "The place is solid. No cracks. That door has insulated seals. It's an entirely self-contained atmosphere in there. And if that computer's a fraction of what he claims, he can live in there almost forever, even wait us out."

"This is a h.e.l.l of a mess, isn't it?" Vistaru said. "So, now what do we do?"

"I'd say go Topside again until we think of something else," the Agitar suggested. "For one thing, Belden's dead. So we haven't that threat. Second, that's where all the food and water is. And third, I have to go to the bathroom pretty d.a.m.ned bad."

There was little else to do. Underside, they were in Yulin's element. Defeated, they slowly made their way back along the corridor.

To guard against Yulin and any tricks he might pull, and because they were still not certain that Topside held no dangers, they slept in the open in shifts.

Mavra slept solidly, and awoke feeling much better. Her head seemed clearer, her body did not ache so much.

One last commission, she thought determinedly, one I have to handle myself. n.o.body else this time. Just me, at least in the brain department. If I blow this one . . .

But, no, failure was unthinkable. Frankly, she didn't care what Yulin did with Obie or planned to do, but she cared about this last opportunity, the chance to prove to herself and to the others that Mavra Chang was as good as she'd always believed herself to be.

To succeed here would be to put the final stamp on her life, the proof that Mavra Chang existed as a unique individual, better than them all. With that she could be content to die. Without it, she was already dead. For she knew the moment she'd set foot on New Pompeii that she would never leave it. She would not return to the Well World, to be transformed at random into something absurd, a Krommian dancing flower, say, or a Makiem frog-perhaps worse. And if she succeeded, and they all still lived-return? As what? A horse? That would go over big in the Com.

No. Triumph or disaster, it would end here.