In a month they were ready to tackle the peripheral
machinery: the subway to the hostel, the manufacturing
machines. In two months the first weapons were produced:
quarterstaffs cut from an endless metal pole extruded from
an automatic smelter-processor. There was ore from the
monstrous metallic refuse of the mountain—enough for a
century's such operations.
Neq realized with a certain surprise that it was working!
Helicon was coming back to life, beginning to function
again. That simple, significant success had almost been
obscured behind the minutiae -of daily projects and crises!
Actually, Helicon was an entity in itself, performing on its
own fashion; the hiatus of years and the change of per-
sonnel seemed almost irrelevant to its giant personality.
The signal alarm woke Neq during the night cycle.
Night was artificial here, as was day, but they maintained
the same rhythm as above. The recently renovated televi-
sion screen was on.
"We've netted something," Jim the Gun said tersely. "It
didn't pass through any of the entrances we know, but it's
inside now. I thought you'd want to be on hand."
"Yest" Neq shrugged into his special open-sleeve robe
and hurried through the half-lighted halls to Jim's labora-
tory. He remembered^he mysterious visitor. Had he come
again?
"I thought it was one of the fringe beasts," Jim said.
"They keep finding new places. . . ." Neq knew what he
meant. There were strange creatures in the radiation-
soaked outer tunnels of the mountain—mutation-spawned
monsters who had shaped their own grotesque ecology.
Helicon proper had been sealed off from such sections,
but the seal was imperfect, and sometimes rodents and
amphibians got through. Once a dead toothy froglike thing
had popped out of a flush toilet, and Jim had had to trace
the sewer pipes to discover the entry point. It had been
hopeless; Helicon's water came from a vast subterranean
conduit and departed the same way after passing through
a waste-recycling plant. It was too complex to unravel,
and dangerous to tamper with, for the water was "hot—
so hot that live steam burst periodically from vents and
filled the maintenance passages. Jim had had to settle for
a filter in the main drinking-water pipe. Sometimes eerie
noises penetrated the walls, as of alien creatures hunting
or struggling. The increasing hum of functioning machinery
drowned much of this out, and that was a blessing. It was
too easy for the nomads to believe in haunts—since, of
course, there were haunts.
Jim had rigged an alarm system designed to spot the
emergence of any such creatures, so that the holes could
be located and plugged. "It's a big one this time," he said,
leading Neq to a storeroom as yet unused. The back wall
here seemed solid, but Jim had traced skuff-marks in
the dust of the floor to a removable panel constructed to
resemble stone. "Human or near-human, obviously," Jim
said. "He came in from the other side—it seems to be a
half-collapsed tunnel with some radiation—and pushed out
the panel, then replaced it perfectly. Then on through the
room and out to the hall—which is where he tripped my
electric-eye system. He was gone by the time I got here,
of course—but at least we know how he did it."
Neq felt the chill again. "But he's inside Helicon—right
now!" Had he come for beans again—or something more?
Jim nodded. "He passed the eye half an hour ago. I
can't tell from the signal whether it's a mouse or an
elephant—uh, that's an extremely large animal that existed
before the Blast. Elephant. I get several of these each
night—"
"The Elephants?"
"Alarms. And I don't know anything until I check per-
sonally. Half the time it's one of our own personnel, on
some unscheduled business. Or a couple of them. Quite a
bit of out-of-tum trysting in these back rooms, you know.
I have to be very cautious about checking. The girls share,
but they want to get pregnant by particular men ..."
Neq knew. He had never cracked down on it because
he felt the same way himself. It was his baby Vara carried,
whatever name it was to bear.
"So we're late starting, but we can run him down. Block
off this exit and flood the halls with flower-narcotic—"
Neq didn't like it. "There are people going about," he
pointed out. "We keep a limited night shift going now,
and some are on the machines. A whiff of the flower, and
equipment could be wrecked. The amount that gets around
by accident is bad enough! No, we'll do it by hand. How
could a stranger come, and not be seen?"
"He would have to know Helicon," Jim said. "Where to
hide, where to step aside—"
"And how to bluff his way through when he did meet
people," Neq said. "That makes him dangerous. We don't
know his motive."
"It has to be a former member of Helicon," Jim said.
"One of our retreads should be able to recognize him?"
"Helicon is open to the old members. Why hasn't he
contacted us?"
"Maybe he's trying to."
"All he has to do is yell or bang on the wall."
"Let's go to my lab," Jim said. "If he keeps ducking out
of sight, he'll have to trip other alarms."
They were in luck. The intruder tripped several alarms,
ducking out of the way as others used the hall. Jim kept
no eye-beams set in the main passages, since that would
lead to hopeless confusion. It was coincidental, but his
emplacements were ideally suited to this type of chase.
"He's going somewhere," Jim said. "See that pattern. I
think he's literate—a couple of those dodges were near
the dining room bulletin board. Now he knows what he
wants. When we figure it out too, we'll be able to inter-
cept him. Catch him by surprise, so he can't hurt anyone."
"Toward the sleeping quarters!" Neq exclaimed, looking
at the chart of Helicon on which Jim had set his markers.
"Oh-oh. I don't have them bugged, for the obvious
reason. We'll lose him."
"I'll post emergency guards." And Neq went about the
matter quietly, using the underground intercom system to
wake those on call. Soon armed men would stand at
strategic points in all the halls of that section.
But soon was not now. A horrible picture formed in
Neq's mind. The person who would have known Helicon
best was its former leader, Bob. He would have escaped
if anyone had. Neq used his office now, and was re-
minded of the man more than he liked. There were little
things about the setup, such as the way the metal desk
faced the only door, and the gun in that desk, and the
wiring for intercom connections to every part of Helicon,
and the spotlights set in the ceiling. That office was a
little fortress. There had been scorch-marks in it, as in the
rest o
f Helicon—but no corpse. Sol could have caught
Bob elsewhere and killed him, of course—but there was
no proof of that. Bob might have survived, somehow—
and now he could be returning, determined to be avenged
on the child who had rejected his perverted advances. . . .
Abruptly something else came clear. That was why Bob
had sent Soli to her presumed death! Vengeance for the
embarrassment she had caused him! Instead of submitting,
she had driven him off with her sticks . . . and at any
time she could have told Sol. She had had to be eliminated
—and what better way than by besieging nomads, Sol's
kind?
And therein lay Bob's fatal mistake. He had not acted
for the best interests of Helicon, but to avenge and cover
his own mistake with Soli. He had let personal factors
interfere with his duty.
"What?" Vara exclaimed as Neq entered. "Oh, it's you."
Just as Neq was letting his own involvement with the
same girl interfere with his own duty. "There's a stranger
in the halls, coming this way. For you, I think. There
wasn't time to set guards—"
"Oh!" she said, going for her sticks.
He pushed her down on the bed again. She was heavy
and her breasts were huge as he touched her in the dark.
"No action for you! That's why I'm here. If he enters—"
"But I have no enemies, do I?" she asked. "Except
maybe you, when I empty my belly and start sharing in a
few months."
He laughed, but the remark cut him. How could he
enforce the system for others, unless he honored it him-
self? No wonder the social system had not been working
well.
Bob's mistake..,.
"It is over between us," he said. "I love you, but I am
master of Helicon. I must be objective. Do you under-
stand?"
"Yes, you are right," she said, and it hurt him that she
could agree so readily. "It has to be that way."
He knew then that it was over. She was ~a child of
Helicon; she understood the sharing system emotionally
as well as intellectually. She had never been his to keep.
A few minutes later they both heard it. Quick furtive
steps in the hall, coming near.
The door opened. Neq raised his claw to strike, wishing
for his sword. He nudged the light switch with his elbow.
Brilliance erupted.
Vara screamed.
Momentarily blinded, the stranger stood with tousled
hair and arms lifted on guard. A woman. Naked.
Pretty face, rather shapely figure, lithe legs, well formed
breasts—had he had his sword, he would have cut her
down before he realized.
"Sosa!" Vara cried, scrambling from the bed.
The two women embraced while Neq stood with claw
frozen. Of all the developments!
."Oh, mother, I'm so glad!" Vara sobbed. "I knew you
were alive..."
Sosa: the woman Vara considered her real mother, in
preference to Sola. Naturally she had returned to join her
daughter. Naturally she didn't care about anyone else. Or
to meet anyone else, in her silent nudity. She just wanted
to visit Vara and perhaps take her away, staying clear of
other entanglements. She had probably had to swim
through some of the fringe-cavern waterways, avoiding
radiation. The mystery had been solved.
Now the two women were reunited, and oblivious to
him. Neq left quietly, knowing he would not be missed.
Vara did not leave. Sosa stayed. She merged with the
group so smoothly that it seemed she had always been
there. She assumed Vara's duties including the sharing,
and though she was of Neq's generation the men were
very glad to participate with her. She was a small, active
woman in very good condition and easy to get along
with. Her immediate past was a mystery; she had disap-
peared when Helicon was destroyed, and reappeared
now that it lived again, and she confessed her troubles to
no one.
If Neq had doubted Vara's need for him before, now
there was no question. Vara needed nobody but Sosa. It
was good that such comfort was available in her period
of stress, but it cast Neq loose without even the .excuse of
jealousy.
Jim's call on the newly-renovated television network
awakened Neq again. Another routine emergency!
"Someone in the subway," Jim said. "Going, not coming.
Seems to be female."
Vara, he thought, horrified. Sosa had finally talked her
into leaving, so that the baby would not be subject to
Helicon! "I'll check it myself," he said.
Jim nodded in the screen, perhaps understanding Neq's
concern. It was a matter to handle privately.
Someone was certainly in the subway, but not using
the cars. Neq let out the breath he had held when passing
through the flower-chambers and smelled the other faint
perfume, the kind the women liked to wear. Of course
she would not use one of the cars; such a drain on Helicon
power would immediately alert the monitor. Few people
knew about Jim's other monitors, as a matter of policy
and security. Increasingly Neq appreciated the various
mechanisms of his predecessor, Bob; it was necessary to
know what was going on, without having to share that
information with others.
There was no dust on the tracks now, for the subway
was regularly used. He could not trace her visually. But
when he put one ear to the metal he heard some faint
brushing or knocking. Someone was walking along the
track, headed for the hostel. Someone heavy, a bit clumsy
.. i. like a woman large with child.
He followed into the dark tunnel, running silently.
Soon he could hear her directly, and he slowed to make
sure he would not be prematurely detected. He wanted to
catch her before she could do anything rash. Vara could
be a difficult .handful at the best of times. . . .
She was picking her way along as though afraid of the
dark, making slow progress. One person, not two.
Why wasn't Sosa with her? Sosa was catlike in the dark,
and she had other routes—but she would not leave her
adopted daughter to stumble alone. Actually, Vara herself
was a competent night marcher; pregnancy should not
change that completely. "'
He came up behind her and spoke. "Go no farther."
"Oh!" It was a shriek of surprise, and something ;
dropped.
The voice gave her away: Sola. She had been carrying
her belongings in a bundle in her arms, together with
what must be a fair amount of food and water. No wonder
she lumbered!
"What are you doing here?" he demanded, perversely
angry at her for not being Vara.
"I'm leaving!"
Obviously. "No one leaves Helicon. You know that
better than anyone."
"Then kill mel" she cried, hysterically defiant. "I won't
stay with her"
Why did everyone associate him with killing, still?
"Vara? But she needs you mo
re than ever now—"
"Sosa!" The name was hissed.
Belatedly, he made the connection. If he resented Sosa's
captivity of Vara's affection, how much more should
Vara's natural mother resent being shunted aside at the
very time she had expected to be closest to her daughter?
He had been narrow to view Sosa's impact only as it
applied to himself. He had overlooked the natural reactions
of others—just as Bob had, before. Was he fated to make
all the same mistakes, until the same end came?
"You have other responsibilities," he said, somewhat
lamely. "You can't run away just because one thing isn't
right." Yet he had been feeling an increasing temptation
to do just that himself, for administration bored and
annoyed him as it had when he was a leader in the nomad
empire, and without Vara he had little to brighten his
outlook. "Here in Helicon there are no mates, no parents,
no children—only jobs to do."
"I know it!" she cried. "That's the trouble! I have no
mate, no child!"
"Every man is your mate. You described the policy of
Helicon yourself. Sharing."
She laughed bitterly. "I'm an old woman. Men don't
share with me."
Neq saw that she had more than one grudge against
the underworld. Had he been doing his own job properly,
he would have been aware of this problem long since. He
had to do something now, or admit he was less a leader
than Bob had been. Yet it was impossible to restore to
her the sexual attraction she had had a generation ago.