Page 21 of Neq the Sword


  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.