Voyage to the City of the Dead

  As the Redowls watched, one especially massive warrior tried to vault over the railing. He didn't quite make it and grabbed a hold with his hands. His lower body slammed into the hull and he lit up in a shower of blue sparks. When the thick fingers finally let loose the huge body splashed into the river.

  Etienne assumed the pilot's chair, his fingers flying over the controls. A muffled roar sounded aft as the engine came to life. The hydrofoil lifted half a meter on its repellers and shot forward, scattering Na. One didn't dodge quickly enough, and a sickening thud sounded from the bow as the aborigine was knocked aside.

  Nightscope screens came alive, revealing the rest of the war party falling astern. Several bathes bobbed in the shal­low water together with pieces of the individual run over by the boat and a smaller silhouette: Yij. Angrily Etienne spun the hydrofoil on its axis and sent it roaring down on their attackers, plowing through the now panicky Na and sending several additional bodies flying. The sound of metal meeting flesh momentarily filled him with an unholy delight and he damned himself even as he pivoted for another run.

  As the Na threw their weapons aside and scrambled onto the beach he bashed through the survivors two more times. By then they were in full retreat outside the cavern, not even turning to hurl an occasional insult back at their intended prey. Etienne slowed as he beached the boat on the far side of the Skar.

  "The middle of the river's still deep enough here to pre­vent them from crossing after us," he muttered. "Stay here." He took his pistol as Lyra assumed the pilot's seat, favoring her injured shoulder.

  "One nighttime stroll on deck's enough for this little lady." He smiled thinly at her by way of reply.

  Tyl and Yulour followed him aft. The doorway opened easily, readmitting the night. He had a sudden thought, closed the door immediately and directed the Tsla to wait for him as he disappeared belowdecks.

  He reappeared carrying a pair of long metal rods, showed one to Tyl. "These are for making seismic soundings in spots inaccessible from the boat. Never mind what I mean, just take them." The Tsla did so.

  "Those are explosive charges on the tips. Small lightnings. There are five charges on each pole. You press this here," and he showed the fire buttons to his companions, "after you've touched the end of the pole to your target. They're difficult to use, but they were not designed as weapons. They'll be effective if you have to use them, though."

  "I understand, Etienne,"' Tyl told him, lightly fingering the fire button. Etienne turned to the other Tsla.

  "How about you, Yulour? Do you understand? See, you press there after you touch whatever you want to stop with the other end of the pole."

  The porter eyed him blankly, his expression a bovine mixture of sadness and confusion. Sighing, Etienne carefully set the second pole to one side.

  "Never mind. Stay close as we go outside."

  He cracked the doorway to the deck for the second time. Outside it was silent as the departed, an unfortunate simile. Holding the asynapt out in front of his body he edged out, keeping low and nearly stumbling over the cleaved corpse of Swd. The porter had been a faithful worker, obedient and always ready to lend a hand. Now he was only a lesson in Tsla anatomy. Etienne found he was too mad to be sickened by the sight.

  Tyl and Yulour stayed tight on his heels. Three Na bodies lay draped over the stern rail where they'd perished in a last-ditch attempt to board the boat. They looked even bigger up close than they did from a distance. Etienne inspected the shore. Nothing moved on the gravel. The river itself and the mouth of the ice cavern were equally devoid of life.

  "Shouldn't have let them surprise us like that. Always underestimating. You'd think we'd have learned our lesson by now."

  "I am sorrowed," Tyl said solemnly.

  "Nothing for you to be sorry about, Tyl. The responsi­bility's ours. We're the `masters of superior technology."' He let out a rueful laugh. "Some joke. It's just that we haven't seen Na or signs of Na since that day back in Turput and I didn't expect to encounter them this far north. Shows how adaptable they are. I didn't think. I'm the one who should be sorrowed." He gestured at Swd's body.

  "Now two more of your people have died."

  "Death comes to all of us eventually," Tyl replied. "You ask that I not sorrow for thee. Now I ask that thee sorrow not for us. Swd and Yij achieved what they could not have in a dozen lifetimes, because of thee and thy mate. Their souls are grateful to thee, not angry."

  "Well I'm angry! Damned angry. Angry at myself, angry at..." the wind went out of him with a rush as Yulour struck him in the midsection and drove him backwards. As a result the small spear passed beneath his arm and pierced his side instead of his spine.

  Tyl whirled and leaped to jab the end of the seismic probe against the neck of the Na who had thrown the spear. He pressed the fire button. With a sharp report, the Na's head blew off its wide shoulders, arching into the darkness in a spray of blood and bone fragments. Ii landed in the water with a splash.

  Yulour was rolling away from Etienne, who lay on his back, staring up at the roof of the ice cave. With great care the porter extracted the spear. Blood quickly rushed from the wound. Tyl rose to alert Lyra but she'd heard the ex­plosion and now joined them on deck.

  Her eyes widened as she saw the extent and depth of the wound. She vanished belowdecks again and reemerged moments later carrying the boat's first‑aid kit.

  Etienne was breathing raggedly as she worked to halt the flow of blood. His pulse was racing and uneven.

  "What happened?" she asked the Tsla as she worked.

  Tyl explained while Yulour looked on helplessly. "That one," and he indicated the decapitated body of the Na who had thrown the spear, "was not dead but only pretending."

  Lyre saw that the headless corpse was spraddled across the two other bodies. "It was shielded from the full charge. It lay still, waiting for its chance. They have that much in­telligence, anyway. Too damn much intelligence by half, the hairy bastards." She glanced up at Yulour. "Throw them over the side, and be careful not to touch the metal outside. It's still holding a charge, a spirit death."

  "Yes, Teacher."

  Yulour showed his considerable strength by disengaging each corpse in turn and shoving the dead weight into the water. Then he returned to carry Etienne into the Redowls' cabin.

  Both Tsla looked on respectfully as Lyra ministered to her husband. A third figure joined them later.

  "I didn't know what to do, or how to help." Homat looked very small alongside the two Tsla.

  "Be quiet, Homat." To his credit the Mai said nothing more, remaining silent alongside his taller companions.

  They watched as Lyra slowly passed a small plastic device over Etienne's side and chest. When she finished and put it aside her expression was grim. Etienne tried to reassure her by smiling, but the pain made it difficult.

  "Well . . . doctor?"

  "You're bleeding internally. I can stop it temporarily. I'm afraid it may be an arterial lesion. I have to stop it, Etienne, or you'll bleed to death. I wish I knew more surgery."

  "Thank God you don't," he whispered. "You've spent twenty years messing up any n‑sand. I don't need you fouling up my insides as well."

  "We've got to get you back to Steamer Station where they can fix you properly. You know how geed the thranx physicians are."

  "I know. It's funny when you think that they're better than human surgeons, them net having any bones and all. How long can you 'temporarily' stop the bleeding?"

  She didn't look at him. "I don't knew. The spear went a long way in, Etienne. I can seal the break and step the bleeding and close you up, but there's no guarantee it won't break open again anytime. If it does, I don't know if your circulatory system will accept another heat patch.

  "The computer says you should rest as much as possible. Some medication will help. But you car. forget about jumping around boulders and cliff sides or you'll tear your guts open again."

  "I'll be a good little boy." Despite the mild sarcasm h
is ready acquiescence confirmed the seriousness of the dam­age. Normally she had to strap him dawn to get him to take a vitamin pill.

  She tried to take his mind off the injury by explaining how the surviving Nz had lived long enough to fling the spear.

  "We won't be that careless again," she finished. "Not that I think we've anything more to fear from this particular band. First thing in the morning we'll start back Downriver. As soon as we get within reception range of the Station we. . ."

  "No,” he said sharply.

  "No? No what?”

  "No we can't start home first thing in the morning. We're not finished."

  "Maybe we aren't, but you are. We've came all the way."

  "Not quite, Lyra. We go an to the end of the river first, then we can turn hack. Nat before then. I'm not leaving until we reach our last goal. If you try to stop me I'll throw a tantrum and kill myself."

  "Listen to me closely, Etienne, because I may only be able to say this once," she said softly. "You are an utterly impossible man. You have no more sense in you than a sponge. You would try the patience of .lob, let alone a tired little woman like myself."

  He squeezed her hand tightly. "I love you, too."

  "That's what I said. Who would I shout at if you weren't around?"

  "I know. A good target is hard to find."

  "I agree." Angrily she rubbed at the moisture welling up in her eyes. "Which is why I'd like to keep you around for another couple of days or so. My shoulder still hurts. That we can keep joking about. There's nothing funny about the hole in your ribs."

  "You're telling me?„ He let loose of her hand. "Lyre, you have to do this for me. I'll be very careful. No climbing, no quarrying. If I can help it I won't even bend over. Yulour can help me get around, can't you, Yulour?"

  "Yes. Yulour is strong, Teacher. I can carry thee wher­ever thee wishes to go."

  "Too risky, Etienne. You must let that side heal as best it can."

  "On the way back I promise I'll stay in the cabin for months. It can heal then. But it would be insane to turn around and head back when we're only a few hours from the end of our journey. I want those ice samples! We don't have anything else to compare to them and taking them from the edge of the ice cap want mean nearly as much. If you insist, you and Tyl can take the corings and I'll just watch." He paused, added quietly, "Resides, if this turns out to be my last expedition I'm damned if I want anything left undone."

  "Don't tally tike that," she said quietly. "I'll kill you if you talk like that."

  Somehow he manufactured another smile. "Then we'll go on?"

  "All right. No more than half a day. I don't want to spend a night in glacial darkness. Whether we come to the hot springs or whatever, we go on for half a day and then we turn around."

  "Fair enough. I wouldn't want the repellers to fail in here, anyway. And I promise to let you do all the heavy work."

  "You're so good to me." Twenty years, she mused. Twenty years of performing in the same play together and they each had their lines down pat.

  She prayed she would be allowed to keep acting opposite the same male lead.

  Chapter Sixteen

  He slept soundly the remainder of the night. Lyra knew because she stayed awake at his bedside monitoring his condition. The computer's diagnostic program indicated that the internal bleeding had been halted. Getting the arterial wall and surrounding flesh to heal would be a much slower and more difficult process.

  The machine assured her of an eighty‑five percent prob­ability of survival for her husband, provided that he adhered to all instructions, took his medication and ultrasound treat­ments regularly, and received proper surgery within six months. There would be no permanent damage except pos­sibly to some tom lemnisci in the area. That would keep him out of any gymnastic competitions. She greeted the evalu­ation with relief.

  They would have to be exceedingly cautious during the return journey. No chances could be taken, no more violent encounters with belligerent life forms, intelligent or other­wise. Her studies among the elders of Turput would have to wait.

  One half of a component whole was useless, and it took at least two to make a team.

  Exhaustion and darkness finally conspired during the early hours of the morning to send her into a deep sleep. When she awoke it was to discover that most of the morning was gone. He was upset when she woke him for his breakfast but didn't argue very strenuously. Instead he sought refuge from his discomfort and fear by making delicious wisecracks about her cooking and waiting on him. She enjoyed every criticism.

  At Etienne's insistence Yulour carried him forward and they installed him on a raised pallet so he could see out through the cockpit bubble. Lyra settled herself behind the controls.

  The hydrofoil hummed as it lifted above the water. She turned inward and sent the boat toward the black maw that was the rear of the cavern. There was no sign of the night's attack. The current had mercifully carried off the three bod­ies Yulour had shoved ever the side.

  Lyra would have been gratified to learn that her husband's opinion of the Tsla had risen several notches. Not because

  c‑if their calm acceptance of their fates or their precocious knowledge of the intricate workings of the mind, but because of the way in which they handled themselves through one crisis after another.

  Ice swallowed distance and daylight until the mouth of the cavern had been reduced to a distant dab of white ink. Lyra switched on the hydrofoil's running lights and fore and aft search beams, bringing gasps of surprise and admiration from Tyl and Homat. From the pilot's chair she used the two beams to scan the opposite shore. The river continued to narrow beneath them. Fish fled from the intruding illu­mination.

  Surprisingly, the ceiling of the cavern remained far over­head, testament to the length of time the Skar had been flowing. They flew slowly along the winding tunnel beneath millions of tons of permanent, ancient ice.

  "Spirits live here," Homat murmured nervously. "This is the top of the world. Spirits live here." Beneath the roof of the planet even the thermal suit was hard pressed to keep him warm.

  "We should be taking periodic samples from the shore gravel," Etienne told Lyra.

  She eyed him uncertainly. "Think you can handle the controls?"

  He grinned. "They're no heavier than the breakfast you fed me. Yulour, give me a hand up, will you?"

  After making sure Etienne wasn't working in pain, she donned her own thermal suit and a long‑handled scoop and went out on deck. She gathered samples for another thirty minutes before she was obliged to scream at him.

  "Stop the boat, stop the boat!" Her tone was urgent, not alarmed. He nudged the requisite controls and the whine of the hydrofoil's repellers died as it settled into a meter of frigid water.

  "What is it?" he called toward the speaker membrane in the bubble wall. His first concern was that she had spotted signs of Na, but that didn't jibe with her attitude. She was standing by the railing, staring off to port.

  At the shout, Tyl had bundled up and rushed out to join her, with Yulour close behind. Homat crowded close to Etienne.

  "Come out on deck, if you think you can make it without hurting yourself." Now she sounded funny, he thought.

  "What is it, what's wrong?"

  "Everything's wrong. You'll see." That was all he could get out of her as he painfully worked his body into his own cold gear.

  As he started for the gangway Homat reached out with a delicate hand. "Don't go, de‑Etienne. Spirits live here."

  Gently he disengaged himself from the Mai. "Lyra's nod confronting any spirits, Homat. We don't believe in spirits."

  "No one does, until the spirits come for them."

  "A good point, but I'm willing to bet they're not coming for us here."

  Yet when he stood on deck and stared at the cause of his wife's excitement he found himself seriously considering Homat's warning. For while the spirits did not present them­selves for inspection, they had left ample evidence of their
presence.

  The Redowls gazed quietly at the shore until Tyl broke the silence. "What is it, Learned Etienne?"

  "I'm not sure, Tyl. I think they're machines of some kind. At least, they look like machines."

  Using the tiny remote control he'd brought from the cock­pit he aimed both searchlights. The powerful beams swept into the side cavern Lyra had discovered, illuminating un­predictable metallic blue forms and piles of twisting, curving gray shininess. Yellowish‑white coils of tubing connected separate structures and smaller adjuncts of green and deeper yellow protruded from the larger shapes.

  "You don't know what this place could be?" he asked the Tsla.

  "I have never heard of it, Etienne. No Tsla has ever visited here, to my knowledge."

  Lyra's breath congealed in the cold still air of the cave. "We've got to have a closer look." She glanced over at her husband, her companion in discovery. "If the Tsla didn't build them it's almost certain the Mai didn't."

  "Then who? Surely not the NO"

  "You ask the simplest questions. Get back to the controls and move us over before you fail down."

  He nodded, returned to the cockpit. As those on deck steadied themselves the hydrofoil lifted out of the water once more. Etienne pivoted the craft and moved inshore, setting down halfway between river and revelation.

  Lyra broke out hand beams from the ship's stores and dis­tributed one to each of their three companions so that even Homat, who had to be half dragged from the cabin, had his own source of light. In addition they could control the spotlights mounted atop the boat by means of two remotes. Thus armed against the dark they climbed the polished gravel to­ward the alien construct.

  It was clear that the facility had nut escaped the ice intact. Bits and pieces of metaloceramic matrix littered the ground. But the damage seemed minor.

  "Wonder how old this place is?" Lyra whispered.

  "No telling 'til I can run some analyses." He bent carefully at the knees and picked up a section of some tubular material. Tiny strands of opaque metal were embedded in the core and protruded slightly from the ragged end. He ran a finger along one of the flexible filaments.