Cycle of Fire Page 11

  The volcanic cones were found without difficulty. Most of the other gliders were already down on the beach a few miles short of the mountains; as before, the lighter craft had made better time. Dar and Kruger could see the crews below them gathering for the trip to the city and decided to remain airborne for a while longer to make sure that the bowmen would have time to get into position.

  They went on up the coast beyond the cones and cast about in an attempt to find the village of their captors from the air.

  The huts themselves were too well concealed by the trees, it turned out, but the area of the geysers was easy enough to locate. The heat from this region provided a splendid updraft and Dar circled in it for several minutes while the two examined the area minutely, but there was no sign of life now. At length Dar took his glider back to the volcanoes and landed on the beach as close as he could get to the city.

  They entered the place on foot, fully aware that they were leaving a plain trail in the sand of the beach but not worried about it. At least, Dar Lang Ahn was not worried; Kruger was beginning to wonder whether or not they might be getting just a little too blatant about the whole business. He suggested this to his companion, to whom the idea was wholly new.

  “I don’t think we need worry too much,” Dar said at length. “They will see that we had to land on the beach; we certainly could not bring the glider down in the jungle, and there is no way of walking across sand without leaving a trail. We can be less obvious inside the city.”

  “All right.” Kruger was coming to suspect that Dar Lang Ahn’s people had had little practice in military matters. However, with luck, the villagers they sought to trap might prove equally naive; there was nothing much that could be done about it at this point.

  The city lay silent, as it had before. There had been a recent rainstorm, and puddles of water were still present on the flatter portions of the pavement. Occasionally it was difficult to avoid wading through these, and wet footprints marked portions of their route to the square where the bowmen should be waiting for them. How long these would last in the nearly saturated air was a question that bothered Kruger slightly, though Dar did not appear to give it a thought.

  They reached the designated point ahead of the others, in spite of the extra time spent in the air. When the force finally arrived no further time was wasted in placing the ambush. That completed, there seemed nothing for Dar and Kruger to do but start exploring buildings.

  “I don’t see what we’re likely to find that will be of much interest,” the boy remarked. “We’ve already been through most of the places around here. We should at least have picked a neighborhood we hadn’t explored so thoroughly.”

  “Then I could not have been sure that it would lend itself to our ambush,” pointed out Dar. “I could go only by memory, you know.”

  “I suppose that’s so. Well let’s go in here and see what’s to be seen.” Kruger led the way into a nearby structure and the routine they had developed earlier was repeated. As both had feared there was nothing new about the place above ground, and they both had a healthy dislike of the thought of going below.

  And the hours passed. Every so often Dar Lang Ahn went back to the building in which the leader of the bowmen was concealed in order to discuss progress, but there was simply no progress to discuss. Kruger finally stated bluntly that the villagers or their Teachers must have outguessed them, and that the thing to do was take the whole group and proceed directly to the village. The thought, however, seemed to bother his companions seriously; it was not in accord with their instructions.

  “We must wait for a time at least,” Ten Lee Bar, the leader of the group, insisted.

  “But how much time do you have?” retorted Kruger. “It doesn’t matter so much to me, I suppose, though I’d like to be on the other side of the ocean before the last of your gliders is grounded for lack of pilots, but if you don’t get those books soon you never will and the electrical apparatus that your Teachers want will be a long, long time getting to them.”

  The native looked uncomfortable.

  “In a way, no doubt you are right. Still, if we fail because we did not follow the plan …” His voice trailed off for a moment, then he brightened. “I recall that you spoke of electrical equipment here in the city. Could you not use some of the time in obtaining samples of that? I will gladly help.” Kruger knew determination when he saw it, even in a nonhuman being. He shrugged.

  “It’s your funeral. Come along and I’ll see what can be found.” He turned to the nearest building, Dar Lang Ahn and Ten Lee Bar following him, and led the way through the open entrance hall to one of the inner rooms. Like virtually every other room in the city it had the electric plugs, and with the natives watching, Kruger pried off the covering plates and exposed the connecting wires.

  Dar Lang Ahn had heard his explanation before and did not pay as much attention through most of it, but toward the end even he was attracted. This was at the point where Kruger was explaining the need for two conductors and the results that would ensue if any easy path for the current was opened between them. This should have been strictly explanation, since no demonstration material was presumably around; unfortunately, when Ten Lee Bar brought wires together to see what the boy meant the strands of silver suddenly grew red hot, causing him to pull back his hand with a howl of surprised pain.

  He was no more surprised than Nils Kruger. For several seconds the boy stared at the glowing wires; then he pried them apart with the insulating handle of his knife.

  “Did you just feel heat, or something else?” Kruger asked sharply.

  “I don’t know. If that was heat I can see why the books have warned us against it.” The bowman had his hand at his mouth in an amazingly human fashion.

  Realizing he could get no information from a being who did not even know what a burn felt like, Kruger experimented. After drawing a few sparks with his knife blade he concluded that the voltage must be very low. Making sure he was on the dry stone floor — as dry as stone was ever likely to be in this atmosphere, that is — he then bridged the gap with two fingers. He was unable to feel any shock, though a final check with the knife blade showed that the circuit had not picked that moment to go dead.

  The question now stared him in the face: did the city normally run on very low voltage and still have its generators going or was this the last trickle from some emergency storage system? And also, did the Teachers in the nearby village know about this and was that why they had a general prohibition on the city? Kruger had come to feel a unity with Dar Lang Ahn’s people, in spite of the hostility he felt toward their Teachers. If they would not move on their own initiative to obtain the information they needed Nils Kruger would make them! He turned abruptly to Ten Lee Bar.

  “This changes matters. Dar Lang Ahn and I are going to that village; things need to be learned. You may come or not with your men, as you see fit.”

  “But if you go what is the use of our waiting here?”

  “I haven’t the slightest idea. Use your own judgment. We’re on our way.” Kruger started out of the building without even asking Dar if he was coming. Ten looked after them for a moment; then he, too, went outside and began to call his group from their hiding places. Looking back just once Kruger saw them starting after him; he smiled to himself but went on without comment.

  The trail was easy to follow; they had been over it enough times before. Nothing occurred during the walk. No sign of animal or villager, either by sight or sound, could be detected. Even the clearing of the geysers was silent as they approached it. At the place where the trail forked, sending one branch to the point where they had always talked to the Teachers, Kruger turned toward the pool which had so nearly engulfed them in boiling water. A few moments later the whole party stood before the rock shelter which projected from one side of the rim.

  Still the silence was broken only by the scrape of claws on the rock. After waiting for several minutes Kruger went boldly up to the shelter and began to exa
mine it minutely for traces of an entrance. He started on the side toward the water, leaning over the rim to do so, since he had long since convinced himself that the door must be concealed there. However, he found no trace of any crack in the rock. Extending the search to the sides and front produced no better results.

  The top was more fruitful. There were, here, a set of fine, almost invisible cracks outlining what might have been a square trapdoor, but the opening thus framed would barely have admitted Dar Lang Ahn himself. Never in the Universe could it have allowed the great body of one of the Teachers to pass. No doubt the books and fire-lighter had gone this way, but where the Teachers went was still a mystery.

  Kruger extended the search for many yards around the pool, the rest of the group helping once they understood what he wanted and had overcome their nervousness at the sight of the steaming water. Numerous cracks were found, but all seemed to be random breaks produced by nature. An attempt to see through the small holes through which the Teachers had presumably looked out proved equally futile; none of them was more than a few inches deep. Kruger began to wonder whether the whole thing had not been a huge farce, a deliberate misdirection of attention. Perhaps the Teachers had been watching all the time from the edge of the forest, or some similar vantage point, while the conversations had been going on. In that case where were they now? Still no sign of villagers, still no sound of Teacher’s voice — Kruger suddenly felt uneasy.

  The others had given up their search and come back to him for further orders as he stood thinking, but he did not stop to feel pleased at having usurped command of the expedition. “Let’s go on to the village,” he said abruptly, and led the way.

  There was no sign of life. They approached the edge of the clearing cautiously, stopping as they saw the first huts. At Kruger’s order they spread out, to make poorer targets for possible hidden crossbows, and continued their advance until all were within the village.

  Still there was neither sound nor motion. House after house was entered cautiously and searched, all with the same negative result. The place was indeed deserted.

  “And I suppose my books went with them!” Dar Lang Ahn topped the conclusion bitterly.

  “Seems likely. I’m afraid, unless you want to go back to the pool and pry open that trap door. Of course we still haven’t been to the little hut where they reported to their Teachers. Though how a Teacher fitted into that I don’t understand, now that I’ve seen one of them.”

  “That’s not the important point.” Dar was off toward the indicated hut like a bolt from his own crossbow. He vanished inside and an instant later called Kruger’s name.

  “What is it?” asked the boy as he broke into a run toward the hut. “Did they leave your books as a gesture of good will?”

  “Not the books. I can’t describe the thing.” Kruger was inside the door with Dar’s last words. For a moment he stopped while his eyes adjusted to the darkness; then he saw what the little pilot meant.

  The hut was unfurnished except for a rude table in the center. On that table was lying a piece of apparatus. It was uncased, and contained coils and condensers and what must have been vacuum tubes, all exposed to view. Kruger realized what it must be almost instantly, but he was given no chance to voice his opinion. The device on the table spoke first.

  “Come in, Nils Kruger. I have been waiting for you for quite a while. There is much we have to say to each other.”

  X. ELUCIDATION

  THE VOICE was that of the Teacher; there was no mistaking it. Equally, there was no mistaking the fact that Nils Kruger was going to have to revise a number of his ideas. Not even the race which had its headquarters at the ice cap and spread cities over most of the planet had radios, so far as he knew. Could this being have learned more electricity than seemed possible from the deserted city?

  “Why were you waiting for me?” asked the boy. “I didn’t expect very much to come back, myself — or did you think I needed the fire-lighter too badly to leave it for long?”

  “I was sure that Dar Lang Ahn would be back for his books; I know his people too well to doubt that. Later, I knew you would be with him.”

  “How did you know?”

  “I was told. I will explain that in due course. You may not believe it, but in spite of all that I have done which you may resent, I am not entirely your enemy. I am willing to allow you to live as long as your nature permits — provided that certain conditions are met.”

  “And if they are not?” Kruger naturally resented the hidden being’s words.

  “Then accidents will continue to happen. You cannot escape all of them.”

  Slowly the meaning of this dawned on the boy.

  “You mean the landslide over by the city, and the pit, were done on purpose?”

  “I mean just that. I also mean that a certain door did not lock itself accidentally, and a trap was left unguarded and unlocked with a purpose, and a certain geyser was allowed to feed its outlet instead of a heat exchanger. Be sensible, Kruger; you know too little of this planet, and I know too much.”

  “But you could’t…” Kruger stopped; the very fact that this thing knew about the events at the Ice Ramparts made his objection ridiculous. He changed his wording.

  “How did you find out? Are you one of the Teachers from there?”

  “I talk to them frequently.”

  “Then did they cause those accidents at your request, or did they want to get rid of me on their own, or did you do it in spite of them?”

  “They caused them at my order. They did not want you destroyed; from a purely personal viewpoint neither do I. Unfortunately you are too cooperative.”

  “In what way? And why should that be a point against me?”

  “I asked you many questions while you were a prisoner here, not only about yourself but about the technical knowledge you have. You answered them all, truthfully and, as far as I was able to tell, correctly. I am not an electrician myself, but I know enough to follow most of what you said.”

  “What is your objection to that?”

  “If you tell me, whom you had no reason to trust, you will presumably tell Dar Lang Ahn’s people. I have no objection to the state of civilization which they now enjoy, but there are good and sufficient reasons why we do not want them to match the technology of your people.”

  “How do you know what our technical level is?”

  “You told me enough yourself merely by being here.”

  “What is your objection to their learning our technology, if you learn it too?”

  “Principally, we do not want them to leave this planet. We need them here.” Kruger began to develop a strong suspicion at this point and asked a question designed to check it.

  “How about these people of yours who were here in the village? Would you object to their learning?”

  “Very much. They are easier to control as they are.”

  “How is it that you dare tell me all this with Dar Lang Ahn listening to the conversation?”

  “His Teachers know it already. They did not want to help me get rid of you, but I was able to bring pressure to bear. When their attempts failed I had them send you back here, to be persuaded if possible, destroyed if not.”

  Kruger, convinced that his idea was right, leaned forward and spoke with more anger than he had felt in his previous life. “That does it. You are not the same race as Dar’s people or as the people who lived in this village. You have the villagers to do as you want in the way of everyday labor, and the rest pretty much the same thing in more complicated matters. I don’t know whether you or they are the original inhabitants of this world, but I can certainly see why you don’t want them to leave it now. You might have to do some of your own work! Isn’t that it?” Kruger was so furious by the time he reached the end of this speech that it was a wonder the hidden being could understand him, but it apparently did.

  “You are partly right,” it answered calmly.

  “Partly! I’m right from soup to nuts. I dare
you to let me see you!”

  “I’m afraid that’s not possible just now.”

  “Why not? Afraid I’ll step on you?”

  “Not quite that. However, our meeting under the same conditions would indeed result in the death of one of us. I could not survive in your environment and I am pretty sure you could not in mine — at least Dar Lang Ahn certainly could not.”

  “Then he, and not you, is one of the natives of this world. You came and conquered it!”

  “I do not know enough of the past to refute that belief, but I have reason to doubt it.”

  “It’s certainly plain enough.”

  “You make an extremely positive statement on remarkably little data. Would you be willing to promise not to reveal any knowledge to Dar Lang Ahn’s people, except what we approve…”

  “No!”

  “Let me finish — until you have learned enough about us to form a balanced opinion?”

  “Who decides when my opinion is balanced?”

  “I would agree to release you from your promise whenever you asked, with the understanding that I might then find it expedient or necessary to dispose of you.”

  “How do you know I’ll feel bound by a promise obtained under such terms?”

  “I should not advise you to do or say anything which would give me reason to doubt the value of your word. I am sure you can see why.”

  “How about Dar?”

  “As I said, he may say what he wishes while he lives. He has no knowledge that I object to his people’s sharing.”

  “He heard me discuss electricity with you.”

  “I remember.”

  “All right, I will say nothing without giving you fair warning, but I assure you that you have some heavy convincing to do.” Something very like a sigh of relief came through the speaker.

  “I much prefer it that way,” was the answer. “Believe it or not, I would like to be on the same terms with you that Dar Lang Ahn seems to be.”