Breed to Come (27 page)

"The passages run so." Gammage gestured to thecollection of blocks. "Walls stand thus. They canbring out the war machines only here, and here. Wehave scouts at each exit to warn of their coming—"

"But will we have time for such a message to reachus?" The Barker Elder's hand signs were awkward bythe People's standard but effective enough to be understood.

"Yes—he will do it." Gammage pointed to Furtig.

"He is here—the scouts are there—" The gesturesof the Barker were impatient.

"He can see—in his head—"

Furtig only hoped that Gammage was right, thathis ability to contact the scouts would work.

Poskattwas one, having with him the box to step up theircommunication. A second warrior, a small, very agilefollower from Ku-La's tribe, had tested out well inbox-Furtig contact too. It was the best they could, do,for Foskatt could not cover both exits at once.

The Barker chief stared at Furtig. If he did not believe Gammage, at least he did not say so.

Perhaps hehad been shown enough inside the lairs to lead him toaccept any wild statement.

"Only two ways for them to come," Gammage continued vocally for his own people and the Demon females. "And it is near to those that they must bestopped. We have taken all the servant machines andset them at the beginning of each way, ready to putinto action. Though those will only cause a littledelay. And with such fire shooters"—she looked now toAyana—"as you say those are, perhaps the delay willbe a very short one."

"Massa?" Ayana spoke the name of her sisterDemon like a question.

The other was studying a picture projected on thewall, the one showing the details of what Tan and theRattons were doing. "Those are storage powered."Her words made little sense to Furtig. "If the powercould be shorted, or stepped up by feed radiation—"

"They would blow themselves up! "Ay ana joinedher. "Could we do that?"

"With a strong enough transmitter hook-up. But todo it underground— The backlash would be so powerful—there is no way of measuring what might happen."

"Yet if they bring those out—use them—"

Massa looked from Ayana to the mixed company ofallies. "To whom here do we owe a debt?

And remember, Tan would be lost, too."

Ayana turned her head also, looked from Liliha toFurtig, to Gammage, old Broken Nose, the people ofKu-La, those of the lair, the caves, the Barkers. Itwas as if she studied them all to make sure she knewthem.

"Tan has already made his choice," she said slowly."The debt is owed to all these. It is an old debt.Those of our blood started them on the road whichthey now travel. Our blood did ill here, and if we donot halt Tan, it shall do worse. Since we were responsible, these must have their chance. There is our oldmadness—and here is new life beginning. If we allowthis war to break loose, we shall have to face a secondfailure for our kind. We must do what we can hereand now."

"You then accept the full consequences of what willhappen?" Massa spoke solemnly like one giving achallenge to battle.

"I accept."

"So be it."

Under the guidance of Massa, who went throughthe storerooms of the In-born (pausing sometimeswith exclamations of one finding treasures until shewas hurried on by Ayana), the lair defenders drewout many things they did not understand, placedthose on carts which could be driven down into the lower levels.

They finally chose a single point, where the attackers must pass if they would reach the key entrance toGammage's territory, and there they erected the barricade. Massa crawled in and out laying wires, placingboxes, those she had brought from the ship, othersfrom the stores.

Furtig saw none of this. Against his will he sat inGammage's headquarters, trying to keep his mind receptive to scout reports. Squatting on their heels before him were two younglings selected for their swiftrunning, ready to carry warning to those who set upthe final line of defense.

Meanwhile, out of this section of the lairs in whichGammage's people had so long sheltered, that tribeand the more recently joined kinsmen were movingnot only their families and personal belongings, butload after load of the highly useful discoveries. ForMassa had warned that when attack came, and if thecounteraction she planned worked, there might evenbe an end to the buildings themselves.

Warriors, shaking, with weariness, started appearing from below, stopped to pick up and stagger onwith some last loads of discoveries. At last came thefinal party of all, Gammage, Dolar, the two Demons,three of the People, and two Barkers.

"We go—" Gammage staggered. He looked verythin and frail and old, as if all his years had fallen onhim at once. Dolar was supporting him as he went.

"The Demon says this is a distance weapon, releasedby what she has in her hand—"

Furtig did not rise. "I cannot receive the alarmfrom below at any greater distance than this." As he said that a hollow emptiness was in him as if hehungered—but not for food, rather for the hope oflife. He had tested the limits of the mind-send—andhad accepted the fact that he could not retreat withthe rest, any more than could Foskatt or the youngscout of Ku-La's band, who were at their posts below.

"But—" Ayana paused after that one word.Slowly Dolar made an assenting tail sweep."How long"—Furtig hoped his voice was reasonablysteady, the proper tone for a warrior about to leadinto battle—"must you know before you use this machine of yours?" He was using the interpreter andspoke directly to the Demon.

Ayana pulled at her wrist, loosening a band holdinga round thing with black markings. One of thosemarkings moved steadily.

"When this mark moves from here to here—thatlong do we have between alarm and when we use theweapon."

She slipped the band off, gestured for Furtig totake it.

Furtig turned now to Gammage. "How long beforethe Demon war machines can reach the place of thetrap after they are sighted coming forth?"

The Ancestor bit at claw tip and then went to lookat the blocks which stood for the level ways.

"If thewar machines go no faster than rumblers, and if thosewe have put in place do hold them back for a space—" He broke off as Liliha came running lightlyacross the chamber. In her hands was a wide dish of metal and in its center a cone. Furtig recognized it aswhat the In-born used to measure time. Gammage took it and spanned the cone with two claws.

"Light this at your first warning. Let it burn as faras I have marked it—then give us your signal."

So at both ends there was a small length of time—time for Foskatt and the scout below—time for himself.

"These go with you." Furtig pointed to his messengers. He caught up the covering on the divan, rippedit apart, and went to a window.

"See, when the scouts' signal comes that they moveout below, and this burns to the line—I shall fire thiswith the lightning thrower. It will blaze in the window, and you, seeing it, can set off your weapon."

He hoped it would work. At least the arrangementgave him a small chance. The others left, taking thelast of the bundles with them. If Massa was right—how much of the lairs would be lost? But better loseall than their lives and have the Demon and Rattonsrule.

Furtig went back to the divan and sat down. Nowhe must concentrate on the messages. His skin itchedas if small bugs crawled over his body. He licked hislips, found that now and then his hands jerked.

Withall his might he strove to control his body, to thinkonly of Foskatt and the other scout—think—and wait.

It had been two days since the Demons had agreedto aid them. What had the Rattons and the otherDemon been doing all that time? Putting machines towork—? All the pictures the hidden scout had takenwere essentially the same. Apparently some machineshad been discarded—others chosen—

How much longer—a night, another day? Thelonger the better as far as the rest of the People andtheir allies were concerned. They would be on themove away, back from this whole section of lair, whichwas now a trap. Only the Demons and the war leaderswould stay with the power broadcaster.

Periodically Furtig contacted the scouts. Each timethe report was the same—no sign of any attack.Night came. Furtig ate and drank, walked up anddown to keep mind and body alert.

He had returned to the divan when the long awaited signal came—from Foskatt.

Instantly Furtig ordered the other scout to withdraw, then touched the cone on the plate with a dropof liquid. There was a burst of blue flame, followed bya steady burning.

Furtig drew the lightning weapon, hurried to thedoorway, his attention divided between the cone andthe bundle of stuff in the window.

Longer than he had thought! Had he mistaken themarkings Gammage had made on the cone? He heldthe dish—no, there was the line clear to be seen. Nowhe looked at that other measure, which Ayana hadgiven him, ready to depend upon it when the dishlight marked the time.

Now!

Furtig hurled the dish from him, aimed at the bundle in the window, pressed the firing button. A longshaft of lightning crossed the chamber. His aim hadbeen good, striking full upon the bundle. There wasflame there that certainly the watchers in the nextbuilding could not mistake.

He was already through the door, running at toppace down the corridor, coming out on one of thebridges lacing building to building. And he kept on,intent only on trying to put distance between him and the place he had just quitted. Another corridor,one of those shafts for descent. Not daring to wonder if it worked, Furtig leaped into it as he might into apool of water.

Then he floated down, his heart pounding. Thetremor came. And that almost caused his death, forthe soft pressure which supported him failed. It wasonly that it strengthened again for a moment that saved him, gave him a chance to catch at a level opening.

He was swinging by his hands and somehow scrambled up and through. There came another tremor. Thebuilding about him shook. Furtig ran, wanting only togain the open. The rest of his flight was a nightmare.He kept picturing the whole of the lairs about tocrash down on him.

Only when he reached the open did he turn to lookback. There was a change. It took him several half dazed moments to realize that the outline of at leastone tower against the sky was now missing. All thebuildings were now dark, no lights showing.

Liliha, Gammage, the Demons, the party who hadremained to set off the trap—

Furtig, his panic gone, turned around. He dared nottrust the interior of the lairs now. In fact the conviction was growing in him that, knowledge or no knowledge, he was through with the lairs. But he mustknow if the others had escaped. And Foskatt—underground—

He could not search the lairs— Why had he notthought straight? Furtig hunkered down on the ground, began to use his own talent.

Liliha! It was like looking into her face and she—she felt his questioning—understood! Foskatt—

Furtig began again—but perhaps they were too far separated. He hoped that was the answer when he couldnot raise the other.

Morning came and they stood on the edge of the sitewhere the sky-ship pointed up and out.

Foskatt andthe other scout were still missing. They were all therebut one—and without that one—

"He was very old." Ayana's eyes held tiredness inthem as if she needed to rest a long, long time.

"Andhe was weaker than he let you know. He must havebeen. When the explosion came"—she raised herhand and let it fall with a small fluttering gesture as ifshe tried their sign language—"then he went."

Gammage, the Ancestor, the one who had alwaysbeen—a living legend. A world without Gammage?But now Ayana spoke again.

"In a way he was wrong. He wanted you to bestronger, more intelligent with every generation.

Hewanted you to, as he thought, be like us. So he soughtout our knowledge for you. He did it, wanting the bestfor his people. But in a way he gave them the worst.He wanted you to have all we once had but that wasnot the answer. You know what happened here to us.Our knowledge killed, or drove us out.

"You have your ways, learn through them. It willbe slower, longer, harder, but do it. Do not try tochange what lies about you; learn to live within itspattern, be a true part of it. I do not know if you understand me. But do not follow us into the same errors.

"One thing Gammage did for you which is rightand which you must save more than you save anything you have taken from the lairs: He taught youthat against a common enemy you can speak with Barkers under a truce flag, gather and unite tribesand clans. Remember that above all else, for if he had only done that much, Gammage would be the greatestof your race.

"But do not try to live as we. Learn by your ownmistakes, not ours. This world is now yours."

"And the Demons?" Dolor growled into the interpreter. He moved very slowly, as if with Gammage'sdeath some of the other's great age had also settledupon him.

"We shall not come again. This is no longer ourworld. We have found in the lairs the knowledge which will perhaps save us on our new home. And ourpeople will accept that, after hearing what we have tosay. Or if they do not accept—" She looked over theirheads to the lairs. "Be sure in my promise—we shallnot come again!"

Even, she thought, if we have to—to make surethat the ship does not return to Elhorn. This promisemust be kept. She did not look back to the People asshe drew herself wearily up the ramp. If matters had been different, if the old madness had not grippedthem—Tan—resolutely she closed her mind tothat. But if the madness had not struck in the beginning perhaps the People would not have existed either. Did ill balance good somehow? Now she was tootired, too drained to think.

Those on the field scattered back to the lairs. Therewere warriors questing about the ruins, hunting signsof Rattona, but so far none had been sighted. Theyhad, though, brought back a dazed Foskatt, who hadbeen struck on the head and was now closely tendedby Eu-La. The other scout was still being sought.

Furtig and Liliha stood together, watching firesprout around the sky-ship. They hid their eyes then against the glare as it rose, pointing out. The Demonhad promised—no return.

But the other things she had said—that Gammagehad been wrong, that they must find their own kind ofknowledge— How much of that was truth? Theywould have time now to discover.