Nearing the entrance of the shaft, he remained as long as possible in the lee of the vacuum pipes which curved away from it like the tentacles of a huge octopus. By repeating the moves that Murphy had always made, he started the elevator machinery and was grateful for the silence of its operation. He stepped into a descending cage, rode it downwards to Level Two and leaped out on to the circular gallery. For a panicky moment he was unable to identify the opening of the south pipe, then he was inside it and running with the cold air sighing in his ears.
When he reached the area marked out by Ambrose he found that Felleth and several other Avernians were already present, visible from the waist up above the rock floor, and coming more fully into view with every second, their unnaturally wide mouths pouting and pursing. The bluish translucent figures were interspersed with what seemed to be machines and tall rectangular cabinets.
None of the Avernians reacted to his arrival, and Snook recalled that on this occasion he was not being illuminated for them by Ambrose’s special equipment. He fixed his gaze on Felleth—one part of his mind wondering how he had made the identification—and went forward. Felleth suddenly raised his web-fingered hands to his head, and Snook saw the glint of the living green wall superimposed on his vision. He inclined his head towards Felleth’s, once more seeing the mist-pools of the eyes grow larger and larger until they swamped his mind.
Deep peace of the running wave.
I understand you, Equal Gil. You may come.
Deep peace of the running wave.
Snook found himself kneeling on the uneven wet stone of the tunnel floor, his Amplites showing—apart from a view of his normal surroundings—only a vague general radiance. That meant, he remembered, that the surface of Avernus had already risen above his head. He looked up at the curving hewn roof, wondering how much time he had lost. If he was to have any chance of life he had to rendezvous with Felleth and Ambrose at a point directly above his present position. Felleth was already on his way, straight up through geological strata which, for him, were non-existent—but for Snook there was no option other than retracing his steps.
He got to his feet, trying to throw off the now-familiar weakness which followed telepathic union, and ran towards the shaft. Reaching the gallery, he climbed into an ascending cage and clung to its mesh sides until he had been carried up to ground level. He lowered his head and ran towards the platform, heedless now of anyone trying to stop him. The portable lights surrounding the platform came into view in the starless black, and with the sight there returned his appreciation of the need to avoid blundering into possible enemies. He slowed his pace, crouched low and silently made his way to the base of the platform. Ambrose and Helig were waiting for him at the foot of the ladder.
“I got to Felleth,” Snook blurted, fighting to control his breathing. “It’s all right.”
“Good work,” Ambrose said. “We’d better go up and get started. There isn’t much time.”
They climbed the ladder and found Prudence and the other three men standing in a silent group. Snook got the impression they had been holding a whispered conversation and had broken it off on his arrival. There was a strong feeling of embarrassment, none of them wanting to meet his gaze, and he knew that barriers had fallen into place in the same way as when it is learned that a member of a family or group is going to die. No matter how hard they may try, he realised, people who know they have a continuing future cannot help being alienated by the aura surrounding a person who is making ready to die. In theory, Snook’s life was being saved by nuclear magic—but his world-line was about to be terminated with a finality equal to that of the grave, and the fact had to be subconsciously resented by all others present.
“We don’t need this,” Ambrose said, pushing the plastic hydrogen tent out of the way. He upended a small wooden crate where the tent had been. “You’d better sit on this, Gil.”
“Right.” Snook tried to appear stolid and unmoved, but a deathly chill had gathered inside him, and his knees felt weak as he crossed the platform and shook hands with Helig, Culver and Quig. He had no idea why the formality suddenly seemed necessary to him. Prudence took his hand in both of hers, but her face was the mask of a high priestess as he kissed her once, very lightly and very briefly. He was turning away when she spoke his name.
He said, “What is it. Prudence?” There flickered in him the hope that she would give him something, a gift of words, to take to another world.
“I…” her voice was almost inaudible. “I’m sorry I laughed at your name.”
He nodded his head, strangely gratified and unable to speak, then went and sat down on the crate. The only occasion on which Prudence had shown amusement over his name had been at their very first meeting, and in his state of abject craving for human comfort it seemed to him that the odd apology had been her way of wiping clean the slate of subsequent events. That’s as good as you’re going to get, he thought. Perhaps it was more than you could have expected, under the circumstances. He looked all around him, taking in the sight which—barring some grotesque anticlimax—was to be his last view of Earth.
The five people on the platform stared back at him, but their blue-lenses Amplite glasses—which enabled them to see in darkness—made them look like blind people. Surrounding the crude wooden stage was a curtain of night which was now beginning to abate slightly, and he knew that dawn was near. Only the thick covering of low cloud, similar to that of Avernus, was keeping the level of light so low. Ambrose had moved in behind the Moncaster machine and was intent on its controls when Freeborn’s voice crashed from out of the blackness.
“The fifteen minutes is up, Doctor,” it said, “and I’m tired of waiting.”
“We haven’t finished our discussion,” Ambrose shouted, his hands still busy.
“What is there to discuss?”
“You must understand that it’s asking a lot for us to band over a man when we have no evidence of his crime.”
“You’ve been playing games with me. Doctor.” The amplification and echoes made Freeborn’s voice come from all sides at once. “You’ll be sorry you did that. If Snook doesn’t give himself up immediately I’m coming to take him.”
The words brought it home to Snook that, regardless of what might have lain in store for him, he was stiE an inhabitant of Earth and retained all his responsibilities. “I have to go down there, Boyce,” he said. “We’ve run out of time.”
“Stay where you are,” Ambrose commanded. “Kill the lights, Des.” Quig stooped and pulled a cable connection apart, and the faint light reflecting upwards from the ring of ground lights abruptly vanished.
“What good will that do?” Snook half-rose, then sank back on to his improvised seat. With the onset of full darkness, ghostly blue fingers could be seen beyond the edge of the platform. The inhabitants of Avernus—silent, translucent and awesome—moved among and through the piles of dank lumber, their eyes turning without seeing, their wide mouths moving without speech. In a few seconds there came the cries of frightened men. A gun was fired time after time, but the shots were not directed at human targets, and eventually there was a return to silence. The Avernians continued their strolling, unaware of anything outside their own universe.
“I was sure we could buy some time that way,” Ambrose said, secure in his role of master magician as the faint outlines of a building became visible about him. “Now, Gil, this is it. Felleth will be up level with us in a couple of minutes, and I’ve got to get you ready for him.”
With the removal of one danger. Snook’s former fears returned to him and he sought the comfort of words again. “What are you going to do to me, Boyce?” An instinct prompted him to take the automatic from his pocket and slide it away from him across the uneven timber.