'I hope you're right,' he smiled as he followed her.
There was a knock on the door, not violent or very loud.
Lemka emerged from the rear room and opened the door. A corporal saluted and spoke in Arabic; two soldiers stood beside him. Their guns were still slung on their shoulders.
'He says they have come to fetch you and Dr Fleming,'
Lemka interpreted, addressing Dawnay.
'Tell them we'll come right away,' Dawnay said, with what she hoped was a bright but casual smile. 'We'll be all right, so don't worry. But you'll have to find a safer place for Dr Neilson. We'll keep in touch somehow.'
Lemka extended her hand and clasped Dawnay's affectionately.
'My cousin will think of something. We had better not talk more, or the soldiers will suspect us.'
One soldier insisted on coming in the car, and the corporal made signs to Fleming to drive close behind the army truck.
The weather had cleared a little, the wind blowing strongly but steadily.
Back in the compound the computer block was a blaze of light. Two soldiers took over from the escort and led Fleming and Dawnay into the building. Kaufman was sitting at a desk in the office, his face a mask of suppressed anger. Abu was standing uneasily to one side.
'Now what's all this about?' the German barked at them as they entered. 'Why were you outside without permission?'
'Permission from whom?' Dawnay demanded. 'And why permission to visit friends; the family of a colleague?'
Kaufman tried to meet her look and failed. 'You know you are not supposed to be without an escort,' he blustered.
Fleming stepped forward, his fists clenched. 'Now look here, you Teutonic gauleiter....' he began, but Abu Zeki stepped in front of him. 'They sent for you because it was urgent. The girl collapsed while she was working in the sensory bay.'
'Andre?' Fleming was already at the door. 'I'll go to her,'
he called over his shoulder.
'How bad is she?' Dawnay asked Abu.
'She is very weak,' he replied. 'But there was a little more data from the printer before she collapsed.' He picked up a sheaf of record sheets from the desk and gave them to Dawnay.
Kaufman cleared his throat. 'You will be more carefully watched in future,' he warned, but he seemed uncertain and worried. 'How important is the girl to us?'
'About as important as your survival. You won't go on living for long if she doesn't finish this.' Dawnay could hardly bear to speak to him, but when she saw the fear come into his eyes she realised for the first time that he was not invulnerable; that he might be able to be worked upon. 'So for God's sake - and your own - try not to interfere more than you have to.'
He looked at her doubtfully and went away without speaking.
Andre's corner of the sick bay was in darkness. The nurse, sitting beside a screened light, stood up when Fleming tiptoed in. She protested at the intrusion.
'It's all right,' he told her. 'I just want to see her. I shan't wake her.'
The girl gave an annoyed sigh and walked across to the bed with him. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom he could make out the shape of Andre's emaciated body underneath the thin coverlet. Her head and hair were a vague shape in the centre of the white pillow. He bent down closer and saw that her eyes were open, watching him.
'I should have been here,' he whispered, gently touching her hair. His fingers brushed her forehead. It was damp and cold.
Very faintly her voice came to him, slow and hesitant. I have done what you wanted. Professor Dawnay has all she will need now.'
His mind hardly registered what she had said. 'I ought to have been with you,' he said again.
He found her hand. It lay lifeless and unnaturally flexed on the coverlet. His thumb and forefinger felt for the pulse in her wrist. He could detect nothing.
'I am finished,' she whispered, guessing what he was doing.
He withdrew his hand. 'No, you're not,' he said loudly.
'We've a trick or two left. Neilson is here. The father of the man who built this computer. He made me realise what I ought to be doing. What we ought to be doing. We need some help from it for you as well as us.'
He stood up. 'Put yourself in my hands,' he ordered. 'You did before. Tonight you will sleep. Tomorrow I shall come for you. I will take you to the computer. Yes, I know,' he exclaimed when he saw her attempt to protest. 'You're weak.
You collapsed this evening. But this time I'll be beside you, helping you.'
He had very little belief that he could really do anything, but he hoped that some fresh strength had passed from him to her. She moved a little, as if relaxing and getting more comfortable. Her eyelids fluttered and closed. Her face took on the serenity of natural sleep.
Fleming went to the door, beckoning the nurse to follow.
Outside he talked quietly to her, telling her that she was not to be frightened, and not to talk. 'We're all in danger,' he explained to her. 'Your patient is trying to save us. It's up to us to save her. Trust me and we shall do it.'
Half-heartedly the girl nodded that she understood. Fleming wished he could convince himself as easily.
He slept little that night, but lay trying to make a new plan of action for the little time they had left. With the light of morning he deliberately followed his usual routine of a shower, shave, and breakfast to give Andre every precious minute to recuperate from her collapse the night before.
Even then he was early. Sleepy guards, resigned to another couple of hours before the day releifs took over, eyed him warily when, accompanied by the nurse, he pushed Andre in her wheelchair to the computer building.
After the boisterous, still stormy, weather outside the air inside the building seemed heavy and lifeless. Despite the air conditioning the familiar aroma of Kaufman's cigarellos hung around. Fleming half expected the man to come bustling up, demanding to know what was happening. But the offices were empty. Presumably the German had hung around for hours, thinking. Fleming hoped that whatever conscience he might still have had been at work.
Andre had said nothing when he had fetched her. Beyond a smile in answer to his greeting she might have been in a trance. After he had dismissed the nurse and had Andre sitting in front of the screen he resigned himself to the fact that he would just have to hope to instil his ideas in her mind, without getting a sign of reaction.
And so it was. He talked of what Dawnay believed was wrong with her, how guilty they both felt because of it. He painted a picture unreally optimistic, of what her life could be if she could help Dawnay to help her. In the end he simulated something very near anger, challenging her to prove her power.
She sat with her head drooped, her hands folded listlessly in her lap. Only the occasional fluttering of her eyelids showed that she was awake and listening. He stopped talking after a while, not knowing what else to say. He saw her try to brace herself. One hand was lifted with agonising slowness to the sensory control. The machine began to hum. A pinpoint of light glowed in the centre of the screen; it dulled and expanded. Fleming stepped away, not taking his eyes off her, until he was against the wall. There he stood, tense, motionless, watching. The impossible was happening.
After a time he felt a pull on his sleeve. Abu was standing beside him looking puzzled and expectant. Fleming jerked his head towards the office and they walked quietly to it.
'What?' Abu began. 'Is she... ?'
'I think so,' Fleming replied, not really knowing what Abu was asking. He tugged his thoughts unwillingly away from Andre. 'What's the news from you?'
'I went home after midnight,' he said. 'I had to pass through the guard room. But the officer seemed to think it was okay for me to go unescorted. My cousin Yusel got home just before me. We've fixed up Professor Neilson where he'll be safe enough. A cave high above the temple, where that rock fault is. He'll be comfortable enough there as he hasn't to move around much. It was hard going for him; the air is thinning here just as Yusel says it is even at sea level in England.'