In the crystal, two spiderlike things of metal appeared. They had metal eyes and waving metal arms with claws at the end, and they moved in a way that made Thorinn ill to watch.
"That's enough," he said hastily. "Box, I don't want to wait for the engines—how can I get out of here by myself?"
"At the back of this place there are—" The crystal lighted; it showed a wall of metal with three panels that opened and shut as he watched.
"Doors?"
"Yes, doors."
"All right, then." Thorinn leaned over far enough to reach the piece of stuff, pulled, it to him, and wrapped the box in it. The strips he had tied it with earlier were gone; he cut new ones off the end of the cloth to make shoulder loops, as before, and slung the pack on his back. There was still something disturbing and odd about all his movements; his arms seemed unnaturally light, and when he moved them they went farther than he meant them to. It was like what had happened when Snorri's Pipe began to roar; then all things had lost somewhat of their weight, but this was much worse. Leaning forward cautiously and pressing with one hand on the floor, he straightened his legs and managed to stand up. The floor above was an ell or so over his head. Shining the light between the ribs, he saw a dim reflected gleam from the ceiling, then another, nearer, from a wall that sloped gently up into darkness. It seemed that he was in a kind of midden-hole, into which things fell and sorted themselves out by their sizes. His first step took him high in the air; he clutched at the nearest rib of the floor above, overbalanced, and drifted down kicking helplessly to land on his back. He sat astonished, then got up and tried again. This time, using only his toes, he was able to keep his balance, though he floated as high as an ordinary stride would have taken him. He tried again, with still better results. He turned and began to follow the dancing beam of the light-box. After a stride or two he realized that the floor sloped gently downward toward the rear of the chamber; probably that accounted for part of his trouble in learning to stand up and walk. Ahead, something gleamed out of the darkness: it was an upright surface, formed of metal ribs set crosswise to each other like the floor he walked on. Beyond it the floor continued, but now it was solid metal.
Approaching the barrier, he discovered that it was made in sections that stood close together; each section was about four ells wide. There was no door to be seen, although he turned left and followed the barrier until it met the wall of the chamber, then right to the opposite wall. As he turned back to the middle again, his eye was caught by a spark of red fire below; then two more, of a greenish hue, a little distance away. He turned his light beam on them as well as he could through the ribs of the floor, and thought they were his lost jewels, but could not be sure; nor could he see any means of getting them.
He turned to the barrier and this time examined the nearest section, to see how it was made fast to the floor. He found it was held only by three metal contrivances that curved over the bottom rib and were fixed to the floor on the other side. Putting his hand between the ribs, he fumbled at one of these, and finding a handle pressed it, whereupon the contrivance sprang back and released the rib. He did the same with the other two, and now felt the barrier loose in his hands at the bottom, though it was still fixed at the top. He pressed against it, and it swung up easily.
Crouching there with one hand holding the barrier over his head, he swung the light-beam back and forth over the floor. The 'floor ended a few ells in front of him; beyond was blackness. The feel of the air on his face, the timbre of the few sounds he made, spoke of a vast empty space. He let the barrier down softly and fell to examining the floor around him. It was really a sort of platform, and above him there was another, of the same dull brownish metal, which seemed to extend farther out than this one. There was a light coating of dust on the floor; under it he could see scuff-marks, as if something had been dragged toward the edge of the platform. He thought of the spidery engines the box had shown him. By the look of the floor, he thought the engines had not been here in a long time; but perhaps they only came when something fell into the chamber.
He held his breath and listened, staring at the blackness that filled the space between the platform he stood on and the one above. He began to be uneasy about his light, and capped the end of the box, but that was worse: now the blackness swelled forward to touch his face.
With the light-box uncapped again, but shielding it with his fingers, he followed the barrier until he reached the wall. This was of solid brownish metal, not a grillwork like the others, but there was a door in it. It was not quite like the doors the box had shown him. He fumbled with the handle until he discovered how it worked, and slid the door open. Inside was more blackness, in which his light-beam picked out a few ambiguous shapes, a wall, a ceiling.
He closed the door. He was in a room, about the size of the platform outside. The ceiling was broken; dust and rubble covered the floor. He examined some of the metal devices that stood here and there, but could make nothing of them. One or two were like melted chairs; they would be ill to sit in, and he could imagine no other use for them.
The damage was worst at the far end of the chamber. Here the walls were blackened, and a great hole gaped in the ceiling; tongues of corroded metal hung down; broken stones were piled high in the corner. A faint breath came from the opening above. Thorinn climbed the slope, peered upward past the beam of his light. The way was partially blocked at the opening by fallen slabs of stone; beyond, it seemed to be clear. He tested the slabs cautiously, then began to wriggle past them. The passage widened perceptibly as he went on, until he was able to crawl on hands and knees. It sloped gradually upward, twisting and turning. After a hundred ells or so it turned sharply to the right and forked into two ascending passages, both deep but narrow. The breath of air from the right-hand passage seemed a little stronger than the other, and he chose that one. For a while the passage was deep enough to let him scramble half-erect; then it twisted again and began to grow shallower. In another ell or two he found himself in difficulty. The passage had grown so narrow that he could not get through it with the bundle on his shoulders. He retreated until he could crouch far enough to work the pack free. Pushing it ahead of him, he was able to advance another ten ells, the passage growing steadily narrower as he went. Then the passage took an abrupt downward turn. He thrust the pack down ahead of him, wriggled after it. It checked, then jammed tight. He tugged to free it, and it came back a finger's-breadth or two, then held fast again; it felt as if some loop or projecting fold of the stuff had caught. He probed with his fingers at the end of the bundle, all around. At one point he felt a faint touch of cool air. He squirmed forward, forcing his arm between the bundle and the smooth stone. Halfway down, he felt the bulge of the talking box inside. He got a precarious grip and tugged. Sweat ran into his eyes. He tugged with one hand, pushed with the other. The bundle turned slightly. He braced himself and pushed hard. The bundle ground forward, stopped, moved again, and suddenly dropped out of reach. A freshet of cool air played against his face. The light-box, sliding down after the pack, dropped and disappeared. He heard it fall, and saw its beam not far below.
A squirm and a heave, and he was out, falling, twisting slowly to land without a sound. He sat up, bruised and gasping. He was in a level passage, blocked at one end by a fall of stones; in the other direction, it ran off straight into darkness. He had gone no more than a hundred ells when he saw the circular opening of a shaft in the ceiling. He bent his knee slightly, leaped into the shaft, twisting to brace himself with foot and elbow.