«How much farther?» Blade asked.
Sybelline waved her torch ahead. «Just there. A hundred paces or so.»
Sart touched Blade's arm. «Something is following us. I think mole rats.»
Blade and Sybelline spun around and held their torches high. Sart got behind them and made terrified sounds. Sybelline said, «He is right. See them-over there.»
Blade saw them. More than a score of eyes winked red-yellow out of the gloom.
«They are blind,» said Sybelline. «They have eyes that are open and shine, but they cannot see. I saw a dead mole rat once and heard a Morphi expert explain it. I do not wish to see another one.»
The eyes crept closer. Blade hefted his bar. «Like it or not,» he told her, «you are going to see one, if they will take the bait.»
She peered at him. «Bait?»
«Me.»
As he strode back toward the glowing eyes, torch in one hand-held high-his spear bar ready in the other, a theory leaked into his brain. A hunch, call it, but he knew he was right. He was drenched with sweat. His smell was strange and enticing to these creatures. That was why they were bold, why they followed. The mole rats were after him.
The glittering eyes fled. If they could not see, their hearing and smell more than compensated.
One pair of eyes did not run. They moved toward Blade, baleful and terror-gleaming, all the more frightening because they were dead eyes and still sparked hate and hunger at the big man. Blade caught a whiff of charnel odor and heard the creature sounds-a gobbling sound that screamed along his spine. The thing leaped.
For once Blade's courage nearly failed. He was a mass of terrified sweat. He longed to flee, but dared not. He lunged with the sharp end of his spear bar and met the creature head on.
The mole rat reared, and slapped at the bar with huge spade paws. Blade nearly lost the bar. He dropped the torch between himself and the mole rat and the thing charged over the flame. It did not fear fire. Blade used two hands and thrust with all his strength. Fangs grated on the bar and the smell of the rat overwhelmed Blade. He fell back a step.
The rat charged again. Blade knelt and took the charge with his bar, much as he had killed the Gnomen, and the mole rat impaled itself. It did not die quickly or easily. It thrashed around on the bar, spurting gouts of black, foul-smelling blood, and Blade had an urge to vomit. He let go of the bar and stepped away, watching the death throes of the mole rat, keeping an eye out for new danger. He picked up the torch.
When the mole rat was dead he went close. The thing was as big as a wolfhound, with a long scaly tail and the body and snout of an enormous rat. The spade paws were those of a mole, the talons gleaming four inches long. The thing had a double set of shark-like teeth. Blade pulled out the bar and kicked the animal. It gave a last convulsive death shudder.
He wanted to drag it back with him but could not bring himself to touch it. It was loathsome and probably poisonous. The truth was that his nerves were screaming and he was still afraid of the thing, dead or not.
Sybelline called to him. «Leave it, Blade. The others will feed on it. That is how they live, by feeding on their old and dead.»
Blade was glad of the excuse to walk away. He went back to join Sart and the woman. Sart stared at the blood on Blade's spear bar and made the sign of the fylfot on his bald head. When his eyes met Blade's they were filled with awe and admiration.
«I have never seen the like of that, master. Even Jantor would not walk into a nest of mole rats.»
Sybelline nodded. «It is true. Even the Morphi fear them, though they killed many with poison and trapped some for examination.»
«Let us get on,» said Blade.
«Just over there,» she said.
They approached what seemed to Blade to be a block house or bunker, not large, made of sturdy plastic blocks. Sybelline confirmed his guess that it was squarely in the center of the dome complex.
He examined the entrance with his torch. From the darkness behind them came gobbling sounds as the dead mole rat was devoured.
Blade looked at Sybelline and nodded at the entrance. «There will be sleepers in there?»
«Yes. Technicians on duty. It was dangerous duty and they were triple paid.»
Blade smiled. «How do you know all this?» He had guessed, but he wanted to hear her say it.
She did not lie. «I know because it was I who turned off the power. You must know that.»
«How did you gain admission and why did they trust you?»
It was her turn to smile. «There are as many fools among the Morphi as among the Gnomen, for all their brains. I used my body, what else? It was easier because it was forbidden-Morphi are forbidden to cohabit with Gnomen on penalty of death storage. Knowing the risk, they were all the more eager. Come, I will show you the very table on which I lay.»
Blade turned to Sart. «Stay here on guard.»
Sart quivered. «But the mole rats, master. If they-
Blade threatened him with a massive fist. «Take your choice. My anger or the possibility of mole rats. One is certain, the other not.»
Sart grumbled but remained on guard, peering fearfully into the dark.
Blade waved his torch at Sybelline. «After you.»
The interior of the bunker was cramped. With the aid of both torches they could see well enough. The place was sparsely furnished. Consoles covered the walls. There were dials and gauges and switches and toggles. Blade was reminded of Lord Leighton's master computer chamber. He inspected in silence for a moment, concentrating, activating the crystal in his brain so that everything he recorded would be passed on to Home Dimension without conscious effort on his part. Lord L would be listening in, and the old boffin would be in seventh heaven.
There were four sleepers. One sat at a console, his hand still raised to touch a toggle. One was stretched on a plastic cot, asleep, when a deeper sleep came. A third stood before a drawing board, a long stylus-like pen poised over blueprints.
Sybelline pointed to the fourth sleeper. «It was he… the last to have me. The others were watching and enjoying it even as they worked.»
Blade grunted. «Voyeurs.»
«I do not understand that word.»
«Of no matter. Show me exactly.»
She stepped to a table near a console. On it lay the fourth sleeper, face down, arms dangling, plastic clothing still in disarray. Like all the sleepers he was handsome, young looking, too pretty and healthy looking to be believed, even in this quasi-death.
Sex seemed to be the one constant in all the X Dimensions he had visited. No-there were other and regrettable constants-greed, hate, fear, lust for power.
And love. Not often, but he had found it from time to time.
Blade said, «Show me.»
Sybelline's face had a swollen look. Her lips were fuller, pouting, and her eyes narrowed. She began to stroke her breasts lightly. She was remembering, harking back, and the visit to the scene of such pleasure and accomplishment was arousing her beyond bearing. She pointed at the sleeper on the table. «Move him. Roll him off. Then I will show you exactly. You can join me. Now. Hurry, I have longed for you, Blade, ever since I first set eyes on you.»
Blade was cautious. He had no desire for her or for any woman at this time, but he did not want to offend her. He needed her.
«Later,» he promised. «For now just show me.»
She frowned at him but nodded. She went to the table. She pointed to the sleeper. «He lay just so, atop me. He was paying no attention other than to his own pleasure, and I reached back and pushed the button-there. You see how simple it was?»