/// To the base of the cliff! ///
Bandicut grabbed Ik and pulled him to the right, waving the robots toward the spot that seemed to offer the greatest protection. All other sounds were drowned out by the roar. They ran in a crouch, beaten down not so much by the wind as by the earth-shattering noise.
The sky overhead was turning a sickly green. The funnel cloud, momentarily blocked from sight by the cliff, burst into view overhead with a thunderous blast and screamed down into the gorge. Ik and Bandicut hit the ground, covering their heads with their hands, and shook with terror as shadowy air whirled around them.
The roar seemed to last an eternity. When it finally diminished, Bandicut peered up fearfully and saw the tornado emerging from the far end of the gorge. "My God!" he croaked.
The tornado shot up out of the gorge, spraying rocks and water in a great plume. It thundered back into the sky like a rocket, spiraling up toward the clouds that had spawned it. When its lower tip reached a height of perhaps a thousand feet, it suddenly flipped itself upward like a scorpion's tail, and its tip drilled a hole through the cloud layer and up into the sky above.
The cloud surrounding it coiled and twisted into the funnel; the blackness was drawn in like smoke into a fan, leaving eerie green sky around it. When the last of the murk vanished into the contorted, upside-down tornado, it closed with a tremendous BOOM! Bandicut stared up into the sky, open mouthed. The sickly green hue slowly faded, leaving a golden red sunset glow over the canyon. "Ik?" he whispered. "Did you see that?"
The tall alien rose to a crouch beside him. "Hrrrrrll! John Bandicut—I have never—never witnessed—" Ik lapsed into a mutter that left the translator-stones buzzing.
Bandicut scrambled to his feet and squinted into the sky where the tornado had vanished. "Mokin' foke! Was it just me, or did that thing look malevolent? Can a tornado be malevolent, Ik?"
Ik was silent at first. When he looked at Bandicut, his black eyes were lit by two small sparks of fire, one in each pupil. "Hraach! Can a river be malevolent?"
Bandicut shook his head in bewilderment. He did not like this, not at all.
/// It is very strange, is it not? ///
/Strange. Yes, Charlie, indeed. Where the hell are Coppy and Nappy?/ He heard a ticking sound and turned to see Copernicus rolling out from the base of the cliff that he and Ik had not quite made it to. "Coppy, are you okay? Where's Nappy?"
Tap tap. The wheeled robot's scanning array seemed even more battered than before. "Behind you, Cap'n. Some distance."
"Uh?"
"Over there," said Ik, pointing a long finger toward the opposite cliff.
"Good Lord." The other robot was staggering across the canyon floor toward them. "Nappy, are you all right?" he yelled.
Napoleon hobbled a little faster, as they went out to meet it. "I am . . . functional, John Bandicut." Its voice rasped with static. It was covered with scratches and grime on its quantum alloy body.
"What happened?"
"I became airborne, Captain. I have no maneuvering capability in that modality. I reacquired ground contact against a vertical surface. I cannot—"
"The tornado blew you into that cliff?"
"I believe so, John Bandicut. I am no longer able to track the turbulence." The robot's sensors spun wildly.
"Well, thank God you're okay. The tornado's gone now." Bandicut surveyed the sky over the gorge. The storm clouds had all vanished. But probably no more than half an hour remained before sunset. Bandicut glanced at Ik, who was looking not at the sky, but over the edge into the gorge.
"I must follow Li-Jared," Ik announced. "I must go at once. Do you still wish to continue with me?"
"Continue where?" Bandicut asked. "It's going to be dark soon."
"Here, yes. But through the portal? Who knows?" Ik raised his sighting device and studied the place where Li-Jared had disappeared.
"Do you know where he went?" Bandicut was beginning to grow weary of all these changes. Just once, he thought, he'd like to control the direction he was going, and know the reason.
"I cannot say. But the sooner we follow through the portal, the greater the chances of keeping pace with him." Ik snapped his sighting device shut and tucked it into his vest. "I must go. I would be . . . pleased to have you come with me. But if not, we must part here."
Bandicut stared out over the gorge. "Can you tell me something first? Was that tornado meant for Li-Jared? Or was it just natural coincidence, the way it swooped down into the gorge like that? I'm just wondering. I'd sort of like to know what I'm getting into. For once."
Ik rubbed his chest. "Hraach. I think it likely that it was meant for Li-Jared."
Bandicut swallowed. "Do you know why?"
"I can only guess that he has somehow disturbed the contamination, in the environmental control system." Ik was no longer looking at Bandicut. He was peering into the gorge, looking for a path down.
"I just want to understand this. You mean the system that controls this whole place?" Bandicut gestured at the land and sky.
"Yes, the—" rasp "—world room—" rasp "—continent. Whatever." Ik began walking along the edge. "I must go, John Bandicut."
"World room? Continent?" Bandicut asked stupidly. Following Ik, he was startled to see a meerkat poke its head up over a nearby boulder, then duck back out of sight. "How large a continent?" he demanded.
"Who can say?" Ik found what he was looking for. He sat down on the edge, swung his legs over, and turned to face Bandicut, holding himself up by the strength of his hands and arms alone. "Is this—urrr, good-bye?"
"No, damn it—of course not! What the hell would I do by myself in this godforsaken place?"
Ik made a slight whistling noise. "Then I will assist you in climbing down, if you like." With a lurch, the Hraachee'an dropped out of sight.
Bandicut knelt and peered over. The tall alien was climbing down a nearly sheer wall. There was a ledge about eight meters below. "Mokin' A, you expect me to climb down there?"
/// Is that a sharp drop?
Didn't you first meet me after a
bigger drop than that? ///
/We're in close to one gee here, Charlie. It's not like on Triton./
/// Oh. ///
"My rope will assist you," Ik called, once he was standing on the ledge. He drew his coiled rope from his belt. Before Bandicut could ask, Ik flung the coil up, holding onto one end. The rope slapped onto the ground beside Bandicut. He reached to pick it up, and was startled to discover that he could not. It was fixed to the stone surface as if nailed down.
"You can climb down. It will not let you fall."
"Uh—" Bandicut stared at it, but could think of only one way to test the claim. And there was another difficulty. "How do I get the robots down?"
"Urrr." Ik thought a moment, then flung the other end of the rope up. "Fasten it to them, then let them down."
Bandicut picked up the loose end of the rope with a frown. "They're kind of heavy, Ik. I don't know."
"It will hold. Quickly now."
Bandicut tied the rope around Napoleon, the lighter of the two.
/// This is very interesting. ///
/Glad you think so./ He checked the knot, then said to Napoleon, "I'm going to hold the rope and pay it out. You need to hold yourself out from the wall, and try to land on your feet beside Ik. Got that?"
"This is an unexpected procedure, John Bandicut."
"Tell me. Now, did you see how Ik sat down and swung himself around? Do that, if you can." Bandicut braced himself, holding the rope. He hoped he could support the weight. And Coppy was probably twice the mass of Napoleon. "Go, Nappy. Carefully."
The robot swung out and lowered itself by its monkeylike appendages, as Bandicut payed out the rope. Napoleon looked almost like an experienced climber, rappelling down the cliff. He felt lighter than Bandicut had expected—almost as if the rope were somehow supporting some of the load that should have been on his hands. When Napoleon reached the ledge, Ik untied the rope and threw it back up.
"No need to hold it, John! Just attach it, and tell the robot to drive off."
"Uh . . . okay." Bandicut puzzled over the best way to secure the rope around Copernicus.
"Just wrap it! It'll stay!"
Bandicut ran the rope around the robot a couple of times. Then he stood back and said, "Uh—Coppy? Just back out over the edge, I guess. Slowly."
As the robot did so, he was stunned to see the rope contract like a rubber band, taking up all the slack. Coppy tipped over the edge, and dropped dangling toward the others. The rope slowly stretched, lowering Copernicus to safety. Ik tossed the rope up one more time. "Just that way. No delay, John!"
Bandicut cinched the rope around his waist and felt it take hold like a boa constrictor. As he turned to climb over, he saw two meerkats peering at him from a boulder. Their eyes gleamed, meeting his. Disconcerted, he lost his grip and slid over the edge. He flailed in the air, dangling from the rope. He floated down until Ik's hands helped him to stand upright.
"You are safe, John Bandicut."
"Mokin' fokin' fr'deekin' hell you say!" he gasped, his heart thundering. "Do you do that all the time?"
"You have been through worse danger, have you not?" Ik asked calmly, coiling up the rope, which had detached itself from both Bandicut's waist and the cliff overhead.
Bandicut grunted. He looked around. They were on an uneven ledge, conceivably the start of a path, but not an easy one. The sun had dropped behind the top of the gorge, and shadows were darkening around them. "Where to now?" he asked, trying to keep his voice even.
Ik pointed across the gorge. "There," he said. "Let us move on."
/// This looks challenging. ///
Bandicut didn't bother answering. Ik was already hiking down the perilously angled ledge, and the robots clicked into motion, following. Bandicut stayed close behind.
*
There was indeed a path, a difficult one. Daylight was gone by the time they worked their way down the near face of the gorge. Twice again, they used Ik's rope to lower the robots. The third time, they dropped them all the way to the bottom, leaving Ik and Bandicut to make faster progress.
Only starlight illuminated the terrain by the time they reached the stream bed. Ik surveyed the area with his binoculars, then pointed out the route he meant to take, first along the stream bed, then across and up the other side. "In darkness?" Bandicut asked, knowing the answer.
"Quickly," Ik said.
/// Is the darkness a problem? ///
/Well, I don't have lanterns or light augmentation./
/// Maybe I can help. ///
Bandicut felt a tingle in his left wrist, and another tingle behind his eyes. The scene brightened slightly, enough to bring more of the rock features into focus. /That's good, Charlie. That's very good. You're learning this stuff fast./
/// The daughter-stones helped.
And the normalization. ///
"John!" Ik had walked on while he was standing there talking to the quarx.
"Coming!" As he hurried, he saw more meerkats peeking over rocks. They reappeared at intervals as he strode with Ik along the glinting stream.
He wondered if they were trying to tell him something.
*
They crossed the stream at a narrow point where Ik and Bandicut could jump across without getting their feet wet. The robots simply splashed across. Walking back upstream a short way, Ik paused. "We might wish to sample the water here. And refill our containers."
Bandicut agreed and fished his canteen out of his backpack. Well, here it is, he thought. Time to try the local water. Ik had already knelt and scooped water into his hand. He held it close to his mouth, as though smelling it, then took a taste. After a moment, he drank more deeply. He looked satisfied—which was encouraging, but hardly proof for a human. /How are you doing with those medical studies?/
/// Okay.
I note that the meerkats
are drinking the water, too. ///
Bandicut peered downstream and saw two of the animals crouched at the edge of the stream, lapping at the water. They looked up, their eyes palely luminous, then returned to their drinking.
"It seems fairly pure to me," Ik said. He seemed to understand Bandicut's uncertainty. "I find that I am better able to judge such things since my normalization." Ik drew a small, flat pouch out of his vest and immersed it in the stream. After a few moments, he lifted it and sucked experimentally on its corner. He muttered in satisfaction and dunked it back in the water.
Bandicut sighed, knelt, and scooped up some water. He could almost, but not quite, make out his reflection dancing on the stream's moving surface. The water was cold. It looked okay, smelled okay. He tasted it. It tasted okay. Actually it cut his thirst like good beer. He hadn't even realized he was thirsty. He drank a little more, then filled his canteen.
/// Feel okay? ///
/Best water I've tasted in years./
/// Good.
I wasn't sure what I was going to do
if you keeled over. ///
/I thought you said you'd finished your medical training,/ he said, with an edge of alarm.
/// Well, I have a certain
level of familiarity now.
But the normalization already altered
your absorption characteristics,
in much the same way I would have attempted.
It seems to work rather well. ///
/Does that mean I'm immune to poisoning from the water?/
/// Maybe yes, maybe no.
I wouldn't deliberately put it to the test,
if I were you. ///
/Oh./
/// But we'll do the best we can. ///
*
Ik put away his binoculars and pointed up the steep slope. "There, John Bandicut. There is the door."
Bandicut could see nothing but shadows, even with Charlie's light-augment. The cliff was not quite vertical, and looked as though it was crazed with crisscrossing fault lines. He saw no path, though with the fault marks it was undoubtedly climbable. Preferably in daylight. He took a deep breath. "Whatever you say, Ik."
The Hraachee'an peered at him. "I believe that this may be a—" rasp "—changeable door. When we reach it, you must not delay in following me, or we might become separated." Bandicut nodded, and Ik began climbing, hand over hand.
Bandicut watched in amazement as Ik scaled the wall. The Hraachee'an stopped and peered down at him from a perch maybe a quarter of the way up the face. Bandicut felt his breath tighten with a sudden fear that another tornado would come along and sweep them away. Suppose the tornado had been triggered, not by Li-Jared specifically, but by the mere fact of someone approaching the portal.
"John Bandicut—hurry!"
He shook himself. "Shall I start up?"
Ik's rope was already dangling in front of him. He started to wind it around his waist. "John—the robots first!"
"Oh, right," he said dazedly.
/// Your blood sugar seems low.
You should have had something to eat.
I will try to help. ///
Bandicut took a deep breath and bent to wrap the rope around Copernicus. By the time he was done, he felt something like a sugar rush. /Okay, okay!/ he murmured dizzily. /Enough!/ He gave the rope a tug. "All right, Ik!"
"Turn the robot, please!"
"Ah." He told Copernicus to face the cliff, as though to drive straight up its face—which, in a sense, was exactly what he wanted it to do. "Go ahead!"
"With you, Cap'—" Screech. The rope twanged and tightened, and the robot began a perilous climb up the rocks, grating and bouncing. Bandicut couldn't tell if Ik was doing the pulling, or the rope itself.
Soon the end of the line was dangling in front of him again. "Nappy, you ready?" He turned. "Nappy? Oh, damn!"
Napoleon was crumpled on the ground, his sensors dark. Bandicut knelt and checked the diagnostic panel. It was dead. Either Napoleon had completely run out of power, or something else was very wrong. "Nappy, can you hear me?" Bandicut cursed. The tornado must have broken something internally.
/// Will you leave it? ///
/Like hell I will, Charlie! I might have to carry him on my back, but—/
/// And what then? ///
/How the kr'deekin' hell do I know?/
"John Bandicut—what is the delay?"
"Problem with Napoleon!" he called hoarsely. He passed the rope around the robot, leaving extra on the end, then attached the rest to his own waist. "I'm going to have to come up with him and help him over the rocks. That okay, Ik?"
"Hrrrrrrrl. Whenever you're ready."
"Reel us in." Bandicut got the best grip he could on Napoleon and braced his feet against the rocks. He half climbed, half banged against the rocks, rising on the end of the line with the robot just above him. Three-quarters of the way up, his arm got caught between Napoleon and a protruding rock, and he yelped.
Ik peered down. "Are you safe?"
"Yeah!" he gasped, pushing himself from the rock. "Keep going!"
The rope contracted upward. Finally, he heaved Napoleon's crumpled form over the top. It took another effort to get himself up onto solid rock. He gasped, lying in a heap.
"Are you injured?" Ik asked, leaning close.
"My arm hurts. But I don't—"
/// Bruises. Minor laceration.
No breakage of bone. ///
"—think it's broken, though." Bandicut sat up with a grunt and gazed at Napoleon. What the hell was he doing, hauling a dead robot up a cliff?
Ik was probably thinking the same thing. "John Bandicut. Your robot—"
"I know. But I'm not ready to abandon it."
Ik muttered something inaudible and turned to study the cliff face. There was a sizable crevice nearby. Was that the door Li-Jared had gone through? Bandicut squinted, and thought he saw—for an instant—stars shining through the crevice.
"We should not delay." But something in Ik's voice suggested uncertainty.
There was a chittering sound, and three pairs of meerkat eyes glowed in the darkness behind Ik. "Hraah?" Ik sounded startled, but was reluctant to shift his attention from the crevice. The meerkats screeched. Ik looked at them finally, and they fell silent.
Bandicut glanced back and forth. Were the meerkats trying to say something about the crevice? The portal? "Ik, you don't suppose—?" He stared at the meerkats, willing them to speak in words that his translator-stones could understand. The meerkats gazed back at him; then, one after another, they shifted their eyes to the crevice. They were trying to communicate. Something had just changed about the crevice, he realized, something in the quality of the light surrounding it. "Try stepping toward it again," he said to Ik.
Ik did so, and the meerkats screeched. "They do not want me to go through."
"Let's wait a moment longer," Bandicut said, eyeing the creatures.
"We are losing time, John."
"I know. But I think they want to help us."
"Why?"
"I can't imagine." Bandicut swallowed and rose to a crouch, hoping that the meerkats would not flee. They didn't. He gently lifted Napoleon, to see how heavy the robot was, as dead weight. Heavy enough. But he could carry it a short distance.
Hiss! Chitter-chitter—SQUEAK!
The meerkats were bobbing their heads excitedly. "Now?" he asked.
Chitter-squeak! SQUEAK!
Bandicut took a breath. "Let's try, Ik."
The Hraachee'an reached into the crevice. His hand seemed to pass through the rock, with a twinkle of starlight. "Urrr, yes. Follow me, John Bandicut." He stepped into the rock and winked out of sight.
Bandicut trembled. "Coppy—go!" The wheeled robot spun its wheels on the rock and lurched into the crevice. With a flicker, it winked out of sight. Bandicut took another breath, nodded to the glowing meerkat eyes, and staggered with Napoleon toward the crevice.
Squeak SQUEAK!
"Thanks," he whispered, and fell through. Sparks of light shot in circles around him, and he felt a rush of dizziness. His feet went out from under him on a smooth surface, and he sprawled, losing Napoleon and his balance in one unstoppable movement.