Dumarest felt a rising tide of excitement as he studied it, the deep-cut markings marring its surface, the irregular shapes, the huge triangular continental masses. The Earth, he was certain of it. The Earth and the Earth Mother-there had to be more.
He turned, eyes searching the interior of the chamber. It was set with fluted columns which rose to converge like the interlocking fingers of mighty hands across the sweep of the dome. They matched the wall itself in its gray, metallic dullness. One broken at points with figures incised in gold.
Dumarest stared at them, at the dark mouths of openings giving on to the chamber. Some must lead to stairs such as he had climbed, others held the glint of crystal. All could soon vent a stream of guards. He could guess what would happen to him should he be caught.
He looked at his wrist and touched the stud of the instrument strapped there. The hands now signaled a point almost directly overhead. He threw back his head, eyes narrowed as he searched for the opening which was his only hope of survival. A flicker of movement caught his eye, another. Altini, crouched on a ledge which ran around the lower edge of the dome, gesturing with searing urgency.
'Earl!' His voice ran in echoes around the chamber before dying in fading murmurs. 'Earl! Up here, man! Hurry!'
Dumarest ran for the wall as sounds came from beyond the openings. Men, marshaled by priests, preparing to rush. A threat which gave strength to his hands, cunning to his feet. The fluted column held roughness and he found it, used it to climb like a spider over metal which crumbled in places beneath his fingers.
'You made it!' Altini sucked in his breath as Dumarest joined him. He was sweating, his skin unnaturally pale. 'Get anything?'
'No.'
'Me neither. There's damn all down there worth the carrying.' The thief gestured toward the statue, the misted chamber. 'So much for Ishikari and his promises. The thing's a bust. What about the others?'
'We got caught. Gassed and taken. I was lucky. They weren't.'
'How lucky?'
'A cyber arrived. He wanted to know things and chose me to provide the answers. He's dead now. Like the others.'
'Dead? But how? I saw them. I'd set the beacon and was widening the hole when I heard voices. Chanting and such so I froze. Some priests came in and had the others with them. There was talk about homage being paid to the Mother and some other stuff then the priests left. There was a blue glow. I saw something like it earlier when I acted the pilgrim but this was different. It made the air taste peculiar. Afterwards I did some thinking. Then I took some action. Those bastards won't play any more games in the name of holiness.'
'Tell me.'
'Never mind.' Altini shifted on his ledge and Dumarest saw the direction of his eyes. 'You'll know all about it when it happens. How did the others die?' He blinked as Dumarest told him, looked at the laser in his hand. 'Neat, clean, but it took guts. I'm glad you did it. I liked Kroy a lot and being stuck on a cone is no way to die. The bastards! But they'll pay!'
'How?' Dumarest was sharp. 'What have you done? Tell me, damn you! Tell me!'
'That ball.' Altini pointed. 'They lower it and it glows. It's hung from the dome, see?' Again he pointed. 'Well, I've fixed thermite charges to the rod. Acid detonators. When they go the rod'll fuse and part. The ball will fall. The glow will start and they'll be too worried about it to think of us. Neat, huh?'
A man clever in his trade but with limitations. Altini could pick a lock, a pocket, rob a safe, break into a guarded place, steal without leaving a trace. But he had never acted as crew on a vessel, knew nothing of physics, was ignorant as to the workings of power plants and atomic piles. Dumarest looked at the suspended ball, the hands cupped beneath which now, he could see, held the same metallic shine as the globe. Metal set within the stone, blocks fashioned to follow the curve of the ball.
He remembered the workers, their sores, their emaciation.
Karlene's dreadful fear which caused her to wake screaming in the night.
'Out!' Dumarest rose to his knees on the ledge. 'We've got to get out! Now!'
'Earl-'
'Out, damn you! Out!'
He thrust the thief before him to where a narrow opening gaped just beneath the lower edge of the dome. One cut on the slant to block the passage of light. Altini reached it, twisted so as to enter it feet first, looked to where he had been before.
'It won't be long now, Earl. If-'
'Move! Damn you, move!'
Dumarest turned as the thief obeyed, looking again at the statue, the ball, the golden figures incised on the walls. Finally at the slender rod almost invisible against its background of matching color. The charges Altini had set made a swollen protrusion. Even as he watched, smoke seemed to rise like the plume of smoldering incense.
'Earl? I'm clear.'
Dumarest dived into the opening, head first, wriggling, clawing his way past the riven stone. Cooler air touched his face and, with another twist, he was free, rolling down a slope, checked by Altini's hand.
'Steady.' The thief's voice was a whisper. 'Take it slow and careful. There are alarms, watchers-'
'We've no time.' Dumarest rose to his feet, laser in hand. 'Run for it.'
'But-'
'Run!'
He set the lead, racing over the roof, the slope adding to his speed. A wire caught his ankle and he stumbled, falling as a man called out and the shaft of a guide beam seared the air where his head had been. Light accompanied by energy which cracked stone and left a glowing, vivid patch. As Altini rolled past him, Dumarest turned, firing, his own weapon making no betraying signal. Doing no damage either and he wasted no more time. Escape lay only in speed, the deceiving glow of starlight, the slowness of the guard's reactions. By the time they had spotted the flitting shadows, aimed their weapons, their target had vanished.
Dumarest fell again as he neared the edge, something moving beneath his boot, and he rolled, catching vainly at the eave, missing to plummet down to the ground below. Luck was with him; the wall which could have broken his spine brushed his shoulder, the stone which could have smashed a knee or his skull rested an inch from his face when he hit the dirt.
'The raft!' Dumarest sprang to his feet as Altini landed beside him. 'Where did you leave the raft?'
'To the west.' The thief made a vague gesture. 'Slow down, Earl. They'll forget us soon. They'll have something else to worry about.'
'Keep moving!' Dumarest saw a shadow thicken on the summit of a wall, fired, saw stars gleam where the darkness had been. Stars which were beginning to pale. 'There's another raft. The one the cyber came in.'
'I saw it. Over at the main entrance.'
'Let's get it!'
Altini led the way, slipping along in shadow, reaching walls, climbing them to drop on the far side. Cautious progress and far too slow. Dumarest forged ahead, ran along narrow ledges of stone, jumping, racing, taking chances as savage fingers of destruction reached toward him. Seared plastic stung his nostrils with acrid stench and hair flared over the wound on his scalp. Fire quenched by his own blood. The thief wasn't as lucky.
Dumarest heard his scream, saw the guard standing to one side, weapon lifted to send another blast of fire into the twitching body. A man who shrieked as invisible death burned the sight from his eyes, the life from his brain.
'Ahmed?' Dumarest knelt beside the thief. 'Bad?'
'In the guts.' Altini writhed on the dirt, face silvered by the starlight. 'Don't waste time.' He beat at the hand Dumarest extended toward him. 'This is no time to go soft. Take your chance- but leave me the laser.'
He screamed as Dumarest raced on; the sound of an animal at bay, trapped, hurt, defying those who hunted him down. Deliberate noise which attracted attention, targets for his laser, as he provided a target in turn. Dumarest reached the last wall, sprang over it, crouched in the shadow at the far side. Luck was with him, the raft stood to one side of the great doors, the two men in attendance looking to where the thief had died.
The first fell beneath the hammer-blow of the pommel of Dumarest's knife. The second fell back, one hand
