death's door. I'm amazed we even survived the crash, let along managed to drag ourselves here. Just the shock of so many major injuries should have killed us outright.'
Ruby shrugged. 'This isn't the first time something should have killed us, and we survived. It's part of being who and what we are.'
'But we just did in a few seconds what a regeneration machine would have taken weeks to do. And I have no idea how.'
'Random, will you for once in your life look on the bright side? We are no longer dying, we are back in shape again, and the pinnace didn't explode, after all. Count your damned blessings. Now let's get some sleep, so we can set off for Vidar at First light.'
'Yes,' said Random. 'Sleep does sound good. But this is something we need to talk about in the future, Ruby. We don't know nearly enough about our powers. About what we might be able to do if we put our minds to it.'
'We're doing all right,' said Ruby. 'The Madness Maze didn't exactly come with an instruction manual. So we learn by doing.'
'There's still the question of how we do what we do. Where does the energy come from that powers our abilities? What did we just tap into to heal ourselves, to bring ourselves back from the brink of death? I'm already forgetting most of it, but what I can remember scares the hell out of me. It felt like tapping into God…'
'I think you're getting delusions of grandeur,' said Ruby sternly. 'Now shut up, lie down, and get some sleep. We've got a long walk ahead of us in the morning.'
She turned away from him, lay down on the cave floor, and closed her eyes to indicate that as far as she was concerned, the conversation was over. Random looked down at her for a while and then lay down beside her. He knew questions didn't go away just because you didn't want to talk about them, but there was no point in pushing the matter now. Still, when this mission was over, it was well past time that all the surviving Maze alumni got together and tried to work out a few answers to the nature of their unique condition. Random had no real objection to becoming more than human; he just wanted some idea of where that road might be taking them.
In the morning they stood together at the mouth of the cave, looking out into the new light. The wind actually seemed to have dropped off a little, but the storm was still going strong. Loki's sun was mostly hidden away behind the boiling clouds, but its pale light was augmented by the lightning flaring constantly overhead, illuminating the land below with a stark bluish light. Random and Ruby watched in silence, getting their first real look at the landscape they'd crossed the night before.
The valley was full of eerie, grotesque shapes of black stone, standing in no apparent pattern, like so many silent watchful sentinels. Beyond them the pinnace still lay where it had crashed, up against a dark cliff face. It looked like a broken toy, too delicate for rough handling. At the far end of the valley Random could just make out an open plain, dotted with more of the dark, forbidding shapes. There was no sign of life anywhere: no vegetation, no insects, no open water. Only the wind-carved landscape, harsh and bleak and utterly alien.
'I suppose life never really got started here,' said Ruby. 'Just as well, really. The last thing we need is more complications on our little hike to Vidar.'
'That is a terribly self-centered view, Ruby,' said Random.
'So? What's your point?'
'I don't know why I ever take part in these conversations anymore. All right, lead the way. And keep your eyes open. Young Jack Random and his bloody Ghost Warriors aren't supposed to be anywhere near here, but you never know.'
'Good point,' said Ruby. 'Let them all come. I could use a little action.'
Random sighed and followed her out of the cave. Climbing down the cliff face proved a lot easier than going up, and soon they were striding through the valley toward the open plain. The storm winds were still blowing hard, but now they had their strength back, it didn't bother them nearly as much. Even the abrasive dust that got everywhere was only a minor irritant. Vidar's location burned in their minds like a beacon, and they headed for it in the straightest line they could manage. Time faded gradually into the background. With no significant landmarks, it was hard to tell how far they'd come, or how much farther they had to go. There was just the storm and the winds and the hard, unyielding ground and the city still somewhere up ahead. So they kept their heads down, screwed up their eyes against the dust, and kept going.
The world moved slowly past them, always looking much the same. Sometimes Random thought he saw something moving, right out on the edge of his vision. Something dark and slow and impossibly large. But by the time he'd stopped and turned to look directly at it, it was always gone, lost in the storm. He couldn't be sure he'd really seen anything. It was just his eyes playing tricks, providing the illusion of movement in a landscape where there was none. So he strode on, looking determinedly straight ahead. After all, what kind of life could possibly exist in conditions like this? Even Humanity wouldn't be here if not for the cobalt mines.
He was pretty sure Ruby hadn't seen anything. If she had, she would undoubtedly have taken a shot at it.
The dark stone structures passed slowly by, no one shape like any other, reminding Random of ancient statues of forgotten gods. They varied from simple monoliths the size of a man to great mountains with wind-cut crevices deep enough to drop a starship in. Random would have liked to think about something else, but there was nothing else. Maybe the stones were the evidence of past volcanic activity, driven up through cracks in the ground as molten rock, only to solidify once they hit the cold air. It was as good an explanation as any.
And then they reached the top of a long rise and looked down, and there was Vidar, the main city of Loki, spread out on the plain before them. It was a great sprawl of squat black buildings, with dark towers thrusting up here and there—a shadowy fortress with red and yellow furnace eyes, like a mining operation in Hell. A tall metal wall surrounded the city, polished by the abrasive dust to a dark purple sheen, with two massive metal gates at the front. The faint shimmer of a massive energy Screen covered the whole city from the walls up. It had to be said that Vidar didn't look the least bit welcoming, but Random and Ruby were used to turning up at places where they weren't wanted. As long as it promised shelter from the storms, a clean bed, and a hot bath to soak in, Random was quite prepared to get down on his knees and kiss the ground inside its gates. Without looking at each other, Random and Ruby made their way down the long gray slope to the dark city below.
A local guard patrol intercepted them as they approached the main gates. There were six of them in full body armor, with improvised masks and hoods. They plodded determinedly toward Random and Ruby, stopping a respectful distance away. Each man had an energy gun in a thickly gloved hand, carefully targeted. Random and Ruby came to a stop too, just to be polite. One of the guards stepped forward.
'Who the hell are you?' he yelled, his voice only just carrying over the winds. 'Our sensors confirm you aren't Furies or Ghost Warriors, but nothing human is stupid enough to travel the surface without armor!'
'We are Jack Random and Ruby Journey,' said Random as courteously as he could while still shouting. 'I believe you're expecting us. Sorry we're a bit late.'
'But… we saw your ship go down yesterday, over two miles away!'
'We survived the crash, but our crew didn't. So we waited out the night in a cave and then walked here.'
'You
'Understood. Now, do you think we could get moving? I've had enough of this storm and dust to last a lifetime.'
'Welcome to Loki,' said the guard leader, and turned and headed for the main gates. Random and Ruby moved after him, the other guards turning slowly to keep them covered. The main gates turned out to be two huge slabs of steel. Twenty feet high, to match the walls, and eight feet wide, they looked like they could keep out anything up to and including a Grendel in heat. They opened slowly in response to a signal from the guard leader, who led Random and Ruby in. The rest of the guards moved quickly in to surround them, and the gates slammed together, holding out the storm.
It was suddenly very quiet. The roar of the winds was gone, cut off as though someone up above had thrown a switch. Random slowly straightened his aching back and rubbed grit from his eyes. Beside him, Ruby was hacking and coughing, trying to clear the dust from her mouth and throat. They were in a huge airlock, big enough to handle fifty men at a time, if they didn't mind crowding. The air was comfortably warm and blessedly clear. Random took
