'I’ll take that as a compliment,' said the soldier from the alternate timeline.
'Shutup,' said Delaney, searching the gear in the storage cabinets at the far end of the room. 'Where the hell did they put them''
'Are these what you’re looking for''
A pair of warp discs landed on the table in front of Martin. Finn spun around. Captain Bryant stood in the entrance with four soldiers behind him. He had a laser trained on Finn.'Goahead,' he said, with a half smile. 'Do you feel lucky''
Gunga Din perched precariously on a rocky ledge above the balcony. He had managed to climb perhaps twenty feet. To his left, about fifty feet away, was a large hollow in the rock wall where part of the temple stood, surrounded by the cliffs. He could see the walled enclosure of an open space, a large balcony with several carved statues of Kali between pillars supporting the rock overhead, and farther in, another part of the tem-ple. A number of Chazis had come out onto that balcony and shot at him with their jezails, but he scuttled around to the far side of the small ledge, out of their line of fire. They kept shooting for a short while, laughing, but soon wearied of the game and went away. They could not get at him, but neither could he go anywhere. There was no place left to go. He could not climb any higher, there was no place that would afford him adequate hand or footholds to the right or to the left, and he could not go back down. He was trapped.
He sat there, miserable, shivering from the wind which lashed at him. He had no idea what to do. There was nothing he could do. He had failed. The soldiers had counted on him, and he had failed. He would sit on that ledge, unable to go anywhere, until he became weak or desperate and could bear it no longer, and then he would die. He could see no point to prolonging the in-evitable. He closed his eyes and muttered a brief prayer to Brahma the Creator, giving thanks for the life he had led and asking his blessings in the next one. Then he said a prayer to Vishnu the Preserver, to redeem the karma of his soul as the sun redeems the earth from darkness. He said a prayer to Shiva the Destroyer, asking that the end be swift, and at the last, he prayed to the avatar of Vishnu, the hero-god Krishna, asking that his karma lead him to a better existence in the next life. Then he raised his battered bugle to his lips, determined to die not as the regimental bhisti he had been, but as the bugler he dreamed of being. He shut his eyes and inhaled deeply, preparing to sound Retreat.
'Whatin heaven’s name are you doing''
Din jerked so forcibly he almost fell off the ledge. Just before he lost his balance completely, a hand reached out to steady him. He looked up, wide-eyed, at the tall dark figure standing on the ledge beside him. He was dressed entirely in black. The coal-black eyes seemed to burn into him.
Din s ‘ hut his eyes. Shiva! He had to be dead. The Destroyer had come to escort his soul to the next plane. He
bent his head down low, touching the rock at Shiva’s
feet and praying out loud, praising the Destroyer.
'Stopthat! I can’t understand a word. Can’t you speak English'-
Din stopped praying. English' The great god Shiva wanted him to speak in English' Come to think of it, the great god Shiva had spoken to him in English. Perhaps it was because he was wearing the English khaki uniform and served as a regimental bhisti. Perhaps that was now the language of his soul. Who was he to question Shiva'
'Oh, Mahadeva!' Din said, keeping his face pressed close to the rock. 'Oh, great god! You who are Great Destroyer; you whose presence is felt in falling of a leaf; you who are bringer of swift and terrible death; you who-
'I’ll bring you a clout on the head if you don’t stop spouting that nonsense,' said Darkness. 'Whoare you' What are you doing up here''
_Your humble and worthless servant, Gunga Din, oh, Mahadeva!'
'Well, fine. That settles who you are. Now what are you doing here' How the devil did you get up here anyway' Look at me.'
Din slowly raised his face up to stare in terror at the avatar. Something was wrong. Perhaps he wasn’t dead yet after all.
'Din try to escape, help soldiers, 0 Great One.'
'Soldiers' What soldiers''
'The Sahibs Finn, Learoyd, O’tris, and Mulvaney. And the Memsahib Cross, 0 Great One.'
'Where are they''
'In temple, Mahadeva. In greatest danger. Din try to escape, try to help-'
'And you got stuck up here, I see,' said Darkness. 'Well, you’ve got a lot of nerve, I’ll give you that. I suppose we’d better get you out of this mess. Here, give me your hand.'
This, then, was the moment, Din thought. Shiva would now lead him into the next life. He shut his eyes and held out a shaking hand to Darkness. He felt himself pulled forward, and kept his eyes tightly shut, not wanting to see the terrifying drop, not wanting to see the end, afraid to catch glimpses of things in the next world that mortal eyes were never meant to see.
'Open your eyes.'
Din opened his eyes. He was on the parapet from where the Ghazis had shot at him, not fifty feet from where he had perched upon the ledge. He looked down at himself and saw that he was still unchanged. His soul had not been reincarnated into some other form of life, into an insect or an animal or a bird, nor had it been reincarnated into the body of a high-caste infant; it had been reincarnated back into himself, Gunga Din, unchanged, still in his khakis.
'What are you staring at' Go on. You’re safe. You’re on your own now. I’ve got things to do.'
Darkness disappeared.
Gunga Din was mystified. How could this be' Had he not died' He must have died! He had seen the great god Shiva, the Destroyer! He had felt himself falling forward, pulled by the hand of Shiva into the yawning void. He felt himself. He felt solid. He felt the same way he always had. There could only be one explanation. It was not the destiny of his soul to be reincarnated into another form of life. He had not acquired enough good karma. His karma was to be a regimental bhisti until he earned the right to be reborn into a higher plane. Shiva had given him another opportunity to prove himself worthy. Din swelled with pride at the thought. He would not fail this time.
Chapter 10
Andre had her laser pointed at Martin. Bryant had his pointing at Finn. He smiled.'Well, it seems we have a standoff. You kill Martin, I kill Delaney. And then where will that leave us' You might be quick enough to try a shot at me, but with four other weapons pointed at you, I doubt you’d make it.'
'Either way, Martin dies,' said Andre.
'Well, that would be regrettable,' said Bryant, 'but it wouldn’t change the outcome. I’m prepared to lose Martin if I must. If you’re determined to die and you want to take at least one man with you, go ahead and shoot. Personally, I think it would be pointless.'
Andre hesitated.
'He’s right, Andre,'said Finn. 'They’ve got us.'
'Damn,' said Andre. She lowered her laser and Mar-tin took it from her grasp.
He chuckled, but the sound froze in his throat when he saw Bryant and the others suddenly enveloped in the blue mist of Cherenkov radiation. A second later all five men were gone, their atoms disintegrated. Darkness lowered the molecular disruptor.
Martin yelled and fired at him point-blank, but he was no longer there.
'Try over here,' said Darkness from the other side of the room.
Martin fired again, but the target had disappeared.
'Behind you.''
Martin spun around and Andre and Finn both dropped to the floor as he fired wildly all around the room, vainly trying to keep up with a target that moved faster than the speed of light.
''Hi,' said Darkness, manifesting directly in front of Martin, about three inches away. Martin screamed and
