there is a great deal of sound energy generated. Also, there is an enormous amount of energy consumed by the bacteria themselves to enable them to continue their conversions and to reproduce at the rate the lab men set for them.'
'And it'll go on until there's nothing left?'
'No. We don't want to destroy a world. Within a few days, a special naoli team will arrive to begin antibacterial work to halt the progress of the crater and destroy the mites.'
'But the air will carry them,' Leo protested.
'No. Such catastrophes have been guarded against. The bacteria are designed to anchor themselves to whatever elemental molecules they are bred to attack. Thus, a wind would have to blow away the entire linkage of ferrous trace elements in an area to also spread the iron-eating bacteria. And if a bacteria cannot find, within moments, any of its particular 'tropic' substance to latch on to, it dies. There are all sorts of built-in protections.'
'Why not a series of nuclears to wipe out the Lake complex?'
Hulann shook his head. 'Nuclears cannot damage well-shielded underground establishments. The bacteria can-by dissolving the earth that covers them, then converting the very structural materials of the installations.'
They watched the pit, the shimmering, glimmering flames. Faint heat waves rolled over them and kept the snow melted around the perimeter of the hole. If they strained their ears, they could hear the sound of the energy of conversion being released far up the scale of vibrations.
'We didn't really have a chance against you,' Leo said at last.
Green erupted, staining their faces.
'No,' Hulann agreed.
Leo went back to the car. Hulann followed.
'Will it still fly?' Leo asked.
Hulann bent and inspected the bottom of the craft. There was almost nothing remaining of the heavy rubber cushion rim. The metal frame was bent and ripped, but not so severely that it would push in against the blades in the recessed undercarriage. If there still were any blades under there. He looked back on the snowy highway but could not see any large dark objects that might be shafts or rotars.
'Let's see,' he said.
The engine coughed, but turned over. They rose on the wind of the blades, though there was a steady vibration that gently rattled the frame. 'Well, it runs,' Hulann said. 'But where do we go from here? The road ends, as you see.'
'Over the median,' Leo said. 'On back to the next exit. We'll just have to take secondary roads until we're past the crater and can get back on the good beater surface of the throughway.'
Hulann took the shuttlecraft over the concrete bump in the center of the highway, wheeled the craft around and started back, looking for a way off the useless expressway-a way that would take them west where they wished to go.
The Hunter will soon be awakened.
The Hunter will rise up in his glory and take upon him the robes of his power.
The Hunter will seek.
Before, there has always been success.
The Hunter was born to hunt, as his prey was born to be brought down at his desire
They made much poorer time on the secondary roads than they had on the highways where the beater surface was solid and flat. Here, the pavement had been originally designed for wheeled vehicles, which made it far too uneven and twisted to offer much to a shuttlecraft. Besides, they were moving into the mountains near' the end of the Pennsylvania line where the weather, if anything, was more fierce than before.
The wind had picked up a few notches, battered the already beaten craft until the shuddering of the wounded mechanical beast grew severe enough to shatter one of the two round ports on the rear, behind the luggage shelf. Glass imploded, spun throughout the cabin. A piece of it caught Leo on the cheek, drew blood. Other pieces stuck in Hulann's flesh but not deep enough to cause him pain or to make him bleed.
Hulann maintained a low blade revolution count in order to hug the road and avoid the draughts that were much stronger even a few feet farther up. Sudden rises in the pavement gave them hair-raising moments as Hulann fought to go around them-or increase the rotar speed and go over them-to keep from sheering off the blades.
Then there was the snow. There seemed to be half a dozen inches of it now, and the steadiness with which it fell indicated no soon end to the storm. The biting wind — now whistling and howling through the shattered rear port and leeching out their cabin heat-piled the white stuff into every nook and crevice, stacked it against every outcropping of stone, layer on layer until it backed up across the highway, thick, cold fingers packing hard and making progress on air cushion even more difficult. Un-drifted snow was light and flushed away under the blades. But the wind-packed stuff was solid as ice, would not blow away, and gave Hulann trouble with his machine.
'How much can it snow here?' he asked Leo as they flitted up the side of a mountain which should have been tunneled through. He was amazed at the impracticality.
'Maybe a foot. Two feet is not unusual.'
'Two feet!'
'Like you and me.'
'That's impossible!'
'You don't have snow on your world?'
'Not that much!'
'Wait,' the boy said, smiling.
He waited.
The snow continued. Mounted. Blew. Drifted. The shuttlecraft slowed and slowed until he could not drop their forward speed any further. It was maddening to realize there were forces behind which would soon be after them and that they could only crawl along at under ten miles an hour. The only consolation Hulann could find was the realization that those chasing them would also have to move slowly. Then that consolation was ruined too. The Hunter-would the Hunter be turned loose on them? It seemed likely although the situation would be unique-would wait until the storm had ended, then come by air, in a helicopter.
They rounded a bend in the road near the top of the mountain, were confronted by a wall of packed snow four feet high, stretching across from the road bank of their right to the precipice on their left. Hulann braked, but not fast enough. The shuttlecraft bumped into the drift at seven miles an hour and wedged the first few feet of itself into the smooth, wind-polished whiteness.
'Stuck,' Leo said knowledgeably.
'We have nothing to dig with. I'll have to manuever.'
Leo braced himself, feet against the dash, back pressed into the seat. Hulann laughed. 'Ready,' Leo said.
Hulann fed power to the blades, and kicked the side jets into reverse, The craft lurched but held fast. He eased down on the accelerator until it was almost floored. The blades chewed at the snow that packed the front section of them, seemed only to lodge themselves more firmly.
He eased off on the pedal until the blades whirred softly, then tramped it down hard. The shuttle started like an animal, wiggled. He eased up, slammed down again. The craft jolted free and swept backwards, sliding sideways toward the guardrails and the long, deadly embankment.
Hulann let up on the pedal, but too quickly as? ? the engine died and the blades choked and he no longer had control of his machine
They struck the rails, tilted, went over.
The car hung there, caught on some projection, teetering. Then it fell.
Glass shattered.
And they were rolling down, down
Chapter Five
