stole our cylinders and would have opened them. If we hadn't attacked, they would have looted our supplies and that would have been our death.'
'This,' Ike said, clutching the dead child, 'this is your death.'
'We are deep beyond –' Walker started.
'You've killed yourselves,' Ike said more quietly.
'Enough, Crockett. Join the human race. Or go back to them.'
The walkie-talkie in Ali's hand spoke up again, and she held it up for Ike to hear as well. 'They're starting to move around. Say again. Should we open fire or not?'
Walker snatched the walkie-talkie from her, but Ike was equally fast. Without hesitation, he pointed his sawed-off gun at the colonel's face. Walker's mouth twisted in his beard.
'Give me that baby,' she said to Ike, and took the little body. 'We have other things to do. Don't we, Colonel?'
Walker looked at her, eyes huge with rage. He made up his mind. 'Hold your fire,' he snarled into the walkie-talkie. 'We're coming for a look.'
The stone floor buckled underfoot, and she had to skirt deep plunge holes. They climbed a slick incline to the higher, smaller chamber. The deadly hail of gunfire had not reached this far except as ricochets, which had done damage enough. They passed several more bodies before gaining the high floor.
The survivors were huddled in a pocket, and they seemed able to feel the light beams against their skin. Ali counted seven of them, two very young. They were mute, moving only when someone trained a headlamp on them for too long. 'No more?' Ike asked the soldiers guarding them.
'Them. They tried to get away.' The man indicated another eleven or twelve, sprawled near a duct.
The hadals kept their faces away from the light, and the mothers sheltered their young. Their flesh gleamed. The markings and scars undulated as their muscles shifted.
'Are they fatties, or what?' a mercenary said to Walker.
Several of the females were indeed obese. More correctly, they were steatopygic, with enormous surpluses of fat in their buttocks and breasts. To Ali's eye, they were identical to Neolithic Venuses carved from stone or painted on walls. They were magnificent in their size and decoration, and their greased and plaited hair. Here and there, Ali caught sight of the apelike brows and low foreheads, and again it was hard to reconcile them as quite human.
'These are sacred,' Ike said. 'They're consecrated.'
'You make them sound like vestal virgins,' Walker scoffed.
'It's just the opposite. These are their breeders. The pregnant and new mothers. Their infants and children. They know their species is going extinct. These are their racial treasure. Once the women conceive, they're brought into communal coveys like this. It's like living in a harem.' He added, 'Or a nunnery. They're cared for and watched over and honored.'
'Is there a point to this?'
'Hadals are nomadic. They make seasonal rounds. When they move, each tribe keeps its women in the center of the line for protection.'
'Some protection,' a soldier spoke up. 'We just turned their next generation into hamburger.'
Ike didn't reply.
'Wait,' said Walker. 'You're saying we intersected the middle of their line?' Ike nodded.
'Which means the males are off to either end?'
'Luck,' Ike said. 'Bad luck. I don't think we want to be here when they catch up.'
'All right,' Walker said. 'You've had your look. Let's get this over with.' Instead, Ike walked into the midst of the hadals.
Ali couldn't hear Ike's words distinctly, but heard the rise and fall of his tone and occasional tongue clicks. The females responded with surprise, and so did the soldiers aiming their rifles at them. Walker cut a glance at Ali, and suddenly she feared for Ike's life. 'If even one tries to run,' Walker told his men, 'you are to open fire on the whole pack.'
'But the Cap's in there,' a boy said.
'Full auto,' Walker warned grimly.
Ali left Walker's side and went out to Ike, placing herself in the line of fire. 'Go back,' Ike whispered.
'I'm not doing this for you,' she lied. 'It's for them.'
Hands reached up to touch Ike and her. The palms were rough, the nails broken and encrusted. Ike hunkered among them, and Ali let different ones grab her hands and smell her. His claim mark was of special interest. One wall-eyed ancient held on to his arm. She stroked the scarified nodes and questioned him. When Ike answered her, she drew away with revulsion, it seemed. She whispered to the others, who grew agitated and scrambled to get distance from him. Still perched on his toes, Ike hung his head. He tried another few phrases, and their fright only increased.
'What are you doing?' Ali asked. 'What did you tell them?'
'My hadal name,' said Ike.
'But you said it was forbidden to speak it out loud.'
'It was, until I left the People. I wanted to find out how bad things really are with me.'
'They know you?'
'They know about me.'
From the hadals' loathing, it was clear his reputation was odious. Even the children were afraid of him. 'This isn't good,' Ike said, eyeing the soldiers. 'We can't stay here. And if we leave –'
The walkie-talkie announced that two of the cylinders had been opened and Shoat had a communications line in operation. Ali could see by his face that Walker wanted to be shed of this business. 'Enough,' Walker said.
'Just leave them,' Ali said to him.
'I'm a man who lives by his word,' Walker replied. 'It was your friend Crockett who declared the policy. No live catches.'
'Colonel,' Ike said, 'killing the hadal is one thing. But I've got a human in this bunch. Shoot her down, and that would be murder, wouldn't it?'
Ali thought he was bluffing to buy time, or else talking about her. But he reached among the hadals and grabbed the arm of a creature who had been hiding behind the others. She gave a shriek and bit him, but Ike dragged her out, pinning her arms and hoisting her free. Ali had no chance to see her. The others clutched at her legs, and Ike kicked at them and backed away. 'Move,' he grunted to Ali. 'Run while we can.'
The hadals set up a piercing wail. Ali was certain they were about to rush after Ike and whatever it was he'd just kidnapped from them. 'Move,' shouted Ike, and she ran
to the soldiers, who opened a way for her and Ike and his catch. She tripped and fell. Ike stumbled across her.
'In the name of the Father,' Walker intoned. 'Light 'em up.'
The soldiers opened fire on the survivors. The noise was deafening in the small chamber, and Ali closed her ears with both palms. The killing lasted less than twelve seconds. There were a few mop-up shots, then the gunfire was over and the room stank with gas vented from their guns. Ali heard a woman still screaming, and thought they'd wounded one or were torturing her.
'This way.' A soldier grabbed her. He was taking care of her. She knew him from his confessions, Calvino, an Italian stallion. His sins had been a pregnant girlfriend, a theft, little more.
'But Ike –'
'The colonel said now,' he said, and Ali saw a brawl in progress against the back wall, with Ike near the bottom of the pile. In the corner lay their little massacre. All for nothing, she thought, and let the soldier lead her away, back to the grotto floor, out through the waterfall.
For the next few hours, Ali waited by the mist. Each time a soldier came out, she questioned him about Ike. They avoided her eyes and gave no answer.
At last Walker emerged. Behind him – guarded by mercenaries – came Ike's save. They had bound the
