Left, right, left, right.
He could see the cop weaving up ahead, and then finally, beyond the policeman, he saw the central stairwell block. But he couldn't see the doorway.
They were coming from the wrong side.
'Daddy! It's
He looked behind him.
The creature was indeed closing in on them -- a giant black-green monster galloping down the narrow aisle with its salivating jaws bared wide.
Swain wasn't worried for himself. Selexin had been right about that. Whatever it was, it was another contestant, and it couldn't touch him. Not yet. Not until that number on his watch read '7'.
He saw the cop round the central stairwell block up ahead, then Selexin. Swain rounded the concrete block last of all, panting hard.
He saw Selexin duck inside it, and then the policeman appeared in the doorway, his hand outstretched.
'Come on!' he was yelling.
Swain heard the creature slide around the corner behind him.
He kept running, kept holding Holly to his chest. He was breathing very heavily now. He was sure he was running too slowly. He could hear the creature's snorting grunts close behind him. Any second now it would be all over him, ready to pluck his daughter -- the only family he had left -- right from his very arms...
Behind him, Swain heard the creature's tail slam against a bookcase, heard the sound of books crashing to the floor. Then suddenly, he was at the door and he reached for Hawkins' outstretched arms and Hawkins grabbed his hand and hurled him and Holly inside the stairwell just as Selexin slammed the door shut behind them.
Selexin turned, breathless, exhilarated. 'We made it--'
The door behind him shuddered violently.
Swain lifted himself up from the floor, gasping for air. 'Come on.'
They were a whole floor up the stairwell when they heard the door to Sub-Level Two bang open with a loud bone-jarring
----ooo0ooo------
INCOMPLETE--6
Swain frowned at the wristband. He'd missed the arrival of the last two contestants. Now there was no knowing when the next -- and last -- contestant would enter the library.
No knowing when the Presidian would begin.
The group had left the stairwell and were now hiding in an office on Sub-Level One. Like all the others around it, this office was partitioned by waist-high wood panelling with glass reaching the rest of the way up to the ceiling. Everyone was careful to stay low, out of sight, below the glass.
Swain had found a directory of the library attached to the wall of the stairwell and wrenched it free. He was looking at it now while Selexin sat behind the desk, quietly explaining their situation to Hawkins. Holly was sitting on the floor nestled up to Swain, holding him tightly, sucking her thumb. She was still a little shell-shocked by their close encounter with the big creature downstairs.
The directory showed a cross-section of the library.
Six floors -- four above ground, two below -- each a different colour. The two sub-levels below the Ground Floor were both shaded grey and stamped with the label NO public access. The others were brightly coloured:
THIRD FLOOR -- STUDY HALL
SECOND FLOOR -- READING ROOMS, FUNCTION ROOMS, COMPUTER SERVICES
FIRST FLOOR -- ON-LINE SERVICES, CD-ROMS, COPIERS, MICROFILM GROUND FLOOR -- CATALOGUES, CD-ROMS, REFERENCE
Swain remembered the study hall on the top floor with its odd-looking desks. He tried to memorise the rest. Small blue squares picturing a stick-man and woman indicated toilets on every other floor. Another blue square, with a car pictured in it, was tacked to the edge of Sub-Level One. The parking lot.
He checked his wristband again.
INCOMPLETE--6
Still '6'. Good.
He looked over at Selexin and the policeman, and shook his head in wonder.
That young cop was lucky to be alive. It had been only blind luck that had led Swain to his rescue -- the instant when he, Holly and Selexin had been descending the stairs and seen a long shadow stretch out onto the landing below them.
They had watched from the shadows above as the creature -- Selexin said its name was Reese -- stepped slowly into view, accompanied by its guide. It stopped on the landing, seemed to examine the floor with its snub dinosaur-like snout, and then peered down the stairwell.
Then it had slithered quickly down the stairs.
Something had caught its attention.
Curious, they had then followed it down into the Stack and seen it weave purposefully in and out of the bookshelves for several minutes -- stalking something, leading it on. It was only at the last moment that Swain had ventured out into the furthermost aisle to actually see Reese's quarry -- a lone policeman, trapped in the corner.
He'd moved instantly -- stopping only for a piece of last-minute advice from Selexin: avoid all eye contact with Reese's antennae.
And so they had met Hawkins.
Swain turned to Selexin. 'Tell me more about Reese.'
'Reese?' Selexin said. 'Well, for one thing, Reese is, in human terms, female. Her tail tapers sharply to a point, like a spear. Males of her species possess only blunted tails. This is because in their clans, the female is the hunter, and her chief weapon is her sharp pointed tail.
'Didn't you see, when Reese was moving in on your new friend here,' Selexin nodded to Hawkins, 'that her tail was poised high over her body, in a large arc, pointing
'That is why I told you not to make prolonged eye contact with her antennae. Any extended visual contact with them will cause instant paralysis. Just like it did with him.' Selexin gave Hawkins a look. 'That is how Reese hunts. You look at her antennae for too long and you suffer hypnotic paralysis, and --
The little man smiled. 'I would say she bears a rather strong resemblance to the female of your own species, aggressive
Swain ignored the remark. 'Tell me more about her hunting methods. Her stalking methods.'
Selexin took a breath. 'Well, as you no doubt noticed, Reese has no eyes. For the simple reason that she does not need them. She comes from a planet surrounded by opaque, inert gases. Light cannot enter their atmosphere, and the inert gases are impervious to any chemical change. Her race has simply adapted over time to
