its body.
Esruad gradually regained his sight, a gift from Ubbrroxx, his new god, he assumed. All of those men who had been used by the demon--some of them Esruad's former enemies in the temple--had fiendishly had a hand in feeding the monster its sacrifices. These men, from religious leaders to beggars, from merchants to midwives, were now clear-eyed and coming out of their forced condition of unknowing and uncaring; out of the fog to the terrible and shattering realization of what they had done and had been made to do.
Still, fear reigned. They feared Ubbrroxx and they fell to their knees at his stone self. It took another generation and much planning on Esruad's part to gather the courage and strength required to dare put his plan into operation, but he did it. Ubbrroxx wanted a temple built to surround his stone image. So be it.
But the temple was built in the form of a ship, and the ship, along with all of Ubbroxx's remains, was let loose from its gantry and out into the ocean. Ubbrroxx was taken to a land that was not populated and there buried with his ship beneath a restraining pyramid that covered him. The work took years upon years, but Esruad, using up all of his psychic energy, had read the meaning of the stone demon and it told him that the god inside must remain at rest, and he had convinced his nation of this.
With this done, Esruad had one final duty before he should pass away, before he should never see his sons and grandsons again. In his alchemist cell in the ruins of the old temple, he fashioned the molds with the help of a young and patient apprentice, a grandson who was very good with metals and stones. The boy had fashioned the molds precisely as Esruad had ordered, seven of them in all, to go with the nine smaller ones and the three larger ones. Using the magical numbers of the year when Esruad had come face-to-face with Ubbrroxx, 793, he now mixed the molten crystal and touch of desert earth over which the demon had stood, and he carefully filled the final molds with the steaming, thick soup. The demon-touched sand would ensure the success of his magic, he was sure...
The veterans of the evil time, those who fed Ubbrroxx blindly and without resistance, began dying away, and as each man, woman and child did so, Esruad visited their bedside like a doting priest giving last rites, but Esruad's rites were those of a powerful magical nature which called on the goddess Eslia to assist him in the deliverance of the souls of such men as himself--weak men who had fallen prey to fear, falling into the pit of the unfaithful. Where should such souls reside for the rest of eternity but inside the crystal skulls that would refract and reflect back their gross sins for all eternity? But more important, so that they might have one final chance at redemption by fighting Ubbrroxx the next time it rose against mankind.
Esruad's grandson, sworn to perform the ceremony he had witnessed thousands of times over, now did so over the silent form of Esruad himself. The skull in the boy's hands lit with a shimmering, yellow-to-gold fire for a moment before it went dormant. He then solicitously placed the skull in the deep ruins of the temple.
Years upon years passed and the crystal stones were discovered and traded to kings and pharaohs for their amusement, little knowing that they housed the souls of men and magicians.
-17-
For Stroud, returning was like coming out of a black vortex that spun him around at a dizzying speed, but in an instant, he had returned to the others there in the tunnels. They'd made him as comfortable as possible, propping him against a wall, Kendra being solicitous over him, the concern creasing her face. Stroud began blinking and it drew them all around him. They were at exactly the place he had left them.
'How long have I been out?'
'Ten minutes, maybe less,' Kendra said. 'Are you all right?'
'Yes, fine ... and you? Wiz, Sam?'
'No problems.'
Esruad had selected his time wisely, Stroud thought as he stared at the outer hull of the ship, the belly of the beast, the temple that had become the demon.
'We've had a report from Nathan,' said Kendra.
'Did you tell him about my condition?'
'We were afraid you'd slipped back into a coma, Abe,' said Wiz. 'We had to tell him.'
'Well, radio him now; tell him I'm on my feet.' With that, Stroud got to his feet, saying, 'I'm really all right.'
'We were worried,' she said.
'Frightened,' added Leonard.
'What's going on aboveground?' he asked, changing the subject, embarrassed over what must appear to the others as a weakness.
'Nathan says he can only stall so long before the military takes complete control.'
Leonard added, 'Those CBS and NBC film crews got the tunnel digging on tape, at least what they could make out of it--the slag heaps outside. At any rate, everyone up there is terrified, Abe ... everyone. And you can't blame them.'
Stroud was impressed by the intricacies of the tunnels dug by hand by the legion of zombies.
Wiz raised Nathan, telling him that Stroud was fine, just a temporary thing, he called it. Stroud got on the line, using his comlink. 'Commissioner, we're just penetrating the exterior of the ship now. We've run into ... obstacles.'
'Understood, Stroud, and make it as fast as possible. People up here getting real antsy.'
'We expected obstacles,' he said, 'and we've gotten them.'
'The tunnels?'
'Took us away from the ship. Long arm of the beast within.'
'So what does that make the ship itself? The damned bowels?'
'Something like that.'
'You're sure you all want to step into its gut?'
'Not a whole lot of choice, Commissioner. This ... this event is rather complicated, and you might say I had my ticket reserved about three thousand years ago.'
Nathan chuckled nervously into the radio, not understanding the implications of Stroud's remarks. Static was beginning to break up the communication. Nathan said that he was pulling for them, and if Stroud made it back alive he'd buy him a New York pizza and a beer.
'You're on, sir. Just plea...'
'What's ... at?'
'...keep ... pack off for ... time we ... greed ... pon.'
'Roger ... til dawn. Do every ... in my power.'
'Thanks, Commissioner.'
'You're thank ... me? Stroud, e ... you're the bravest ... I ever met, or the ... idiotic ... goes for your traveling companions-sss-well ... til next ... Stroud, over'n...'
Kendra went about monitoring everyone's gauges and giving a full report. Everything was in working order, but they had only half the oxygen supply they had entered with. The physical turmoil and emotional stress had taken its toll. Leonard was looking very weak, and even Wiz sat in a depressed slump against the wall just staring at the hull of the ship that now confronted them.
Stroud was fatigued himself, and he did not find fault with the others. He wondered now if perhaps he should not have come alone, but the skull had said three good men with faith and courage were required. He had two men and a woman with him, but he wasn't at all sure of their faith, despite their obvious courage in coming so far with him.
'Once we're inside the ship, gentlemen,' said Stroud calmly, 'you can turn back at any time.'
It was said with such simple sincerity that Kendra and the others just stared at him. Kendra glimpsed the old Stroud in him now, the man she had slept with.
'Is that what your skull tells you?' she asked.
'It is what my heart tells me.'
'We just may take you up on that,' said Leonard. 'My own heart is flapping like a chicken trying to take flight.' He tried a laugh but it became a cough.
'If that's the case, what're we sitting around here for?' said Wiz. 'Not that I have any intention of leaving you here alone, Abe.'
'You face no shame in turning back once we penetrate the hull. It's the reason I was so ... upset when you all ran from the first entranceway we found. So far, we've been playing the demon's game. Now we begin to play our
