But there was no place to hide permanently. Worst of all, a distant clanging sounded presently, and Garth guessed what that meant. The escape of the captives had been discovered.
Gingerly he skirted the huge cave where the dais was, glimpsing the giant robot in the distance, and shepherding his charges along a twisting corridor that led down. But the footsteps were growing louder. Garth was almost certain that they were following.
He increased his pace, with wary glances behind him. Unless he found a side passage soon, the swift Zarno would speedily overtake them.
“Faster! Move faster!”
The Earthmen tried to obey. Like automatons they ran, their eyes fixed and staring, while the clamor of pursuit grew louder. Looking back, Garth saw a flash of shining movement The Zarno!
“Faster!”
There were no side tunnels. They came out into a small cave, completely empty. It was a cul-de-sac. Light was reflected brightly from three walls.
The fourth wall was dead black—neither rock nor stone. It was like a jet curtain, blocking their path. Garth jerked to a halt, knowing the utter hopelessness of futility. They were trapped now.
The Zarno were pursuing, unmistakably.
Garth took out his useless gun. His face was set in grim lines. What good were bullets against the silicate creatures?
But waiting helplessly was far worse. At least he could try to fight.
He had forgotten to command his charges to halt. Glancing around, Garth saw something that made his eyes widen in incredulous amazement. Paula was walking toward the black curtain—the wall—
She stepped through it and vanished.
Brown followed her. Then another man. And another.
Last of all, Sampson, disappearing like a ghost through the blackness!
Heavy footsteps whirled Garth about. Down the corridor he could see the flashing gleams that heralded the Zarno. His tight grin was a grimace.
“The hell with you, pals,” he said softly—and turned again. He raced in pursuit of the others.
Leaped through the dark curtain!
There was an instant of grinding, jolting shock that left him blind. He staggered, caught himself, and saw that he was in a passage that led toward a distant brightness. Silhouetted against the glow were the moving figures of his companions.
He sprinted after them. But he did not overtake them till they had emerged in a cavern unlike any he had seen before.
“Okay! Stop! Stop, that’s right.”
They halted, motionless. Garth looked behind him, but there was no trace of the Zarno.
This cavern was lighted like the others. But there were fewer machines. Row after row of the giant four-armed robots stood like an army on the dark-metal floor. The walls were jeweled, thousands of pearly disks studding them. A low humming came from a machine nearby, a tripod with lenses surmounting a square box.
Garth walked through it. He hesitated, glanced around again, and then peered through the lenses.
A voice seemed to speak within his brain.
“—invoked the rule of silence. After that, Genjaro Lo declared that space travel was inevitable and might solve the natural problems of our civilization—”
It had spoken in the Ancient Tongue. And, at the same time, Garth had seen a picture of a huge, four-armed being with a bulging, yet oddly symmetrical head, standing on a rostrum addressing a multitude—
“Ed!” The voice rang through the silent cavern. “Ed Garth! You made it!”
Garth whirled. A man had emerged from a cavern-mouth nearby, a short, slight man with white hair and a lined, tired face. He ran forward, his ragged garments flapping, his eyes shining.
Garth said, in a voice like a prayer, “Doc Willard. You’re alive!”
VIII
Willard gripped his friend’s hands. “Alive, yes. If you can call it that. I’ve been living for only one thing. I knew you’d come back, with help, if you got through. And you did!”
The cavern was spinning around Garth. He braced himself, staring at the man.
“Doc! I’ve been going crazy for five years. I thought I—I’d killed you.”
Willard stared. “Killed me? But—”
“That altar!” The words tumbled out of Garth’s mouth. “I couldn’t remember much. That damned Noctoli poison—I lost my memory. But I knew I’d tried to knife you while you were stretched out on an altar—”
Sympathy showed in Willard’s eyes. “Good Lord, Ed! And you could remember only that? You must have gone through hell.”
“I did. I didn’t know what—”
“But we planned it. The whole thing. A fake ceremony, to impress the Zarno and give us a chance to escape. They thought we might be messengers from their gods—the Ancients—and we told ’em so, after we’d learned their language. The sacrifice—it was a fake, that’s all. And it went through as we planned. You pretended to stab me, and while the Zarno were bowing and genuflecting, we got away. At least you did. They recaptured me.”
Garth shook his head. “Tell me. I don’t know, really.”
Willard glanced at the Earthmen, curiosity in his eyes. “You’ve a bit of explaining to do yourself, Ed. Are they—Noctoli?”
“Yeah. I worked out an antitoxin, but it was stale.” Quickly Garth explained what had happened.
“I see. Well—got a cigarette?” Willard sucked the smoke luxuriously into his lungs. “That’s good. Five years since I had one of these. Sit down and let’s talk. No chairs, but try the floor.”
“Okay. What happened to you?”
“Nothing much. When we staged our fake ceremony—the Zarno are plenty religious—I headed for that little black temple in the forest. Know the place?”
“Yeah. That’s where they caught us.”
“Well, it leads to freedom. There’s an underground tunnel that takes you out in a camouflaged hangar. The Ancients had antigravity. I found out later, and their flying-boats were hidden there. They’re still good, Ed. They still work. I’d have got away if the Zarno hadn’t been right on my heels.”
“So?”
Willard nodded. “The controls are easy. A couple of push-buttons and a steering-lever. I’d got a few feet off the ground when a couple of Zarno jumped into the boat with me. They heaved me out and followed. The flying-boat went off to Mars or somewhere, I
