Within his helmet the flashing red light steadied to erupt in a final warning glow. The last dregs of air had been fed from his tanks and Dumarest knew his life was now measured in minutes. He felt cold and could still hear a faint hiss, but this was not the comforting sound from the regulator but the lethal note of escaping air. To survive he had to reach a lock and get inside.
He turned, swaying, trying to orient himself. The lock he had used to reach the surface lay far back below the near horizon. Too far to travel in his present condition. There had to be another, closer, but where?
Dumarest sucked air into his lungs, held it while he forced himself to concentrate. His left arm hung limp at his side, broken or numbed, and the taste of blood in his mouth had grown stronger. Details he ignored as he scanned the area, aligning it with data culled from maps and charts. The nearest lock was over to his right below the curve of the surface. He must reach it or die.
Dumarest swung his right hand behind him, caught his left wrist and dragged the useless arm up and across his back. The soft hiss of escaping air faded as the constriction pressed against the rent. Carefully he stepped forward, stooping low, fighting the temptation to run.
To race was to lose-extra exertion would use up the remaining oxygen too fast. Yet to go too slowly was to invite destruction. If he tried to spring he could break free of the gravity zone to die helplessly in the void. Yet to crawl was to waste the seconds remaining.
Remembering Kunel, Dumarest began to lope.
It was a trick the surface worker had known and had used to run to his death. Now there was no enemy waiting with a gun but, equally, there was no body of experience on which to call. He had to lope, remaining low, not moving too fast yet using all the energy he could spare to throw himself over the surface toward the lock which spelled safety. Moving faster than a walk yet slower than a run, he fought to maintain his balance, to conserve his air, to remain alert as oxygen lack began to dull his mind and distort his judgment.
The lock rose before him, a cylindrical protuberance which swung against the backdrop of stars and blurred to take on the shape and form of a soaring pinnacle rising at an incredible distance over an endless plain. As illusion which yielded to another as Dumarest tripped to land heavily, pain stabbing from his arm, darkness edging his vision. Before him the cowled shape which the lock had become raised a hand to beckon, to turn into a crouching predator, to become a spined and wavering shape set in an eternity of sand.
Delirium. Hallucinations born in a tormented brain as he rose to forge on, feeling the pain from his bitten cheek, the taste of fresh blood mingling with that of old.
Again Dumarest fell, releasing the grip on his left wrist and feeling the sudden chill as air gushed from the opened vent, a signal which triggered the innate determination to survive which motivated his being. Rising, lungs burning, a red tide rising to tinge the universe with the hue of blood, he staggered forward into the embrace of the lock. A moment later he slammed his hand against the control, feeling the movement, falling forward as he was rotated into the inner compartment.
To fall, retching for air, as hands tore the helmet from his head.
'Commander!' Medwin stared at him, eyes wide, face shocked. 'I thought you were dead!'
'Here!' A surface technician, more practical, thrust a mask beneath Dumarest's face. 'Breathe deep, Commander. Deeply, now.'
Life returned with the rush of pure oxygen and with it the pain. His arm, the bitten cheek, the throbbing in his head, the raw agony of his lungs. Dumarest coughed, spat blood, swallowed more.
The technician said, 'You're going down to medical, Commander. You've sucked vacuum and those lungs need treatment.'
'Later.' Dumarest looked at Medwin. 'What are you doing here, Captain? Get some men and go out searching. Your comrades could need you.'
'They're dead, Commander. All dead.'
'You can't be sure of that.' Dumarest sucked more oxygen into his lungs, the gas seeming to be acid boiling within his chest. Pain sharpened his tone. 'I wasn't. Others could be lying out there this minute. Hurt. Waiting for help. Get out there, damn you! Get out and look!'
'Steady, Commander.' The technician adjusted the flow of oxygen. 'Just take things easy.'
'Use the radio,' snapped Dumarest. 'Men could have been thrown into the void when the fireball was blasted from the surface. Count heads. I want every man accounted for. Bring them all inside. Understand? All of them.'
Medwin said, dubiously, 'The enemy too?'
'All of them!'
'Better do it,' said the technician. Then, to Dumarest, 'All right, Commander. Let's get you down to the infirmary.'
Sneh Thome finished checking the dressing and, straightening, said, 'You were lucky, Earl. A damned sight luckier than most.'
'Tell me.'
'Those young fools didn't stand a chance. They went out there and most of them stayed. A few made it back and some managed to stay unhurt. The rest-' He broke off, his gesture expressive. 'Soldiers,' he added bitterly. 'The glory of war.'
'There is no glory in war,' said Dumarest. 'There's only death and pain and destruction. But those men weren't soldiers. They weren't fools either. They had the guts to go out and do what had to be done to protect your nice, snug little world. Did Alva Kirek make it back?'
'No. Not alive if that's what you mean. Did you have a special interest in him?'
Alive he would have been arrested, charged, tried and executed for having incited the mutiny which had created such havoc. Dead he was no longer a problem Dumarest had to deal with.
Rearing upright in the bed he threw his legs over the edge and looked at his arm. The bicep was bulky with a transparent dressing.
'The bone was broken,' explained Thorne. 'I've fixed it and you've been under slow time-three weeks subjective-so if you feel hungry you know why. You can use the arm if you want to, but it would be best to use a sling for a while.' He gestured to where it lay together with Dumarest's clothing. 'You also had concussion and vacuum-burned lungs. That pure oxygen must have burned like hell. Well, it's all fixed now and you can leave when you want.' He added bitterly. 'Leave to spread your infection.'
'Meaning?'
'I spoke of it before, remember? You're like a virus. What you touch turns bad. You encourage violence. Those young men who died out there. The ones who came back more dead than alive. If you hadn't been here would it have happened?'
Dumarest said softly, 'If you had never been born could you ever die?'
'What has that to do with it?'
'Things are what they are. Life isn't gentle. Did you think it was?'
'No,' admitted Thorne. 'And I know what you're getting at. Althea told me and, as a medical man, I must agree. The process of life is a continual act of violence, but does that mean man has to kill man?'
'If it is in order to defend himself-yes.'
'But-'
'You blame me for those who died,' said Dumarest. 'You should blame yourselves. They were raw, untrained, totally unused to combat. I did what I could but it wasn't enough. Faced with cold reality they lost their heads and paid the penalty. That's what life is all about. The survival of the fittest. You win or you lose. You live or you die.'
'Kill or be killed,' snapped Thorne. 'Is that it?'
'An organism must protect itself.'
'Or fall prey to another.' Thorne shook his head. 'Man, you don't belong here. You preach the law of the jungle.'
The jungle the race had never left. Which accompanied every man and woman all the days of their lives no matter where they lived or how. The basic rule of survival, ignored, spelled extinction.
Dumarest rose and dressed and lingered for a moment before stepping from the room. Outside Althea was waiting, her eyes widening as she saw the sling supporting his left arm.
'It's nothing.' He smiled so as to relieve her anxiety. 'Just a little soreness. What's been happening?'
