“But this can’t be the same refuge,” Nik protested. “We’re a long way from there.”
“Maybe it’s not the same series of burrows but another system. Or it could be the same. We never did explore a lot of the tunnels – no reason to. We just closed off those we didn’t need.”
“You can see here.” Nik took in the possibilities of that. He thought, observing Leeds, that the captain would not be able to keep on his feet much longer.
“Yes, I can see.” Leeds’ tone was colorless, neither adding to nor denying that fact. “All right – you go on. Let me follow at my own pace.”
The decision was the only one that made good sense. If the Disians were hunting Vandy somewhere in this maze, Nik had to find him before they closed in. And Leeds was close to collapse.
“Give me a couple of the supply tins – and your blaster and the torch,” the captain continued. He had reached the wall of a room and was lowering himself with it as a steadying brace.
The supplies – yes, Nik would leave some of those. And the torch. It was nearly exhausted now. But the blaster – with Vandy ahead in danger? Nik had to weigh one demand against the other. He opened the tunic bundle and took out two of the containers. Now as he tied up the roll again, he said flatly, “I can’t give you the blaster. The Disians are hunting.”
“And if they double back here?” Leeds asked just as tonelessly. “The boy has two weapons – and you have that.” He pointed to the fringe of mock tools and fantastic arms that were part of Hacon’s equipment.
“Those? You know they’re fakes!”
“Fakes maybe for the uses Vandy dreamed for them, but they could have other uses.”
Leeds was not so far wrong, Nik thought. He had used one of those gadgets to force open the armory door back at the refuge. But that any of them could be a practical weapon against Disian attack, he doubted.
“That one.” The captain pointed at the one that in some manner resembled a blaster. In Vandy’s fantasy, it shot a ray that turned its victims into stone. Nik only wished that the property with which Vandy had endowed that hunk of metal were a true one.
“Have you tried it?” Leeds continued.
“It doesn’t work.” Nik wondered if Leeds’ mind was affected by his exertions.
“Maybe not the way Vandy intended. But we gave you some fireworks to use to impress, and that is one of them. Try it.”
Nik drew the weapon. It was lighter than the blaster, of course, a small, bright toy. Now he aimed it at a midpoint of the chamber and pressed the firing button.
A second later he cried out, his hand sweeping up to cover his goggled eyes. The answering burst of light had been blinding!
“Take off your goggles now,” Leeds ordered.
Nik obeyed. Blinking, he looked out into the chamber. There was light there, but not blinding any more.
“To infrared based sight, that burst is blinding,” the captain told him. “And the effect lingers for some moments, long enough for you to make some attack. Creech thought that one up, and he’s a com-tech with real brains.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about it before?” Nik wanted to know. Back there in the ruins when Vandy had been surrounded by the furred hunters or later – when he had fallen prey to the lure of the Disians – he could have used this.
Leeds met his accusing stare unruffled. “I told you that I believe in luck. I didn’t expect you to have to take off here on Dis but to stay put in the refuge. And – it’s well to have some insurance. There was a chance, of course, that you’d discover its use, but there was also a chance we might have been put in a position to need a new weapon, just as we are. Nobody but Creech and I knew that rayer was more than a prop for Hacon the hero. And it’s always well to nurse a star in reserve while you’re moving your comet on the broad swoop. Orkhad came in on this deal against my wishes. I had to foresee the possibility of a showdown.”
Nik understood. This all fitted with Leeds as he had learned to know him.
“And if we were disarmed, they wouldn’t suspect this tinware?” Nik flipped a finger along the fake equipment.
“Just so. But you have a weapon now, and I need the blaster.”
Nik drew the more conventional weapon and weighed them both in his hands as he considered the point. The rayer was a weapon, right enough. But on the other hand, he was sure of the effect of the blaster.
“Make up your mind!” That was sharp. “You haven’t too long – for more than one reason.”
“Yes, the Patrol and the Disians.” Nik rehooked the rayer, but he still turned the blaster over in hesitant fingers.
“And a third – you haven’t looked in a mirror lately!”
“Mirror?” Nik repeated. Then his right hand went to his face fearfully. He was afraid to brush fingers across cheek and jaw.
“Without your goggles” – Leeds was matter of fact – “it’s beginning to show. Gyna was right in her doubts of full success. I don’t know the rate of slip, but if you don’t catch up with Vandy soon, you may not be able to play Hacon when you do. And if you front him as Nik Kolherne, I don’t think you’ll have any influence over him.”
Under those questing fingertips, the skin did feel rough!
How long – hours? A day? Maybe two before it really began to break and return him to the horror from which a small boy would shrink.
Nik was cold, shaking. He had to brace himself to keep on his feet. The blaster – there was one way he could end the nightmare – with the blaster.
But Leeds now moved with a speed and precision that Nik thought he had lost. His arm shot out, the edge of his hand chopped Nik’s wrist, and the blaster fell between them, with Leeds scooping it up.
“I would advise you to go – and fast!” All the crack of an order was in that. “We have to get Vandy out of here. And if you ever want a human face again, you’ll get him! Just to make sure you’ll hunt him, I’ll keep this.”
He held the blaster on the knee of his good leg, looking up at Nik with such complete belief in himself that it was as strong as a blow. Because Nik had been Hacon for so long without thinking of the change that might come, to return now to that other would be worse than he dared to consider. Pulling the bundle of supplies up under his arm, he did not even look back at Leeds as he staggered across the chamber to the opening on the far side, his hand to his cheek.
As he went through that doorway, Nik forced his fingers away, his arm down to his side. He did not want to know – he did not dare to learn how bad it was. Leeds was right as always. Nik had to find Vandy before he ceased to be Hacon and so lost all control over the boy. He had to find Vandy to buy his own future, his chance to be a man in the company of his kind.
For a space, he trudged on mechanically, all his thoughts turned inward, the chill of fear still riding him. Then he forced both thoughts and fears back and centered his attention on the task at hand. There had been only one way into that back chamber, and Vandy had taken it. There was only one way out – along here.
Nik snapped his goggles back into place, trying hard not to touch his face too much in the process. Instantly the walls glowed with a light as bright as any in the Dipple rooms – but he wasn’t going to think of the Dipple and Korwar!
There was no trace of footprints on the floor of the passage, no break in the glowing walls. But there was – Nik lifted his head and expanded his nostrils, striving to catch that elusive scent. Yes – the sickly odor of vegetation! Either this passage ran on to the outside or to another foot room. The current of air was blowing straight into his face, and it carried the smell.
No sound. Nik longed to shout for Vandy. Whether the boy would either pause or listen, or whether the noise might bring the other lurkers out of the burrows to him, he could not tell, but both risks were too great. He was trotting now, the bundle of supplies swinging and bumping against his hip, intent on beating time itself.