Hendricks opened his eyes slowly. His body ached all over. He tried to sit up but needles of pain shot through his arm and shoulder. He gasped.
“Don’t try to get up,” Tasso said. She bent down, putting her cold hand against his forehead.
It was night. A few stars glinted above, shining through the drifting clouds of ash. Hendricks lay back, his teeth locked. Tasso watched him impassively. She had built a fire with some wood and weeds. The fire licked feebly, hissing at a metal cup suspended over it. Everything was silent. Unmoving darkness, beyond the fire.
“So he was the Second Variety,” Hendricks murmured.
“I had always thought so.”
“Why didn’t you destroy him sooner?” he wanted to know.
“You held me back.” Tasso crossed to the fire to look into the metal cup. “Coffee. It’ll be ready to drink in awhile.”
She came back and sat down beside him. Presently she opened her pistol and began to disassemble the firing mechanism, studying it intently.
“This is a beautiful gun,” Tasso said, half-aloud. “The construction is superb.”
“What about them? The claws.”
“The concussion from the bomb put most of them out of action. They’re delicate. Highly organized, I suppose.”
“The Davids, too?”
“Yes.”
“How did you happen to have a bomb like that?”
Tasso shrugged. “We designed it. You shouldn’t underestimate our technology, Major. Without such a bomb you and I would no longer exist.”
“Very useful.”
Tasso stretched out her legs, warming her feet in the heat of the fire. “It surprised me that you did not seem to understand, after he killed Rudi. Why did you think he—”
“I told you. I thought he was afraid.”
“Really? You know, Major, for a little while I suspected you. Because you wouldn’t let me kill him. I thought you might be protecting him.” She laughed.
“Are we safe here?” Hendricks asked presently.
“For awhile. Until they get reinforcements from some other area.” Tasso began to clean the interior of the gun with a bit of rag. She finished and pushed the mechanism back into place. She closed the gun, running her finger along the barrel.
“We were lucky,” Hendricks murmured.
“Yes. Very lucky.”
“Thanks for pulling me away.”
Tasso did not answer. She glanced up at him, her eyes bright in the fire light. Hendricks examined his arm. He could not move his fingers. His whole side seemed numb. Down inside him was a dull steady ache.
“How do you feel?” Tasso asked.
“My arm is damaged.”
“Anything else?”
“Internal injuries.”
“You didn’t get down when the bomb went off.”
Hendricks said nothing. He watched Tasso pour the coffee from the cup into a flat metal pan. She brought it over to him.
“Thanks.” He struggled up enough to drink. It was hard to swallow. His insides turned over and he pushed the pan away. “That’s all I can drink now.”
Tasso drank the rest. Time passed. The clouds of ash moved across the dark sky above them. Hendricks rested, his mind blank. After awhile he became aware that Tasso was standing over him, gazing down at him.
“What is it?” he murmured.
“Do you feel any better?”
“Some.”
“You know, Major, if I hadn’t dragged you away they would have got you. You would be dead. Like Rudi.”
“I know.”
“Do you want to know why I brought you out? I could have left you. I could have left you there.”
“Why did you bring me out?”
“Because we have to get away from here.” Tasso stirred the fire with a stick, peering calmly down into it. “No human being can live here. When their reinforcements come we won’t have a chance. I’ve pondered about it while you were unconscious. We have perhaps three hours before they come.”
“And you expect me to get us away?”
“That’s right. I expect you to get us out of here.”
“Why me?”
“Because I don’t know any way.” Her eyes shone at him in the half-light, bright and steady. “If you can’t get us out of here they’ll kill us within three hours. I see nothing else ahead. Well, Major? What are you going to do? I’ve been waiting all night. While you were unconscious I sat here, waiting and listening. It’s almost dawn. The night is almost over.”
Hendricks considered. “It’s curious,” he said at last.
“Curious?”
“That you should think I can get us out of here. I wonder what you think I can do.”
“Can you get us to the Moon Base?”
“The Moon Base? How?”
“There must be some way.”
Hendricks shook his head. “No. There’s no way that I know of.”
Tasso said nothing. For a moment her steady gaze wavered. She ducked her head, turning abruptly away. She scrambled to her feet. “More coffee?”
“No.”
“Suit yourself.” Tasso drank silently. He could not see her face. He lay back against the ground, deep in thought, trying to concentrate. It was hard to think. His head still hurt. And the numbing daze still hung over him.
“There might be one way,” he said suddenly.
“Oh?”
“How soon is dawn?”
“Two hours. The sun will be coming up shortly.”
“There’s supposed to be a ship near here. I’ve never seen it. But I know it exists.”
“What kind of a ship?” Her voice was sharp.
“A rocket cruiser.”
“Will it take us off? To the Moon Base?”
“It’s supposed to. In case of emergency.” He rubbed his forehead.
“What’s wrong?”
“My head. It’s hard to think. I can hardly—hardly concentrate. The bomb.”
“Is the ship near here?” Tasso slid over beside him, settling down on her haunches. “How far is it? Where is it?”
“I’m trying to think.”
Her fingers dug into his arm. “Nearby?” Her voice was like iron. “Where would it be? Would they store it underground? Hidden underground?”
“Yes. In a storage locker.”
“How do we find it? Is it marked? Is there a code marker to identify it?”
Hendricks concentrated. “No. No markings. No code symbol.”
“What, then?”
“A sign.”
“What sort of sign?”
Hendricks did not answer. In the flickering light his eyes were glazed, two sightless orbs. Tasso’s fingers dug into his arm.
“What sort of sign? What is it?”
“I—I can’t think. Let me rest.”
“All right.” She let go and stood up. Hendricks lay back against the ground, his eyes closed. Tasso walked away from him, her hands in her pockets. She kicked a rock out of her way and stood staring up at the sky. The night blackness was already beginning to fade into gray. Morning was coming.
Tasso gripped her pistol and walked around the fire in a circle, back and forth. On the ground Major Hendricks lay, his eyes closed, unmoving. The grayness rose in the sky, higher and higher. The landscape became visible, fields of ash stretching out in all directions. Ash and ruins of buildings, a wall here and there, heaps of concrete, the naked trunk of a tree.
The air was cold and sharp. Somewhere a long way off a bird made a few bleak sounds.
Hendricks stirred. He opened his eyes. “Is it dawn? Already?”
“Yes.”
Hendricks sat up a little. “You wanted to know something. You were asking me.”
“Do you remember now?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?” She tensed. “What?” she repeated sharply.
“A well. A ruined well. It’s in a storage locker under a well.”
“A well.” Tasso relaxed. “Then we’ll find a well.” She looked at her watch. “We have about an hour, Major. Do you think we can find it in an hour?”
“Give me a hand up,” Hendricks said.
Tasso put her pistol away and helped him to his feet. “This is going to be difficult.”
“Yes it is.” Hendricks set his lips tightly. “I don’t think we’re going to go very far.”
They began to walk. The early sun cast a little warmth down on them. The land was flat and barren, stretching out gray and lifeless as far as they could see. A few birds sailed silently, far above them, circling slowly.
“See anything?” Hendricks said. “Any claws?”
“No. Not yet.”
They passed through some ruins, upright concrete and bricks. A cement foundation. Rats scuttled away. Tasso jumped back warily.
“This used to be a town,” Hendricks said. “A village. Provincial village. This was all grape country, once. Where we are now.”
They came onto a ruined street, weeds and cracks criss-crossing it. Over to the right a stone chimney stuck up.
“Be careful,” he warned her.
A pit yawned, an open basement. Ragged ends of pipes jutted up, twisted and bent. They passed part of a house, a bathtub turned on its side. A broken chair. A few spoons and bits of china dishes. In the center of the street the ground had sunk away. The depression was filled with weeds and debris and bones.
“Over here,” Hendricks murmured.
“This way?”
“To the right.”
They passed the remains of a heavy duty tank. Hendricks’ belt counter clicked ominously. The tank had been radiation blasted. A few feet from the tank a mummified body lay sprawled out, mouth open. Beyond the road was a flat field. Stones and weeds, and bits of broken glass.
“There,” Hendricks said.
A stone well jutted up, sagging and broken. A few boards lay across it. Most of the well had sunk into rubble. Hendricks walked unsteadily toward it, Tasso beside him.
“Are you certain about this?” Tasso said. “This doesn’t look like anything.”
“I’m sure.” Hendricks sat down at the edge of the well, his teeth locked. His breath came quickly. He wiped perspiration from his face. “This was arranged so the senior command officer could get away. If anything happened. If the bunker fell.”
“That was you?”
“Yes.”
“Where is the ship? Is it here?”
“We’re standing on it.” Hendricks ran his hands over the surface of the well stones. “The eye-lock responds to me, not to anybody else. It’s my ship. Or it was supposed to be.”
There was a sharp click. Presently they heard a low grating sound from below them.
“Step back,” Hendricks said. He and Tasso moved away from the well.
Fantasy and Science
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