George thought maybe Leep had had enough by now, too. Maybe he would be willing to talk.
But he wasn’t, even though he was skeleton-thin and very weak. Senilde and George tempted him with food, but he only smiled faintly and said: “You know my terms.”
Senilde said: “You have until sunset tomorrow, if you don’t die before then. After which, I’ll show you some old toys of mine. The electric rack. The eye magnet—it pulls your eye out slowly. The manicure set—it cuts your toes too. Have you ever been filletted hydraulically? It can be done artistically, and I assure you I’m an artist.”
George was disgusted, but made no comment. He hoped Leep would talk first, but if not, he would never allow him to be tortured. Mara regarded Senilde thoughtfully, but likewise said nothing. That night George slept, using the provision box for a pillow. Mara had a soft spot for Leep, and George didn’t trust her.
In the middle of the night Mara crept to Leep’s side with a double handful of food bars. He murmured, “Thank you, child,” and ate the lot without pause. Afterwards: “Oh, Mara, this cursed servitude of mind to food! Why weren’t we designed to live on air, as Senilde does? Why did you steal for me, child?”
They were speaking softly in their language, Teleos off.
“I’m a woman. I’m not hard, like a man. And I’m not ungrateful. In Fami, you often gave me good advice for nothing. I can’t let you die. Why don’t you try stealing for yourself, Leep? It’s so easy.”
“George was sleeping with his head on the box. It was impossible—”
“Far from impossible. I merely held his head up while I slid the box aside.”
“I haven’t the touch for such feats… Mara, would you steal again for me?”
“I’m… not sure. There are only a few bars left, and George must not go hungry—”
“I don’t mean food. While you were all away, I searched the house, both physically and with my mind. There’s a room upstairs all of steel, and inside—I divine it —is a sealed bottle containing the preparation which bestows immortality. Senilde has preserved it all this time. One needs such a tiny dose!
But the steel door is locked. And it’s ringed with protective devices—toothed traps that would bite off your hand, poisoned needles which shoot from hidden sockets… I know where they are. But I don’t know how to make them harmless. Such things were used in Fami, as you know. A skilled thief like you, plus my knowledge, could defeat them. Then we could both become immortal, and defy that wretched Senilde.”
She said: “I don’t want to be immortal. On the other hand, I don’t want to be dead. And Senilde will try to kill me when he discovers what I’ve done.”
“If you could cover your traces, he may not discover it for a long time. Meantime, you must escape.”
“Why should I run these risks for you? No!”
“I’m not asking you to do it for nothing. In return I would give you the position of the spaceship. Then you and George can escape in Senilde’s war chariot—it’s his only available conveyance: he can’t overtake you. Go to the ship; go to Earth with George—Senilde can’t reach you there.”
“Maybe he can.”
“No, Mara, you over-estimate him. His body may be immortal but his mind is nearing second childhood. It shows all the symptoms: frequent memory lapses, wandering attention, fits of petulance…People who never really grow out of their first childhood are prone to early mental decay. In a few years Senilde will become a witless and vacant-minded fool, forgetting even his own identity, wandering aimlessly round, never able to die.”
Mara shuddered. “Horrible!”
“But a fact. Well, Mara?”
After a few moments: “I’ll do it,” she decided.
Characteristically, she began right away. Leep took her to the door of the steel room upstairs. He indicated the positions of the murderous safeguards. She felt around the door with supersensitive finger-tips and probed cautiously with her knife.
At last, she said: “I’m sure I can nullify these traps and open the lock. But I need some lengths of thread.”
Her knife flashed. Before he realized it, Leep lost one sleeve of his grimy tunic. Expertly, Mara began pulling threads from it. Leep said, unexpectedly: “And I need some water.”
He disappeared quietly downstairs.
When he returned, some time later, he was carrying two small flasks, one empty, one filled with water.
Mara had rendered the thief traps impotent and was manipulating, like a puppeteer, some dozen threads she’d inserted in the lock. Soon, three almost simultaneous clicks sounded.
“It’s open,” she announced.
Leep sighed. He put the flasks in his pockets, grasped the door handle with both hands, and heaved with his enfeebled strength. The thick door swung open. A cloud of yellow fog rushed out at them with a faint whoomph. Its acrid tang invaded their nostrils and brought tears to their eyes. For a few moments of strangulation they shared the same belief: that they’d sprung the ultimate deathtrap, the room itself full of poison gas, under pressure.
Then the gas, heavier than air, settled to waist-level, then knee-level, and drifted slowly along the passage floor.
And left them alive, but gasping and semi-blinded by tears. Leep wheezed: “Sorry, Mara, my faculty missed that trick. I hope there aren’t any more.”
She gasped: “Why didn’t it kill us?”
“It may yet—by delayed action. But that could save us.”
He pointed. In the room, now almost clear of the fog-like gas, was a grey metal table. On it stood a small glass bottle, three-quarters full of a liquid colorless as water.
“The elixir of life,” said Leep, and went to examine it. Satisfied, he poured the liquid carefully into his empty flask. Then filled the bottle to the same level with water from his other flask, and recapped it.
He said: “This dodge was to make it appear nothing had been touched if Senilde happened to check up. Little point to it now, though—he’d notice the gas had been released.”
He returned the flasks to his pockets and came out to watch Mara removing the threads from the door.
She said: “I can’t leave these here or he will check up. When the door is shut and locked again, he should have no reason to be suspicious.”
“Ah, but I am suspicious,” said Senilde’s voice right behind them. They spun around. He’d climbed the stairs silently and was grinning at them.
“I was always a suspicious man,” he continued. “Hence my little mechanical watchdogs. You seem to have muzzled most of them, but I imagine the gas surprised you. It’s harmless stuff, though—I didn’t wish to have poison gas billowing around the house merely because of some stupid thief. Not that it would have harmed me, but I used to have guests in those days… No, it’s only a scent to spread the alarm. Enough flowed downstairs to irritate my sense of smell and awaken me—I’m a light sleeper. Of course, I knew it meant someone was attempting to steal my elixir. Now, just move away there.”
They moved back, and Senilde came to peer into the room.
“Good,” he said, seeing the bottle on the table. “I caught you before you—”
Mara’s shoulder, with all her weight behind it, caught him by surprise before he had time to switch on his protective stunner. He staggered through the doorway, tripped and fell against the table. It overturned. The bottle smashed on the floor.
His cry of angry surprise was cut short as Mara and Leep together slammed the steel door. It locked itself automatically with rapid triple clicks. Leep and Mara exchanged smiles.
“That,” said Leep, “has simplified your escape greatly. Now Senilde won’t be able to set any of the war machines hunting after you. He can stay in there and rot for ever.”