Spence calmed under the girl's touch. He peered deep into the cool blue eyes and brought his hands up behind her neck.
"You are an angel."
"Spence, can't we tell Daddy about all this?" Her look implored him and he understood how hard it was for her to keep secrets from her father.
"Soon. Very soon now we'll tell him everything. I promise. But right now I'd rather as few people know about any of this as possible. There will be less chance of a slip up that way."
"All right. I do so hate to deceive him like this. I feel so guilty."
"You're not deceiving him. Anyway, we'll tell him soon enough."
They kissed then and held each other for a moment. Ari broke away first. "I've got to get back to the office. I'm watching Mr. Wermeyer's desk today. He's conducting a tour for some plastics manufacturers. They've got a congressman or lobbyist or some sort of high muckymuck with them. If you see any of them, stay out of the way; they'll talk your leg off."
"I though that was your dad's job-to entertain muckymucks."
"Usually it is, but he's in seclusion today for some reason. I haven't even seen him." She smiled brightly. "Will I see you tonight?"
"Yes. Tonight."
She blew him a kiss and vanished through the ferns. Spence watched her slim form blur as it merged with the green and gold of vegetation and sunlight beyond the shady hollow. He sat down and began going over the new information once again. He wanted to make sure he did not forget anything in order to give Adjani a complete report. …
HOCKING, EYES LIT WITH triumph, twitched with excitement. "Gentlemen," he said, his voice booming through the speakers at either side of his head. His two henchmen looked at each other, uncertain how to interpret their unpredictable master's mood. "I have great news. Our inquiries have borne fruit."
The tidings, whatever they were, had put their chief in a munificent frame of mind. They grinned slyly at one another and waited for Hocking to tell them what he had discovered.
"Dr. Reston"-Hocking drew the name out in a long, sibilant hiss-"our wayward young genius, has been found. He is here on GM this instant, and very much alive!"
19
… STAY IN HERE AND don't move," whispered Adjani. "I'll see who it is and get rid of them."
Adjani had changed the access code to the door of his quarters and someone trying to punch in the old code had set off its signal. Spence, going through the drill, stepped inside the sanibooth and closed the panel to a crack so he could hear who it was.
In a moment he heard Adjani sing out, "It's all clear. You can come out."
Feeling like a burglar who had been discovered, he opened the door and crept out. The first thing he saw was Packer's fiery head bobbing excitedly.
"I don't like it," the big scientist was saying. "It's getting out of hand."
"What's up?"
"All we need is a little more time," Adjani explained.
Packer addressed Spence. "I had a visitor today. An inquisitive fellow from the insurance company. You were high on his agenda." "Oh?"
"He was nosing around and found out about your disappearance; thought he'd check it out while he was in the neighborhood."
"What did you tell him?"
"I told him you'd joined a monastery-what do you think I told him?" Packer's jaw thrust forward angrily; his face was flushed and red.
"Hold on. I know you've stretched your neck out as far as it'll go on this. But don't go turtle on us now. A few days more is all we need."
"We're making great progress," Adjani offered.
The scowl on the big man's face dwindled away, soon to be replaced by a slight, impish smirk. "You know, I do believe I twisted the old boy's tail just a bit. It wasn't really necessary, but the guy acted like I'd made off with his precious Dr. Reston. He tried to give me a real professional cross-examination, but I cut him off pretty quick."
Adjani and Spence looked at each other.
"Besides," Packer continued, "this guy gave me the willies. Him in that pneumochair and all shrunken up like that. He looked like a skeleton!"
Packer stared at his listeners. "Hey, what's the matter?-I say something wrong?" …
Two GREAT CURVING HEMISPHERES, blue in the light of a silvery moon, rose up like incandescent mountains-smooth, pale, and surrounded by a zigzagging wall which fell around them in a seamless black barrier. Spence looked and saw a tower, a thin heaven-poised finger, between the two domes shimmering darkly in the moonlight.
He sat on a stone ledge separated from the palace by a deep gorge. Between him and the palace, swinging in the wind rushing out of the chasm, hung an ancient bridge made of twisted rope and wood. He could hear the wind singing through the ropes and saw the frayed ends blowing on the breezes like an old woman's hair. The frail structure creaked as it danced, and the sound was a ghostly falling laughter which echoed away into the inky depths below. In Spence's ears the sound became the voice of his enemy jeering at him, daring him to cross the crevice on that bridge and come to the palace to face him.
He huddled with his hands around his knees, shivering in the chill night air, but then rose and went to the swaying bridge, gripping the frayed ropes with his hands and placing one foot cautiously on the footboards. At his first step the bridge bounced wildly. Spence drew back.
In a moment he worked up his courage again and stepped gingerly out onto the bridge. The laughter seemed to well up from the chasm below as he heard the roar of a crashing cataract, like the sound of an angry beast thrashing in its dark den. He closed his ears to the sounds and kept his eyes on the far side and walked on step by cautious step.
He reached the middle of the bridge and felt the sharp winds buffeting him, rustling his clothing. Then everything was still; the night sounds faded and a gentle warmth seeped into the air.
A new sound reached his ears-the sobbing of a young woman. He looked up and saw Ari standing on the far side of the brink. Her tears fell in liquid gems and sparkled on her cheeks. She was crying and lifting up her arms to him. Her long yell m, hair was white in the moonlight and it drifted like moondust.
"Ari!" Spence cried and heard the name repeated again and again far below him.
He raised his foot and put it down and felt himself step into the air. His foot failed to touch wood and he fell, plunging headlong down into the gorge, spinning helplessly down and down. He screamed in terror and anger and saw the form of his love turn into that of a wizened old man who peered over the edge and laughed at him. The rocks rang with laughter, and he shut his eyes and screamed to keep out the hideous sound.
Then he was on his knees in a dirty, stinking street, narrow between the crumbling facades of buildings. The moon shone between the buildings from above and he could see far down the canyon-street to where it ended at a broad gray river.
He began walking toward the river and felt a pang of terror clutch at his heart. He looked behind him and saw nothing, though he heard the rush of muffled feet.
He started to run.
The feet ran with him and he saw on either side of him dark shapes flitting by to become lost in shadow. He peered over his shoulder and saw a churning black mass sweeping ever nearer to him.
He came to a courtyard bounded on all sides by a high wall. He stood in the center of the yard on crumbling stone, one hand pressed to his side, breathing hard and feeling the burning stab of pain in his side. All at once he heard them, his pursuers, coming down the narrow street behind him. He turned and saw hundreds of narrow yellow eyes and the curved white slivers of bared teeth. He heard an enormous slavering growl tearing up out of a hundred throats as the dogs sprang on him, their jaws snapping, hackles raised, ears flattened to their angular heads.