He gave Anna the binoculars. Presently she handed them to Farn. Whatever was causing the flashes was making its way at a fairly high speed towards the river and the wall of mist. With this interesting discovery, Russell judged it wise to take a short rest. The three of them lay down on the grass so that they could see without being seen.
But their progress, apparently, had already been noticed. The flashes became larger and seemed now to be coming directly towards them. Farn zem Marur gripped his sword expectantly, Anna fitted a bolt to her crossbow, and Russell held his gas lighter and one of the gunpowder grenades.
Presently, the flashing was identified. It was caused by a small troop of spider robots, the sunlight dancing on the metal spheres that housed their sensing and control mechanisms.
This was the first time that Russell and Anna had seen the spider robots in action and in daylight. It was the first time that Farn zem Marur had seen them at all. But the pathfinder, Russell was relieved to note, did not panic—not even when the spider robots were within fifty paces.
“We might as well stand up now,” said Russell. “They know we are here… If they have any orders or instructions concerning us, we shall soon find out.”
“Lord,” said Farn zem Marur grimly, “a sword is perhaps not the best of weapons to combat creatures such as these.”
Russell glanced at the grenade. “No, pathfinder, but this may help. If the robots attempt to harm us, some will need a few spare parts afterwards.”
There were five of the spider robots, and each of them was carrying a box with the four multi-jointed appendages it used as arms. The boxes appeared to contain provisions that were probably destined for the Erewhon Hilton. The five robots came to within twenty paces of the three humans, halted for a moment, then abruptly turned away, almost as if they had just received further instructions. Russell watched them scuttling urgentlv towards the mist barrier which now lay more than two kilometres behind, looking in the sunlight like a wall of solid ice. He wondered if the robots would simply march straight through the freezing barrier or whether there was a special place for entry and exit. It would have been useful to find out; but even if he had wished to backtrack and follow the robots, it would have been impossible to keep their pace. He picked up his crossbow and the coil of rope, and signed to the others to continue the journey. Suddenly he was aware of the sweat dripping down his face, and realized that he had been very much afraid.
He looked at Anna and Farn, perversely pleased to note the traces of fear evident on their drawn faces and still in their eyes. “If one senses danger,” he said, “it becomes harder to bear when nothing happens.” He laughed. “At least, it seems that we are not to be punished prematurely for breaking out of prison… So let us get to that tower and try to find out what it is all about.”
They resumed their march in silence, each preoccupied with private doubts and anxieties. Every now and again, Anna came and held Russell’s hand for a few moments, as if she were reassuring herself of his actual presence or as if she were able to draw some consolation or strength from mere contact.
By Russell’s calculations, they had just about completed the first half of the journey from the river to the column when they saw the ‘fairies’. Although no more detail of the column or the green bubble was apparent than when they had originally seen it, its sheer size, its utter domination of the surrounding landscape both oppressed and excited them. It was possible to discern, also, that the structures round its base were buildings of some kind; and this gave Russell added reason to hope/fear that at last they would encounter some of the race that had been responsible for their abduction from worlds far away.
It was Farn zem Marur who noticed the ‘fairies’—he thought of them as demons—first. He was too horrified to speak, and could only point with a shaking hand.
The ‘fairies’—perhaps nine or ten of them—were flying swiftly through the air at an altitude of about one hundred metres. They seemed to be heading towards the green bubble, and they seemed to be responsible for a curious kind of low, even humming that reminded Russell of the sound made by a musical spinning top he had once possessed long ago in the bright world of childhood.
But there was hardly time to form any impression at all; for, suddenly, the ‘fairies’ vanished. In mid-flight, they seemed to wink out of existence as if someone, somewhere, had just thrown a switch and abolished them.
Russell rubbed his eyes, blinked, and felt his knees become unsteady. He regretted bitterly that no brandy had been included in the stores.
“You saw them?” He turned to Anna. But before she could reply, he already knew the answer.
“I saw them.” Her voice was shaking. “I saw them… Russell, Russell, I want to go back.” Her voice rose in pitch and intensity. “Please take me back to our friends. Please, please take me back! If we go any further, we are all going to go mad… We shall die, and then—”
He slapped her, and the hysterical torrent of words was cut off. Anna pulled herself together.
“Thank you,” she said simply. When she had calmed down a little, she said with a faint smile: “I am reminded that a Russian woman is, after all, only a woman.”
“I didn’t hurt you?”
“Only enough.”
Russell turned to Farn zem Marur. “Pathfinder, we have seen what we have seen. Is it your wish to go forward and, perhaps, encounter yet stranger things?”
Farn zem Marur’s voice was none too steady. “It is my wish and my duty to follow the lord Russell Grahame, that I may not be dishonoured in the eyes of my sept lord and in my own eyes.”
“Let us go then. The answer to such mysteries as we have seen may lie ahead.”
“Lord, they were not demons?”
“No, Farn, they were not demons.”
“Nor were they fairies,” said Anna. “I was reminded of something… I was reminded of large dragonflies… Perhaps they are only some kind of great insect.”
“Insects which can disappear at will,” said Russell drily. “I can see why Paul Redman thought they were fairies, though—the brilliant wings, the golden hair…”
Anna laughed somewhat unsteadily. “They were not fairies. They had no wands. Only, I think, four legs.”
Presently, when the sun was high in the sky, they came to the first group of buildings, which lay no more than a kilometre from the base of the great column. The buildings were low, windowless, igloo-shaped and constructed of what appeared to be a plastic similar to that of the ‘coffin’ from which Russell had emerged on his first day on Erewhon.
Cautiously, the explorers approached the nearest building. They were aware of a kind of muted throbbing, such as might emanate from very powerful engines. They felt the vibrations first through the soles of their feet; but as they came closer it seemed as if the air around them was somehow charged with great pulses of energy.
Even if they had wanted to—and they were not entirely eager—they were unable to investigate the source of the throbbing further, for what were clearly the entrances to the buildings, squat tunnel-like protrusions about a metre high and a metre wide, were closed. The doors were made of metal, and there was no visible means of opening them.
The next group of buildings, similar in shape and size, were, however, open to inspection. Leaving his companions outside, Russell entered the first one and found that it contained stores of some kind—long, low racks on which were neatly stacked metal, plastic and ceramic objects. Some of them looked as if they might be machine parts, while others looked like vessels of some kind. He stared at the long racks and was no wiser.