Crockett, endeavoring to lick his dry lips, was horrified to discover the end of his moist tongue dragging limply over his eyes. He whipped it back, with a loud smacking noise, and managed to sit up.
Then he remained perfectly motionless, staring.
The head had reappeared. This time there was a body under it.
“I’m Gru Magru,” said the head chattily. “You’ll be given a gnomic name, of course, unless your own is guttural enough. What is it?”
“Crockett,” the man responded, in a stunned, automatic manner.
“Hey?”
“Crockett.”
“Stop making noises like a frog and-oh, I see. Crockett. Fair enough. Now get up and follow me or I’ll kick the pants off you.”
But Crockett did not immediately rise. He was watching Gru Magru —obviously a gnome. Short, squat and stunted, the being’s figure resembled a bulging little barrel, topped by an inverted turnip. The hair grew up thickly to a peak-the root, as it were. In the turnip face was a loose, immense slit of a mouth, a button of a nose, and two very large eyes.
“Get up!” Gru Magru said.
This time Crockett obeyed, but the effort exhausted him completely. If he moved again, he thought, he would go mad. It would be just as well. Gru Magru planted a large splay foot where it would do the most good, and Crockett described an arc which ended at a jagged boulder fallen from the roof. “Get up,” the gnome said, with gratuitous bad temper, “or I’ll kick you again. It’s bad enough to have an outlying prospect patrol, where I might run into a man any time, without-Up! Or—”
Crockett got up. Gru Magru took his arm and impelled him into the depths of the tunnel.
“Well, you’re a gnome now,” he said. “It’s the Nid law. Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth the trouble.
But I suppose it is-since gnomes can’t propagate, and the average population has to be kept up somehow.”
“I want to die,” Crockett said wildly.
Gru Magru laughed. “Gnomes can’t die. They’re immortal, till the Day. Judgment Day, I mean.”
“You’re not logical,” Crockett pointed out, as though by disproving one factor he could automatically disprove the whole fantastic business. “You’re either flesh and blood and have to die eventually, or you’re not, and then you’re not real.”
“Oh, we’re flesh and blood, right enough,” Gru Magru said. “But we’re not mortal. There’s a distinction. Not that I’ve anything against some mortals,” he hastened to explain. “Bats, now—and owls—they’re fine. But men!” He shuddered. “No gnome can stand the sight of a man.”
Crockett clutched at a straw. “I’m a man.”
“You were, you mean,” Gru said. “Not a very good specimen, either, for my ore. But you’re a gnome now. It’s the Nid law.”
“You keep talking about the Nid law,” Crockett complained.
“Of course you don’t understand,” said Cru Magru, in a patronizing fashion. “It’s this way. Back in ancient times, it was decreed that if any humans got lost in underearth, a tithe of them would be transformed into gnomes. The first gnome emperor, Podrang the Third, arranged that. He saw that fairies could kidnap human children and keep them, and spoke to the authorities about it. Said it was unfair. So when miners and suchlike are lost underneath, a tithe of them are transformed into gnomes and join us. That’s what happened to you. See?”
“No,” Crockett said weakly. “Look. You said Podrang was the first gnome emperor. Why was he called Podrang the Third?”
“No time for questions,” Gru Magru snapped. “Hurry!”
He was almost running now, dragging the wretched Crockett after him. The new gnome had not yet mastered his rather unusual limbs, and, due to the extreme wideness of his sandals, he trod heavily on his right hand, but after that learned to keep his arms bent and close to his sides. The walls, illuminated with that queer silvery radiance, spun past dizzily.
“W-what’s that light?” Crockett managed to gasp. “Where’s it coming from?”
“Light?” Gru Magru inquired. “It isn’t light.”
“Well, it isn’t dark—”
“Of course it’s dark,” the gnome snapped. “How could we see if it wasn’t dark?”
There was no possible answer to this, except, Crockett thought wildly, a frantic shriek. And he needed all his breath for running. They were in a labyrinth now, turning and twisting and doubling through innumerable tunnels, and Crockett knew he could never retrace his steps. He regretted having left the scene of the cave-in. But how could he have helped doing so?
“Hurry!” Gru Magru urged. “Hurry!”
“Why?” Crockett got out breathlessly.
“There’s a fight going on!” the gnome said.
Just then they rounded a corner and almost blundered into the fight. A seething mass of gnomes filled the tunnel, battling with frantic fury. Red and blue pants and tunics moved in swift patchwork frenzy; turnip heads popped up and down vigorously. It was apparently a free-for-all.
“See!” Gm gloated. “A fight! I could smell it six tunnels away. Oh, a beauty!” He ducked as a malicious-looking little gnome sprang out of the huddle to seize a rock and hurl it with vicious accuracy. The missile missed its mark, and Gru, neglecting his captive, immediately hurled himself upon the little gnome, bore him down on the cave floor, and began to beat his head against it. Both parties shrieked at the tops of their voices, which were lost in the deafening din that resounded through the tunnel.
“Oh-my,” Crockett said weakly. He stood staring, which was a mistake. A very large gnome emerged from the pile, seized Crockett by the feet, and threw him away. The terrified inadvertent projectile sailed through the tunnel to crash heavily into something which said, “Whoo-doof!” There was a tangle of malformed arms and legs.
Crockett arose to find that he had downed a vicious-looking gnome with flaming red hair and four large diamond buttons on his tunic. This repulsive creature lay motionless, out for the count. Crockett took stock of his injuries—there were none. His new body was hardy, anyway.
“You saved me!” said a new voice. It belonged to a lady gnome. Crockett decided that if there was anything uglier than a gnome, it was the female of the species. The creature stood crouching just behind him, clutching a large rock in one capable hand.
Crockett ducked.
“I won’t hurt you,” the other howled above the din that filled the passage. “You saved me! Mugza was trying to pull my ears off-oh! He’s waking up!”
The red-haired gnome was indeed recovering consciousness. His first act was to draw up his feet and, without rising, kick Crockett clear across the tunnel. The feminine gnome immediately sat on Mugza’s chest and pounded his head with the rock till he subsided.
Then she arose. “You’re not hurt? Good! I’m Brockle Buhn… Oh, look! He’ll have his head off in a minute!”
Crockett turned to see that his erstwhile guide, Cm Magru, was gnomefully tugging at the head of an unidentified opponent, attempting, apparently, to twist it clear off. “What’s it all about?” Crockett howled. “Uh-Bmockle Buhn! Brockle Buhn!”
She turned unwillingly. “What?”
“The fight! What started it?”
“I did,” she explained. “I said, ‘Let’s have a fight’.”
“Oh, that was all?”
“Then we started.” Brockle Buhn nodded. “What’s your name?”
“Crockett.”
“You’re new here, aren’t you? Oh-I know. You were a human being!” Suddenly a new light appeared in her bulging eyes. “Crockett, maybe you can tell me something. What’s a kiss?”