She resisted the temptation. Darkness quickly fell and she stopped to remove the recharged flashlight that Carl had provided her with. It was difficult holding it and the laser together, but the powerful beam of light reassured her as she swept it back and forth ahead of her. But the feeling that she was being watched remained.
Jan was exhausted by the time she entered the plaza in which stood the Sky Tower. She rocked back dizzily on her heels as she tilted back her head and stared up at it. How on earth was she going to get to its summit? There were glass cylinders on its side which were obviously exterior elevators, but without any power source they were useless.
As she walked across the plaza, which was covered in different coloured tiles illustrated with drawings of balloons similar to the ones used by the Bandalans, she became aware that a fountain was working. She stopped again and stared at it. As she wondered how it operated after all this time she became even more acutely aware of her thirst.
She turned away from it and continued on towards the Sky Tower. The base of the Tower, she saw, was open on all sides—supported by a series of pillars that appeared to be ridiculously thin to be the foundations of such an immense structure. Jan climbed up some steps and went inside. She swept the beam about. The lobby was empty apart from a circular elevator and a staircase that led up into the ceiling. She went to the stairs and sat down on the bottom one. She intended to rest for a while and then begin the long climb. She hoped that the stairs continued all the way to the top, otherwise she didn’t know what she was going to do.
Jan awoke with a start. She hadn’t meant to go to sleep. She sat up and felt for the laser and the flashlight. She found the flashlight. The laser was nowhere to be found.
As a flutter of panic began to grow in her stomach she switched on the flashlight. The beam illuminated a large form sitting on the lobby floor about ten feet away. The laser lay beside it.
It was the black panther.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The panther’s eyes glowed yellow in the beam of the flashlight. It was sitting on its haunches like a house cat, its front legs straight. It seemed to be grinning at her, as it had on that day so long ago.
Jan was overcome with shock. She couldn’t understand how the panther could be here in this city hundreds of miles from where Minerva had stood. The Mother God was surely punishing her for some sin she had committed. Punishing her …? No … mocking her.
She considered reaching for the projectile weapon still strapped over her shoulder, but knew that the panther could be on her before she could unstrap it and aim. And there was the possibility that the thing wouldn’t even work. She had her swords but, again, in the time it took to draw one of them the panther could easily attack her. She glanced wistfully at the laser by the panther’s front foot. The panther glanced at it too then casually put its paw on the weapon. It said, in its familiar sibilant hiss, “Nasssty thing. Don’t like. You won’t touch.”
“No, I won’t touch,” Jan assured it nervously.
The panther continued to stare at her with its great yellow eyes. Jan considered throwing the flashlight at it as a diversion, but knew that would be futile as well.
Finally she said, “Why are you following me? How did you find me?”
The panther hissed. “Follow you …? I not follow you.”
“Yes you did,” Jan told it accusingly. “All the way from Minerva. Where you killed Carla after I refused to let you into the town.”
“Young Missssy talk crazy,” said the panther and gave a dismissive snort.
“You’re playing with me,” said Jan, remembering how she had watched Minervan cats torture mice before killing them. “Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with.”
“Why me kill missy?” said the panther. “Only kill missy if you try hurt me. This cat only kill male people. Always trust women people. They have never tried to hurt cat.”
Jan frowned in puzzlement. What kind of game was the panther playing now? Then it occurred to her to shine the flashlight beam lower down on the animal’s body. She almost laughed aloud with relief at what she saw. Or rather, at what she didn’t see.
It wasn’t the same animal. It was a female.
Even though she was relieved that it was a different panther from the one she had encountered at the gate of Minerva, and a female at that, Jan still didn’t trust it. But she was going to wait and see what developed before she attempted any reckless move. The panther had told her she’d spotted her entering the plaza and was curious as to what a human was doing in this ‘death place’. Jan, in turn, asked the panther what she was doing in the city. Wasn’t she scared of the sickness too?
“Been here long time now. Not sick,” said the panther. “Mother warn me keep away. Mother’s mother warn her. But I old cat. Tired. Hunting not good Out There …” The panther turned its head to indicate the blight lands. “Decide to come here. Take chance. Wait, but nothing happen. Water good. Hunting better. Animals come here. No People. You the first.”
Jan wondered whether or not to believe the panther. A ‘long time’ could mean anything in the animal’s time scale, from a couple of days to a couple of months. But then, even a couple of days would be more than sufficient for the plague to strike and the panther looked healthy. Jan was hot, thirsty, hungry and desperate for a pee. There was no way she could stay sealed up in the suit for much longer.
“Have you seen a machine in the city?” she asked the panther.
“Maccchine?”
“One that walks on two legs. Like a man.”
The panther flicked its thick tail. “No see machine that walks.”
Well, that’s something, thought Jan. She shifted her position on the uncomfortable stair, taking care to move slowly so as to not alarm the animal. Then she came to a decision. “I’m going to take my weapons off. I don’t mean you any harm. Understand?”
“Understand.”
She put the torch down on the floor, the beam still pointing at the great cat. Then she slowly unstrapped the projectile weapon from her shoulder and, holding it by the barrel, placed it on the floor beside the torch where it was clearly visible. She then removed her back-pack and weapons harness and dropped them on the floor as well. The panther watched her every move with its unreadable yellow eyes. Jan said, “I’m going to get something out of my bag here. It’s not a weapon. Just a water container.”
The panther gave a nod. Jan got out one of the two canteens. Then, after a long hesitation, she undid the seals and pulled back her hood. She took a deep breath. There, it was too late now. She lifted the canteen and drank.
When she next awoke dawn was breaking over the city of towers. The panther, she saw, was lying about fifteen feet away. It was awake and watching her. It hadn’t eaten her while she slept, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t saving her for breakfast. Jan sat up on her makeshift bed, which consisted of the anticontamination suit and the back-pack, and said, “Good morning.”
The panther made a growling sound deep in its throat. Jan decided to interpret it as a friendly response. Maybe it was purring. She felt strangely cheerful, mainly because she was still alive. The panther hadn’t eaten her and she didn’t, as far as she knew, have the plague. Not a bad start to the day, all things considered.
She got up and walked out into the plaza. The panther stayed where she was but turned her head to watch Jan as she left. Jan went to the fountain, cupped water in her hands, and drank. The water tasted cold and fresh. She then looked round the plaza, but nothing moved. She felt confident that the clanking Ezekiel wouldn’t be able to get close without being detected by the panther. She took off Ashley’s clothes—a shirt, trousers, briefs and boots that the dead girl had last worn centuries ago—and climbed into the fountain. The water was shockingly cold as she lowered herself into it, but at the same time it felt marvellously invigorating. She lay on her back in the water and stared up at the Sky Tower. All she had to do was climb to its top, find the computer, insert Ashley and Carl’s ‘software’ into it and then order it to summon down the Sky Angel all the way from its home far beyond the blue sky. Simple!