"More like a soundlock"
There was still a rumbling sound. From overhead. I looked up at the thick pipe that passed through the room; the rumbling was coming from it.
"Try the other door?" Berkk asked.
"In a moment—when the jackhammer in my head goes away."
The room was featureless. Nothing on the walls, just a light in the ceiling next to the pipe. And a track of dirty footprints leading from one door to the other. Ending in a floor mat. I kicked my boots clean on it.
"There must be something a little more civilized on the other side. Keeping their floor clean—" I shut up as the wheel on the door in front of me began to turn.
"Behind the door!" I whispered as I plastered myself against the wall.
I could take care of one man all right. If there were more than one we were in trouble.
It opened wider. I crouched and raised my weapon. A metal foot and a metal leg appeared. I lowered the cosh as the robot stepped in. It ignored us completely as it turned and sealedthe door through which it had entered. I leaned forward and read the identification plate on the back of its shining skull.
"It's a compbot—707. Wonderful! It's little more than a meter reader with legs. Have you ever used one?"
Berkk nodded happily. "I ran a string of fifteen of them once, in an assembly plant that I managed. After they have been programmed they can do only what's in their memory. The thing has no idea that we are even here."
We watched as it sealed the door, went over to the other door and opened it. We covered our ears as the sound blasted in. then died away as the door swung shut.
"Now let's see what's on the other side," I said as I spun the inner wheel and opened the door a crack. A hall with no one in sight. I opened it wide, stepped through.
"Going to leave me here?" He sounded worried.
"Not for long. But we have to find out what we're getting into. Let me take a quick look."
What I got into was a long, well—lit corridor with the rumbling pipe running the length of it, just below the ceiling. Doors opened off it, and there was another door at the far end—which might very well open at any time. I hurried to the first door I had seen, tried the handle, found it unlocked. Took a breath, readied the cosh—then opened it.
A storeroom, shelves and boxes—and perfect for our needs. I hurried back to Berkk.
"Let's get Out of here. There's a storeroom we can get into."
With this last door closed behind me I slid down and sat on the floor. Berkk did the same.
"What do we do next?" he asked eagerly, as though I knew all the answers. I wished I did.
"Rest and plan. No, no plan. We can't do anything until we find where in hell—or Heaven—we are." I shut up because I was getting light—headed. All the banging, crushing, crawling, bleeding, clotting had not done me any good. "You rest," I said, clambering painfully to my feet. "I'm going to check out the other doors and find out what I can. Be right back." The first three rooms I looked into were spectacularly uninteresting. Cases of ball~bearing races, computer boards, miles of wire. Nothing that we could use, eat, or drink. But I hit the jackpot on the fourth, hurried back to get Berkk.
"All of the doors along the hallway open into storerooms but I found one that is not only filled with bogey wheels but also has a medical emergency box. So not only can we clean up and get some dressings on but some good person put a bottle of medicinal brandy in with the rest of the gear."
We drank the drinking medicine before we went on to antiseptics and bandages. Considering what we had been through we had gotten off lightly. Cleansed and purified—and half sloshed—I thought of the future.
"Rest, sleep if you can," I said. "I'm going to take a reccy."
"What's that? Is it a pill?"
"No, you civilian, it's a military term left over from my army career. Short for reconnoiter. I'll try not to take any chances and will be back as soon as I can. One person can do this far better than two, so don't argue."
He didn't "Good luck," he said.
"I don't believe in it. I make my own luck," I bragged. To lift his morale—or my own. I left.
The door at the end of the corridor opened into a very large open—plan room. The thick pipe carried on across to the center of the room where it made a bend and vanished down through the floor. I didn't like this room. I kept my eye to the crack for a long time. There were workbenches in there, with chairs before them. And chairs meant people. Instrument consoles glittered with lights and in the distance there was the sound of running motors. If it was empty for now—how long would it stay empty?
The waiting didn't help because nothing stirred, no one came. Muttering darkly I finally opened the door wide and slipped through. Slinked along between the workbenches, trying to look over my shoulder and in every direction at the same time. Through swinging doors and into an even bigger and brightly lit room. Still no one—though I found this hard to believe. I crept on, wondering how long my luck was going to hold out. I passed a door with a round window set into it, looked in carefully before going by. And swallowed.
A food and drink dispenser—it could be nothing else.
I was through it, the door closed behind me, and punching the button for drink. Caffeine—aide—exactly what I wanted, needed.
Paradisical… I drained two cups in a row before I slowed down. Triggered the controls that slipped a frozen catwich and a dogburger into the microwave while I sipped. I glanced out occasienally, but my heart wasn't in it. Food and drink first, more reccy later. I felt a slight twinge of sympathy for Berkk, but food washed it away. He was sleeping and resting and I would bring some of this back for him, or take him to it.
Stomach rounded, swishing inside as I walked, I decided to see what was around just one more bend before I returned.
Around the bend was something new. A stairwell leading down between rough concrete walls. And I remembered that the pipe with its contents of ground rock had gone down through the floor. Which meant its destination might be down here. Should I look? Why not? My stomach was full, caffeine was coursing through my blood—and I was very, very curious.
I went down the steps into a wide corridor that stretched away in both directions. There was a thick tubular thing hanging in the middle of it, running in both directions as well. It was made of polished metal and was much bigger than the groundrock pipe we had been following. The corridor walls were even rougher, with rock shapes under the plastering. It had been drilled and dug out of the solid rock. Heavy electrical cables hung in festoons and electronic gear was mounted on the metal tube. I could make no sense of it. I walked along it a bit and realized that tunnel and pipe were both curved. A steady, long curve that remained the same. I walked on and the curve, the radius, never changed. If it stayed like this it would eventually form an immense circle and I would be back where I started. A circular tunnel with a circular pipe in the middle of it. It seemed familiar and—
There was the sound of footsteps coming towards me along the tunnel. Time to leave—but they stopped. Leave, Jim, leave, while you are still in one piece!
Any sensible person would have beaten a hasty and silent retreat and saved curiosity for another day. I have always thought of myself as a sensible person.
Then why was I easing off my heavy working boots and stuffing them into my jacket? For what sane reason was I tiptoeing forward, trying to see around the curve.
I stopped, one foot raised, frozen.
My curiosity was satisfied in a rather large way.
There, just meters away, was Professor Justin Slakey peering through a window into the large tube's interior.
Chapter 21
I drew back instantly. Surely he could hear the bass drum of my heartbeat echoing loudly in that quiet corridor. Had he seen me? I waited one second, two—and there was no sound of pursuing footsteps.
I started back as silently as I had come—just as the following footsteps sounded behind me. All I could do was run. Trying to stay ahead of the plodding sound. If he went a bit faster, or if I went slower, he would be far enoItgh around the curve in the tunnel to see me. Or if I made a sound. Or—there were too many ors.