The Defenders Read online

ruin so vast that no human being could imagine the extent.It had crawled and slunk in a world of radiation and death, a worldwhere no life could exist.

  And Taylor had touched it!

  "You're going with us," Franks said suddenly. "I want you along. I thinkthe three of us will go."

  * * * * *

  Mary faced him with a sick and frightened expression. "I know it. You'regoing to the surface. Aren't you?"

  She followed him into the kitchen. Taylor sat down, looking away fromher.

  "It's a classified project," he evaded. "I can't tell you anything aboutit."

  "You don't have to tell me. I know. I knew it the moment you came in.There was something on your face, something I haven't seen there for along, long time. It was an old look."

  She came toward him. "But how can they send you to the surface?" Shetook his face in her shaking hands, making him look at her. There was astrange hunger in her eyes. "Nobody can live up there. Look, look atthis!"

  She grabbed up a newspaper and held it in front of him.

  "Look at this photograph. America, Europe, Asia, Africa--nothing butruins. We've seen it every day on the showscreens. All destroyed,poisoned. And they're sending you up. Why? No living thing can get by upthere, not even a weed, or grass. They've wrecked the surface, haven'tthey? _Haven't they?_"

  Taylor stood up. "It's an order. I know nothing about it. I was told toreport to join a scout party. That's all I know."

  He stood for a long time, staring ahead. Slowly, he reached for thenewspaper and held it up to the light.

  "It looks real," he murmured. "Ruins, deadness, slag. It's convincing.All the reports, photographs, films, even air samples. Yet we haven'tseen it for ourselves, not after the first months ..."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Nothing." He put the paper down. "I'm leaving early after the nextSleep Period. Let's turn in."

  Mary turned away, her face hard and harsh. "Do what you want. We mightjust as well all go up and get killed at once, instead of dying slowlydown here, like vermin in the ground."

  He had not realized how resentful she was. Were they all like that? Howabout the workers toiling in the factories, day and night, endlessly?The pale, stooped men and women, plodding back and forth to work,blinking in the colorless light, eating synthetics--

  "You shouldn't be so bitter," he said.

  Mary smiled a little. "I'm bitter because I know you'll never comeback." She turned away. "I'll never see you again, once you go upthere."

  He was shocked. "What? How can you say a thing like that?"

  She did not answer.

  * * * * *

  He awakened with the public newscaster screeching in his ears, shoutingoutside the building.

  "Special news bulletin! Surface forces report enormous Soviet attackwith new weapons! Retreat of key groups! All work units report tofactories at once!"

  Taylor blinked, rubbing his eyes. He jumped out of bed and hurried tothe vidphone. A moment later he was put through to Moss.

  "Listen," he said. "What about this new attack? Is the project off?" Hecould see Moss's desk, covered with reports and papers.

  "No," Moss said. "We're going right ahead. Get over here at once."

  "But--"

  "Don't argue with me." Moss held up a handful of surface bulletins,crumpling them savagely. "This is a fake. Come on!" He broke off.

  Taylor dressed furiously, his mind in a daze.

  Half an hour later, he leaped from a fast car and hurried up the stairsinto the Synthetics Building. The corridors were full of men and womenrushing in every direction. He entered Moss's office.

  "There you are," Moss said, getting up immediately. "Franks is waitingfor us at the outgoing station."

  They went in a Security Car, the siren screaming. Workers scattered outof their way.

  "What about the attack?" Taylor asked.

  Moss braced his shoulders. "We're certain that we've forced their hand.We've brought the issue to a head."

  They pulled up at the station link of the Tube and leaped out. A momentlater they were moving up at high speed toward the first stage.

  They emerged into a bewildering scene of activity. Soldiers werefastening on lead suits, talking excitedly to each other, shouting backand forth. Guns were being given out, instructions passed.

  Taylor studied one of the soldiers. He was armed with the dreaded Benderpistol, the new snub-nosed hand weapon that was just beginning to comefrom the assembly line. Some of the soldiers looked a little frightened.

  "I hope we're not making a mistake," Moss said, noticing his gaze.

  Franks came toward them. "Here's the program. The three of us are goingup first, alone. The soldiers will follow in fifteen minutes."

  "What are we going to tell the leadys?" Taylor worriedly asked. "We'llhave to tell them something."

  "We want to observe the new Soviet attack." Franks smiled ironically."Since it seems to be so serious, we should be there in person towitness it."

  "And then what?" Taylor said.

  "That'll be up to them. Let's go."

  * * * * *

  In a small car, they went swiftly up the Tube, carried by anti-gravbeams from below. Taylor glanced down from time to time. It was a longway back, and getting longer each moment. He sweated nervously insidehis suit, gripping his Bender pistol with inexpert fingers.

  Why had they chosen him? Chance, pure chance. Moss had asked him to comealong as a Department member. Then Franks had picked him out on the spurof the moment. And now they were rushing toward the surface, faster andfaster.

  A deep fear, instilled in him for eight years, throbbed in his mind.Radiation, certain death, a world blasted and lethal--

  Up and up the car went. Taylor gripped the sides and closed his eyes.Each moment they were closer, the first living creatures to go above thefirst stage, up the Tube past the lead and rock, up to the surface. Thephobic horror shook him in waves. It was death; they all knew that.Hadn't they seen it in the films a thousand times? The cities, the sleetcoming down, the rolling clouds--

  "It won't be much longer," Franks said. "We're almost there. The surfacetower is not expecting us. I gave orders that no signal was to be sent."

  The car shot up, rushing furiously. Taylor's head spun; he hung on, hiseyes shut. Up and up....

  The car stopped. He opened his eyes.

  They were in a vast room, fluorescent-lit, a cavern filled withequipment and machinery, endless mounds of material piled in row afterrow. Among the stacks, leadys were working silently, pushing trucks andhandcarts.

  "Leadys," Moss said. His face was pale. "Then we're really on thesurface."

  The leadys were going back and forth with equipment moving the vaststores of guns and spare parts, ammunition and supplies that had beenbrought to the surface. And this was the receiving station for only oneTube; there were many others, scattered throughout the continent.

  Taylor looked nervously around him. They were really there, aboveground, on the surface. This was where the war was.

  "Come on," Franks said. "A B-class guard is coming our way."

  * * * * *

  They stepped out of the car. A leady was approaching them rapidly. Itcoasted up in front of them and stopped, scanning them with itshand-weapon raised.

  "This is Security," Franks said. "Have an A-class sent to me at once."

  The leady hesitated. Other B-class guards were coming, scooting acrossthe floor, alert and alarmed. Moss peered around.

  "Obey!" Franks said in a loud, commanding voice. "You've been ordered!"

  The leady moved uncertainly away from them. At the end of the building,a door slid back. Two A-class leadys appeared, coming slowly towardthem. Each had a green stripe across its front.

  "From the Surface Council," Franks whispered tensely. "This is aboveground, all right. Get set."

  The two leadys approached
warily. Without speaking, they stopped closeby the men, looking them up and down.

  "I'm Franks of Security. We came from undersurface in order to--"

  "This in incredible," one of the leadys interrupted him coldly. "Youknow you can't live up here. The whole surface is lethal to you. Youcan't possibly remain on the surface."

  "These suits will protect us," Franks said. "In any case, it's not yourresponsibility. What I want is an immediate Council meeting so I canacquaint myself with conditions, with the situation here. Can that bearranged?"

  "You human beings can't survive up here. And the new Soviet attack isdirected at this area. It is in considerable danger."

  "We know that. Please assemble the Council." Franks looked around him atthe vast room, lit by recessed lamps in the ceiling. An uncertainquality came into his voice. "Is it night or day right now?"

  "Night," one of the A-class leadys said, after a pause. "Dawn is comingin about two hours."

  Franks nodded. "We'll remain at least two hours, then. As a concessionto our sentimentality, would you please show us some place where we canobserve the Sun as it comes up? We would appreciate it."

  A stir went through the leadys.

  "It is an unpleasant sight," one of the leadys said. "You've seen thephotographs; you know what you'll witness. Clouds of drifting particlesblot out the light, slag heaps are everywhere, the whole land isdestroyed. For you it will be a staggering sight, much worse thanpictures and film can convey."

  "However it may be, we'll stay long enough to see it. Will you give theorder to the Council?"

  * * * * *

  "Come this way." Reluctantly, the two leadys coasted toward the wall ofthe warehouse. The three men trudged after them, their heavy shoesringing against the concrete. At the wall, the two leadys paused.

  "This is the entrance to the Council Chamber. There are windows in theChamber Room, but it is still dark outside, of course. You'll seenothing right now, but in two hours--"

  "Open the door," Franks said.

  The door slid back. They went slowly inside. The room was small, a neatroom with a round table in the center, chairs ringing it. The three ofthem sat down silently, and the two leadys followed after them, takingtheir places.

  "The other Council Members are on their way. They have already beennotified and are coming as quickly as they can. Again I urge you to goback down." The leady surveyed the three human beings. "There is no wayyou can meet the conditions up here. Even we survive with some trouble,ourselves. How can you expect to do it?"

  The leader approached Franks.

  "This astonishes and perplexes us," it said. "Of course we must do whatyou tell us, but allow me to point out that if you remain here--"

  "We know," Franks said impatiently. "However, we intend to remain, atleast until sunrise."

  "If you insist."

  There was silence. The leadys seemed to be conferring with each other,although the three men heard no sound.

  "For your own good," the leader said at last, "you must go back down. Wehave discussed this, and it seems to us that you are doing the wrongthing for your own good."

  "We are human beings," Franks said sharply. "Don't you understand? We'remen, not machines."

  "That is precisely why you must go back. This room is radioactive; allsurface areas are. We calculate that your suits will not protect you forover fifty more minutes. Therefore--"

  The leadys moved abruptly toward the men, wheeling in a circle, forminga solid row. The men stood up, Taylor reaching awkwardly for his weapon,his fingers numb and stupid. The men stood facing the silent metalfigures.

  "We must insist," the leader said, its voice without emotion. "We musttake you back to the Tube and send you down on the next car. I am sorry,but it is necessary."

  "What'll we do?" Moss said nervously to Franks. He touched his gun."Shall we blast them?"

  Franks shook his head. "All right," he said to the leader. "We'll goback."

  * * * * *

  He moved toward the door, motioning Taylor and Moss to follow him. Theylooked at him in surprise, but they came with him. The leadys followedthem out into the great warehouse. Slowly they moved toward the Tubeentrance, none of them speaking.

  At the lip, Franks turned. "We are going back because we have no choice.There are three of us and about a dozen of you. However, if--"

  "Here comes the car," Taylor said.

  There was a grating sound from the Tube. D-class leadys moved toward theedge to receive it.

  "I am sorry," the leader said, "but it is for your protection. We arewatching over you, literally. You must stay below and let us conduct thewar. In a sense, it has come to be _our_ war. We must fight it as we seefit."

  The car rose to the surface.

  Twelve soldiers, armed with Bender pistols, stepped from it andsurrounded the three men.

  Moss breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, this does change things. It cameoff just right."

  The leader moved back, away from the soldiers. It studied themintently, glancing from one to the next, apparently trying to make upits mind. At last it made a sign to the other leadys. They coasted asideand a corridor was opened up toward the warehouse.

  "Even now," the leader said, "we could send you back by force. But it isevident that this is not really an observation party at all. Thesesoldiers show that you have much more in mind; this was all carefullyprepared."

  "Very carefully," Franks said.

  They closed in.

  "How much more, we can only guess. I must admit that we were takenunprepared. We failed utterly to meet the situation. Now force would beabsurd, because neither side can afford to injure the other; we, becauseof the restrictions placed on us regarding human life, you because thewar demands--"

  The soldiers fired, quick and in fright. Moss dropped to one knee,firing up. The leader dissolved in a cloud of particles. On all sidesD- and B-class leadys were rushing up, some with weapons, some withmetal slats. The room was in confusion. Off in the distance a siren wasscreaming. Franks and Taylor were cut off from the others, separatedfrom the soldiers by a wall of metal bodies.

  "They can't fire back," Franks said calmly. "This is another bluff.They've tried to bluff us all the way." He fired into the face of aleady. The leady dissolved. "They can only try to frighten us. Rememberthat."

  * * * * *

  They went on firing and leady after leady vanished. The room reeked withthe smell of burning metal, the stink of fused plastic and steel. Taylorhad been knocked down. He was struggling to find his gun, reachingwildly among metal legs, groping frantically to find it. His fingersstrained, a handle swam in front of him. Suddenly something came down onhis arm, a metal foot. He cried out.

  Then it was over. The leadys were moving away, gathering together off toone side. Only four of the Surface Council remained. The others wereradioactive particles in the air. D-class leadys were already restoringorder, gathering up partly destroyed metal figures and bits and removingthem.

  Franks breathed a shuddering sigh.

  "All right," he said. "You can take us back to the windows. It won't belong now."

  The leadys separated, and the human group, Moss and Franks and Taylorand the soldiers, walked slowly across the room, toward the door. Theyentered the Council Chamber. Already a faint touch of gray mitigated theblackness of the windows.

  "Take us outside," Franks said impatiently. "We'll see it directly, notin here."

  A door slid open. A chill blast of cold morning air rushed in, chillingthem even through their lead suits. The men glanced at each otheruneasily.

  "Come on," Franks said. "Outside."

  He walked out through the door, the others following him.

  They were on a hill, overlooking the vast bowl of a valley. Dimly,against the graying sky, the outline of mountains were forming, becomingtangible.

  "It'll be bright enough to see in a few minutes," Moss said. Heshuddered as
a chilling wind caught him and moved around him. "It'sworth it, really worth it, to see this again after eight years. Even ifit's the last thing we see--"

  "Watch," Franks snapped.

  They obeyed, silent and subdued. The sky was clearing, brightening eachmoment. Some place far off, echoing across the valley, a rooster crowed.

  "A chicken!" Taylor murmured. "Did you hear?"

  Behind them, the leadys had come out and were standing silently,watching, too. The gray sky turned to white and the hills appeared moreclearly. Light spread across the valley floor, moving toward them.

  "God in heaven!" Franks exclaimed.

  Trees, trees and forests. A valley of plants and trees, with a few roadswinding among them. Farmhouses. A windmill. A barn, far down below them.

  "Look!" Moss whispered.

  Color came into the sky. The Sun was approaching. Birds began to sing.Not far from where they stood, the leaves of a tree danced in the wind.

  Franks turned to the row of leadys behind them.

  "Eight years. We were tricked. There was no war. As soon as we left thesurface--"

  "Yes," an A-class leady admitted. "As soon as you left, the