The Crystal Crypt Page 4

"Good and firm-looking." Hewinked, grinning lewdly.

  Jan glanced at him in sullen resentment. The soldiers guffawed. "Allright," the leader said to Erick. "You people can pass."

  Erick took a small purse from his robes and gave the soldier a coin.Then the three of them went into the dark tunnel that was the entrance,passing through the wall of stone, into the City beyond.

  They were within the City!

  "Now," Erick whispered. "Hurry."

  Around them the City roared and cracked, the sound of a thousand ventsand machines, shaking the stones under their feet. Erick led Mara andJan into a corner, by a row of brick warehouses. People were everywhere,hurrying back and forth, shouting above the din, merchants, peddlers,soldiers, street women. Erick bent down and opened the case he carried.From the case he quickly took three small coils of fine metal, intricatemeshed wires and vanes worked together into a small cone. Jan took oneand Mara took one. Erick put the remaining cone into his robe andsnapped the case shut again.

  "Now remember, the coils must be buried in such a way that the line runsthrough the center of the City. We must trisect the main section, wherethe largest concentration of buildings is. Remember the maps! Watch thealleys and streets carefully. Talk to no one if you can help it. Each ofyou has enough Martian money to buy your way out of trouble. Watchespecially for cut-purses, and for heaven's sake, don't get lost."

  * * * * *

  Erick broke off. Two black-clad Leiters were coming along the inside ofthe wall, strolling together with their hands behind their backs. Theynoticed the three who stood in the corner by the warehouses and stopped.

  "Go," Erick muttered. "And be back here at sundown." He smiled grimly."Or never come back."

  Each went off a different way, walking quickly without looking back. TheLeiters watched them go. "The little bride was quite lovely," oneLeiter said. "Those hill people have the stamp of nobility in theirblood, from the old times."

  "A very lucky young peasant to possess her," the other said. They wenton. Erick looked after them, still smiling a little. Then he joined thesurging mass of people that milled eternally through the streets of theCity.

  At dusk they met outside the gate. The sun was soon to set, and the airhad turned thin and frigid. It cut through their clothing like knives.

  Mara huddled against Jan, trembling and rubbing her bare arms.

  "Well?" Erick said. "Did you both succeed?"

  Around them peasants and merchants were pouring from the entrance,leaving the City to return to their farms and villages, starting thelong trip back across the plain toward the hills beyond. None of themnoticed the shivering girl and the young man and the old priest standingby the wall.

  "Mine's in place," Jan said. "On the other side of the City, on theextreme edge. Buried by a well."

  "Mine's in the industrial section," Mara whispered, her teethchattering. "Jan, give me something to put over me! I'm freezing."

  "Good," Erick said. "Then the three coils should trisect dead center, ifthe models were correct." He looked up at the darkening sky. Already,stars were beginning to show. Two dots, the evening patrol, moved slowlytoward the horizon. "Let's hurry. It won't be long."

  They joined the line of Martians moving along the road, away from theCity. Behind them the City was losing itself in the sombre tones ofnight, its black spires disappearing into darkness.

  They walked silently with the country people until the flat ridge ofdead trees became visible on the horizon. Then they left the road andturned off, walking toward the trees.

  "Almost time!" Erick said. He increased his pace, looking back at Janand Mara impatiently.

  "Come on!"

  They hurried, making their way through the twilight, stumbling overrocks and dead branches, up the side of the ridge. At the top Erickhalted, standing with his hands on his hips, looking back.

  "See," he murmured. "The City. The last time we'll ever see it thisway."

  "Can I sit down?" Mara said. "My feet hurt me."

  Jan pulled at Erick's sleeve. "Hurry, Erick! Not much time left." Helaughed nervously. "If everything goes right we'll be able to look atit--forever."

  "But not like this," Erick murmured. He squatted down, snapping his caseopen. He took some tubes and wiring out and assembled them together onthe ground, at the peak of the ridge. A small pyramid of wire andplastic grew, shaped by his expert hands.

  At last he grunted, standing up. "All right."

  "Is it pointed directly at the City?" Mara asked anxiously, looking downat the pyramid.

  Erick nodded. "Yes, it's placed according--" He stopped, suddenlystiffening. "Get back! It's time! _Hurry!_"

  Jan ran, down the far side of the slope, away from the City, pullingMara with him. Erick came quickly after, still looking back at thedistant spires, almost lost in the night sky.

  "Down."

  Jan sprawled out, Mara beside him, her trembling body pressed againsthis. Erick settled down into the sand and dead branches, still trying tosee. "I want to see it," he murmured. "A miracle. I want to see--"

  A flash, a blinding burst of violet light, lit up the sky. Erick clappedhis hands over his eyes. The flash whitened, growing larger, expanding.Suddenly there was a roar, and a furious hot wind rushed past him,throwing him on his face in the sand. The hot dry wind licked and searedat them, crackling the bits of branches into flame. Mara and Jan shuttheir eyes, pressed tightly together.

  "God--" Erick muttered.

  The storm passed. They opened their eyes slowly. The sky was still alivewith fire, a drifting cloud of sparks that was beginning to dissipatewith the night wind. Erick stood up unsteadily, helping Jan and Mara totheir feet. The three of them stood, staring silently across the darkwaste, the black plain, none of them speaking.

  The City was gone.

  At last Erick turned away. "That part's done," he said. "Now the rest!Give me a hand, Jan. There'll be a thousand patrol ships around here ina minute."

  "I see one already," Mara said, pointing up. A spot winked in the sky, arapidly moving spot. "They're coming, Erick." There was a throb of chillfear in her voice.

  "I know." Erick and Jan squatted on the ground around the pyramid oftubes and plastic, pulling the pyramid apart. The pyramid was fused,fused together like molten glass. Erick tore the pieces away withtrembling fingers. From the remains of the pyramid he pulled somethingforth, something he held up high, trying to make it out in the darkness.Jan and Mara came close to see, both staring up intently, almost withoutbreathing.

  "There it is," Erick said. "There!"

  * * * * *

  In his hand was a globe, a small transparent globe of glass. Within theglass something moved, something minute and fragile, spires almost toosmall to be seen, microscopic, a complex web swimming within the hollowglass globe. A web of spires. A City.

  Erick put the globe into the case and snapped it shut. "Let's go," hesaid. They began to lope back through the trees, back the way they hadcome before. "We'll change in the car," he said as they ran. "I think weshould keep these clothes on until we're actually inside the car. Westill might encounter someone."

  "I'll be glad to get my own clothing on again," Jan said. "I feel funnyin these little pants."

  "How do you think I feel?" Mara gasped. "I'm freezing in this, whatthere is of it."

  "All young Martian brides dress that way," Erick said. He clutched thecase tightly as they ran. "I think it looks fine."

  "Thank you," Mara said, "but it is cold."

  "What do you suppose they'll think?" Jan asked. "They'll assume the Citywas destroyed, won't they? That's certain."

  "Yes," Erick said. "They'll be sure it was blown up. We can count onthat. And it will be damn important to us that they think so!"

  "The car should be around here, someplace," Mara said, slowing down.

  "No. Farther on," Erick said. "Past that little hill over there. In theravine, by the trees. It's so hard to see where we are."
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  "Shall I light something?" Jan said.

  "No. There may be patrols around who--"

  He halted abruptly. Jan and Mara stopped beside him. "What--" Marabegan.

  A light glimmered. Something stirred in the darkness. There was a sound.

  "Quick!" Erick rasped. He dropped, throwing the case far away from him,into the bushes. He straightened up tensely.

  A figure loomed up, moving through the darkness, and behind it came morefigures, men, soldiers in