New Writings in SF 9 - [Anthology] Read online

  I took the first watch. I sat in a dark corner near the door. The lights dimmed for the Night hours. Our fire cast a flickering glow on the wall opposite me. I didn’t have a lot of trouble keeping awake. The Aliens were too close ahead for easy sleep. Of course it took us longer to trail them than for them to go on. If they had been going at fullstretch they would be half a day ahead already. They were still going west. All day we had been seeing the marks of their passage. The disturbed dust where they rested, their excrement and sometimes, in the damp areas, the fresh cut white fungi where they had stopped to eat.

  We would come up on them slowly, by taking less and less rest. We would aim to catch them in about three days. We wouldn’t talk now, and in future would light no fires. With any luck they would think we had abandoned the Hunt. We would get them by surprise.

  Two hours later I woke Sim and he took over the watch. I took my two hours’ sleep and we moved on again. The Boy was lucky that night, he got four hours.

  A few hours later and we were in the Dark Areas. It took us three days to get through there. We had to be sure the Aliens weren’t lying up somewhere in the Darks, like they usually do. But they weren’t, not this time. The trail ran straight on, still going west. It was more dangerous in the Dark. The Boy went ahead with an asphalt torch. Sim and I followed in the shadows watching and waiting. We came to the end, out into the lights again much quicker than I expected, I know we weren’t the first to penetrate the Darks but we were the first since my father’s time.

  It was wonderful. The other side was just like our own. The walls were the same colour, the dimensions and lay-out identical. The stairs had the same number of steps. It was wonderful how the Order, the Logic goes on through the City. The City is eternal Logic, home, Uniformity; a safe place for man in the Chaos outside....

  Soon after we got into the Light the trail went up a Level. We went on to the next stairs and went up there instead. The Aliens had probably waited back along the track ready to take us as we laboured up the first stairs. Sure enough, when we backtracked, we found a disturbed area in the dust, scattered with fungus rinds, and reeking of Alien. They had been there quite a while waiting for us. We figured they were no more than an hour ahead of us now. . After we had rested we went after them, very cautiously and in total silence.

  We had a hold-up then. Suddenly, out of the walls it seemed, a party of armed men materialized. They were very small, on average smaller than the Boy. Very hairy too. They had guns, but they held them one-handed and fingered in their other hands wicked looking hatchets. Sim dropped on his belly and swung up his gun. The Boy was down there too. Mostly because I was still standing, the thought came that I was getting slow. I spread my legs, held up the Hunt Badge and shouted the formal Hunt Greeting.

  “Peace. All Men are Brothers. We hunt the Foul Alien!”

  The Dwarfs, I’m sure that’s what they were, but they called themselves men, were spreadeagled about the Corridor, their guns centred in on our little group. You couldn’t have got more than one with a shot. We faced each other, frozen. I repeated the Greeting. Sim saw how hopeless it was to fight and slowly stood up, leaving his gun on the floor. I carefully leaned mine against the wall.

  One of the men stepped forward. He lowered his gun and spoke. He had a soft deep voice.

  “All men are Brothers. We acknowledge the Hunt. Come and be welcome to us.” This was the formal reply to my Greeting. It could mean anything, almost. It might mean a fine feast or an armed escort to the other, side of their Levels. All we could be certain of was that they would not kill us—yet, and that we must not refuse what they offered.

  “Pick up your weapons, Hunt Men.” The first one spoke again. “Come to our Levels and we will rest and feed you.”

  “We Hunt Aliens. We are close behind them.” I picked up my gun. There was an involuntary rustle of movement among our new friends. I ostentatiously unset the firing wheels and blew out the primer charges. Sim and the Boy did the same. Our captors relaxed. They made show of slinging their guns but they still kept their hatchets ready in their right hands.

  “Your Aliens are gone on. Three hours.” He held up three fingers to make sure I got the point. “We have watched them from our Levels. A Hunt party pursues them.”

  I could figure that. Who wanted a bloody fight, with stranger’s slugs breaking your Algae tanks, killing your people, when you could settle it quietly outside your own Levels, with your own men? Much better keep the strangers in your own Chambers, feed and guard them while your own Hunters finished the Aliens.

  * * * *

  We got to know the Dwarf Men pretty well in the next few days. The first day was spent in one long feast. We had real meat. Dog it was. You don’t see much of that in our Area. Some of the food was green leaves. I wondered about that. It tasted very strong.

  The women came to us in the firelight. They had good willing women. Sim did really well. He had three that first night and two in the morning. The Boy was doing all right too. I made do with one at first. I had another later on. It wasn’t just that I was feeling tired, old, after the long Hunt. I wasn’t too sure of the way some of the young men were looking at us. No one likes to see strangers using their women. I edged over to the Elder, the one who had spoken to us first.

  “A good night, Elder.” I tried to keep my eyes off the young men over there, across the fire, the light glinting on the hatchets.

  “Warm.” The Elder grinned at me. “What’s wrong with the woman?” I’d left her lying there, her thighs spread white in the fire light. She looked a bit disgruntled. When I looked back to the Elder he was watching me out of the corners of his eyes. I saw the fire glint in them, under his bushy brows.

  “You going to refuse our Hospitality?” He nodded his head sideways at the girl. I couldn’t see if he was grinning or not. I wished I could.

  “I was wondering if it might not be healthier not to.” I indicated the young men over the fire.

  “No disease here.” He knew what I meant though. I caught Sim’s eye, he released his girl and felt about for his gun. The girl put her arms back round his neck and hung there, her face buried in his chest. He waited, watching over her shoulder, the long pale hair was plastered down her glistening back. The Boy was out, dead drunk across a couple of girls. I turned back to the Elder. He took a swig from his jug.

  “It’s not that,” I said, watching him closely.

  “I know. Don’t worry about them. I’m the Elder ... and they know it.” He grinned goatishly. “Go on man ... there’s no risk.”

  “You sure?”

  “I can handle it. They know it’s necessary. And the women are enjoying themselves ... not complaining ... are they?”

  “Necessary? What does ‘necessary’ mean Elder?”

  “O.K., Hunt man. You win.” He paused, took a pull from his jug and went on. “Have you noticed the children here?” I shook my head and waited. “We’re degenerating. We had six albinos born this year so far. You know, the ones with pink eyes. There are more idiots now, every year. There’s some who if they cut themselves take a week to stop bleeding. We’ve bred too close. My father had two children by his own sister. There wasn’t anyone else. That’s why we give you our women. We want your blood.”

  I believed him at once. Thinking back I could see the same trouble coming in our Clan. We needed fresh blood too. Perhaps we could get some women from the Camerons. I realized with a sudden shock that young Pete, the Boy’s sister, was my cousin.

  “We don’t like it, especially the young men.” The Elder was quite sober now. “But we understand we must.”

  I nodded to Sim and we got back to our women.

  Later we all went to sleep on the spread rugs. I watched the fire die down. Except for the odd sigh, a stirring in the darkness, there was silence.

  Much later we woke. The fire was a pile of black curled plastic. I had a bad head from the wood alcohol. No one moved for a bit. The women stretched their naked limbs, they pulled their
rags to themselves. Now the lights were on you could see their pure white skins. The young men, silent at first, stirred themselves and re-kindled the fire. They brought food and more of the drink. Fresh women came in. The Boy hadn’t moved yet. Pretty soon we were off again. Drinking, eating and making love. The lights dimmed again soon after that.

  The second night was even better than the first, if a little slower. When the sleep came again I kept awake. I lay still until there was silence, except for the breathing. I moved gently over to the Elder. I woke him and whispered close in his ear.

  “Time to go. We’ll be off now ... we’ll go quietly while your men are asleep.” The young men were getting restless. The hangover was not improving their tempers. The Elder was a bit unwilling at first, but he saw what I meant in the end. He said he would guide us out.

  I woke Sim and the Boy. It took a bit of time to find the Boy’s gun. I had mine tied to my waist, the Boy would know better next time. We crept out over the tumbled bodies. I hoped we were not too far from the Aliens.

  The Elder guided us out past the Perimeter guards. We went on to the west. When we were a few yards clear of the last guard the Elder whispered a few words to me in the darkness.

  “The Aliens camped a few hours on from here. We watched them. All the time you were on our Levels. They moved on an hour or two ago.”

  “You watched them?” I was horrified. Watching Aliens! I didn’t see how you could do a thing like that. I mean ... watching Aliens.

  “Don’t think we enjoyed it. We don’t have the men to fight Aliens...not now.”

  I grunted, I suddenly didn’t like these people any more. Sure they would miss even one man bad. But just sitting there, watching Aliens!

  “Sure . . . sure, Hunt Man ... I know how you feel... I feel it too. Anyway ... you’ll get them, Hunter man, you’ll get them....”

  I said: “Come on, Sim.” We moved off down the Corridor. We didn’t look back.

  We went on in silence. We soon picked up the Aliens’ trail. Sim reckoned they were about four hours on. From the careless trail we knew they were confident that we had abandoned the Hunt. They were still going west. We would move with care and silence to take them in about three days. We were far out now, no one had been this far west.

  About the end of the second day after leaving the Dwarfs I began to feel a bit ill at ease. Something was not quite right. It was a bit like being in the Big Chamber where you can’t see the ceiling. There was something wrong. I tried to figure out what it was. After a bit I paused for Sim to catch up and signalled the Boy to stop. When Sim was close he slowly shook his head, he watched me from under his brows. After a bit he spoke, very softly, the way you do in the Corridors.

  “There’s something,” he said. “Something’s wrong, Leader man....”

  We hunkered down in the dust and sat silent, trying to figure out what it was that was out. In the end it was Sim that spotted it. He jerked his thumb up the Corridor.

  “Look at the floor edges.”

  I looked and after a while I saw what it was. The edges should run in perfect perspective to the Corridor end. These didn’t. Very slightly they moved to the south and up. One side ended slightly higher. The Corridor was warped, twisted. I looked back the way we had come; the Corridor ran as straight as an arrow, the way it should.

  After a while it seemed safe enough. So we moved on.

  When we got to the Corridor end, to the corner, we stopped again. The next Corridor was even more bent and twisted. As we moved up it I actually had the sensation of walking up hill. Sim didn’t like it too much. I’d never seen him so worried. I don’t blame him ... I was pretty worried myself. The Place wasn’t natural ..,. you’ve no idea. At the end of the Corridor the cracks began.

  The next Corridor was actually broken. It went down at first, quite steeply. About half a mile down there was a crumpled sort of gap and then the rest of the Corridor went up. It was twisted more, too, we were soon leaning on the wall as we pushed on. I wondered how soon we’d be walking on it.

  When we got to the break Sim grounded his gun and halted. He was silent for a while, then he looked away.

  “It’s far enough. I don’t like this Place. I think we should go back.” He spoke very softly, I could hardly believe my ears.

  “What about the Aliens, Sim? Remember who’s in charge here.... We should go on. We must get them.” Whatever the risk and cost we had to get those Aliens. We must never let them get away with coming up to our Levels; if they ever thought they could do that, then it was all over, we were as good as lost.

  “Damn this place...” Sim, old brave Sim, was in a bad way. I realized suddenly that he was fighting to control himself; he was on the verge of breaking down. As he spoke his voice trembled. “This Place ... it’s not right.... It’s Alien. All the Order—the Structure’s gone. It’s Limbo ... Chaos. Let’s get out... please let’s get out! It’s dirty.”

  “But, Sim, we must get them—we have to go on and get them.” I was pretty shaken myself by now, what with this twisted, perverted Place and old Sim’s breakdown. But we had to go on. Sim didn’t say a thing. He turned his head away, I thought I heard him sob. I turned to the Boy. He was watching us wide-eyed. I could see his knuckles white round the stock of his gun. He was as far gone as Sim.

  “Boy,” I said, “you go back with Mr. Sim. Wait for me a day or so back, this side of the Dwarf Men. If I’m not back in a week go on home if you like ... you can tell them what happened—if you want to.” By rights I should have killed them both. But I couldn’t do that, not to old Sim. He was crying. I could see the wet on his cheeks. They turned and went back down the Corridor.

  I went on. I was the Leader. I couldn’t go back, not yet. Someone had to get those filthy Aliens.

  * * * *

  Large sections of ceiling were down. The floor was splintered too. Later the walls were blackened, like with a fire, but all over; the plastic was bubbled and cracked.

  The Place got worse and worse. A few hours later I came to a point where the roof came down until it nearly reached the floor. I struggled through the gap and found myself sitting in a few inches of very cold water. I was in a very big Great Chamber indeed. There were no lights to speak of. Far over across the water I could see a few glinting over the oily surface. I started to splash towards them. After about ten paces the water was up to my waist. I’d never met water more than ankle deep before, except in my trough at the forge, so I turned back and set out round the edge of the lake. If it hadn’t been for the lights over there— and if I could have found where I came in, I think I would have gone home then.

  As I went on round the shore my eyes got a bit better in the dark. I began to see the sort of place I was in. The Roof was far off, very high. There were only one or two lights in it and they were dimming as the night came on. The lake itself must have been a couple of miles across. The roof got lower farther on, all the way it sloped down in a great sagging arc. About a mile ahead I came to a point where it was within a few feet of the water. I crouched and stepped in and on. I got ten paces before I looked up and saw the Stars.

  The roof ended suddenly, jagged. The water went on. Far away I could hear a whisper of falling water. Above were the Stars. I hadn’t seen them for twenty years, then only once. I’d remembered them as beautiful, but they weren’t, they were terrible. Awful—millions of them—and so far ... all that volume. Empty ... the absence of a ceiling. Infinity above you is a terrible thing. You feel so naked ... unprotected ... small. Over across the calm dark water I could see the black mass of the City reaching on and up, looming up into the sky. The lights ran in stratified layers into the distance on the left. Opposite me the Order broke down. The Levels were twisted and scattered. There were many fewer lights in that part. To the right the Chaos continued. It didn’t go as far, the broken Order ended and the Stars began again.

  I was afraid to go out in the Open just then. I searched about and found a broken Corridor. I found a well enclosed r
oom with the dimmed light still working and settled down to wait for day to come. I didn’t light a fire. I ate the last of the scorched rat meat the Dwarf Elder had given us. I still had some of the algae block, but not much now.

  I woke with a jerk in the blinding Sun Light. There was a crack about two inches wide in the roof. The Sun was getting in through there. It was hell for a few minutes. Then I found I was getting used to it. I had a headache all the time I was out of the City though, even though I kept in the shadows all I eould. Even now the City lights look dim to me, I’m sure that Sun outside spoiled my sight. I fixed up a sort of shade for my eyes and moved outside. I found a place out of the Sun and looked the Place over.

  The lake was even wider than I thought. It was brilliantly light now and blue. In the shallow parts I could make out the dim shapes of the flooded Corridors. A few yards out I could see the edge of what I took to be a flooded Great Chamber. It was the biggest I’d ever seen. The water was very deep and dark there. Dotted about it ragged masonry or plastic broke the surface. On the far shore the wall of the Great Chamber formed the edge of the lake. Farther to the right it dipped and the water overflowed it. That was where the noise of the falling water came from. Behind the fall a plume of white vapour pushed up into the Sky. Far beyond that again was the Green. I could see the misty luxuriance of the Forest stretching away for ever and ever, on and on until it met the Sky. To the west and behind me lay the bulk of the City. Broken here, it was a vast layered honeycomb of Corridor ends, more and more broken as they neared the Lake Place.