A Maze Of Death Part 14

"Dead," Dr. Babble said.

Maggie Walsh said, "And Bert Kosler?"

Neither Babble nor Belsnor answered.

"Then he's dead, too," Russell said.

"That's right." Belsnor nodded. "There're eight of us left. Roberta Rockingham-she's gone. So possibly she's dead, too. I think we'll have to a.s.sume she is."

"Didn't you stay together?" Russell said.

"Did you?" Glen Belsnor answered.

Again there was silence. Somewhere, far off, a warm wind blew dust and infirm lichens about; a swirl lifted above the main buildings of the settlement and then writhed off and gone. The air, as Glen Belsnor sucked it in noisily, smelled bad. As if, he thought, the skins of dead dogs are drying somewhere on a line.

Death, he thought. That's all I can think of now. And it's easy to see why. Death for us has blotted everything else out; it has become, in less than twenty-four hours, the mainstay of our life.

"You couldn't bring her body back?" he said to them.

"It drifted downstream," Seth Morley said. "And it was on fire." He came up beside Belsnor and said. "How did Bert Kosler die?"

"Tony stabbed him."

"What about Tony?"

Glen Belsnor said, "I shot him. Before he could kill me." "What about Roberta Rockingham? Did you shoot her, too?" "No," Belsnor said shortly.

"I think," Frazer said, "we're going to have to pick a new leader."

Belsnor said woodenly. "I had to shoot him. He would have killed all the rest of us. Ask Babble, he'll back me up."

"I can't back you up," Babble said. "I have nothing more to go on than they do. I have only your oral statement."

Seth Morley said. "What was Tony using as a weapon?"

"A sword," Belsnor said. "You can see that; it's still there with him in his room."

"Where did you get the gun you shot him with?" Russell said.

"I had it," Belsnor said. He felt sick and weak. "I did what I could," he said. "I did what I had to."

"So 'they' aren't responsible for all the deaths," Seth Morley said. "You are responsible for Tony Dunkelwold's death and he's responsible for Bert's."

"Dunkelwelt," Belsnor corrected, aimlessly.

"And we don't know if Mrs. Rockingham is dead; she may just have roamed off. Possibly out of fear."

"She couldn't," Belsnor said. "She was too ill."

"I think," Seth Morley said, "that Frazer is right. We need a different leader." To Babble he said, "Where's his gun?"

"He left it in Tony's room," Babble said.

Belsnor slid away from them, in the direction of Tony Dunkelwelt's living quarters.

"Stop him," Babble said.

Ignatz Thugg, Wade Frazer, Seth Morley and Babble hurried past Belsnor; in a group they trotted up the steps and onto the porch and then into Tony's quarters. Russell stood aloof; he remained with Belsnor and Maggie Walsh.

Coming out of Tony's doorway, Seth Morley held the gun in his hand and said, "Russell, don't you think we're doing the right thing?"

"Give him back his gun," Russell said.

Surprised, Seth Morley halted. But he did not bring the gun over to Belsnor. "Thanks," Belsnor said to Russell. "I can use the support." To Morley and the others he said, "Give me the gun, as Russell says. It isn't loaded anyhow; I took the sh.e.l.ls out." He held out his hand and waited.

Coming back down the steps from the porch, and still carrying the gun, Seth Morley said with grave reservations, "You killed someone."

"He had to," Russell said.

"I'm keeping the gun," Seth Morley said.

"My husband is going to be your leader," Mary Morley said. "I think it's a very good idea; I think you'll find him excellent. At Tekel Upharsin he held a position of large authority."

"Why don't you join them?" Belsnor said to Russell. "Because I know what happened. I know what you had to do. If I can manage to talk to them maybe I can-" He broke off. Belsnor turned toward the group of men to see what was happening.

Ignatz Thugg held the gun. He had grabbed it away from Morley; now he held it pointed at Belsnor, a seedy, twisted grin on his face.

"Give it back," Seth Morley said to him; all of them were shouting at Thugg, but he stood unmoved, still pointing the gun at Belsnor.

"I'm your leader, now," Thugg said. "With or without a vote. You can vote me in if you want, but it doesn't matter." To the three men around him he said, "You go over there where they are. Don't get too close to me. You understand?"

"It's not loaded," Belsnor repeated.

Seth Morley looked crushed, his face had a pale, dry cast to it, as if he knew-obviously he knew-that he had been responsible for Thugg getting possession of the gun.

Maggie Walsh said, "I know what to do." She reached into her pocket and brought out a copy of Specktowsky's Book.

In her mind she knew that she had found the way to get the gun away from Ignatz Thugg. Opening The Book at random she walked toward him, and as she walked she read aloud from The Book. "'Hence it can be said,'" she intoned, "'that G.o.d-in-history shows several phases: (one) The period of purity before the Form Destroyer was awakened into activity. (two) The period of the Curse, when the power of the Deity was weakest, the power of the Form Destroyer the greatest-this because G.o.d had not perceived the Form Destroyer and so was taken by surprise. (three) The birth of G.o.d-on-Earth, sign that the period of Absolute Curse and Estrangement from G.o.d had ended. (four) The period now-'" She had come almost up to him; he stood unmoving, still holding the gun. She continued to read the sacred text aloud. "'The period now, in which G.o.d walks the world, redeeming the suffering now, redeeming all life later through the figure of himself as the Intercessor who-' "

"Go back with them," Thugg told her. "Or I'll kill you."

"'Who, it is sure, is still alive, but not in this circle. (five) The next and last period-' "

A terrific bang bang boomed at her eardrums; deafened, she moved a step back and then she felt great pain in her chest; she felt her lungs die from the great, painful shock of it. The scene around her became dull, the light faded and she saw only darkness. Seth Morley, she tried to say, but no sound came out. And yet she heard noise; she heard something huge and far off, chugging violently into the darkness. boomed at her eardrums; deafened, she moved a step back and then she felt great pain in her chest; she felt her lungs die from the great, painful shock of it. The scene around her became dull, the light faded and she saw only darkness. Seth Morley, she tried to say, but no sound came out. And yet she heard noise; she heard something huge and far off, chugging violently into the darkness.

She was alone.

Thud, thud, came the noise. Now she saw iridescent color, mixed into a light which traveled like a liquid; it formed buzzsaws and pinwheels and crept upward on each side of her. Directly before her the huge Thing throbbed menacingly; she heard its imperative, angry voice summoning her upward. The urgency of its activity frightened her; it demanded, rather than asked. It was telling her something; she knew what it meant by its enormous pounding. Wham, wham, wham, it went and, terrified, filled with physical pain, she called to it. "Libera me, Domine," she said. "De morte aeterna, in die illa tremenda."

It throbbed on and on. And she glided helplessly toward it. Now, on the periphery of her vision, she saw a fantastic spectacle; she saw a great crossbow and on it the Intercessor. The string was pulled back; the Intercessor was placed on it like an arrow; and then, soundlessly, the Intercessor was shot upward, into the smallest of the concentric rings.

"Agnus Dei," she said, "qui tollis peccata mundi." She had to look away from the throbbing vortex; she looked down and back ... and saw, far below her, a vast frozen landscape of snow and boulders. A furious wind blew across it; as she watched, more snow piled up around the rocks. A new period of glaciation, she thought, and found that she had trouble thinking-let alone talking-in English "Lacrymosa dies illa," she said, gasping with pain; her entire chest seemed to have become a block of suffering. "Qua resurget ex favilla, judicandus h.o.m.o reus." It seemed to make the pain less, this need to express herself in Latin-a language which she had never studied and knew nothing about. "Huic ergo parce, Deus!" she said. "Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem." The throbbing continued on.

A chasm opened before her feet. She began to fall; below her the frozen landscape of the h.e.l.l-world grew closer. Again she cried out, "Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna!" But still she fell; she had almost reached the h.e.l.l-world, and nothing meant to lift her up.

Something with immense wings soared up, like a great, metallic dragonfly with spines jutting from its head. It pa.s.sed her, and a warm wind billowed after it. "Salve me, fons pietatis," she called to it; she recognized it and felt no surprise at seeing it. The Intercessor, fluttering up from the h.e.l.l-world, back to the fire of the smaller, inner rings.

Lights, in various colors, bloomed on all sides of her; she saw a red, smoky light burning close and, confused, turned toward it. But something made her pause. The wrong color The wrong color, she thought to herself. I should be looking for a clear, white light, the proper womb in which to be reborn. She drifted upward, carried by the warm wind of the Intercessor ... the smoky red light fell behind and in its place, to her right, she saw a powerful, unflickering, yellow light. As best she could she propelled herself toward that.

The pain in her chest seemed to have lessened; in fact her entire body felt vague. Thank you, she thought, for easing the discomfort; I appreciate that. I have seen it, she said to herself; I have seen the Intercessor and through it I have a chance of surviving. Lead me, she thought. Take me to the proper color of light. To the right new birth.

The clear, white light appeared. She yearned toward it, and something helped propel her. Are you angry at me? she thought, meaning the enormous presence that throbbed. She could still hear the throbbing, but it was no longer meant for her; it would throb on throughout eternity because it was beyond time, outside of time, never having been in time. And-there was no s.p.a.ce present, either; everything appeared two-dimensional and squeezed together, like robust but crude figures drawn by a child or by some primitive man. Bright colorful figures, but absolutely flat ... and touching.

"Mors stupebit et natura," she said aloud. "c.u.m resurget creatura, judicanti responsura." Again the throbbing lessened. It has forgiven me, she said to herself. It is letting the Intercessor carry me to the right light.

Toward the clear, white light she floated, still uttering from time to time pious Latin phrases. The pain in her chest had gone now entirely and she felt no weight; her body had ceased to consume both time and s.p.a.ce.

Wheee, she thought. This is marvelous.

Throb, throb, went the Central Presence, but no longer for her; it throbbed for others, now.

The Day of the Final Audit had come for her-had come and now had pa.s.sed. She had been judged and the judgment was favorable. She experienced utter, absolute joy. And continued, like a moth among novas, to flutter upward toward the proper light.

"I didn't mean to kill her," Ignatz Thugg said huskily. He stood gazing down at the body of Maggie Walsh. "I didn't know what she was going to do. I mean, she kept walking and walking; I thought she was after the gun." He jerked an accusing shoulder toward Glen Belsnor. "And he said it was empty."

Russell said, "She was going for the gun; you're right."

"Then I didn't do wrong," Thugg said.

No one spoke for a time.

"I'm not giving up the gun," Thugg said presently.

"That's right, Thugg," Babble said. "You keep hold of it. So we can see how many other innocent people you want to kill."

"I didn't want to kill her." Thugg pointed the gun at Dr. Babble. "I've never killed n.o.body before. Who wants the gun?" He looked around, wildly, at all of them. "I did exactly what Belsnor did, no more and no less. We're the same, him and me. So I'm sure as h.e.l.l not going to give him him the gun." Panting, his breath rasping in his windpipe, Thugg gripped the gun and stared huge-eyed around at all of them. the gun." Panting, his breath rasping in his windpipe, Thugg gripped the gun and stared huge-eyed around at all of them.

Belsnor walked over to Seth Morley. "We've got to get it away from him."

"I know," Seth Morley said. But he could think of no way to get it. If Thugg had killed simply because someone-and a woman at that-had approached him reading from The Book, then he would shoot any and all of them at the slightest pretext.

Thugg now was blatantly and floridly psychotic. It was obvious. He had wanted to kill Maggie Walsh, and Seth Morley realized something now that he hadn't understood before. Belsnor had killed but he had not wanted to. Thugg had killed for the pleasure of it. Belsnor had killed but he had not wanted to. Thugg had killed for the pleasure of it.

It made a difference. They were safe from Belsnor-unless they became homicidal themselves. In that case, Belsnor would of course shoot. But if they did nothing provocative- "Don't," his wife Mary said in his ear.

"We have to get the gun back," Seth Morley said. "And it's my fault he has it; I let him get it away from me." He held out his hand, held it in Ignatz Thugg's direction. "Give it to me," he said, and felt his body squinch up in fear; his body prepared itself for death.

12.

"He'll kill you," Russell said. He, too, walked toward Ignatz Thugg. Everyone else watched. "We need to have that gun," Russell said to Thugg. To Seth Morley he said, "Probably he can get only one of us. I know that gun; it can't be fired rapidly. He'll be able to get off one shot and that'll be it." He moved to the other side of Thugg, approaching at a wide angle. "All right, Thugg," he said, and held out his hand.

Thugg turned uncertainly toward him. Seth Morley moved rapidly forward, reaching.

"G.o.ddam you, Morley," Thugg said; the barrel of the gun swiveled back, but momentum carried Seth Morley forward. He collided with the skinny but muscular body of Ignatz Thugg-the man smelled of hair grease, urine and sweat.

"Get him now," Belsnor yelled; he, too, ran at Thugg, reaching to grapple with him.

Cursing, Thugg tore away from Seth Morley. His face blank with psychopathic neutrality, his eyes glittering with cold, his mouth tormented into a squirming line, he fired.

Mary Morley shrieked.

Reaching with his left arm, Seth Morley touched his right shoulder and felt blood oozing through the fabric of his s.h.i.+rt. The noise of the shot had paralyzed him; he sank to his knees, convulsed by the pain, realizing in a dim way that Thugg had shot him in the shoulder. I'm bleeding, he thought. Christ, he thought, I didn't get the gun from him. With effort he managed to open his eyes. He saw Thugg running; Thugg hurried away, pausing a time or two to fire. But he hit no one; they had all scattered, even Belsnor. "Help me," Seth Morley grated, and Belsnor and Russell and Dr. Babble sneaked their way to him, their attention fixed on Thugg.

At the far end of the compound, by the entrance to the briefing room, Thugg halted; gasping for breath he aimed the gun at Seth Morley and fired one more shot. It pa.s.sed Morley; it did not strike. Then with a shudder, Thugg turned away again and jogged off, leaving them.

"Frazer!" Babble exclaimed. "Help us get Morley into the infirmary! Come on; he's bleeding from a severed artery, I think."

Wade Frazer hurried over. He, Belsnor and Ned Russell lifted Seth up and began the task of carrying him to the doctor's infirmary.

"You're not going to croak," Belsnor gasped as they laid him onto the long metal-topped table. "He got Maggie but he didn't get you." Standing back from the table, Belsnor got out a handkerchief and, shaking as he did so, blew his nose. "That pistol should have stayed with me. Can you see that now?"

"Shut up and get out of here," Babble said, as he snapped on the sterilizer and rapidly placed surgical instruments in it. He then tied a tourniquet around Seth Morley's injured shoulder. The flow of blood continued; it had now formed a pool on the table beside Seth Morley. "I'll have to open him up, get the artery ends, and fuse them together," he said. He tossed the tourniquet away, then turned on the artificial blood-supply machinery. Using a small surgical tool to drill a hole in Seth Morley's side, he adroitly fastened the feeder-tube of the artificial blood-supply. "I can't stop him from bleeding," he said. "It'll take ten minutes to dig in, get the artery ends and fuse them. But he won't bleed to death." Opening the sterilizer, he got out a tray of steaming tools. Expertly, hastily, he began to cut away Seth Morley's clothing. A moment later and he had begun exploring the injured shoulder.

"We're going to have to keep a continual watch for Thugg," Russell said. "d.a.m.n it. I wish there were other weapons available. That one gun, and he's got it."

Babble said, "I have a tranquilizing gun." He got out a set of keys, tossed them to Belsnor. "That locked cabinet over there." He pointed. "The key with the diamond-shaped head."

Russell unlocked the cabinet and got out a long tube with a telescopic sighting device on it. "Well, well," he said. "These can be handy. But do you have any ammunition besides tranquilizers? I know the amount of tranquilizers these hold; it would stun him, maybe, but-"

"Do you want to finish him off?" Babble said, pausing in his investigation of Seth Morley's shoulder.

Presently Belsnor said, "Yes." Russell, too, nodded.

"I have other ammo for it," Babble said. "Ammo that will kill. As soon as I'm finished with Morley I'll get it."

Lying on the table, Seth Morley managed to make out the sight of Babble's tranquilizer gun. Will that protect us? he wondered. Or will Thugg make his way back here and kill all of us or possibly just kill me as I lie here helpless. "Belsnor," he gasped, "don't let Thugg come back here tonight and kill me."

"I'll stay here with you," Belsnor said; he gave him a thump with the edge of his hand. "And we'll be armed with this." He held Babble's tranquilizing gun, scrutinizing it. He seemed more confident, now. So did the others.

"Did you give Morley any Demerol?" Russell asked Dr. Babble.

"I don't have time," Babble said, and continued working.