Chapter 10
Blade could understand the words but still didn't know exactly what was happening. However, the cries, the laser fire, and the falling masonry said clearly enough that the people up on the surface were facing new danger.
Ruthlessly using feet and elbows, Blade got out of the tangle. He scrambled up the tunnel, more screams and laser fire echoing around him as he climbed. The smell of burning flesh grew stronger. As he hurled himself out of the mouth of the tunnel, the laser fire stopped and the metallic thuds came again.
As Blade stood up, he saw most of the people who'd been in the room vanishing up the stairs to the second floor. One lay on the floor, writhing silently, too horribly burned to be able to scream. Two others crouched in a corner, a man and a woman with their arms around each other. A moment later Blade heard an appalling crash. Cracks appeared in the wall to the right of the door to the street. Crash, crash, crash! A section of wall twice as high as a man disintegrated and came down in a pile of fragments and a cloud of dust. Through the hole Blade caught a glimpse of something moving-then a laser burned a yardwide gap in the stairs. At the same time the breeze outside swept away the veil of dust. At last Blade had a good look at the Oltec «giant.» He threw himself on the floor behind the largest piece of rubble he could find, as another laser blast deepened the crater in the stairs.
The giant was a humanoid robot at least twelve feet tall. Its slab-sided rectangular body was mounted on two massive legs with armored knee and ankle joints. Two equally massive arms with armored elbows and hands with four jointed fingers were tearing chunks out of the wall. In the middle of the chest glowed the laser tube.
The head was a grotesque parody of a World War II German helmet, with eyes, a mouth, and ears. The «eyes» were obviously some sort of scanner, although one was cracked and dark. The «mouth» was the black tubular muzzle of what looked like another weapon. The «ears» were sound receptors or possibly radio receivers; one of them had a long antenna trailing from it. The whole robot was a silvery brown-once this might have been a finish designed to reflect laser beams. Now it seemed tarnished and worn from many years of neglect and many battles.
The two Kaldakans in the corner now sprang up and made a dash for the stairs. The woman hesitated on the lip of the smoking gap in the stairs, giving the robot an easy shot at her. A laser beam cut her in two before she could scream. Her torso and head dropped into the crater, while her legs rolled back down the stairs.
The man howled like a wild animal. He leaped the crater safely, then turned and fired at the robot. It was a wild shot, hitting the robot in one knee and doing no harm. The robot lifted in one hand a chunk of wall the size of a man's head and flung it with horrible precision. The Kaldakan fell backward into the crater, his chest a crushed red mess.
Blade frowned. The war robot was obviously a creation of the Sky Masters, and therefore centuries old. It was still formidable enough to wipe out the whole Kaldakan expedition if it wasn't led away and destroyed. That was a job Blade knew he'd have to face single-handed. Some of the Kaldakans were fast and quick-witted, but none of them had the understanding of modern technology needed to give them the right reactions. The Law had suppressed their curiosity for too long.
Blade mentally damned the Law and looked at the robot again. The hole in the wall was now large enough to let it come into the room, but it seemed to be hesitating. Perhaps it was programmed not to walk on floors which might be unable to support its weight. The thing must weigh two or three tons!
However, it wasn't going to stand there making up its mind forever. Blade crawled to the mouth of the tunnel and called down, hoping the robot's «hearing» was impaired with age. «Kareena! Keep everyone down there until someone tells you it's safe. There's an Oltec war machine up here that's gone mad with age. I've got to lead it away from here, then destroy it.» He hoped she would understand what she had to do from this brief explanation.
He heard Kareena's muffled voice agreeing, then heard her cursing. After that came the scrabbling and rattle of someone climbing rapidly up the tunnel. A moment later Saorm popped out, pale and sweating but carrying two laser rifles and a bulky leather sack over one shoulder.
«What-?» began Blade, but Saorm only handed him a rifle, pointed at the bag, and whispered:
«Fire jewels. For the Oltec.»
Blade nodded. Extra power cells for the rifles would be useful, although he doubted if rifle fire would be enough for the robot. It had to be armored against much heavier weapons.
However, there could still be uses for the rifles. Blade took a fresh power cell, loaded it into his rifle, then aimed it at a far corner of the room and let fly. The cracked and shaken wall started to shed more fragments and dust. The robot's head slowly turned, and its own laser stabbed into the same corner. The corner erupted in dusty and flying debris, then the wall collapsed completely and took part of the floor above with it. The roar of collapsing masonry completely drowned out Blade's and Saorm's footsteps as they sprinted across the room and up the stairs. The fog of dust filling the room was thick enough to hide them completely.
Once around the bend in the stairs, the merchant leaned against the wall to catch his breath. «Thank you, Saorm,» said Blade. «You've done well. Now stay here while I-«
Saorm shook his head. «I am not going to leave your back bare or your Oltec dead.»
«You are no warrior, Saorm. Forgive me for sounding like Hota, but-«
«I am the father of Geyrna, who has caught the eye of a warrior who is my chief's son. Peython will judge the father's worth as well as the daughter's, when it comes time to choose a wife for his son.»
«You have already-«
«I have not done enough, Blade. And can you truly say that having a comrade will make no difference in this battle against the war Oltec?»
Blade couldn't. He would rather have had Sidas or Kareena at his side, of course. But they were trapped in the storeroom-possibly trapped for good if he didn't draw the robot off fairly soon. If Saorm was this determined, there was no point in wasting precious time by arguing.
Besides Sidas knew Gilmarg much better than he did. That could turn out to be important.
«All right,» said Blade, not trying to conceal his irritation. «But if you get tired or are wounded, I'll have to leave you behind. I'll come back for you if I live, but I can't wait for you.»
«That is the way of war, Blade. Even a merchant knows that much.»
Blade mentally threw up his hands in resignation and led the way up the stairs to where the other Kaldakans were hiding. Since he saw none of the natural leaders up here, he spoke to all of them. He had to choose his words carefully, to tell them what to do without revealing so much knowledge of Oltec that anyone would become suspicious of him.
«This is a machine of the Sky Masters, made for war. It has gone mad with age, so it must be destroyed. I have more of the knowledge needed to do this than anyone of Kaldak. It does not matter that I am outside the Law, for this machine is also outside the Law.
«So I will take the machine away from here and find a way to destroy it. When it is gone, go down to the room below and bring up the people in the tunnel. Help them also bring up all the fire jewels everyone can carry. Then leave the city at once. Do not try to save the munfans. That will draw the robot on to you like a great-hawk on to a lamb. You must save yourselves first.»
Blade saw a few faces still blank with surprise or fear. Most seemed to understand what he was proposing and didn't resent taking advice from a man outside the Law as long as he was the only one with some idea of what to do. He turned to Saorm.