Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction, page 197
“No. The war continues.” The leady’s voice was automatic and toneless. “We are a little short of fast pursuit craft, the single-seat type. We could use also some—”
“That has all been noted. What I want to ask you is this. Our contact with you has been through vidscreen only. We must rely on indirect evidence, since none of us goes above. We can only infer what is going on. We never see anything ourselves. We have to take it all secondhand. Some top leaders are beginning to think there’s too much room for error.”
“Error?” the leady asked. “In what way? Our reports are checked carefully before they’re sent down. We maintain constant contact with you; everything of value is reported. Any new weapons which the enemy is seen to employ—”
“I realize that,” Franks grunted behind his peep slot. “But perhaps we should see it all for ourselves. Is it possible that there might be a large enough radiation-free area for a human party to ascend to the surface? If a few of us were to come up in lead-lined suits, would we be able to survive long enough to observe conditions and watch things?”
The machine hesitated before answering. “I doubt it. You can check air samples, of course, and decide for yourselves. But in the eight years since you left, things have continually worsened. You cannot have any real idea of conditions up there. It has become difficult for any moving object to survive for long. There are many kinds of projectiles sensitive to movement. The new mine not only reacts to motion, but continues to pursue the object indefinitely, until it finally reaches it. And the radiation is everywhere.”
“I see.” Franks turned to Moss, his eyes narrowed oddly. “Well, that was what I wanted to know. You may go.”
The machine moved back toward its exit. It paused. “Each month the amount of lethal particles in the atmosphere increases. The tempo of the war is gradually—”
“I understand.” Franks rose. He held out his hand and Moss passed him the package. “One thing before you leave. I want you to examine a new type of metal shield material. I’ll pass you a sample with the tong.”
Franks put the package in the toothed grip and revolved the tong so that he held the other end. The package swung down to the leady, which took it. They watched it unwrap the package and take the metal plate in its hands. The leady turned the metal over and over.
Suddenly it became rigid.
“All right,” Franks said.
He put his shoulder against the wall and a section slid aside. Taylor gasped—Franks and Moss were hurrying up to the leady!
“Good God!” Taylor said. “But it’s radioactive!”
* * * *
The leady stood unmoving, still holding the metal. Soldiers appeared in the chamber. They surrounded the leady and ran a counter across it carefully.
“Okay, sir,” one of them said to Franks. “It’s as cold as a long winter evening.”
“Good. I was sure, but I didn’t want to take any chances.”
“You see,” Moss said to Taylor, “this leady isn’t hot at all. Yet it came directly from the surface, without even being bathed.”
“But what does it mean?” Taylor asked blankly.
“It may be an accident,” Franks said. “There’s always the possibility that a given object might escape being exposed above. But this is the second time it’s happened that we know of. There may be others.”
“The second time?”
“The previous interview was when we noticed it. The leady was not hot. It was cold, too, like this one.”
Moss took back the metal plate from the leady’s hands. He pressed the surface carefully and returned it to the stiff, unprotesting fingers.
“We shorted it out with this, so we could get close enough for a thorough check. It’ll come back on in a second now. We had better get behind the wall again.”
They walked back and the lead wall swung closed behind them. The soldiers left the chamber.
“Two periods from now,” Franks said softly, “an initial investigating party will be ready to go surface-side. We’re going up the Tube in suits, up to the top—the first human party to leave undersurface in eight years.”
“It may mean nothing,” Moss said, “but I doubt it. Something’s going on, something strange. The leady told us no life could exist above without being roasted. The story doesn’t fit.”
Taylor nodded. He stared through the peep slot at the immobile metal figure. Already the leady was beginning to stir. It was bent in several places, dented and twisted, and its finish was blackened and charred. It was a leady that had been up there a long time; it had seen war and destruction, ruin so vast that no human being could imagine the extent. It had crawled and slunk in a world of radiation and death, a world where no life could exist.
And Taylor had touched it!
“You’re going with us,” Franks said suddenly. “I want you along. I think the three of us will go.”
* * * *
Mary faced him with a sick and frightened expression. “I know it. You’re going to the surface. Aren’t you?”
She followed him into the kitchen. Taylor sat down, looking away from her.
“It’s a classified project,” he evaded. “I can’t tell you anything about it.”
“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 a long, long time. It was an old look.”
She came toward him. “But how can they send you to the surface?” She took his face in her shaking hands, making him look at her. There was a strange hunger in her eyes. “Nobody can live up there. Look, look at this!”
She grabbed up a newspaper and held it in front of him.
“Look at this photograph. America, Europe, Asia, Africa—nothing but ruins. 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 up there, not even a weed, or grass. They’ve wrecked the surface, haven’t they? Haven’t they?”
Taylor stood up. “It’s an order. I know nothing about it. I was told to report to join a scout party. That’s all I know.”
He stood for a long time, staring ahead. Slowly, he reached for the newspaper 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’t seen 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 next Sleep Period. Let’s turn in.”
Mary turned away, her face hard and harsh. “Do what you want. We might just as well all go up and get killed at once, instead of dying slowly down here, like vermin in the ground.”
He had not realized how resentful she was. Were they all like that? How about 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 come back.” She turned away. “I’ll never see you again, once you go up there.”
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, shouting outside the building.
“Special news bulletin! Surface forces report enormous Soviet attack with new weapons! Retreat of key groups! All work units report to factories at once!”
Taylor blinked, rubbing his eyes. He jumped out of bed and hurried to the vidphone. A moment later he was put through to Moss.
“Listen,” he said. “What about this new attack? Is the project off?” He could 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 stairs into the Synthetics Building. The corridors were full of men and women rushing in every direction. He entered Moss’s office.
“There you are,” Moss said, getting up immediately. “Franks is waiting for us at the outgoing station.”
They went in a Security Car, the siren screaming. Workers scattered out of 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 moment later they were moving up at high speed toward the first stage.
They emerged into a bewildering scene of activity. Soldiers were fastening on lead suits, talking excitedly to each other, shouting back and forth. Guns were being given out, instructions passed.
Taylor studied one of the soldiers. He was armed with the dreaded Bender pistol, the new snub-nosed hand weapon that was just beginning to come from 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 going up first, alone. The soldiers will follow in fifteen minutes.”
“What are we going to tell the leadys?” Taylor worriedly asked. “We’ll have 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 to witness 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-grav beams from below. Taylor glanced down from time to time. It was a long way back, and getting longer each moment. He sweated nervously inside his suit, gripping his Bender pistol with inexpert fingers.
Why had they chosen him? Chance, pure chance. Moss had asked him to come along as a Department member. Then Franks had picked him out on the spur of the moment. And now they were rushing toward the surface, faster and faster.
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 the first stage, up the Tube past the lead and rock, up to the surface. The phobic 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 sleet coming down, the rolling clouds—
“It won’t be much longer,” Franks said. “We’re almost there. The surface tower 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, his eyes shut. Up and up.…
The car stopped. He opened his eyes.
They were in a vast room, fluorescent-lit, a cavern filled with equipment and machinery, endless mounds of material piled in row after row. Among the stacks, leadys were working silently, pushing trucks and handcarts.
“Leadys,” Moss said. His face was pale. “Then we’re really on the surface.”
The leadys were going back and forth with equipment moving the vast stores of guns and spare parts, ammunition and supplies that had been brought to the surface. And this was the receiving station for only one Tube; there were many others, scattered throughout the continent.
Taylor looked nervously around him. They were really there, above ground, 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. It coasted up in front of them and stopped, scanning them with its hand-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 across the 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 toward them. Each had a green stripe across its front.
“From the Surface Council,” Franks whispered tensely. “This is above ground, all right. Get set.”
The two leadys approached warily. Without speaking, they stopped close by 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. “You know you can’t live up here. The whole surface is lethal to you. You can’t possibly remain on the surface.”
“These suits will protect us,” Franks said. “In any case, it’s not your responsibility. What I want is an immediate Council meeting so I can acquaint myself with conditions, with the situation here. Can that be arranged?”
“You human beings can’t survive up here. And the new Soviet attack is directed at this area. It is in considerable danger.”
“We know that. Please assemble the Council.” Franks looked around him at the vast room, lit by recessed lamps in the ceiling. An uncertain quality came into his voice. “Is it night or day right now?”
“Night,” one of the A-class leadys said, after a pause. “Dawn is coming in about two hours.”
Franks nodded. “We’ll remain at least two hours, then. As a concession to our sentimentality, would you please show us some place where we can observe 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 the photographs; you know what you’ll witness. Clouds of drifting particles blot out the light, slag heaps are everywhere, the whole land is destroyed. For you it will be a staggering sight, much worse than pictures and film can convey.”
“However it may be, we’ll stay long enough to see it. Will you give the order to the Council?”
* * * *
“Come this way.” Reluctantly, the two leadys coasted toward the wall of the warehouse. The three men trudged after them, their heavy shoes ringing against the concrete. At the wall, the two leadys paused.
“This is the entrance to the Council Chamber. There are windows in the Chamber Room, but it is still dark outside, of course. You’ll see nothing right now, but in two hours—”
“Open the door,” Franks said.
The door slid back. They went slowly inside. The room was small, a neat room with a round table in the center, chairs ringing it. The three of them sat down silently, and the two leadys followed after them, taking their places.
“The other Council Members are on their way. They have already been notified and are coming as quickly as they can. Again I urge you to go back down.” The leady surveyed the three human beings. “There is no way you 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 what you tell us, but allow me to point out that if you remain here—”
“We know,” Franks said impatiently. “However, we intend to remain, at least 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. We have discussed this, and it seems to us that you are doing the wrong thing for your own good.”
“We are human beings,” Franks said sharply. “Don’t you understand? We’re men, not machines.”
“That is precisely why you must go back. This room is radioactive; all surface areas are. We calculate that your suits will not protect you for over fifty more minutes. Therefore—”
The leadys moved abruptly toward the men, wheeling in a circle, forming a solid row. The men stood up, Taylor reaching awkwardly for his weapon, his fingers numb and stupid. The men stood facing the silent metal figures.
“We must insist,” the leader said, its voice without emotion. “We must take 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 go back.”
* * * *
He moved toward the door, motioning Taylor and Moss to follow him. They looked at him in surprise, but they came with him. The leadys followed them out into the great warehouse. Slowly they moved toward the Tube entrance, 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 the edge to receive it.
“I am sorry,” the leader said, “but it is for your protection. We are watching over you, literally. You must stay below and let us conduct the war. In a sense, it has come to be our war. We must fight it as we see fit.”
The car rose to the surface.
Twelve soldiers, armed with Bender pistols, stepped from it and surrounded the three men.
