the first tests confirmed what craig had already presumed; that the explosion had been absolutely clean. what radiation existed had originated from molecules in the rock itself or in the vaporized snow.
there was no way of guessing at the type of blast; he only knew that mass had been transformed virtually one hundred per cent into energy in a very short period of time. no process craig knew even approached it.
he stared again at the tunnel mouths. he was sure now that something had come out of them, risen about seven hundred feet above the plateau and released the blast. he trembled with eagerness to get inside, danger or no.
he had turned impatiently to brulieres, when somewhere deep in the tunnels, shouting broke out. two pistol shots echoed hollowly. there was a clatter of running footsteps. craig found his right hand fumbling at his hip, and felt foolish. he hadn't carried a sidearm since korea.
lieutenant rabar burst through the tunnel, stumbling in the sunlight, his face contorted. he ran straight across the plateau and threw himself over the edge. dientes, who had jumped to his feet, was only a step behind him. craig, eyes fastened on the tunnel, realized vaguely that the two must have landed in deep snow, since there was no sound of their falling.
a glow appeared in the tunnel. craig fought the panic that seized him; stood his ground and was aware of brulieres beside him. the glow brightened.
its source came into sight—a ball of dazzling brilliance, oval and about the size of a man's torso. it emerged into sunlight and craig saw that it was solid. it looked like incandescent metal, but he somehow felt that it wasn't hot. it seemed to move at will and to hover without support.
it acted alive.
it moved a little way toward craig and brulieres, then stopped. a tentative rumble came from it, like the beginning of thunder. something like a tentacle lifted, clutching an object that resembled a flashlight. a blinding lance of heat shot from the object and struck the rock a few yards in front of the two men. a sound came from the rock like ice pressed upon a hot stove. smoke puffed upward. the beam lasted only an instant, but it left a long curved scar in the rock.
the thing rumbled again, and flashed so brightly craig threw an arm over his eyes, and heard his own voice cry out wordlessly. his legs tensed to run, but something about the behavior of the thing held him where he was. it seemed unsure of itself, and not really threatening.
when he looked up again, it was moving laterally and up the face of the wall. he saw the flashlight-like object on the ground where it had evidently been dropped.
the oval thing, no longer glowing, lifted fast toward the mountain top. he saw that it was metal, not rusted or corroded but dull with age, and he saw the two ragged holes near the middle of it. he strained his eyes for more detail but it grew tiny in the distance and he saw no joints and no protuberances other than the one tentacle. he lost it in the shadows of the mountain's brow, then saw it flash momentarily in the sun as it curved up and over.
after a moment he turned dazedly toward brulieres. but before he could say anything there was a sun-dimming flash of light from beyond the mountain. the ground danced. sound, echoing from the other peaks and battering its way through the solid rock of the mountain, beat about them like monstrous punishing wings.
as the vast thunder dwindled away, craig, squinting, saw a tenuous, rapidly dimming mushroom cloud tower above the peak. he flinched, but knew that this would be another clean explosion. most of the cloud was steam. he was sure they were seeing a re-enactment of the blast which had cleared this plateau.
his mind worked in simple patterns: the thing was destroyed; it had dropped its weapon.
he started toward the tunnel mouth, but he had hesitated too long. brulieres, moving very agilely, was ahead of him.
the priest picked up the weapon and turned toward craig. craig, still befuddled, wondered mildly at his own detached state of mind: is he going to kill me; i'd love to get that weapon home to the labs; so that's how he keeps warm. (the latter in reference to the heavy underwear he'd glimpsed beneath the priest's cassock as the padre bent over).
but brulieres' voice was mild. "please forgive me for taking possession of this, doctor. later, i hope, you will be able to examine it; but i must think first of my own responsibilities." he looked at the thing briefly, started to stow it in some fold of his gown, then hesitated. as if unable to resist the temptation, he aimed it at the rock wall and put his thumb on something.
the incandescence squirted out. the rock cried out and yielded up a curl of smoke. brulieres turned the thing off at once and turned back to craig with an expression half guilty, half delighted, like a child with a forbidden toy. then he sighed and put the weapon away.
craig had observed what details he could. the thing was an inch or a little more in diameter, perhaps ten inches long. all except one tip was dull and apparently knurled to give a good grip. the tip looked like quartz or some crystal, translucent except the end, which was darkly transparent when not emitting the beam. the trigger was apparently a spot of different color on the body, over which the thumb could be pressed.
craig thought of the energy stored in that slender cylinder, the necessary insulation, the efficiency of whatever system was used to direct and control the beam. he felt a chill shiver of awe. then another thought struck him and he looked wide-eyed at brulieres. "a flaming sword!"
brulieres gave him a quick glance, and nodded. "primitives might describe it so."
rabar climbed back into sight at the edge of the plateau, looking pale. a moment later dientes poked his head into view.
"where is the general?" brulieres demanded.
"muerto," said rabar shakily, "in the tunnel. the creature killed him."
the priest's face twitched. "who shot at it?"
"the general, padre. he had the only gun."
brulieres sighed. "then that is why he is dead. the creature would not have harmed him."
craig had the same idea. it had used the weapon more as if in bluff, and had apparently carefully gone beyond the mountain to die. he wondered if the two bullet-holes had killed it.
but how many more of the creatures (or machines) waited in the tunnels?
he looked at brulieres. "are we going in?"
"by all means. unless we are stopped." the priest looked thoughtful. "they may be coming out of hibernation or something like it. can you tell how old this plateau is?"
"not without taking samples to a geological laboratory. perhaps not even then, with accuracy. but i would say, some thousands of years."
rabar was not happy at re-entering the tunnel, but set his jaw and came. craig stood aside to let the lieutenant go ahead of him. rabar hesitated, then stepped by. dientes, crossing himself and muttering, evidently preferred coming along to being left alone outside. he followed craig.
brulieres swept his flashlight along the tunnel walls, revealing a turn ahead. they rounded it. after a little way it seemed to craig that the flashlight dimmed. then he realized that there was other light in the tunnel; the arched ceiling was aglow. it got brighter and brulieres turned off his flashlight.
"evidently," he said, "we are expected. have you noticed the air?"
craig had not, but he did now; it was warm and the pressure was higher than outside. "one moment," he said, puzzled. he went back to the mouth of the tunnel. as he stepped outside, he felt a gentle resistance as if some force were pushing him into the tunnel. he re-entered, and felt warmth radiating from the ceiling. he rejoined the others.
the floor of the tunnel sloped up gently for a while, then leveled, then turned downward. the walls were vertical and perfect, with a smooth glazed look. the ceiling curved from wall to wall in a perfect arc. there was room for two men to walk side by side by crowding. craig walked a little behind dientes.
soon he took off his oxygen mask and breathed normally. he would have liked to remove his jacket, but there were too many things in the pockets to spill out.
he had counted one hundred seven paces when the tunnel turned again. it was just beyond the turn that they found noriega's body.
the tunnel branched here; or at least, a narrower tunnel angled up and off from each side. these tunnels were dark, and, craig found, cold and with low air pressure. the same mild resistance guarded their mouths. the general lay sprawled loosely just inside the right-hand branch, his head and torso in shadow. he looked simply and peacefully dead.
"will you lend me a hand, lieutenant?" brulieres said. the two of them dragged noriega into the light.
craig could see no burns nor any other kind of wound except an abrasion on one cheek which might have resulted from a fall. he started to ask rabar exactly what had happened, but checked himself. better not appear suspicious.
he wondered what had happened to the general's pistol, and began to look around for it. but again brulieres was ahead of him. the priest was eighteen or twenty yards farther into the tunnel, picking up something. it was the pistol. it went into the cloak as the heat-weapon had.
craig was watching rabar and he thought the man looked disconcerted. craig thought, how's this for a theory: rabar killed noriega, took his pistol and started up the tunnel. maybe he just wanted to learn for himself what was in the mountain, or maybe he planned to murder the rest of the party and make it look like an accident. he met the glowing creature, panicked, put two bullets into it, then dropped the gun and ran.
craig wondered if the priest shared his doubts about rabar; but if he did, he didn't show it. the priest was already starting on.
craig lost count of his steps, but judged they'd gone over a quarter of a mile when the tunnel took a final right-angle turn and opened into a great high-domed chamber.
