Roger Zelazny - To Die In Italbar

"What about lowering ourselves through the hole?"

"It collapsed there once. It's weak. We'll go the safe way."

She nodded, donned her own gloves and joined him.

By nightfall, they had cleared the surrounding area and, he estimated, about two thirds of the stairwell.

"Sit on the top step and hold the light for me," he ordered; and he worked for another two hours.

"You must be getting tired," she said.

"A bit. But I've only a few more feet to go."

He passed her with a melon-sized stone in his arms.

_There is somebody else on this plateau with us_, said Shind.

_Where?_ asked Malacar, dropping the stone onto a heap.

_I cannot say for certain. It seems to be to the northeast of here. It is a general sense of presence that I have. Nothing specific_.

_Could it be some animal?_ asked Jackara.

_This is an intelligence of a higher sort_.

_Try to read it_.

_I am trying, but it is too distant_.

_Well, keep on with it and let us know when you succeed_.

Malacar moved near to Jackara.

"Turn off the light," he said.

She did, and he unslung his weapon and held it in one hand.

"Let's wait here awhile," he said, seating himself beside her.

_There is only one_, said Shind.

_Could it be the same one who passed us in the jumpbuggy this afternoon?_ asked Jackara.

_I cannot tell_.

"The jump-buggy could have returned at a low altitude," she said, "and landed in one of the canyons near here."

_Is it moving in this direction?_ he asked.

_It seems to be stationary_.

They waited.

After a quarter of an hour, Shind said, _It still has not moved. It may have made camp_.

"What are we going to do, Malacar?"

"I am deciding whether I should go have a look, or try to break through here tonight."

"He has no way of knowing where we are. If it is the jumpbuggy man, we are nowhere near the place we were when it passed. Why go looking for trouble?"

"I'm curious."

"Shind can tell you if he moves. If I go farther down the stairway, the light will not be visible above the ground. We could probably be inside in an hour or so. If we locate what you are looking for, we can move out tonight and let him camp here as long as he wants."

"You are right, of course--tactically."

He rose.

"Careful on those steps."

_Shind, tell us immediately if he moves. Have you any idea how far away he is?_

_I would judge about two miles. If I were to advance a few hundred yards, I might be able to obtain stronger impressions_.

_Go ahead_.

Malacar stood ten feet beneath the ground and Jackara was to his left and above him. He reslung his subgun and renewed his assault on the rubble. Perhaps ten minutes passed before a gap appeared near the top of the archway.

_Commander, I am still advancing. The impressions are stronger. It is a masculine mind. It seems to be about the business of bedding down for the night_.

_Good. Continue to monitor_.

He enlarged the opening he had made. He cast the stones beside him on the stair. Jackara leaned her back against the wall, holding the light in her left hand. Her right hand rested upon the butt of her pistol.

"Pretty soon," said Malacar, drawing three large stones from the heap before him. Smaller ones rattled to the ground as he did so.

He twisted aside a metal strut which had bent downward. Taking a step back, he drove his heavy right boot forward into the top of the heap. Stones rattled to the floor inside, and dust rose about them. Jackara coughed and the light wavered.

"Sorry," he said. "I wanted to get the small stuff out of the way in a hurry. We should be able to get in in a few more minutes."

She nodded and the light nodded with her. Malacar tore into the heap.

_Commander!_

_What?_

_I made contact with his mind, to probe it. He went away_.

_What do you mean, he went away?_

_I can no longer read anything, even the fact of his existence. He detected my presence when I made the attempt. Now he is shielding. He is a tele path himself--a skillful one. What should I do?_

_Come back. We are about to go in. --Of what race is this creature?_

_Your own, I think_.

_Humans aren't telepaths_.

_There are some, you know. It seemed like the mind of a man_.

Malacar moved more masonry and twisted another strut out of the way.

"Our visitor is a telepath," he said. "He has blocked Shind. Shind is on her way back now. --There. I think we can get through that opening."

"Do you think we should? It might find us here."

"'It' is apparently a human being," he said. "If he can read us anywhere, he can find us anywhere--back in camp, say. We might as well continue."

He leaned forward and crawled across the heap, passing beneath the archway and into the foyer. He regained his footing and stood.

"Come on in," he said.

He directed the beam ahead of her and she followed. She took his hand and came to her feet in the small room.

"This way."

They moved into the pentagonal chamber, and small things rushed away from his light and vanished into the shadows. He flicked the light beam about the room. There were overturned pews, dusty pews, pews which had sagged and broken. He turned to the altar--a green stone containing many fracture lines. Then he stared at the rows of glassite plates which surrounded them, depicting the Pei'an deities. There were hundreds of them upon the walls, some shattered, some hanging loosely. A few had fallen to the floor. Turning, he raked his light across them all.

"Pretty well preserved," he said. "How old is this place supposed to be?"

"Nobody knows for certain," she told him. "This city was here and in ruins when Deiba was discovered, about nine hundred Earth years ago."

_I am here_, said Shind, and a dark form entered through the passage they had cleared.

_Good. What more of our visitor?_

_Nothing. I am going to attempt to shield us from him while you search this place_.

_Capital_.

He began to scan the floors, moving among the remains of the pews. After an hour and a half, he had covered this area and located nothing. He moved to the altar and began sifting through the pieces of ceiling that lay about it.

"I think I've found something," he heard her say, from far ahead and to his left, where she was seeking along the walls with a small light of her own.

He went to her immediately.

"What is it?"

She pointed with her weak light toward a spot on the floor. He moved his own light to cover it.

A damp-looking notebook, covered with dust, lay at their feet.

Stooping, he touched it carefully. Then he lifted it and dusted its covers. It was a cheap, plasticovered tablet, bearing only its manufacturer's name. Removing his gloves and tucking them behind his belt, he opened it. The pages were damp, the lines blurred or blotted out entirely. One by one, he turned the leaves.

"Sketches," he said, "of this place. Nothing but sketches," as he closed the tablet.

"It means that _someone_ was here," she said. "Why throw away a book you've spent so much time drawing in? Maybe this is where H was stricken."

She drew back suddenly.

"Could we catch anything from that book?"

"Not after all these years."

He shone his light about the area.

"If he left that, he may have--"

He held the beam steady. Within its spot lay something that was partly metal. Rotted cloth hung in strips and patches and there was a small container beneath it.

"Some sort of carrying case," he said, bending forward and touching it lightly.

Then he froze, seeing through the dust to the markings on the case.

Carefully, he raised it and blew upon it. Then the old visions of chaos and death swam through his mind once more, for it bore the initials _HvH_.