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lucky that the building had been close.
Sara sat down upon the floor and laid her rifle in her lap.
"You all right?" I asked.
"Tired is all," she said. "I suppose there is no reason we can't camp right
here."
I looked around and saw that Tuck had gotten off his hobby, but Smith still
was sitting in the saddle, bolt upright, as straight as he could sit, with his
head held tall and rigid, twisted a little to one side, as if he were
listening. On his face he still wore that idiotic, terrifying happiness.
"Tuck," I said, "would you and George unload the hobbies. I'll look around for
wood."
We had a camp stove with us, but there was no sense in using up the fuel if we
could rustle wood. And there is, as well, something to be said in favor of a
campfire as a thing to sit around and talk.
"I can't get him down," said Tuck, almost weeping. "He won't listen to me. He
won't pay attention."
"What's the matter with him? Was he hit?"
"I don't think so, captain. I think he has arrived."
"You mean the voice..."
"Right here in this building," said Tuck. "At one time it might have been a
temple. It has a religious look to it."
From the outside, come to think of it, it had had a churchy look but you
couldn't get much idea of how it looked inside. By the door, with the sunlight
slanting from the west, there was plenty of light, but other than that the
interior was dark.
"We can't leave him sitting there all night," I said. "We've got to get him
down. You and I together can pull him from the saddle."
"Then what?" asked Tuck.
"What do you mean then what?"
"We take him down tonight. What do we do tomorrow?"
"Why, hell," I said, "that's simple. If he doesn't snap out of it, we boost
him in the saddle. Tie him on so he can't fall off."
"You mean you'd cart him off again when be finally had arrived? When he had
finally reached the place he's been yearning toward for a great part of his
life?"
"What are you trying to say?" I yelled. "That we should hunker down and squat
right here and never leave because this blubbering idiot. . ."
"I must remind you, captain," Tuck said, nastily, "that it was this blubbering
idiot who charted the way for us. If it had not been for him. . ."
"Gentlemen," said Sara, getting to her feet, "please lower your voices. I
don't know if you realize it, captain, but we may not be leaving here as soon
as you might think."
"Not leaving here," I said, between my teeth. "What is there to stop us?"
She gestured toward the doorway. "Our friend, the tree," she said, "has us
zeroed in. I've been watching. All the stuff he's throwing at us is landing on
the ramp. There aren't any misses. It would be worth your life to step outside
that door. Fast as they are moving and little as they are, those
seed-gathering animals are taking casualties,"
I saw that the ramp still seemed alive with the bouncing, dancing seeds and
here and there upon it lay tiny bodies, limp and motionless.
"The tree will get tired of it," I said. "It will run out of energy or out of
ammunition."
She shook her head. "I don't think so, captain. How tall would you say that
tree might be. Four miles? Five miles? With foliage from a few hundred feet
off the ground to its very top. The spread of the foliage at its widest point
close to a mile, perhaps. How many seed pods do you think a tree like that
might bear?"
I knew that she was right. She had it figured out. If the tree wanted to, it
could keep us pinned down for days.
"Dobbin," I said, "maybe you can tell us what is going on. Why is the tree
pegging pods at us?"
"Noble sir," said Dobbin, "nothing will I tell you. I go with you. I carry
your possessions. No further will I do. No information will we give and no
help. Most shabbily you have treated us and in my heart I cannot find the
reasons for doing further for you."
Hoot came ambling out of the dark interior of the building, his tentacles
waving, the eyes on the end of the two of them shining in the light.
"Mike," he hooted at me, "a curious feel this place has about it. Of old
mysteries. Of much time and strangeness. There be something here, a something
that falls minutely short of a someone being."
"So you think so, too," I said.
I had another look at Smith. He hadn't moved a muscle. He still sat bolt
upright in the saddle and his face still was frozen with that dreadful
happiness. The guy was no longer with us. He was a universe away.
"In many ways," said Hoot, "there is a comfort in it, but so strange a comfort
that one must quail in fear at the concept of it. I speak, you understand, as
an observer only. One such as I can take no part in such a comfort. Much
better comfort and refuge can I have if I so desire. But it be information I
impart most willingly if it be of service."
"Well," said Sara, "are you two going to get George down off that hobby or do
you plan to leave him there?'
"It looks to me," I said, "as if it makes no difference to him if he stays up
there or not, but let us get him down."
Tuck and I between us hauled him from the saddle and lugged him across the
floor and propped him up against the wall beside the door. He was limp and
unresisting and he made no sign to indicate that he was aware of what was
going on.
I went over to one of the hobbies and unlashed a pack. Rummaging in it, I
found a flashlight.
"Come on, Hoot," I said. "I'm going to scout around and see if I can find some
wood. There must be some old furniture or such."
Moving back into the building, I saw that it was not as dark as I had thought
at first. It was the contrast of the brightness of the sunlight pouring
through the door that had made it seem so dark. But neither was it light. An
eerie sort of twilight filled the place like smoke and we moved through it as
though we moved through fog. With Hoot pattering along beside me, we went
deeper into the interior of the building. There wasn't much to see. The walls
were blocked out by the twilight mist. Here and there objects loomed up
darkly. Far overhead a glint of light showed here and there, let in by some
chink or window. Off to our right flowed a tide of busy little ratlike
creatures harvesting the seeds. I shone the light on them and little red,
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