Rocket to Limbo

“Suppose we can’t wake them,” said Lars bluntly. “They must be drugged.”

“The City-people wake them enough to feed them, so they can’t be too far under. And we know the City-people don’t know enough to have put the ships out of commission.”

Both boys were sitting on the edges of their beds now, wide awake, as the plan developed. They talked for an hour, checking every possible angle. At last Lars shook his head. “It’s risky. If they nail us, they’ll put us to sleep so fast we won’t know what hit us.”

“But they sleep, don’t they? There won’t be many awake at this hour, and why should they bother us if we keep our minds on some innocuous thought like going for a walk, or Mother Goose rhymes, or something? For that matter, if somebody does stop us, we can tell him that the Masters ordered us to do itl That’ll slow them up for a while at least, maybe long enough for us to get away with it!”

Something flickered deep in Lars’ mind then, and he frowned. It was as if a tiny set of gears had suddenly meshed. “Suppose these Masters are here in the city, after all,” he said slowly. “Suppose the City-people are in contact with them all the time, conferring with them?” “I don’t think so. If they were, we d have heard about it. They keep insisting that the Masters are gone.”

“But if there were a place where the Masters could be contacted.”

“Look, we could sit here and dream up all sorts of things, but it’s not going to get us out of here,” Peter cried. “I don’t think we’ve got much longer. I think we’re going to be sleeping like the rest of the crew, maybe forever, if we don’t do something and do it now!”

“All right.” Lars jumped to his feet, pulled his belt tight around the gray cloak that hung from his shoulders. “They’re going to be a surprised bunch of people, I think.”

“If we get away with it,” added Peter.

“If we get away with it. Let’s go.”

Like shadows they moved through the door and down the darkened corridor toward the street.

Chapter Fourteen The Door Between

The city was silent as a tomb. The glowing buildings had dimmed; the continual throb of mental activity that was always present in the bottom of Lars’ mind was quiet, the barest whisper to witness that people were indeed alive here.

They moved along silent passages, carefully trying to marshal their thoughts along innocent lines, trying to keep out of their consciousness where they were going, or what they intended to do there. It was impossible to do completely but they tried, and they moved undisturbed down through level upon level of the city toward the vault.

They passed an old man in a corridor who looked at them with curiosity, but passed on. A group of young people were gathered at an intersection of arches, but they were so involved in their own thoughts they hardly noticed Lars and Peter as they passed quietly by.

They paused at the head of the staircase that led down to the vault. “If there’s a guard, try to draw his attention without exciting him,” Peter said in a whisper. “Then I’ll try to jump him before he can give an alarm.”

“Which ones are we going to waken?” Lars whispered back.

“Fox, for one, and Morehouse. Lambert and Lorry, if we have the chance. Ready now? Let’s go.”

They moved quickly down the stairs. In the great vault room they saw nobody except the rows of men sleeping on the pallets. And yet, as he blinked in the dim light, Lars had a fierce pang of misgiving. It was not right, doing it this way. Even if they succeeded, it meant leaving behind an alien people, the first contact with an alien race that Man had ever known. It meant leaving without understanding anything about these people, running out before the puzzle was solved. And worse, it would be the last chance to contact these strange City-people, for if Earthmen came back to Wolf IV, they would come as enemies.

What would Walter Fox do? The thought was strong in Lars’ mind. He looked down the row of beds, saw the Commander’s face placid now in sleep, and he seemed to hear his words: Don’t spoil it for us, Lars. Trust them. Offer them friendship. This is no time for hate or fear or mistrust.

And now, without the least doubt, Lars knew what Fox would do. There is a purpose here for the things that have come about, a reason, a solution to all the strange things that have happened since the Ganymede left Earth in search of the Planetfall. A link is missing, a key is waiting to fit the lock, if you can only find it. There is an answer.

He hesitated, staring down at the rows of sleeping men as if he were in a dream himself.