Future War Page 4

  “Sixteen.”

  “That young?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

  Hendricks rubbed his jaw. “Your life would have been a lot different if there had been no war. Sixteen. You came here at sixteen. To live this way.”

  “I had to survive.”

  “I’m not moralizing.”

  “Your life would have been different, too,” Tasso murmured. She reached down and unfastened one of her boots. She kicked the boot off, onto the floor. “Major, do you want to go in the other room? I’m sleepy.”

  “It’s going to be a problem, the four of us here. It’s going to be hard to live in these quarters. Are there just the two rooms?”

  “Yes.”

  “How big was the cellar originally? Was it larger than this? Are there other rooms filled up with debris? We might be able to open one of them.”

  “Perhaps. I really don’t know.” Tasso loosened her belt. She made herself comfortable on the cot, unbuttoning her shirt. “You’re sure you have no more cigarettes?”

  “I had only the one pack.”

  “Too bad. Maybe if we get back to your bunker we can find some.” The other boot fell. Tasso reached up for the light cord. “Good night.”

  “You’re going to sleep?”

  “That’s right.”

  The room plunged into darkness. Hendricks got up and made his way past the curtain, into the kitchen. And stopped, rigid.

  Rudi stood against the wall, his face white and gleaming. His mouth opened and closed but no sounds came. Klaus stood in front of him, the muzzle of his pistol in Rudi’s stomach. Neither of them moved. Klaus, his hand tight around his gun, his features set. Rudi, pale and silent, spread-eagled against the wall.

  “What—” Hendricks muttered, but Klaus cut him off.

  “Be quiet, Major. Come over here. Your gun. Get out your gun.”

  Hendricks drew his pistol. “What is it?”

  “Cover him.” Klaus motioned him forward. “Beside me. Hurry!”

  Rudi moved a little, lowering his arms. He turned to Hendricks, licking his lips. The whites of his eyes shone wildly. Sweat dripped from his forehead, down his cheeks. He fixed his gaze on Hendricks. “Major, he’s gone insane. Stop him.” Rudi’s voice was thin and hoarse, almost inaudible.

  “What’s going on?” Hendricks demanded.

  Without lowering his pistol Klaus answered. “Major, remember our discussion? The Three Varieties? We knew about One and Three. But we didn’t know about Two. At least, we didn’t know before.” Klaus’s fingers tightened around the gun butt. “We didn’t know before, but we know now.”

  He pressed the trigger. A burst of white heat rolled out of the gun, licking around Rudi.

  “Major, this is the Second Variety.”

  Tasso swept the curtain aside. “Klaus! What did you do?”

  Klaus turned from the charred form, gradually sinking down the wall onto the floor. “The Second Variety, Tasso. Now we know. We have all three types identified. The danger is less. I—”

  Tasso stared past him at the remains of Rudi, at the blackened, smoldering fragments and bits of cloth. “You killed him.”

  “Him? It, you mean. I was watching. I had a feeling, but I wasn’t sure. At least, I wasn’t sure before. But this evening I was certain.” Klaus rubbed his pistol butt nervously. “We’re lucky. Don’t you understand? Another hour and it might—”

  “You were certain?” Tasso pushed past him and bent down, over the steaming remains on the floor. Her face became hard. “Major, see for yourself. Bones. Flesh.”

  Hendricks bent down beside her. The remains were human remains. Seared flesh, charred bone fragments, part of a skull. Ligaments, viscera, blood. Blood forming a pool against the wall.

  “No wheels,” Tasso said calmly. She straightened up. “No wheels, no parts, no relays. Not a claw. Not the Second Variety.”

  She folded her arms. “You’re going to have to be able to explain this.”

  Klaus sat down at the table, all the color drained suddenly from his face. He put his head in his hands and rocked back and forth.

  “Snap out of it.” Tasso’s fingers closed over his shoulder. “Why did you do it? Why did you kill him?”

  “He was frightened,” Hendricks said. “All this, the whole thing, building up around us.”

  “Maybe.”

  “What, then? What do you think?”

  “I think he may have had a reason for killing Rudi. A good reason.”

  “What reason?”

  “Maybe Rudi learned something.”

  Hendricks studied her bleak face. “About what?” he asked.

  “About him. About Klaus.”

  Klaus looked up quickly. “You can see what she’s trying to say. She thinks I’m the Second Variety. Don’t you see, Major? Now she wants you to believe I killed him on purpose. That I’m—”

  “Why did you kill him, then?” Tasso said.

  “I told you.” Klaus shook his head wearily. “I thought he was a claw. I thought I knew.”

  “Why?”

  “I had been watching him. I was suspicious.”

  “Why?”

  “I thought I had seen something. Heard something. I thought I—” He stopped.

  “Go on.”

  “We were sitting at the table. Playing cards. You two were in the other room. It was silent. I thought I heard him—whirr.”

  There was silence.

  “Do you believe that?” Tasso said to Hendricks.

  “Yes. I believe what he says.”

  “I don’t. I think he killed Rudi for a good purpose.” Tasso touched the rifle, resting in the corner of the room. “Major—”

  “No.” Hendricks shook his head. “Let’s stop it right now. One is enough. We’re afraid, the way he was. If we kill him we’ll be doing what he did to Rudi.”

  Klaus looked gratefully up at him. “Thanks. I was afraid. You understand, don’t you? Now she’s afraid, the way I was. She wants to kill me.”

  “No more killing.” Hendricks moved toward the end of the ladder. “I’m going above and try the transmitter once more. If I can’t get them we’re moving back toward my lines tomorrow morning.”

  Klaus rose quickly. “I’ll come up with you and give you a hand.”

  * * *

  The night air was cold. The earth was cooling off. Klaus took a deep breath, filling his lungs. He and Hendricks stepped onto the ground, out of the tunnel. Klaus planted his feet wide apart, the rifle up, watching and listening. Hendricks crouched by the tunnel mouth, tuning the small transmitter.

  “Any luck?” Klaus asked presently.

  “Not yet.”

  “Keep trying. Tell them what happened.”

  Hendricks kept trying. Without success. Finally he lowered the antenna. “It’s useless. They can’t hear me. Or they hear me and won’t answer. Or—”

  “Or they don’t exist.”

  “I’ll try once more.” Hendricks raised the antenna. “Scott, can you hear me? Come in!”

  He listened. There was only static. Then, still very faintly—

  “This is Scott.”

  His fingers tightened. “Scott! Is it you?”

  “This is Scott.”

  Klaus squatted down. “Is it your command?”

  “Scott, listen. Do you understand? About them, the claws. Did you get my message? Did you hear me?”

  “Yes.” Faintly. Almost inaudible. He could hardly make out the word.

  “You got my message? Is everything all right at the bunker? None of them got in?”

  “Everything is all right.”

  “Have they tried to get in?”

  The voice was weaker. “No.”

  Hendricks turned to Klaus. “They’re all right.”

  “Have they been attacked?”

  “No.” Hendricks pressed the phone tighter to his ear. “Scott, I can hardly hear you. Have you notified the Moon Base? Do they know? Are they alerted?” />
  No answer.

  “Scott! Can you hear me?”

  Silence.

  Hendricks relaxed, sagging. “Faded out. Must be radiation pools.”

  Hendricks and Klaus looked at each other. Neither of them said anything. After a time Klaus said, “Did it sound like any of your men? Could you identify the voice?”

  “It was too faint.”

  “You couldn’t be certain?”

  “No.”

  “Then it could have been—”

  “I don’t know. Now I’m not sure. Let’s go back down and get the lid closed.”

  They climbed back down the ladder slowly, into the warm cellar. Klaus bolted the lid behind them. Tasso waited for them, her face expressionless.

  “Any luck?” she asked.

  Neither of them answered.

  “Well?” Klaus said at last. “What do you think, Major? Was it your officer, or was it one of them?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Then we’re just where we were before.”

  Hendricks stared down at the floor, his jaw set. “We’ll have to go. To be sure.”

  “Anyhow, we have food here for only a few weeks. We’d have to go up after that, in any case.”

  “Apparently so.”

  “What’s wrong?” Tasso demanded. “Did you get across to your bunker? What’s the matter?”

  “It may have been one of my men,” Hendricks said slowly. “Or it may have been one of them. But we’ll never know standing here.” He examined his watch. “Let’s turn in and get some sleep. We want to be up early tomorrow.”

  “Early?”

  “Our best chance to get through the claws should be early in the morning,” Hendricks said.

  * * *

  The morning was crisp and clear. Major Hendricks studied the countryside through his field glasses.

  “See anything?” Klaus said.

  “No.”

  “Can you make out our bunkers?”

  “Which way?”

  “Here.” Klaus took the glasses and adjusted them. “I know where to look.” He looked a long time, silently.

  Tasso came to the top of the tunnel and stepped up onto the ground. “Anything?”

  “No.” Klaus passed the glasses back to Hendricks. “They’re out of sight. Come on. Let’s not stay here.”

  The three of them made their way down the side of the ridge, sliding in the soft ash. Across a flat rock a lizard scuttled. They stopped instantly, rigid.

  “What was it?” Klaus muttered.

  “A lizard.”

  The lizard ran on, hurrying through the ash. It was exactly the same color as the ash.

  “Perfect adaptation,” Klaus said. “Proves we were right, Lysenko, I mean.”

  They reached the bottom of the ridge and stopped, standing close together, looking around them.

  “Let’s go.” Hendricks started off. “It’s a good long trip, on foot.”

  Klaus fell in beside him. Tasso walked behind, her pistol held alertly. “Major, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” Klaus said. “How did you run across the David? The one that was tagging you.”

  “I met it along the way. In some ruins.”

  “What did it say?”

  “Not much. It said it was alone. By itself.”

  “You couldn’t tell it was a machine? It talked like a living person? You never suspected?”

  “It didn’t say much. I noticed nothing unusual.”

  “It’s strange, machines so much like people that you can be fooled. Almost alive. I wonder where it’ll end.”

  “They’re doing what you Yanks designed them to do,” Tasso said. “You designed them to hunt out life and destroy. Human life. Wherever they find it.”

  Hendricks was watching Klaus intently. “Why did you ask me? What’s on your mind?”

  “Nothing,” Klaus answered.

  “Klaus thinks you’re the Second Variety,” Tasso said calmly, from behind them. “Now he’s got his eye on you.”

  Klaus flushed. “Why not? We sent a runner to the Yank lines and he comes back. Maybe he thought he’d find some good game here.”

  Hendricks laughed harshly. “I came from the UN bunkers. There were human beings all around me.”

  “Maybe you saw an opportunity to get into the Soviet lines. Maybe you saw your chance. Maybe you—”

  “The Soviet lines had already been taken over. Your lines had been invaded before I left my command bunker. Don’t forget that.”

  Tasso came up beside him. “That proves nothing at all, Major.”

  “Why not?”

  “There appears to be little communication between the varieties. Each is made in a different factory. They don’t seem to work together. You might have started for the Soviet lines without knowing anything about the work of the other varieties. Or even what the other varieties were like.”

  “How do you know so much about the claws?” Hendricks said.

  “I’ve seen them. I’ve observed them take over the Soviet bunkers.”

  “You know quite a lot,” Klaus said. “Actually, you saw very little. Strange that you should have been such an acute observer.”

  Tasso laughed. “Do you suspect me, now?”

  “Forget it,” Hendricks said. They walked on in silence.

  “Are you going the whole way on foot?” Tasso said, after a while. “I’m not used to walking.” She gazed around at the plain of ash, stretching out on all sides of them, as far as they could see. “How dreary.”

  “It’s like this all the way,” Klaus said.

  “In a way I wish you had been in your bunker when the attack came.”

  “Somebody else would have been with you, if not me,” Klaus muttered.

  Tasso laughed, putting her hands in her pockets. “I suppose so.”

  They walked on, keeping their eyes on the vast plain of silent ash around them.

  The sun was setting. Hendricks made his way forward slowly, waving Tasso and Klaus back. Klaus squatted down, resting his gun butt against the ground.

  Tasso found a concrete slab and sat down with a sigh. “It’s good to rest.”

  “Be quiet,” Klaus said sharply.

  Hendricks pushed up to the top of the rise ahead of them. The same rise the Russian runner had come up, the day before. Hendricks dropped down, stretching himself out, peering through his glasses at what lay beyond.

  Nothing was visible. Only ash and occasional trees. But there, not more than fifty yards ahead, was the entrance of the forward command bunker. The bunker from which he had come. Hendricks watched silently. No motion. No sign of life. Nothing stirred.

  Klaus slithered up beside him. “Where is it?”

  “Down there.” Hendricks passed him the glasses. Clouds of ash rolled across the evening sky. The world was darkening. They had a couple of hours of light left, at the most. Probably not that much.

  “I don’t see anything,” Klaus said.

  “That tree there. The stump. By the pile of bricks. The entrance is to the right of the bricks.”

  “I’ll have to take your word for it.”

  “You and Tasso cover me from here. You’ll be able to sight all the way to the bunker entrance.”

  “You’re going down alone?”

  “With my wrist tab I’ll be safe. The ground around the bunker is a living field of claws. They collect down in the ash. Like crabs. Without tabs you wouldn’t have a chance.”

  “Maybe you’re right.”

  “I’ll walk slowly all the way. As soon as I know for certain—”

  “If they’re down inside the bunker you won’t be able to get back up here. They go fast. You don’t realize.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  Klaus considered. “I don’t know. Get them to come up to the surface. So you can see.”

  Hendricks brought his transmitter from his belt, raising the antenna. “Let’s get started.”

  Klaus signaled to Tasso. She crawled expertly u
p the side of the rise to where they were sitting.

  “He’s going down alone,” Klaus said. “We’ll cover him from here. As soon as you see him start back, fire past him at once. They come quick.”

  “You’re not very optimistic,” Tasso said.

  “No, I’m not.”

  Hendricks opened the breech of his gun, checking it carefully. “Maybe things are all right.”

  “You didn’t see them. Hundreds of them. All the same. Pouring out like ants.”

  “I should be able to find out without going down all the way.” Hendricks locked his gun, gripping it in one hand, the transmitter in the other. “Well, wish me luck.”

  Klaus put out his hand. “Don’t go down until you’re sure. Talk to them from up here. Make them show themselves.”

  Hendricks stood up. He stepped down the side of the rise.

  A moment later he was walking slowly toward the pile of bricks and debris beside the dead tree stump. Toward the entrance of the forward command bunker.

  Nothing stirred. He raised the transmitter, clicking it on. “Scott? Can you hear me?”

  Silence.

  “Scott! This is Hendricks. Can you hear me? I’m standing outside the bunker. You should be able to see me in the view sight.”

  He listened, the transmitter gripped tightly. No sound. Only static. He walked forward. A claw burrowed out of the ash and raced toward him. It halted a few feet away and then slunk off. A second claw appeared, one of the big ones with feelers. It moved toward him, studied him intently, and then fell in behind him, dogging respectfully after him, a few paces away. A moment later a second big claw joined it. Silently, the claws trailed him as he walked slowly toward the bunker.

  Hendricks stopped, and behind him, the claws came to a halt. He was close now. Almost to the bunker steps.

  “Scott! Can you hear me? I’m standing right above you. Outside. On the surface. Are you picking me up?”

  He waited, holding his gun against his side, the transmitter tightly to his ear. Time passed. He strained to hear, but there was only silence. Silence, and faint static.

  Then, distantly, metallically—

  “This is Scott.”

  The voice was neutral. Cold. He could not identify it. But the earphone was minute.

  “Scott! Listen. I’m standing right above you. I’m on the surface, looking down into the bunker entrance.”