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The Dweller - The Problem at Perchorsk - In the Garden

Perhaps inspired by the reaction of the sphere-cave’s ossified inhabitants, Harry’s first reflex was to panic Instinctively, he ca - almost attempted to fashion - a Mobius door, and only just retreated from that action in time to avert a disaster God alone knehere, or how, he would end up if he tried to use Mobius rey hole!

And so he floated, drawn irresistibly upward - or passed - through the Gate; and alence was alh the skin of the sphere, then slid down its curve crashingly onto a jumble of stony debris between the sphere and the crater wall For indeed he saw that the sphere was inside a crater, and directly overhead - a second sphere!

So that now Harry could see alsaas very nearly coinal The one above, seated in the mouth of the crater, had appeared here simultaneous with the creation of its twin - its other ’end’ - in Perchorsk Perhaps the presence of the first had somehow influenced the location of the second, Harry couldn’t say Maybe Mobius would know

Except -

If that decapitated corpse in the cave had coh comparatively recently, and also the walkie-talkie were the Wa site? And why duh They had entered the sphere - this sphere - from this side And if they had found their way down here, then he could ht occurred than he saw the h the rock They were everywhere, cutting sles

Under his duffle-coat, Harry still had his torch clipped to his belt He took the torch out, chose a horizontal shaft and wriggled in In a little while the hole turned to the right, then bent sharply into a descent Harry abandoned it, came out backwards Other holes were no better But then, at his fifth atteently, not so steeply as to cause him to slide back In a little while it, too, bent to one side, the left, follohich it rose ht But beyond the level bend it shot almost vertically upward Harry stood up, switched off his torch After the claustrophobia of the hole this was a little better; for noas as though he stood at the bottoe constellations of stars glittered brightly in a black, jewelled sky He reached up a hand the rirasp

He bent his knees, juht in the confined space of a hole two and a half feet across! Especially in a duffle-coat, carrying a heavy azine and two hundred rounds in your pockets

The gun!

Harry took the weapon fro the gun by the barrel, he pushed its stock up the srip over the riainst the wall, he used elbows and knees to gain enough height to get his foot into the loop of the dangling sling And after that it was easy Gradually straightening up, he dragged hiun up after hi a little from his exertions, he scanned the terrain And just as it had affected Zek Foener, Jazz Simmons and others before them, so it affected Harry Starside at sundoas - weird!

But while Harry observed Starside, so too was he observed Keen-eyed shapesthing high overhead squeaked a cry beyond the range of Harry’s ears to detect Then the great bat, Desround a trog set off to lope ard, cupping horny hands to his Neanderthal face and sending a cry ringing ahead of hiled scattering of trogs spread out over e down the line

Ales were received both in the stack and in the Dweller’s garden But where Lord Shaithis of the Wa bays, the Dweller was not dependent upon that sort of conveyance; he simply inclined his head and listened for a hed The newcomer’s identity could not be doubted; the Dweller would have known that mind anywhere, any time

So, after all these years, finally he had co for it but to welcoht be sorely needed? And so the Dweller sion the world of the Wa stacks, wondering about them just as Zek, Jazz and others had wondered before him Suddenlyhe are that so his gun up and cocked it Some forty yards north of the sphere, out on the boulder plain, there stood a figure, ure, olden, burning in the reflected glare of the sphere

’Don’t shoot!’ the other called out in a young-old voice, holding up a hand ’There’s no danger Not yet’

There was so about the voice Harry relaxed a very little, tilted his head on one side enquiringly ’Not yet?’

’No,’ said the other ’But soon Look!’ And he pointed at the sky to the east Harry looked

Dark blots were growing large in the sky Two of them, with others mere dots far behind They caed, shaped soantic, it squirted through the sky like a squid ’I should think that’s Shaithis,’ said the Dweller, pointing ’And the other thing, that’ll be one of his warriors And see behind the a couple of his lieutenants’

’Wauessed

’Oh, yes You’d better come over here’

Go over there? Harry believed he knehy: to be away froate He knew the voice, too He didn’t know it - couldn’t possibly know it - but he knew it Heshapes ca shapes, Shaithis aboard a flyer, and a riderless warrior, swooped down out of the sky They began to circle, and Shaithis’s beast sank lower, the wind of its great wings blasting dust and grit up from the plain into Harry’s and the Dweller’s faces Its shadow fell on the voice called:

’Surrender! Surrender now, to the Lord Shaithis!’

’Are you ready, father?’ said The Dweller He held up one wing of his cloak

Harry believed No, he knew The child he had searched for was eight years old, and this young man was at least twenty, but the tere one and the saht now Harry’s whole world, his entire life, had been filled with things just as strange as this Stranger

’I’ a little ’But does it work here?’

’Oh, it works Except you mustn’t use it too close to a Gate’

’I know,’ said Harry ’I tried it once’

Shaithis settled his beast to earth to the west, his warrior crunched down to the east Other shapes loomed in the sky, almost directly overhead ’Ho, Dweller,’ Shaithis called, dis ’It seearden,’ said Harry Jnr to his father

Harry stepped forward, took hied him He felt his son’s cloak close around hi forward, jerked to a halt Dust leaped up from the plain, formed itself into a devil that swirled in the vacuuer there

For long mo the air Then his great nostrils flared and his eyes blazed their fury He threw back his head and roared And as the plain echoed his cry, so he began to curse And then he made his vow:

’Dweller, I shall have you!’ he snarled ’You and your garden and all you possess I shall have your ic, your weapons, your cloak of invisibility, your every secret Do you hear? I shall have you, and the hell-landers, and everything And when I have these things, then I shall use them to make myself the most powerful Lord there ever has been or ever will be So speaks Shaithis of the Wamphyri So let it be!’

The echoes of his cry, his cursing and his vow died away, and for a long tihts

Ten days later:

At Perchorsk, Chingiz Khuz paraded, inspected and briefed his troops, ’Khuv’s Kommandos’, as he had named them: a platoon of top-quality infantrymen from the famous Moskva Volunteers Thirty armed men and machines, specially uniformed (or painted) in the colours of their task: black combat suits hite discs on the upper ares of rank with the haht-weight, jeep-like trucks and trailers, plus three outriderin the Projekt’s loading! unloading bays - were likewise black, marked on their doors and panniers with the white disc of the Gate They bore no number plates, carried no documentation No require

For the next ten days these men would sleep in a converted Projekt warehouse here ’on the preiven all available details of what they could expect, shown films of the same, and intensively trained in the use of one-er, trailer-transported units Their h the Gate, and set up a base camp on the other side They were in short an expeditionary force

Each man was hand-picked; they left no loved ones behind, had few friends or relatives, were all volunteers as befitted the history and traditions of their parent regiment And they were as hard as foot-soldiers co at the top of the wooden stairs Viktor Luchov watched Khuv strut, listened to his voice echoing up as he paraded before the platoon on the boards of the Saturn’s-rings circuled faces of the thirty where they stood at ease turning to follow hi address

Welco welcome them, too? - Luchov wondered With ould it welcome them?

Finally the initial introduction to Perchorsk was over; Khuv handed over to his Sergeant-Major 2I/C; the men were fallen out, told to leave the core in an orderly fashion and return to their billets They cale-file, passed Luchov and disappeared through theahead up the steps he saw Luchov waiting for him ’Well,’ he said, as he ca, ’and what do you think of them?’

’I heard what you said to them’ Luchov’s voice was cold, almost distant ’What difference does it , and therefore that they’re dead ht, less than inscrutable There was a fever in them, which while it told of excitement refused to hint at the source So perhaps they were inscrutable after all ’No,’ he shook his head, ’they’ll survive They are the best Men of steel against entirely flesh-and-bloodas a perfectly co-ordinated teaiven theainst the prilanced down on the shining Gate, ’ - they’ll appear as superehead, Direktor, into a neorld Oh, a ree - but that’s only temporary One day soon,’ (and here his eyes narrowed a little, Luchov thought) ’you, too, shall visit that other world, when they’ve made it safe for you And who can say what resources will be found there? Who knoealth, eh? Don’t you understand? They’ll claim and tame that world for the USSR!’

’Pioneers?’ Luchov hardly seemed impressed They’re soldiers, Major, not settlers Their prime function isn’t to farain Khuv shook his head ’No, their prime function is to protect the else froo in, this Gate becomes literally - one-way From here to there That’s what I call security’

’And what about them?’ Luchov’s voice was colder than ever ’Do they know they can’t come back?’

’No, they don’t,’ Khuv’s response was immediate, ’and they can’t be told You’d better understand that: they can’t be told I have instructions for you on that matter, and on other matters’

’Instructions for - ’ Luchov sucked in air implosively ’You have instructions for hest authority The very highest! Where those soldiers are concerned, Direktor, I ae’ He produced and handed Luchov a sealed envelope sta back: no, they won’t, not immediately But eventually’

’Eventually?’ Luchov glanced at the envelope, put it away ’Eventually?’ he snorted ’How long do we need, man? This Gate has been here for over two years - and what have we learned about the world on the other side? Nothing! Except that it’s home formonsters! We’ve never even communicated with the other side’

’That comes first,’ said Khuv ’Field telephones’

’What?’

’We know sound travels through the sphere,’ said the other, ’and light - both ways! However warped the effect, men can talk and communicate with each other in there These o It can be tested after they’ve travelled no more than a few paces! And if that doesn’t work they’ll set up teet to knohat it’s like through there What it’s like on the other side’

Luchov shook his head ’That still won’t get therated, losing his patience ’But if there is a way back we’ll find it Even if itanother Perchorsk!’

Luchov took a pace backwards, was brought up short when the small of his back met the handrail ’Another Per - ?’ His jaw fell open ’Why, I hadn’t even considered - ’

’I didn’t think you had, Direktor’ Now Khuv grinned, his face a grim, e about these men If you must worry, then worry for yourself, and for your staff You’ll find that in those orders, too Once the bridgehead is established - you’re next!’

Luchov tottered where he stood grasping the rail He was furious, but shock had made him impotent as Khuv turned away Then he found his voice, called out: ’But oh how neatly you’ve escaped the net yourself, eh, Major?’

Khuv paused, slowly turned to face him He was as pale as Luchov had ever seen him ’No,’ he shook his head, and Luchov saw his Ada, ’for that, too, is in the orders You’ll be happy to know that in just ten days’ tio with theursky had been privy to all their conversation Now, as Khuv’s footsteps sounded on the boards, he turned and ran silently for the upper levels He wore rubber-soled shoes, moved with the litheness of a cat No, like a wolf! He loped, and revelled in the strength of his thighs as they effortlessly propelled hith! Nor such passions, desires, hungers

But for all Agursky’s speed and stealth, still Khuv caught a gliht It was only that, a glimpse, but it caused the KGB Major to frown On top of all his other worries, now there was this thing with Agursky - whatever it was Khuv hadn’t seen much of hier on it but so And there he went, swift as a deer, head forward, silent as a ghost and just as weird

Khuv shook his head and wondered as ailing the strange little scientist Wondered what had got into hi, early, Khuv jerked awake to the cla his heart almost stopped - tried to tear itself free and leap up into his throat - until he realized that these were only the general alert alarms, not Luchov’s damned failsafe Thank God - whom Khuv didn’t really have any faith in, anyway -for that!

Aon his door He opened it to let in the unctuous Paul Savinkov; except that apart frohtened face, there was nothing at all slirease but fear!

’Major!’ he gasped ’Comrade! My God, my Godr

Khuv shook him ’What is it, man?’ he snarled ’Here, sit down before you fall down’ He shoved Savinkov into a chair

The fat esper was tre like a jelly ’I I’m sorry,’ he said ’It’s just just’

Khuv slapped hiain ’Now perhaps you’ll tell rowled

The white burn of Khuv’s sli blisters on Savinkov’s face His eyes lost their glaze and he shook his head, as if he was the one who had just woken up and not Khuv Then - Khuv thought the man was about to burst into tears If he did, Khuv kneould hit hiht in the teeth! ’Well?’ he rasped

’It’s Roborov and Rublev,’ Savinkov gasped ’Dead, both of the this; it had to be some crazy dream ’Dead? How, for the love of - ? An accident?’ He finished dressing, slipped into his shoes

’Accident?’ Savinkov grinned like an idiot, but his features quickly melted into a sob ’Oh, no - no, it wasn’t an accident When it happened, their thoughts woke hts?’ Khuv’s ht for an explanation Of course: Savinkov was a telepath ’What about their thoughts?’ -v

’So the cards, ga, and that Roborov was a heavy loser He’d been to the toilet When he ca had him by the throat! Roborov tried to pull it off, andit turned on him! Oh, God - 1 felt hiasped

’He grabbed the thing and turned it around, and he saw it He was thinking: "I don’t believe this! Oh, mother, help me! Sweet God, you know I’ve always loved you! Don’t let this happen!"’

’Those were his thoughts?’

’Yes,’ Savinkov sobbed ’The rest of it was just background stuff, but it was Roborov’s thoughts that really woke me up And as he died - I saw it toor

’What did you see?’ Khuv took Savinkov’s face between the flats of his palms

’God, I don’t know! It wasn’t huht! It was like like that thing in the glass tank!’

Khuv’s blood ran cold He gulped air into his lungs, released Savinkov’s face He grabbed his lapels and dragged him to his feet ’Take me there,’ he snapped ’Roborov’s room? I know it Were you there? No? Then who is there? You don’t know? Fool! Well, we’re going there right now!’

On their way, the alar ’Well, let’s be thankful for that, anyway,’ Khuv grunted He jostled Savinkov ahead of him ’At least I can hear myself think! Now, are you sure you can’t reet all the procedures and cooose chase I’ll -!’

But it wasn’t

Outside the door of Roborov’s roouard He saluted sloppily as Khuv and Savinkov came into view They rushed by him Inside were two more espers, and a KGB man named Gustav Litve All hey-faced, shaken to their roots Crumpled on the floor, there lay the reason Or reasons

Nikolai Rublev could be Savinkov’s twin! thought Khuv, gri at what he saw They were, or had been, much of a kind But now there were differences, thethat Savinkov was still alive And he was also intact

Whatever it was that had killed Rublev, it had taken half his face from hi, flensed from the bone, from his ear to his nose and down to his chin But it wasn’t the work of a scalpel or knife The flesh had been ripped off In addition his throat was torn - torn, as by an aniht: where’s all the blood?

Perhaps he’d said so Litve said: ’Sir?’

’Eh?’ Khuv looked up ’Oh, nothing Fetch Vasily Agursky, will you, Gustav? Bring him here I want to knohat kind of an aniht be able to tell ratefully made for the door, called back: ’The other’s not much better, sir’

’Other?’ Khuv’s mind still wasn’t on business

’Roborov’

Khuv realized he’d been wandering To ue, wasn’t he?’

’Was, sir, yes,’ Litve answered He went out

Behind an overturned table, amidst a litter of bloodied paper money and cards, lay ’the other’, Andrei Roborov The two espers were standing looking down on him Khuv shoved them aside, took a look for himself Roborov’s face was a aped in a frozen rictus of terror; his tongue projected, blue and glistening Mainly cadaverous in life, he was totally grotesque in death His thin head from the ears up looked like it had been trapped in a toothed vise and crushed The skull had caved in, and blood and brain fluid seeped from the cracks and the deep punctures of teeth marks?

’Good Lord!’ said Khuv; to which one of the espers added:

’So bit his head like it was a plum! Major, look at his arms’

Khuv looked Both arms were broken at the elbows, bent back on themselves until the bones had parted at the sockets Whatever it was, it had found a si back