The Jewels of Aptor

pointed it out. "Look a

uld make out an obviously

ion, till suddenly the trees ceased on the opposite bank and the buildings and towers of a great city broke the sky. Elevated highways looped tower

temple is in there. After all, Argo's la

tar is that big?" bre

et across?"

ready started do

m," said Geo, climbin

trokes, Geo felt familiar hands suddenly grasp his body from below. This time he did

d river to the other. He switched from skulling into a crawl now, wondering how to scale the stones when

d them on the broad ridge of concrete that walled the flowi

few minutes' walk the building walls had reached canyon size. "Now,

rom the top of one of these

ound themselves in a huge hollow room. Dim light came from a number of white tubes set around the wall. Only a

N ELECTRI

it, in sma

Down Th

inders, across the

room turned about them, sinking. At last they stepped up into a

opened it. Natural light fell in on them as the others came to see. They entered a room

e happened to i

roadway must have crashed into

insane angle. The railing was twisted, but there were

imb that?" asked Geo. "It

Urson want

gh to see if there's anythin

son in a reco

ad twisted away, but the road itself mounted surely between the sheerin

in they avoided the right-handed road. A sign, half the length of a t

M

News, Communicati

e building, Snake suddenly stopp

it?" as

ward. Then he pointed

rts?" as

d to the bui

ne in there thi

achine, Snake

in there that's hurting your head?" interpret

e no

ed us before didn't hurt

sing housing of WMTH. "Mayb

y here, and if we see anything, we'

he ran forward, he could get out the other side

xious?" as

ing to get us out of trouble if we

nt as the yellow tinge in the sky turned blue. "I guess it

r a moment, the

d to the others

ck, and lights flickered all

nd the opposite railing. When they reached the next turn off that led to a still higher ramp, Geo looked back. Snake's miniature figure sat

of the turns

g," Iimmi a

trying to get to the top of," rumbled Urson, "we

hurry," Ge

stairway, they mounted another eighty feet to a broader highway where they could look down on the band of li

ere just about to enter a dark section when a

uddenly gone. A little farther, Ge

d woman rose from the ground, and began to walk backwards

as running away fro

Iimmi's jewel. "I wish we have

i agreed. Th

tch of functioning lights. The rib cage marked sharp l

back now?"

an't hurt you

e live one we saw?

now," Geo whispered in

one stopped, and then the other a few steps before the first. Then they dropped. Geo couldn'

" asked

," sai

Go on,"

isappeared a minute before. "They don't seem dangerous," G

said. "What's

e sky. No, not the sky, but from the roadway that crossed fifty feet above them. Looking d

elly-green under the white flare. Impaling its membrane on the skeletons, the mass flowed around them, faster, covering them, molding to them. There was a final surge, a shrinking, and its shapelessness contracted into limbs, a head, fee

ts hands from its sides. Then, behind i

Urson. "Wha

" Iimmi answered, backing awa

o said. "Loo

gures standing quietly behind them

arted to climb. He was also, he realized, high enough to get some idea of the city, which stretched, beyond the transparent covering of the steps, away in a web of lighted roadways, rising, looping, descendin

they reached the top entrance. Geo had only gotten half cle

house which flopped against the entrance. They edged by its pulsing, transparent sides. The la

rd them. Something was happening at the front. Figures, three or four o

an extended darkened section. A moment later there was a

e of the road tore away and the girders descended, webbing toward the ruined stump of a building from which

know," sa

them. Suddenly the figures fell to the ground, and flesh rolled forward

d another yard with a sick sound. "Hurry up," Geo added. With Urson in the middle, they started out along the twenty-inch wide girder. Lit from

ilding into which they were descending was th

four feet to the next small section of concrete. Once he saw something, let out a low whistle, but continued to lower himself to the straightened girder. Urson made the turn ne

then continued down, slowly.

ing, smoking, splashing off into the darkness. Here and there something half human would rise either to look around or to pull the collective mass further on, but then it would fall ba

point in the pale, sherbert-colored light, globbed

any farther?

t look it,

urface steaming, and then fell with a sucking noise, down into the hundred

ly over his hand, wrist,

entacles till now, pulsed to the edge of the jagged road, draped itself over the web of girders, and flung

of the road, missed, and plummetted like smoking bullets. It hurled a great pseudopod back toward the safety of the road; it fell short, flopped downward, and the whole mass shook beneath the smoke that

nd. "My arm hurts,"

again, carefully. "Any ideas

s, I'm glad it d

red before them

t?" asked Urs

t something

it?" ask

," said Geo

he lower highway. Iimmi's memory proved good, and for an ho

is other hand. "I must have pulled hell out

his hand and rub

ny too," Iimmi said. "Like

thing," said Ge

Iimmi said, "Well, thi

d, now, the boy jumped off the rail, grabbed their sho

d so," said Urson. "I w

n spirit, if not in

e no

get headaches like that, you'd better teach us what to do with the

and tugged

rry," Geo said. "W

sted rail, was the mouth of a street that led into the waterfront. Snake, Iim

asked. "My arm is really shot.

them. Like a wounded thing it emerged from behind the broken highway, bul

he moonlight, the ruined piers spread along the waterfront to e

street, fill it, and then pour across the broken sto

ng was yanked from around his neck. Second, pain seared his arm as if the bones and ligaments were suddenly

ark shapes of leaves. Was he being carried? And his arm hurt. There was more drowsy half consciousness, and once a great deal of pain. When he opened his

d. (Not only could they see, this time; they could hear the thinking.) Just don't feel up to praying this afternoon. I am before the door, and above it, a black disk with three white eyes on it. Through the door, up black stone steps. Wonder if anyone will be up there now.

to call it success o

are ... sa

don't think I've taken my eyes off this thing for more than two hours since the

report to Ha

o say anything now.

do something with the City of New Hope

re they rea

pile? It was all it could do to get to the waterfron

ld you call them?

wouldn't call

ed. Now come on, look innocent, in case they come out. I hope the Old Man isn't watching. Guess they're not coming. And down the stairs again, the black stone walls moving past. Out another door, into the garden, dark flowers, purple, deep red, some with blue i

stone urn has one handle above. It's about eight feet tall. One, two, three: jump, and ... hold ... on ... and ... pull. And tr

bottom, beyond the folds of the edges where the top had been twisted tightly together, are the tiny scraps of copper, a few long pieces of dark metal, a piece of board, some brads. To this my grubby little hand adds the spool of copper wir

dr

n again. Some

n and get to work. Here we go. Open the bag, and turn the conte

he wire to the metal, and maneuver the spool around the end of the rod. Around. And around. And around. Here we go round the

the distance: "And what

ir," as metal and scraps and wires

r twenty must report to afte

ch. There are mirrors along the vestibule, huge slabs of glass that rise thirty feet, reflecting the blue and yellow light back and forth from the colored windows of the temple. In the mirror I see pass: a dour-looking pr

d almost everyt