"I"m pretty sure now, sir. It"s that opening there, on the left. I remember dragging the girl over that rock-fall."
Ch.e.l.lak nodded. "You"d better go forwards and recce. I"ll call Red Force to hold their advance, don"t want them leap-frogging us."
Beckoning to a couple of men to follow him, Salateen moved forwards.
They moved cautiously down the left-hand tunnel.
Suddenly an android stepped out in front of them. It surveyed them with the single eye set into the white-domed head.
"Come on, keep moving," said Salateen quietly. "It won"t fire at the belt-plate."
They were his last words the android shot him down.
As Salateen fell dying, his men opened fire. More androids appeared and soon a fierce fire-light was raging in the narrow tunnels.
Salateen"s two men were soon mown down, but by now Ch.e.l.lak"s men were moving up the tunnels in force and the androids were blasted in their turn.
Ch.e.l.lak went and knelt beside Salateen"s body for a moment. He checked the pulse, but there was no sign of life. Salateen"s blue eyes stared sightlessly at the roof of the tunnel.
Gently Ch.e.l.lak closed them. He rose, grim-faced, and led his men forwards.
The burst of energy that had carried the Doctor through his escape from the s.p.a.ce-ship was fading now and his weakened body was beginning to tire.
The gun-runners pounded remorselessly after him.
They were gaining now, their bullets coming ever closer.
The Doctor found himself running towards an exceptionally steep dune. He began stumbling wearily towards the top, his aching muscles screaming for rest.
He was almost at the top when he stumbled and fell.
Rolling over and over he tumbled to the bottom.
For a moment the Doctor lay there in the soft sand, too exhausted even to move. Wearily he struggled to his feet.
A voice said, "It"s all over, Doctor!"
He turned and saw Krelper silhouetted on the top of a nearby dune.
Krelper raised his machine-pistol. It was an easy shot, and the Doctor was too tired to move, let alone run.
Suddenly he heard an ear-splitting crack, a low rumble and a shriek like that of a million whistling tea kettles.
A huge geyser of mud shot up out of the earth, about midway between the Doctor and Krelper.
"Mud burst! Mud burst!" screamed Krelper in panic.
"Let"s get back to the ship."
The gun-runners turned and ran, the Doctor forgotten.
Wearily the Doctor plodded once more to the top of the dune. This time he made it.
On the other side he could see the entrance to the caves.
He stumbled towards them. "Not enough time," he muttered. "Not enough time..."
In the caves around Sharaz Jek"s HQ a fierce battle was raging between the androids and Ch.e.l.lak"s soldiers. The androids were losing, mown down one by one by the swarming soldiers. Now only a few survived.
Ch.e.l.lak was shouting into his transmitter. "Flag Carrier to Red Force. Do you receive me? Over."
There was no reply.
Ch.e.l.lak turned to his sergeant. "Our support group must have hit trouble. Never mind! We"ll settle Jek on our own."
Ch.e.l.lak"s troops surged forwards, mowing down the few remaining androids in their path...
In his communications room, Sharaz Jek was following the progress of the battle of the charts that filled his screens.
The steadily pulsing energy-sources of the androids were in full retreat, forced back by the blurred body-heat traces that represented living troops. One by one the androids"
lights were blinking out.
"Ch.e.l.lak has too many soldiers," muttered Sharaz Jek.
"My androids are being overrun, destroyed." He flicked a switch. "Numbers four and nine fall back to final defence positions."
Suddenly Ch.e.l.lak heard a low rumbling sound. A panic-stricken soldier ran towards him from the rear. "There"s a mud burst coming, sir!"
Ch.e.l.lak came to a decision. "No time to go back. We"ll have to fight our way forwards. Come on lads, follow me!"
The rumbling came closer and the panic-stricken soldiers turned and fled.
Ch.e.l.lak advanced alone.
The Doctor staggered on through the caves, heading for Sharaz Jek"s base. As he approached it, he became aware of the steadily increasing sound of gunfire.
He stopped for a moment, leaning against a rock, gasping for breath. "No time... must find Peri."
The Doctor staggered on.
Dull thumps were shaking the workshop, and Peri lifted her head. "What"s that noise?"
"The start of a mud burst," whispered Sharaz Jek. "We shall he safe here."
Peri said vaguely. "I thought perhaps the General was bringing up his heavy artillery..."
Sharaz Jek paced restlessly to and fro. "I must go and see if any of my androids can be repaired. We need to hold Ch.e.l.lak back for just a little longer."
Hurrying into his armoury, Jek s.n.a.t.c.hed a machine-pistol from the wall. "Just a little longer," he muttered, "and the mud burst will sweep them away." He hurried off, back through the workroom and out through the heavy metal door.
Cautiously he explored the network of caves around his base. There were signs of battle everywhere around him, and the whole area was littered with bodies, both human and android.
It became clear to Sharaz Jek that the mud burst had erupted just in time to save him. The soldiers had fought their way to the very edge of his secret base. When the mud burst erupted, the survivors must have retreated, leaving dead soldiers and shattered androids behind them.
Sharaz Jek examined one of the less-damaged androids.
It was still standing upright, staring ahead, its gun clasped firmly in its hand. But a quick examination proved that the delicate brain-circuitry was damaged beyond repair.
Not that it mattered now. If the soldiers had all pulled back...
The ground shook with a nearby eruption, and rocks showered down from the cave roof. Sharaz Jek ducked under an overhanging ledge for protection until the rock-fall was over. He stepped out of cover and saw that not all his attackers had retreated before the mud burst. General Ch.e.l.lak stood facing hire, machine-pistol in hand.
"All right, Jek, the war"s over. Are you going to surrender?"
"Never!"
Sharaz Jek fired, Ch.e.l.lak ducked, and Sharaz Jek turned and ran.
Ch.e.l.lak hurried after him. He was determined not to lose him now.
Krelper and Stark were surprised to see a second s.p.a.ce-ship, a luxury interplanetary s.p.a.ce-yacht, standing beside their battered freighter.
They were even more surprised to find an expensively-dressed, cold-faced stranger, wearing the pigtail of the highest social rank, sitting in Stotz"s pilot chair, with Stotz standing deferentially beside him.
Krelper came uncertainly into the control room. "The mud burst," he stammered. "It"s started. We"d better get out of here..." His voice trailed off as he stared at the man in Stotz"s chair. Krelper knew that face. He had seen it on newscasts, amongst the little group of VIPs that always surrounded the President.
"What about the Doctor?" demanded Stotz.
Krelper"s eyes were still fixed on the newcomer. "The Doctor? Oh, we lost him."
"Lost him?" repeated Morgus coldly. "Why do you stare at me? Perhaps you think you know me?"
His hand closed round the machine-pistol that lay in his lap.
Hurriedly Krelper shook his head. "No, sir."
Stotz grinned. "Even if he does, Krelper won"t say anything."
"It would be most unwise. Stotz, I want to speak to you alone."
"Sure," said Stotz uneasily. "You two out!"
"Come on," muttered Krelper and led his fellow gun-runner away.
When they were gone Morgus said, "Well, Stotz, no doubt you are wondering why I am here."
Stotz shrugged. "You"re the boss."
"Yes. Well, there is a possibility, I wouldn"t put it any stronger than that that my part in all this has been discovered."
Stotz grinned. "When you say all this, you mean gun-running, and collecting spectrox and "
"Exactly," said Morgus impatiently. "My conscience is clear. I had to keep the supply of spectrox flowing, and if I hadn"t provided Sharaz Jek with arms he would easily have found some other source. But the Praesidium will find my actions treasonable."
Stotz laughed. "Yeah... well, I guess they"d execute all of us if they could catch us."
"I have a contingency plan. It is possible that my involvement was suspected only by the President. That is why he sent the Doctor here without telling me. But the president is dead. Now, if he shared his suspicions with anyone else, I shall know within a few hours. In which case, I shall not be able to return to Androzani Major. I have a considerable private fortune invested in other planets in the Sirius system, but when I leave here I want to take with me Jek"s private h.o.a.rd of spectrox. That is the key to unlimited power."
Stotz laughed harshly. "Sharaz Jek isn"t going to let that go so easily."
"Perhaps not. But you know where it is, do you not?"
"Well sort of. It"s very close to cave twenty-six on Yellow Level."
"Before I left Major, Stotz, I was informed that the Army intend to attack Sharaz Jek"s headquarters in force tonight.
While he is fighting the Army, we could locate the spectrox store. What do you think?"
Stotz considered. "Maybe. Yellow Level isn"t too deep."
He c.o.c.ked his head at the sound of a distant rumble. "What about the mud burst?"
"If we go into the caves after the first burst, we should be back here long before the major explosion as long as we don"t waste too much time in locating the spectrox store."
"Yeah, maybe," said Stotz dubiously. "But we don"t know exactly where in his base Sharaz Jek has stored the stuff."
"I"m relying on you, Stotz. What about the others?"
"They"ll want their cut."
"If they can carry fifty kilos each," said Morgus slowly.
"That will mean another hundred to share between us."
Stotz glanced towards the door. "You do mean between us us? Just us two?"
"Precisely," said Morgus.
Stotz smiled, and stroked his machine-pistol.