Clarion

CLARION 87

They paused again at the edge of the forest. Fifty meters away a large, silver-gray tube crossed high above the vegetation. Under it Paul could see the crumbled remains of pink domes.

"That's Number One tube," Karyn said. "We'll turn left and follow it."

"I thought we'd be traveling inside the tube," Paul said.

"We have to find an access point. First one we'll come to is at the intersection with David's Tube." Paul drew a blank on that. "David's Tube?" But she had already turned away to look in the direction they would travel.

"That's Tube D," Selmer explained. He pointed off to the right. "It's part of our system. We start in the corner closest to our camp. Tube One is the first tube that runs right to the left along the edge of the city. The next one is Tube Two, and so on. Tube A is the first tube that runs the other way, straight out across to the far side of the city. That's Alyx. Then Tube B—Barth—and so on."

Paul could see how the ordering of the tubes could make sense. But one aspect of the system puzzled him. "Why give names to them?"

"Our power cells are old and weak," Selmer explained. "We get a lot of static over the fartalker. Names are easier to understand than letters."

"Will the David tube take us to the temple?" Paul tried to remember the layout he had seen from the slope the day before.

"Not quite." Selmer squatted down and brushed away some leaves, then began to draw a diagram with his finger in the soft ground. "The temple's farther east, over here by Cassie's Tube." He made a depression in the dirt. "But Cassie has fallen down between here and the temple." He rubbed out part of the line he'd drawn to represent the C

tube. "We can take David to Tube Four—that's the closest exit. But a big section of Tube Four has 88 William Greenleaf CLARION 89

fallen down, too, so we'll have to travel on foot from there."

"Let's go," Karyn called back to them. They picked their way through the vegetation and crumbled remains of domed structures, following a course that was parallel to Tube One. The tube was about five meters off the ground, held up by slender pylons that seemed to be spaced too far apart to give enough support. Signs of deterioration were visible on the outer surface of the curved wall—dark splotches here and there and a few ripples where the metal had begun to sag. If Selmer was right about the age of the ruins, the tube had hung here above the ground for at least fifty thousand years. Paul gave the Tal Tahir engineers a mental nod for that. The domed structures had not fared as well; most of them in this area had collapsed, and thousands of years of exposure to the elements had caused the pinkish construction material to crumble into small pebbles that crunched underfoot. Here and there a section of curved wall had held together and jutted up through the vegetation.

Karyn called a halt at an intersection where another tube led off at a right angle from Tube One.

"David's Tube," Selmer said to Paul. He pointed at another, much narrower tube that came out of the side of the intersecting tubes and spiraled to the ground. "That's the access port." Karyn and Jacque had stopped at the bottom of the smaller tube. It flared out as it neared the ground, presumably to form an entryway. The ground was lighter in color around it, and Paul realized there had once been pavement at the entrance. Now vegetation crowded the opening. Fragments of something that might have been a door clung to the edges.

Karyn and Jacque went through first, then Paul and Dorland. There were steps inside the tube, gritty but free of debris. Narrow, though—Paul had to keep a tight grip on the railing that curved up along the tube at hip level. The steps seemed sturdy enough, although Paul felt the entire structure shift slightly at one point. He could climb without ducking his head, but just barely. By the time the light had faded with the first turn of the spiral, he was fighting a growing feeling of claustrophobia. He felt better when he emerged into the relative openness of the main tube.

"Careful here," Karyn warned.

The tube was about four meters in diameter, and unexpectedly bright from sunlight that poured through oval ports spaced every few meters on the upper curve. Paul realized that the access port had delivered them to a narrow platform about two meters above the curved floor.

"Karyn says they used to have vehicles that ran the tubes," Selmer said. "We think this is where they boarded."

Along each side, about a meter above the floor, were rails the thickness of a man's arm. The floor itself was cut with two parallel grooves, now mostly filled with thick dust.

Karyn retrieved the fartalker from her belt pouch and flipped it open. The call signals weren't elaborate. When the device beeped, Karyn said,

"Sabastian?"

A moment passed. Then: "Here."

Karyn gave him a progress report in a few brief sentences, then closed the fartalker and returned it to her pouch.

"Let's move." She jumped nimbly down to the floor. Paul landed awkwardly on the curved surface. He turned to help Dorland, but found Dorland already beside him.

They walked down the tube for twenty minutes 90 William Greenleaf

before they reached another intersection with an access port. Karyn went through without pausing. Paul dropped back to walk next to Selmer.

"How long will we stay in this tube?" he asked.

"About an hour."

Paul's eyes went to Dorland, who lagged a few paces behind Karyn. "Tell me about the Sons of God. Sabastian said they'd be guarding the temple. But if they're young boys—"

"Young, but dangerous," Selmer said. "They're initiated when they're fifteen. But only if they're good enough. The brightest, the best in physical shape—those are the ones they take."

"How many are there?"

"About twenty-five. Only twenty have been trained for combat, though. Elder Jacowicz trains them himself. First they leam how to fight with dart guns and knives."

"Sounds primitive."

"Maybe so, but the boys are good. And the darts have poisoned tips. If one of them touches you—" He snapped his fingers and grinned. "But we have a few surprises of our own." He lifted his arm and pulled back the sleeve of his shirt to reveal a long-bladed knife strapped between wrist and elbow.

"You'd use that on a young boy?"

Selmer pulled the sleeve back down. "I don't know. But if I did, I'd be doing him a favor. High Elder Brill has told them how wonderful their existence will be beyond the Far Peaks if they lose their lives fighting for Lord Tern. Supposedly it was Lord Tern's idea to train them and organize them."

"For what reason?"

"To patrol Fairhope and make sure everyone stays pious. If they can track us down in the meantime, so much the better."

They walked for a while in silence. Then Paul