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shaft, and his breath caught in his throat. The tower stretched away above him for hundreds of feet, until
its top was lost in the hazy light that shone through the crystal walls. It's an optical illusion, thought Hunter
wonderingly. It's got to be. The building isn't that tall .. . He tore his gaze away, and studied the narrow
curving ramp mat spiralled up the inner wall for as far as his eyes could follow. It protruded directly from
the crystal wall, with no sign of any join. It was easily six foot wide, and the surface was as smooth and
unblemished as any other part of the smoky crystal.
'A ramp, instead of stairs,' said Williams. 'That could be significant.'
'Undoubtedly,' said Krystel. 'But significant of what? It's too early yet to start drawing conclusions,
Doctor.' Her voice and face were as calm and impassive as ever, but still Hunter was sure he could
detect a fire, an enthusiasm, in her that hadn't been there before. Krystel was in her element now, and it
showed. She started up the ramp, her boots scuffing and sliding on the smooth crystal surface. She
leaned against the inner wall to help her keep her balance, and soon found the trick of keeping upright
while still pressing on. Hunter kept to the inner wall too as he and Williams hurried after her, but mainly
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because the increasing drop worried him. There was no barrier or safety rail, and it was getting to be a
long way down. A thought nagged at Hunter: what kind of being could use a ramp like this, and
apparently not worry about the danger of falling?
They continued up the ramp for some time, circling round and round the inside of the tower. There were
plenty of doorways leading off, but Krystel kept pressing on, and the others had to follow or be left
behind. Hunter's thighs started to ache, and when he looked down the shaft he could no longer see the
bottom of the tower. Everywhere he looked there was nothing but scarlet-veined crystal and the diffused
smoky light. He began to feel strangely disorientated,
as though he'd always been climbing the ramp, and always would be.
It came as something of a shock when Krystel suddenly stepped off the ramp and through an open
doorway, and Hunter realized they'd reached the top of the tower. He looked quickly back to make sure
Williams was still with them, and then followed Krystel through the doorway. She was standing on an
open balcony that looked out over the city. The balcony looked distinctly fragile, but it held their weight
easily enough. There was still no safety rail, and Hunter was careful to stand a good two feet short of the
edge. He looked down, and vertigo sucked at his eyes. It had to be a drop of at least three hundred feet.
He would have sworn the building wasn't that tall when he entered it. The long drop didn't seem to bother
the Investigator at all. She was staring out over the cityscape with something like hunger. Hunter moved
cautiously over beside her, to make room for Williams on the balcony, and looked out over the view.
For the first time, he could really appreciate the true size and scale of the city. It stretched away for miles
in every direction, an eerie landscape of stone and metal and glass. The gossamer walkways looked like
the spiderwebs you'd expect to find on something that had been left deserted for too long. Down below,
nothing moved. Everything was still and silent. But strange lights shone in some of the windows, like so
many watchful eyes, and there was a strange palpable tension on the air.
'Well, Investigator,' said Hunter finally. 'This is your show. What now?'
'There's life here,' said Krystel flatly. 'I can feel it. The city is too clean, too untouched by time and
weather to be as abandoned as it appears. So whatever lives here must be hiding from us. And in my
experience, the best way to flush out something that's hiding is to set a trap, and bait it with something
attractive.'
'One of us,' said Hunter.
'Me, to be exact,' said Investigator Krystel. She smiled suddenly, and Hunter had to force himself not to
look away from the hunger that burned in her eyes.
Megan DeChance and the two marines stood at the edge of the city. A row of tall serrated towers stood
like a barrier before them, dark and enigmatic in the bright midday sunlight. DeChance rubbed at her
forehead. Just the sight of the alien structures was enough to give her a headache. Her esp kept trying to
make sense of the weird shapes, and failing, unable to embrace theories of architecture and design
shaped by an inhuman logic. The marines shifted impatiently at her side. DeChance tried her comm
implant again.
'Captain Hunter, this is DeChance. Please respond.'
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'Still nothing?' said Corbie.
'Nothing,' said DeChance.
'You could try your esp,' said Lindholm.
DeChance stared at the alien city, trying to pretend she hadn't heard him. Making telepathic contact was
the obvious logical thing to try next. The thought was enough to bring her out in a cold sweat. She could
still remember the contact she'd made back on the pinnace, the first time she'd raised her esp on Wolf [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]