City of No Return by E.C. Tubb

Author:E.C. Tubb [E.C. TUBB]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science fiction
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2015-12-30T16:00:00+00:00

8

When they awoke thirst was a raging flame that tore at their minds and clawed at their bodies. Even Halmar, used as he was to the dehydrating effects of the air and accustomed to going long periods without water, felt it, and he knew that to the others it must be hell.

Smith staggered against the wall, running his swollen tongue over his cracked lips, and when he spoke his voice was a harsh, croaking sound.

“Water! I’ve got to have water!”

“We’ve got no water,” snapped Halmar. He forced himself to swallow, and his throat felt as if it were lined with emery cloth. Lorna whimpered and clung to his arm.

“Halmar! That room! The one with all the lights.”

“Well?”

“I felt thirsty the last time we entered into it. Then I wasn’t thirsty. Maybe if we went there again—”

“What good could that do?” He frowned as he remembered what had happened the last time they had entered the strange room of the blazing lights. It had healed their wounds, maybe—“Come on,” he snapped, “we’ll try it.”

He half-carried the sagging body of Smith to the cavern.

The panel swung open at his mental command and they entered the shaft. The panel closed behind them and Halmar stood, his harsh features tense as he mentally willed the command “down”. He relaxed and the panel opened, Lorna almost running from the shaft.

“Halmar! It didn’t work!”

He stared at the familiar cavern, at the dusty floor and the glowing walls. Lorna turned to him, her face ghastly in its awful desperation, her swollen tongue making her words muffled and strange.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. Get back inside and I’ll try again.”

He frowned, the panel closed, opened, and he stared at the same scene. Again he tried, again, each time concentrating on the elevator going in a downward direction, and each time he failed. Understanding came as the man called Smith moaned and clutched at his throat.

“Smith! When we did it the first time, what were you thinking about?”

“What?”

“Damn you, man! Listen to me.” He gripped him by the shoulders and stared into the florid features. “When we entered the shaft after spending the night in that room what were you thinking about? Did your chest hurt?”

“Yes. It hurt like hell.”

“Were you thinking about it?”

“Of course I was.” Smith straightened and glared at the big man. “I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It hurt I tell you.”

“I see.” Halmar released the man and turned towards the panel. He dug his teeth into his lower lip, and concentrated, not on any direction, but on the pain welling from his injured mouth. He bit harder, harder, and pain began to fill his conscious mind. Pain! Pain! Pain!

The panel swung open and they stepped into the room of brilliance and jewelled colour.

For a moment neither of them could speak, then, as the lights blazed around them, Lorna looked at Halmar.

“It worked! I’ve lost my thirst!”

“Yes,” he said, and tried not to look at the convoluted lines and scintillant glory of the alien room. “It worked.

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