The Man In The Maze: The Original 1968 Illustrated Novel (Jerry eBooks) by Robert Silverberg

Author:Robert Silverberg [Silverberg, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jerry eBooks
Published: 2016-10-11T04:00:00+00:00

He went alone only a short distance this time. Stein and Alton accompanied him as far as the gateway to Zone E. There were no incidents. They pointed him in the right direction, and he passed through a pinwheeling shower of coruscating azure sparks to enter the austere, funeral zone beyond. As he negotiated the uphill ramp of the entrance he caught sight of a socket mounted in an upright stone column. Within the darkness of the socket was something mobile and gleaming that could have been an eye.

“I think I’ve found part of Muller’s scanning system,” Rawlins reported. “There’s a thing watching me in the wall.”

“Cover it with your spray,” Boardman suggested.

“I think he’d interpret that as a hostile act. Why would an archeologist mutilate a feature like that?”

“Yes. A point. Proceed.”

There was less of an air of menace about Zone E. It was made up of dark, tightly compacted low buildings that clung together like bothered turtles. Rawlins could see different topography ahead, high walls and a shining tower. Each of the zones was so different from all the others that he began to think they had been built at different times: a core of residential sectors, and then a gradual accretion of trap-laden outer rings as the enemies grew more troublesome. It was the sort of thought an archeologist might have; he filed it for use.

He walked a little way and saw the shadowy figure of Walker coming toward him. Walker was lean, dour, cool. He was about forty, a career man.

“Glad you made it, Rawlins. Go easy there on your left. That wall is hinged.”

“Everything all right here?”

“More or less. We lost Petrocelli about an hour ago.”

Rawlins stiffened. “This zone is supposed to be safe!”

“It isn’t. It’s riskier than F, and nearly as bad as G. We underestimated it when we were using the probes. There’s no real reason why the zones have to get safer toward the middle, is there? This is one of the worst.”

“To lull us,” Rawlins suggested. “False security.”

“You bet. Come on, now. Follow me and don’t use your brain too much. There’s no value in originality in here. You go the way the path goes, or you don’t go anywhere.”

Rawlins followed. He saw no apparent danger, but he jumped where Walker jumped, and he detoured where Walker detoured. Not too far on lay the inner camp. He found Davis, Ottavio, and Reynolds there, and also the upper half of Petrocelli.

“You going on into D today?”

Walker asked with a keen interest.”

“I may as well.”

“We’ll tell you what to avoid. It’s new. That’s where Petrocelli got it, right near the entrance to D, maybe five meters this side. You trip a field of some kind and it cuts you in half. The drones didn’t trip it at all.”

“Suppose it cuts everything in half that goes by?” Rawlins asked. “Except drones.”

“It didn’t cut Muller,” Walker said. “It won’t cut you if you step around it. We’ll show you how.”

“And beyond?”

“That’s all up to you.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.