The Totems of Abydos

CHAPTER 15





“Rodriguez,” whispered Brenner, tensely.

The hut was dark. It was late at night.

“Wake up,” whispered Brenner.

There was no sound from his companion.

“Wake up!” whispered Brenner.

“What is it?” said Rodriguez, sleepily.

“There is something outside,” said Brenner.

Brenner heard the sliding of metal. Rodriguez, in the darkness, had armed the rifle.

“Get the torch,” said Rodriguez.

Brenner reached out and put his hands on the device. It was a camper’s torch, based on a Naxian military model, its pack manually rechargeable, the recharging requiring only a few turns of the crank. Such devices functioned under a variety of conditions and would normally last for years. They were outlawed on several worlds because of the threat they posed to certain segments of the economy.

Brenner stood up, and was conscious that Rodriguez, too, had gained his feet.

They went to the opening of the hut.

They stood there, very quietly, listening.

“I do not hear anything,” said Rodriguez.

Brenner was silent.

“Do you?” asked Rodriguez.

“No,” said Brenner.

“Turn the torch on,” said Rodriguez.

Instantly the beam shot forth, throwing a circle of light before it, bright in the darkness, illuminating the cleared area, even huts across the way.

The light swept back and forth.

“Apparently I was mistaken,” said Brenner.

“Give me the torch,” said Rodriguez.

Brenner handed the torch to Rodriguez.

Rodriguez focused it on the ground.

“The soil is hard here,” said Rodriguez. “It is muchly packed down.”

Brenner watched the pool of light moving about. The circle of its illumination was intensely bright at that range. The ground seemed white under it.

“It would be hard to find sign here,” said Rodriguez.

“I was probably dreaming,” said Brenner.

“Ah!” said Rodriguez, suddenly.

“What is it?” asked Brenner.

“Look,” said Rodriguez.

Brenner came to stand beside Rodriguez.

“Here is your dream,” said Rodriguez. “It left a footprint.”

“That is a print?” asked Brenner.

“I am sure of it,” said Rodriguez. “See this scratch here, and this gouge here.”

“It is too large,” said Brenner.

“I think it is a print,” said Rodriguez.

“The ground is hard,” said Brenner.

“I think it is a print,” averred Rodriguez.

“You can’t be sure,” said Brenner.

“It walks very softly,” said Rodriguez.

He shone the light about.

“Here is another,” said he.

“They are too far apart,” said Brenner.

“That would depend on the size of the object that made the prints,” said Rodriguez.

“You are not going to follow them?” said Brenner, uneasily.

“Would you prefer to go back to sleep?” asked Rodriguez. “Surely you understand this thing may be within the palisade.”

“I’ll take the light,” said Brenner. That would free Rodriguez to use the weapon.

“They lead in this direction,” said Rodriguez.

Their figures were dark, like shadows behind the light.

“Let us proceed,” said Rodriguez.

Sometimes the light ranged forth, striking ahead of them; sometimes it illuminated the ground, darting here and there, as Rodriguez directed, almost as though taking scent.

“The idiots!” hissed Rodriguez.

The gate to the palisade was open.

“They lead outward,” said Rodriguez, in relief. Then he set the rifle inside the palisade, against a pale. “Help me shut the gate,” he said. “Quickly! Quickly!”

In a moment he and Brenner, the light put aside, had closed and barred the gate.

“At night,” said Rodriguez, “we had best check the gate.”

“Right,” agreed Brenner. He was shaking and sweating. He did not think that Rodriguez was in much better condition.

“We will examine the tracks in the morning,” said Rodriguez. “The light will be much better.”

“They may not be tracks,” said Brenner.

Rodriguez was silent.

“That is surely possible,” said Brenner.

“It will be easier to make a determination on that in the morning.”

Rodriguez and Brenner then returned to their hut.

Interestingly, in the morning, they could find nothing. No longer could they detect even the traces which they had seen, or thought that they had seen, the night before. It was as though such things might have been swept away. The Pons, questioned, proved to be of little, or no, assistance.

“We were overwrought,” said Brenner. “In the uncertain light, we misinterpreted a mark here and a mark there, certain marks on the ground, meaningless scratches, organizing them, seeing them, in a certain way, which marks, now, scattered and isolated from one another, we aren’t even aware of, or at least in no sense different from countless other such marks.”

“That is possible,” said Rodriguez.

“A reason for thinking that,” said Brenner, “would be the width of the marks, and the lightness of them, for the width. That would suggest an animal of unusual size and stealth.”

“True,” said Rodriguez.

“Did you recognize the prints?” asked Brenner.

Rodriguez did not respond.

“Rodriguez,” said Brenner.

“I thought I did,” said Rodriguez.

“You had seen such things before?”

“Once,” said Rodriguez.

“What sort of animal did you think it might be?” asked Brenner.

“No,” said Rodriguez. “It makes no sense.”

“What shall we do today?” asked Brenner.

“They do not want us to explore the temple,” said Rodriguez.

They had tried to do this unsuccessfully before. Naturally they did not wish to force their way in. The temple was a long, narrow, wooden building whose entryway was of heavy timbers, ornately worked and fitted, and colored, with double doors. About the sides of the temple, on the outside, and over it, earth had been packed. The impression was much like a wooden structure built within a small hill.

“No,” said Brenner.

“Let us examine the fields about,” said Rodriguez.

“Bring the rifle,” said Brenner.

“I shall,” Rodriguez smiled.

“Do you think the Pons understand that that is a weapon?” asked Brenner.

“No,” said Rodriguez.

“They think it is a telescope?”

“For all a Pon knows it holds Heimat,” said Rodriguez.

“Did you mention to the Pons about the gate being left open last night?” asked Brenner.

“Yes,” said Rodriguez.

“And what did they say?”

“They said that the gate was not left open, that it was closed, as usual,” said Rodriguez.