JК
The Stars My Destination ( Tiger! Tiger! ) :: Bester Alfred
Страница: 53 из 164It's made. Brick and stone. Feel.»
Jisbella felt the wall. «So?»
«Means this passage don't end here. Goes on. They blocked it off. Out of the way.»
He shoved Jisbella up the passage, ground his hands into the floor to grit his soapy palms, and began swinging the sledge against the wall. He swung in steady rhythm, grunting and gasping. The steel sledge struck the wall with the blunt concussion of stones struck under water.
«They're coming,» Jiz said. «I hear them.»
The blunt blows took on a crumbling, crushing overtone. There was a whisper, then a steady pebble-fall of loose mortar. Foyle redoubled his efforts. Suddenly there was a crash and a gush of icy air blew in their faces.
«Through,» Foyle muttered.
He attacked the edges of the hole pierced through the wall with ferocity. Bricks, stones, and old mortar flew. Foyle stopped and called Jisbella.
«Try it.»
He dropped the sledge, seized her, and held her up to the chest-high opening. She cried out in pain as she tried to wriggle past the sharp edges. Foyle pressed her relentlessly until she got her shoulders and then her hips through. He let go of her legs and heard her fall on the other side.
Foyle pulled himself up and tore himself through the jagged breach in the wall. He felt Jisbella's hands trying to break his fall as he crashed down in a mass of loose brick and mortar. They were both through into the icy blackness of the unoccupied caverns of Couffre Martel . . . miles of unexplored grottos and caves.
«By God, we'll make it yet,» Foyle mumbled.
«I don't know if there's a way out, Gully.» Jisbella was shaking with cold. «Maybe this is all cul-de-sac, walled off from the hospital.»
«There has to be a way out.»
«I don't know if we can find it.»
«We've got to find it. Let's go, girl.»
They blundered forward in the darkness. Foyle tore the useless set of goggles from his eyes. They crashed against ledges, corners, low ceilings; they fell down slopes and steep steps. They climbed over a razor-back ridge to a level plain and their feet shot from under them. Both fell heavily to a glassy floor. Foyle felt it and touched it with his tongue.
«Ice,» he muttered. «Good sign. We're in an ice cavern, Jiz. Underground glacier.»
They arose shakily, straddling their legs and worked their way across the ice that had been forming in the Gouffre Martel abyss for millenia.
Jisbella felt the wall. «So?»
«Means this passage don't end here. Goes on. They blocked it off. Out of the way.»
He shoved Jisbella up the passage, ground his hands into the floor to grit his soapy palms, and began swinging the sledge against the wall. He swung in steady rhythm, grunting and gasping. The steel sledge struck the wall with the blunt concussion of stones struck under water.
«They're coming,» Jiz said. «I hear them.»
The blunt blows took on a crumbling, crushing overtone. There was a whisper, then a steady pebble-fall of loose mortar. Foyle redoubled his efforts. Suddenly there was a crash and a gush of icy air blew in their faces.
«Through,» Foyle muttered.
He attacked the edges of the hole pierced through the wall with ferocity. Bricks, stones, and old mortar flew. Foyle stopped and called Jisbella.
«Try it.»
He dropped the sledge, seized her, and held her up to the chest-high opening. She cried out in pain as she tried to wriggle past the sharp edges. Foyle pressed her relentlessly until she got her shoulders and then her hips through. He let go of her legs and heard her fall on the other side.
Foyle pulled himself up and tore himself through the jagged breach in the wall. He felt Jisbella's hands trying to break his fall as he crashed down in a mass of loose brick and mortar. They were both through into the icy blackness of the unoccupied caverns of Couffre Martel . . . miles of unexplored grottos and caves.
«By God, we'll make it yet,» Foyle mumbled.
«I don't know if there's a way out, Gully.» Jisbella was shaking with cold. «Maybe this is all cul-de-sac, walled off from the hospital.»
«There has to be a way out.»
«I don't know if we can find it.»
«We've got to find it. Let's go, girl.»
They blundered forward in the darkness. Foyle tore the useless set of goggles from his eyes. They crashed against ledges, corners, low ceilings; they fell down slopes and steep steps. They climbed over a razor-back ridge to a level plain and their feet shot from under them. Both fell heavily to a glassy floor. Foyle felt it and touched it with his tongue.
«Ice,» he muttered. «Good sign. We're in an ice cavern, Jiz. Underground glacier.»
They arose shakily, straddling their legs and worked their way across the ice that had been forming in the Gouffre Martel abyss for millenia.