H.M. Hoover - Lost Star Read Online Free PDF Page B

there?"
    If they were, they weren't answering.
    Lian set off down the hall, walking almost on tiptoe. Between every other support beam was a closed door, like an oddly shaped hatch. She did not want to touch them for fear one would fall on her, as the outer door had fallen off. After about three minutes she turned and looked back. It seemed a long way to the entrance. Suppose there was something alive in here. Suppose the roof was ready to collapse. Her footsteps slowed.
    Suddenly they loomed up out of the shadows, their eyes shining gray with reflected light from the distant door. She gave a yelp of fright and ran. They did not chase her. Afterward she was not sure why she stopped running, except that she knew they meant no harm and had only been waiting for her. She turned back to join them.
    They led her through dark hallways and down dim corridors, past shadowy things vaguely seen, and none of it recognizable. Only a faint glow from the ceiling overhead kept her from feeling trapped in a labyrinth. As they went deeper into the ruins, passageways stood open, dark and mysterious. Twice she saw what could have been wall murals, but it was too dark to be sure.
    The passageway ended. In the dim light she could see no door or branching hall. Her guides stopped as if confused, and exchanged finger signs, then sat on their haunches and looked at one another.
    "What is it?" said Lian. "Is this what you wanted to show me?" They smiled their clown smiles, then turned to look at the wall again. She felt a flicker of irritation and disappointment and at the same time understood Dr. Scott's remark about their playing the fool.
    But that was unfair of her, she decided. They had already given her the knowledge of the existence of this place. What more did she expect? Or want? Ruins were of no real interest to her.
    But she did expect more, even if she wasn't sure what. She stepped around the lumpies and approached the wall. Directly past them the floor began to slant, ramplike. One did not usually find walls built across ramps, but one often found security gates at the top of ramps. If that was what this was, then her exploration in here was ended With no power source to move it, the gate would never open.
    But its existence would be of interest to the archaeologists. She ran her hands along the rough texture of the wall and found a seam and then a frame that reached from the floor to as high as she could stretch. She checked the wall on the other side of the ramp, and as she felt for the matching seam, her fingers struck against a switch plate.
    It was too dark to see what it looked like. There were holes in it, a radial design, perhaps a plug of some sort. She looked back at the lumpies, wondering if they knew it was a security gate—or if they knew what lay behind it. One lumpie got up slowly and came over to join her. At close range it smelled of grass and berries and a mustardlike scent of its own. It stood erect, peered nearsightedly at the thing her touch had found, then reached past her and fit its fingers into the holes.
    "Very good!" she said, and then was interrupted by the hum of a motor. A faint crack of light appeared along the floor and grew slowly higher. "This can't be!" Lian informed the trio, who gazed at the light in wide-eyed simpleness, the one beside her with its hand still on the switch. "What's in there?" She reached up and pulled that supple hand away from the switch plate. The gate continued to rise. She began to back away, just in case. It was probably an old power cell still functioning by freakish circumstances . . . but just in case there was anything alive . • .
    There was not.
    The Counter looked out upon a small and rather monstrous alien and three of its responsibilities. It hummed the greeting signal.
    Lian saw a great amphitheater, the center of it occupied by what looked like a massive and very elaborate computer. Glassed booths lined the circular walls. Opaque green glass covered the dome. Looking