Part 25 (1/2)

The walls were moving -- not slowly now but rapidly. They bowed out from either side between him and Tamme, compressing the hall alarmingly. ”Hey!” he yelled, starting back.

Tamme had been facing away. Now she turned like an unwinding spring and ran toward him, so fast he was astonished. Her hair flew out in a straight line behind her. She approached at a good thirty miles an hour: faster than he had thought it possible for a human being on foot.

The walls accelerated. Tamme dived, angling through just as the gap closed. She landed on her hands, did a forward roll, and flipped to her feet. She came up to him, not even out of breath. ”Thanks.”

”That mousetrap!” he said, shaken. ”It almost got you!” Then: ”Thanks for what?”

”For reacting in normal human fas.h.i.+on. The trap was obviously geared to your capacities, not mine. That was what I needed to ascertain.”

”But what was the point?”

”The object is to separate us, then deal with us at leisure. No doubt it feeds on animal flesh that it traps in this manner.”

”A carnivorous world?” Veg felt an ugly gut alarm.

”Perhaps, or merely a prison, like the City. We see very little of the alternates we are visiting.”

”I'm with you. Let's find the projector and get out!”

”It will have to be in a secure place -- one that the walls can not impinge on.”

”Yeah. Let's stay together, huh?”

”I never intended to separate,” she said. ”But I wasn't sure who might be listening.”

Hence the edgy tone. He'd have to be more alert next time! ”You figure it's intelligent?”

”No. Mindless, perhaps purely mechanical. But dangerous -- in the fas.h.i.+on of a genuine mousetrap.”

”Yeah -- if you happen to be the mouse.”

They moved on, together. The walls were animate now, s.h.i.+fting like the torso of a living python. They pushed in -- but the air in the pa.s.sage compressed, preventing complete closure. There was always an exit for the air, and Veg and Tamme were able to follow it on out.

”But watch out when you see any air vent or duct,” Tamme warned. ”There the walls could close in all the way quite suddenly because there would be an escape for the air.”

Veg became extremely interested in air vents.

Sometimes they encountered a fork in the way and had to judge quickly which branch would lead to a broader hall. But now that they understood this region's nature, they were able to stay out of trouble.

”Hey -- there it is!” he exclaimed. ”The projector.”

The walls were rolling back ahead of them, while closing in behind, as though herding them forward. A projector had now been revealed. It was on wheels, and a metallic ring surrounded it.

”Clever,” Tamme said. ”Wheels and a circular guard so that it always moves ahead of the wall and can't be trapped or crushed. So long as the walls do not close precisely parallel -- and that does not seem to be their nature -- it will squirt out. See the bearings on the ring-guard.” She moved toward it.

Veg put out his hand to stop her. ”Cheese,” he said.

She paused. ”You have a certain native cunning. I compliment you.”

”Another kiss will do.”