"Charles R Tanner - Tumithak Of The Towers Of Fire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tanner Charles R)

said. "So toward Kaymak the three of us directed our footsteps. We entered the
city at night, for at night all shelks sleep soundly. Kiletlok led us to a place
where, he said, the power rods were stored. We found them, but alas, daybreak
occurred before we could get out of the building. In seeking a hiding place, we
found the entrance to this pit, in the building; and a long journey down the
corridor led us to this room."
He paused and looked about him.
"Is there another way out of here, except the way we came down?"
Otaro shook his head. "I have been here for weeks, and I know that the shelks
would not let us roam about this room with the freedom that we do if there were
any chance of escaping. For well they know that an Arzan would gladly die rather
than remain in this room."
"Arzan?" Tumithak caught at the unfamiliar word. "What is an Arzan, Otaro? And
why die rather than remain in this room?"
"We workers are called Arzans by the sheiks," answered the Krayling. "It is an
ancient word, a man-word, I believe. And here in this room, far underground, we
labor to produce the white and shining rods which are the power by which the
shelks run their machines."
"You make the rods? Here?"
"Aye. That is why they store them in the building above."
"Now here is fortune indeed! But why die rather than remain in this room, Otaro?
The work is none too hard, it seems."
Otaro smiled sadly. "The work is none too hard. And we are fed, and have
comfortable quarters. But--" He turned and indicated a gray-haired, bent, old
Krayling near him. "This, O Mizta, is Mitobi. He is twenty-nine years old, and
has been in this room no longer than ten months."
TUMITHAK felt a thrill of horror shoot through him. "Is there poison in this
room, then?"
Otaro nodded. "Poison, indeed! But not such poison as man ever heard of. It is a
poison light, mizta Tumithak, that glows from the machines when we feed the iron
powder into it to make the rods of power."
"The iron?"
"Yes, truly. For of iron are the white and shining rods of power constructed."
Tumithak rose dizzily.
"And you have made these white and shining rods from iron?"
"Yes. For over three weeks."
"Know you how these machines work?"
"Why, yes. If one has a block of the metal called hooramnon *, it is not so hard
to build a destabilizer, as these machines are called."
"Then--have each of these machines got blocks of hooramnon in them?"
"Certainly."
"Then tear them out! Conceal the hooramnon on your person. We must escape this
pit and win back to Shawn or die in the attempt! Man needs this secret, Otaro.
And Man needs you!"
For the first time in many weeks, the dulled eyes of Otaro broke into a glow. He
turned to the other Arzans and gave then hurried orders. They had listened to
Tumithak and Otaro as they talked and now they, or at least the ones that were
strong enough, leaped hurriedly to obey his orders. In a few moments, they came
forward with half a dozen blocks of grayish metal in their hands.
WHILE they had been procuring the metal, Tumithak's mind had been racing madly,