"Yes." He took her hand. "I thought you were asleep."
"I was, but I've rested long enough. Take me outside, Earl. The metal," she gestured toward the hull, "cramps me."
Outside the air was brooding with a heavy stillness, the sky painted with a profusion of light. The red sun was low on the horizon, the yellow on its upward climb, the blue barely visible. Three suns that bathed the city with light. From the summit of the mound Dumarest looked at it, then at the girl. She was frowning.
"Something wrong?"
"What is out there, Earl? What do I face?"
"The city. You have seen-faced it before." Curious, he added, "Can you krang the wall?"
"The wall? No. There is only something-" She broke off, shivering. "Something I don't understand. It isn't familiar, Earl. I don't like it."
"The wall, Embira." He took her head between his hands and guided her sightless eyes along its length. "Can you isolate it as you can the hull?" He frowned at her answer. "No?"
"No, Earl. But there is something there." She pointed with her arm. "I can krang it. It isn't like what lies beyond." She added uncertainly, "I can't remember it being there before."
A manifestation of the triple suns? If so, time was limited, there was no way of knowing when all three would be in the sky at the same time again. A mistake? If so, nothing could be lost by trying.
Back at the ship Marek said incredulously, "A door? Earl, are you sure?"
"No, but it's worth the chance. Embira spotted something, an alteration. We must investigate. Get the others and follow."
"But-"
"Hurry! The red sun's setting. Once it has gone the chance could be lost!"
A chance which seemed less possible the closer they approached the wall. It hadn't changed. At close hand it seemed as firm and as unbroken as before. To normal eyes, at least, but Embira lacked normal vision. Walking steadily in the lead she made directly toward a certain point. Dumarest, Usan Labria cradled in his left arm, followed. From the rear of the little column the engineer voiced his doubts.
"A door? Earl, that wall's solid. How the hell can we pass through it?"
"Walk. It's a chance, but what have we to lose? Embira will guide us. Touch the one in front, close your eyes, and follow." Dumarest set the example, resting his free hand on the girl's shoulder. Behind him Pacula sucked in her breath and he felt the touch of her hand.
"Like this, Earl?"
"Yes. All in contact? Then close your eyes."
The dirt underfoot was smooth, there was no danger of stumbling, and Dumarest made a conscious effort to forget the presence of the wall. It didn't exist. Nothing existed aside from the warmth of the flesh beneath his hand, the body of the girl in the lead. The blind leading the blind-but she had her talent, and without vision, they were more crippled than she.
Five steps, ten, twelve. Dumarest concentrated on the girl. Another three steps, five, seven-and he felt a mild tingle. Eight more and the girl halted.
"Earl. It's behind us. The thing I could krang."
A risk, but it had to be taken. Dumarest opened his eyes.
Behind him he heard Pacula gasp, Marek's voice, high, incredulous.
"By God, we've done it! We've passed through the door! We're in the city!"
Chapter Thirteen
They stood in a vast chamber, the curved roof high above suffused with an opalescent sheen of light; colored gleams which filled the place with broken rainbows. The floor was smooth, polished, made of some adamantine material, seamless and traced with a pattern of sinuous lines. The curved wall was pierced with a rounded opening several times the height of a man.
"The entrance hall." Marek's voice was clear, the place devoid of echoes as it was of shadows. "The area beyond the door, and we're in it."
But not all. Dumarest said, "Where's Timus?"
"He was behind me." Sufan Noyoka looked up, around, down toward the floor. "I felt his hand slip from my shoulder. I don't know just when."
Before he had reached the wall, his own eyes and disbelief maintaining the barrier. In Dumarest's arms Usan Labria stirred, muttering, still fogged with sleep-inducing drugs. Her eyes cleared as he held a vial beneath her nostrils, crushing the ampule and releasing chemical vapors to clear her blood.
"Earl?"
"It's all right," he soothed. "We're in the city."
"The city!" She freed herself from his support and stood, looking around. "Yes," she whispered. "We must be. You kept your promise, Earl. My thanks for that. But how?"
"Embira guided us."
"Blind, she couldn't see the wall," explained Marek. "But she sensed the presence of a force field of some kind. A means to open the matter of the wall, perhaps, while maintaining the illusion it was solid. A door built on a unique pattern. One which-" He broke off, shrugging. "Does it matter? We're inside, that's all that counts."
"Inside!" She drew a deep breath and squared her shoulders, summoning the dregs of her energy. Impatiently she brushed aside Pacula's hand. "Don't coddle me, girl, I'll be all right. Stay with Embira, she'll need a guide." She frowned, aware of the absence of the engineer. "Timus?"
"He isn't with us," said Sufan. "He must still be outside, but it is of no importance. Alone he can't handle the Mayna. All he can do is wait."
Wait as the colored suns traced their path across the sky, alone in the brooding silence, faced with the blank enigma of the city. How long would he remain patient? Dumarest lacked Sufan's conviction that the engineer was helpless. A clever man could rig remote controls and, desperate, Timus might try to navigate the Cloud on his own. A gamble which he couldn't win, but one he would try given time enough.
Stepping to the wall, Dumarest rested his hand on the surface. It felt as before, neither hot nor cold, the material solid against his pressure.
"Embira, has anything changed?"
"The aura has gone, Earl." She faced him as he stood against the wall. "I can krang another, more distant."
The bulk of the vessel containing the residual energies of the field. While she could discern it they had a point of directional reference-but until the door opened again they were trapped unless they could find another way to leave the city.
Sufan shrugged when Dumarest mentioned it.
"We'll find a way, Earl. Now let us see what is to be found."
"But with caution," warned Marek. "The door could have given an alarm and the city might still contain some form of life. It would be as well to move carefully."
A conclusion Dumarest had already reached. All, aside from Embira and the old woman, carried packs, canteens, and were armed. He checked the gun hanging on its strap from his shoulder.
"If we see anything hold your fire. If we are attacked wait until I shoot. Marek, you take the rear, Sufan, you stay with the women."
"I will-"