sky-sleds were immediately evident. Reith went to a convenient tree and
started to climb. The bark was a slippery pulp, which made the project more
difficult than he had anticipated. At last, sticky with aromatic sap, sweating
under his ill-smelling garments, he gained the roof of the mortuary.
He crouched, looked out over Dadiche. The sky-sleds had disappeared; the sky
was brown-gray with oncoming dusk.
Reith went to the back edge of the roof, looked across at the wall. The top
surface was about six feet distant, flat, with foothigh prongs at fifty-foot
intervals. Warring devices? Reith could imagine no other purpose. On the other
side was a drop of thirty feet-twenty-five feet, if he hung by his hands
before he let himself fall. Reith appraised the chances of landing without
broken bones or sprained joints: about two in three, depending upon the ground
beneath. With a rope, the descent would be effortless. In the basement of the
mortuary he had seen no ropes, but there were quantities of old garments to be
knotted together. First: what would happen if he reached the top of the wall?
To learn, Reith doffed his cloak. Moving along the rooftop until he was
opposite one of the prongs, he swung the cloak out and over the prong.
The result was instant and startling. From the prongs to either side lances of
white fire darted forth, piercing the cloak, setting it aflame. Reith snatched
it back, stamped out the blaze, looked hurriedly back and forth along the
wall. Undoubtedly an alarm had been set off. Should he risk leaping the wall,
fleeing across the waste? The chances, very bad in any case, would be
nonexistent if he should become caught in the open. He ran to the tree,
descended far more rapidly than he had mounted. Over the city sky-sleds were
already appearing. Reith heard a far weird whistling which set his nerves on
edge ... He ran, cloak flapping, back under the trees. A gleam
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0Chasch.txt (69 of 85) [12/29/2004 12:51:39 AM]
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/Jack%20Vance%20-%20Tschai%2
01%20-%20City%20of%20the%20Chasch.txt of water attracted his attention: a
small pond, overgrown with pallid white water-plants. Throwing off his cloak
and false cranium, Reith jumped into the water, submerged himself up to his
nose, and waited.
Minutes passed. A squad of security guards on electric motorcycles dashed
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past. Two sky-sleds trailing scent-detectors drifted overhead, one to his
right, the other to his left. They disappeared to the east; clearly the Blue
Chasch thought he had crossed the wall, that he was at large outside the city.
If this was the case, if they presently decided that he had escaped into the
mountains, his chances would be thereby much improved ... He became aware of
something moving along the bottom of the pond. It felt muscular, purposeful.
An eel? a watersnake? A tentacle?
Reith jumped out of the pond. Ten feet away something broke the surface and
made a sound like a snort of disgust.
Reith seized up the cloak and the false cranium and trudged dripping back down
away from the mortuary.
He came upon a small lane winding among the Chaschmen bungalows. By night they
seemed close, secretive, locked-in. The windows were small and none lower than
eight feet from the ground. Some exuded a wavering yellow light, as if from a
lamp, which puzzled Reith. Surely a race as technically capable as the Blue
Chasch could provide their underlings electric or nucleonic illumination ...
Another paradox of Tschai.
The wet clothes not only chafed but smelled abominably-a situation which might
camouflage his own scent, thought Reith. He pulled the false cranium over his
skull, threw the cloak around his shoulders. Walking slow and stiff-legged, he
continued toward the gate.
The sky was dark; neither Az nor Braz was in the sky, and the byways of
Dadiche knew only the most casual illumination. Two Chaschmen came into view.
Reith pulled down his chin, hunched his shoulders, walked stolidly forward.
The two passed with no more than a glance.
Somewhat encouraged, Reith reached the central boulevard with the gate two
hundred yards ahead.
High lamps cast a yellow glare into the portal. Three guards in purple and
gray were still in evidence, but they seemed slack and uninterested, and Reith
was reinforced in his belief that the
Blue Chasch thought him gone from the city.
Unfortunately, thought Reith, the Blue Chasch were wrong.
He considered the feasibility of sauntering up to the portal, dashing through
and away into the darkness. The sky-sleds would instantly be after him, as
well as platoons of guards on electric motorcycles. What with his reeking
clothes, he would have no place to hide-unless he discarded all his garments
and ran naked through the night.
Reith gave a soft grunt of disapproval ... His attention was attracted by a
tavern in the basement of a tall building. From the low windows came
flickering red and yellow light, hoarse conversation, an occasional gust of
bellowing laughter. Three Chaschmen came lurching forth; Reith turned his back
and looked through the window down into a murky taproom, lit by firelight and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]