A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born

"This must be pushed through the woods-and in absolute silence. I will put my knife into the ribs of any of you who makes a noise. A track was cut during daylight and will be easy to follow. Take up the lines and do as you are. instructed." Other dark-robed figures were handing us the ropes and pushing us into line. On the whispered signal we began hauling. — The thing rolled along easily enough and we pulled at a steady pace. There were more whispered instructions to guide us-then we halted as we approached the edge of the forest. After this we dropped the ropes and sweated as we pushed and pulled the great weight about until the guides were satisfied. There was much whispered consultation about alignment and range, and I wondered just what was going on. We had been forgotten for the moment, so I walked as quietly as I could past the thing and peered out through the shrubbery at the view beyond.

Very interesting. A field of grain stretched down a gentle slope to a keep, its dark towers clear in the starlight There was a glimmer of reflection about its base, where the waters of the moat protected it from attack.

I stayed there until dawn began to gray the sky, then moved back to examine the object of our labors. As it emerged from the darkness its shape became clear-and I still hadn't the faintest idea of what it was. Fire and steam, I could see the white trickle of vapor clearly now. And a long boom of some kind along the top. One of the black figures Was working the controls now. Steam hissed louder as the long arm sank down until the end rested on the ground. I went to look at the large metal cup there-and was rewarded for my curiosity by being drafted to help move an immense stone into place. Two of us rolled it from the pile of its fellows nearby, but it took four of us, straining, to raise it into the cup. Mystery upon mystery. I rejoined the others just as Capo Dimonte appeared with the tall, robed man at his side.

"Will it work. Brother Farvel?" Dimonte asked. "I know nothing of such devices." "But I do, capo, you shall see. When the drawbridge is lowered my machine will destroy it, crush it." "May it do just that! Those walls are high-and so will our losses be if we must storm the keep without being able to break through the gate. " Brother Farvel turned his back and issued quick instructions to the machines operators. More wood was pushed into its bowels and the hissing rose in volume. It was full daylight now. The field before us was empty, the view peaceful. But behind us in the forest lurked the small army and the war machines. It was obvious that battle would be joined when the drawbridge was lowered and destroyed.

We were ordered to lie down, to conceal ourselves as the light grew. It was full daylight by this time, the sun above the horizon-and still nothing happened. I crouched near the machine, close to the cowled operator at the controls.

"It is not coming down!" Brother Farvel called out suddenly. "It is past due, always down at this time. Something is wrong." "Do they know that we are here?" Capo Dimonte said.

"fes!" an incredibly loud voice boomed out from the trees above us. "We know you are there. Your attack is doomed-as are all of you! Prepare to face your certain death."

Chapter 25

The roaring voice was totally unexpected, shocking in the silence of the forest. I jumped, startled-nor was I the only one. The monk at the machine's controls was even more startled. His hand pulled on the control lever and there was a gigantic hissing roar. The long arm on top of the device thrashed skyward, pushed by a stubbier arm close to its hinged end. The arm rose up in a high arc and slammed into a concealed buffer that jarred and shook the entire machine. The arm may have stopped — but the stone in the cup at the end of the arm continued, high into the air, rising in a great arc. I rushed forward to see it splash into the moat just before the closed drawbridge. Good shot-it would certainly have demolished the structure had it been down.

All around me things became busy quite suddenly. Brother Farvel had knocked the monk from the controls and was now kicking him, roaring with rage. Swords had been drawn, soldiers were rushing about-some of them firing up into the trees. Capo Dimonte was bellowing orders that no one was listening to. I put my back to a tree and held my gun ready for the expected attack. It never came. But the amplified voice thundered again.