Intrepid

''There's not one active electronic device, one beating heart within a klick, maybe two,'' Beni reported. He pulled an item from the top pocket of his battle armor, swung it around his head several times, then examined it. ''No woodsmoke. I don't think there's so much as a candle burning in this town.''

Kris looked up the street to where the temple towered over the lower buildings. If she was going to find anything, it would be there. She was about to give that order when Beni spoke.

''Hold it; I got a heartbeat. It's in that building,'' he said, pointing to a two-story building that, like everything in sight, had a garden growing on its roof.

Kris held back on the order; now might be a good time to let things develop. A figure climbed the stairs out of the building's basement. Like the people Kris had seen on their last stop, this one wore a kind of toga. Only as he made his way carefully toward Kris could she make out that he was a man. A man looking often back over his shoulder.

About halfway to Kris's perimeter, he started to jog as poorly as anyone middle-aged and out of practice. Kris, Jack, and Penny headed for him. Gunny came along with a squad of Marines.

As they approached him, he shouted in a harsh, out-of-breath voice, ''You have to get out of here. And take me with you. Please, take me with you.''

''What's going on here?'' Kris demanded.

''No time to explain now. You must leave.''

''I'm getting heartbeats, a couple of them,'' Beni shouted. ''About half a klick farther out.''

''You have to leave. They'll kill you. Kill me,'' the fellow shouted as he joined them.

Now Kris recognized the man. ''Prometheus? Aren't you the official who was our first contact last time we were here?''

''Yes, yes I was. Now please, get back aboard your shuttles and go. And take me with you. Do it now, before they kill all of you.''

''Kill us?'' Kris echoed. ''I don't think you understand the power we have.''

''They will kill you. And me, now.''

To add emphasis, a rifle spoke. The wind from its bullet buzzed by Kris's cheek.

''Guard detail,'' Gunny shouted, and a dozen Marines formed a shield wall in front of Kris with their armored bodies.

Three more rifle shots came in fast succession. A Marine went down, cursing, only to stand up and remove a large rifle slug from his shoulder armor.

''Snipers,'' was all Jack said.

Four M-6s snapped off single rounds. It was too far to hear the results, but there were no more rifle shots. None.

''Back to the shuttles. I think we need to talk to this man before we try to talk to anyone else here,'' Jack ordered.

''Assuming we do any talking here,'' Penny added.

The retrograde movement was handled smartly by the Marines. Kris and her new best friend ended up strapped into the first shuttle off. The Wasp dropped the fourth shuttle, loaded for bear with bombs and guns, to cover the liftoff of the last launch, but it wasn't needed. Once Kris and Prometheus were gone, the city went back to making a tomb seem like party time.

44

Kris let Chief Beni start the interrogation while their shuttle was still taxiing downriver to find a good takeoff run.

''How did you hide your heartbeat? How did those snipers keep themselves hidden?'' he demanded.

''We may be crazy, but we are not stupid,'' the man snapped back. ''We spent forty years seeking ways to make ourselves invisible to the coming alien hordes. Don't you think we can handle a few minor things like our heartbeats? We have electromagnetic blockers the rest of you haven't dreamed of.''

The chief didn't look like he believed that, but with the evidence so recently rubbed in his face, he fell silent.

''Why do we have to take you with us?'' Kris asked.

''Isn't that obvious?'' the man sneered. ''I am a rogue, worse than a nonbeliever. I have talked to you, whom the Guides have placed under interdict. My life is forfeit in the worst and slowest way possible. However, rather than let me escape or talk to you, they would let me die quickly, a bullet in the brain.''

''And what is it that you are not supposed to tell us?''

The man did not snap a quick reply to that question. He hunched down, seemed almost to shrink in his seat. When he finally spoke, it was hardly a whisper. ''I really don't know.''

When he made no effort to expand on that, Kris relaxed into her own seat. The shuttle went to full boost, discouraging conversation. Kris let it ride.

Xanadu was a puzzle. It had been so to start with. It was only getting worse as they got deeper into it.

It took two orbits to get all the teams back aboard. Prometheus sat huddled in on himself in her staff room, guards at the exits. He'd emptied his stomach on the way up; never in microgee before, it did not go well with him. Kris had a boffin doc look in on him. He prescribed a pill. The man took it, and a cup of water, but turned down food and drink.