Ruins (Pathfinder 2)

The flyer rose, surmounting the cliffs. Behind them, a higher mountain stood alone. Where Upsheer had been surrounded by forest, this escarpment rose out of grassland, and it was grass that topped the cliffs. Higher up the mountain, trees formed a ragged pine forest. But Umbo suspected that the other side of the mountain was lush rain forest, given the direction of the prevailing winds.

The flyer settled onto a grassy flatland well back from the cliff edge. The door opened, and a voice said, “Proceed eastward until you are met.”

“Met by whom?”

No answer.

Umbo left the flyer and walked east. It wasn’t far before he saw a manshape appear, not stubby-legged like the yahoos near the Wall, but tall and robust-looking.

It was Vadesh; it was Rigg’s father, the Golden Man. It was the expendable of Odinfold.

“Odinex?” asked Umbo.

“It was not wise of you to come here.”

“Yet here I am.”

“Turn back. There’s the flyer. Go back to the Wall and await the Visitors. They’ll be here very soon.”

When Umbo was younger, such authoritative instructions from Rigg’s father would have filled him with awe and he would have obeyed without a second thought. But now Umbo knew that this was no man, but a machine, and he was no longer cowed by his voice of command. Umbo made no move toward the flyer.

“Are the Visitors’ ships in communication with you?” Umbo asked.

“Not yet,” said the expendable. “But when they establish a link with the ships of Garden, I will have no secrets from them. We must keep them from discovering you and the other time-shifters.”

Umbo realized now the absurdity of the Odinfolders’ excuse for not letting them meet Odinex. “You already know so much about us that my visit here will hardly make a difference. What you don’t know, Vadeshex and Ramex definitely know, so the Visitors will have it all.”

The expendable said nothing.

“Please take me to the starship so I can verify my studies.”

“Do you believe the designs were altered?”

“I did not think so, until you asked that question,” said Umbo, smiling. “My intention is to see for myself how the designs were expressed in the actual machinery.”

The expendable turned his back and led the way into a tunnel opening.

It wasn’t long before ragged rock walls became smooth, and then were sheathed in the same uncorruptible metal that had covered the Tower of O and the skyscrapers of the empty city of Vadesh. Umbo came to a doorway that opened into a huge chamber that was almost completely filled by the starship. Between the doorway and the ship stretched a bridge, two meters wide.

Umbo hesitated.

“You can’t fall,” said Odinex.

But his hesitation had not been prompted by fear. Rather, he wanted to test a guess he had made about the naming of the wallfolds. “Before I board the ship, will you

answer a question?”

“I will, if it is permitted.”

“Did you know Ram Odin?”

“All the expendables knew Ram Odin.”

“Did you kill Ram Odin?”

“I did not.”

“Did other expendables kill the Ram Odins on their ships?”