by Tim Wellman
"Well, twice, to be precise," he said.
"I don't remember twice," she said.
"That time you tripped and fell in the library basement," he said.
"I... I was unconscious for two hours," she said. "I knew it! You swine! I knew something happened!"
"Oh, well, no use crying over spilt milk," Kato said with a chuckle.
"Exactly!" he said.
"Revenge!" Carlisle yelled. "You just wait! You better never get knocked out around me! You'll end up with a bowling pin up your ass!"
"Hey, he's the creep, not me," Kato said.
"I was talking to him!" she said.
"Oh," Kato said.
"Don't fret, you're probably still in with a chance," he said. "She left me for a girl."
"The buggy driver who took me home," she said.
"I noticed the buggy was still parked in front of your apartment the next morning," he said.
"Are you two going to flirt like this the rest of the day?" Kato said.
"No, because I'm going to kill him right now," Carlisle said.
-7-
Where The Sidewalk Ends
"You know," Carlisle said, as she helped Stevenson push the motorbike down the wooden sidewalk, "this seems an awful lot of stuff for a couple hours of exploring."
Stevenson stood up straight and tried to get an idea of direction among the confusing criss-cross of sidewalks and buildings. "We need to go down this sidewalk," he said. "Oh, what did you say?"
"We've packed a lot of shit for a short trip."
"Guess so," he said. "But, better safe than..."
"Dead," Kato said. She seemed to memorizing everything she saw. She was more like a child, looking up at the buildings and shop signs, looking in windows, wanting everything but so overwhelmed she couldn't choose a single thing as a favorite. "This store sells new clothes?"
"Do they not sell new clothes on your side of town, witch girl?" Carlisle said. She almost volunteered to buy the little woman something, perhaps some candy, but remembered, despite appearances, she wasn't a child, though the old joke about tempting her with candy made her smile.
Kato shrugged. It was obvious she had never seen much of the town, either side. "I don't get out much."
"Well, we're heading back into your side of town, now," Stevenson said. "See, there's the store where we bought the patches."
Kato stared for a moment. "Don't guess I've ever seen it from this direction." She looked around until her gaze focused. "Then my house is back there, behind the stock yard buildings?"
"Do you stay in your house all the time?" Carlisle said. "Don't you go out to dinner or shopping or anything?"
"This town has laws, you know," she said. "Even here on the bad side. There are very few places an outsider like me can go, either because of the laws or hatred." She looked up and smiled. Adorable. "Everyone around here knows I was a slave.... and I'm mixed race."
"Half wolf?" Carlisle said.
"Okay, stop here," Stevenson said. He pointed toward a large hillside outside of town. "That hill is blocked from your view by this row of shops, otherwise you would have probably found the Hellsgate yourself."
Carlisle pulled a small camera out of her coat pocket and took a picture of the hill. "You sure that's it? I don't see a cave opening anywhere."
Stevenson nodded. "That's it. The opening is around to the left side. It's usually swampy out there when it's not cold, I guess, so no one goes there."
"And it takes a special kind of stupid to want to go out there when it is cold," she said.
"You all gonna push that thing across that field?" Kato said. She adjusted her sword, belted around her waist. She seemed to be very proud of it, adopting several different poses reflecting from a shop window. "If so, let me get in and ride while you push."
"No, we can all ride, now," he said. He waved toward the sidecar. "Ladies."
"Can we both fit?" Carlisle said. She stepped over the edge, and the shakiness forced her to quickly sit down on the seat. "See? There's no room."
Kato didn't seem to hear her. She sat down on the edge, and then slid backward into the professor's lap, pulling her legs up and in. "Plenty of room."
Carlisle started spitting out strands of hair and finally had to take both hands and pull the little woman's wild locks out of her face. But, having another body so close did help take the chill off and it was not entirely an objectionable feeling. She sorta felt like a mother holding her child and had to fight the urge to pull her closer.
"Okay, it's gonna be a bit bumpy, so hang on," Stevenson said.
"Fine," Kato said, "as soon as the professor lets go of my tits."
"Oh, sorry!" Carlisle said, though the way the small woman had said it made her laugh more than feel embarrassed. She pulled her goggles over her eyes and lowered her hands around Kato's doll-like waist. "You should put your glasses on so the wind doesn't burn your eyes, wolfchild."
Kato reached into her cape and took out her glasses, stared at them for a moment, and shrugged. She slipped them on, though she didn't imagine the bike was going to go fast enough to worry about the wind. The ground was rough and the weight of three of them in the small machine didn't suggest speed.
Stevenson straddled his seat and turned a small valve on the air tank. Nothing happened at first, but as he kicked his feet along the last of the sidewalk, the bike eventually started moving under its own power.
"It's not so... BAD!" Kato said, as she bounced up off the professor's lap, the sudden jar knocking her glasses down around her lips.
"See!" Carlisle said. "You're lucky I was holding on tight!"
"You're enjoying this way too much!" Kato said, as she bounced up again, struggling to adjust her glasses. "And let go of my tits!"
Stevenson looked down at the professor and smiled. I'll take your place if you want to drive."
"Keep your eyes on the road and your perverted thoughts to yourself," she said. "I'll holler if I need you."
"Slow down a little!" Kato yelled. "We'll still get there, anyway, so let's get there alive!"
He eased back on the air throttle and the ride became more enjoyable for everyone. "I usually ride by myself," he said. "It feels good... speed. I ride all night sometimes, even out on the abandoned highways in the wastelands." He reached over and put his hand on her head, holding her down, just as they hit another big bump. "It's off to the left, now, so brace yourselves for the turn!"
"When did you find this place?" Kato said. She was trying to get a little bit of her dignity back as she pulled her corset back up over her nipples and then held on to both sides of the tub.
"Last night," he said. "Unless I was passed out for more than a day. It is Friday, right?"
Carlisle looked around the mounds of hair in front of her and pointed. "That it?"
"Yep, that's the opening," he said. "Though you have to be right up on it before it looks like anything except a cave."
"We'd better stop before we get there, then," Kato said. "Those little creatures like to chase vehicles, so you might stir them up too much if you get too close."
Stevenson looked down and tried to figure out if she was telling the truth or just trying to get the ride over with, but decided to stop. He closed the air valve, and the sudden loss of speed caused them all to bend forward.
"Uh, my tits?" Kato said.
"Sorry!" Carlisle said. "You're all straight except for them, my hands just naturally stop there." She snickered. She suddenly felt the urge to play with dolls.
"I can turn you into a toad, you know," Kato said, as she flung her legs over the edge of the sidecar and tipped herself out. She put her glasses back in her cape and felt around to make sure nothing important had fallen out.
Stevenson walked to the back of the sidecar and took his flamethrower out of the compartment. It was made to be strapped onto the user's back, with two tanks the size of two liter bottles, and a hose with an ornate brass gun and long tube attached. He had taken the design from an
old science fiction magazine cover he saw.
By the time Carlisle had pulled herself out of the seat, Kato had wandered off into the field, frozen solid with large clumps of brown grass populating the otherwise smooth surface. She looked like a small, wild animal with her tangled, unkempt hair, and her long cape confusing the shape of her body underneath. "Hey, you going someplace special?"
Kato turned and shook her head. "So much has happened here," she said. She held out her arms, as if displaying the area to a visitor. "There's magic here."
"Magic, huh?" the professor said. "Card tricks?"
"If you allowed yourself a moment of weakness, you could feel it," the little woman said. "The ancient emotions... the joy and sorrow." She knelt down and put her opened palm against the ground. "It was a place where people lived, once, before civilization ended, I guess."
Stevenson made the final adjustments to the straps across his shoulders. "So, the town used to be here in this field, then?"
Kato nodded.
"Don't encourage her," Carlisle said. "She'll be selling you protection charms, next."
"I have some, if you'd like to take a look," Kato said with a chuckle. "You're awfully rude after just feeling me up. I'd at least expect a 'thanks for a good time'."
Carlisle shook her head and tried her best not to smile. "Let's just get this done," she said.
"Okay, let's push this thing to the cave," Stevenson said. He grabbed the handlebars and motioned with his head for the others to get behind the bike.
"The fun never ends with you, does it?" Carlisle said.
-8-
The Mouth Of The Whale
"Okay, be careful, now, it was right about here where I saw the first little demons," he said, as they got close to the cave opening. He straightened up as the bike came to a stop and pointed. "See, there's the statues back there."
"Well, at least you didn't hallucinate everything," Carlisle said.
"Get your flame lit," Kato said. "They're coming."
"I don't see them," Carlisle said.
"Neither do I," the little woman said. "But they're coming."
"Do you sense them magically?" Stevenson said. He flicked a small flint striker attached to the tip of the gun tube and the pilot light lit and sputtered liquid fire onto the ground in front of them.
"No, I can smell them," she said.
He and Carlisle both sniffed the air. "Nothin'."
"They smell like mud," Kato said. She stretched her back and started puffing her pipe again.
"All I smell is cherry smoke," Carlisle said.
"When they come, wait until ya see a bunch of 'em before you fire that thing," Kato said. "Otherwise they'll just start attacking us in small waves and we'll be here all night."
"There!" Stevenson said. He pointed as he saw a couple of the little creatures. Almost immediately, several others joined them. "Fire 'em up?"
"No!" Kato said. "Wait for more of them!"
They were grouping together by the tens and then by the hundreds, scrambling over each other like rats in a sewer drain, but seemed intelligent enough to form a plan of attack.
"They were right," Kato said, just loud enough to be heard over the chattering sound the creatures were making.
"Right about what?" Stevenson said. He was resisting the urge to blast them, and against every fiber of his being, he continued to hold back.
"Hey, they're avoiding that one area," Carlisle said.
Kato nodded. "That's what they said," she said. "They wouldn't go near the statues when they came out, as if they was blocked from ever returning to the tunnel." She took a big puff, sending a thick plume of smoke around everyone. "Get ready!"
Suddenly the creatures attacked in earnest, a huge mob running directly at them in an undulating sea of ugly green. Stevenson didn't ask. He fired. The liquid flame shot a twenty foot long fire right through them, catching thousands of them alight, but more importantly, it cleared a path to the statues and the golden door behind them. "Come on! Push!" He grabbed the handlebars and started alone, but the others caught up and put their weights into the job at hand as well.
"Get to the statues and we're safe!" Kato yelled.
Stevenson took his hands off the handlebars and fired again into the crowd, but quickly began pushing again.
They were running over, and stepping on, burning creatures, all of whom were still alive, but seemed more interested in not being on fire. It was only fifty feet or so, and they made it across in only a few seconds.
"Are we safe?!" Carlisle yelled.
Kato stopped and quickly regained her composure. "We're safe... from them."
"Turn around," Carlisle said. "I think I saw one in your hair."
The witch turned and Carlisle pointed. "Uh, Stevenson, you don't mind touching them; you grab it." He did and threw it out into the crowd which had reassembled into a huge mob of tiny anger. But they kept their distance.
"Thanks," Kato said. "Now, we need to get this door open."
Carlisle took a look around and jotted down some notes. "It's not ancient," she said. "This facing is concrete, not stone."
"The founding fathers were here, what, thirty years ago," Stevenson said. "So, it's at least that old."
"Probably built, or rebuilt, sometime right before the asteroids hit," Kato said. She puffed her pipe and then pointed at the door with the stem. "The concrete and construction are from their period, though. So, whoever lived in the old town knew about this and fixed it up, probably gave it a facelift right after the world ended."
"About that," Carlisle said. "You seem to know a lot about history. More than the average person would know. How is that?"
The little woman shrugged. "Guess so," she said. "I read everything I can get, from college textbooks to sex manuals."
"But you don't go to the library?" she said.
"I tried once, but a lot of people got scared, so they tossed me out." She turned her attention to the decorations on the door. "I pay a couple of local children to steal books for me, though." She traced a design with her finger. "The door may not be old, but this design..."
"Aztec," Carlisle said. "They have no meaning, though, just designs. Still it's odd that they would choose actual decorations from a long-dead culture."
"They're pointing," Stevenson said. "Can't you see that? You two are so blinded by knowledge, you miss the obvious." He touched one design. "See, two fingers and three feathers, and the hand is pointing at this statue. And that design is one finger and four feathers, pointing at the other statue." He smiled and held his head up proudly. "Maybe I can see it because I'm used to reading blueprints?"
"Shit, he's right!" Carlisle said. She stepped back to get a better look, but forgot about the little creatures.
Kato grabbed her jacket lapel. "Watch it, Clumsy."
She looked behind her, and then remembered. "Oh!" She quickly jumped forward. "Thanks."
"Apparently the town's founding fathers weren't as smart as Professor Stevenson," Kato said.
"Wow!" Carlisle said. "I wonder how they were able to even dress themselves!"
"They never mentioned this code in their writings," the witch said. "But, then, the door was already open when they found it, so they wouldn't have needed to understand it."
"Doesn't that mean someone opened it before them, then?" Carlisle said. "Another town here before...." She instantly remembered what Kato had said about another town in the field. "This town that was here before had an open relationship with whoever built this originally?"
Kato puffed her pipe and nodded her head, her hair going in all directions. But she didn't want to gloat, and turned her attention back to the markings on the door. "Could be they were the same people, they just moved underground," she said, without much thought. "Those statues have feathers, but no fingers."
"They have legs that are thin as fingers, though," Carlisle said. "Maybe that's it."
"Could be," Kato said. "So, on that one, three feathers and two legs, then?" S
he examined the statue more closely and pushed her tiny fingertip against one of the legs. "Right through here, it's not a part of the main casting."
Stevenson was already checking the other statue. "This one, too," he said. "Feathers are like the legs, too; there's a little play in some of them. Four feathers and one leg, right?" He pushed the feathers and then tried to pull on the leg. It moved. He stepped back as the others stood beside him and watched. The statue started to turn, slowly, and with some sort of mechanical noise coming from inside the base, until it was looking at the door.
"So, you figured, try it, it can only work or kill us all?" Kato said.
He shrugged. "It worked, so why worry about it, now?"
"You see, he was born rich," Carlisle said. "It breeds a sense of invincibility. Stupid and usually wrong, but still, you can't help but admire his ignorance sometimes."
"Yeah, noticed that," Kato said. She was standing beside the other statue, and though trying to hide it, she had already attempted to reach the feathers on top, but couldn't. They were too high."
"So, let's get this one done," right?" Carlisle said. "What was the code, again?"
"Three feathers and two legs," Kato said in a low voice.
It worked. The statue groaned and crackled, but slowly turned until it, too, was facing the door.
"Hmm," Carlisle said. "Did anything happen?" She walked to the door and tried to listen, but it suddenly popped open, knocking her back on her butt.
Stevenson put a hand under each of her arms and lifted her onto her feet, but Kato was already looking through the opening. He felt he needed to pick up the pace or she was going to go on ahead of them, so he quickly shed the flamethrower backpack and pulled out a small lantern from the sidecar trunk. "We'll need this, right?"
Kato looked back and nodded. "Looks pitch black for a while," she said. "But, there seems to be a light in the distance."
"Must be openings in the cave roof," Carlisle said. She tapped her pith helmet with her knuckles. "See, be prepared for falling rocks."
"You should have been wearing it on your ass," Stevenson said.
"Well, all their papers just say they didn't need lanterns after about ten minutes in," Kato said. "Assuming they were walking cautiously, probably a mile. But they didn't say why."
