Under the Eye of God

by David Gerrold

  “Wait!” said Sawyer. “We have to time this. One minute intervals!”

  “But you have to go first,” Lee told him. “You have the dog-boy.”

  “All right, all right. Make sure Finn gets sent down after me.”

  “It’ll happen. Get going!”

  Sawyer handed Ibaka to Finn and climbed over the edge of the channel, a much harder step for him than for the big Dragon. The water churned coldly around him—and it stank! He gritted his teeth as he sat down in it. The wet chill seeped up into his pants and straight up his back. With his left hand, he held tightly to the edge of the channel—a task made all the more difficult because the cold rushing water pushed at him so strongly. Finn pushed Ibaka into his arms—“Good luck!” Sawyer managed a weak grin and released his grip on the rocks. The surging water swept him and the dog-child on his lap instantly away and down toward the blackness of the tube. He didn’t even have time to wave.

  Darkness swallowed them up. Ibaka screamed in terror. Sawyer screamed too—half in jest, half in sympathetic resonance. The dirty water pushed them headlong into total blackness. The light behind them vanished. Down the tube they hurtled. They had no idea what the channel held, what traps or twists or sudden drops.

  At one time, this great channel had described a graceful course of loops and curves as it had wound its way gently down the canyon. At one time, it had fed a whole series of efficient drainage basins and beautiful green filtration farms. Now, it lay buried beneath rubble and debris, the detritus of the fabled city on the towering cliffs above. Now, it lay forgotten, its channels covered, its basins clogged, its fields filled with waste and wreckage. The city didn’t even remember the river it had built here. But the water still rushed down and down, beneath the piled trash, beneath the dirt, beneath the heavily armored legs of the Dragon Guards and the cold spider-feet of the robots—all unnoticed—around the jagged hills and raw escarpments, the great channel sweeping down the gullies, looping, turning, curving, dropping suddenly, then rushing madly forward again for a sudden almost-level dash. The water rushed in liquid panic, headlong and always down.

  Inside the sluice tube, Sawyer and Ibaka did not share the same joy of construction as the long-dead architect of the channel. In the darkness, all the terrifying loops and curves gave their ride down the conduit anything but a sense of grace and smoothness. Unexpected twists and turns punctuated their journey, always catching them by surprise. Sudden drops into nothingness left their stomachs clenching and their hearts pounding. And always, they hurtled on in utter blackness.

  On and on, the water carried them. The ride went on forever. Sawyer began to fear that he had made a big mistake. His mind went into overdrive, summoning up one possibility after another. Suppose the channel had obstructions in it or sudden breaks? What if razor sharp pieces of jagged metal lay ahead, waiting to rip great slices out of them as they slid by? But, no—the Dragon would have cleared away anything in the channel, wouldn’t he? His great bulk alone would push everything before him—

  -- unless he had become jammed somewhere up ahead, unable to break free, drowned and clogging up the tunnel with his body, like an armored cork, and the water damming up behind him in the pipe. Sawyer’s heart began to thud in panic at the thought. Everyone who came after Kask would come slamming up against him, adding their own weight to the dam, each one caught and drowning in his turn, with no way up or out, and the others piling up behind, no way to warn them. Sawyer could already feel the chilly water filling up his lungs. He gasped for breath and hung on tight, trying not to panic. But in the darkness, time stretched out forever.

  The rushing water chilled and stank. Sawyer’s mind raced almost as fast. He couldn’t escape his own worst fears—all the things that might have gone wrong. What if Kask had missed the access? Or what if someone had permanently sealed it? Or what if the Dragon couldn’t grab him fast enough? Or what if the battle-robots and the Dragon Guards stood waiting?

  As they continued to bounce and tumble, the certainty grew in Sawyer that he had made a terrible misjudgment about the nature of this channel. Maybe it had no access to grab at all. Maybe it just led inevitably to the lake at the bottom of the Old City detainment. Maybe, one by one, all the terrified prisoners would jump into the tube, and one by one, each and every one of them would end up sliding right back down into the waters of the dungeon where they’d started, only this time the deadly mayzel-fish would fatten on their flesh.

  Finally, even fear began to ebb, gave way to boredom, and then cold wet impatience. How far did this thing go anyway?

  And then, just when he had given up all hope—light!—and a hand the size of a wall reached down and plucked them both from the stream. Sawyer gasped in surprise and almost let go of Ibaka, but the dog-boy clutched at him, and Kask pulled them both, dripping wet and starting to shiver, up from the access pipe with ease. The giant Dragon laughed with delight at his prize. His gleaming teeth and the booming roar from his chest terrified Sawyer and Ibaka both.

  Tubal Litigation

  Kask grabbed Ibaka from Sawyer and started to rise. “I go now—”

  “Wait a minute! You promised to pull us out!”

  “I pulled you out.”

  “All of us.”

  “I made no such promise.”

  “Then you have no honor!” Sawyer shouted at the Dragon’s back.

  Kask stopped. He whirled around, his tail lashing against the stanchions and rocks that surrounded the pipe. “I have honor!”

  “No, you don’t! If you don’t pull every single one of us out of that pipe right now, I’ll tell the world that Kask the Dragon lies like a—a lawyer.”

  Kask hesitated, indecision struggled across his features.

  “Now!” demanded Sawyer. “Get to the pipe!”

  Holding Ibaka awkwardly in one hand, Kask squatted again by the access. He reached and scooped—and missed. The prisoner went screaming past. “Missed him,” Kask grunted. “Sorry.”

  Sawyer stared at him, astonished at his indifference. “You did that on purpose!”

  “No, I didn’t. I’ll get the next one,” Kask said, without much enthusiasm. He shifted his position, anchoring Ibaka under his armpit, and reached down into the pipe even farther than before. He yanked—and pulled out Harry Mertz. He tossed him aside like a flopping fish.

  “Finn? Did Finn go ahead of you?” Sawyer demanded.

  Harry finished coughing and shook his head. “No, he didn’t. They started to panic up there. They don’t want to listen to Finn and Lee. Finn had to use his gun. He promised to stand guard until Lee and the girl-boy got down, but some of the others jumped in anyway—” Harry glanced around in confusion.

  “Kask missed ‘em. Once he had the pup again, he wanted to leave. It took a minute to convince him to keep his promise.” To Harry’s curious look, he added softly, “I had to rub his nose in it.”

  “Big job,” Harry acknowledged. “I’ll never underestimate you again.”

  Kask flipped another rider out of the sluice tube, this one skinny and shaking—Slash. She leapt away from the Dragon, glaring at him suspiciously. Ibaka yelped at her excitedly. She started for him, but Sawyer grabbed her and held her back. “Let him work—”

  Kask grunted in annoyance. “Missed another one. They didn’t space themselves out like you said.” The screams still echoed in the tube.

  Harry and Sawyer exchanged a glance and shuddered. Harry whispered. “Kind of like watching election returns come in—” Then, seeing Sawyer’s face, he added, “Sorry. I thought you liked jokes.”

  “Ask me again after we get Finn out of there.”

  Kask yanked another prisoner out of the tube, one that neither of them recognized. He fell wetly to the ground, then began to crawl painfully away. He looked injured. Another prisoner came flopping down almost on top of him. And then a third. The Dragon had found a rhythm to his task. He missed another prisoner—muttered something nasty in a language no one understood—then reached back in
the pipe and pulled out Lee-1169. “Aha!” he laughed. “I caught a traitor!” But he tossed Lee aside like all the rest and bent back down to the access pipe.

  “Stop missing them!” Sawyer shouted, terrified that Kask would let his brother slip by. “Let go of the dog-boy.”

  “He’ll get away!”

  “Give him to me. I’ll hold him.” Sawyer ran to Kask and grabbed; the Dragon pushed him back. Another prisoner slipped past. Kask grunted, “Now, see what you made me do!”

  “You made a promise!”

  “Damn your human eyes!” the Dragon roared. He shoved Ibaka back into Sawyer’s arms. “If you lose him, I’ll kill you.”

  Sawyer made a show of holding onto Ibaka firmly. Ibaka started to squirm, but Sawyer rapped him sharply on the snout. “Keep still!” Then, stepping back out of the way, and feeling guilty, he whispered, “I won’t let him hurt you. Trust me, little one.”

  Ibaka looked up at him with big round eyes. Trust? A human?

  Slash approached and held her hand up to the puppy’s face. He sniffed at her, then licked her fingers tentatively. Sawyer looked down at Slash with curiosity, but he maintained his rigid grip on the little dog-boy’s squirming body. “Shh,” he said. He rubbed the puppy’s head affectionately and hugged him close. After a minute, Ibaka stopped protesting. Sawyer turned around again to watch the Dragon.

  More prisoners came tumbling down the sluice tube now, one after the other; Kask pulled them out as fast as he could, reaching first with one hand, then the other. They came out gasping, swearing, coughing, staggering, and exhausted. Many had injuries—burned and ragged flesh. All had horror stories: the battle-robots, the panic, the fighting to get into the tube—

  Sawyer pushed through the crowd of ragged and dirty men. “My brother, Finn! What happened to him?”

  “The guy with the gun—? I don’t know. I didn’t see—”

  Sawyer yelled to Kask. “Keep watching! Watch for Finn!”

  But Kask just shook his head. “Only dead ones now.” He pulled another body out—only half a body. Sawyer flinched in horror. The battle-robots had melted the poor man’s face. Kask let the body fall back into the sluice tube. “No more.” He looked down at Sawyer. “I guess he didn’t make it.”

  In his revulsion and dismay, Sawyer’s grip on Ibaka loosened, and the puppy took immediate advantage. He leapt from Sawyer’s arms with an excited yelp. Kask forgot about his promise and charged after Ibaka, shoving Sawyer and twelve other men out of the way. Ibaka scrambled between their legs, ducking back and forth, until he finally saw an opening. He dashed for a gap under the access pipe and slid under it. Kask followed with a roar; he scattered the men like tenpins, and reached quickly into the gap after Ibaka—the puppy snarled and bit, but the Dragon grabbed him by the leg and pulled him out.

  Meanwhile, Sawyer had leapt up onto the top of the pipe and struggled desperately to reach into it, grabbing frantically and shouting, “Finn! Finn—” The bodies swept past him, each one in worse condition than the last. Sawyer couldn’t look—but he couldn’t look away. He had to stay there for Finn. He hung down into the water, waving his arms and grabbing at everything that came surging past.

  “Crazy man,” grunted Kask, nodding toward Sawyer.

  “Of course, you wouldn’t understand,” said Lee-1169. “He only wants to save his brother.”

  Kask reacted sharply to that. “I had a brother. I understand.”

  “Then help him!”

  “Why? My brother died? Why should I save his? His brother probably died too. Why waste the effort pulling a dead body out of the pipe?”

  Lee made a noise of frustration. “Dragons!” He started to turn away—

  “I’ve got him!” shouted Sawyer suddenly. “I’ve got him! Somebody help me! Help me, you goddamn son of a lying lizard! You promised!”

  “You let the dog-boy escape!”

  “Help me save my brother!” Sawyer gasped out breathlessly. I can’t hold on!”

  After Words

  Sawyer hung on frantically to Finn’s limp body. He didn’t know if Finn still breathed or not, but he didn’t dare let go. Whatever had happened, he had to know for certain. He strained to hang on as hard as he could, but he didn’t have the strength or the leverage. He could feel his grip on Finn’s shirt weakening. And he felt himself sliding as Finn’s weight pulled him forward into the tube.

  “Help me!” he shouted again—and then suddenly, he felt hands grabbing at him, pulling him. “Get Finn! Get Finn!” he cried. Somehow Sawyer hooked his fingers into the sleeve of Finn’s jacket and pulled. Someone else reached past him, also grabbing—

  —and then, amazingly, Finn reached up and grabbed his arm! They hung onto each other, staring into each other’s eyes, both wet and grateful, while all the other hands pulled and tugged at them. Slowly, Finn came rising up out of the surging water; he flopped over the edge of the pipe and hung there gasping. Harry and Lee pulled him the rest of the way over and laid him down on the wet ground. Sawyer sagged down next to him, one arm still wrapped around his brother. “I thought I’d lost you.”

  “You almost did,” Finn coughed. “It got pretty hairy up there.”

  “What happened—?”

  “Later. I’ll tell you later.”

  Harry and Lee and a couple of other men that neither recognized stood around them, concern showing on their faces—and relief that Finn felt well enough to sit up to cough and spit the dirty water out of his lungs.

  And then, Sawyer remembered. He jumped to his feet and advanced on Kask. The Dragon had pulled Ibaka out from the hole under the pipe; now he lifted him high in the air like a prize, where he squirmed and squealed and tried to bite the hand that held him.

  “You tailless son of a lizard!” Sawyer started shouting. “You couldn’t keep a promise if the Lady Zillabar herself nailed you to it!”

  “You let the dog-boy go! I caught him,” Kask roared back. “I can reclaim my honor now.”

  Ibaka screamed down at him, a high-pitched yapping sound. “I saved you! You can’t turn me in! I showed you the way!”

  Slash began beating at Kask’s legs, shrieking her rage too. “You owe me! I helped you escape! Give the puppy back to me! You have the honor of a pig!”

  Kask remained resolute. “I have found the Lady’s gift. I have erased my shame. I can return to my rightful place.” He lowered his hand in front of his face and gave the squirming dog-child a furious shake. Ibaka calmed down immediately. “You must not run away.”

  Ibaka spat at him. “I saved your life. You owe me!”

  Lee-1169 also added his voice to the argument. “Join the Alliance of Life, Kask. We all saved each other here. Don’t betray that.”

  Slash continued to pound on the Dragon’s thigh. “You have to listen to them! Give me my puppy!”

  Harry Mertz, former High Justice and Arbiter of Thoska-Roole, pushed forward. “Listen to the dog-child, great Dragon. He saved you—to give him back to Lady Zillabar would bring an even greater dishonor to your family. Everybody would know what you had done.”

  Kask started to look confused. “You people know nothing about honor.” he said, turning around in annoyance. “You don’t even deserve to have an opinion about honor.”

  The humans traded dumbfounded looks. Dragons!

  “So much for your ‘Alliance of Life,’” Sawyer said to Lee.

  “They breed them for strength,” Harry explained sadly. “Not brains.”

  With Sawyer’s help, Finn had pulled himself to his feet. “Well,” he said. “Now we know how far we can trust him.”

  “What do you know about trust?” Kask rumbled.

  Finn shook his head. “You’ll never know.”

  Kask started to answer, then—in annoyance, he reached down and swatted the insistent Slash away from his side, knocking the boy tumbling. “Go away,” he said. “Or I’ll kill you.”

  “If you do, you’ll die here!” Slash shouted, picking herself up. “The Guards will
find you and kill you. Or you’ll starve to death in the desert. I know how to get out of here. You don’t.”

  For the first time, the men began looking around. Even Kask stopped to consider Slash’s words. They stood in a rocky gully scattered with boulders the size of houses. Beside them, the pipe led down to a covered reservoir—and from there to the dirty gray dome of the Old City detainment. It blocked their access to the desert. It lay across their path like a wall.

  A Horde with No Name

  “Maybe we can go back up?” Lee suggested.

  Slash shook her head. “It won’t work. I know this place. You don’t. You’ll all die here if I leave you.”

  A couple of the prisoners shook their heads in contempt. “Only a fool would listen to her. We’ll go up.” They turned and began climbing roughly over the huge rocks that lined the broken channel.

  Three other prisoners started working their way downward. “If we keep to the cover of the rocks, we can find our way around the dome.”

  Sawyer and Finn looked at each other. Finn said, “The kid brought us to the sluice tube. I think we should trust her.” Sawyer agreed with a nod. The brothers looked to Harry and Lee. “Don’t you agree?”

  Kask had followed all this with interest. “This doesn’t affect me,” he grunted. “I have the Lady’s gift. I can go back.”

  “They shot at us, you stupid worm!” Ibaka screamed. “Have you forgotten that already? They said you had no name! They turned their backs on you! They shot at us!”

  “I don’t know—” Kask admitted abruptly. He sat down with a heavy thump.

  The humans all looked at each other. A Dragon admitting ignorance? “Consider this progress,” said Finn. He sat down opposite Kask. He held out his hands. “Let me hold the dog-boy for a minute, so you can think. I won’t let him go.”

  Kask hesitated, but Finn’s expression remained resolute. Reluctantly, Kask pushed Ibaka into Finn’s arms. “Here. Take him. Maybe he speaks the truth—I have to think about this.”