The Ninth Golden Age of Science Fiction Megapack

by Dave Dryfoos

  Soon there would be nothing left of the Private Properly Keep Out that, according to Molly’s bedtime story, the Owners had entrusted to them when driven away by radioactivity. Soon the soldiers themselves would be gone. None would remain to guard the city but a few strayed servants like Molly, and an occasional Civil Defender.

  And himself, Roddie reflected, spitting savagely into the fire. He might remain. But how he fitted into the picture, he didn’t know. And Molly, who claimed to have found him in the ruins after a fight with Invaders twenty years before, couldn’t or wouldn’t say.

  Well, for as long as possible, Roddie decided, he’d do his duty as the others did theirs—single-mindedly. Eventually the soldiers might accept him as one of themselves; meanwhile, this newly attempted first aid was useful to them.

  He gave the fire a final poke and then paused, wondering if, when heated, his screwdriver could make an unfastened end of wire stick on the grayish spot where it seemed to belong.

  Stretching prone to blow the embers hot so he could try out his new idea, Roddie got too close to the flames. Instantly the room filled with the stench of singed hair. Roddie drew angrily back, beating out the sparks in his uncut blond mane.

  As he stood slapping his head and muttering, a deranged Civil Defense firefighter popped into the doorway and covered him with carbon dioxide foam.

  Roddie fled. His life-long friends were not merely wearing out, they were unbearably wearing.

  In the street, even before he’d wiped off the foam, he regretted his flight. The fire was back home. And there in the cold of this fog-shrouded canyon, a mere trail between heaped-up walls of rubble, the diaper he wore felt inadequate against the pre-dawn cold. His cherished weapon, a magnetic tack-hammer, was chill beneath the diaper’s top, and the broken, radium-dialed wristwatch suspended from a string around his neck hung clammy against his chest. He stood irresolute on numbing bare feet, and considered returning to the more familiar bedlam.

  But colder than cold was his shame at being cold. Molly never was, though she knew how to keep him warm, nor were the others. Hunger, thirst, pain and coldness were sensations never experienced by his friends. Like the growth he’d been undergoing till recently, these were things of ignominy, to be hidden as far as possible from inquiring eyes. Cold as it was, he’d have to hide.

  Temporarily, the darkness concealed him, though it was not quite complete. From above the fog, the moon played vaguely deceptive light on the splinters of architecture looming toward it. Some distance off, an owl hooted, but here nocturnal rodents felt free to squeak and rustle as they scampered.

  The world seemed ghostly. Yet it wasn’t dead; it merely lurked. And as an irrepressible yawn reminded Roddie of his absurd need for sleep even in the midst of danger, he concluded for the thousandth time that the One who’d built him must have been an apprentice.

  For just such reasons he’d developed the hideout toward which he now walked. It had been the haven of his adolescence, when the discovery of how much he differed from his friends had been a shock, and the shock itself a difference to be hidden.

  His hiding place was a manhole, dead center in the dead street. A weathered bronze bar, carefully placed in the cover’s slotted rim, was the levering key that opened its door.

  Everything was wrong tonight! He couldn’t even find the bar. Of course that spoiled things, because the bar was a roller on which to move the heavy cover from below, and a support that held it ajar for ventilation.

  But the example of his friends had taught him above all else to carry out every purpose. Molly was a nurse; she had raised him despite all obstacles. The soldiers were guards; they protected the ruins against everything larger than a rat. The firefighter had put even him out when he was aflame…

  Anyhow, the manhole cover had been loosened by his frequent handling. He lifted it aside by main strength, then flattened himself to the street, and felt with his feet for the top rung.

  Halfway down the iron ladder, something made him pause. He looked, but saw only blackness. He listened, sniffed, found nothing. What could have entered through the iron cover?

  He sneered at his own timidity and jumped to the bottom.

  It was warm! The dry bottom of the hole had the temperature of body heat, as if a large animal had recently rested there!

  Quickly, Roddie drew the hammer from his waist. Then, with weapon ready for an instantaneous blow, he stretched his left hand through the darkness. He touched something warm, softish. Gingerly he felt over that curving surface for identifying features.

  While Roddie investigated by touch, his long fingers were suddenly seized and bitten. At the same time, his right shin received a savage kick. And his own retaliatory blow was checked in mid-swing by an unexpected voice.

  “Get your filthy hands off me!” it whispered angrily. “Who do you think you are?”

  Startled, he dropped his hammer. “I’m Roddie,” he said, squatting to fumble for it. “Who do you think you are?”

  “I’m Ida, naturally! Just how many girls are there in this raiding party?”

  His first Invader—and he had dropped his weapon!

  Scrabbling fearfully in the dust for his hammer, Roddie paused suddenly. This girl—whatever that was—seemed to think him one of her own kind. There was a chance, not much, but worth taking, to turn delay to advantage. Maybe he could learn something of value before he killed her. That would make the soldiers accept him!

  He stalled, seeking a gambit. “How would I know how many girls there are?”

  Half expecting a blow, he got instead an apology. “I’m sorry,” the girl said. “I should have known. Never even heard your name before, either. Roddie… Whose boat did you come in, Roddie?”

  Boat? What was a boat? “How would I know?” he repeated, voice tight with fear of discovery.

  If she noticed the tension, she didn’t show it. Certainly her whisper was friendly enough. “Oh, you’re one of the fellows from Bodega, then. They shoved a boy into our boat at the last minute, too. Tough, wasn’t it, getting separated in the fog and tide like that? If only we didn’t have to use boats… But, say, how are we going to get away from here?”

  “I wouldn’t know,” Roddie said, closing his fingers on the hammer, and rising. “How did you get in?”

  “Followed your footprints. It was sundown and I saw human tracks in the dust and they led me here. Where were you?”

  “Scouting around,” Roddie said vaguely. “How did you know I was a man when I came back?”

  “Because you couldn’t see me, silly! You know perfectly well these androids are heat-sensitive and can locate us in the dark!”

  Indeed he did know! Many times he’d felt ashamed that Molly could find him whenever she wanted to, even here in the manhole. But perhaps the manhole would help him now to redeem himself…

  “I’d like to get a look at you,” he said.

  The girl laughed self-consciously. “It’s getting gray out. You’ll see me soon enough.”

  But she’d see him, Roddie realized. He had to talk fast.

  “What’ll we do when it’s light?” he asked.

  “Well, I guess the boats have gone,” Ida said. “You could swim the Gate, I guess—you seem tall and strong enough. But I couldn’t. You’ll think it’s crazy, but I’ve given this some thought, and even looked it over from the other side. I expect to try the Golden Gate Bridge!”

  Now he was getting somewhere! The bridge was ruined, impassable. Even her own people had crossed the Strait by other means. But if there were a way over the bridge…

  “It’s broken,” he said. “How in the world can we cross it?”

  “Oh, you’ll find out, if you take me up there. I—I don’t want to be alone, Roddie. Will you go with me? Now?”

  Well, she could be made to point out the route before he killed her—if nothing happened when she saw him
.

  Uneasy, Roddie hefted the hammer in his hand.

  A giggle broke the pause. “It’s nice of you to wait and let me go first up the ladder,” the girl said. “But where the heck is the rusty old thing?”

  “I’ll go first,” said Roddie. He might need the advantage. “The ladder’s right behind me.”

  He climbed with hammer in teeth, and stretched his left hand from street level to grasp and neutralize the girl’s right. Then, nervously fingering his weapon, he stared at her in the thin gray dawn.

  She was short and lean, except for roundnesses here and there. From her shapeless doeskin dress stretched slender legs that tapered to feet that were bare, tiny, and, like her hands, only two in number.

  Roddie was pleased. They were evenly matched as to members, and that would make things easy when the time came.

  He looked into her face. It smiled at him, tanned and ruddy, with a full mouth and bright dark eyes that hid under long lashes when he looked too long.

  Startling, those wary eyes. Concealing. For a moment he felt a rush of fear, but she gave his hand a squeeze before twisting loose, and burst into sudden laughter.

  “Diapers!” she chortled, struggling to keep her voice low. “My big, strong, blond and blue-eyed hero goes into battle wearing diapers, and carrying only a hammer to fight with! You’re the most unforgettable character I have ever known!”

  He’d passed inspection, then—so far. He expelled his withheld breath, and said, “I think you’ll find me a little odd, in some ways.”

  “Oh, not at all,” Ida replied quickly. “Different, yes, but I wouldn’t say odd.”

  When they started down the street, she was nervous despite Roddie’s assertion that he knew where the soldiers were posted. He wondered if she felt some of the doubt he’d tried to conceal, shared his visions of what the soldiers might do if they found him brazenly strolling with an Invader. They might not believe he was only questioning a prisoner.

  Every day, his friends were becoming more unpredictable.

  For that very reason, because he didn’t know what precautions would do any good, he took a chance and walked openly to the bridge by the most direct route. In time this apparent assurance stilled Ida’s fears, and she began to talk.

  Many of the things she said were beyond his experience and meaningless to him, but he did note with interest how effective the soldiers had been.

  “It’s awful,” Ida said. “So few young men are left, so many casualties…”

  “But why do you—we—keep up the fight?” Roddie asked. “I mean, the soldiers will never leave the city; their purpose is to guard it and they can’t leave, so they won’t attack. Let them alone, and there’ll be plenty of young men.”

  “Well!” said Ida, sharply. “You need indoctrination! Didn’t they ever tell you that the city is our home, even if the stupid androids do keep us out? Don’t you know how dependent we are on these raids for all our tools and things?”

  She sounded suspicious. Roddie shot her a furtive, startled glance. But she wasn’t standing off to fight him. On the contrary, she was too close for both comfort and combat. She bumped him hip and shoulder every few steps, and if he edged away, she followed.

  He went on with his questioning. “Why are you here? I mean, sure, the others are after tools and things, but what’s your purpose?”

  Ida shrugged. “I’ll admit no girl has ever done it before,” she said, “but I thought I could help with the wounded. That’s why I have no weapon.”

  She hesitated, glanced covertly up at him, and went on with a rush of words. “It’s the lack of men, I guess. All the girls are kind of bored and hopeless, so I got this bright idea and stowed away on one of the boats when it was dark and the fog had settled down. Do you think I was being silly?”

  “No, but you do seem a little purposeless.”

  In silence they trudged through a vast area of charred wood and concrete foundations on the northern end of the city. Thick fog over the water hid Alcatraz, but in-shore visibility was better, and they could see the beginning of the bridge approach.

  A stone rattled nearby. There was a clink of metal. Ida gasped, and clung to Roddie’s arm.

  “Behind me!” he whispered urgently. “Get behind me and hold on!”

  He felt Ida’s arms encircling his waist, her chin digging into his back below the left shoulder. Facing them, a hundred feet away, stood a soldier. He looked contemptuous, hostile.

  “It’s all right,” Roddie said, his voice breaking.

  There was a long, sullen, heart-stopping stare. Then the soldier turned and walked away.

  Ida’s grip loosened, and he could feel her sag behind him. Roddie turned and held her. With eyes closed, she pressed cold blue lips to his. He grimaced and turned away his head.

  Ida’s response was quick. “Forgive me,” she breathed, and slipped from his arms, but she held herself erect. “I was so scared. And then we’ve had no sleep, no food or water.”

  Roddie was familiar with these signs of weakness, proud of appearing to deny his own humiliating needs.

  “I guess you’re not as strong as me,” he said smugly. “I’ll take care of you. Of course we can’t sleep now, but I’ll get food and water.” Leaving her to follow, he turned left to the ruins of a supermarket he had previously visited, demonstrating his superior strength by setting a pace Ida couldn’t match. By the time she caught up with him, he had grubbed out a few cans of the special size that Molly always chose. Picking two that were neither dented, swollen, nor rusted, he smashed an end of each with his hammer, and gave Ida her choice of strained spinach or squash.

  “Baby food!” she muttered. “Maybe it’s just what we need, but to eat baby food with a man wearing a diaper… Tell me, Roddie, how did you happen to know where to find it?”

  “Well, this is the northern end of the city,” he answered, shrugging. “I’ve been here before.”

  “Why did the soldier let us go?”

  “This watch,” he said, touching the radium dial. “It’s a talisman.” But Ida’s eyes had widened, and the color was gone from her face. She was silent, too, except when asking him to fill his fast-emptied can with rain-water. She didn’t finish her own portion, but lay back in the rubble with feet higher than her head, obviously trying to renew her strength.

  And when they resumed their walk, her sullen, fear-clouded face showed plainly that he’d given himself away.

  But to kill her now, before learning how she planned to cross the supposedly impassable bridge, seemed as purposeless and impulsive as Ida herself. Roddie didn’t think, in any case, that her death would satisfy the soldiers. With new and useful information to offer, he might join them as an equal at last. But if his dalliance with this enemy seemed pointless, not even Molly’s knitting needles could protect him.

  He was sure the soldiers must be tracking the mysterious emanations of his watch dial, and had trouble to keep from glancing over his shoulder at every step. But arrival at the bridge approach ended the need for this self-restraint. Here, difficult going demanded full attention.

  He’d never gone as far as the bridge before, not having wanted to look as if he might be leaving the city. The approach was a jungle of concrete with an underbrush of reinforcing-steel that reached for the unwary with rusted spines. Frequently they had to balance on cracked girders, and inch over roadless spots high off the ground.

  Here Ida took the lead. When they got to where three approach roads made a clover-leaf, she led him down a side road and into a forest.

  Roddie stopped, and seized her arm.

  “What are you trying to do?*’ he demanded.

  “I’m taking you with me,” Ida said firmly. “Taking you where you belong!”

  “No!” he blurted, drawing his hammer. “I can’t go, nor let you go. I belong here!”

  Ida gasped, twisted
loose, and ran. Roddie ran after her.

  She wasn’t so easily caught. Like a frightened doe, she dashed in and out among the trees, leaped to the bridge’s underpinnings where they thrust rustedly from a cliff, and scrambled up the ramp.

  Roddie sighed and slowed down. The pavement ended just beyond the cable anchors. From there to the south tower, only an occasional dangling support wire showed where the actual bridge had been suspended. Ida was trapped.

  He could take his time. Let the soldiers come up, as they undoubtedly would, to finish the job…

  But Ida didn’t seem to realize she was trapped. Without hesitation she dashed up the main left-hand suspension cable and ran along its curved steel surface.

  For a moment, Roddie thought of letting her go, letting her run up the ever-steepening catenary until—because there were no guard-ropes or handgrips—she simply fell. That would solve his problem.

  Except it wouldn’t be his solution. Her death wouldn’t prove him to his friends.

  He set out quickly, before Ida was lost to sight in the thick fog that billowed in straight from the ocean. At first he ran erect along the top of the yard-wide cylinder of twisted metal, but soon the curve steepened. He had to go on all fours, clinging palm and sole.

  Blood was on the cable where she’d passed. More blood stained it when he’d followed.

  But because his friends knew neither pain nor fatigue, Roddie would admit none either. Nor would he give in to the fear that dizzied him at every downward look. He scrambled on like an automaton, watching only his holds, till he rammed Ida’s rear with his head.

  She had stopped, trembling and gasping. Roddie clung just below her and looked dazedly around. There was nothing in sight but fog, pierced by the rapier of rusted wire supporting them. Neither end of it was in sight.

  Upward lay success, if death were not nearer on the cable. No soldier had ever come even this far, for soldiers, as he’d told Ida, never left the city, were not built to do so. But he was here; with luck, he could capitalize on the differences that had plagued him so long.