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.The clouds are likelittle wisps of cotton way down there.""The sooner up, the sooner down," I said, and we began to climbonce again.It took us another week to cut our way to within a mile of thetop.All the creatures of fire had withdrawn, but two ice avalanchesshowed us we were still unwanted.We survived the first withoutmishap, but Kelly sprained his right ankle during the second, and Docthought he might have cracked a couple of ribs, too.We made a camp.Doc stayed there with him; Henry and Mallardi andI pushed on up the last mile.Now the going was beastly.It had become a mountain of glass.Wehad to hammer out a hold for every foot we made.We worked in shifts.We fought for everything we gained.Our packs became monstrous loadsand our fingers grew numb.Our defense system--the projectors--seemedto be wearing down, or else something was increasing its efforts to getus, because the snakes kept slithering closer, burning brighter.Theyhurt my eyes, and I cursed them.When we were within a thousand feet of the top, we dug in and madeanother camp.The next couple hundred feet looked easier, then arotten spot, and I couldn't tell what it was like above that.When we awakened, there was just Henry and myself.There was noindication of where Mallardi had gotten to.Henry switched hiscommunicator to Doc's letter and called below.I tuned in in time tohear him say, "Haven't seen him.""How's Kelly?" I asked."Better," he replied."Those ribs might not be cracked at that."Then Mallardi called us."I'm four hundred feet above you, fellows," his voice came in."It was easy up to here, but the going's just gotten rough again.""Why'd you cut out on your own?" I asked."Because I think something's going to try to kill me before toolong," he said."It's up ahead, waiting at the top.You can probablyeven see it from there.It's a snake."Henry and I used the binoculars.Snake? A better word might be dragon--or maybe even MidgardSerpent.It was coiled around the peak, head upraised.It seemed to beseveral hundred feet in length, and it moved its head from side toside, and up and down, and it smoked solar coronas.Then I spotted Mallardi climbing toward it."Don't go any further!" I called."I don't know whether your unitwill protect you against anything like that! Wait'll I call Doc--""Not a chance," he said."This baby is mine.""Listen! You can be first on the mountain, if that's what youwant! But don't tackle that thing alone!"A laugh was the only reply."All three units might hold it off," I said."Wait for us."There was no answer, and we began to climb.I left Henry far below me.The creature was a moving light in thesky.I made two hundred feet in a hurry, and when I looked up again,I saw that the creature had grown two more heads.Lightnings flashedfrom its nostrils, and its tail whipped around the mountain.I madeanother hundred feet, and I could see Mallardi clearly by then,climbing steadily, outlined against the brilliance.I swung my pick,gasping, and I fought the mountain, following the trail he had cut.Ibegan to gain on him, because he was still pounding out his way and Ididn't have that problem.Then I heard him talking:"Not yet, big fella, not yet," he was saying, from behind a wallof static."Here's a ledge."I looked up, and he vanished.Then that fiery tail came lashing down toward where I had lastseen him, and I heard him curse and I felt the vibrations of hispneumatic gun.The tail snapped back again, and I heard another"Damn!"I made haste, stretching and racking myself and grabbing at the holdshe had cut, and then I heard him burst into song.Something from_Aida_, I think."Damn it! Wait up!" I said."I'm only a few hundred feetbehind."He kept on singing.I was beginning to get dizzy, but I couldn't let myself slow down.My right arm felt like a piece of wood, my left like a piece of ice.My feet were hooves, and my eyes burned in my head.Then it happened.Like a bomb, the snake and the swinging ended in a flash ofbrilliance that caused me to sway and almost lose my grip.I clung tothe vibrating mountainside and squeezed my eyes against the light."Mallardi?" I called.No answer.Nothing.I looked down.Henry was still climbing.I continued to climb.I reached the ledge Mallardi had mentioned, found him there.His respirator was still working.His protective suit wasblackened and scorched on the right side.Half of his pick had beenmelted away.I raised his shoulders.I turned up the volume on the communicator and heard himbreathing.His eyes opened, closed, opened."Okay." he said."'Okay,' hell! Where do you hurt?""No place.I feel jus' fine.Listen! I think it's used up itsjuice for awhile.Go plant the flag.Prop me up here first, though.I wanna watch."I got him into a better position, squirted the water bulb,listened to him swallow.Then I waited for Henry to catch up.Ittook about six minutes."I'll stay here," said Henry, stooping beside him."You go doit."I started up the final slope.VIII swung and I cut and I blasted and I crawled.Some of the ice hadbeen melted, the rocks scorched.Nothing came to oppose me.The static had gone with the dragon.There was silence, and darkness between stars.I climbed slowly, still tired from that last sprint, butdetermined not to stop.All but sixty feet of the entire world lay beneath me, and heavenhung above me, and a rocket winked overhead.Perhaps it was thepressmen, with zoom cameras.Fifty feet.No bird, no archer, no angel, no girl.Forty feet.I started to shake.It was nervous tension [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
