Spinneret

"Again, probably artificial." Meredith pointed to a bare patch of ground Hafner hadn't noticed. "I'd guess that used to be a garden or small park. You can see that whatever used to be there is long gone. Anything that could possibly have decayed did so centuries ago."

The wind died and began again from a slightly different direction, changing with equal subtlety the mixture of scents. Hafner glanced upward; the phantom cloud, too, had shifted direction. "Someone went to an awful lot of trouble to make the workers feel at home."

"Yeah." Meredith pointed toward the minaret in the distance. "Let's leave a marker at this entrance and head over toward that tower. I want a look at that wall, too."

Barrier produced a fluorescent orange-and-pink stick-on from his pack and got out of the car. Peering ahead, Nichols sneezed again and shook his head. "I don't understand why they'd bother putting in any walls down here," he said to no one in particular. "What would they want to cut this place in two parts for?"

"It may be simply decorative," Perez suggested. "Or possibly it separates the laborers from the elite."

"Or," Meredith put in, "it could have had a genuine defensive purpose. And if so, we'd better find out fast what they were defending against." He glanced back as Barner climbed into the car, nodded to Nichols. "Let's go, Doctor. Take it real slow and easy."

It was, Perez decided, the ultimate ghost town, raising boyhood memories he'd have preferred to leave buried. Many of the buildings they drove past had open doors, and he found himself peering nervously into each one as they passed, half expecting some lone survivor of the mass exodus to charge out at them.

Originally, he'd applauded Hafner's stand on military participation in this trip; now, he almost wished Meredith had brought those three squads along.

Hafner, at least, seemed to feel some of his same uneasiness. "Looks like they left in a hurry," the scientist murmured, gazing out his window. "A lot of doors and windows were left open."

"Why lock them?" Barner asked reasonably. "Unless they imported their own burglars, too—"

"They also left the Spi

Bamer shrugged. "You leave a fluorescent light on if you expect to be right back."

"Yeah," Meredith agreed. "So … why didn't they come back?" Tapping Nichols on the shoulder, he pointed ahead. "There; on the left—that wide spot in the road.

Pull over there and let's take a look inside one of these houses."

Nichols did as instructed and they all piled out. The building by the parking space was larger man the ones immediately around it, with inset doors and an archway extending almost to the street. "I'm going inside," Meredith said in a low voice, drawing his pistol. "Major, you and the others stay here. Are we in contact with the outside at the moment?"

"No, sir," Barner replied. He, too, had drawn his pistol.

"You still at quarter-power setting?"

"Yes."

"All right. I don't expect to run into any trouble, but if you hear a shot and I don't check in within a ten-count, boost power all the way up and call for assistance. If the snoopers overhead hear … well, at that point we've probably got worse worries."

Bamer nodded. "Understood. Good luck, Colonel."

"Thanks." Meredith stepped under the archway, pausing as Perez joined him.

"What do you want?" he growled.

"I'm coming with you," Perez told him calmly. "If you think there's possible danger in there, two would have a better chance than one. And you have to admit I'm the most expendable man here."

Meredith snorted, but waved his pistol impatiently. "Oh, all right. But don't touch anything, and if I give you an order, you hop. Got it?"

"Got it."

The door had seemed closed from the street, but the leftmost of the twin panels turned out to actually be ajar. Meredith halted there, spending nearly a minute examining the entire area before easing it open. Motioning Perez to stay put, he stepped over the sill and disappeared off to the right. A moment later his beckoning hand appeared. Wondering belatedly if his curiosity hadn't perhaps gotten him in over his head, Perez gingerly stepped inside.

They were in a large room, lined on all sides with floor-to-ceiling shelves.

Unrecognizable objects rested on some of them, uniformly coated with dust.

Directly across from them a wider chest-high counter replaced one of the shelves, its surface showing more wear than Perez had noticed anywhere else. He pointed that out to Meredith, who nodded. "Yeah. I thought at first this whole place was built out of painted cable-type metal, but it's looking more like we've got some sort of ceramic here, maybe over cable-type metal frame." He glanced to either side, perhaps at the two closed doors exiting from the room, and then walked over to the counter. Trying to watch both doors at once, Perez followed.

"The floor looks a little more scuffed here," Meredith said. He touched the edge of the countertop experimentally, exerted some pressure—

And with a crack, a section several centimeters long disintegrated into a cloud of white dust.

Perez clamped his mouth hard over the exclamation that wanted out and backed hastily away as the cloud drifted toward him on the eddy breezes. Meredith had dropped into a crouch, pistol ready. Perez held his breath, listening, but he heard nothing.

"I was right," Meredith stage-whispered a moment later, straightening up and brushing the remnants of the ceramic off the dull metal edge beneath. "Cable metal, almost certainly."

"Uh-huh," Perez nodded. He glanced around the room. "You suppose this place was a store or something?"

"A store, or a fast-food restaurant or bar," Meredith murmured. "Maybe the Spi

"What exactly are you worried about ru

The crumbling of the countertop had put his ghost town fears back into perspective, reminding him once more how old this place was. Even ghosts disappear after a few centuries.

"It occurs to me," Meredith replied, "that there's another possible reason the Spi

"After all these years—"

"The digging machine was still functional."

Perez swallowed. "Right. Well … nothing's attacked us yet."

"Yet," Meredith echoed. "Let's check out those doors and then move on. I don't think we're really going to find anything in this part of town."

They were halfway across the room when Meredith's short-range radio beeped quietly. "Meredith," the colonel answered it. " … Where is it?"

Perez stepped to his side, close enough to hear Barrier's voice." … -dred meters away and closing. It's not terrifically fast, but it may be armed."

"Yeah. Pull back as quietly as you can; let's see if it's us the thing's after."

Meredith moved to the front door, sent a quick glance outside. "Looks like the basic structure's cable metal," he said, stepping back again. "Perez: check out that door. See if it leads outside."

Perez broke his paralysis and tiptoed to the side door. Opening it, he found another room, much smaller than the first one but equipped with the same sparsely laden shelves. There were no doors, but one of the windows facing the street looked big enough to get through quickly. If we can open it. he added to himself, sidling along the wall to check. Keeping his head low, he reached up to try and find a latch … and as he did so, he got his first look at the machine bearing down on them.

It was as if someone had built a giant mechanical spider, fitted it with a turtle shell, and grafted a nest of snakes on top of the result. A walking Gorgon's head, Perez thought, suppressing a shudder … and it was, indeed, heading for their building. Across the street, he caught a glimpse of Barrier and the others crouched beside one of the other houses.