Night of Light

Carmody had seen a masked man whose walk made him sure it was Lieftin. Afraid that Lieftin might get away, he dashed off without telling anybody what he was after. He shouted, “Lieftin! You’re under arrest!” not realizing in his excitement that the others had not followed him.

The man turned and ran. For a second Carmody lost sight of him in the crowd; then he saw him plunge into the entrance of a clothing shop. He followed. It was a large place, one that catered to a wealthy clientele. A single saleswoman was standing with her face pressed against the window, presumably to watch Yess when he came by. Carmody shouted at her, and she jumped. He could see by her startled expression that she had not seen Lieftin enter the shop. Ignoring her questions, he went to the back of the room. There were three doors. He took the first one on the left, went through several rooms and came out in the alley. There was no one there. As he turned to reenter the shop, there was a footstep behind him and pain exploded in his head.

When he came to, he found himself sprawled on the rough cobblestones of the alley. There was a tender lump over his ear. The streets around him were quiet; the Night had begun.

He was appalled at what he saw on the streets. Corpses lay in all directions as far as he could see. There were men, women, and children among them, torn by bullets and knives, some cut in half by kaser beams. A truck lay on its side with its kaser tube blown apart by a bomb, probably dropped from a window above. The soldiers who had ma

Blood ran in a shallow stream down the gutters. Carmody picked up a gun, checked its clip, and hurriedly set off down the street. Before he had gone far, he grew dizzy and hot; his sight blurred. Then the flicker of the sun, effective even around the curve of the planet, had passed.

Several blocks down the street, he found the Kareenan drive-stick equivalent of a motorcycle on its side. It was still operable, even though part of the seat had been blown off, along with its rider. It was a twisting, weaving course he had to take to avoid ru

As he neared the Temple of Boonta, he heard the sound of firing and saw men ru

Carmody stood up and called to the man. Gunshots drowned out his voice. Lifted and hurled forward by the bullets, the man fell on his face.

By the still-operating streetlights, Carmody saw that the man was Skelder.

So, this was for Skelder the end of the Night that had begun so many years ago.

A bullet crashed through the broken window. Carmody turned and ran through the shadowy interior into the alley.

Footsteps pounded close behind him. Carmody dropped on all fours. The pursuer fell over him, and Carmody raised his gun to fire.

“Don’t shoot! It’s me, Tand!”

Carmody lowered the gun again, shaking with relief. Tand arose, lobbed something over Carmody toward the rear exit of the office. He pushed Carmody down, and both cowered flat on the pavement of the alley. There was a deafening roar and a blast of air that tore at their clothes.

Both jumped up and ran on down the alley to the next open door. There, between gasps for breath, they talked.

“I was hiding in the office when you entered,” Tand said. “I didn’t know who you were, you were just a silhouette. But when you turned, I saw enough of your profile to recognize you. I ran after you...”

“Strange that the three of us should converge at the same spot,” Carmody said. “That was Skelder who died outside the shop.”

Tand made the circular sign. “Well, his last years were happy ones. I was looking for you when the riots broke out, and I had to take refuge. The Temple is surrounded by

Algulists, but they’re a somewhat disorganized bunch. Every time there’s a flicker, fight- ing breaks out among them.”

“How can we get in?” Carmody said.

“I know a way. But we have to be very careful not to reveal it. If the Enemy also found it, they could surprise those within the Temple.”

They left the shop, and, hugging the wall, walked only another block. Tand led the priest into a market that had been looted. There were four dead in the aisles or behind counters, one of them a child. Tand grimaced and went into the back offices, where a headless corpse sprawled across a desk. He went through a doorway behind the desk into a large closet. This had been a stockroom, but the papers and pens had been strewn about, typewriters and office equipment smashed.

Carmody followed the Kareenan behind a pile of large wooden boxes, some of which had been ripped open. Tand stopped, felt over the naked stone blocks of the wall, and pressed. A large block at the bottom of the wall slid inward. He got down on his hands and kiiees and crawled through the opening with the Earthman behind him. The interior was dark except for the light coming in through the opening. Tand stood up and did something; the block moved back to its former position.

Light flooded the place. Tand removed his hand from a plate set in the wall. They were in a small room at the end of which was a narrow archway.

“The tu

As Carmody followed Tand, he looked beyond and ahead of him and saw that there were only very dim footprints in the thick dust. He asked Tand about it.

“I’ve never been here myself, but I’ve studied maps of this tu

Tand stopped and held up his hand. Carmody examined the wall and floor ahead of them but could see nothing unusual.

“What is it?”

Tand indicated one of the bulbs on the ceiling. “See that? It has a small black spot on it that looks like dirt. It’s a sign. Now, watch me, then do as I do.”

Tand drew a line in the dust before him, then backed up ten steps, crouched and began to run. Just before he came to the line in the dust, he veered and ran on the curving side of the tu

He turned to Carmody. “All right, come on. Don’t slip.”

Carmody sprinted after him. After joining Tand, he said, “What would have happened if we had just walked across the floor at that spot?”

“Nothing necessarily fatal,” Tand replied. “The ceiling above that point, which looks like solid stone, is a trap door. It would open, and a great quantity of sticky jelly would drop and imprison you. At the same time, an alarm would go off in the Temple and a light on a control board, indicating the alarm location, would be illuminated. You’d be held fast until the Temple guards came to dissolve the jelly. You might not be alive; it would depend on whether the jelly happened to cover your nostrils and mouth.”

They continued for fifty meters. After that the tu