The Dark Tower

Oy sat before the closed door, which wasthe kind that swung both ways, with his cartoon squiggle of tail tight againsthis hindquarters, and barked. “Ake, ope-ope! Ope, Ake!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jake said, “in a minute. Holdyour water.”

“STAGING AREA,” Eddie said. “That sounds atleast moderately hopeful.”

They were still pushing Susa

Roland now drew his own gun, laid it in thehollow of his right shoulder, and pushed the door open. He went through in aslight crouch, ready to dive either way or jump backward if the situationdemanded it.

The situation did not. Had Eddie beenfirst, he might have believed (if only momentarily) that he was being attackedby flying Wolves sort of like the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz.Roland, however, was not overburdened with imagination, and even though a goodmany of the overhead fluorescent light strips in this huge, barnlike space hadgone out, he wasted no time—or adrenaline—in mistaking thesuspended objects for anything but what they actually were: broken robotraiders awaiting repair.

“Come on in,” he said, and his words cameechoing back to him. Somewhere, high in the shadows, came a flutter of wings.Swallows, or perhaps barn-rusties that had found their way in from outside. “Ithink all’s well.”

They came, and stood looking up with silentawe. Only Jake’s four-footed friend was unimpressed. Oy was taking advantage ofthe break to groom himself, first the left side and then the right. At lastSusa

Neither had the others. The huge room wasthick with Wolves that seemed suspended in flight. Some wore their green Dr.Doom hoods and capes; others hung naked save for their steel suits. Some wereheadless, some armless, and a few were missing either one leg or the other.Their gray metal faces seemed to snarl or grin, depending on how the light hitthem. Lying on the floor was a litter of green capes and discarded greengauntlets. And about forty yards away (the room itself had to stretch at leasttwo hundred yards from end to end) was a single gray horse, lying on its backwith its legs sticking stiffly up into the air. Its head was gone. From itsneck there emerged tangles of yellow-, green-, and red-coated wires.

They walked slowly after Oy, who was trottingwith brisk unconcern across the room. The sound of the rolling table was loudin here, the returning echo a sinister rumble. Susa

“They must have repaired em in here,” shesaid. “If there was anyone left to do it, that is.”

“And I think over there’s where theypowered em up,” Eddie said, and pointed. Along the far wall, which they couldjust now begin to see clearly, was a line of bays. Wolves were standing stifflyin some of them. Other bays were empty, and in these they could see a number ofplug-in points.

Jake abruptly burst out laughing.

“What?” Susa

“Nothing,” he said. “It’s just that…” Hislaughter pealed out again, sounding fabulously young in that gloomy chamber.“It’s just that they look like commuters at Pe

Eddie and Susa

Three

The door they wanted was to the left of theutility bays. They all recognized the cloud-and-lightning sigul on it at oncefrom the note “R.F.” had left them on the back of a sheet of the Oz DailyBuzz, but the door itself was very different from the ones they hadencountered so far; except for the cloud and lightning-bolt, it was strictlyutilitarian. Although it had been painted green they could see it was steel,not ironwood or the heavier ghostwood. Surrounding it was a gray frame, alsosteel, with thigh-thick insulated power-cords coming out of each side. Theseran into one of the walls. From behind that wall came a rough rumbling soundwhich Eddie thought he recognized.

“Roland,” he said in a low voice. “Do youremember the Portal of the Beam we came to, way back at the start? Even beforeJake joined our happy band, this was.”

Roland nodded. “Where we shot the LittleGuardians. Shardik’s retinue. Those of it that still survived.”

Eddie nodded. “I put my ear against thatdoor and listened. ‘All is silent in the halls of the dead,’ I thought.‘These are the halls of the dead, where the spiders spin and the greatcircuits fall quiet, one by one.’”

He had actually spoken this aloud, butRoland wasn’t surprised Eddie didn’t remember doing so; he’d been hypnotized orclose to it.

“We were on the outside, then,” Eddie said.“Now we’re on the inside.” He pointed at the door into Thunderclap, then withone finger traced the course of the fat cables. “The machinery sending powerthrough these doesn’t sound very healthy. If we’re going to use this thing, Ithink we ought to right away. It could shut down for good anytime, and thenwhat?”

“Have to call Triple-A Travel,” Susa

“I don’t think so. We’d be basted… what doyou call it, Roland?”

“Basted in a hot oast. ‘These are the roomsof ruin.’ You said that, too. Do you recall?”

“I said it? Right out loud?”

“Aye.” Roland led them to the door. Hereached out, touched the knob, then pulled his hand back.

“Hot?” Jake asked.

Roland shook his head.

“Electrified?” Susa

The gunslinger shook his head again.

“Then go on and go for it,” Eddie said.“Let’s boogie.”

They crowded close behind Roland. Eddie wasonce more holding Susa

“What do we do—” if it’s lockedwas how Jake meant to finish, but before he could, Roland turned the knob withhis right hand (he had his remaining gun in the left) and pulled the door open.Behind the wall, the machinery cycled up a notch, the sound of it growingalmost desperate. Jake thought he could smell something hot: burninginsulation, maybe. He was just telling himself to stop imagining things when a numberof overhead fans started up. They were as loud as taxiing fighter airplanes ina World War II movie, and they all jumped. Susa

“Come on,” Roland snapped. “Quick.” Hestepped through without a backward look. During the brief moment when he washalfway through, he seemed to be broken into two pieces. Beyond the gunslinger,Jake could see a vast and gloomy room, much bigger than the Staging Area. Andsilvery crisscrossing lines that looked like dashes of pure light.

“Go on, Jake,” Susa

Jake took a deep breath and steppedthrough. There was no riptide, such as they’d experienced in the Cave ofVoices, and no jangling chimes. No sense of going todash, not even for amoment. Instead there was a horrid feeling of being turned inside-out, and hewas attacked by the most violent nausea he had ever known. He stepped downward,and his knee buckled. A moment later he was on both knees. Oy spilled out ofhis arms. Jake barely noticed. He began to retch. Roland was on all fours nextto him, doing the same. From somewhere came steady low chugging sounds, thepersistent ding-ding-ding-ding of a bell, and an echoing amplifiedvoice.