Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

growing very slowly larger. With no landmarks, it was hard to judge the passing of time. It began to feel as though they had always been on the path, struggling through the cold and the wind and the dust. Only the town ahead gave them hope, and the path gave them direction.
    They all stopped suddenly, as a great howling sound came from somewhere out on the plain. It rose and fell, eerie and savage, deafeningly loud, as though a mountain had found a voice for its rage and hate. The group huddled together, looking wildly in all directions. The awful sound sank cold iron hooks into their hearts, awakening ancient atavistic fears in their back brains. Even Saturday was clearly upset, swiveling her great head back and forth. The sound hurt their ears and made their hearts beat painfully fast, and then it broke off, as suddenly as it began. All the group could hear was their own harsh breathing, and the slow murmur of dust in the wind, scraping away at the endless stone.
    "What the hell was that}" said Brett, his voice little more than a whimper. "And where is it? I can't see anything. I thought there wasn't supposed to be any native life here?"
    "There isn't," said Lewis.
    "Maybe Shub brought something with them," said Jesamine. "Or… maybe something broke out of the Maze…"
    "You're not helping," said Brett.
    "Maybe it's some kind of siren, or alarm," said Lewis. "From the town. Or the Maze workings."
    "No," said Jesamine. "It was alive. Horridly alive. Maybe… it was the Maze, dreaming. It knows we're coming."
    "I want to go home," Brett said miserably. "Right now."
    "If you want, you can go back to the Hereward," said Lewis. "But I'm not going back. Not when I'm so close. The Madness Maze holds all the answers. I won't give that up, now I've come this far."
    "Do you really believe that?" said Jesamine.
    "I have to," said Lewis. "Well, Brett?"
    "Go back on my own?" said Brett. "I think I'm marginally safer with you. But this should in no way be taken as a vote of confidence. Let's just get to the town. Maybe they'll have a bar. Or a dispensary I can break into."
    "Poor baby," said Rose.
    "Stop that," said Brett. "From you, it's disturbing."
    They walked on, into the teeth of the wind. Time passed, slow and hard, and finally the scientists' town edged into place before them. It looked pretty shabby and basic from a distance, and even worse close up. The town was still some distance from the Madness Maze. The Empire scientists might have to work on it, but they sure as hell didn't want to have to live right next door to it. Their tour of duty only lasted a few months at a time. More than that was pushing it. The town comprised some forty or so buildings, all of them standard no-frills colony structures built for strength and sturdiness, not comfort.
    No one ever bothered to make homes out of them, because no one ever lived there long enough.
    Lewis stopped at the boundary of the town, and called out, but his voice was lost in the wind. There was no one on the main street, and no lights in any of the windows. Lewis moved on, into the town, and the others followed close behind. It didn't take long for them to realize there was no one there. The whole town was empty and deserted. There were banging doors, flapping shades at the windows, the occasional piece of domestic debris sent bowling down the street by the wind, but no people. Lewis pushed open a few doors and looked inside. There were meals set out on tables, some half-consumed, and the odd chair overturned, but nothing to show why a whole population of scientists had left so suddenly. The group reached the far end of the town and huddled together, glancing nervously back over their shoulders.
    "Where the hell is everyone?" said Jesamine. "They can't all be working at the Maze, can they?"
    "Maybe Shub did something to them," said Brett. "Maybe the AIs decided they weren't prepared to share the secrets of the Maze with anyone else."
    "You know, if you put a little effort into it, I'm sure you could be really depressing," said Jesamine.
    "There's no signs of violence," said Rose. "No bodies, no signs of destruction."
    "No blood," said Saturday. "I'd have smelled it."
    "Maybe the Maze ate them…"
    "Shut up, Brett," said Lewis. "It's not just the scientists who are missing. Where are the Imperial guards?
    Where are the security forces? I was expecting to have to sneak or fight our way past all kinds of defenses… but there's nothing here. Nothing to stand between us