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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..47e9077 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #51241 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51241) diff --git a/old/51241-h.zip b/old/51241-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 7245144..0000000 --- a/old/51241-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/51241-h/51241-h.htm b/old/51241-h/51241-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index f8818ff..0000000 --- a/old/51241-h/51241-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1181 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Bridge Crossing, by Dave Dryfoos. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1, .ph2, .ph3, .ph4 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } -.ph1 { font-size: xx-large; margin: .67em auto; } -.ph2 { font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; } -.ph3 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } -.ph4 { font-size: medium; margin: 1.12em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bridge Crossing, by Dave Dryfoos - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Bridge Crossing - -Author: Dave Dryfoos - -Release Date: February 17, 2016 [EBook #51241] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRIDGE CROSSING *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="362" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>Bridge Crossing</h1> - -<p>BY DAVE DRYFOOS</p> - -<p>Illustrated by HARRISON</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Galaxy Science Fiction May 1951.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph3">He knew the city was organized for his<br /> -individual defense, for it had been that<br /> -way since he was born. But who was his enemy?</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>In 1849, the mist that sometimes rolled through the Golden Gate was -known as fog. In 2149, it had become far more frequent, and was known -as smog. By 2349, it was fog again.</p> - -<p>But tonight there was smoke mixed with the fog. Roddie could smell it. -Somewhere in the forested ruins, fire was burning.</p> - -<p>He wasn't worried. The small blaze that smoldered behind him on the -cracked concrete floor had consumed everything burnable within blocks; -what remained of the gutted concrete office building from which he -peered was fire-proof.</p> - -<p>But Roddie was himself aflame with anger. As always when Invaders broke -in from the north, he'd been left behind with his nurse, Molly, while -the soldiers went out to fight.</p> - -<p>And nowadays Molly's presence wasn't the comfort it used to be. He felt -almost ready to jump out of his skin, the way she rocked and knitted in -that grating ruined chair, saying over and over again, "The soldiers -don't <i>want</i> little boys. The soldiers don't <i>want</i> little boys. The -soldiers don't—"</p> - -<p>"I'm <i>not</i> a little boy!" Roddie suddenly shouted. "I'm full-grown and -I've never even <i>seen</i> an Invader. Why won't you let me go and fight?"</p> - -<p>Fiercely he crossed the bare, gritty floor and shook Molly's shoulder. -She rattled under his jarring hand, and abruptly changed the subject.</p> - -<p>"A is for Atom, B is for Bomb, C is for Corpse—" she chanted.</p> - -<p>Roddie reached into her shapeless dress and pinched. Lately that had -helped her over these spells. But this time, though it stopped the -kindergarten song, the treatment only started something worse.</p> - -<p>"Wuzzums hungry?" Molly cooed, still rocking.</p> - -<p>Utterly disgusted, Roddie ripped her head off her neck.</p> - -<p>It was a completely futile gesture. The complicated mind that had -cared for him and taught him speech and the alphabet hadn't made him a -mechanic, and his only tool was a broken-handled screwdriver.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He was still tinkering when the soldiers came in. While they lined up -along the wall, he put Molly's head back on her neck.</p> - -<p>She gaped coyly at the new arrivals. "Hello, boys," she simpered. -"Looking for a good time?"</p> - -<p>Roddie slapped her to silence, reflecting briefly that there were many -things he didn't know about Molly. But there was work to be done. -Carefully he framed the ritual words she'd taught him: "Soldiers, come -to attention and report!"</p> - -<p>There were eleven of them, six feet tall, with four limbs and eight -extremities. They stood uniformly, the thumbs on each pair of hands -touching along the center line of the legs, front feet turned out at an -angle of forty-five degrees, rear feet turned inward at thirty degrees.</p> - -<p>"Sir," they chorused, "we have met the enemy and he is ours."</p> - -<p>He inspected them. All were scratched and dented, but one in particular -seemed badly damaged. His left arm was almost severed at the shoulder.</p> - -<p>"Come here, fellow," Roddie said. "Let's see if I can fix that."</p> - -<p>The soldier took a step forward, lurched suddenly, stopped, and whipped -out a bayonet.</p> - -<p>"Death to Invaders!" he yelled, and charged crazily.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Molly stepped in front of him.</p> - -<p>"You aren't being very nice to my baby," she murmured, and thrust her -knitting needles into his eyes.</p> - -<p>Roddie jumped behind him, knocked off his helmet, and pressed a soft -spot on his conical skull. The soldier collapsed to the floor.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Roddie salvaged and returned Molly's needles. Then he examined the -patient, tearing him apart as a boy dismembers an alarm clock.</p> - -<p>It was lucky he did. The left arm's pair of hands suddenly writhed off -the floor in an effort to choke him. But because the arm was detached -at the shoulder and therefore blind, he escaped the clutching onslaught -and could goad the reflexing hands into assaulting one another -harmlessly.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" width="600" height="377" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Meanwhile, the other soldiers left, except for one, apparently another -casualty, who stumbled on his way out and fell into the fire. By the -time Roddie had hauled him clear, damage was beyond repair. Roddie -swore, then decided to try combining parts of this casualty with pieces -of the other to make a whole one.</p> - -<p>To get more light for the operation, he poked up the fire. Roddie was -new at his work, and took it seriously. It alarmed him to watch the -soldiers melt away, gradually succumbing to battle damage, shamed -him to see the empty ruins burn section by section as the Invaders -repeatedly broke through and had to be burned out.</p> - -<p>Soon there would be nothing left of the <i>Private Property Keep Out</i> -that, according to Molly's bedtime story, the Owners had entrusted to -them when driven away by radioactivity. Soon the soldiers themselves -would be gone. None would remain to guard the city but a few strayed -servants like Molly, and an occasional Civil Defender.</p> - -<p>And himself, Roddie reflected, spitting savagely into the fire. He -might remain. But how he fitted into the picture, he didn't know. And -Molly, who claimed to have found him in the ruins after a fight with -Invaders twenty years before, couldn't or wouldn't say.</p> - -<p>Well, for as long as possible, Roddie decided, he'd do his duty as -the others did theirs—single-mindedly. Eventually the soldiers might -accept him as one of themselves; meanwhile, this newly attempted first -aid was useful to them.</p> - -<p>He gave the fire a final poke and then paused, wondering if, when -heated, his screwdriver could make an unfastened end of wire stick on -the grayish spot where it seemed to belong.</p> - -<p>Stretching prone to blow the embers hot so he could try out his new -idea, Roddie got too close to the flames. Instantly the room filled -with the stench of singed hair. Roddie drew angrily back, beating out -the sparks in his uncut blond mane.</p> - -<p>As he stood slapping his head and muttering, a deranged Civil Defense -firefighter popped into the doorway and covered him with carbon dioxide -foam.</p> - -<p>Roddie fled. His life-long friends were not merely wearing out, they -were unbearably wearing.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>In the street, even before he'd wiped off the foam, he regretted -his flight. The fire was back home. And here in the cold of this -fog-shrouded canyon, a mere trail between heaped-up walls of rubble, -the diaper he wore felt inadequate against the pre-dawn cold. His -cherished weapon, a magnetic tack-hammer, was chill beneath the -diaper's top, and the broken, radium-dialed wristwatch suspended from -a string around his neck hung clammy against his chest. He stood -irresolute on numbing bare feet, and considered returning to the more -familiar bedlam.</p> - -<p>But colder than cold was his shame at being cold. Molly never was, -though she knew how to keep him warm, nor were the others. Hunger, -thirst, pain and coldness were sensations never experienced by his -friends. Like the growth he'd been undergoing till recently, these were -things of ignominy, to be hidden as far as possible from inquiring -eyes. Cold as it was, he'd have to hide.</p> - -<p>Temporarily, the darkness concealed him, though it was not quite -complete. From above the fog, the moon played vaguely deceptive light -on the splinters of architecture looming toward it. Some distance off, -an owl hooted, but here nocturnal rodents felt free to squeak and -rustle as they scampered.</p> - -<p>The world seemed ghostly. Yet it wasn't dead; it merely lurked. And as -an irrepressible yawn reminded Roddie of his absurd need for sleep even -in the midst of danger, he concluded for the thousandth time that the -One who'd built him must have been an apprentice.</p> - -<p>For just such reasons he'd developed the hideout toward which he now -walked. It had been the haven of his adolescence, when the discovery of -how much he differed from his friends had been a shock, and the shock -itself a difference to be hidden.</p> - -<p>His hiding place was a manhole, dead center in the dead street. A -weathered bronze bar, carefully placed in the cover's slotted rim, was -the levering key that opened its door.</p> - -<p><i>Everything</i> was wrong tonight! He couldn't even find the bar. Of -course that spoiled things, because the bar was a roller on which to -move the heavy cover from below, and a support that held it ajar for -ventilation.</p> - -<p>But the example of his friends had taught him above all else to carry -out every purpose. Molly was a nurse; she had raised him despite all -obstacles. The soldiers were guards; they protected the ruins against -everything larger than a rat. The firefighter had put even <i>him</i> out -when he was aflame....</p> - -<p>Anyhow, the manhole cover had been loosened by his frequent handling. -He lifted it aside by main strength, then flattened himself to the -street, and felt with his feet for the top rung.</p> - -<p>Halfway down the iron ladder, something made him pause. He looked, but -saw only blackness. He listened, sniffed, found nothing. What could -have entered through the iron cover?</p> - -<p>He sneered at his own timidity and jumped to the bottom.</p> - -<p>It was warm! The dry bottom of the hole had the temperature of body -heat, as if a large animal had recently rested there!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Quickly, Roddie drew the hammer from his waist. Then, with weapon ready -for an instantaneous blow, he stretched his left hand through the -darkness. He touched something warm, softish. Gingerly he felt over -that curving surface for identifying features.</p> - -<p>While Roddie investigated by touch, his long fingers were suddenly -seized and bitten. At the same time, his right shin received a savage -kick. And his own retaliatory blow was checked in mid-swing by an -unexpected voice.</p> - -<p>"Get your filthy hands off me!" it whispered angrily. "Who do you think -you are?"</p> - -<p>Startled, he dropped his hammer. "I'm Roddie," he said, squatting to -fumble for it. "Who do you think <i>you</i> are?"</p> - -<p>"I'm Ida, naturally! Just how many girls <i>are</i> there in this raiding -party?"</p> - -<p>His first Invader—and he had dropped his weapon!</p> - -<p>Scrabbling fearfully in the dust for his hammer, Roddie paused -suddenly. This girl—whatever <i>that</i> was—seemed to think him one of -her own kind. There was a chance, not much, but worth taking, to turn -delay to advantage. Maybe he could learn something of value before he -killed her. That would make the soldiers accept him!</p> - -<p>He stalled, seeking a gambit. "How would <i>I</i> know how many girls there -are?"</p> - -<p>Half expecting a blow, he got instead an apology. "I'm sorry," the girl -said. "I should have known. Never even heard your name before, either. -Roddie.... Whose boat did you come in, Roddie?"</p> - -<p>Boat? What was a boat? "How would I know?" he repeated, voice tight -with fear of discovery.</p> - -<p>If she noticed the tension, she didn't show it. Certainly her whisper -was friendly enough. "Oh, you're one of the fellows from Bodega, then. -They shoved a boy into our boat at the last minute, too. Tough, wasn't -it, getting separated in the fog and tide like that? If only we didn't -have to use boats.... But, say, how are we going to get away from here?"</p> - -<p>"I wouldn't know," Roddie said, closing his fingers on the hammer, and -rising. "How did you get in?"</p> - -<p>"Followed your footprints. It was sundown and I saw human tracks in the -dust and they led me here. Where were you?"</p> - -<p>"Scouting around," Roddie said vaguely. "How did you know I was a man -when I came back?"</p> - -<p>"Because you couldn't see me, silly! You know perfectly well these -androids are heat-sensitive and can locate us in the dark!"</p> - -<p>Indeed he did know! Many times he'd felt ashamed that Molly could find -him whenever she wanted to, even here in the manhole. But perhaps the -manhole would help him now to redeem himself....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"I'd like to get a look at you," he said.</p> - -<p>The girl laughed self-consciously. "It's getting gray out. You'll see -me soon enough."</p> - -<p>But she'd see <i>him</i>, Roddie realized. He had to talk fast.</p> - -<p>"What'll we do when it's light?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"Well, I guess the boats have gone," Ida said. "You could swim the -Gate, I guess—you seem tall and strong enough. But I couldn't. You'll -think it's crazy, but I've given this some thought, and even looked it -over from the other side. I expect to try the Golden Gate Bridge!"</p> - -<p>Now he was getting somewhere! The bridge was ruined, impassable. Even -her own people had crossed the Strait by other means. But if there -<i>were</i> a way over the bridge....</p> - -<p>"It's broken," he said. "How in the world can we cross it?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, you'll find out, if you take me up there. I—I don't want to be -alone, Roddie. Will you go with me? Now?"</p> - -<p>Well, she could be made to point out the route before he killed -her—<i>if</i> nothing happened when she saw him.</p> - -<p>Uneasy, Roddie hefted the hammer in his hand.</p> - -<p>A giggle broke the pause. "It's nice of you to wait and let me go first -up the ladder," the girl said. "But where the heck is the rusty old -thing?"</p> - -<p>"I'll go first," said Roddie. He might need the advantage. "The -ladder's right behind me."</p> - -<p>He climbed with hammer in teeth, and stretched his left hand from -street level to grasp and neutralize the girl's right. Then, nervously -fingering his weapon, he stared at her in the thin gray dawn.</p> - -<p>She was short and lean, except for roundnesses here and there. From her -shapeless doeskin dress stretched slender legs that tapered to feet -that were bare, tiny, and, like her hands, only two in number.</p> - -<p>Roddie was pleased. They were evenly matched as to members, and that -would make things easy when the time came.</p> - -<p>He looked into her face. It smiled at him, tanned and ruddy, with a -full mouth and bright dark eyes that hid under long lashes when he -looked too long.</p> - -<p>Startling, those wary eyes. Concealing. For a moment he felt a rush of -fear, but she gave his hand a squeeze before twisting loose, and burst -into sudden laughter.</p> - -<p>"Diapers!" she chortled, struggling to keep her voice low. "My big, -strong, blond and blue-eyed hero goes into battle wearing diapers, and -carrying only a hammer to fight with! You're the most unforgettable -character I have ever known!"</p> - -<p>He'd passed inspection, then—so far. He expelled his withheld breath, -and said, "I think you'll find me a little odd, in some ways."</p> - -<p>"Oh, not at all," Ida replied quickly. "Different, yes, but I wouldn't -say odd."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>When they started down the street, she was nervous despite Roddie's -assertion that he knew where the soldiers were posted. He wondered if -she felt some of the doubt he'd tried to conceal, shared his visions of -what the soldiers might do if they found him brazenly strolling with an -Invader. They might not believe he was only questioning a prisoner.</p> - -<p>Every day, his friends were becoming more unpredictable.</p> - -<p>For that very reason, because he didn't know what precautions would do -any good, he took a chance and walked openly to the bridge by the most -direct route. In time this apparent assurance stilled Ida's fears, and -she began to talk.</p> - -<p>Many of the things she said were beyond his experience and meaningless -to him, but he did note with interest how effective the soldiers had -been.</p> - -<p>"It's awful," Ida said. "So few young men are left, so many -casualties....</p> - -<p>"But why do you—we—keep up the fight?" Roddie asked. "I mean, the -soldiers will never leave the city; their purpose is to guard it and -they <i>can't</i> leave, so they won't attack. Let them alone, and there'll -be plenty of young men."</p> - -<p>"Well!" said Ida, sharply. "You need indoctrination! Didn't they ever -tell you that the city is our home, even if the stupid androids do keep -us out? Don't you know how dependent we are on these raids for all our -tools and things?"</p> - -<p>She sounded suspicious. Roddie shot her a furtive, startled glance. -But she wasn't standing off to fight him. On the contrary, she was too -close for both comfort and combat. She bumped him hip and shoulder -every few steps, and if he edged away, she followed.</p> - -<p>He went on with his questioning. "Why are <i>you</i> here? I mean, sure, the -others are after tools and things, but what's <i>your</i> purpose?"</p> - -<p>Ida shrugged. "I'll admit no girl has ever done it before," she said, -"but I thought I could help with the wounded. That's why I have no -weapon."</p> - -<p>She hesitated, glanced covertly up at him, and went on with a rush of -words. "It's the lack of men, I guess. All the girls are kind of bored -and hopeless, so I got this bright idea and stowed away on one of the -boats when it was dark and the fog had settled down. Do you think I was -being silly?"</p> - -<p>"No, but you do seem a little purposeless."</p> - -<p>In silence they trudged through a vast area of charred wood and -concrete foundations on the northern end of the city. Thick fog over -the water hid Alcatraz, but in-shore visibility was better, and they -could see the beginning of the bridge approach.</p> - -<p>A stone rattled nearby. There was a clink of metal. Ida gasped, and -clung to Roddie's arm.</p> - -<p>"Behind me!" he whispered urgently. "Get behind me and hold on!"</p> - -<p>He felt Ida's arms encircling his waist, her chin digging into his back -below the left shoulder. Facing them, a hundred feet away, stood a -soldier. He looked contemptuous, hostile.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" width="600" height="346" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"It's all right," Roddie said, his voice breaking.</p> - -<p>There was a long, sullen, heart-stopping stare. Then the soldier turned -and walked away.</p> - -<p>Ida's grip loosened, and he could feel her sag behind him. Roddie -turned and held her. With eyes closed, she pressed cold blue lips to -his. He grimaced and turned away his head.</p> - -<p>Ida's response was quick. "Forgive me," she breathed, and slipped from -his arms, but she held herself erect. "I was so scared. And then we've -had no sleep, no food or water."</p> - -<p>Roddie was familiar with these signs of weakness, proud of appearing to -deny his own humiliating needs.</p> - -<p>"I guess you're not as strong as me," he said smugly. "I'll take care -of you. Of course we can't sleep now, but I'll get food and water."</p> - -<p>Leaving her to follow, he turned left to the ruins of a supermarket he -had previously visited, demonstrating his superior strength by setting -a pace Ida couldn't match. By the time she caught up with him, he had -grubbed out a few cans of the special size that Molly always chose. -Picking two that were neither dented, swollen, nor rusted, he smashed -an end of each with his hammer, and gave Ida her choice of strained -spinach or squash.</p> - -<p>"Baby food!" she muttered. "Maybe it's just what we need, but to eat -baby food with a man wearing a diaper.... Tell me, Roddie, how did you -happen to know where to find it?"</p> - -<p>"Well, this is the northern end of the city," he answered, shrugging. -"I've been here before."</p> - -<p>"Why did the soldier let us go?"</p> - -<p>"This watch," he said, touching the radium dial. "It's a talisman."</p> - -<p>But Ida's eyes had widened, and the color was gone from her face. She -was silent, too, except when asking him to fill his fast-emptied can -with rain-water. She didn't finish her own portion, but lay back in the -rubble with feet higher than her head, obviously trying to renew her -strength.</p> - -<p>And when they resumed their walk, her sullen, fear-clouded face showed -plainly that he'd given himself away.</p> - -<p>But to kill her now, before learning how she planned to cross the -supposedly impassable bridge, seemed as purposeless and impulsive as -Ida herself. Roddie didn't think, in any case, that her death would -satisfy the soldiers. With new and useful information to offer, he -might join them as an equal at last. But if his dalliance with this -enemy seemed pointless, not even Molly's knitting needles could protect -him.</p> - -<p>He was sure the soldiers must be tracking the mysterious emanations of -his watch dial, and had trouble to keep from glancing over his shoulder -at every step. But arrival at the bridge approach ended the need for -this self-restraint. Here, difficult going demanded full attention.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He'd never gone as far as the bridge before, not having wanted to -look as if he might be leaving the city. The approach was a jungle of -concrete with an underbrush of reinforcing-steel that reached for the -unwary with rusted spines. Frequently they had to balance on cracked -girders, and inch over roadless spots high off the ground.</p> - -<p>Here Ida took the lead. When they got to where three approach roads -made a clover-leaf, she led him down a side road and into a forest.</p> - -<p>Roddie stopped, and seized her arm.</p> - -<p>"What are you trying to do?" he demanded.</p> - -<p>"I'm taking you with me," Ida said firmly. "Taking you where you -belong!"</p> - -<p>"No!" he blurted, drawing his hammer. "I can't go, nor let you go. I -belong here!"</p> - -<p>Ida gasped, twisted loose, and ran. Roddie ran after her.</p> - -<p>She wasn't so easily caught. Like a frightened doe, she dashed in and -out among the trees, leaped to the bridge's underpinnings where they -thrust rustedly from a cliff, and scrambled up the ramp.</p> - -<p>Roddie sighed and slowed down. The pavement ended just beyond the cable -anchors. From there to the south tower, only an occasional dangling -support wire showed where the actual bridge had been suspended. Ida was -trapped.</p> - -<p>He could take his time. Let the soldiers come up, as they undoubtedly -would, to finish the job....</p> - -<p>But Ida didn't seem to realize she was trapped. Without hesitation she -dashed up the main left-hand suspension cable and ran along its curved -steel surface.</p> - -<p>For a moment, Roddie thought of letting her go, letting her run up the -ever-steepening catenary until—because there were no guard-ropes or -handgrips—she simply fell. That would solve his problem.</p> - -<p>Except it wouldn't be <i>his</i> solution. Her death wouldn't prove him to -his friends.</p> - -<p>He set out quickly, before Ida was lost to sight in the thick fog -that billowed in straight from the ocean. At first he ran erect along -the top of the yard-wide cylinder of twisted metal, but soon the curve -steepened. He had to go on all fours, clinging palm and sole.</p> - -<p>Blood was on the cable where she'd passed. More blood stained it when -he'd followed.</p> - -<p>But because his friends knew neither pain nor fatigue, Roddie would -admit none either. Nor would he give in to the fear that dizzied him at -every downward look. He scrambled on like an automaton, watching only -his holds, till he rammed Ida's rear with his head.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>She had stopped, trembling and gasping. Roddie clung just below her -and looked dazedly around. There was nothing in sight but fog, pierced -by the rapier of rusted wire supporting them. Neither end of it was in -sight.</p> - -<p>Upward lay success, if death were not nearer on the cable. No soldier -had ever come even this far, for soldiers, as he'd told Ida, never left -the city, were not built to do so. But <i>he</i> was here; with luck, he -could capitalize on the differences that had plagued him so long.</p> - -<p>"Go on!" he ordered hoarsely. "Move!"</p> - -<p>There was neither answer nor result. He broke off an end of loosened -wire and jabbed her rear. Ida gasped and crawled on.</p> - -<p>Up and up they went, chilled, wet, bleeding, pain-racked, exhausted. -Never had Roddie felt so thoroughly the defects of his peculiar -non-mechanical construction.</p> - -<p>Without realizing it, he acquired a new purpose, a duty as compelling -as that of any soldier or fire-watcher. He had to keep that trembling -body of his alive, mount to the tall rust tower overhead.</p> - -<p>He climbed and he made Ida climb, till, at nightmare's end, the fog -thinned and they came into clear, windswept air and clawed up the last -hundred feet to sanctuary.</p> - -<p>They were completely spent. Without word or thought they crept within -the tower, huddled together for warmth on its dank steel deck, and -slept for several hours.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Roddie awoke as Ida finished struggling free of his unconscious grip. -Limping, he joined her painful walk around the tower. From its openings -they looked out on a strange and isolated world.</p> - -<p>To the north, where Ida seemed drawn as though by instinct, Mount -Tamalpais reared its brushy head, a looming island above a billowy -white sea of fog. To the south were the Twin Peaks, a pair of buttons -on a cotton sheet. Eastward lay Mount Diablo, bald and brooding, -tallest of the peaks and most forbidding.</p> - -<p>But westward over the ocean lay the land of gold—of all the kinds of -gold there are, from brightest yellow to deepest orange. Only a small -portion of the setting sun glared above the fog-bank; the rest seemed -to have been broken off and smeared around by a child in love with its -color.</p> - -<p>Fascinated, Roddie stared for minutes, but turned when Ida showed no -interest. She was intent on the tower itself. Following her eyes, -Roddie saw his duty made suddenly clear.</p> - -<p>Easy to make out even in the fading light was the route by which -Invaders could cross to the foot of this tower on the remaining ruins -of the road, climb to where he now stood, and then descend the cable -over the bridge's gap and catch the city unaware. Easy to estimate was -the advantage of even this perilous route over things that scattered on -the water and prevented a landing in strength. Easy to see was the need -to kill Ida before she carried home this knowledge.</p> - -<p>Roddie took the hammer from his waist.</p> - -<p>"Don't! Oh, don't!" Ida screamed. She burst into tears and covered her -face with scratched and bloodied hands.</p> - -<p>Surprised, Roddie withheld the blow. He had wept, as a child, and, -weeping, had for the first time learned he differed from his friends. -Ida's tears disturbed him, bringing unhappy memories.</p> - -<p>"Why should you cry?" he asked comfortingly. "You know your people will -come back to avenge you and will destroy my friends."</p> - -<p>"But—but my people are your people, too," Ida wailed. "It's so -senseless, now, after all our struggle to escape. Don't you see? Your -friends are only machines, built by our ancestors. We are Men—and the -city is ours, not theirs!"</p> - -<p>"It <i>can't</i> be," Roddie objected. "The city surely belongs to those -who are superior, and my friends are superior to your people, even to -me. Each of <i>us</i> has a purpose, though, while you Invaders seem to be -aimless. Each of <i>us</i> helps preserve the city; you only try to rob and -end it by destroying it. <i>My</i> people must be the true Men, because -they're so much more rational than yours.... And it isn't rational to -let you escape."</p> - -<p>Ida had turned up her tear-streaked face to stare at him.</p> - -<p>"Rational! What's rational about murdering a defenseless girl in -cold blood? Don't you realize we're the same sort of being, we two? -Don't—don't you remember how we've been with each other all day?"</p> - -<p>She paused. Roddie noticed that her eyes were dark and frightened, yet -somehow soft, over scarlet cheeks. He had to look away. But he said -nothing.</p> - -<p>"Never mind!" Ida said viciously. "You can't make me beg. Go ahead and -kill—see if it proves you're superior. My people will take over the -city regardless of you and me, and regardless of your jumping-jack -friends, too! Men can accomplish anything!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Scornfully she turned and looked toward the western twilight. It was -Roddie's turn to stand and stare.</p> - -<p>"Purpose!" Ida flung at him over her shoulder. "Logic! Women hear so -much of that from men! You're a man, all right! Men <i>always</i> call it -logic when they want to destroy! Loyalty to your own sort, kindness, -affection—all emotional, aren't they? Not a bit logical. Emotion is -for creating, and it's so much more logical to destroy, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>She whirled back toward him, advancing as if she wanted to sink her -teeth into his throat. "Go ahead. Get it over with—if you have the -courage."</p> - -<p>It was hard for Roddie to look away from that wrath-crimsoned face, -but it was even harder to keep staring into the blaze of her eyes. He -compromised by gazing out an opening at the gathering dusk. He thought -for a long time before he decided to tuck his hammer away.</p> - -<p>"It isn't reasonable to kill you now," he said. "Too dark. You can't -possibly get down that half-ruined manway tonight, so let's see how I -feel in the morning."</p> - -<p>Ida began to weep again, and Roddie found it necessary to comfort her.</p> - -<p>And by morning he knew he was a Man.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bridge Crossing, by Dave Dryfoos - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRIDGE CROSSING *** - -***** This file should be named 51241-h.htm or 51241-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/2/4/51241/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Bridge Crossing - -Author: Dave Dryfoos - -Release Date: February 17, 2016 [EBook #51241] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRIDGE CROSSING *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - Bridge Crossing - - BY DAVE DRYFOOS - - Illustrated by HARRISON - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Galaxy Science Fiction May 1951. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - He knew the city was organized for his - individual defense, for it had been that - way since he was born. But who was his enemy? - - -In 1849, the mist that sometimes rolled through the Golden Gate was -known as fog. In 2149, it had become far more frequent, and was known -as smog. By 2349, it was fog again. - -But tonight there was smoke mixed with the fog. Roddie could smell it. -Somewhere in the forested ruins, fire was burning. - -He wasn't worried. The small blaze that smoldered behind him on the -cracked concrete floor had consumed everything burnable within blocks; -what remained of the gutted concrete office building from which he -peered was fire-proof. - -But Roddie was himself aflame with anger. As always when Invaders broke -in from the north, he'd been left behind with his nurse, Molly, while -the soldiers went out to fight. - -And nowadays Molly's presence wasn't the comfort it used to be. He felt -almost ready to jump out of his skin, the way she rocked and knitted in -that grating ruined chair, saying over and over again, "The soldiers -don't _want_ little boys. The soldiers don't _want_ little boys. The -soldiers don't--" - -"I'm _not_ a little boy!" Roddie suddenly shouted. "I'm full-grown and -I've never even _seen_ an Invader. Why won't you let me go and fight?" - -Fiercely he crossed the bare, gritty floor and shook Molly's shoulder. -She rattled under his jarring hand, and abruptly changed the subject. - -"A is for Atom, B is for Bomb, C is for Corpse--" she chanted. - -Roddie reached into her shapeless dress and pinched. Lately that had -helped her over these spells. But this time, though it stopped the -kindergarten song, the treatment only started something worse. - -"Wuzzums hungry?" Molly cooed, still rocking. - -Utterly disgusted, Roddie ripped her head off her neck. - -It was a completely futile gesture. The complicated mind that had -cared for him and taught him speech and the alphabet hadn't made him a -mechanic, and his only tool was a broken-handled screwdriver. - - * * * * * - -He was still tinkering when the soldiers came in. While they lined up -along the wall, he put Molly's head back on her neck. - -She gaped coyly at the new arrivals. "Hello, boys," she simpered. -"Looking for a good time?" - -Roddie slapped her to silence, reflecting briefly that there were many -things he didn't know about Molly. But there was work to be done. -Carefully he framed the ritual words she'd taught him: "Soldiers, come -to attention and report!" - -There were eleven of them, six feet tall, with four limbs and eight -extremities. They stood uniformly, the thumbs on each pair of hands -touching along the center line of the legs, front feet turned out at an -angle of forty-five degrees, rear feet turned inward at thirty degrees. - -"Sir," they chorused, "we have met the enemy and he is ours." - -He inspected them. All were scratched and dented, but one in particular -seemed badly damaged. His left arm was almost severed at the shoulder. - -"Come here, fellow," Roddie said. "Let's see if I can fix that." - -The soldier took a step forward, lurched suddenly, stopped, and whipped -out a bayonet. - -"Death to Invaders!" he yelled, and charged crazily. - -Molly stepped in front of him. - -"You aren't being very nice to my baby," she murmured, and thrust her -knitting needles into his eyes. - -Roddie jumped behind him, knocked off his helmet, and pressed a soft -spot on his conical skull. The soldier collapsed to the floor. - - * * * * * - -Roddie salvaged and returned Molly's needles. Then he examined the -patient, tearing him apart as a boy dismembers an alarm clock. - -It was lucky he did. The left arm's pair of hands suddenly writhed off -the floor in an effort to choke him. But because the arm was detached -at the shoulder and therefore blind, he escaped the clutching onslaught -and could goad the reflexing hands into assaulting one another -harmlessly. - -Meanwhile, the other soldiers left, except for one, apparently another -casualty, who stumbled on his way out and fell into the fire. By the -time Roddie had hauled him clear, damage was beyond repair. Roddie -swore, then decided to try combining parts of this casualty with pieces -of the other to make a whole one. - -To get more light for the operation, he poked up the fire. Roddie was -new at his work, and took it seriously. It alarmed him to watch the -soldiers melt away, gradually succumbing to battle damage, shamed -him to see the empty ruins burn section by section as the Invaders -repeatedly broke through and had to be burned out. - -Soon there would be nothing left of the _Private Property Keep Out_ -that, according to Molly's bedtime story, the Owners had entrusted to -them when driven away by radioactivity. Soon the soldiers themselves -would be gone. None would remain to guard the city but a few strayed -servants like Molly, and an occasional Civil Defender. - -And himself, Roddie reflected, spitting savagely into the fire. He -might remain. But how he fitted into the picture, he didn't know. And -Molly, who claimed to have found him in the ruins after a fight with -Invaders twenty years before, couldn't or wouldn't say. - -Well, for as long as possible, Roddie decided, he'd do his duty as -the others did theirs--single-mindedly. Eventually the soldiers might -accept him as one of themselves; meanwhile, this newly attempted first -aid was useful to them. - -He gave the fire a final poke and then paused, wondering if, when -heated, his screwdriver could make an unfastened end of wire stick on -the grayish spot where it seemed to belong. - -Stretching prone to blow the embers hot so he could try out his new -idea, Roddie got too close to the flames. Instantly the room filled -with the stench of singed hair. Roddie drew angrily back, beating out -the sparks in his uncut blond mane. - -As he stood slapping his head and muttering, a deranged Civil Defense -firefighter popped into the doorway and covered him with carbon dioxide -foam. - -Roddie fled. His life-long friends were not merely wearing out, they -were unbearably wearing. - - * * * * * - -In the street, even before he'd wiped off the foam, he regretted -his flight. The fire was back home. And here in the cold of this -fog-shrouded canyon, a mere trail between heaped-up walls of rubble, -the diaper he wore felt inadequate against the pre-dawn cold. His -cherished weapon, a magnetic tack-hammer, was chill beneath the -diaper's top, and the broken, radium-dialed wristwatch suspended from -a string around his neck hung clammy against his chest. He stood -irresolute on numbing bare feet, and considered returning to the more -familiar bedlam. - -But colder than cold was his shame at being cold. Molly never was, -though she knew how to keep him warm, nor were the others. Hunger, -thirst, pain and coldness were sensations never experienced by his -friends. Like the growth he'd been undergoing till recently, these were -things of ignominy, to be hidden as far as possible from inquiring -eyes. Cold as it was, he'd have to hide. - -Temporarily, the darkness concealed him, though it was not quite -complete. From above the fog, the moon played vaguely deceptive light -on the splinters of architecture looming toward it. Some distance off, -an owl hooted, but here nocturnal rodents felt free to squeak and -rustle as they scampered. - -The world seemed ghostly. Yet it wasn't dead; it merely lurked. And as -an irrepressible yawn reminded Roddie of his absurd need for sleep even -in the midst of danger, he concluded for the thousandth time that the -One who'd built him must have been an apprentice. - -For just such reasons he'd developed the hideout toward which he now -walked. It had been the haven of his adolescence, when the discovery of -how much he differed from his friends had been a shock, and the shock -itself a difference to be hidden. - -His hiding place was a manhole, dead center in the dead street. A -weathered bronze bar, carefully placed in the cover's slotted rim, was -the levering key that opened its door. - -_Everything_ was wrong tonight! He couldn't even find the bar. Of -course that spoiled things, because the bar was a roller on which to -move the heavy cover from below, and a support that held it ajar for -ventilation. - -But the example of his friends had taught him above all else to carry -out every purpose. Molly was a nurse; she had raised him despite all -obstacles. The soldiers were guards; they protected the ruins against -everything larger than a rat. The firefighter had put even _him_ out -when he was aflame.... - -Anyhow, the manhole cover had been loosened by his frequent handling. -He lifted it aside by main strength, then flattened himself to the -street, and felt with his feet for the top rung. - -Halfway down the iron ladder, something made him pause. He looked, but -saw only blackness. He listened, sniffed, found nothing. What could -have entered through the iron cover? - -He sneered at his own timidity and jumped to the bottom. - -It was warm! The dry bottom of the hole had the temperature of body -heat, as if a large animal had recently rested there! - - * * * * * - -Quickly, Roddie drew the hammer from his waist. Then, with weapon ready -for an instantaneous blow, he stretched his left hand through the -darkness. He touched something warm, softish. Gingerly he felt over -that curving surface for identifying features. - -While Roddie investigated by touch, his long fingers were suddenly -seized and bitten. At the same time, his right shin received a savage -kick. And his own retaliatory blow was checked in mid-swing by an -unexpected voice. - -"Get your filthy hands off me!" it whispered angrily. "Who do you think -you are?" - -Startled, he dropped his hammer. "I'm Roddie," he said, squatting to -fumble for it. "Who do you think _you_ are?" - -"I'm Ida, naturally! Just how many girls _are_ there in this raiding -party?" - -His first Invader--and he had dropped his weapon! - -Scrabbling fearfully in the dust for his hammer, Roddie paused -suddenly. This girl--whatever _that_ was--seemed to think him one of -her own kind. There was a chance, not much, but worth taking, to turn -delay to advantage. Maybe he could learn something of value before he -killed her. That would make the soldiers accept him! - -He stalled, seeking a gambit. "How would _I_ know how many girls there -are?" - -Half expecting a blow, he got instead an apology. "I'm sorry," the girl -said. "I should have known. Never even heard your name before, either. -Roddie.... Whose boat did you come in, Roddie?" - -Boat? What was a boat? "How would I know?" he repeated, voice tight -with fear of discovery. - -If she noticed the tension, she didn't show it. Certainly her whisper -was friendly enough. "Oh, you're one of the fellows from Bodega, then. -They shoved a boy into our boat at the last minute, too. Tough, wasn't -it, getting separated in the fog and tide like that? If only we didn't -have to use boats.... But, say, how are we going to get away from here?" - -"I wouldn't know," Roddie said, closing his fingers on the hammer, and -rising. "How did you get in?" - -"Followed your footprints. It was sundown and I saw human tracks in the -dust and they led me here. Where were you?" - -"Scouting around," Roddie said vaguely. "How did you know I was a man -when I came back?" - -"Because you couldn't see me, silly! You know perfectly well these -androids are heat-sensitive and can locate us in the dark!" - -Indeed he did know! Many times he'd felt ashamed that Molly could find -him whenever she wanted to, even here in the manhole. But perhaps the -manhole would help him now to redeem himself.... - - * * * * * - -"I'd like to get a look at you," he said. - -The girl laughed self-consciously. "It's getting gray out. You'll see -me soon enough." - -But she'd see _him_, Roddie realized. He had to talk fast. - -"What'll we do when it's light?" he asked. - -"Well, I guess the boats have gone," Ida said. "You could swim the -Gate, I guess--you seem tall and strong enough. But I couldn't. You'll -think it's crazy, but I've given this some thought, and even looked it -over from the other side. I expect to try the Golden Gate Bridge!" - -Now he was getting somewhere! The bridge was ruined, impassable. Even -her own people had crossed the Strait by other means. But if there -_were_ a way over the bridge.... - -"It's broken," he said. "How in the world can we cross it?" - -"Oh, you'll find out, if you take me up there. I--I don't want to be -alone, Roddie. Will you go with me? Now?" - -Well, she could be made to point out the route before he killed -her--_if_ nothing happened when she saw him. - -Uneasy, Roddie hefted the hammer in his hand. - -A giggle broke the pause. "It's nice of you to wait and let me go first -up the ladder," the girl said. "But where the heck is the rusty old -thing?" - -"I'll go first," said Roddie. He might need the advantage. "The -ladder's right behind me." - -He climbed with hammer in teeth, and stretched his left hand from -street level to grasp and neutralize the girl's right. Then, nervously -fingering his weapon, he stared at her in the thin gray dawn. - -She was short and lean, except for roundnesses here and there. From her -shapeless doeskin dress stretched slender legs that tapered to feet -that were bare, tiny, and, like her hands, only two in number. - -Roddie was pleased. They were evenly matched as to members, and that -would make things easy when the time came. - -He looked into her face. It smiled at him, tanned and ruddy, with a -full mouth and bright dark eyes that hid under long lashes when he -looked too long. - -Startling, those wary eyes. Concealing. For a moment he felt a rush of -fear, but she gave his hand a squeeze before twisting loose, and burst -into sudden laughter. - -"Diapers!" she chortled, struggling to keep her voice low. "My big, -strong, blond and blue-eyed hero goes into battle wearing diapers, and -carrying only a hammer to fight with! You're the most unforgettable -character I have ever known!" - -He'd passed inspection, then--so far. He expelled his withheld breath, -and said, "I think you'll find me a little odd, in some ways." - -"Oh, not at all," Ida replied quickly. "Different, yes, but I wouldn't -say odd." - - * * * * * - -When they started down the street, she was nervous despite Roddie's -assertion that he knew where the soldiers were posted. He wondered if -she felt some of the doubt he'd tried to conceal, shared his visions of -what the soldiers might do if they found him brazenly strolling with an -Invader. They might not believe he was only questioning a prisoner. - -Every day, his friends were becoming more unpredictable. - -For that very reason, because he didn't know what precautions would do -any good, he took a chance and walked openly to the bridge by the most -direct route. In time this apparent assurance stilled Ida's fears, and -she began to talk. - -Many of the things she said were beyond his experience and meaningless -to him, but he did note with interest how effective the soldiers had -been. - -"It's awful," Ida said. "So few young men are left, so many -casualties.... - -"But why do you--we--keep up the fight?" Roddie asked. "I mean, the -soldiers will never leave the city; their purpose is to guard it and -they _can't_ leave, so they won't attack. Let them alone, and there'll -be plenty of young men." - -"Well!" said Ida, sharply. "You need indoctrination! Didn't they ever -tell you that the city is our home, even if the stupid androids do keep -us out? Don't you know how dependent we are on these raids for all our -tools and things?" - -She sounded suspicious. Roddie shot her a furtive, startled glance. -But she wasn't standing off to fight him. On the contrary, she was too -close for both comfort and combat. She bumped him hip and shoulder -every few steps, and if he edged away, she followed. - -He went on with his questioning. "Why are _you_ here? I mean, sure, the -others are after tools and things, but what's _your_ purpose?" - -Ida shrugged. "I'll admit no girl has ever done it before," she said, -"but I thought I could help with the wounded. That's why I have no -weapon." - -She hesitated, glanced covertly up at him, and went on with a rush of -words. "It's the lack of men, I guess. All the girls are kind of bored -and hopeless, so I got this bright idea and stowed away on one of the -boats when it was dark and the fog had settled down. Do you think I was -being silly?" - -"No, but you do seem a little purposeless." - -In silence they trudged through a vast area of charred wood and -concrete foundations on the northern end of the city. Thick fog over -the water hid Alcatraz, but in-shore visibility was better, and they -could see the beginning of the bridge approach. - -A stone rattled nearby. There was a clink of metal. Ida gasped, and -clung to Roddie's arm. - -"Behind me!" he whispered urgently. "Get behind me and hold on!" - -He felt Ida's arms encircling his waist, her chin digging into his back -below the left shoulder. Facing them, a hundred feet away, stood a -soldier. He looked contemptuous, hostile. - -"It's all right," Roddie said, his voice breaking. - -There was a long, sullen, heart-stopping stare. Then the soldier turned -and walked away. - -Ida's grip loosened, and he could feel her sag behind him. Roddie -turned and held her. With eyes closed, she pressed cold blue lips to -his. He grimaced and turned away his head. - -Ida's response was quick. "Forgive me," she breathed, and slipped from -his arms, but she held herself erect. "I was so scared. And then we've -had no sleep, no food or water." - -Roddie was familiar with these signs of weakness, proud of appearing to -deny his own humiliating needs. - -"I guess you're not as strong as me," he said smugly. "I'll take care -of you. Of course we can't sleep now, but I'll get food and water." - -Leaving her to follow, he turned left to the ruins of a supermarket he -had previously visited, demonstrating his superior strength by setting -a pace Ida couldn't match. By the time she caught up with him, he had -grubbed out a few cans of the special size that Molly always chose. -Picking two that were neither dented, swollen, nor rusted, he smashed -an end of each with his hammer, and gave Ida her choice of strained -spinach or squash. - -"Baby food!" she muttered. "Maybe it's just what we need, but to eat -baby food with a man wearing a diaper.... Tell me, Roddie, how did you -happen to know where to find it?" - -"Well, this is the northern end of the city," he answered, shrugging. -"I've been here before." - -"Why did the soldier let us go?" - -"This watch," he said, touching the radium dial. "It's a talisman." - -But Ida's eyes had widened, and the color was gone from her face. She -was silent, too, except when asking him to fill his fast-emptied can -with rain-water. She didn't finish her own portion, but lay back in the -rubble with feet higher than her head, obviously trying to renew her -strength. - -And when they resumed their walk, her sullen, fear-clouded face showed -plainly that he'd given himself away. - -But to kill her now, before learning how she planned to cross the -supposedly impassable bridge, seemed as purposeless and impulsive as -Ida herself. Roddie didn't think, in any case, that her death would -satisfy the soldiers. With new and useful information to offer, he -might join them as an equal at last. But if his dalliance with this -enemy seemed pointless, not even Molly's knitting needles could protect -him. - -He was sure the soldiers must be tracking the mysterious emanations of -his watch dial, and had trouble to keep from glancing over his shoulder -at every step. But arrival at the bridge approach ended the need for -this self-restraint. Here, difficult going demanded full attention. - - * * * * * - -He'd never gone as far as the bridge before, not having wanted to -look as if he might be leaving the city. The approach was a jungle of -concrete with an underbrush of reinforcing-steel that reached for the -unwary with rusted spines. Frequently they had to balance on cracked -girders, and inch over roadless spots high off the ground. - -Here Ida took the lead. When they got to where three approach roads -made a clover-leaf, she led him down a side road and into a forest. - -Roddie stopped, and seized her arm. - -"What are you trying to do?" he demanded. - -"I'm taking you with me," Ida said firmly. "Taking you where you -belong!" - -"No!" he blurted, drawing his hammer. "I can't go, nor let you go. I -belong here!" - -Ida gasped, twisted loose, and ran. Roddie ran after her. - -She wasn't so easily caught. Like a frightened doe, she dashed in and -out among the trees, leaped to the bridge's underpinnings where they -thrust rustedly from a cliff, and scrambled up the ramp. - -Roddie sighed and slowed down. The pavement ended just beyond the cable -anchors. From there to the south tower, only an occasional dangling -support wire showed where the actual bridge had been suspended. Ida was -trapped. - -He could take his time. Let the soldiers come up, as they undoubtedly -would, to finish the job.... - -But Ida didn't seem to realize she was trapped. Without hesitation she -dashed up the main left-hand suspension cable and ran along its curved -steel surface. - -For a moment, Roddie thought of letting her go, letting her run up the -ever-steepening catenary until--because there were no guard-ropes or -handgrips--she simply fell. That would solve his problem. - -Except it wouldn't be _his_ solution. Her death wouldn't prove him to -his friends. - -He set out quickly, before Ida was lost to sight in the thick fog -that billowed in straight from the ocean. At first he ran erect along -the top of the yard-wide cylinder of twisted metal, but soon the curve -steepened. He had to go on all fours, clinging palm and sole. - -Blood was on the cable where she'd passed. More blood stained it when -he'd followed. - -But because his friends knew neither pain nor fatigue, Roddie would -admit none either. Nor would he give in to the fear that dizzied him at -every downward look. He scrambled on like an automaton, watching only -his holds, till he rammed Ida's rear with his head. - - * * * * * - -She had stopped, trembling and gasping. Roddie clung just below her -and looked dazedly around. There was nothing in sight but fog, pierced -by the rapier of rusted wire supporting them. Neither end of it was in -sight. - -Upward lay success, if death were not nearer on the cable. No soldier -had ever come even this far, for soldiers, as he'd told Ida, never left -the city, were not built to do so. But _he_ was here; with luck, he -could capitalize on the differences that had plagued him so long. - -"Go on!" he ordered hoarsely. "Move!" - -There was neither answer nor result. He broke off an end of loosened -wire and jabbed her rear. Ida gasped and crawled on. - -Up and up they went, chilled, wet, bleeding, pain-racked, exhausted. -Never had Roddie felt so thoroughly the defects of his peculiar -non-mechanical construction. - -Without realizing it, he acquired a new purpose, a duty as compelling -as that of any soldier or fire-watcher. He had to keep that trembling -body of his alive, mount to the tall rust tower overhead. - -He climbed and he made Ida climb, till, at nightmare's end, the fog -thinned and they came into clear, windswept air and clawed up the last -hundred feet to sanctuary. - -They were completely spent. Without word or thought they crept within -the tower, huddled together for warmth on its dank steel deck, and -slept for several hours. - - * * * * * - -Roddie awoke as Ida finished struggling free of his unconscious grip. -Limping, he joined her painful walk around the tower. From its openings -they looked out on a strange and isolated world. - -To the north, where Ida seemed drawn as though by instinct, Mount -Tamalpais reared its brushy head, a looming island above a billowy -white sea of fog. To the south were the Twin Peaks, a pair of buttons -on a cotton sheet. Eastward lay Mount Diablo, bald and brooding, -tallest of the peaks and most forbidding. - -But westward over the ocean lay the land of gold--of all the kinds of -gold there are, from brightest yellow to deepest orange. Only a small -portion of the setting sun glared above the fog-bank; the rest seemed -to have been broken off and smeared around by a child in love with its -color. - -Fascinated, Roddie stared for minutes, but turned when Ida showed no -interest. She was intent on the tower itself. Following her eyes, -Roddie saw his duty made suddenly clear. - -Easy to make out even in the fading light was the route by which -Invaders could cross to the foot of this tower on the remaining ruins -of the road, climb to where he now stood, and then descend the cable -over the bridge's gap and catch the city unaware. Easy to estimate was -the advantage of even this perilous route over things that scattered on -the water and prevented a landing in strength. Easy to see was the need -to kill Ida before she carried home this knowledge. - -Roddie took the hammer from his waist. - -"Don't! Oh, don't!" Ida screamed. She burst into tears and covered her -face with scratched and bloodied hands. - -Surprised, Roddie withheld the blow. He had wept, as a child, and, -weeping, had for the first time learned he differed from his friends. -Ida's tears disturbed him, bringing unhappy memories. - -"Why should you cry?" he asked comfortingly. "You know your people will -come back to avenge you and will destroy my friends." - -"But--but my people are your people, too," Ida wailed. "It's so -senseless, now, after all our struggle to escape. Don't you see? Your -friends are only machines, built by our ancestors. We are Men--and the -city is ours, not theirs!" - -"It _can't_ be," Roddie objected. "The city surely belongs to those -who are superior, and my friends are superior to your people, even to -me. Each of _us_ has a purpose, though, while you Invaders seem to be -aimless. Each of _us_ helps preserve the city; you only try to rob and -end it by destroying it. _My_ people must be the true Men, because -they're so much more rational than yours.... And it isn't rational to -let you escape." - -Ida had turned up her tear-streaked face to stare at him. - -"Rational! What's rational about murdering a defenseless girl in -cold blood? Don't you realize we're the same sort of being, we two? -Don't--don't you remember how we've been with each other all day?" - -She paused. Roddie noticed that her eyes were dark and frightened, yet -somehow soft, over scarlet cheeks. He had to look away. But he said -nothing. - -"Never mind!" Ida said viciously. "You can't make me beg. Go ahead and -kill--see if it proves you're superior. My people will take over the -city regardless of you and me, and regardless of your jumping-jack -friends, too! Men can accomplish anything!" - - * * * * * - -Scornfully she turned and looked toward the western twilight. It was -Roddie's turn to stand and stare. - -"Purpose!" Ida flung at him over her shoulder. "Logic! Women hear so -much of that from men! You're a man, all right! Men _always_ call it -logic when they want to destroy! Loyalty to your own sort, kindness, -affection--all emotional, aren't they? Not a bit logical. Emotion is -for creating, and it's so much more logical to destroy, isn't it?" - -She whirled back toward him, advancing as if she wanted to sink her -teeth into his throat. "Go ahead. Get it over with--if you have the -courage." - -It was hard for Roddie to look away from that wrath-crimsoned face, -but it was even harder to keep staring into the blaze of her eyes. He -compromised by gazing out an opening at the gathering dusk. He thought -for a long time before he decided to tuck his hammer away. - -"It isn't reasonable to kill you now," he said. "Too dark. You can't -possibly get down that half-ruined manway tonight, so let's see how I -feel in the morning." - -Ida began to weep again, and Roddie found it necessary to comfort her. - -And by morning he knew he was a Man. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bridge Crossing, by Dave Dryfoos - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRIDGE CROSSING *** - -***** This file should be named 51241.txt or 51241.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/2/4/51241/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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