登陆注册
5167500000067

第67章

The ingots passed between the whirling faces; emerged from them as slender, long cylinders; were seized as they slipped down by a crouching block, whose place as it glided away was instantly taken by another.In many bewildering forms, intent upon unknown activities directed toward unguessable ends, the composite, animate mechanisms labored.And all the place was filled with a goblin bustle, trollish racketings, ringing of gnomish anvils, clanging of kobold forges--a clamorous cavern filled with metal Nibelungens.

We came to the opening of another passage, a doorway piercing the walls of the workshop.Its incline, though steep, was not dangerous.

Into it we stepped; climbed onward it seemed interminably.

Far ahead of us at last appeared the outline of its further entrance, silhouetted against and filled with a brighter luminosity.We drew near; stopped cautiously at its threshold, peering out.

Well it was that we had hesitated.Before us was open space--an abyss in the body of the Metal Monster.

The corridor opened into it like a window.Thrusting out our heads, we saw an unbroken wall both above and below.Half a mile away was its opposite side.Over this pit was a misty sky and not more than a thousand feet above and black against the heavens was the lip of it--the cornices of this chasm within the City.

Far, far beneath us we watched the Hordes throw themselves across the abyss in webs of curving arches and girder-straight bridges; gigantic we knew these spans must be yet dwarfed to slender footways by distance.Over them moved hurrying companies; from them came flashings, glitterings--prismatic, sun golden; plutonic scarlets, molten blues; javelins of colored light piercing upward from unfolded cubes and globes and pyramids crossing them or from busy bearers of the shining fruits of the mysterious workshops.

And as they passed the bridges swung up, coiled and thrust themselves from sight through openings that closed behind them.Ever, as they passed, close on their going whipped out other spans so that always across that abyss a sentient, shifting web was hung.

We drew back, stared into each other's white face.Panic swept through me, in quick, alternate pulse of ice and fire.For crushingly, no longer to be denied, came certainty that we were lost within the mazes of this incredible City--lost in the body of the Metal Monster which that City was.There was a sick despair in my heart as we turned and slowly made our way back along the sloping corridor.

A hundred yards, perhaps, we had gone in silence before we stopped, gazing stupidly at an opening in the wall beside us.The portal had not been there when we had passed--of that I was certain.

"It's opened since we went by," whispered Drake.

We peered through it.The passage was narrow; its pave led downward.For a moment we hesitated, the same foreboding in both our minds.And yet--among the perils that crowded in upon us what choice had we? There could be no more danger there than here.

Both ways were--ALIVE, both obedient to impulses over which we had no more control and no more way of predetermining than mice in some complex, man-made trap.

Furthermore, this shaft also ran downward, and although its pitch was less and it did not therefore drop as quickly toward that level we sought and wherein lay the openings of escape into the outer valley, it fell at right angles to the corridor through which we had come.

We knew that to retrace our steps now would but take us back to the forges and thence to the hall of the Cones and the certain peril waiting for us there.

We stepped into this opened way.For a little distance it ran straightly, then turned and sloped gently upward;and a little distance more we climbed.Then suddenly, not a hundred yards from us, gushed out a flood of soft radiance, opalescent, filled with pearly glimmerings and rosy shadows of light.

It was as though a door had opened into some world of luminescence.From it the lambent torrent poured; billowed down upon us.In its wake came music--if music the mighty harmonies, the sonorous chords, the crystalline themes and the linked chaplet of notes that were like spiralings of tiny golden star bells could be named.

同类推荐
  • 根本说一切有部毗奈耶羯耻那衣事

    根本说一切有部毗奈耶羯耻那衣事

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 二十四诗品

    二十四诗品

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 解蔽

    解蔽

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说五蕴皆空经

    佛说五蕴皆空经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说六字咒王经

    佛说六字咒王经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 遥远的绿叶

    遥远的绿叶

    这是一本有关未来的幻想小说。靠近北极的一所小学校,正在上课时,突然遇至了一场大地震。地震引发了雪山崩塌,将小学校埋在了地下。七千年过去了,人类的高科技将这所被埋在地下的学校发掘出来,其中三个小学生被救活了。时隔七千年的人类相聚会发生怎样的故事呢,这本书里表达的情感与思索,有着相当深厚的哲学韵味。
  • 降临国漫当大佬

    降临国漫当大佬

    如果能够降临国漫世界,你最想做的是什么呢?是寻找那个我一定会回来的,却没能再回来的灰太狼,还是拉过勾的事情,就一定要做到啊!的麦当。或者是在快意恩仇的画江湖探寻龙泉秘藏,又或者在如诗如画的秦时明月寻一良人,笑看诸子百家。夏寻:那个我还想虹猫,围棋少年,中华,一人,狐妖,魔道,超神,武庚,......神:陛下,臣妾做不到啊!群号:624143711
  • 读素问钞

    读素问钞

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 代嫁弃妾

    代嫁弃妾

    她的混蛋父亲用她母亲的性命来要挟她替姐代嫁入宁王府。可是新婚之夜,她意外发现原来权势滔天的宁王居然是七年前她曾经救下的又瞎又哑的冷血少年。因为宁王的暴戾与绝情,一念之差,她没有告诉他真相,却因此失去了与他相认的机会……他从来没有想到:替姐代嫁的她,原来就是他年少落难时救了他性命的女孩,他早已情根深种,无法容下其她女人,她是他爱逾性命的女人。人海茫茫,他一直在找寻她,却不知道她原来就在他的身边……错过了,是否会因此错过一生?
  • 释家观化还愚经

    释家观化还愚经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 惟吾逍遥

    惟吾逍遥

    【新书《剑影横秋》已发,望多多支持】仙途浩渺,众生汲汲而求;求道多艰,修士道心渐衰。自登仙途,御千里快哉风,穿山渡海,凌波御虚,穷睇眄,缈天涯,行于万丈红尘中,游乎四极八荒外。纵天高地迥,宇宙无穷;任天行有常,盈虚有数,墨天微抚剑而立,“大道独行,惟吾逍遥!”阅前须知:1.主角精神病患者,接受不了请及时止损。2.无男主,因为女主兼职了!3.弃文不必告知。【书友群:738562837】
  • 河自漫漫景自端

    河自漫漫景自端

    她为了家族名誉,他权衡前程利害。一对婚戒,套牢了他们,也稳固了两个家族。她自有她梦中的清俊少年;他也有他的心底明月……她和他,顽固又顽强,抵抗着记忆,抵抗着彼此——关爱,抑或伤害。在长久的、寂静的岁月里,他们还是慢慢的长进了彼此的生命;当他们想要剥离,才发现那是怎样的一种痛……——————————————————————实体书名《你是我左上角的心跳》,已上市。当当卓越均有销售。签名本地址:http://m.wkkk.net/
  • 内经药瀹

    内经药瀹

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 报案者

    报案者

    秋天,是这个海滨城市一年中最明媚的季节。今年的秋天有点美中不足:一场名为“爱丽丝”的热带风暴袭击了渤海湾,仅月湾市境内就有上万所房屋倒塌,好几万人无家可归。“爱丽丝”,一个多么美丽的名字。据气象专家说,由于这次“爱丽丝”给人类造成了灾难性的破坏,以后,气象专家们恐怕就不会再用她来为热带风暴命名了。傍晚时分,朱建国驾着“宝马”赶回他的豪宅,进门后就直奔楼上的冲浪浴室,正好迎面碰见年轻的娇妻从蒸汽浴室里出来,艾丽裸着洁白袅娜的身体,像只受惊的白天鹅。
  • 空间小农女

    空间小农女

    重生,穿成小女娃,不用吵,睁开眼便分了家,还附带个灵液、灵泉的空间!赚大发了!各种极品必须的装备!不过,可不可以不要这么多啊!渣爹、后娘的娃太可怜!种田发家必须的标配!可不可以少点田啊!