“I don’t like this,” he said. “This baby is sick, and we’re only making her worse.”
As if in protest, the machine shuddered again.
“Can’t you go any faster?”
“Sure. If you want to land up in those treetops.”
The battle noises sounded nearer now, and Neil could see the city from one of the portholes.
“That way, Dave,” he shouted anxiously. “They’re over that way.”
He strained his eyes through the porthole as the machine began to drop.
There, far below, his beard fluttering like a red-gold banner, was Erik. The barbarians plowed into him and he pushed them back. The ring was a tight circle now, and the men fought back to back. The barbarians no longer withdrew. When one man dropped, another jumped into his place.
It would be only a matter of minutes before the tide of bodies would completely overwhelm the small band of defenders.
“Faster,” Neil pleaded, “faster!”
The machine dropped with startling speed. Neil headed for the ladder and dropped down into the lower bubble. He threw the hatchway open and shouted wildly.
“Up here! Up here! Hey, you filthy murderers! Up here.”
One man saw the machine. His eyes widened in terror, and he screamed and pointed upward. Heads snapped upright, and Neil could see their faces now as they strained their necks, their eyes wide in panic.
Weapons dropped and the barbarians began to disperse.
The machine dropped lower, lower.
“Pull her up, Dave,” Neil shouted. “They’re beginning to scatter.”
There was no answer from the control room.
Below, Neil could see Erik’s face raised in wonder and surprise.
“Pull her up, Dave, pull her up.”
The barbarians stopped, stared upward. The initial shock was beginning to wear off.
They saw again the blond-headed boy who had fought so desperately on the ground. He was shouting wildly, and they sensed somehow that this strange new weapon was in trouble.
“Dave! We’re getting too close.
“I can’t,” Dave shouted down from the control room. “I can’t budge her, Neil.”
Neil peered from the hatchway. Below, the barbarians raised their weapons and shouted angrily as the machine slowly drifted toward the ground.
The machine dropped lower and lower. Below, the I barbarians raised their weapons and shook them I at the descending thing from the sky. Neil saw wild, fanatical eyes and bared teeth.
Lower. Lower.
Neil could almost reach out and touch the upraised arms of the screaming horde below. Rapidly he slammed the hatchway closed as a barbarian reached for him.
The machine hovered about five feet above the ground while the barbarians milled around it, striking the plastic bubble with their swords, pounding on it with their fists. Neil peered through the plastic at the sea of screaming, distorted faces outside.
Quite suddenly the machine began to shudder violently. Neil clung to the sides, almost losing his balance as the violent trembling threatened to shake him off his feet. Outside, the screams stopped as the barbarians looked at the machine with a new curiosity.
The trembling increased, and the barbarians backed away, eying the machine cautiously.
A loud coughing filled the air as it began to sputter. A frightened bellow escaped the lips of the threatening horde, followed immediately by the sound of backfiring as the machine struggled to stay in the air.
The shots thundered out like the roar of a heavy cannon. Again, and again, blasting into the night, sparks showering from the motor’s exhaust.
Immediately there was panic below. The barbarians threw their weapons into the air and scrambled away from the machine, climbing over one another, stumbling, falling, shrieking frantically, as they hurried to escape this monster that bellowed and showered fire.
They ran from the court, and behind them was Erik, his ax slicing away at their backs. And now Mayas began to appear from doorways and from streets.
The barbarians were in full retreat, and the blond giant was chasing them! Surely these were not men to fear, the Mayas reasoned. Surely these were not the bloody murderers who had overrun their city.
With new courage they flooded the streets, taking up the chase, their weapons joining Erik’s as the barbarians fled in wild disorder.
Neil watched them flee, the Mayas in close pursuit. He wiped his brow and grinned. Dave dropped the machine to the ground and slowly came down the aluminum ladder.
Together, they stepped through the hatchway into the coolness of the night. In the distance the shouts of the barbarians still pierced the night in terror.
“Well,” Dave said, “that’s that.”
“That’s that,” Neil agreed. But his mind was troubled with the persistent thought that the barbarians would return some day. And next time there might not be a time machine here to save the city.
All at once he felt terribly sorry for the Mayas.
Dawn came quickly. The sun poked long red fingers into the blackness of the sky, chasing the shadows, chasing the fear that had lurked in every corner the night before.