He stopped because the sign was no longer there. Chase and Nick stared too, trying to find it, and then the realization dawned collectively.
"It's under the water," Dan said in a small voice. "That sign was way up above the entrance. The level must have risen by at least twenty feet!"
"Now we can't leave," Nick said, spitting the words out, "even if we had somewhere to go. We can't fucking leave!" He lurched toward the low parapet and Chase grabbed his arm and hauled him back.
"What were you trying for, a gold medal in the swan dive?" he said, keeping a firm grip. The two men held on to each other, swallowing back emotion. Chase said, "This is getting to be a habit. I saved your bacon at Halley Bay Station."
"Those were the days," Nick sighed. "Then I didn't have a care in the world."
"Except where to get hold of some Morrocan Blue."
"Algerian Red, you stupid bastard."
"So what now?" Dan said. "Build an ark?"
Behind them Hegler was gazing thoughtfully at the tangle of television antennae sprouting from a concrete box in the middle of the roof. "Is there any juice in the system? That TV set you tried," he said to Dan, "is it still working?"
Dan shrugged. "I haven't tried it since."
"What if it is?" Chase said. "It was a closed-circuit channel feeding off the hotel's emergency supply--there was nothing coming in from the outside."
"I was thinking of stuff going out, not coming in."
"You mean transmitting? Is it possible?"
"It's possible," Hegler said.
"And we've got hundreds of TV sets we can cannibalize for parts," Dan said eagerly. He looked around at the others. "Surely we could build a transmitter of some kind?"
"How do you make a microphone out of a cathode ray tube?" Nick asked caustically.
Art Hegler shook his head. "I wasn't thinking of anything quite so sophisticated. All we need is a constant signal--not even Morse--that somebody somewhere would pick up, then they'd use the signal to get a fix on us." He scratched his sideburn. "I don't know, maybe it wouldn't work; it's just an idea."
"The best one I've heard today, or this month, for that matter," Chase said with a grin. "How about it, Art, will you give it a try? Get Pete Kosinski to help you and ask around for anyone with knowledge of electronics or communications."
"Okay." Hegler grabbed hold of a tarnished cross-strut with his gloved hand. "First thing is to find out if the power's still on. If it isn't, this isn't worth scrap."
They went back down to the fifth floor using the main staircase. On each landing Chase made sure the elevator doors were closed. He knew it was a futile precaution because the elevator shaft would have access off through other parts of the building--in the spaces between the floors and ceilings, or possibly the ventilation system. It was for that reason he had warned everyone not to enter any of the rooms without first making absolutely sure they were empty, and to take extra care when opening closets and cupboards.
Dan suggested taking a look through the upper floors. "There must be four or five hundred rooms above us--there could be food, supplies, all kinds of useful stuff."
"Not to mention things living there." Nick gave Dan a narrow stare. "If you want to go poking around, count me out. Don't you think we've got enough trouble without going looking for it?"
"Let's keep to our own floor, Dan," Chase said. "We can barricade the doors and at least have some degree of security."
He didn't qualify that by reminding them of the giant snakes. But then he didn't have to.
Chase tossed and turned, the sweat pouring off him until he felt himself to be wallowing in a soggy morass. His feet had swollen with the heat and his hands felt boneless, spongy.
He slid off the bed, rearranged the single sheet over Ruth's sleeping figure, and took a drink of tepid water from the jug. Instantly sweat rolled down his face and plopped into the water like raindrops. He tottered in the darkened room as a wave of dizziness swept over him. Was it just the heat or was it something else? At the back of his mind was anoxia, the creeping disease of oxygen deficiency in the tissues. Was this how it started, with fainting spells and nausea?
A tremendous crash shook the building and the uncurtained window flared with daylight brightness, with it a stabbing boom of thunder whose noise and pressure bore down with such force that his eardrums almost ruptured.
For a moment he thought the hotel had received a direct hit from a missile. But the cause, thank God, was natural--like everything else, the thunderstorms were built on a gigantic scale.
Ruth sat up and hugged her knees. "If it keeps on raining we'll have to move to the penthouse," she said.
