"And I missed it?!" Eloise wailed.

"Be glad," Karl said. "The sight is seared into my brain and I wish it wasn't."

"It was certainly something to behold," Beanpole said.

Eloise stared at me in wonder. I just shrugged. "I didn't damage it," I said. "I put it back under your blanket."

"Good," she said. "Because you will put it on again, because I want to see this."

"Dear God, not in public," Fritz said.

"We're ready!" Abner called down, as he and Francois started descending the scaffold.

"Again?" Andre called back.

"Third time's the charm," Abner said. "And the first two failures were Francois's fault, anyway."

"They were not!" Francois retorted.

For the third time in an hour, the scaffold was carefully and painstakingly pulled aside, and we all stood back at least fifty meters from the Tripod. Francois called out a brief countdown, then turned the switch of a large box with wires leading to the bomb.

Unlike the first two times, a loud boom shook the town. The hatch door blew off; it arced out from the dome and landed near one of the Tripod's feet. A cloud of green air billowed into the sky and quickly dispersed. A little bit of greenish goo sloshed out of the hatch, splattering sickeningly to the ground.

"We need volunteers to clean out the Tripod," Andre called loudly.

For the first time in my life, my hand did not go up when volunteers were needed. With some relief, I noticed that Fritz was a little hesitant on this one, also.

"Not volunteering, Guillaume?" Eloise asked with a smile.

"I did my duty today. Wearing a gown's hard work."

Luckily, a group of brave souls stepped forward. They were handed rags and buckets, the scaffold was repositioned, and they started climbing.

About twenty minutes later, Silas and Evelyn came out the city, grinning. They approached Julius, and Evelyn said, "We've gained access to the upper level of the Hall of Tripods!"

Fritz looked up at the Tripod. "Those poor souls. Cleaning all that mess for nothing."

 

I did odd jobs around town, awaiting an opportunity. I finally saw it as Julius walked alone, headed to another of his many tasks.

I easily fell in beside him. "May I have a moment, sir?"

"We'll select people for Tripod driving based on merit, so save your breath," he said, without even looking.

"Ha! That's actually the furthest thing from my mind at the moment."

He paused and looked at me curiously. "Really? You're usually so eager to be at the center of everything."

"Everyone hates being left out. That's only natural. But I wanted to talk a moment about Eloise's idea."

"Ah," he said good-naturedly. He resumed walking, and I walked with him.

"I think you'll admit it's a good one," I said.

"Well, of course it is. And if I had a magic wand to make it happen, I would. But the logistics of creating a new page and modifying all the printing presses for the pamphlet – of which we've already printed upward of 100,000 copies – would be a labor greater than the reward, in my opinion. We're stretched thin, Will. Eloise's idea is simply too far down the list."

"Is that the only reason, sir?"

He had the decency to give this some thought, then said, "Yes, I believe it is."

"So if I could find a solution to this obstacle-"

"We need you, and every warm body, for other tasks, Will."

"What if the extra page saved another hundred lives? A thousand?"

"My answer's the same." He said it kindly. "We're trying to save the entire planet, first, Will. All I can promise you is that I will remember the idea, and if the opportunity arises to implement it, or something similar, you can be sure I will."

I nodded, resigned. "I understand, sir. Thanks."

 

"Ah, that man!" Eloise exclaimed when I told her about my conversation with Julius before going to sleep. "He vexes me!"

"He's vexed me, too, a few times over the years," I said. "But I still respect his decisions and his reasoning." I paused. "Mostly."

She sighed heavily as she lay down. "Yes. It is his vision which led to taking action against the Masters, rather than merely surviving in the White Mountains, and we all owe him a great deal for that." She sighed again. "But he still vexes me."

I couldn't help but smile at that.

 

Eloise had three nightmares before morning. She'd never had so many in one night, and they were worse than before. Each time, I calmed her. Each time, she shivered while waiting for the terror to fade. The third time, she started apologizing, but I told her I'd throw her in the river if she did that again. At least that got a tiny laugh.

 

The next morning, Julius ordered me to report to the upper level of the Hall of Tripods. As I headed in that direction, Eloise joined me, looking very grumpy.

"They say we cannot revive any women today, and maybe not tomorrow, either," she said.

I frowned. "Did they say why?"

"Something about safety. I don't know. I'm just..." She made a strangling motion with her hands and grunted.

"Well, I've been ordered to the upper level."

"I'm coming with you. I've got nothing else to do." Her voice was bitter.

Actually, she could have made herself useful at any number of tasks around Freetown, and she knew this perfectly well. What she was really saying was that she was too upset to do any of them at the moment, too upset even to think straight. I knew she was being immature, but I welcomed her company, and I figured we could be selfish for a moment. And I certainly wasn't about to argue with her.

The upper level was a single wide corridor inside the inner wall of the Hall of Tripods, near the top. It jutted out over the Hall, allowing Tripod domes to make contact while leaving room for their legs. Like the Hall itself, the corridor stretched in each direction as far I could see.

Set into the side of the corridor facing the Hall was a repeating pattern of one door and three portholes, all spaced at equal distances, with each door about fifty meters from the next. The doors were docking bays, allowing the Masters to enter and exit their Tripods.

We arrived to find Fritz, Beanpole, Gregory, Evelyn, Silas, and a few others already there. Jan, Nicolas, and a few dozen more joined us shortly.

On the floor beside Silas was a large bell. I stubbornly did not ask what that was for, just to prove I could master my curiosity.

The scientists all looked completely worn out. Beanpole's eyes were heavy.

"You all right?" I asked him quietly.

"We've been up all night," he said, then grinned. "But what a night! So many secrets discovered!"

Andre joined us and addressed everyone.

"All of you are going to spend the next few days, possibly longer, figuring out how to drive a Tripod. You have been chosen because of your intelligence, experience, reflexes, and physical fitness. At first, we will all gather into a single Tripod, because we need to learn the basics together. Gregory claims he understands specific phrases-"

"I don't just claim, I know for a fact!" Gregory interrupted.

A flicker of irritation crossed Andre's face, then he smoothly continued as if Gregory hadn't spoken.

"-of the alien language, leading to our knowledge of some of the mechanisms, and we're going to put that knowledge to work.

"While we do this, no one is allowed on the floor of the Hall of Tripods, for any reason, in case of accidents. Revival of the women in the Pyramid of Beauty has been temporarily suspended for this reason.

"If you have any urgent questions or insights, raise your hand to get my attention. Otherwise, be silent and listen to Gregory, Evelyn, Silas, and Jean-Paul. Follow me."

Silas picked up the bell, taking care not to let it sound. Andre led us down the corridor to one of the open doors; he stepped through, and we followed. Silas left the bell in the corridor.

We stepped into the control room of a Tripod.

A Tripod dome was about fifty feet across, and the control room occupied three-quarters of this. The three large portholes, with a bank of controls beneath, stretched half the length of the curved outer wall, in its center. The inner wall was straight. The entrance was at one corner.

The bank of controls was about five feet off the floor and roughly split into three consoles, aligned with the three portholes. There were no seats in front of the controls.

A narrow cabinet stood in the opposite corner. The left side of this cabinet consisted of several drawers; the right contained suits hanging from a rod. I recognized the suits as the crude air-tight suits Masters used when entering our atmosphere.

In the middle of the inner wall was a door, currently closed, with a small control panel next to it. To the left of this door was a station containing food, gas capsules, oils, and a lavatory. To the right was a pool large enough for a single Master to bathe.

A second pool was between the entrance and the control panel, by the wall. A third occupied a space along the wall opposite us, between the control panel and the cabinet. The pools were formed by four-foot-high circular walls rather than being sunk into the floor. All were dry.

I counted at least three large doors in the floor, all closed.

Around the perimeter of the ceiling was a single thin strip of material which glowed white, providing light. On the wall just below this, also around the perimeter, was a metal grill about a foot high.

Beanpole stood beside the hatch. He waited until everyone was inside, then said, "This..." He pressed a button beside the door, about even with his head, and the ceiling light turned off. "...activates the overhead light." He pressed it again to turn it back on.

"The metal grill below the light provided a constant source of heat," he continued. "The Masters kept this room stifling hot, almost too hot for us to bear for very long. There is no switch to turn the heater off, so we safely cut the wires which powered it."

He walked toward the inner door and motioned at it. "This leads to a small airlock, which in turn leads to a chamber on the other side, used to hold human passengers or captives. The Masters used the suits hanging over there to enter our atmosphere, if they needed to. The doors in the floor allow access to the machinery and the water tank; they are for maintenance only.

"As you can see from the consoles and from the number of baths, a Tripod could have three Masters driving it, but we're confident it usually had four. That's how many Masters were present when we captured Ruki, and how many were in the Tripod Will destroyed five years ago, so we think that's a standard. They probably rotated duties so that one Master could rest at any given time."

Beanpole indicated to Evelyn that he was finished, so she spoke up.

"For those of you who don't know, a battery is a small object which stores electricity," she said. "Electricity is the energy which powers machines, lights, and things like that. The ancients had batteries, and we've learned to use them. The advantage of a battery is that you can take it with you wherever you go, and draw upon its store of electricity only when you need it. For example, you can carry a portable light in your hand powered by a battery. The drawback of a battery is that eventually it runs out of electricity and must be thrown away and replaced.

"The Masters also use batteries, and each Tripod is powered by a large one. But the Masters invented rechargeable batteries. Instead of throwing away the battery when it runs out of power, its store of electricity can be refilled by plugging it into a generator which produces electricity.

"Although we can't see it at the moment, just beside the hatch we came through, on the outside, is a panel which opens to reveal a charging port. While a Tripod is docked, a protrusion from the Hall of Tripods is inserted into this port, conducting electricity from the city to recharge the Tripod's battery.

"If you'll observe the far right of the control panel, you'll see a blue light, which means the battery is full. If it were still in the process of charging, the light would be flashing. We strongly suspect that when the battery is almost exhausted, the light changes to a deep orange as a warning, although we haven't confirmed this.

"Also, when the Tripod is docked, the city inserts two pipes into the Tripod, about a foot below the charger. One pipe takes away waste, the second fills the water tank with fresh water. A large portion of the lower half of this dome is used to store water."

Fritz raised his hand. When Andre acknowledged him, he said, "I thought Tripods would sometimes leave the city for weeks at a time. There's no way a Tripod could hold enough water for four Masters for that long."

"You're right," Evelyn said. "They have special sponge-like materials, similar to what the slaves wore in their masks, to clean their water and air for extended trips, allowing them to reuse it. We think these materials may have allowed Tripods to function away from the city for as long as three months, if necessary, although the Masters would have been very uncomfortable by the end of that time."

Evelyn nodded to Andre, who pointed to another set of controls on the right console. "This is the radio," he said. "A radio is a device which uses the same invisible rays used to control the caps."

A few former slaves started at this, so Evelyn quickly said. "Don't worry, these rays can't control your caps. And even if they tried, remember that your cap wires have been cut, so you can never be controlled again."

"That's right," Andre said. "No, the invisible rays used by the radios can only carry sound. A person using the radio would speak into this device, and the invisible rays would carry their words to people listening with another radio, perhaps hundreds of kilometers away. When those people spoke back, the sound of their voice would come from this small grill, which is called a speaker. This dial controls the volume, or loudness, of the speaker.

"Right now, the volume is all the way down, and that's where it will stay. There's no way to switch the radio off entirely, so turning the volume all the way down is the best we can do. In every Tripod we use, we're going to cover the radio with canvas to prevent you from using it. This is very important! We cannot use a Tripod radio for any reason whatsoever, because the Masters would learn we've commandeered them!

"There are Tripods still active far to the south, somewhere along the French coast. We can hear them talking to each other."

This caused a tiny stir of astonishment. Lacking a solid eyewitness account, news of active Tripods had seemed like rumors, albeit strong ones. But Andre's words acknowledged that their existence was real.

"Gregory is devoting part of his time to listening to their conversations," Andre continued. "And almost certainly, they know we're listening. But if we were to transmit anything, even a whisper for a second, on their frequencies, it would confirm we're listening, and we don't want that.

"But the most crucial detail, by far, is this: if we used Tripod radios, the enemy would quickly learn from our conversations that we're driving them. This cannot be allowed to happen. Maintaining this secret could literally be the difference between life and death for the entire world. So you. Will. Not. Touch. The radio. You will leave the canvas which covers it alone. Does everyone understand this?"

Everyone nodded enthusiastically.

"Good," Andre said.

Silas took over. "There are no seats at the controls because the Masters are comfortable resting on their powerful legs. These pedals at the center station operate the Tripods' legs." The pedals faced three directions from a common center. "They are clearly a manual control, although we know from the experience of capturing Ruki that Tripods can also walk on an automated, programmed route, so very likely, the Masters rarely used the pedals. Each pedal is more like a shoe than a true pedal. The Master would place his feet into the shoes. Any movement he made with his feet, the shoes translated to movement of the Tripods' feet."

Beanpole said, "On the left, you'll see the control which operates the tentacles. Each Tripod has three, although two at one time is the most anyone has ever observed, as far as we know." The console Beanpole indicated contained three holes evenly spaced in a triangle, each about eight inches in diameter. "Each hole you see here contains an eight-foot-long, narrow sleeve. Each sleeve is lubricated with a slimy, milky white substance. Our tests so far have not found this substance to be harmful in any way, but we haven't completed all the tests yet. The sleeve is metallic yet somehow flexible, like the Tripods' tentacles themselves. The Master would insert his tentacles into these sleeves and move them around. The sleeves translate this movement to the Tripods' tentacles with pin-perfect precision. This is how they were able to perform such delicate, precise, yet strong operations.

"If we are to use Tripods as weapons, it is vital that we learn to use the tentacles. But our bodies don't have eight-foot-long tentacles to operate this control, so we anticipate this will be the hardest obstacle to overcome."

Then it was Gregory's turn to speak. "When we think about directions relative to ourselves, we usually think in terms of left and right. The Masters, true to the triadic nature of their society, think in terms of left, middle, and right. When we walk, we have to turn our bodies to change direction. Not so the Masters; their three evenly-spaced legs and omnidirectional joints allow them to change direction instantly with no extra movement. They can travel backward to either side just as easily as they travel forward. But the leg on the same side as their face is still considered the middle leg, even when sideways travel temporarily makes one of the other legs the middle leg, technically.

"The pedals match this thinking. One leg of the Tripod is dead center in front of these portholes, exactly like each Master's front leg is aligned with their face. This is the middle leg. The other legs of the Tripod are equidistantly spaced to either side and slightly behind, again just like their biological legs.

"I was able to discern their nomenclature because their technical language is heavily based on the three directions of left, middle, and right. Knowing this, their remaining technical writings should be much easier to understand going forward." He almost sounded smug.

I kept my face neutral, but inside I was scowling. We know you're clever, Gregory, I thought. The others aren't blowing their own horns because they know this isn't the time or place. You can do the same if you try.

I suddenly wondered if maybe Gregory was insecure.

Luckily, Andre took over the lecture. "Because the Masters' feet are much bigger than ours, we've padded the insides of these shoes so we can use them. And we have used them; we've lifted and lowered each leg very slightly, just enough to know they work, and fortunately, one does not need the strength of the Masters to move them. They actually move very easily and smoothly.

"But to attempt to walk a Tripod for the first time, we need someone who has proven they possess fine motor skills, reflexes, balance, and superb hand-eye coordination. So..." Andre actually closed his eyes for a moment, as if his next words were painful. "...Will Parker, step forward."

My eyes wide, I did as instructed. Being called on was the last thing I had expected.

"You won the Games as a boxer to enter this city as a spy," Andre said. "A good boxer requires exactly the hand-eye coordination, balance, motor skills, and reflexes we're looking for. So we want you to step into the pedals and move this Tripod away from the dock."

To the others, he said, "But first, everyone else except Jean-Paul and myself will exit the Tripod. If Will makes us fall over, we want to injure as few people as possible."

I looked at the pedals with dread, then noticed Beanpole's sly grin.

"You could have warned me," I said.

"And miss seeing the look on your face? Not a chance!"

The others filed out. Eloise squeezed my hand and gave me a little smile before she left. Through the hatch, I saw Silas pick up the bell and, heaving it around, ring it once. Its tone echoed around the Hall.

The outer door and the Tripod's hatch swung closed.

"All right," I said. "Now, I know the Masters didn't use bells to do that."

"You've already forgotten, Will?" Beanpole asked. "The slaves in the lower level opened and closed the doors for the Masters when they docked. We asked those people to resume their stations. We don't know yet how to talk to them through the intercom, so when they hear the bell ring once, they know to close the door and release the docking mechanism. See the blue light? It's off, now. We've been disconnected."

I scowled. "Where did you even get a bell?"

"The Erlkonig had a spare," Andre said.

"Hmp," I said dourly. "Very clever. Gregory must have thought of that."

That got a mild laugh from both of them.

"Whenever you're ready, Will," Andre said. "Just remember that once you lift a leg, you'll have to set it down again quickly, just like you do with your own legs while walking. Tripods can't stay upright on two legs."

"I can only operate two pedals at a time."

"That's all right," Beanpole said. "You can take as long as you need between steps. Concentrating on one pedal at a time will be more than enough."

I looked at the porthole. It was built for the Masters' normal height, and I'm a short human. However, it was also built so the Masters could look down, even down to the Tripods' feet, so the lower edge of the porthole was about even with my eyes. If I stretched, I could barely see enough to be useful.

"I can only sort of see where I'm going," I said. "And if you want me to walk backward, I can't see at all."

"The Masters may have had a mechanism to help them walk backward," Andre said. "If so, we haven't discovered it. But we won't be leaving the Hall, and that entire space is clear."

I looked at the pedals, or shoes, closely. Each had been padded inside with tent canvas, leaving enough space for a human-sized foot. I didn't want to make any assumptions, no matter how small, so I asked, "Each pedal points to the leg it represents outside, right?"

"Correct," Beanpole said.

The right pedal pointed away from the dock the most. I put my left foot in the center of the pedal array, then carefully slid my right foot into the right pedal. I made sure it was snug and that I was balanced, then said, "I'm going to step this foot away from the dock."

Beanpole and Andre both tightly grabbed hold of the rod which held the suits, and braced themselves. Andre nodded.

"I have nothing to hang onto!" I complained.

"Then don't make the Tripod fall over," Andre said. "It will hurt you very badly."

I gave him a dour look. Then, at an even pace – not too quickly, not too slowly – I took my first step.

I landed the foot a little hard. I heard the clang as it stomped the ground. The floor tilted a bit, and I remembered the rocking motion of a Tripod as it traveled (and how did I forget that?). But we were still upright.

I moved my foot to the left pedal, thought for a moment, then changed my mind and moved my foot to the middle pedal.

"Technically, it doesn't matter which foot comes next," Beanpole said. "The beauty of a tripodic system is that each leg is adjacent to each leg, symmetrically."

I nodded as if I knew what half those words meant, though I understood their gist. I moved the middle leg away from the dock, trying to step the same distance as before, but more smoothly. Then I moved the third leg.

The Tripod stood away from the dock.

The porthole showed more of the inner wall than it showed of the Hall. That wasn't acceptable; I wanted to see where I was going fully. Thinking carefully, I used little steps to rotate the Tripod in place, until the porthole completely faced the Hall.

Slowly getting the hang of it – and doing everything in my power not to get too cocky, because I knew that's when things would go belly up – I walked the Tripod in a circle several times, keeping just inside the gate. It was slow because I kept having to switch pedals, but really easy to get used to.

I tried to quell the childish feeling of pride. I'd been down that road before, and did not like where it led. This was important work to save lives; it wasn't about me.

Andre and Beanpole were grinning. "Excellent!" Andre said. "Now redock the Tripod."

I looked at him in horror and gulped. Redock. Um...right.

It was easy to practice walk when you didn't care about precision. Now he was asking me to put this Tripod back into perfect position, to the inch.

"Do your best, Will," Andre said.

I turned the Tripod to face the docking bays. I saw everyone watching me through various portholes. I indulged in a quick moment to search for Eloise, and spotted her.

Because the rest of the group were watching through more than one porthole, and every dock looked the same, I became disoriented. "Which dock was it?" I asked, mentally kicking myself for failing to note such a basic fact.

Beanpole came to me just long enough to point at a dock.

I headed for it, but couldn't get the step distance just right, so backed away again. I tried again, then again. Each time, I backed off, afraid to damage anything.

"Wait," Beanpole said. "Whenever we get within fifty feet of the dock, this button lights up." He pointed at one of the controls near the charging light. "I think this is significant. Will, get close to the dock again."

I brought the Tripod near the dock. Sure enough, the button lit up.

Beanpole said, "Will, press that button, then run to join us here as fast as you can and hang on."

I didn't understand, but did as he asked.

The moment I pressed the button, the Tripod rocked forward on its own. It took three short steps and positioned itself perfectly into the docking station.

"Just as I thought!" Beanpole said. "Once it gets near enough, the machinery takes over and docks automatically, because no human or Master could be that precise manually!"

Outside, the bell rang twice. The blue light came on, the hatch opened, and everyone rushed back inside, full of excitement for what they'd just seen.