He walked ahead feeling the wall with his left hand. Suddenly he stopped. Amra bumped into him.
"The rock wall has now become metal. Feel here."
"You're right," she whispered. "There's a definite seam, and I can tell the difference between the two!"
"The floor's metal, too," added Soon. "My feet are bare, and I can feel it. What's more, the dust is all gone."
Green went ahead, and after thirty more paces he came to another ninety-degree turn, to the right. The walls and floor were composed of the smooth, cool metal. After making sure that the entire party was around the corner, he told a woman carrying some torches taken from a long house to light one. Its bright flare showed the group staring round-eyed at the large chamber in which they stood.
Everywhere were bare gray metal walls and floors. No furniture of any kind.
"There's a doorway to another room," he said. "We might as well go on in."
He took the torch from the woman and, holding a cutlass in the other, he led the way. Once across the threshold he halted.
This room was even larger than the other. But it had furnishings of a sort. And its further wall was not metal but earth.
At the same time the room began to brighten with light coming from an invisible source.
Soon screamed and threw herself against her mother, clinging desperately to her waist. The babies began howling, and the other adults acted in the various ways that panic affected them.
Green alone remained unmoved. He knew what was happening, but he couldn't blame the rest for their behavior. They had never heard of an electronic eye, so they couldn't be expected to maintain coolness.
The only thing that Green feared at that moment was that the outcries would be heard by the savages outside the cave. So he hastened to assure the women that this phenomenon was nothing to be frightened about. It was common in his home country. A mere matter of white magic that anyone could practice.
They quieted down but were still uneasy. Wide-eyed, they bunched up about him.
"The natives themselves aren't scared of this," he said. "They must come here at times. See? There's an altar built against that dirt wall. And from the bones piled beneath it I'd say that sacrifices were held here."