Free The Complete Stories of Philip K. Dick Vol. 2 by Philip K. Dick Page A

moment, trying to steady itself. Then it came on.
    Klaus.
    Hendricks stood up. "Klaus!" He started towards him.
    "How the hell did you -"
    Tasso fired. Hendricks swung back. She fired again, the blast passing him, a searing line of heat. The beam caught Klaus in the chest. He exploded, gears and wheels flying. For a moment he continued to walk. Then he swayed back and forth. He crashed to the ground, his arms flung out. A few more wheels rolled away.
    Silence.
    Tasso turned to Hendricks. "Now you understand why he killed Rudi."
    Hendricks sat down again slowly. He shook his head. He was numb. He could not think.
    "Do you see?" Tasso said. "Do you understand?"
    Hendricks said nothing. Everything was slipping away from him, faster and faster. Darkness, rolling and plucking at him.
    He closed his eyes.
    Hendricks opened his eyes slowly. His body ached all over. He tried to sit up but needles of pain shot through his arm and shoulder. He gasped.
    "Don't try to get up," Tasso said. She bent down, putting her cold hand against his forehead.
    It was night. A few stars glinted above, shining through the drifting clouds of ash. Hendricks lay back, his teeth locked. Tasso watched him impassively. She had built a fire with some wood and weeds. The fire licked feebly, hissing at a metal cup suspended over it. Everything was silent. Unmoving darkness, beyond the fire.
    "So he was the
Second Variety
," Hendricks murmured.
    "I had always thought so."
    "Why didn't you destroy him sooner?" he wanted to know.
    "You held me back." Tasso crossed to the fire to look into the metal cup. "Coffee. It'll be ready to drink in a while."
    She came back and sat down beside him. Presently she opened her pistol and began to disassemble the firing mechanism, studying it intently.
    "This is a beautiful gun," Tasso said, half-aloud. "The construction is superb."
    "What about them? The claws."
    "The concussion from the bomb put most of them out of action. They're delicate. Highly organized, I suppose."
    "The Davids, too?"
    "Yes."
    "How did you happen to have a bomb like that?"
    Tasso shrugged. "We designed it. You shouldn't underestimate our technology, Major. Without such a bomb you and I would no longer exist."
    "Very useful."
    Tasso stretched out her legs, warming her feet in the heat of the fire. "It surprised me that you did not seem to understand, after he killed Rudi. Why did you think he -"
    "I told you. I thought he was afraid."
    "Really? You know, Major, for a little while I suspected you. Because you wouldn't let me kill him. I thought you might be protecting him." She laughed.
    "Are we safe here?" Hendricks asked presently.
    "For a while. Until they get reinforcements from some other area." Tasso began to clean the interior of the gun with a bit of rag. She finished and pushed the mechanism back into place. She closed the gun, running her fingers along the barrel.
    "We were lucky," Hendricks murmured.
    "Yes. Very lucky."
    "Thanks for pulling me away."
    Tasso did not answer. She glanced up at him, her eyes bright in the firelight. Hendricks examined his arm. He could not move his fingers. His whole side seemed numb. Down inside him was a dull steady ache.
    "How do you feel?" Tasso asked.
    "My arm is damaged."
    "Anything else?"
    "Internal injuries."
    "You didn't get down when the bomb went off."
    Hendricks said nothing. He watched Tasso pour the coffee from the cup into a flat metal pan. She brought it over to him.
    "Thanks." He struggled up enough to drink. It was hard to swallow. His insides turned over and he pushed the pan away. "That's all I can drink now."
    Tasso drank the rest. Time passed. The clouds of ash moved across the dark sky above them. Hendricks rested, his mind blank. After a while he became aware that Tasso was standing over him, gazing down at him. "What is it?" he murmured.
    "Do you feel any better?"
    "Some."
    "You know, Major, if I hadn't dragged you away they would have got you. You would be dead. Like Rudi."
    "I know."
    "Do you