Read Not Less Than Gods for Free Online Page B

here before?”
    “I haven’t seen anything but the rooms Upstairs, sir.”
    “Hmph. Ever seen an iceberg?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Nine-tenths of ’em are below the water, you know; same with Redking’s. Everything down here belongs to the Society, though—”
    There was the muffled sound of an explosion, some distance down the corridor in which they stood. From below a far door, something like smoke began to curl.
    “Hell,” said Ludbridge, and set off down the corridor at a dead run. Bell-Fairfax passed him at perfectly amazing speed, and Ludbridge thought to himself:
The beggar’s fit, at any rate.
The other reached the door first, and pounded on it.
    “Hallo! Anyone in there?”
    No reply but strangled coughing came, with a high-pitched shrilling noise behind it, and the sound of clawing at the door from within. Ludbridge arrived then, with several other men from rooms down the hall. Before their astonished eyes Bell-Fairfax tore the door from its hinges and cast it aside as easily as though it had been a playing card. Clouds billowed out; a man fell forward onto the carpet. Ludbridge grabbed him and backed away with him. Bell-Fairfax, meanwhile, had taken a deep breath and leaned round the door frame to peer into the room.
    “No one else in there, sir!”
    “Be all right,” gasped the man who had been in the room. “Fans clear it out—experiment—titanium tetrachloride went wrong. My face burned?”
    “Not much. You’ll want the medics to have a look at you, all the same, Kirke,” said Ludbridge. Bell-Fairfax, meanwhile, was watching in fascination as the chemical mist vanished into little vents, revealing a room like an alchemist’s chamber, full of an extraordinary white light, with glass retorts and many-colored bottles crowded on its tables. As the room’s details became visible, the shrill squealing faded and at last ceased.
    They loaded Kirke onto the door and carried him down the corridor to what appeared to be a double doorway. One of the other rescuers threw the doors wide and revealed the small room beyond. It too was brightly lit, from a tiny glassed lamp in its ceiling.
    “We’ll take him from here,” said one of the other men, catching hold of the door and backing into the cabinet. Bell-Fairfax relinquished his corner of the door and stared as the cabinet dropped away out of sight, carrying the moaning Kirke and his bearers.
    “It’s an ascending room,” said Ludbridge. “Never seen one? Ours goes down as well. That one connects to the hospital. Full marks for getting there as quickly as you did, but you were a damned fool to pull the door off that way. If there’d been a fire in that room, the rush of air would have fanned it into a blaze.”
    “Yes, sir,” said Bell-Fairfax. They walked on a few paces, before Ludbridge said:
    “Were you in the service?”
    “Yes, sir. Navy.”
    “Thought so. Anyone else would have answered back. What rank?”
    “Commander, sir. Honorably retired, on half-pay.” Bell-Fairfax smiled, coldly amused by something. Ludbridge, observing him, thought:
Arrogant. I wonder why?
    “Next time something of the sort happens, feel about the top of the door by the lintel. If it’s hot, you’ll know something’s smoldering inside,” Ludbridge continued.
    “Yes, sir. Though I could tell nothing was on fire.”
    “Through a closed door? Very likely!”
    “I’d have been able to smell the heat, sir,” Bell-Fairfax replied.
    “You’ve a keen sense of smell, have you?” Ludbridge looked up at him thoughtfully. Bell-Fairfax’s nose was a long aquiline, breaking to the left. His features suggested something slightly un-English, especially with those pale unnerving eyes. Ludbridge wondered whether he might be a Slav. The strength and reflexes were remarkable too, for a man who, though solid, did not appear heavily muscled. The articulation of his arms and shoulders seemed somewhat unusual . . .
    “Well, Christ knows you can run,” said