"I wonder where they're taking us," said Hilda, clinging to John's arm to keep up with the brisk pace, and laughing at the way a little jump could lift her up and far ahead.
"I wonder, too. Well, Honey, if I must be cast away—I'm glad it's with you."
She squeezed his arm, but said nothing. There was light ahead at the end of the long tunnel. They entered a large open chamber.
It was not a luxurious room, but neither was it a prison. There was sufficient heat, and the mattresses and sheets were clean. There were two shower and bath rooms beyond but no ultra violet equipment. Cloth curtains were hung to drop around their beds. One side of the room was lined half way to the ceiling with frayed and battered books. One wall had a moving picture screen. There was no television. One noted the absence of buttons to push and gadgets for speed and comfort. There were no sliding floors.
"Our legs will ache with all the walking in this city," said Hilda, rather doubtfully.
"I'll like that. I'd enjoy developing a little muscle again."
"I wonder where those passages go. Do you suppose they'll permit us to go out?"
"Let's see."
As they stepped to the door, Mary came forward and gave them each a folded paper map, and a double holster holding a radilight and a gas pellet gun. Hilda buckled hers on, laughing at its weight. John stared at his thoughtfully.
"No real danger here," said the blonde nurse, "but our instruction manuals say there are Mars rats—something like the jack rabbits on western sage plains back home. They run around the cave area. Nothing larger has been left in the passages. They aren't very good to eat, so we just gas them and leave them to recover. Dr. Henderson wants a reserve food supply in case of emergency. They are about twice the size of rabbits back home, and their bite is infectious. If you go beyond any of the air doors, you may need oxygen helmets, the atmosphere is pretty thin. It will take you a bit of time to get used to the lighter gravity, but that's sort of fun." She said it all with professional cheeriness, as if it were memorized, but she paid very little attention to them.