"We had hoped that you would be undersurface when the sealing occurred. Your presence here is a nuisance. When the Soviets broke through, we were able to accomplish their sealing without—"
"The Soviets? They broke through?"
"Several months ago, they came up unexpectedly to see why the war had not been won. We were forced to act with speed. At this moment they are desperately attempting to cut new Tubes to the surface, to resume the war. We have, however, been able to seal each new one as it appears."
The leady regarded the three men calmly.
"We're cut off," Moss said, trembling. "We can't get back. What'll we do?"
"How did you manage to seal the Tube so quickly?" Franks asked the leady. "We've been up here only two hours."
"Bombs are placed just above the first stage of each Tube for such emergencies. They are heat bombs. They fuse lead and rock."
Gripping the handle of his gun, Franks turned to Moss and Taylor.
"What do you say? We can't go back, but we can do a lot of damage, the fifteen of us. We have Bender guns. How about it?"
He looked around. The soldiers had wandered away again, back toward the exit of the building. They were standing outside, looking at the valley and the sky. A few of them were carefully climbing down the slope.