Heydrick took the gun from her and thrust it through his belt. They struck off down the tunnel, taking forks at random, but going as cautiously as they could.
Luck was against them. They came suddenly round a turn and into a chamber full of Wildings. It was the room where Heydrick had been questioned by Thorsan. The man still sat at the desk. Heydrick drew the gun and pressed its trigger as Thorsan dived for a doorway. The desk glowed, then exploded. The room was choked with dust.
Heydrick remembered a nightmarish pursuit, running down a series of criss-cross galleries with endless side passages. The gallery ended abruptly. An open mine-shaft barred their way.
It was a double shaft, with space for two elevators, but neither lift was on their level. Sounds of pursuit came from the gallery behind them.
Heydrick leaned over and looked down the shaft. A floor below was the open-platform lift.
"Jump for the cable," he ordered. "Try to slide down it."
"You first," she said. "I'm a sissy." Heydrick jumped and his stomach wrenched with nausea. Then the cable was burning through his hands. His feet stung as they came down solidly on the metal flooring. The girl was right behind him. He found the control lever and jammed it all the way over.
The car dropped under them with sickening speed.
A blaster beam flamed briefly above them, and the discharge set a chorus of echoes bouncing back and forth in the old mine-shaft.
"Hang tight," he shouted. "I don't know how far down this shaft goes. If we hit bottom at this speed, we'll flatten out like saucers."