It was too dark for Larry to see Tugh's face, but the cripple's voice was sardonic.
"You give me orders?"
"Yes—it just happens that from now on I do. If you want to go with us to the Power House, you walk in front."
Tugh started off with Larry close after him. Larry whispered to the girl:
"Don't let's be fools, Tina. Keep him ahead of us."
The tunnel steadily dwindled in size until Larry could barely stand up in it. Then it opened to a circular cave, which held one small light and had apparently no other exit. The cave had years before been a mechanism room for the palace temperature controls, but now it was abandoned. The old machinery stood about in a litter.
"In here?" said Tugh. "Which way next?"
Across the cave, on the rough blank wall, Tina located a hidden switch. A segment of the wall slid aside, disclosing a narrow, vaulted tunnel leading downward.
"You first, Tugh," said Larry. "Is it dark, Tina? We have no handlights."
"I can light it," came the answer.