The gaze was steady and unwinking.
"The air is leaking away from the world."
The monster remained silent.
"Hurry!" whimpered the girl. Their pursuers were gaining rapidly and they had crossed only half the distance to the opposing doorway. Progress was slower now, for Asir needed occasionally to repeat through the whole series of numbers, looking back to count squares and make certain that the next step was not a fatal one.
"They won't dare to come in after us," he said hopefully.
"And if they do?"
"If the intruder makes an error, Big Joe will kill," announced the machine as Asir took another step.
"Eight squares to go!" he muttered, and stopped to count again.
"Asir! They're in the corridor!"
Hearing the rumble of voices, he looked back to see blue-robed men spilling out of the stairway and milling down the corridor toward the room. But halfway down the hall, the priests paused—seeing the unbelievable: two intruders walking safely past their devil-god. They growled excitedly among themselves. Asir took another step. Again the machine voiced the monotonous warning.