"The Soviet lines had already been taken over. Your lines had been
invaded before I left my command bunker. Don't forget that."

Tasso came up beside him. "That proves nothing at all, Major."

"Why not?"

"There appears to be little communication between the varieties. Each
is made in a different factory. They don't seem to work together. You
might have started for the Soviet lines without knowing anything about
the work of the other varieties. Or even what the other varieties were
like."

"How do you know so much about the claws?" Hendricks said.

"I've seen them. I've observed them. I observed them take over the
Soviet bunkers."

"You know quite a lot," Klaus said. "Actually, you saw very little.
Strange that you should have been such an acute observer."

Tasso laughed. "Do you suspect me, now?"

"Forget it," Hendricks said. They walked on in silence.

"Are we going the whole way on foot?" Tasso said, after awhile. "I'm
not used to walking." She gazed around at the plain of ash, stretching
out on all sides of them, as far as they could see. "How dreary."

"It's like this all the way," Klaus said.

"In a way I wish you had been in your bunker when the attack came."

"Somebody else would have been with you, if not me," Klaus muttered.

Tasso laughed, putting her hands in her pockets. "I suppose so."

They walked on, keeping their eyes on the vast plain of silent ash
around them.

* * * * *

The sun was setting. Hendricks made his way forward slowly, waving
Tasso and Klaus back. Klaus squatted down, resting his gun butt
against the ground.

Tasso found a concrete slab and sat down with a sigh. "It's good to
rest."

"Be quiet," Klaus said sharply.

Hendricks pushed up to the top of the rise ahead of them. The same
rise the Russian runner had come up, the day before. Hendricks dropped
down, stretching himself out, peering through his glasses at what lay
beyond.

Nothing was visible. Only ash and occasional trees. But there, not
more than fifty yards ahead, was the entrance of the forward command
bunker. The bunker from which he had come. Hendricks watched silently.
No motion. No sign of life. Nothing stirred.

Klaus slithered up beside him. "Where is it?"

"Down there." Hendricks passed him the glasses. Clouds of ash rolled
across the evening sky. The world was darkening. They had a couple of
hours of light left, at the most. Probably not that much.

"I don't