They swept past the outer force structures of the City - past dense walls of lambent light and fiercely glowing pseudo-architectural forms that Bruno imagined might have vaguely resembled some of the buildings of the long-dead human cities.
The chute curved past a great cataract of pure red energy that seemed to be spilling out of nowhere and then it arched down to what appeared to be the ground level - a gently glowing carpet of pink stardust. An occasional Sphere drifted along below, either emerging from or disappearing into a wall of shimmering azure nothingness.
...Like pellets in a blowgun, the Spheres from the plain were rapidly overtaking them. The foremost discharged a lance of crackling light that set up a quivering vibration all along the chute but fell short of its mark.
"They've seen us!" Bruno warned, pulling to a halt beside the old man.
"That's all right."
"But they'll have the whole City out looking for us!"
Everard laughed scornfully. "You must think we're somebody. Back in your village, would you call out the whole clan to help you look for a couple of cockroaches you saw scurrying down the street?"
from Galaxy Magazine for April, 1959, p. 14.
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