_Key Out of Time_

 ANDRE NORTON

 Published by The World Publishing Company 2231 West 110th Street, Cleveland 2, Ohio

 Published simultaneously in Canada by Nelson, Foster & Scott Ltd. 

 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 63-10861 SECOND PRINTING 2WP164

 Copyright © 1963 by Andre Norton

 [Transcribers note: This is a Rule 6 Clearance. A copyright renewal has not been found. ]

 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher, except for brief passages included in a review appearing in a newspaper or magazine. Printed in the United States of America. 

_Contents_

1. Lotus World

2. Lair of Mano-Nui

3. The Ancient Mariners

4. Storm Menace

5. Time Wrecked

6. Loketh the Useless

7. Witches' Meat

8. The Free Rovers

9. Battle Test

10. Death at Kyn Add

11. Weapon from the Depths

12. Baldies

13. The Sea Gate of the Foanna

14. The Foanna

15. Return to the Battle

16. The Opening of the Great Door

17. Shades Against Shadow

18. World in Doubt

KEY OUT OF TIME

1

Lotus World

There was a shading of rose in the pearl arch of sky, deepening at thehorizon meeting of sea and air in a rainbow tint of cloud. The lazyswells of the ocean held the same soft color, darkened with crimsonveins where spirals of weed drifted. A rose world bathed in softsunlight, knowing only gentle winds, peace, and--sloth. 

Ross Murdock leaned forward over the edge of the rock ledge to peer downat a beach of fine sand, pale pink sand with here and there a glitter ofa crystalline "shell"--or were those delicate, fluted ovals shells? Eventhe waves came in languidly. And the breeze which ruffled his hair, smoothed about his sun-browned, half-bare body, caressed it, did notbuffet on its way inland to stir the growths which the Terran settlerscalled "trees" but which possessed long lacy fronds instead of truebranches. 

Hawaika--named for the old Polynesian paradise--a world seeminglywithout flaw except the subtle one of being too perfect, too welcoming, too wooing. Its long, uneventful, unchanging days enticed forgetfulness, offered a life without effort. Except for the mystery. .. . 

Because this world was not the one pictured on the tape which hadbrought the Terran settlement team here. A map, a directing guide, adescription all in one, that was the ancient voyage tape. Ross himselfhad helped to loot a storehouse on an unknown planet for a cargo of suchtapes. Once they had been the space-navigation guides for a race orraces who had ruled the star lanes ten thousand years in his own world'spast, a civilization which had long since sunk again into the dust ofits beginning. 

Those tapes returned to Terra after their chance discovery, werestudied, probed, deciphered by the best brains of his time, shared outby lot between already suspicious Terran powers, bringing into theexploration of space bitter rivalries and old hatreds. 

Such a tape had landed their ship on Hawaika, a world of shallow seasand archipelagoes instead of true continents. The settlement team hadhad all the knowledge contained on that tape crowded into them, only todiscover that much they had learned from it was false!

Of course, none of them had expected to discover here still the cities, the civilization the tape had projected as existing in that long-agoperiod. But no present island string they had visited approximated thoseon the maps they had seen, and so far they had not found any trace thatany intelligent beings had walked, built, lived, on these beautiful, slumberous atolls. So, what had happened to the Hawaika of the tape?

Ross's right hand rubbed across the ridged scars which disfigured hisleft one, to be carried for the rest of his life as a mark of hismeeting with the star voyagers in the past of his own world. He haddeliberately seared his own flesh to break the mental control they hadasserted. Then the battle had gone to him. But from it he had broughtanother scar--the unease of that old terror when Ross Murdock, fighter, rebel, outlaw by the conventions of his own era, Ross Murdock whoconsidered himself an exceedingly tough individual, that toughnesssteeled by the training for Time Agent sorties, had come up against apower he did not understand, instinctively hated and feared. 

Now he breathed deeply of the wind--the smell of the sea, the scents ofthe land growths, strange but pleasant. So easy to relax, to drop intothe soft, lulling swing of this world in which they had found no fault, no danger, no irritant. Yet, once those others had been here--theblue-suited, hairless ones he called "Baldies. " And what had happenedthen . .. Or afterward?

A black head, brown shoulders, slender body, broke the sleepy slip ofthe waves. A shimmering mask covered the face, catching glitter-fire inthe sun. Two hands freed a chin curved yet firmly set, a mouth made morefor laughter than sternness, wide dark eyes. Karara Trehern of the Alii, the one-time Hawaiian god-chieftain line, was an exceedingly prettygirl. 

But Ross regarded her aloofly, with a coldness which bordered onhostility, as she flipped her mask into its pocket on top of thegill-pack. Below his rocky perch she came to a halt, her feet slightlyapart in the sand, an impish twist to her lips as she called mockingly:

"Why not come in? The water's fine. "

"Perfect, like all the rest of this. " Some of his impatience came out inthe sour tone. "No luck, as usual?"

"As usual, " Karara conceded. "If there ever was a civilization here, it's been gone so long we'll probably never find any traces. Why don'tyou just pick out a good place to set up that time-probe and try itblind?"

Ross scowled. "Because"--his patience was exaggerated to the point ofinsult--"we have only one peep-probe. Once it's set we can't tear itdown easily for transport somewhere else, so we want to be sure there'ssomething to look at beyond. "

She began to wring the water out of her long hair. "Well, as far aswe've explored . .. Nothing. Come yourself next time. Tino-rau and Tauaaren't particular; they like company. "

Putting two fingers to her mouth, Karara whistled. Twin heads popped outof the water, facing the shore and her. Projecting noses, mouths withupturned corners so they curved in a lasting pleasant grin at themammals on the shore--the dolphin pair, mammals whose ancestors hadchosen the sea, whistled back in such close counterfeit of the girl'ssignal that they could be an echo of her call. Years earlier theirspecies' intelligence had surprised, almost shocked, men. Experiments, training, co-operation, had developed a tie which gave the water-limitedrace of mankind new eyes, ears, minds, to see, evaluate, and reportconcerning an element in which the bipeds were not free. 

Hand in hand with that co-operation had gone other experiments. Just asthe clumsy armored diving suits of the early twentieth century hadallowed man to begin penetration into a weird new world, so had thefrog-man equipment made him still freer in the sea. And now thegill-pack which separated the needed oxygen from the water made eventhat lighter burden of tanks obsolete. But there remained depths intowhich man could not descend, whose secrets were closed to him. There thedolphins operated, in a partnership of minds, equal minds--though thatlast fact had been difficult for man to accept. 

Ross's irritation, unjustified as he knew it to be, did not rest onTino-rau or Taua. He enjoyed the hours when he buckled on gill-pack andtook to the sea with those two ten-foot, black-and-silver escortssharing the action. But Karara . .. Karara's presence was a differentmatter altogether. 

The Agents' teams had always been strictly masculine. Two men partneredfor an interlocking of abilities and temperaments, going throughtraining together, becoming two halves of a strong and efficient whole. Before being summarily recruited into the Project, Ross had been aloner--living on the ragged edges of the law, an indigestible bit forthe civilization which had become too ordered and "adjusted" to absorbhis kind. But in the Project he had discovered others like himself--menborn out of time, too ruthless, too individualistic for their own age, but able to operate with ease in the dangerous paths of the Time Agents. 

And when the time search for the wrecked alien ships had succeeded andthe first intact ship found, used, duplicated, the Agents had come fromforays into the past to be trained anew for travel to the stars. Firstthere had been Ross Murdock, criminal. Then there had been Ross Murdockand Gordon Ashe, Time Agents. Now there was still Ross and Gordon and aquest as perilous as any they had known. Yet this time they had todepend upon Karara and the dolphins. 

"Tomorrow"--Ross was still not sorting out his thoughts, truly aware ofthe feeling which worked upon him as a thorn in the finger--"I willcome. "

"Good!" If she recognized his hostility for what it was, that did notbother her. Once more she whistled to the dolphins, waved a casualfarewell with one hand, and headed up the beach toward the base camp. Ross chose a more rugged path over the cliff. 

Suppose they did not find what they sought near here? Yet the old tapedmap suggested that this was approximately the site starred upon it. Marking a city? A star port?

Ashe had volunteered for Hawaika, demanded this job after the disastrousTopaz affair when the team of Apache volunteers had been sent out toosoon to counter what might have been a Red sneak settlement. Ross wasstill unhappy over the ensuing months when only Major Kelgarries andmaybe, in a lesser part, Ross had kept Gordon Ashe in the Project atall. That Topaz had been a failure was accepted when the settlement shipdid not return. And that had added to Ashe's sense of guilt for havingrecruited and partially trained the lost team. 

Among those dispatched over Ashe's vehement protests had been Travis Foxwho had shared with Ashe and Ross the first galactic flight in anage-old derelict spaceship. Travis Fox--the Apache archaeologist--had heever reached Topaz? Or would he and his team wander forever betweenworlds? Did they set down on a planet where some inimical form of nativelife or a Red settlement had awaited them? The very uncertainty of theirfate continued to ride Ashe. 

So he insisted on coming out with the second settlement team, thevolunteers of Samoan and Hawaiian descent, to carry on a yet moreexciting and hazardous exploration. Just as the Project had probed intothe past of Terra, so would Ashe and Ross now attempt to discover whatlay in the past of Hawaika, to see this world as it had been at theheight of the galactic civilization, and so to learn what they couldabout their fore-runners into space. And the mystery they had droppedinto upon landing added to the necessity for that discovery ordiscoveries. 

Their probe, if fortune favored them, might become a gate through time. The installation was a vast improvement over these passage points theyhad first devised. Technical information had taken a vast leap forwardafter Terran engineers and scientists had had access to the tapes of thestellar empire. Adaptations and shortcuts developed, so that a newhybrid technology came into use, woven from the knowledge andexperimentation of two civilizations thousands of years apart in time. 

If and when he or Ashe--or Karara and her dolphins--discovered theproper site, the two Agents could set up their own equipment. Both Rossand Ashe had had enough drill in the process. All they needed was thebrick of discovery; then they could build their wall. But they must findsome remainder of the past, the smallest trace of ancient ruin uponwhich to center their peep-probe. And since landing here the long dayshad flowed into weeks with no such discovery made. 

Ross crossed the ridge of rock which formed a cocks-comb rise on theisland's spine and descended to the village. As they had been trained, the Polynesian settlers adapted native products to their own heritage ofbuilding and tools. It was necessary that they live off the land, fortheir transport ship had had storage space only for a limited number ofsupplies and tools. After it took off to return home they would bewholly on their own for several years. Their ship, a silvery ball, rested on a rock ledge, its pilot and crew having lingered to learn theresults of Ashe's search. Four days more and they would have to lift forhome even if the Agents still had only negative results to report. 

That disappointment was driving Ashe, the way that six months earlierhis outrage and guilt feelings over the Topaz affair had driven him. Karara's suggestion carried weight the longer Ross thought about it. With more swimmers hunting, there was just that much increased chance ofturning up some clue. So far the dolphins had not reported any dangerousnative sea life or any perils except the natural ones any diver alwayshad at his shoulder under the waves. 

There were extra gill-packs, and all of the settlers were good swimmers. An organized hunt ought to shake the Polynesians out of their presentdo-it-tomorrow attitude. As long as they had had definite work beforethem--the unloading of the ship, the building of the village, all thelabors incidental to the establishing of this base--they had shownenergy and enthusiasm. It was only during the last couple of weeks thatthe languor which appeared part of the atmosphere here had crept up onthem, so that now they were content to live at a slower and lazier pace. Ross remembered Ashe's comparison made the evening before, likeningHawaika to a legendary Terran island where the inhabitants lived adrugged existence, feeding upon the seeds of a native plant. Hawaika wasfast becoming a lotus land for Terrans. 

"Through here, then westward. .. . " Ashe hunched over the crate table inthe mat-walled house. He did not look up as Ross entered. Karara's stilldamp head was bowed until those black locks, now sleeked to her roundskull, almost touched the man's close-cropped brown hair. They were bothstudying a map as if they saw not lines on paper but the actual inletsand lagoons which that drawing represented. 

"You are sure, Gordon, that this _is_ the modern point to match the siteon the tape?" The girl brushed back straying hair. 

Ashe shrugged. There were tight brackets about his mouth which had notbeen there six months ago. He moved jerkily, not with the fluid grace ofthose old days when he had faced the vast distance of time travel withunruffled calm and a self-confidence to steady and support the noviceRoss. 

"The general outline of these two islands could stand for the capes onthis--" He pulled a second map, this on transparent plastic, to fit overthe first. The capes marked on the much larger body of land did slipover the modern islands with a surprising fit. The once large island, shattered and broken, could have produced the groups of atolls andislets they now prospected. 

"How long--" Karara mused aloud, "and why?"

Ashe shrugged. "Ten thousand years, five, two. " He shook his head. "Wehave no idea. It's apparent that there must have been some world-widecataclysm here to change the contours of the land masses so much. We mayhave to wait on a return space flight to bring a 'copter or a hydroplaneto explore farther. " His hand swept beyond the boundaries of the map toindicate the whole of Hawaika. 

"A year, maybe two, before we could hope for that, " Ross cut in. "Thenwe'll have to depend on whether the Council believes this importantenough. " The contrariness which spiked his tongue whenever Karara waspresent made him say that without thinking. Then the twitch of Ashe'slip brought home Ross's error. Gordon needed reassurance now, not arecitation of the various ways their mission could be doomed. 

"Look here!" Ross came to the table, his hand sweeping past Karara, ashe used his forefinger for a pointer. "We know that what we want couldbe easily overlooked, even with the dolphins helping us to check. Thiswhole area's too big. And you know that it is certain that whatevermight be down there would be hidden with sea growths. Suppose ten of usstart out in a semi-circle from about here and go as far as this point, heading inland. Video-cameras here and here . .. Comb the whole sectorinch by inch if we have to. After all, we have plenty of time andmanpower. "

Karara laughed softly. "Manpower--always manpower, Ross? But there iswoman-power, too. And we have perhaps even sharper sight. But this is agood idea, Gordon. Let me see--" she began to tell off names on herfingers, "PaKeeKee, Vaeoha, Hori, Liliha, Taema, Ui, Hono'ura--they arethe best in the water. Me . .. You, Gordon, Ross. That makes ten withkeen eyes to look, and always there are Tino-rau and Taua. We will takesupplies and camp here on this island which looks so much like a fingercrooked to beckon. Yes, somehow that beckoning finger seems to me topromise better fortune. Shall we plan it so?"

Some of the tight look was gone from Ashe's face, and Ross relaxed. Thiswas what Gordon needed--not to be sitting in here going over maps, reports, reworking over and over their scant leads. Ashe had always beena field man; and the settlement work had been stultifying, a laboriouschore for him. 

When Karara had gone Ross dropped down on the bunk against the sidewall. 

"What _did_ happen here, do you think?" Half was real interest in themystery they had mulled over and over since they had landed on a Hawaikawhich diverged so greatly from the maps; the other half, a desire tokeep Ashe thinking on a subject removed from immediate worries. "Anatomic war?"

"Could be. There are old radiation traces. But these aliens had, I'msure, progressed beyond atomics. Suppose, just suppose, they couldtamper with the weather, with the balance of the planet's crust? Wedon't know the extent of their powers, how they would use them. They hada colony here once, or there would have been no guide tape. And that isall we are sure of. "

"Suppose"--Ross rolled over on his stomach, pillowed his head on hisarms--"we could uncover some of that knowledge--"

The twitch was back at Ashe's lips. "That's the risk we have to runnow. "

"Risk?"

"Would you give a child one of those hand weapons we found in thederelict?"

"Naturally not!" Ross snapped and then saw the point. "You mean--_we_aren't to be trusted?"

The answer was plain to read in Ashe's expression. 

"Then why this whole setup, this hunt for what might mean trouble?"

"The old pinch, the bad one. What if the Reds discover something first?They drew some planets in the tape lottery, remember. It's a seesawbetween us--we advance here, they there. We have to keep up the race orlose it. They must be combing their stellar colonies for a few answersjust as furiously as we are. "

"So, we go into the past to hunt if we have to. Well, I think I could dowithout answers such as the Baldies would know. But I will admit that Iwould like to know what did happen here--two, five, ten thousand yearsago. "

Ashe stood up and stretched. For the first time he smiled. "Do you know, I rather like the idea of fishing off Karara's beckoning finger. Maybeshe's right about that changing our luck. "

Ross kept his face carefully expressionless as he got up to preparetheir evening meal. 

2

Lair of Mano-Nui

Just under the surface of the water the sea was warm, weird life showedcolors Ross could name, shades he could not. The corals, the animalsmasquerading as plants, the plants disguised as animals which inhabitedthe oceans of Terra, had their counterparts here. And the settlers hadgiven them the familiar names, though the crabs, the fish, the anemones, and weeds of the shallow lagoons and reefs were not identical withTerran creatures. The trouble was that there was too much, such a wealthof life to attract the eyes, hold attention, that it was difficult tokeep to the job at hand--the search for what was not natural, for whathad no normal place here. 

As the land seduced the senses and bewitched the off-worlder, so did thesea have its enchantment to pull one from duty. Ross resolutely skimmedby a forest of weaving, waving lace which varied from a green which wasalmost black to a pale tint he could not truly identify. Among thosewaving fans lurked ghost-fish, finned swimmers transparent enough sothat one could sight, through their pallid sides, the evidences ofrecently ingested meals. 

The Terrans had begun their sweep-search a half hour ago, slippingoverboard from a ferry canoe, heading in toward the checkpoint of thefinger isle, forming an arc of expert divers, men and girls so at homein the ocean that they should be able to make the discovery Asheneeded--if such did exist. 

Mystery built upon mystery on Hawaika, Ross thought as he used hisspear-gun to push aside a floating banner of weed in order to peer belowits curtain. The native life of this world must always have been largelyaquatic. The settlers had discovered only a few small animals on theislands. The largest of which was the burrower, a creature not unlike aminiature monkey in that it had hind legs on which it walked erect andforepaws, well clawed for digging purposes, which it used with as muchskill and dexterity as a man used hands. Its body was hairless and itwas able to assume, chameleon-like, the color of the soil and rockswhere it denned. The head was set directly on its bowed shoulderswithout vestige of neck; and it had round bubbles of eyes near the topof its skull, a nose which was a single vertical slit, and a wide mouthfanged for crushing the shelled creatures on which it fed. All in all, to Terran eyes, it was a vaguely repulsive creature, but as far as thesettlers had been able to discover it was the highest form of land life. The smaller rodentlike things, the two species of wingless diving birds, and an odd assortment of reptiles and amphibians sharing the island wereall the burrowers' prey. 

A world of sea and islands, what type of native intelligent life had itonce supported? Or had this been only a galactic colony, with no nativepopulation before the coming of the stellar explorers? Ross hoveredabove a dark pocket where the bottom had suddenly dipped into asaucer-shaped depression. The sea growth about the rim rippled in thewater raggedly, but there was something about its general outline. .. . 

Ross began a circumference of that hollow. Allowing for the distortionof the growths which had formed lumpy excrescences or reached turretstoward the surface--yes, allowing for those--this was decidedlysomething out of the ordinary! The depression was too regular, too even, Ross was certain of that. With a thrill of excitement he began a descentinto the cup, striving to trace signs which would prove his suspicioncorrect. 

How many years, centuries, had the slow coverage of the sea lifegathered there, flourished, died, with other creatures to build anew onthe remains? Now there was only a hint that the depression had otherthan a natural beginning. 

Anchoring with a one-handed grip on a spike of Hawaikan coral--smootherthan the Terran species--Ross aimed the butt of his spear-gun at thenearest wall of the saucer, striving to reach into a crevice between twolumps of growth and so probe into what might lie behind. The spearrebounded; there was no breaking that crust with such a fragile tool. But perhaps he would have better luck lower down. 

The depression was deeper than he had first judged. Now the light whichexisted in the shallows vanished. Red and yellow as colors went, butRoss was aware of blues and greens in shades and tints which were notvisible above. He switched on his diving torch, and color returnedwithin its beam. A swirl of weed, pink in the light, became darklyemerald beyond as if it possessed the chameleon ability of theburrowers. 

He was distracted by that phenomenon, and so he transgressed the diver'srule of never becoming so absorbed in surroundings as to forget caution. Just when did Ross become aware of that shadow below? Was it when aschool of ghost-fish burst unexpectedly between weed growths, and heturned to follow them with the torch? Then the outer edge of his beamcaught the movement of a shape, a flutter in the water of the gloomydepths. 

Ross swung around, his back to the wall of the saucer, as he aimed thetorch down at what was arising there. The light caught and held for along moment of horror something which might have come out of thenightmares of his own world. Afterward Ross knew that the monster wasnot as large as it seemed in that endless minute of fear, perhaps nobigger than the dolphins. 

He had had training in shark-infested seas on Terra, been carefullybriefed against the danger from such hunters of the deep and oceanjungles. But this kind of thing had only existed before in the fairytales of his race as the dragon of old lore. A scaled head with wideeyes gleaming in the light beam with cold and sullen hate, a gapingmouth fang-filled, a horn-set muzzle, that long, undulating neck and, below it, the half-seen bulk of a monstrous body. 

His spear-gun, the knife at his waist belt, neither were protectionagainst this! Yet to turn his back on that rising head was more thanRoss could do. He pulled himself back against the wall of the saucer. The thing before him did not rush to attack. Plainly it had seen him andnow it moved with the leisure of a hunter having no fears concerning theeventual outcome of the hunt. But the light appeared to puzzle it andRoss kept the beam shining straight into those evil eyes. 

The shock of the encounter was wearing off; now Ross edged his flipperinto a crevice to hold him steady while his hand went to the sonic-comat his waist. He tapped out a distress call which the dolphins couldrelay to the swimmers. The swaying dragon head paused, held rigid on astiff, scaled column in the center of the saucer. That sonic vibrationeither surprised or bothered the hunter, made it wary. 

Ross tapped again. The belief that if he tried to escape, he was lost, that only while he faced it so had he any chance, grew stronger. Thehead was only inches below the level of his flippered feet as he held tothe weeds. 

Again that weaving movement, the rise of head, a tremor along theserpent neck, an agitation in the depths. The dragon was on the moveagain. Ross aimed the light directly at the head. The scales, as far ashe could determine, were not horny plates but lapped, silvery ovals suchas a fish possessed. And the underparts of the monster might even bevulnerable to his spear. But knowing the way a Terran shark could absorbthe darts of that weapon and survive, Ross feared to attack except as alast resort. 

Above and to his left there was a small hollow where in the past someportion of the growths had been ripped away. If he could fit himselfinto that crevice, perhaps he could keep the dragon at bay until helparrived. Ross moved with all the skill he had. His hand closed upon theedge of the niche and he whirled himself up, just making it into thatrefuge as the head lashed at him wickedly. His suspicion that the dragonwould attack anything on the run was well founded, and he knew he had nohope of winning to the surface above. 

Now he stood in the crevice, facing outward, watching the head dartingin the water. He had switched off the torch, and the loss of lightappeared to bewilder the reptile for some precious seconds. Ross pulledas far back into the niche as he could, until the point of one shouldertouched a surface which was sleek, smooth, and cold. The shock of thatcontact almost sent him hurtling out again. 

Gripping the spear before him in his right hand, Ross cautiously feltbehind him with the left. His finger tips glided over a seamless surfacewhere the growths had been torn or peeled away. Though he could not, ordared not, turn his head to see, he was certain that this was his proofthat the walls of the saucer had been fashioned and placed there by someintelligent creature. 

The dragon had risen, hovering now in the water directly before theentrance to Ross's hole, its neck curled back against its bulk. It hadwide flippers moving like planes to hold it poised. The body, slopingfrom a massive round of shoulders to a tapering rear, was vaguelyfamiliar. If one provided a Terran seal with a gorgon head and scales inplace of fur, the effect would be similar. But Ross was assuredly notfacing a seal at this moment. 

Slight movement of the flippers kept it as stabilized as if it sprawledon a supporting surface. With the neck flattened against the body, thehead curved downward until the horn on its snout pointed the tipstraight at Ross's middle. The Terran steadied his spear-gun. Thedragon's eyes were its most vulnerable targets; if the creature launchedthe attack, Ross would aim for them. 

Both man and dragon were so intent upon their duel that neither wasconscious of the sudden swirl overhead. A sleek dark shape struck down, skimming across the humped-back ridge of the dragon. Some of thesettlers had empathy with the dolphins to a high degree, but Ross's ownpowers of contact were relatively feeble. 

Only now he was given an assurance of aid, and a suggestion to attack. The dragon head writhed, twisted as the reptile attempted to see aboveand behind its own length. But the dolphin was only a streak fastdisappearing. And that writhing changed the balance the monster hadmaintained, pushing it toward Ross. 

The Terran fired too soon and without proper aim, so the dart snakedpast the head. But the harpoon line half hooked about the neck andseemed to confuse the creature. Ross squirmed as far back as he couldinto his refuge and drew his knife. Against those fangs the weapon wasan almost useless toy, but it was all he had. 

Again the dolphin dived in attack on the reptile, this time seizing inits mouth the floating cord of the harpoon and giving it a jerk whichjolted the dragon even more off balance, pulling it away from Ross'sniche and out into the center of the saucer. 

There were two dolphins in action now, Ross saw, playing the dragon asmatadors might play a bull, keeping the creature disturbed by theiragile maneuvers. Whatever prey came naturally to the Hawaikan monsterwas not of this type, and the creature was not prepared to dealeffectively with their teasing, dodging tactics. Neither had touched thebeast, but they kept it constantly striving to get at them. 

Though it swam in circles attempting to face its teasers, the dragon didnot abandon the level before Ross's refuge, and now and then it dartedits head at him, unwilling to give up its prey. Only one of the dolphinsfrisked and dodged above now as the sonic on Ross's belt vibratedagainst his lower ribs with its message warning to be prepared forfurther action. Somewhere above, his own kind gathered. Hurriedly hetapped out in code his warning in return. 

Two dolphins busy again, their last dive over the dragon pushing themonster down past Ross's niche toward the saucer's depths. Then theyflashed up and away. The dragon was rising in turn, but coming to meetthe Hawaikan creature was a ball giving off light, bringing sharp visionand color with it. 

Ross's arm swung up to shield his eyes. There was a flash; suchanswering vibration carried through the waves that even his nerves, farless sensitive than those of the life about him, reacted. He blinkedbehind his mask. A fish floated by, spiraling up, its belly exposed. Andabout him growths drooped, trailed lifelessly through the water; whilethere was a now motionless bulk sinking to the obscurity of thedepression floor. A weapon perfected on Terra to use against sharks andbarracuda had worked here to kill what could have been more formidableprey. 

The Terran wriggled out of the niche, rose to meet another swimmer. AsAshe descended, Ross relayed his news via the sonic. The dolphins werealready nosing into the depths in pursuit of their late enemy. 

"Look here--" Ross guided Ashe to the crevice which had saved him, aimedthe torch beam into it. He had been right! There was a long groove inthe covering built up by the growths; a vertical strip some six feetlong, of a uniform gray, showed. Ashe touched the find and then gave thealert via the sonic code. 

"Metal or an alloy, we've found it!"

But what did they have? Even after an hour's exploration by the fullcompany, Ashe's expert search with his knowledge of artifacts andancient remains, they were still baffled. It would require labor andtools they did not have, to clear the whole of the saucer. They could besure only of its size and shape, and the fact that its walls were of anunknown substance which the sea could cloak but not erode. For thelength of gray surface showed not the slightest pitting or time wear. 

Down at its centermost point they found the dragon's den, an arch coatedwith growth, before which sprawled the body of the creature. That wasdragged aloft with the dolphins' aid, to be taken ashore for study. Butthe arch itself . .. Was that part of some old installation?

Torches to the fore, they entered its shadow, only to remain baffled. Here and there were patches of the same gray showing in its interior. Ashe dug the butt of his spear-gun into the sand on the flooring touncover another oval depression. But what it all signified or what hadbeen its purpose, they could not guess. 

"Set up the peep-probe here?" Ross asked. 

Ashe's head moved in a slow negative. "Look farther . .. Spread out, " thesonic clicked. 

Within a matter of minutes the dolphins reported new remains--two moresaucers, each larger than the first, set in a line on the ocean floor, pointing directly to Karara's Finger Island. Cautiously explored, thesewere discovered to be free of any but harmless life; they stirred up nomore dragons. 

When the Terrans came ashore on Finger Island to rest and eat theirmidday meal one of the men paced along the beached dragon. Ashore itlost none of its frightening aspect. And seeing it, even beached anddead, Ross wondered at his luck in surviving the encounter without ascratch. 

"I think that this one would be alone, " PaKeeKee commented. "Where thereis an eater of this size, there is usually only one. "

"Mano-Nui!" The girl Taema shivered as she gave to this monster the nameof the shark demon of her people. "Such a one is truly king shark inthese waters! But why have we not sighted its like before? Tino-rau, Taua . .. They have not reported such--"

"Probably because, as PaKeeKee says, these things are rare, " Ashereturned. "A carnivore of size would have to have a fairly wide huntingrange, yet there's evidence that this thing has laired in that den forsome time. Which means that it must have a defined hunting territoryallowing no trespassing from others of its species. "

Karara nodded. "Also it may hunt only at intervals, eat heavily, and liequiet until that meal is digested. There are large snakes on Terra thatfollow that pattern. Ross was in its front yard when it came afterhim--"

"From now on"--Ashe swallowed a quarter of fruit--"we know what to watchfor, and the weapon which will finish it off. Don't forget that!"

The delicate mechanisms of their sonics had already registered thevibrations which would warn of a dragon's presence, and the depth globeswould then do the rest. 

"Big skull, oversize for the body. " PaKeeKee squatted on his heels bythe head lying on the sand at the end of the now fully extended neck. 

Ross had heretofore been more aware of the armament of that head, thefangs set in the powerful jaws, the horn on the snout. But PaKeeKee'scomment drew his attention to the fact that the scale-covered skull diddome up above the eye pits in a way to suggest ample brain room. Had thething been intelligent? Karara put that into words:

"Rule One?" She went over to survey the carcass. 

Ross resented her half question, whether it was addressed to him or merethinking aloud on her part. 

Rule One: Conserve native life to the fullest extent. Humanoid form maynot be the only evidence of intelligence. 

There were the dolphins to prove that point right on Terra. But did RuleOne mean that you had to let a monster nibble at you because it mightjust be a high type of alien intelligence? Let Karara spout Rule Onewhile backed into a crevice under water with that horn stabbing at hermid-section!

"Rule One does not mean to forego self-defense, " Ashe commented mildly. "This thing is a hunter, and you can't stop to apply recognitiontechniques when you are being regarded as legitimate prey. If you arethe stronger, or an equal, yes--stop and think before becomingaggressive. But in a situation like this--take no chances. "

"Anyway, from now on, " Karara pointed out, "it could be possible toshock instead of kill. "

"Gordon"--PaKeeKee swung around--"what have we found here--besides thisthing?"

"I can't even guess. Except that those depressions were made for apurpose and have been there for a long time. Whether they wereoriginally in the water, or the land sank, that we don't know either. But now we have a site to set up the peep-probe. "

"We do that right away?" Ross wanted to know. Impatience bit at him. ButAshe still had a trace of frown. He shook his head. 

"Have to make sure of our site, very sure. I don't want to start anychain reaction on the other side of the time wall. "

And he was right, Ross was forced to admit, remembering what hadhappened when the galactics had discovered the Red time gates and tracedthem forward to their twentieth-century source, ruthlessly destroyingeach station. The original colonists of Hawaika had been as giants toTerran pygmies when it came to technical knowledge. To use even apeep-probe indiscreetly near one of their outposts might bring swift andterrible retribution. 

3

The Ancient Mariners

Another map spread out and this time pinned down with small stones onbeach gravel. 

"Here, here, and here--" Ashe's finger indicated the points marked in apattern which flared out from three sides of Finger Island. Each markeda set of three undersea depressions in perfect alliance with the landwhich, according to the galactic map, had once been a cape on a muchlarger land mass. Though the Terrans had found the ruins, if thosesaucers in the sea could be so termed, the remains had no meaning forthe explorers. 

"Do we set up here?" Ross asked. "If we could just get a report to sendback. .. . " That might mean the difference between awakening theco-operation of the Project policy makers so that a flood of suppliesand personnel would begin to head their way. 

"We set up here, " Ashe decided. 

He had selected a point between two of the lines where a reef wouldprovide them with a secure base. And once that decision was made, theTerrans went into action. 

Two days to go, to install the peep-probe and take some shots before theship had to clear with or without their evidence. Together Ross and Ashefloated the installation out to the reef, Ui and Karara helping to towthe equipment and parts, the dolphins lending pushing noses on occasion. The aquatic mammals were as interested as the human beings they aided. And in water their help was invaluable. Had dolphins developed hands, Ross wondered fleetingly, would they have long ago wrested control oftheir native world--or at least of its seas--from the human kind?

All the human beings worked with practiced ease, even while masked andsubmerged, to set the probe in place, aiming it landward at the checkpoint of the Finger's protruding nail of rock. After Ashe made the finaladjustments, tested each and every part of the assembly, he gesturedthem in. 

Karara's swift hand movement asked a question, and Ashe's soniccode-clicked in reply: "At twilight. "

Yes, dusk was the proper time for using a peep-probe. To see withoutrisk of being sighted in return was their safeguard. Here Ashe had nohistorical data to guide him. Their search for the former inhabitantsmight be a long drawn-out process skipping across centuries as themachine was adjusted to Terran time eras. 

"When were they here?" Back on shore Karara shook out her hair, spreadit over her shoulders to dry. "How many hundred years back will theprobe return?"

"More likely thousands, " Ross commented. "Where will you start, Gordon?"

Ashe brushed sand from the page of the notebook he had steadied againstone bent knee and gazed out at the reef where they had set the probe. 

"Ten thousand years--"

"Why?" Karara wanted to know. "Why that exact figure?"

"We know that galactic ships crashed on Terra then. So their commerceand empire--if it was an empire--was far-flung at that time. Perhapsthey were at the zenith of their civilization; perhaps they were alreadyon the down slope. I do not think they were near the beginning. So thatdate is as good a starting place as any. If we don't hit what we'reafter, then we can move forward until we do. "

"Do you think that there ever was a native population here?"

"Might have been. "

"But without any large land animals, no modern traces of any, " sheprotested. 

"Of people?" Ashe shrugged. "Good answers for both. Suppose there was aworld-wide epidemic of proportions to wipe out a species. Or a war inwhich they used forces beyond our comprehension to alter the whole faceof this planet, which did happen--the alteration, I mean. Several thingscould have removed intelligent life. Then such species as the burrowerscould have developed or evolved from smaller, more primitive types. "

"Those ape-things we found on the desert planet. " Ross thought back totheir first voyage on the homing derelict. "Maybe they had once been menand were degenerating. And the winged people, they could have been lessthan men on their way up----"

"Ape-things . .. Winged people?" Karara interrupted. "Tell me!"

There was something imperious in her demand, but Ross found himselfdescribing in detail their past adventures, first on the world of sandand sealed structures where the derelict had rested for a purpose itsinvoluntary passengers had never understood, and then of the Terrans'limited exploration of that other planet which might have been thecapital world of a far-flung stellar empire. There they had made a pactwith a winged people living in the huge buildings of a jungle-chokedcity. 

"But you see"--the Polynesian girl turned to Ashe when Ross hadfinished--"you did find them--these ape-things and the winged people. But here there are only the dragons and the burrowers. Are they thestart or the finish? I want to know--"

"Why?" Ashe asked. 

"Not just because I am curious, though I am that also, but because we, too, must have a beginning and an end. Did we come up from the seas, rise to know and feel and think, just to return to such beginning at ourend? If your winged people were climbing and your ape-thingsdescending"--she shook her head--"it would be frightening to hold a cordof life, both ends in your hands. Is it good for us to see such things, Gordon?"

"Men have asked that question all their thinking lives, Karara. Therehave been those who have said no, who have turned aside and tried tohalt the growth of knowledge here or there, attempted to make men standstill on one tread of a stairway. Only there is that in us which willnot stop, ill-fitted as we may be for the climbing. Perhaps we shall besafe and untroubled here on Hawaika if I do not go out to that reeftonight. By that action I may bring real danger down on all of us. Yet Ican not hold back for that. Could you?"

"No, I do not believe that I could, " she agreed. 

"We are here because we are of those who must know--volunteers. Andbeing of that temperament, it is in us always to take the next step. "

"Even if it leads to a fall, " she added in a low tone. 

Ashe gazed at her, though her own eyes were on the sea where a lace ofwaves marked the reef. Her words were ordinary enough, but Rossstraightened to match Ashe's stare. Why had he felt that odd instant ofuneasiness as if his heart had fluttered instead of beating true?

"I know of you Time Agents, " Karara continued. "There were plenty ofstories about you told while we were in training. "

"Tall tales, I can imagine, most of them. " Ashe laughed, but hisamusement sounded forced to Ross. 

"Perhaps. Though I do not believe that many could be any taller than thetruth. And so also I have heard of that strict rule you follow, that youmust do nothing which might alter the course of history. But suppose, suppose here that the course of history could be altered, that whatevercatastrophe occurred might be averted? If that was done, what wouldhappen to our settlement in the here and now?"

"I don't know. That is an experiment which we have never dared to try, which we won't try--"

"Not even if it would mean a chance of life for a whole native race?"she persisted. 

"Alternate worlds then, maybe. " Ross's imagination caught up that idea. "Two worlds from a change point in history, " he elaborated, noting herlook of puzzlement. "One stemming from one decision, another from thealternate. "

"I've heard of that! But, Gordon, if you could return to the time ofdecision here and you had it in your power to say, 'Yes--live!' or'No--die!' to the alien natives, what would you do?"

"I don't know. But neither do I think I shall ever be placed in thatposition. Why do you ask?"

She was twisting her still damp hair into a pony tail and tying it sowith a cord. "Because . .. Because I feel. .. . No, I can not really put itinto words, Gordon. It is that feeling one has on the eve of someimportant event--anticipation, fear, excitement. You'll let me go withyou tonight, please! I want to see it--not the Hawaika that is, but thatother world with another name, the one they saw and knew!"

An instant protest was hot in Ross's throat, but he had no time to voiceit. For Ashe was already nodding. 

"All right. But we may have no luck at all. Fishing in time is a chancything, so don't be disappointed if we don't turn you up that otherworld. Now, I'm going to pamper these old bones for an hour or two. Amuse yourselves, children. " He lay back and closed his eyes. 

The past two days had wiped half the shadows from his lean, tanned face. He had dropped two years, three, Ross thought thankfully. Let them belucky tonight, and Ashe's cure could be nearly complete. 

"What do you think happened here?" Karara had moved so that her back wasnow to the wash of waves, her face more in the shadow. 

"How do I know? Could be any of ten different things. "

"And will I please shut up and leave you alone?" she countered swiftly. "Do you wish to savor the excitement then, explore a world upon world, or am I saying it right? We have Hawaika One which is a new world forus; now there is Hawaika Two which is removed in time, not distance. Andto explore that--"

"We won't be exploring it really, " Ross protested. 

"Why? Did your agents not spend days, weeks, even months of time in thepast on Terra? What is to prevent your doing the same here?"

"Training. We have no way of learning the drill. "

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it wasn't as easy as you seem to think it was back on Terra, " hebegan scornfully. "We didn't just stroll through one of those gates andset up business, say, in Nero's Rome or Montezuma's Mexico. An Agent wasphysically and psychologically fitted to the era he was to explore. Thenhe trained, and how he trained!" Ross remembered the weary hours spentlearning how to use a bronze sword, the technique of Beaker trading, thehypnotic instruction in a language which was already dead centuriesbefore his own country existed. "You learned the language, the customs, everything you could about your time and your cover. You were letterperfect before you took even a trial run!"

"And here you would have no guides, " Karara said, nodding. "Yes, I cansee the difficulty. Then you will just use the peep-probe?"

"Probably. Oh, maybe later on we can scout through a gate. We have thematerial to set one up. But it would be a strictly limited project, allowing no chance of being caught. Maybe the big brains back home cantake peep-data and work out some basis of infiltration for us from it. "

"But that would take years!"

"I suppose so. Only you begin to swim in the shallows, don't you--not byjumping off a cliff!"

She laughed. "True enough! However, even a look into the past mightsolve part of the big mystery. "

Ross grunted and stretched out to follow Ashe's example. But behind hisclosed eyes his brain was busy, and he did not cultivate the patience heneeded. Peep-probes were all right, but Karara had a point. You wantedmore than a small window into a mystery, you wanted a part in solvingit. 

The setting of the sun deepened rose to red, made a dripping wine-huedbanner of most of the sky, so that under it they moved in a crimson sea, looked back at an island where shadows were embers instead of ashes. Three humans, two dolphins, and a machine mounted on a reef which mightnot even have existed in the time they sought. Ashe made his finaladjustments, and then his finger pressed a button and they watched thevista-plate no larger than the palms of two hands. 

Nothing, a dull gray nothing! Something must have gone wrong with theirassembly work. Ross touched Ashe's shoulder. But now there were shadowsgathering on the plate, thickening, to sharpen into a distinct picture. 

It was still the sunset hour they watched. But somehow the colors werepaler, less red and sullen than the ones about them in the here and now. And they were not seeing the isle toward which the probe had been aimed;they were looking at a rugged coastline where cliffs lifted well abovethe beach-strand. While on those cliffs--! Ross had not realized Kararahad reached out to grasp his arm until her nails bit into his flesh. Andeven then he was hardly aware of the pain. Because there was a buildingon the cliff!

Massive walls of native rock reared in outward defenses, culminating intowers. And from the high point of one tower the pointed tail of abanner cracked in the wind. There was a headland of rock reaching out, not toward them but to the north, and rounding that. .. . 

"War canoe!" Karara exclaimed, but Ross had another identification:

"Longboat!"

In reality, the vessel was neither one nor the other, not the doublecanoe of the Pacific which had transported warriors on raid from oneisland to another, or the shield-hung warship of the Vikings. But theTerrans were right in its purpose: That rakish, sharp-prowed ship hadbeen fashioned for swift passage of the seas, for maneuverability as aweapon. 

Behind the first nosed another and a third. Their sails were dyed by thesun, but there were devices painted on them, and the lines of thosedesigns glittered as if they had been drawn with a metallic fluid. 

"The castle!" Ashe's cry pulled their attention back to land. 

There was movement along those walls. Then came a flash, a splash in thewater close enough to the lead ship to wet her deck with spray. 

"They're fighting!" Karara shouldered against Ross for a better look. 

The ships were altering course, swinging away from land, out to sea. 

"Moving too fast for sails alone, and I don't see any oars. " Ross waspuzzled. "How do you suppose. .. . "

The bombardment from the castle continued but did not score any hits. Already the ships were out of range, the lead vessel off the screen ofthe peep as well. Then there was just the castle in the sunset. Ashestraightened up. 

"Rocks!" he repeated wonderingly. "They were throwing rocks!"

"But those ships, they must have had engines. They weren't justdepending on sails when they retreated. " Ross added his own cause forbewilderment. 

Karara looked from one to the other. "There is something here you do notunderstand. What is wrong?"

"Catapults, yes, " Ashe said with a nod. "Those would fit periodscorresponding from the Roman Empire into the Middle Ages. But you'reright, Ross, those ships had power of some kind to take them offshorethat quickly. "

"A technically advanced race coming up against a more backward one?"hazarded the younger man. 

"Could be. Let's go forward some. " The incoming tide was washing well upon the reef. Ashe had to don his mask as he plunged head and shouldersunder water to make the necessary adjustment. 

Once more he pressed the button. And Ross's gasp was echoed by one fromthe girl. The cliff again, but there was no castle dominating it, only aruin, hardly more than rubble. Now, above the sites of the saucerdepressions great pylons of silvery metal, warmed into fire brillianceby the sunset, raked into the sky like gaunt, skeleton fingers. Therewere no ships, no signs of any life. Even the vegetation which hadshowed on shore had vanished. There was an atmosphere of starkabandonment and death which struck the Terrans forcibly. 

Those pylons, Ross studied them. Something familiar in theirconstruction teased his memory. That refuel planet where the derelictship had set down twice, on the voyage out and on their return. That hadbeen a world of metal structures, and he believed he could trace akinship between his memory of those and these pylons. Surely they had noconnection with the earlier castle on the cliff. 

Once more Ashe ducked to reset the probe. And in the fast-fading lightthey watched a third and last picture. But now they might have beenlooking at the island of the present, save that it bore no vegetationand there was a rawness about it, a sharpness of rock outline nowvanished. 

Those pylons, were they the key to the change which had come upon thisworld? What were they? Who had set them there? For the last Ross thoughthe had an answer. They were certainly the product of the galacticempire. And the castle . .. The ships . .. Natives . .. Settlers? Twowidely different eras, and the mystery still, lay between them. Wouldthey ever be able to bring the key to it out of time?

They swam for the shore where Ui had a fire blazing and their supperprepared. 

"How many years lying between those probes?" Ross pulled broiled fishapart with his fingers. 

"That first was ten thousand years ago, the second, " Ashe paused, "onlytwo hundred years later. "

"But"--Ross stared at his superior--"that means----"

"That there was a war or some drastic form of invasion, yes. "

"You mean that the star people arrived and just took over this wholeplanet?" Karara asked. "But why? And those pylons, what were they for?How much later was that last picture?"

"Five hundred years. "

"The pylons were gone, too, then, " Ross commented. "But why--?" heechoed Karara's question. 

Ashe had taken up his notebook, but he did not open it. "I think"--therewas a sharp, grim note in his voice--"we had better find out. "

"Put up a gate?"

Ashe broke all the previous rules of their service with his answer:

"Yes, a gate. "

4

Storm Menace

"We have to know. " Ashe leaned back against the crate they had justemptied. "Something was done here--in two hundred years--and then, anempty world. "

"Pandora's box. " Ross drew a hand across his forehead, smearing sweatand fine sand into a brand. 

Ashe nodded. "Maybe we run that risk, loosing all the devils of thealiens. But what if the Reds open the box first on one of theirsettlement worlds?"

There it was again, the old thorn which prodded them into risks andrecklessness. Danger ahead on both paths. Don't risk trying to learngalactic secrets, but don't risk your enemy's learning them either. Youheld a white-hot iron in both hands in this business. And Ashe wasright, they had stumbled on something here which hinted that a wholeworld had been altered to suit some plan. Suppose the secret of thatalteration was discovered by their enemies?

"Were the ship and castle people natives?" Ross wondered aloud. 

"Just at a guess they were, or at least settlers who had beenestablished here so long they had developed a local form of civilizationwhich was about on the level of a feudal society. "

"You mean because of the castle and the rock bombardment. But what aboutthe ships?"

"Two separate phases of a society at war, perhaps a more progressiveagainst a less technically advanced. American warships paying a visit tothe Shogun's Japan, for example. "

Ross grinned. "Those warships didn't seem to fancy their welcome. Theysteered out to sea fast enough when the rocks began to fall. "

"Yes, but the ships could exist in the castle pattern; the pylons couldnot!"

"Which period are you aiming for first--the castle or the pylons?"

"Castle first, I think. Then if we can't pick up any hints, we'll takesome jumps forward until we do connect. Only we'll be under severehandicaps. If we could only plant an analyzer somewhere in the castle asa beginning. "

Ross did not show his surprise. If Ashe was talking on those terms, thenhe was intending to do more than just lurk around a little beyond thegate; he was really planning to pick up alien speech patterns, eventually assume an alien agent identity!

"Gordon!" Karara appeared between two of the lace trees. She came sohastily that the contents of the two cups she carried slopped over. "Youmust hear what Hori has to say--"

The tall Samoan who trailed her spoke quickly. For the first time sinceRoss had known him he was very serious, a frown line between his eyes. "There is a bad storm coming. Our instruments register it. "

"How long away?" Ashe was on his feet. 

"A day . .. Maybe two. .. . "

Ross could see no change in the sky, islands, or sea. They had hadidyllic weather for the six weeks since their planeting, no sign of anysuch trouble in the Hawaikan paradise. 

"It's coming, " Hori repeated. 

"The gate is half up, " Ashe thought aloud, "too much of it set to bedismantled again in a hurry. "

"If it's completed, " Hori wanted to know, "would it ride out a storm?"

"It might, behind that reef where we have it based. To finish it wouldbe a fast job. "

Hori flexed his hands. "We're more brawn than brain in these matters, Gordon, but you've all our help, for what it's worth. What about theship, does it lift on schedule?"

"Check with Rimbault about that. This storm, how will it compare to aPacific typhoon?"

The Samoan shook his head. "How do we know? We have not yet had to facethe local variety. "

"The islands are low, " Karara commented. "Winds and water could--"

"Yes! We'd better see Rimbault about a shelter if needed. "

If the settlement had drowsed, now its inhabitants were busy. It wasdecided that they could shelter in the spaceship should the storm reachhurricane proportions, but before its coming the gate must be finished. The final fitting was left to Ashe and Ross, and the older agentfastened the last bolt when the waters beyond the reef were already windruffled, the sky darkening fast. The dolphins swam back and forth in thelagoon and with them Karara, though Ashe had twice waved her to theshore. 

There was no sunlight left, and they worked with torches. Ashe began hisinspection of the relatively simple transfer--the two upright bars, theslab of opaque material forming a doorstep between them. This was only askeleton of the gates Ross had used in the past. But continualexperimentation had produced this more easily transported installation. 

Piled in a net were several supply containers ready for an exploringrun--extra gill-packs, the analyzer, emergency rations, a medical kit, all the basics. Was Ashe going to try now? He had activated thetransfer, the rods were glowing faintly, the slab they guarded having aneerie blue glimmer. He probably only wanted to be sure it worked. 

What happened at that moment Ross could never find any adequate words todescribe, nor was he sure he could remember. The disorientation of thepass-through he had experienced before; this time he was whirled into avortex of feeling in which his body, his identity, were rift from himand he lost touch with all stability. 

Instinctively he lashed out, his reflexes more than his conscious willkeeping him above water in the wild rage of a storm-whipped sea. Thelight was gone; here was only dark and beating water. Then a lightningflash ripped wide the heavens over Ross as his head broke the surfaceand he saw, with unbelieving eyes, that he was being thrustshoreward--not to the strand of Finger Island--but against a cliff wherewater pounded an unyielding wall of rock. 

Ross comprehended that somehow he had been jerked through the gate, thathe was now fronting the land that had been somewhere beneath the heightssupporting the castle. Then he fought for his life to escape the hammerof the sea determined to crack him against the surface of the cliff. 

A rough surface loomed up before him, and he threw himself in thatdirection, embracing a rock, striving to cling through the backwash ofthe wave which had brought him there. His nails grated and broke on thestone, and then the fingers of his right hand caught in a hole, and heheld with all the strength in his gasping, beaten body. He had had nopreparation, no warning, and only the tough survival will which had beentrained and bred into him saved his life. 

As the water washed back, Ross strove to pull up farther on hisanchorage, to be above the strike of the next wave. Somehow he gained afoot before it came. The mask of the gill-pack saved him from beingsmothered in that curling torrent as he clung stubbornly, resistingagain the pull of the retreating sea. 

Inch by inch between waves he fought for footing and stable support. Then he was on the surface of the rock, out of all but the lash ofspray. He crouched there, spent and gasping. The thunder roar of thesurf, and beyond it the deeper mutter of the rage in the heavens, wasdeafening, dulling his sense as much as the ordeal through which he hadpassed. He was content to cling where he was, hardly conscious of hissurroundings. 

Sparks of light along the shore to the north at last caught Ross'sattention. They moved, some clustering along the wave line, a few strungup the cliff. And they were not part of the storm's fireworks. Menhere--why at this moment?

Another bolt of lightning showed him the answer. On the reef fringewhich ran a tongue of land into the sea hung a ship--two ships--poundedby every hammer wave. Shipwrecks . .. And those lights must mark castledwellers drawn to aid the survivors. 

Ross crawled across his rock on his hands and knees, wavered along thecliff wall until he was again faced with angry water. To drop into thatwould be a mistake. He hesitated--and now more than his own predicamentstruck home to him. 

Ashe! Ashe had been ahead of him at the time gate. If Ross had beenjerked through to this past, then somewhere in the water, on the shore, Gordon was here too! But where to find him. .. . 

Setting his back to the cliff and holding to the rough stone, Ross gotto his feet, trying to see through the welter of foam and water. Notonly the sea poured here; now a torrential rain fell into the bargain, streaming down about him, battering his head and shoulders. A chill rainwhich made him shiver. 

He wore gill-pack, weighted belt with its sheathed tool and knife, flippers, and the pair of swimming trunks which had been suitable forthe Hawaika he knew; but this was a different world altogether. Dare heuse his torch to see the way out of here? Ross watched the lights to thenorth, deciding they were not too unlike his own beam, and took thechance. 

Now he stood on a shelf of rock pitted with depressions, all pools. Tohis left was a drop into a boiling, whirling caldron from which pointsof stone fanged. Ross shuddered. At least he had escaped being pulledinto that!

To his right, northward, there was another space of sea, a narrow strip, and then a second ledge. He measured the distance between that and theone on which he perched. Staying where he was would not locate Ashe. 

Ross stripped off his flippers, made them fast in his belt. Then heleaped and landed painfully, as his feet slipped and he skidded facedown on the northern ledge. 

As he sat up, rubbing a bruised and scraped knee, he saw lightsadvancing in his direction. And between them a shadow crawling fromwater to shore. Ross stumbled along the ledge hastening to reach thatfigure, who lay still now just out of the waves. Ashe?

Ross's limping pace became a trot. But he was too late; the otherlights, two of them, had reached the shadow. A man--or at least a bodywhich was humanoid--sprawled face down. Other men, three of them, gathered over the exhausted swimmer. 

Those who held the torches were still partially in the dark, but thethird stooped to roll over their find. Ross caught the glint of light ona metallic headcovering, the glisten of wet armor of some type on thefellow's back and shoulders as he made quick examination of the sea'svictim. 

Then. .. . Ross halted, his eyes wide. A hand rose and fell with expertprecision. There had been a blade in that hand. Already the three wereturning away from the man so ruthlessly dispatched. Ashe? Or somesurvivor of the wrecked ships?

Ross retreated to the end of the ledge. The narrow stream of waterdividing it from the rock where he had won ashore washed into a cave inthe cliff. Dare he try to work his way into that? Masked, with thegill-pack, he could go under surface if he were not smashed by the wavesagainst some wall. 

He glanced back. The lights were very close to the end of his ledge. Towithdraw to the second rock would mean being caught in a dead end, forhe dared not enter the whirlpool on its far side. There was really nochoice: stay and be killed, or try for the cave. Ross fastened on hisflippers and lowered his body into the narrow stream. The fact that itwas narrow and guarded on either side by the ledges tamed the waves alittle, and Ross found the tug against him not so great as he feared itwould be. 

Keeping hand-holds on the rock, he worked along, head and shouldersoften under the wash of rolling water, but winning steadily to the breakin the cliff wall. Then he was through, into a space much larger thanthe opening, water-filled but not with a wild turbulence of waves. 

Had he been sighted? Ross kept a handhold to the left of that narrowentrance, his body floating with the rise and fall of the water. Hecould make out the gleam of light without. It might be that one of thosehunters had leaned out over the runnel of the cave entrance, wasflashing his torch down into the water there. 

Behind mask plate Ross's lips writhed in the snarl of the hunted. Inhere he would have the advantage. Let one of them, or all three, try tofollow through that rock entrance and. .. . 

But if he had been sighted at the mouth of the lair, none of histrackers appeared to wish to press the hunt. The light disappeared, andRoss was left in the dark. He counted a hundred slowly and then a secondhundred before he dared use his own torch. 

For all its slit entrance this was a good-sized hideaway he had chancedupon. And he discovered, when he ventured to release his wall hold andswim out into its middle, the bottom arose in a slope toward its rear. 

Moments later Ross pulled out of the water once more, to crouchshivering on a ledge only lapped now and then by wavelets. He had founda temporary refuge, but his good fortune did not quiet his fears. Hadthat been Ashe on the shore? And why had the swimmer been so summarilyexecuted by the men who found him?

The ships caught on the reef, the castle on the cliff above hishead . .. Enemies . .. Ships' crews and castle men? But the callous actof the shore patrol argued a state of war carried to fanatic proportions, perhaps inter-racial conflict. 

He could not hope to explore until the storm was over. To plunge backinto the sea would not find Ashe. And to be hunted along the shore by anunknown enemy was simply asking to die without achieving any good inreturn. No, he must remain where he was for the present. 

Ross unhooked the torch from his belt and used it on this higher portionof the cave. He was perched on a ledge which protruded into the water inthe form of a wedge. At his back the wall of the cave was rough, andtrails of weed were festooned on its projections. The smell of fishydecay was strong enough to register as Ross pulled off his mask. As faras he could now see there was no exit except by sea. 

A movement in the water brought his light flashing down into the darkflood. Then a sleek head arose in the path of that ray. Not a manswimming, but one of the dolphins!

Ross's exclamation of surprise was half gasp, half cry. The seconddolphin showed for a moment and between the shadow of their bodies, justunder the surface, moved a third form. 

"Ashe!" Ross had no idea how the dolphins had come through the timegate, but that they had guided to safety a Terran he did not doubt atall. "Ashe!"

But it was not Ashe who came wading to the ledge where Ross waited withhand outstretched. He had been so sure of the other's identity that heblinked in complete bewilderment as his eyes met Karara's and she halfstumbled, half reeled against him. 

His arms about her shoulders steadied her, and her shivering body wasclose to his as she leaned her full weight upon him. Her hands made afeeble movement to her mask, and he pulled it off. Uncovered, her facewas pale and drawn, her eyes now closed, and her breath came in ragged, tearing sobs which shook her even more. 

"How did you get here?" Ross demanded even as he pushed her down on theledge. 

Her head moved slowly, in a weak gesture of negation. 

"I don't know . .. We were close to the gate. There was a flash oflight . .. Then--" Her voice sealed up with a note of hysteria in it. "Then . .. I was here . .. And Taua with me. Tino-rau came . .. Ross, Ross . .. There was a man swimming. He got ashore; he was getting to hisfeet and--and they killed him!"

Ross's hold tightened; he stared into her face with fierce demand. 

"Was it Gordon?"

She blinked, brought her hand up to her mouth, and wiped it back andforth across her chin. There was a small red trickle growing between herfingers, dripping down her arm. 

"Gordon?" She repeated it as if she had never heard the name before. 

"Yes, did they kill Gordon?"

In his grasp she was swaying back and forth. Then, realizing he wasshaking her, Ross got himself under control. 

But a measure of understanding had come into her eyes. "No, not Gordon. Where is Gordon?"

"You haven't seen him?" Ross persisted, knowing it was useless. 

"Not since we were at the gate. " Her words were less slurred. "Weren'tyou with him?"

"No. I was alone. "

"Ross, where are we?"

"Better say--when are we, " he replied. "We're through the gate and backin time. And we have to find Gordon!" He did not want to think of whatmight have happened out on the shore. 

5

Time Wrecked

"Can we go back?" Karara was herself again, her voice crisp. 

"I don't know. " Ross gave her the truth. The force which had drawn themthrough the gate was beyond his experience. As far as he knew, there hadnever been such an involuntary passage by time gate, and what their tripmight mean he did not know. 

The main concern was that Ashe must have come through, too, and that hewas missing. Just let the storm abate, and, with the dolphins' aid, Ross's chance for finding the missing agent was immeasurably better. Hesaid so now, and Karara nodded. 

"Do you suppose there is a war going on here?" She hugged her armsacross her breast, her shoulders heaving in the torch light withshudders she could not control. The damp chill was biting, and Rossrealized that was also danger. 

"Could be. " He got to his feet, switched the light from the girl to thewalls. That seaweed, could it make them some form of protectivecovering?

"Hold this--aim it there!" He thrust the torch into her hands and wentfor one of the loops of kelp. 

Ross reeled in lines of the stuff. It was rank-smelling but onlyslightly damp, and he piled it on the ledge in a kind of nest. At leastin the hollow of that mound they would be sheltered after a fashion. 

Karara crawled into the center of the mass, and Ross followed her. Thesmell of the stuff filled his nose, was almost like a visible cloud, buthe had been right, the girl stopped shivering, and he felt a measure ofwarmth in his own shaking body. Ross snapped off the torch, and they laytogether in the dark, the half-rotten pile of weed holding them. 

He must have slept, Ross guessed, when he stirred, raising his head. Hisbody was stiff, aching, as he braced himself up on his hands and peeredover the edge of their kelp nest. There was light in the cave, a palegrayish wash which grew stronger toward the slit opening. It must beday. And that meant they could move. 

Ross groped in the weed, his hand falling on a curve of shoulder. 

"Wake up!" His voice was hoarse and held the snap of an order. 

There was a startled gasp in answer, and the mound beside him heaved asthe girl stirred. 

"Day out--" Ross pointed. 

"And the storm--" she stood up, "I think it is over. "

It was true that the level of water within the cave had fallen, thatwavelets no longer lapped with the same vigor. Morning . .. The stormover . .. And somewhere Ashe!

Ross was about to snap his mask into place when Karara caught at hisarm. 

"Be careful! Remember what I saw--last night they were killingswimmers!"

He shook her off impatiently. "I'm no fool! And with the packs on we donot have to surface. Listen--" he had another thought, one which wouldprovide an excellent excuse for keeping her safely out of his company, reducing his responsibility for her, "you take the dolphins and try tofind the gate. We'll want out as soon as I locate Ashe. "

"And if you do not find him soon?"

Ross hesitated. She had not said the rest. What if he could not findGordon at all? But he would--he had to!

"I'll be back here"--he checked his watch, no longer an accuratetimekeeper, for Hawaikan days held an hour more than the Terrantwenty-four, but the settlers kept the off-world measurement to check onwork periods--"in, say, two hours. You should know by then about thegate, and I'll have some idea of the situation along the shore. Butlisten--" Ross caught her shoulders in a taut grip, pulled her around toface him, his eyes hot and almost angry as they held hers, "don't letyourself be seen--" He repeated the cardinal rule of Agents in newterritory. "We don't dare risk discovery. "

Karara nodded and he could see that she understood, was aware of theimportance of that warning. "Do you want Tino-rau or Taua?"

"No, I'm going to search along the shore first. Ashe would have triedfor that last night . .. Was probably driven in the way we were. He'd goto ground somewhere. And I have this--" Ross touched the sonic on hisbelt. "I'll set it on his call; you do the same with yours. Then if weget within distance, he'll pick us up. Back here in two hours--"

"Yes. " Karara kicked free of the weed, was already wading down to wherethe dolphins circled in the cave pool waiting for her. Ross followed, and the four swam for the open sea. 

It could not be much after dawn, Ross thought, as he clung by one handto a rock and watched Karara and the dolphins on their way. Then hepaddled along the shore northward for his own survey of the coast. Therewas a rose cast in the sky, warming the silver along the far reaches ofthe horizon. And about him bobbed storm flotsam, so that he had to picka careful way through floating debris. 

On the reef one of the wrecked ships had vanished entirely. Perhaps ithad been battered to death by the waves, ground to splinters against therocks. The other still held, its prow well out of the now recedingwaves, jagged holes in its sides through which spurts of water cascadednow and then. 

The wreck which had been driven landward was composed of planks, boxes, and containers rolled by the waves' force. Much of this was already freeof the sea, and on the beach figures moved examining it. In spite of thedanger of chance discovery, Ross edged along rocks, seeking a vantagepoint from which he could watch that activity. 

He was flat against a sea-girt boulder, a swell of floating weed drapedabout him, when the nearest of the foraging parties moved into goodview. 

Men . .. At least they had the outward appearance of men much likehimself, though their skin was dark and their limbs appeareddisproportionately long and thin. There were two groups of them, fourwearing only a scanty loincloth, busy turning over and hunting throughthe debris under the direction of the other two. 

The workers had thick growths of hair which not only covered theirheads, but down their spines and the outer sides of their thin arms andlegs to elbow and knee. The hair was a pallid yellow-white in vividcontrast to their dark skins, and their chins protruded sharply, allowing the lower line of their faces to take on a vaguely disturbinglikeness to an animal's muzzle. 

Their overseers were more fully clothed, wearing not only helmets ontheir heads, whose helms had a protective visor over the face, but alsobreast- and back-plates molded to their bodies. Ross thought that thesecould not be solid metal since they adapted to the movements of thewearers. 

Feet and legs were covered with casing combinations of shoe andleggings, colored dull red. They were armed with swords of an oddpattern; their points curved up so that the blade resembled a fishhook. Unsheathed, the blades were clipped to a waist belt by catches whichglittered in the weak morning light as if gem set. 

Ross could see little of their faces, for the beak visors overhung theirfeatures. But their skins were as dusky as those of the laborers, andtheir arms and legs of the same unusual length . .. Men of the same race, he deduced. 

Under the orders of the armed overseers the laborers were reducing thebeach to order, sorting out the flotsam into two piles. Once theygathered about a find, and the sound of excited speech reached Ross asan agitated clicking. The armored men came up, surveyed the discovery. One of them shrugged, and clicked an order. 

Ross caught only a half glimpse of the thing two of the workers draggedaway. A body! Ashe. .. . The Terran was about to move closer when he sawthe green cloak dragging about the corpse. No, not Gordon, just anothervictim from the wrecks. 

The aliens were working their way toward Ross, and perhaps it was timefor him to go. He was pushing aside his well-arranged curtain of weedwhen he was startled by a shout. For a second he thought he might havebeen sighted, until resulting action on shore told him otherwise. 

The furred workers shrank back against the mound to which they had justdragged the body. While the two guards took up a position before them, curved swords, snapped from their belt hooks, ready in their hands. Again that shout. Was it a warning or a threat? With the languagebarrier Ross could only wait to see. 

Another party approached along the beach from the south. In the lead wasa cloaked and hooded figure, so muffled in its covering of silver-graythat Ross had no idea of the form beneath. Silvery-gray--no, now thathue was deepening with blue tones, darkening rapidly. By the time thecloaked newcomer had passed the rock which sheltered the Terran thecovering was a rich blue which seemed to glow. 

Behind the leader were a dozen armed men. They wore the same beakedhelmets, the supple encasing breast- and back-plates, but their leggingswere gray. They, too, carried curved swords, but the weapons were stilllatched to their belts and they made no move to draw them in spite ofthe very patent hostility of the guards before them. 

Blue cloak halted some three feet from the guards. The sea wind pulledat the cloak, wrapping it about the body beneath. But even so, thewearer remained well hidden. From under a flapping edge came a hand. Thefingers, long and slender, were curled about an ivory-colored wand whichended in a knob. Sparks flashed from it in a continuous flickering. 

Ross clapped his hand to his belt. To his complete amazement the sonicdisk he wore was reacting to those flashes, pricking sharply in perfectbeat to their blink-blink. The Terran cupped his scarred fingers overthe disk as he waited to see what was going to happen, wondering if theholder of that wand might, in return, pick up the broadcast of the codeset on Ashe's call. 

The hand clasping the wand was not dusky-skinned but had much of thesame ivory shade as the rod, so that to Ross the meeting between fleshand wand was hardly distinguishable. Now by one firm thrust the handplanted the rod into the sand, leaving it to stand sentinel between thetwo parties. 

Retreating a step or two, the red-clad guards gave ground. But they didnot reclasp their swords. Their attitude, Ross judged, was that of menin some awe of their opponent, but men urged to defiance, either by abelief in the righteousness of their cause, or strengthened by an oldhatred. 

Now the cloaked one began to speak--or was that speech? Certainly theflow of sound had little in common with the clicking tongue Ross hadcaught earlier. This trill of notes possessed the rise and fall of achant or song which could have been a formula of greeting--or a warning. And the lines of warriors escorting the chanter stood to attention, their weapons still undrawn. 

Ross caught his lower lip between his teeth and bit down on it. Thatchanting--it crawled into the mind, set up a pattern! He shook his headvigorously and then was shocked by that recklessness. Not that any ofthose on shore had glanced in his direction. 

The chant ended on a high, broken note. It was followed by a moment ofsilence through which sounded only the wind and the beat of wave. 

Then one of the laborers flung up his head and clicked a word or two. Heand his fellows fell face down on the beach, cupping their hands to poursand over their unkempt heads. One of the guards turned with a sharpyell to boot the nearest of the workers in the ribs. 

But his companion cried out. The wand which had stood so erect when itwas first planted, now inclined toward the working party, its sparksshooting so swiftly and with such slight break between that they werefast making a single beam. Ross jerked his hand from contact with thesonic; a distinct throb of pain answered that stepping up of themysterious broadcast. 

The laborers broke and ran, or rather crawled on their bellies untilthey were well away, before they got to their feet and pelted back downthe strand. However, the guards were of sterner stuff. They werewithdrawing all right, but slowly backing away, their swords held upbefore them as men might retreat before insurmountable odds. 

When they were well gone the robed one took up the wand. Holding it outbeyond, the cloaked leader of the second party approached the two pilesof salvage the workers had heaped into rough order. There was a detailedinspection of both until the robed one came upon the body. 

At a trilled order two of the warriors came up and laid out the corpse. When the robed one nodded they stood well back. The rod moved, the tiprather than the knobbed head being pointed at the body. 

Ross's head snapped back. That bolt of light, energy, fire--whatever itwas--issuing from the rod had dazzled him into momentary blindness. Anda vibration of force through the air was like a blow. 

When he was able to see once more there was nothing at all on the sandwhere the corpse had lain, nothing except a glassy trough from whichsome spirals of vapor arose. Ross clung to his rock support badlyshaken. 

Men with swords . .. And now this--some form of controlled energy whichargued of technical development and science. Just as the cliff castlehad bombarded with rocks ships sailing with a speed which argued enginepower of an unknown type. A mixture of barbaric and advanced knowledge. To assess this, he needed more experience, more knowledge than hepossessed. Now Ashe could. .. . 

Ashe!

Ross was jerked back to his own quest. The rod was quiet, no more sparkswere flung from its knob. And under Ross's touch his sonic was quietalso. He snapped off the broadcast. If that device had picked up theflickering of the rod, the reverse could well be true. 

The cloaked one chose from the pile of goods, and its escort gathered upthe designated boxes, a small cask or two. So laden, the party returnedsouth the way they had come. Ross allowed his breath to expel in a sighof relief. 

He worked his way farther north along the coast, watching other partiesof the furred workers and their guards. Lines of the former climbed thecliff, hauling their spoil, their destination the castle. But Ross sawno sign of Ashe, received no answer to the sonic code he had reset oncethe strangers were out of distance. And the Terran began to realize thathis present search might well be fruitless, though he fought againstaccepting it. 

When he turned back to the slit cave Ross's fear was ready to beexpressed in anger, the anger of frustration over his own helplessness. With no chance of trying to penetrate the castle, he could not learnwhether or not Ashe had been taken prisoner. And until the workers leftthe beach he could not prowl there hunting the grimmer evidence his mindflinched from considering. 

Karara waited for him on the inner ledge. There was no sign of thedolphins and as Ross pulled out of the water, pushing aside his mask, her face in the thin light of the cave was deeply troubled. 

"You did not find him, " she made that a statement rather than aquestion. 

"No. "

"And I did not find it--"

Ross used a length of weed from the nest as a towel. But now he stoodvery still. 

"The gate . .. No sign of it?"

"Just this--" She reached behind her and brought up a sealed container. Ross recognized one of the supply cans they had had in the cache by thegate. "There are others . .. Scattered. Taua and Tino-rau seek them now. It is as if all that was on the other side was sucked through with us. "

"You are sure you found the right place?"

"Is--is this not part of it?" Again the girl sought for something on theledge. What she held out to him was a length of metal rod, twisted andbroken at one end as if a giant hand had wrenched it loose from theinstallation. 

Ross nodded dully. "Yes, " his voice was harsh as if the words werepulled out of him against his will and against all hope--"that's part ofa side bar. It--it must have been totally wrecked. "

Yet, even though he held that broken length in his hands, Ross could notreally believe the gate was gone. He swam out once more, heading for thereef where the dolphins joined him as guides. There was a second pieceof broken tube, the scattered containers of supplies, that was all. TheTerrans were wrecked in time as surely as those ships had been wreckedon the sea reef the night before!

Ross headed once again for the cave. Their immediate needs were of majorimportance now. The containers must be all gathered and taken into theirhiding place, because upon their contents three human lives coulddepend. 

He paused just at the entrance to adjust the net of containers hetransported. And it was that slight chance which brought him knowledgeof the intruder. 

On the ledge Karara was heaping up the kelp of the nest. But to one sideand on a level with the girl's head. .. . 

Ross dared not flash his torch, thus betraying his presence. Leaving thenet hitched to the rock by its sling, he swam under water along the sideof the cave by a route which should bring him out within strikingdistance of that hunched figure perching above to watch Karara's everymove. 

6

Loketh the Useless

The wash of waves covered Ross's advance until he came up against thewall not too far from the spy's perch. Whoever crouched there stillleaned forward to watch Karara. And Ross's eyes, having adjusted to thegloom of the cavern, made out the outline of head and shoulders. Thenext two or three minutes were the critical ones for the Terran. He mustemerge on the ledge in the open before he could attack. 

Karara might almost have read his mind and given conscious help. For nowshe went out on the point of the ledge to whistle the dolphins' summons. Tino-rau's sleek head bobbed above water as he answered the girl with abubbling squeak. Karara knelt and the dolphin came to butt against herout-held hand. 

Ross heard a gasp from the watcher, a faint sound of movement. Kararabegan to sing softly, her voice rippling in one of the liquid chants ofher own people, the dolphin interjecting a note or two. Ross had heardthem at that before, and it made perfect cover for his move. He sprang. 

His grasp tightened on flesh, fingers closed about thin wrists. Therewas a yell of astonishment and fear from the stranger as the Terranjerked him from his perch to the ledge. Ross had his opponent flattenedunder him before he realized that the other had offered no struggle, butlay still. 

"What is it?" Karara's torch beam caught them both. Ross looked downinto a thin brown face not too different from his own. The wide-set eyeswere closed, and the mouth gaped open. Though he believed the Hawaikanunconscious, Ross still kept hold on those wrists as he moved from thesprawled body. With the girl's aid he used a length of kelp to securethe captive. 

The stranger wore a garment of glistening skintight material whichcovered body, legs, and feet, but left his lanky arms bare. A belt abouthis waist had loops for a number of objects, among them a hook-pointedknife which Ross prudently removed. 

"Why, he is only a boy, " Karara said. "Where did he come from, Ross?"

The Terran pointed to the wall crevice. "He was up there, watching you. "

Her eyes were wide and round. "Why?"

Ross dragged his prisoner back against the wall of the cave. Afterwitnessing the fate of those who had swum ashore from the wreck, he didnot like to think what motive might have brought the Hawaikan here. Again Karara's thoughts must have matched his, for she added:

"But he did not even draw his knife. What are you going to do with him, Ross?"

That problem already occupied the Terran. The wisest move undoubtedlywas to kill the native out of hand. But such ruthlessness was more thanhe could stomach. And if he could learn anything from the stranger--gainsome knowledge of this new world and its ways--he would be twice winner. Why, this encounter might even lead to Ashe!

"Ross . .. His leg. See?" The girl pointed. 

The tight fit of the alien's clothing made the defect clear; the rightleg of the stranger was shrunken and twisted. He was a cripple. 

"What of it?" Ross demanded sharply. This was no time for an appeal tothe sympathies. 

But Karara did not urge any modification of the bonds as he half fearedshe would. Instead, she sat back cross-legged, an odd, withdrawnexpression making her seem remote though he could have put out his handto touch her. 

"His lameness--it could be a bridge, " she observed, to Ross'smystification. 

"A bridge--what do you mean?"

The girl shook her head. "This is only a feeling, not a true thought. But also it is important. Look, I think he is waking. "

The lids above those large eyes were fluttering. Then with a shake ofthe head, the Hawaikan blinked up at them. Blank bewilderment was allRoss could read in the stranger's expression until the alien saw Karara. Then a flood of clicking speech poured from his lips. 

He seemed utterly astounded when they made no answer. And the fluency ofhis first outburst took on a pleading note, while the expectancy of hisfirst greeting faded away. 

Karara spoke to Ross. "He is becoming afraid, very much afraid. Atfirst, I think, he was pleased . .. Happy. "

"But why?"

The girl shook her head. "I do not know; I can only feel. Wait!" Herhand rose in imperious command. She did not rise to her feet, butcrawled on hands and knees to the edge of the ledge. Both dolphins werethere, raising their heads well out of the water, their actionsexpressing unusual excitement. 

"Ross!" Karara's voice rang loudly. "Ross, they can understand him!Tino-rau and Taua can understand him!"

"You mean, they understand this language?" Ross found that fantastic, awesome as the abilities of the dolphins were. 

"No, his mind. It's his mind, Ross. Somehow he thinks in patterns theycan pick up and read! They do that, you know, with a few of us, but notin the same way. This is more direct, clearer! They're so excited!"

Ross glanced at the prisoner. The alien had wriggled about, striving toraise his head against the wall as a support. His captor pulled theHawaikan into a sitting position, but the native accepted that aidalmost as if he were not even aware of Ross's hands on his body. Hestared with a kind of horrified disbelief at the bobbing dolphin heads. 

"He is afraid, " Karara reported. "He has never known such communicationbefore. "

"Can they ask him questions?" demanded Ross. If this odd mental tiebetween Terran dolphin and Hawaikan did exist, then there was a chanceto learn about this world. 

"They can try. Now he only knows fear, and they must break throughthat. "

What followed was the most unusual four-sided conversation Ross couldhave ever imagined. He put a question to Karara, who relayed it to thedolphins. In turn, they asked it mentally of the Hawaikan and conveyedhis answer back via the same route. 

It took some time to allay the fears of the stranger. But at last theHawaikan entered wholeheartedly into the exchange. 

"He is the son of the lord ruling the castle above. " Karara produced thefirst rational and complete answer. "But for some reason he is notaccepted by his own kind. Perhaps, " she added on her own, "it is becausehe is crippled. The sea is his home, as he expresses it, and he believesme to be some mythical being out of it. He saw me swimming, masked, andwith the dolphins, and he is sure I change shape at will. "

She hesitated. "Ross, I get something odd here. He does know, or thinkshe knows, creatures who can appear and disappear at will. And he isafraid of their powers. "

"Gods and goddesses--perfectly natural. "

Karara shook her head. "No, this is more concrete than a religiousbelief. "

Ross had a sudden inspiration. Hurriedly he described the cloaked figurewho had driven the castle people from the piles of salvage. "Ask himabout that one. "

She relayed the question. Ross saw the prisoner's head jerk around. TheHawaikan looked from Karara to her companion, a shade of speculation inhis expression. 

"He wants to know why you ask about the Foanna? Surely you must wellknow what manner of beings they are. "

"Listen--" Ross was sure now that he had made a real discovery, thoughits importance he could not guess, "tell him we come from where thereare no Foanna. That we have powers and must know of their powers. "

If he could only carry on this interrogation straight and not have todepend upon a double translation! And could he even be sure hisquestions reached the alien undistorted?

Wearily Ross sat back on his heels. Then he glanced at Karara with atwinge of concern. If he was tired by their roundabout communication, she must be doubly so. There was a droop to her shoulders, and her lastreply had come in a voice hoarse with fatigue. Abruptly he started up. 

"That's enough--for now. "

Which was true. He had to have time for evaluation, to adjust to whatthey had learned during the steady stream of questions passed back andforth. And in that moment he was conscious of his hunger, just as hisvoice was paper dry from lack of drink. The canister of supplies he hadleft by the cave entrance . .. 

"We need food and drink. " He fumbled with his mask, but Karara motionedhim back from the water. 

"Taua brings . .. Wait!"

The dolphin trailed the net of containers to them. Ross unscrewed one, pulled out a bulb of fresh water. A second box yielded the dry wafers ofemergency rations. 

Then, after a moment's hesitation, Ross crossed to the prisoner, cut hiswrist bonds, and pressed both a bulb and a wafer into his hold. TheHawaikan watched the Terrans eat before he bit into the wafer, chewingit with vigor, turning the bulb around in his fingers with alertinterest before he sucked at its contents. 

As Ross chewed and swallowed, mechanically and certainly with no relish, he fitted one fact to another to make a picture of this Hawaikan timeperiod in which they were now marooned. Of course, his picture was basedon facts they had learned from their captive. Perhaps he had purposelymisled them or fogged some essentials. But could he have done that in amental contact? Ross would simply have to accept everything with acertain amount of cautious skepticism. 

Anyway, there were the Wreckers of the castle--petty lordlings settingup their holds along the coasts, preying upon the shipping which was thelifeblood of this island-water world. The Terrans had seen them inaction last night and today. And if the captive's information wascorrect, it was not only the storm's fury which brought the waves'harvest. The Wreckers had some method of attracting ships to crack up ontheir reefs. 

Some method of attraction. .. . And that force which had pulled theTerrans through the time gate; could there be a connection? However, there remained the Wreckers on the cliff. And their prey, the seafarersof the ocean, with an understandably deep enmity between them. 

Those two parties Ross could understand and be prepared to deal with, hethought. But there remained the Foanna. And, from their prisoner'sexplanation, the Foanna were a very different matter. 

They possessed a power which did not depend upon swords or ships or thenatural tools and weapons of men. No, they had strengths which wereunearthly, to give them superiority in all but one way--numbers. Thoughthe Foanna had their warriors and servants, as Ross had seen on thebeach, they, themselves, were of another race--a very old and dying raceof which few remained. How many, their enemies could not say, for theFoanna had no separate identities known to the outer world. Theyappeared, gave their orders, levied their demands, opposed or aided asthey wished--always just one or two at a time--always so muffled intheir cloaks that even their physical appearances remained a mystery. But there was no mystery about their powers. Ross gathered that noWrecker lord, no matter how much a leader among his own kind, howambitious, had yet dared to oppose actively one of the Foanna, though hemight make a token protest against some demand from them. 

And certainly the captive's description of those powers in actionsuggested a supernatural origin of Foanna knowledge, or at least for itsapplication. But Ross thought that the answer might be that theypossessed the remnants of some almost forgotten technical know-how, theheritage of a very old race. He had tried to learn something of theorigin of the Foanna themselves, wondering if the robed ones could befrom the galactic empire. But the answer had come that the Foanna wereolder than recorded time, that they had lived in the great citadelbefore the race of the Terrans' prisoner had risen from very primitivesavagery. 

"What do we do now?" Karara broke in upon Ross's thoughts as sherefastened the containers. 

"These slaves that the Wreckers take upon occasion . .. Maybe Ashe. .. . "Ross was catching at very fragile straws; he had to. And the strangerhad said that able-bodied men who swam ashore relatively uninjured weretaken captive. Several had been the night before. 

"Loketh. "

Ross and Karara looked around. The prisoner put down the water bulb, andone of his hands made a gesture they could not mistake; he pointed tohimself and repeated that word, "Loketh. "

The Terran touched his own chest. "Ross Murdock. "

Perhaps the other was as impatient as he with their roundabout method ofcommunication and had decided to try and speed it up. The analyzer! Ashehad included the analyzer with the equipment by the gate. If Ross couldfind that . .. Why, then the major problem could be behind them. Swiftlyhe explained to Karara, and with a vigorous nod of assent she called toTaua, ordering the rest of the salvage material from the gate be broughtto them. 

"Loketh. " Ross pointed to the youth. "Ross. " That was himself. "Karara. "He indicated the girl. 

"Rosss. " The alien made a clicking hiss of the first name. "Karara--" Hedid better with the second. 

Ross carefully unpacked the box Taua had located. He had only slightknowledge of how the device worked. It was intended to record a strangelanguage, break it down into symbols already familiar to the TimeAgents. But could it also be used as a translator with a totally alientongue? He could only hope that the rough handling of its journeythrough the gate had not damaged it and that the experiment mightpossibly work. 

Putting the box between them, he explained what he wanted; and Kararatook up the small micro-disk, speaking slowly and distinctly the sameliquid syllables she had used in the dolphin song. Ross clicked thelever when she was finished, and watched the small screen. The symbolswhich flashed there had meaning for him right enough; he could translatewhat she had just taped. The machine still worked to that extent. 

Now he pushed the box into place before Loketh and made the visiblyreluctant Hawaikan take the disk from Karara. Then through the dolphinlink Ross passed on definite instructions. Would it work as well totranslate a stellar tongue as it had with languages past and present ofhis own planet?

Reluctantly Loketh began to talk to the disk, at first in a very rapidmumble and then, as there was no frightening response, with less speedand more confidence. There were symbol lines on the vista-plate inaccordance, and some of them made sense! Ross was elated. 

"Ask him: Can one enter the castle unseen to check on the slaves?"

"For what reason?"

Ross was sure he had read those symbols correctly. 

"Tell him--that one of our kind may be among them. "

Loketh did not reply so quickly this time. His eyes, grave andmeasuring, studied Ross, then Karara, then Ross again. 

"There is a way . .. Discovered by this useless one. "

Ross did not pay attention to the odd adjective Loketh chose to describehimself. He pressed to the important matter. 

"Can and will he show me that way?"

Again that long moment of appraisal on the part of Loketh before heanswered. Ross found himself reading the reply symbols aloud. 

"If you dare, then I will lead. "

7

Witches' Meat

He might be recklessly endangering all of them, Ross knew. But if Ashewas immured somewhere in that rock pile over their heads, then the riskof trusting Loketh would be worth it. However, because Ross was chancinghis own neck did not mean that Karara need be drawn into immediate periltoo. With the dolphins at her command and the supplies, scanty as thosewere, she would have a good chance to hide here safely. 

"Holding out for what?" she asked quietly after Ross elaborated on thissubject, thus bringing him to silence. 

Because her question was just. With the gate gone the Terrans werecommitted to this time, just as they had earlier been committed toHawaika when on their home world they had entered the spaceship for thetake-off. There was no escape from the past, which had become theirpresent. 

"The Foanna, " she continued, "these Wreckers, the sea people--all atodds with one another. Do we join any, then their quarrels must alsobecome ours. "

Taua nosed the ledge behind the girl, squeaked a demand for attention. Karara looked around at Loketh; her look was as searching as the one thenative had earlier turned on her and Ross. 

"He"--the girl nodded at the Hawaikan--"wishes to know if you trust him. And he says to tell you this: Because the Shades chose to inflict uponhim a twisted leg he is not one with those of the castle, but to them abroken, useless thing. Ross, I gather he thinks we have powers like theFoanna, and that we may be supernatural. But because we did not kill himout of hand and have fed him, he considers himself bound to us. "

"Ritual of bread and salt . .. Could be. " Though it might be folly tomatch alien customs to Terran, Ross thought of that very ancient pact onhis own world. Eat a man's food, become his friend, or at least declarea truce between you. Stiff taboos and codes of behavior marked nationson Terra, especially warrior societies, and the same might be true here. 

"Ask him, " Ross told Karara, "what is the rule for food and drinkbetween friends or enemies!" The more he could learn of such customs thebetter protection he might be able to weave for them. 

Long moments for the relay of that message, and then Loketh spoke intothe micro-disk of the analyzer, slowly, with pauses, as if trying tomake sure Ross understood every word. 

"To give bread into the hands of one you have taken in battle, makes himyour man--not as a slave to labor, but as one who draws sword at yourbidding. When I took your bread I accepted you as cup-lord. Between suchthere is no betrayal, for how may a man betray his lord? I, Loketh, amnow a sword in your hands, a man in your service. And to me this isdoubly good, for as a useless one I have never had a lord, nor one toswear to. Also, with this Sea Maid and her followers to listen tothoughts, how could any man speak with a double tongue were he one whoconsorted with the Shadow and wore the Cloak of Evil?"

"He's right, " Karara added. "His mind is open; he couldn't hide histhoughts from Taua and Tino-rau even if he wished. "

"All right, I'll accept that. " Ross glanced about the ledge. They hadpiled the containers at the far end. For Karara to move might be safe. He said so. 

"Move where?" she asked flatly. "Those men from the castle are stillhunting drift out there. I don't think anyone knows of this cave. "

Ross nodded to Loketh. "He did, didn't he? I wouldn't want you trappedhere. And I don't want to lose those supplies. What is in thosecontainers may be what saves us all. "

"We can sink those over by the wall, weight them down in a net. Then, ifwe have to move, they will be ready. Do not worry--that is mydepartment. " She smiled at him with a slightly mocking lift of lips. 

Ross subsided, though he was irritated because she was right. Themanagement of the dolphin team and sea matters were her department. Andwhile he resented her reminder of that point he could not deny thejustice of her retort. 

In spite of his crippled leg, Loketh displayed an agility whichsurprised Ross. Freed from his ankle bonds, he beckoned the Terran backto the very niche where he had hidden to watch Karara. Up he swung intothat and in a second had vanished from sight. 

Ross followed, to discover it was not a niche after all but the openingof a crevice, leading upward as a vent. And it had been used before as apassage. There was no light, but the native guided Ross's hands to thehollow climbing holds cut into the stone. Then Loketh pushed past andwent up the crude ladder into the dark. 

It was difficult to judge either time or distance in this black tube. Ross counted the holds for some check. His agent training made one partof his mind sharply aware of such things; the need for memorizing apassage which led into the enemy's territory was apparent. What thepurpose of this slit had originally been he did not know, butstrongholds on Terra had had their hidden ways in and out for use intimes of siege, and he was beginning to believe that these aliens hadmuch in common with his own kind. 

He had reached twenty in his counting and his senses, alerted bytraining and instinct, told him there was an opening not too far above. But the darkness remained so thick it fell in tangible folds about hissweating body. Ross almost cried out as fingers clamped about his wristwhen he reached for a new hold. Then urged by that grasp, he was up andout, sprawling into a vertical passage. Far ahead was a gray of faintlight. 

Ross choked and then sneezed as dust puffed up from between hisscrabbling hands. The hold which had been on his wrist shifted to hisshoulder, and with a surprising strength Loketh hauled the Terran to hisfeet. 

The passage in which they stood was a slit extending in height wellabove their heads, but narrow, not much wider than Ross's shoulders. Whether it was a natural fault or had been cut he could not tell. 

Loketh was ahead again, his rocking limp making the outline of his bodya jerky up-and-down shadow. Again his speed and agility amazed theTerran. Loketh might be lame, but he had learned to adapt to hishandicap very well. 

The light increased and Ross marked slits in the walls to his right, nowider than the breadth of his two fingers. He peered out of one and waslooking into empty air while below he heard the murmur of the sea. Thisway must run in the cliff face above the beach. 

A click of impatient whisper drew him on to join Loketh. Here was aflight of stairs, narrow of tread and very steep. Loketh turned back andside against these to climb, his outspread hand flattened on the stoneas if it possessed adhesive qualities to steady him. For the first timehis twisted leg was a disadvantage. 

Ross counted again--ten, fifteen of those steps, bringing them once moreinto darkness. Then they emerged from a well-like opening into acircular room. A sudden and dazzling flare of light made the Terranshade his eyes. Loketh set a pallid but glowing cone on a wall shelf, and the Terran discovered that the burst of light was only relative tothe dark of the passage; indeed it was very weak illumination. 

The Hawaikan braced his body against the far wall. The strain of hiseffort, whatever its purpose, was easy to read in the contorted line ofhis shoulders. Then the wall slid under Loketh's urging, a slow move asif the weight of the slab he strove to handle was almost too great forhis slender arms, or else the need for caution was intensified here. 

They now fronted a narrow opening, and the light of the cone shone onlya few feet into the space. Loketh beckoned to Ross and they went on. Here the left wall was cut in many places emitting patches of light in away which bore no resemblance to conventional windows. It was likewalking behind a pierced screen which followed no logical pattern in thecutaway portions. Ross gazed out and gasped. 

He was standing above the center core of the castle, and the life belowand beyond drew his attention. He had seen drawings reproducing the lifeof a feudal castle. This resembled them and yet, as Ross studied thescene closer, the differences between the Terran past and this becamemore distinct. 

In the first place there were those animals--or were theyanimals?--being hooked up to a cart. They had six limbs, walking onfour, holding the remaining two folded under their necks. Their harnessconsisted of a network fitted over their shoulders, anchored to thefolded limbs. Their grotesque heads, bobbing and weaving on lengthynecks, their bodies, were sleekly scaled. Ross was startled by aresemblance he traced to the sea dragon he had met in the future of thisworld. 

But the creatures were subject to the men harnessing them. And theactivity in other respects . .. Ross had to fight a wayward andfascinated interest in all he could see, force himself to concentrate onlearning what might be pertinent to his own mission. But Loketh did notallow him to watch for long. Instead, his hand on the Terran's arm urgedthe other down the gallery behind the screen and once more into the bulkof the fortress. 

Another narrow way ran through the thickness of the walls. Then a patchof light, not that of outer day, but a reddish gleam from an openingwaist high. There Loketh went awkwardly to his good knee, motioning Rossto follow his example. 

What lay below was a hall furnished with a barbaric rawness of color andglitter. There were long strips of brightly hued woven stuff on thewalls, touched here and there with sparkling glints which werejewel-like. And set at intervals among the hangings were oval objectsperhaps Ross's height on which were designs and patterns picked out inpaint and metal. Maybe the stylized representation of native plants andanimals. 

The whole gave an impression of clashing color, just as the garments ofthose gathered there were garish in turn. 

There were three Hawaikans on the two-step dais. All wore robes fittingtightly to the upper portion of their bodies, girded to their waistswith elaborate belts, then falling in long points to floor level, thepoints being finished off with tassels. Their heads were covered withtight caps which were a latticework of decorated strips, glittering asthey moved. And the mixture of colors in their apparel was such as tooffend Terran eyes with their harsh clash of shade against shade. 

Drawn up below the dais were two rows of guards. But the reason for theassembly baffled Ross, since he could not understand the clickingspeech. 

There came a hollow echoing sound as from a gong. The three on the daisstraightened, turned their attention to the other end of the hall. Rossdid not need Loketh's gesture to know that something of importance wasabout to begin. 

Down the hall was a somber note in the splash of clashing color. TheTerran recognized the gray-blue robe of the Foanna. There were three ofthe robed ones this time, one slightly in advance of the other two. Theycame at a gliding pace as if they swept along above that paved flooring, not by planting feet upon it. As they halted below the dais the menthere rose. 

Ross could read their reluctance to make that concession in the slownessof their movements. They were plainly being compelled to renderdeference when they longed to refuse it. Then the middle one of thecastle lords spoke first. 

"Zahur--" Loketh breathed in Ross's ear, his pointed finger indicatingthe speaker. 

Ross longed vainly for the ability to ask questions, a chance to knowwhat was in progress. That the meeting of the two Hawaikan factions wasimportant he did not doubt. 

There was an interval of silence after the castle lord finishedspeaking. To the Terran this spun on and on and he sensed the mountingtension. This must be a showdown, perhaps even a declaration of openhostilities between Wreckers and the older race. Or perhaps the pausewas a subtle weapon of the Foanna, used to throw a less-sophisticatedenemy off balance, as a judo fighter might use an opponent's attack aspart of his own defense. 

When the Foanna did make answer it came in the singsong of chantedwords. Ross felt Loketh shiver, felt the crawl of chill along his ownspine. The words--if those were words and not just sounds intended toplay upon the mind and emotions of a listener--cut into one. Ross wantedto close his ears, thrust his fingers into them to drown out that sound, yet he did not have the power to raise his hands. 

It seemed to him that the men on the dais were swaying now as if thechant were a rope leashed about them, pulling them back and forth. Therewas a clatter; one of the guards had fallen to the floor and lay there, rolling, his hands to his head. 

A shout from the dais. The chanting reached a note so high that Rossfelt the torment in his ears. Below, the lines of guards had broken. Aparty of them were heading for the end of the hall, making a wide detouraround the Foanna. Loketh gave a small choked cry; his fingers tightenedon Ross's forearm with painful intensity as he whispered. 

What was about to happen meant something important. To Loketh or to him?Ashe! Was this concerned with Ashe? Ross crowded against the opening, tried to see the direction in which the guards had disappeared. 

The wait made him doubly impatient. One of the men on the dais haddropped on the bench there, his head forward on his hands, his shouldersquivering. But the one Loketh had identified as Zahur still fronted theFoanna spokesman, and Ross gave tribute to the strength of will whichkept him there. 

They were returning, the guards, and herded between their lines threemen. Two were Hawaikans, their bare dark bodies easily identifiable. Butthe third--Ashe! Ross almost shouted his name aloud. 

The Terran stumbled along and there was a bandage above his knee. He hadbeen stripped to his swimming trunks, all his equipment taken from him. There was a dark bruise on his left temple, the angry weal of a lashmark on neck and shoulder. 

Ross's hands clenched. Never in his life had he so desperately wanted aweapon as he did at that moment. To spray the company below with amachine gun would have given him great satisfaction. But he had nothingbut the knife in his belt and he was as cut off from Ashe as if theywere in separate cells of some prison. 

The caution which had been one of his inborn gifts and which had beenfostered by his training, clamped down on his first wild desire foraction. There was not the slightest chance of his doing Ashe any good atthe present. But he had this much--he knew that Gordon was alive andthat he was in the aliens' hands. Faced by those facts Ross could planhis own moves. 

The Foanna chant began again, and the three prisoners moved; the twoHawaikans turned, set themselves on either side of Ashe, and gave himsupport. Their actions had a mechanical quality as if they were directedby a will beyond their own. Ashe gazed about him at the Wreckers and therobed figures. His awareness of them both suggested to Ross that if thenatives had come under the control of the Foanna, the Terran resistedtheir influence. But Ashe did not try to escape the assistance of histwo fellow prisoners, and he limped with their aid back down the hall, following the Foanna. 

Ross deduced that the captives had been transferred from the lord of thecastle to the Foanna. Which meant Ashe was on his way to anotherdestination. The Terran was on his feet and headed back, intent onreturning to the sea cave and starting out after Ashe as soon as hecould. 

"You have found Gordon!" Karara read his news from his face. 

"The Wreckers had him prisoner. Now they've turned him over to theFoanna--"

"What will _they_ do with him?" the girl demanded of Loketh. 

His answer came roundabout as usual as the native squatted by theanalyzer and clicked his answer into it. 

"They have claimed the wreck survivors for tribute. Your companion willbe witches' meat. "

"Witches' meat?" repeated Ross, uncomprehending. 

Then Karara drew a gagged breath which was a gasp of horror. 

"Sacrifice! Ross, he must mean they are going to use Gordon for asacrifice. "

Ross stiffened and then whirled to catch Loketh by the shoulders. Theinability to question the native directly was an added disaster now. 

"Where are they taking him? Where?" He began that fiercely, and thenforced control on himself. 

Karara's eyes were half closed, her head back; she was manifestly aimingthat inquiry at the dolphins, to be translated to Loketh. 

Symbols burned on the analyzer screen. 

"The Foanna have their own fortress. It can be entered best by sea. There is a boat . .. I can show you, for it is my own secret. "

"Tell him--yes, as soon as we can!" Ross broke out. The old feeling thattime was all-important worried at him. Witches' meat . .. Witches' meat. .. The words were sharp as a lash. 

8

The Free Rovers

Twilight made a gray world where one could not trace the true meeting ofland and water, sea and sky. Surely the haze about them was more thanjust the normal dusk of coming night. 

Ross balanced in the middle of the skiff as it bobbed along the swell ofwaves inside a barrier reef. To his mind the craft carrying the three ofthem and their net of supplies was too frail, rode too high. But Kararapaddling in the bow, Loketh at the stern seemed to be content, and Rosscould not, for pride's sake, question their competency. He comfortedhimself with the knowledge that no agent was able to absorb everyprimitive skill, and Karara's people had explored the Pacific inout-rigger canoes hardly more stable than their present vessel, navigating by currents and stars. 

Smothering his feeling of helplessness and the slow anger that roused inhim, the Terran busied himself with study of a sort. They had had thelonger part of the day in the cave before Loketh would agree to ventureout of hiding and paddle south. Ross, using the analyzer, had, withLoketh's aid, set about learning what he could of the native tongue. 

Now possessed of a working vocabulary of clicked words, he was able tofollow Loketh's speech so that translation through the dolphins was notnecessary except for complicated directions. Also, he had a moredetailed briefing of the present situation on Hawaika. 

Enough to know that they might be embarking on a mad venture. Thecitadel of the Foanna was distinctly forbidden ground, not only forLoketh's people but also for the Foanna's Hawaikan followers who werehoused and labored in an outer ring of fortification-cum-village. Thosenatives were, Ross gathered, a hereditary corps of servants andwarriors, born to that status and not recruited from the nativepopulation at large. As such, they were armored by the "magic" of theirmasters. 

"If the Foanna are so powerful, " Ross had demanded, "why do you go withus against them?" To depend so heavily on the native made him uneasy. 

The Hawaikan looked to Karara. One of his hands raised; his fingerssketched a sign toward the girl. 

"With the Sea Maid and her magic I do not fear. " He paused beforeadding, "Always has it been said of me--and to me--that I am a uselessone, fit only to do women's tasks. No word weaver shall ever chant mybattle deeds in the great hall of Zahur. I who am Zahur's true son cannot carry my sword in any lord's train. But now you offer me one of thegreat to-be-remembered quests. If I go, so may I prove that I am a man, even if I go limpingly. There is nothing the Foanna can do to me whichis worse than what the Shadow has already done. Choosing to follow you Imay stand up to face Zahur in his own hall, show him that the blood ofhis House has not been drained from my veins because I walk crookedly!"

There was such bitter fire, not only in the sputtering rush of Loketh'swords, but in his eyes, his face, the wry twist of his lips, that Rossbelieved him. The Terran no longer had any doubts that the castleoutcast was willing to brave the unknown terrors of the Foanna keep, notjust to aid Ross whom he considered himself bound to serve by thecustoms of his people, but because he saw in this venture a chance togain what he had never had, a place in his warrior culture. 

Shut off from the normal life of his people, he had early turned to thesea. His twisted leg had not proved a handicap in the water, and hestated with confidence that he was the best swimmer in the castle. Notthat the men of his father's following had taken greatly to the sea, which they looked upon merely as a way of preying upon the true searovers. 

The reef on which the ships had been wrecked was a snare of sorts--firstby the whim of nature when wind and current piled up the trading shipsthere. Then, Ross was startled when Loketh elaborated on a laterdevelopment of that trap. 

"So Zahur returned from this meeting and set up a great magic among therock, according to the spells he was taught. Now ships are drawn thereso the wrecks have been many and Zahur becomes an even greater lord withmany men coming to take sword oath under him. "

"This magic, " asked Ross, "of what manner is it and where did Zahurobtain it?"

"It is fashioned so--" Loketh sketched two straight lines in the air, "not curved as a sword. And the color of water under a storm sky, bothrods being as tall as a man. There was much care to set them in place, that was done by a man of Glicmas. "

"A man of Glicmas?"

"Glicmas is now the high lord of the Iccio. He is blood kin to Zahur, yet Zahur must take sword oath to send to Glicmas a fourth of all hissea-gleanings for a year in payment for this magic. "

"And Glicmas, where did he get it? From the Foanna?"

Loketh made an emphatic denial of that. "No, the Foanna have spoken outagainst their use, making even greater ill feeling between the Old Onesand the coast people. It is said that Glicmas saw a great wonder in thesky and followed it to a high place of his own country. A mountain brokein twain and a voice issued forth from the rent, calling that the lordof the country come and stand to hear it. When Glicmas did so he wastold that the magic would be his. Then the mountain closed again and hefound many strange things upon the ground. As he uses them they make himakin to the Foanna in power. Some he gives to those who are his bloodkin, and together they will be great until they close their fists notonly upon the sea rovers, but upon the Foanna also. This they have cometo believe. "

"But you do not?" Karara asked then. 

"I do not know, Sea Maid. The time is coming when perhaps they shallhave their chance to prove how strong is their magic. Already the Roversgather in fleets as they never did before. And it seems that they, too, have found a new magic, for their ships fly through the water, dependingno longer on wind-filling sails, or upon strong arms of men at longpaddles. There is a struggle before us. But that you must know, beingwho and what you are, Sea Maid. "

"And what do you think I am? What do you think Ross is?"

"If the Foanna dwell on land and hold old knowledge and power beyond ourreckoning in their two hands, " he replied, "then it is possible that thesame could have roots in the sea. It is my belief that you are of theShades, but not the Shadow. And this warrior is also of your kind--butperhaps in different degree, putting into action your desires andwishes. Thus, if you go up against the Foanna, you shall be wellmatched, kind to kind. "

Nice to be so certain of that, Ross thought. He did not share Loketh'sconfidence on that subject. 

"The Shades . .. The Shadow . .. " Karara persisted. "What are these, Loketh?"

An odd expression crossed the Hawaikan's face. "Are those not knownto you, Sea Maid? Indeed, then you are of a breed different from themen of land. The Shades are those of power who may come to the aidof men should it be their desire to influence the future. And theShadow . .. The Shadow is That Which Ends All--man, hope, good. To Whichthere is no appeal, and Which holds a vast and enduring hatred for thatwhich has life and full substance. "

"So Zahur has this new magic. Is it the gift of Shades or Shadow?" Rossbrought them back to the subject which had sparked in him a smallwarning signal. 

"Zahur prospers mightily. " Loketh's answer was ambiguous. 

"And so the Shadow could not provide such magic?" The Terran pushed. 

But before the Hawaikan had a chance to answer, Karara added anotherquestion:

"But you believe that it did?"

"I do not know. Only the magic has made Zahur a part of Glicmas, andGlicmas is now perhaps a part of that which spoke from the mountain. Itis not well to accept gifts which tie one man to another unless there isfrom the first a saying of how deep that bond may run. "

"I think you are wise in that, Loketh, " Karara said. 

But the uneasiness had grown in Ross. Alien powers, out of a mountainheart, passed from one lord to another. And on the other hand theRovers' sudden magic in turn, lending their ships wings. The two factsbalanced in an odd way. Back on Terra there had been those sudden andunaccountable jumps in technical knowledge on the part of the enemy, jumps which had set in action the whole Time Travel service of which hehad become a part. And these jumps had not been the result of normalresearch; they had come from the looting of derelict spaceships wreckedon his world in the far past. 

Could driblets of the same stellar knowledge have been here deliberatelyfed to warring communities? He asked Loketh about the possibility ofspace-borne explorers. But to the Hawaikan that was a totally foreignconception. The stars, for Loketh, were the doorways and windows of theShades, and he treated the suggestion of space travel as perhaps naturalto those all-powerful specters, but certainly not for beings likehimself. There was no hint that Hawaika had been openly visited by agalactic ship. Though that did not bar such landings. The planet was, Ross thought, thinly populated. Whole sections of the interiors of thelarger islands were wilderness, and this world must be in the same stateof only partial occupation as his own earth had been in the Bronze Agewhen tribes on the march had fanned out into virgin wilderness, greatforests, and steppes unwalked by man before their coming. 

Now as he balanced in the canoe and tried to keep his mind off thequeasiness in his middle and the insecurity of the one thickness ofsea-creature hide stretched over a bone framework which made up thecraft between his person and the water, Ross still mulled over whatmight be true. Had the galactic invaders for their own purposes begun tomeddle here, leaking weapons or tools to upset what must be a verydelicate balance of power? Why? To bring on a conflict which wouldoccupy the native population to the point of exhaustion or depopulation?So they could win a world for their own purposes without effort or riskon their part? Such cold-blooded fishing in carefully troubled watersfitted very well with the persons of the Baldies as he had known them onTerra. 

And he could not set aside that memory of this very coast as he had seenit through the peep, the castle in ruins, tall pylons reaching from theland into the sea. Was this the beginning of that change which would endin the Hawaika of his own time, empty of intelligent life, shatteredinto a loose network of islands?

"This fog is strange. " Karara's words startled Ross to return to thehere and now. 

The haze he had been only half conscious of when they had put out fromthe tiny secret bay where Loketh kept his boat, was truly a fog, pilingup in soft billows and cutting down visibility with speed. 

"The Foanna!" Loketh's answer was sharp, a recognition of danger. "Theirmagic--they hide their place so! There is trouble, trouble on the move!"

"Do we land then?" Ross did not ascribe the present blotting out of thelandscape to any real manipulation of nature on the part of theall-powerful Foanna. Too many times the reputations of "medicine men"had been so enhanced by coincidence. But he did doubt the wisdom oftrying to bore ahead blindly in this murk. 

"Taua and Tino-rau can guide us, " Karara reminded him. "Throw out therope, Ross. What is above water will not confuse them. "

He moved cautiously, striving to adapt his actions to the swing of theboat. The line was ready coiled to hand and he tossed the loose endoverboard, to feel the cord jerk taut as one of the dolphins caught itup. 

They were being towed now, though both paddlers reinforced the forwardtug with their efforts. The curtain gathering above the surface of thewater did not hamper the swimmers beneath its surface, and Ross feltrelief. He turned his head to speak to Loketh. 

"How near are we?"

The mist had thickened to the point that, close as the native was, thelines of his body blurred. His clicking answer seemed distorted, too, almost as if the fog had altered not only his form but his personality. 

"Maybe very soon now. We must see the sea gate before we are sure. "

"And if we aren't able to see that?" challenged Ross. 

"The sea gate is above and below the water. Those who obey the Sea Maid, who are able to speak thought to thought, will find it if we can not. "

But they were never to reach that goal. Karara gave warning: "There areships about. "

Ross knew that the dolphins had told her. He demanded in turn: "Whatkind?"

"Larger, much larger than this. "

Then Loketh broke in: "A Rover Raider--three of them!"

Ross frowned. He was the cripple here. The other two, with their abilityto communicate with the dolphins, were the sighted, he the blind. And heresented his handicap in a burst of bitterness which must have coloredhis tone as he ordered, "Head inshore--now!"

Once on land, even in the fog, he felt that they had the advantage inany hide-and-seek which might ensue with this superior enemy force. Butafloat he was helpless and vulnerable, a state Ross did not accepteasily. 

"No, " Loketh returned as sharply. "There is no place to land along thecliff. "

"We are between two of the ships, " Karara reported. 

"Your paddles--" Ross schooled his voice to a whisper, "hold them--don'tuse them. Let the dolphins take us on. In the fog, if we make no sound, we may get by the ships. "

"Right!" Karara agreed, and he heard an assenting grunt from Loketh. 

They were moving very slowly. Strong as the dolphins were, they darednot expend all their strength on towing the skiff too fast. Ross thoughtfuriously. Perhaps the sea could be their way of escape if the needarose. He had no idea why raiding ships were moving under the cover offog into the vicinity of the Foanna citadel. But the Terran's knowledgeof tactics led him to guess that this impending visit was notanticipated by the Foanna, nor was it a friendly one. And, as veteranseamen who should normally be wary of fog as thick as this, the Roversthemselves must have a driving reason, or some safeguard which led themhere now. 

But dared the three spill out of their boat, trust to their swimmingability and that of the dolphins, and invade the Foanna sea gate so?Could they use the coming Rover attack as a cover for their own invasionof the hold? Ross considered that the odds in their favor were beginningto look better. 

He whispered his idea and began to prepare their gear. The boat wasstill headed for the shore the three could not see. But they could hearsounds out of the white cotton wall which told them how completely theywere boxed in by the raiders; creaks, whispers, noises, Ross could notreadily identify, carried across the waves. 

Before leaving the cave and beginning this voyage they had introducedLoketh to the use of the gill-pack, made him practice in the depths ofthe cave pool with one of the extras drawn through the gate among thesupplies. Now all three were equipped with the water aid, and they couldbe gone in the sea before the trap closed. 

"The supply net--" Ross warned Karara. A moment or two later there was asmall bump against the skiff at his left hand. He cautiously raised thecollection of containers and eased the burden into the water, knowingthat one of the dolphins would take charge of it. 

However, he was not prepared for what happened next. Under him the boatlurched first one way and then the other in sharp jerks as if thedolphins were trying to spill them into the sea. Ross heard Karara callout, her voice thin and frightened:

"Taua! Tino-rau! They have gone mad! They will not listen!"

The boat raced in a zigag path. Loketh clutched at Ross, striving tosteady him, to keep the boat on an even keel. 

"The Foanna--!" Just as Loketh cried out, Karara plunged over the prowof the boat, whether by design or chance Ross did not know. 

And then the craft whirled about, smashed side against side with a darkbulk looming out of the fog. Above, Ross heard cries, knew that they hadcrashed against one of the raiders. He fought to retain his balance, buthe had been knocked to the bottom of the boat against Loketh and theystruggled together, unable to move during a precious second or two. 

Out of the air over their heads dropped a mass of waving strands whichenveloped both of them. The stuff was adhesive, slimy. Ross let out achoked cry as the lines tightened about his arms and body, pinioninghim. 

Those tightened, wove a net. Now he was being drawn up out of theplunging skiff, a helpless captive. His flailing legs, still free of theslimy cords, struck against the side of the larger ship. Then he swungin, over the well of the deck, thudded down on that surface withbruising force, unable to understand anything except that he had beentaken prisoner by a very effective device. 

Loketh dropped beside him. But Karara was not brought in, and Ross heldto that small bit of hope. Had she made it to freedom by dropping intothe water before the Rovers netted them? He could see men gatheringabout him, masked and distorted in the fog. Then he was rolled acrossthe deck, boosted over the edge of a hatch and knew an instant of terroras he fell into the depth below. 

How long was he unconscious? It could not have been very long, Rossdecided, as he opened his eyes on dark, heard the small sounds of theship. He lay very still, trying to remember, to gather his wits beforehe tried to flex his arms. They were held tight to his sides by strandswhich no longer seemed slimy, but were wrinkling as they dried. Therewas an odor from them which gagged him. But there was no loosening ofthose loops in spite of his struggles, which grew more intense as hisstrength returned. And at last he lay panting, knowing there was no easyway of escape from here. 

9

Battle Test

Babble of speech, cries, sounded muffled to Ross, made a mounting clamoron the deck. Had the raiders' ship been boarded? Was it now underattack? He strove to hear and think through the pain in his head, thebewilderment. 

"Loketh?" He was certain that the Hawaikan had been dumped into the samehold. 

The only answer was a low moan, a mutter from the dark. Ross began toinch his way in that direction. He was no seaman, but during that worm'sprogress he realized that the ship itself had changed. The vibrationwhich had carried through the planks on which he lay was stilled. Someengine shut off; one portion of his mind put that into familiar terms. Now the vessel rocked with the waves, did not bore through them. 

Ross brought up against another body. 

"Loketh!"

"Ahhhhh . .. The fire . .. The fire--!" The half-intelligible answer heldno meaning for the Terran. "It burns in my head . .. The fire--"

The rocking of the ship rolled Ross away from his fellow prisoner towardthe opposite side of the hold. There was a roar of voice, bull strongabove the noise on deck, then the sound of feet back and forth there. 

"The fire . .. Ahhh--" Loketh's voice rose to a scream. 

Ross was now wedged between two abutments he could not see and fromwhich his best efforts could not free him. The pitching of the ship wasmore pronounced. Remembering the two vessels he had seen pounded to bitson the reef, Ross wondered if the same doom loomed for this one. Butthat disaster had occurred during a storm. And, save for the fog, thishad been a calm night, the sea untroubled. 

Unless--maybe the shaking his body had received during the past fewmoments had sharpened his thinking--unless the Foanna had their ownmeans of protection at the sea gate and this was the result. Thedolphins. .. . What had made Tino-rau and Taua react as they did? And ifthe Rover ship was out of control, it would be a good time to attemptescape. 

"Loketh!" Ross dared to call louder. "Loketh!" He struggled against thedrying strands which bound him from shoulder to mid thigh. There was nogive in them. 

More sounds from the upper deck. Now the ship was answering to directionagain. The Terran heard sounds he could not identify, and the ship nolonger rocked so violently. Loketh moaned. 

As far as Ross could judge, they were heading out to sea. 

"Loketh!" He wanted information; he must have it! To be so ignorant ofwhat was going on was unbearable frustration. If they were now prisonersin a ship leaving the island behind. .. . The threat of that was enough toset Ross struggling with his bonds until he lay panting with exhaustion. 

"Rossss?" Only a Hawaikan could make that name a hiss. 

"Here! Loketh?" But of course it was Loketh. 

"I am here. " The other's voice sounded oddly weak as if it issued from aman drained by a long illness. 

"What happened to you?" Ross demanded. 

"The fire . .. The fire in my head--eating . .. Eating. .. . " Loketh's replycame with long pauses between the words. 

The Terran was puzzled. What fire? Loketh had certainly reacted tosomething beyond the unceremonious handling they had received ascaptives. This whole ship had reacted. And the dolphins. .. . But whatfire was Loketh talking about?

"I did not feel anything, " he stated to himself as well as to theHawaikan. 

"Nothing burning in your head? So you could not think--"

"No. "

"It must have been the Foanna magic. Fire eating so that a man isnothing, only that which fire feeds upon!"

Karara! Ross's thoughts flashed back to those few seconds when thedolphins had seemed to go crazy. Karara had then called out somethingabout the Foanna. So the dolphins must have felt this, and Karara, andLoketh. Whatever _it_ was. But why not Ross Murdock?

Karara possessed an extra, undefinable sense which gave her contact withthe dolphins. Loketh had a mind which those could read in turn. But suchcommunication was closed to Ross. 

At first that realization carried with it a feeling of shame and loss. That he did not have what these others possessed, a subtle power beyondthe body, a part of mind, was humbling. Just as he had felt shut out andcrippled when he had been forced to use the analyzer instead of thesense the others had, so did he suffer now. 

Then Ross laughed shortly. All right, sometimes insensitivity could be adefense as it had at the sea gate. Suppose his lack could also be aweapon? He had not been knocked out as the others appeared to be. Butfor the bad luck of having been captured before the raiders hadsuccumbed, Ross could, perhaps, have been master of this ship by now. Hedid not laugh now; he smiled sardonically at his own grandiose reaction. No use thinking about what might have been, just file this fact forfuture reference. 

A creaking overhead heralded the opening of the hatch. Light lanced downinto the cubby, and a figure swung over and down a side ladder, comingto stand over Ross, feet apart for balancing, accommodating to the swingof the vessel with the ease of long practice. 

Thus Ross came face to face with his first representative of the thirdparty in the Hawaikan tangle of power--a Rover. 

The seaman was tall, with a heavier development of shoulder and upperarms than the landsmen. Like the guards he wore supple armor, but thishad been colored or overlaid with a pearly hue in which other tints woveopaline lines. His head was bare except for a broad, scaled band runningfrom the nape of his neck to the mid-point of his forehead, a bandsupporting a sharply serrated crest not unlike the erect fin of someTerran fish. 

Now as he stood, fists planted on hips, the Rover presented a formidablefigure, and Ross recognized in him the air of command. This must be oneof the ship's officers. 

Dark eyes surveyed Ross with interest. The light from the deck focuseddirectly across the raider's shoulder to catch the Terran in its fullglare, and Ross fought the need for squinting. But he tried to give backstare for stare, confidence for self-confidence. 

On Terra in the past more than one adventurer's life had been savedsimply because he had the will and nerve enough to face his captorswithout any display of anxiety. Such bravado might not hold here andnow, but it was the only weapon Ross had to hand and he used it. 

"You--" the Rover broke the silence first, "you are not of the Foanna--"He paused as if waiting an answer--denial or protest. Ross providedneither. 

"No, not of the Foanna, nor of the scum of the coast either. " Again apause. 

"So, what manner of fish has come to the net of Torgul?" He called anorder aloft. "A rope here! We'll have this fish and its fellow out--"

Loketh and Ross were jerked up to the outer deck, dumped into the midstof a crowd of seamen. The Hawaikan was left to lie but, at a gesturefrom the officer, Ross was set on his feet. He could see the nature ofhis bonds now, a network of dull gray strands, shriveled and stinking, but not giving in the least when he made another try at moving his arms. 

"Ho--" The officer grinned. "This fish does not like the net! You haveteeth, fish. Use them, slash yourself free. "

A murmur of applause from the crew answered that mild taunt. Rossthought it time for a countermove. 

"I see you do not come too close to those teeth. " He used the mostdefiant words his limited Hawaikan vocabulary offered. 

There was a moment of silence, and then the officer clapped his handstogether with a sharp explosion of sound. 

"You would use your teeth, fish?" he asked and his tone could be awarning. 

This was going it blind with a vengeance, but Ross took the next leap inthe dark. He had the feeling, which often came to him in tight quarters, that he was being supplied from some hard core of endurance anddetermination far within him with the right words, the fortunate guess. 

"On which one of you?" He drew his lips tight, displaying those sameteeth, wondering for one startled moment if he should take the Rover'squery literally. 

"Vistur! Vistur!" More than one voice called. 

One of the crew took a step or two forward. Like Torgul, he was tall andheavy, his over-long arms well muscled. There were scars on hisforearms, the seam of one up his jaw. He looked what he was, a verytough fighting man, one who was judged so by peers as seasoned anddangerous. 

"Do you choose to prove your words on Vistur, fish?" Again the officerhad a formal note in his question, as if this was all part of someceremony. 

"If he meets with me as he stands--no other weapons. " Ross flashed back. 

Now he had another reaction from them. There were some jeers, asprinkling of threats as to Vistur's intentions. But Ross caught alsothe fact that two or three of them had gone silent and were eyeing himin a new and more searching fashion and that Torgul was one of those. 

Vistur laughed. "Well said, fish. So shall it be. "

Torgul's hand came out, palm up, facing Ross. In its hollow was a smallobject the Terran could not see clearly. A new weapon? Only the officermade no move to touch it to Ross, the hand merely moved in a series ofwaves in mid-air. Then the Rover spoke. 

"He carries no unlawful magic. "

Vistur nodded. "He's no Foanna. And what need have I to fear the spellsof any coast crawler? I am Vistur!"

Again the yells of his supporters arose in hearty answer. The statementheld more complete and quiet confidence than any wordy boast. 

"And I am Ross Murdock!" The Terran matched the Rover tone for tone. "But does a fish swim with its fins bound to its sides? Or does Visturfear a free fish too greatly to face one?"

His taunt brought the result Ross wanted. The ties were cut from behind, to flutter down as withered, useless strings. Ross flexed his arms. Tight as those thongs had been they had not constricted circulation, andhe was ready to meet Vistur. The Terran did not doubt that the Roverchampion was a formidable fighter, but he had not had the advantage ofgoing through one of the Agent training courses. Every trick of unarmedfighting known on his own world had been pounded into Ross long ago. Hishands and feet could be as deadly weapons as any crook-bladed sword--orgun--provided he could get close enough to use them properly. 

Vistur stripped off his weapon belt, put to one side his helmet, showingthat under it his hair was plaited into a braid coiled about the crownof his head to provide what must be an extra padding for that strangelynarrowed helm. Then he peeled off his armor, peeled it literally indeed, catching the lower edge of the scaled covering with his hands andpulling it up and over his head and shoulders as one might skin off aknitted garment. Now he stood facing Ross, wearing little more than theTerran's swimming trunks. 

Ross had dropped his belt and gill-pack. He moved into the circle thecrew had made. From above came a strong light, centering from a point onthe mainmast and giving him good sight of his opponent. 

Vistur was being urged to make a quick end of the reckless challenger, his supporters shouting directions and encouragement. But if the Roverhad confidence, he also possessed the more intelligent and valuabletrait of caution in the face of the unknown. He outweighed, apparentlyoutmatched Ross, but he did not rush in rashly as his backers wished himto. 

They circled, Ross studying every move of the Rover's muscles, everyslight fraction of change in the other's balance. There would besomething to telegraph an attack from the other. For he intended tofight purely in defense. 

The charge came at last as the crew grew impatient and yelled theirimpatience to see the prisoner taught a lesson. But Ross did not believeit was that which sent Vistur at him. The Hawaikan simply thought heknew the best way to take the Terran. 

Ross ducked so that a hammer blow merely grazed him. But the Terran'sstiffened hand swept sidewise in a judo chop. Vistur gave a whooping cryand went to his knees and Ross swung again, sending the Rover flat tothe deck. It had been quick but not so vicious as it might have been. The Terran had no desire to kill or even disable Vistur for more than afew minutes. His victim would carry a couple of aching bruises andperhaps a hearty respect for a new mode of fighting from this encounter. He could have as easily been dead had either of those blows landed otherthan where Ross chose to plant them. 

"Ahhhh--"

The Terran swung around, setting his back to the foot of the mast. Hadhe guessed wrong? With their chosen champion down, would the crew nowrush him? He had gambled on the element of fair play which existed in aprimitive Terran warrior society after a man-to-man challenge. But hecould be wrong. Ross waited, tense. Just let one of them pull a weapon, and it could be his end. 

Two of them were aiding Vistur to his feet. The Rover's breath whistledin and out of him with that same whooping, and both of his hands roseunsteadily to his chest. The majority of his fellows stared from him tothe slighter Terran as if unable to believe the evidence of their eyes. 

Torgul gathered up from the deck the belt and gill-pack Ross had shed inpreparation for the fight. He turned the belt around over his forearmuntil the empty knife sheath was uppermost. One of the crew came forwardand slammed back into its proper place the long diver's knife which hadbeen there when Ross was captured. Then the Rover offered belt andgill-pack to Ross. The Terran relaxed. His gamble had paid off; by thepresent signs he had won his freedom. 

"And my swordsman?" As he buckled on the belt Ross nodded at Lokethstill lying bound where they had pushed him at the beginning of thefight. 

"He is sworn to you?" Torgul asked. 

"He is. "

"Loose the coast rat then, " the Rover ordered. "Now--tell me, stranger, what manner of man are you? Do you come from the Foanna, after all? Youhave a magic which is not our magic, since the Stone of Phutka did notreveal it on you. Are you from the Shades?"

His fingers moved in the same sign Loketh had once made before Karara. Ross gave his chosen explanation. 

"I am from the sea, Captain. As for the Foanna, they are no friend tome, since they hold captive in their keep one who is my brother-kin. "

Torgul stared him up and down. "You say you are from the sea. I havebeen a Rover since I was able to stumble on my two feet across a deck, after the manner and custom of my people, yet I have never seen yourlike before. Perhaps your coming means ill to me and mine, but by theLaw of Battle, you have won your freedom on this ship. I swear to you, however, stranger, that if ill comes from you, then the Law will nothold, and you shall match your magic against the Strength of Phutka. That you shall discover is another thing altogether. "

"I will swear any oath you desire of me, Captain, that I have no illtoward you and yours. There is only one wish I hold: to bring him whom Iseek out from the Foanna hold before they make him witches' meat. "

"That will be a task worthy of any magic you may be able to summon, stranger. We have tasted this night of the power of the sea gate. Thoughwe went in under the Will of Phutka, we were as weeds whirled about onthe waves. Who enters that gate must have more force than any we nowknow. "

"And you, too, then have a score to settle with the Foanna?"

"We have a score against the Foanna, or against their magic, " Torguladmitted. "Three ships--one island fairing--are gone as if they neverwere! And those who went with them are of our fleet-clan. There is thework of the Shadow stretching dark and heavy across the sea, new comeinto these waters. But there remains nothing we can do this night. Wehave been lucky to win to sea again. Now, stranger, what shall we dowith you? Or will you take to the sea again since you name it as home?"

"Not here, " Ross countered swiftly. He must gain some idea of where theymight be in relation to the island, how far from its shore. Karara andthe dolphins--what had happened to them?

"You took no other prisoners?" Ross had to ask. 

"There were more of you?" Torgul countered. 

"Yes. " No need to say how many, Ross decided. 

"We saw no others. You . .. All of you--" the Captain rounded on thestill-clustered crew, "get about your work! We must raise Kyn Add bymorning and report to the council. "

He walked away and Ross, determined to learn all he could, followed himinto the stern cabin. Here again the Terran was faced with barbaricsplendor in carvings, hangings, a wealth of plate and furnishing not toodifferent from the display he had seen in the Wreckers' castle. As Rosshesitated just within the doorway Torgul glanced back at him. 

"You have your life and that of your man, stranger. Do not ask more ofme, unless you have that within your hands to enforce the asking. "

"I want nothing, save to be returned to where you took me, Captain. "

Torgul smiled grimly. "You are the sea, you yourself said that. The seais wide, but it is all one. Through it you must have your own paths. Take any you choose. But I do not risk my ship again into what lies inwait before the gates of the Foanna. "

"Where do you go then, Captain?"

"To Kyn Add. You have your own choice, stranger--the sea or ourfairing. "

There would be no way of changing the Rover's decision, Ross thought. And even with the gill-pack he could not swim back to where he had beentaken. There were no guideposts in the sea. But a longer acquaintancewith Torgul might be helpful. 

"Kyn Add then, Captain. " He made the next move to prove equality andestablish himself with this Rover, seating himself at the table as onewho had the right to share the Captain's quarters. 

10

Death at Kyn Add

The hour was close to dawn again and a need for sleep weighted Ross'seyelids, was a craving as strong as hunger. Still restlessness hadbrought him on deck, sent him to pacing, alert to this vessel and itscrew. 

He had seen the ships of the Terran Bronze Age traders--small craftcompared to those of his own time, depending upon oarsmen when the windfailed their sails, creeping along coasts rather than venturing too farinto dangerous seas, sometimes even tying up at the shore each night. There had been other ships, leaner, hardier. Those had plunged into theunknown, touching lands beyond the sea mists, sailed and oared by menplagued by the need to learn what lay beyond the horizon. 

And here was such a ship, taut, well kept, larger than the Vikinglongboats Ross had watched on the tapes of the Project's collection, yetmost like those far-faring Terran craft. The prow curved up in a mightybowsprit where was the carved likeness of the sea dragon Ross had foughtin the Hawaika of his own time. The eyes of that monster flashed with aregular blink of light which the Terran did not understand. Was it asignal or merely a device to threaten a possible enemy?

There were sails, now furled as this ship bored on, answering to thesteady throb of what could only be an engine. And his puzzlement held. AViking longboat powered by motor? The mixture was incongruous. 

The crew were uniform as to face. All of them wore the flexible pearlyarmor, the skull-strip helmets. Though there were individual differencesin ornaments and the choice of weapons. The majority of the men didcarry curve-pointed swords, though those were broader and heavier thanthose the Terran had seen ashore. But several had axes withsickle-shaped heads, whose points curved so far back that they nearlymet to form a circle. 

Spaced at regular intervals on deck were boxlike objects fronting whatresembled gun ports. And smaller ones of the same type were on theraised deck at the stern and mounted in the prow, their muzzles, if thesquare fronts might be deemed muzzles, flanking the blinking dragonhead. Catapults of some type? Ross wondered. 

"Rosss--" His name was given the hiss Loketh used, but it was not theWrecker youth who joined him now at the stern of the ship. "Ho . .. Thatwas strong magic, that fighting knowledge of yours!"

Vistur rubbed his chest reminiscently. "You have big magic, sea man. Butthen you serve the Maid, do you not? Your swordsman has told us thateven the great fish understand and obey her. "

"Some fish, " qualified Ross. 

"Such fish as that, perhaps?" Vistur pointed to the curling wake offoam. 

Startled, Ross stared in that direction. Torgul's command was thecentermost in a trio of ships, and those cruised in a line, leavingthree trails of troubled wave behind them. Coming up now to port in thecomparative calm between two wakes was a dark object. In the limitedlight Ross could be sure of nothing save that it trailed the ships, appeared to rest on or only lightly in the water, and that its speed wasless than that of the vessels it doggedly pursued. 

"A fish--that?" Ross asked. 

"Watch!" Vistur ordered. 

But the Hawaikan's sight must have been keener than the Terran's. Hadthere been a quick movement back there? Ross could not be sure. 

"What happened?" He turned to Vistur for enlightenment. 

"As a salkar it leaps now and then above the surface. But that is nosalkar. Unless, Ross, you who say you are from the sea have servantsunlike any finned one we have drawn in by net or line before this day. "

The dolphins! Could Tino-rau or Taua or both be in steady pursuit of theships? But Karara . .. Ross leaned against the rail, stared until hiseyes began to water from the strain of trying to make out the nature ofthe black blot. No use, the distance was too great. He brought his fistdown against the wood, trying to control his impatience. More than halfof him wanted to burst into Torgul's quarters, demand that the Captainbring the ship about to pick up or contact that trailer or trailers. 

"Yours?" again Vistur asked. 

Ross had tight rein on himself now. "I do not know. It could well be. "

It could well be also that the smart thing would be to encourage theRovers to believe that he had a force of sea dwellers much larger thanthe four Time castaways. The leader of an army--or a navy--had moreprestige in any truce discussion than a member of a lost scouting party. But the thought that the dolphins could be trailing held both promiseand worry--promise of allies, and worry over what had happened toKarara. Had she, too, disappeared after Ashe into the hold of theFoanna?

The day did not continue to lighten. Though there was no cottony mist ashad enclosed them the night before, there was an odd muting of sea andsky, limiting vision. Shortly Ross was unable to sight the follower orfollowers. Even Vistur admitted he had lost visual contact. Had the blotbeen hopelessly outdistanced, or was it still dogging the wakes of theRover ships?

Ross shared the morning meal with Captain Torgul, a round of leatherysubstance with a salty, meaty flavor, and a thick mixture of what mightbe native fruit reduced to a tart paste. Once before he had tasted alienfood when in the derelict spaceship it had meant eat or starve. And thiswas a like circumstance, since their emergency ration supplies had beenlost in the net. But though he was apprehensive, no ill effectsfollowed. Torgul had been uncommunicative earlier; now he was looser oftongue, volunteering that they were almost to their port--the fairing ofKyn Add. 

The Terran had no idea how far he might question the Hawaikan, yet thefuller his information the better. He discovered that Torgul appearedwilling to accept Ross's statement that he was from a distant part ofthe sea and that local customs differed from those he knew. 

Living on and by the sea the Rovers were quick-witted, adaptive, with ahighly flexible if loose-knit organization of fleet-clans. Each of thesehad control over certain islands which served them as "fairings, " portsfor refitting and anchorage between voyages, usually ruggedly woodedwhere the sea people could find the raw material for their ships. Colonies of clans took to the sea, not in the slim, swift cruisers likethe ship Ross was now on, but in larger, deeper vessels providing livingquarters and warehouses afloat. They lived by trade and raiding, spending only a portion of the year ashore to grow fast-sprouting cropson their fairing islands and indulge in some manufacture of articles theinhabitants of the larger and more heavily populated islands were notable to duplicate. 

Their main article of commerce was, however, a sea-dwelling creaturewhose supple and well-tanned hide formed their defensive armor andserved manifold other uses. This could only be hunted by men trained andfearless enough to brave more than one danger Torgul did not explain indetail. And a cargo of such skins brought enough in trade to keep anormal-sized fleet-clan for a year. 

There was warfare among them. Rival clans tried to jump each other'shunting territories, raid fairings. But until the immediate past, Rossgathered, such encounters were relatively bloodless affairs, dependingmore upon craft and skillful planning to reduce the enemy to a positionof disadvantage in which he was forced to acknowledge defeat, ratherthan ruthless battle of no quarter. 

The shore-side Wrecker lords were always considered fair game, and therewas no finesse in Rover raids upon them. Those were conducted with acold-blooded determination to strike hard at a long-time foe. However, within the past year there had been several raids on fairings with thesame blood-bath result of a foray on a Wrecker port. And, since all thefleet-clans denied the sneak-and-strike, kill-and-destroy tactics whichhad finished those Rover holdings, the seafarers were divided in theiropinion as to whether the murderous raids were the work of Wreckerssuddenly acting out of character and taking to the sea to bring war backto their enemies, or whether there was a rogue fleet moving againsttheir own kind for some purpose no Rover could yet guess. 

"And you believe?" Ross asked as Torgul finished his résumé of the newdangers besetting his people. 

Torgul's hand, its long, slender fingers spidery to Terran eyes, rubbedback and forth across his chin before he answered:

"It is very hard for one who has fought them long to believe thatsuddenly those shore rats are entrusting themselves to the waves, venturing out to stir us with their swords. One does not descend intothe depths to kick a salkar in the rump; not if one still has his witssafely encased under his skull braid. As for a rogue fleet . .. Whatwould turn brother against brother to the extent of slaying children andwomen? Raiding for a wife, yes, that is common among our youth. Andthere have been killings over such matters. But not the killing of awoman--never of a child! We are a people who have never as many women asthere are men who wish to bring them into the home cabin. And no clanhas as many children as they hope the Shades will send them. "

"Then who?"

When Torgul did not answer at once Ross glanced at the Captain, and whatthe Terran thought he saw showing for an instant in the other's eyes wasa revelation of danger. So much so that he blurted out:

"You think that I--we--"

"You have named yourself of the sea, stranger, and you have magic whichis not ours. Tell me this in truth: Could you not have killed Vistureasily with those two blows if you had wished it?"

Ross took the bold course. "Yes, but I did not. My people kill no morewantonly than yours. "

"The coast rats I know, and the Foanna, as well as any man may knowtheir kind and ways, and my people--But you I do not know, sea stranger. And I say to you as I have said before, make me regret that I sufferedyou to claim battle rights and I shall speedily correct that mistake!"

"Captain!"

That cry had come from the cabin door behind Ross. Torgul was on hisfeet with the swift movements of a man called many times in the past foran instant response to emergency. 

The Terran was close on the Rover's heels as they reached the deck. Acluster of crewmen gathered on the port side near the narrow bow. Thatodd misty quality this day held provided a murk hard to pierce, but themen were gesturing at a low-riding object rolling with the waves. 

That was near enough for even Ross to be able to distinguish a smallboat akin to the one in which he, Karara, and Loketh had dared the seagate of the Foanna. 

Torgul took up a great curved shell hanging by a thong on the mainmast. Setting its narrow end to his lips, he blew. A weird booming note, likethe coughing of a sea monster, carried over the waves. But there was noanswer from the drifting boat, no sign it carried any passengers. 

"Hou, hou, hou--" Torgul's signal was re-echoed by shell calls from theother two cruisers. 

"Heave to!" the Captain ordered. "Wakti, Zimmon, Yoana--out and bringthat in!"

Three of the crew leaped to the railing, poised there for a moment, andthen dived almost as one into the water. A rope end was thrown, caughtby one of them. And then they swam with powerful strokes toward thedrifting boat. Once the rope was made fast the small craft was drawntoward Torgul's command, the crewmen swimming beside it. Ross longed toknow the reason for the tense expectancy of the men around him. It wasapparent the skiff had some ominous meaning for them. 

Ross caught a glimpse of a body huddled within the craft. Under Torgul'sorders a sling was dropped, to rise, weighted with a passenger. TheTerran was shouldered back from the rail as the limp body was hurriedinto the Captain's cabin. Several crewmen slid down to make anexamination of the boat itself. 

Their heads came up, their eyes searched along the rail and centered onRoss. The hostility was so open the Terran braced himself to meet thosecold stares as he would a rush from a challenger. 

A slight sound behind sent Ross leaping to the right, wanting to get hisback against solid protection. Loketh came up, his limp making himawkward so that he clutched at the rail for support. In his other handwas one of the hooked swords bared and ready. 

"Get the murderers!" Someone in the back line of the massing crew yippedthat. 

Ross drew his diver's knife. Shaken at this sudden change in the crew'sattitude, he was warily on the defensive. Loketh was beside him now andthe Hawaikan nodded to the sea. 

"Better go there, " he cried. "Over before they try to gut you!"

"Kill!" The word shrilled into a roar from the Rovers. They started upthe deck toward Ross and Loketh. Then someone leaped between, and Visturfronted his own comrades. 

"Stand away--" One of the others ran forward, thrusting at the tallRover with a stiffened out-held arm to fend him out of their path. 

Vistur rolled a shoulder, sending the fellow shunting away. He went downwhile two more, unable to halt, thudded on him. Vistur stamped on anoutstretched hand and sent a sword spinning. 

"What goes here!" Torgul's demand was loud enough to be heard. Itstopped a few of the crew and two more went down as the Captain struckout with his fists. Then he was facing Ross, and the chill in his eyeswas the threat the others had voiced. 

"I told you, sea stranger, that if I found you were a danger to me ormine, you would meet the Justice of Phutka!"

"You did, " Ross returned. "And in what way am I now a danger, Captain?"

"Kyn Add has been taken by those who are not Wreckers, not Rovers, notthose who serve the Foanna--but strangers out of the sea!"

Ross could only stare back, confused. And then the full force of hisdanger struck home. Who those raiding sea strangers could be, he had noidea, but that he was now condemned out of his own mouth was true and herealized that these men were not going to listen to any argument fromhim in their present state of mind. 

The growl of the crew was that of a hungry animal. Ross saw the wisdomin Loketh's choice. Far better chance the open sea than the mob beforethem. 

But his time for choice had passed. Out of nowhere whirled a lacygray-white net, slapping him back against a bulkhead to glue him there. Ross tried to twist loose, got his head around in time to see Lokethscramble to the top of the rail, turn as if to launch himself at the menspeeding for the now helpless Terran. But the Hawaikan's crippled legfailed him and he toppled back overside. 

"No!" Again Torgul's shout halted the crew. "He shall take the BlackCurse with him when he goes to meet the Shadow--and only one can speakthat curse. Bring him!"

Helpless, reeling under their blows, dragged along, Ross was thrown intothe Captain's cabin, confronted by a figure braced up by coverings andcushions in Torgul's own chair. 

A woman, her face a drawn death's head of skin pulled tight upon bone, yet a fiery inner strength holding her mind above the suffering of herbody, looked at the Terran with narrowed eyes. She nursed a bandaged armagainst her, and now and then her mouth quivered as if she could notaltogether control some emotion or physical pain. 

"Yours is the cursing, Lady Jazia. Make it heavy to bear for him as hiskind has laid the burden of pain and remembering on all of us. "

She brought her good hand up to her mouth, wiping its back across herlips as if to temper their quiver. And all the time her eyes held uponRoss. 

"Why do you bring me this man?" Her voice was strained, high. "He is notof those who brought the Shadow to Kyn Add. "

"What--?" Torgul began and then schooled his voice to a more normaltone. "Those were from the sea?" He was gentle in his questioning. "Theycame out of the sea, using weapons against which we had no defense?"

She nodded. "Yes, they made very sure that only the dead remained. But Ihad gone to the Shrine of Phutka, since it was my day of duty, andPhutka's power threw its shade over me. So I did not die, but Isaw--yes, I saw!"

"Not those like me?" Ross dared to speak to her directly. 

"No, not those like you. There were few . .. Only so many--" She spreadout her five fingers. "And they were all of one like as if born in onebirth. They had no hair on their heads, and their bodies were of thishue--" She plucked at one of the coverings they had heaped around her;it was a lavender-blue mixture. 

Ross sucked in his breath, and Torgul was fast to pounce upon theunderstanding he read in the Terran's face. 

"Not your kind--but still you know them!"

"I know them, " Ross agreed. "They are the enemy!"

The Baldies from the ancient spaceships, that wholly alien race withwhom he had once fought a desperate encounter on the edge of an unnamedsea in the far past of his own world. The galactic voyagers werehere--and in active, if secret, conflict with the natives!

11

Weapon from the Depths

Jazia told her story with an attention to time and detail which amazedRoss and won his admiration for her breed. She had witnessed the deathand destruction of all which was her life, and yet she had the wit tonote and record mentally for possible future use all that she had beenable to see of the raiders. 

They had come out of the sea at dawn, walking with supreme confidenceand lack of any fear. Axes flung when they did not reply to thesentries' challenges had never touched them, and a bombardment ofheavier missiles had been turned aside. They proved invulnerable to anyweapon the Rovers had. Men who made suicidal rushes to use sword orbattle ax hand-to-hand had fallen, before they were in strikingdistance, under spraying tongues of fire from tubes the aliens carried. 

Rovers were not fearful or easily cowed, but in the end they had fledfrom the five invaders, gone to ground in their halls, tried to reachtheir beached ships, only to die as they ran and hid. The slaughter hadbeen remorseless and entire, leaving Jazia in the hill shrine as theonly survivor. She had hidden for the rest of the day, seen the killingof a few fugitives, and that night had stolen to the shore, launched oneof the ship's boats which was in a cove well away from the main harborof the fairing, heading out to sea in hope of meeting the homingcruisers with her warning. 

"They stayed there on the island?" Ross asked. That point of her storypuzzled him. If the object of that murderous raid had been only to stirup trouble among the Hawaikan Rovers, perhaps turning one clan againstthe other, as he had deduced when he had listened to Torgul's report ofsimilar happenings, then the star men should have withdrawn as soon astheir mission was complete, leaving the dead to call for vengeance inthe wrong direction. There would be no reason to court discovery oftheir true identity by lingering. 

"When the boat was asea there were still lights at the fairing hall, andthey were not our lights, nor did the dead carry them, " she said slowly. "What have those to fear? They can not be killed!"

"If they are still there, that we can put to the test, " Torgul repliedgrimly, and a murmur from his officers bore out his determination. 

"And lose all the rest of you?" Ross retorted coldly. "I have met thesebefore; they can will a man to obey them. Look you--" He slammed hisleft hand flat on the table. The ridges of scar tissue were plainagainst his tanned skin. He knew no better way of driving home thedangers of dealing with the star men than providing this graphicexample. "I held my own hand in fire so that the hurt of it would workagainst their pull upon my thoughts, against their willing that I comeand be easy meat for their butchering. "

Jazia's fingers flickered out, smoothed across his old scars lightly asshe gazed into his eyes. 

"This, too, is true, " she said slowly. "For it was also pain of bodywhich kept me from their last snare. They stood by the hall and I sawPrahad, Okun, Mosaji, come out to them to be killed as if they were in ahold net and were drawn. And there was that which called me also so thatI would go to them though I called upon the Power of Phutka to save. Andthe answer to that plea came in a strange way, for I fell as I went fromthe shrine and cut my arm on the rocks. The pain of that hurt was as aknife severing the net. Then I crawled for the wood and that calling didnot come again--"

"If you know so much about them, tell us what weapons we may use to pullthem down!" That demand came from Vistur. 

Ross shook his head. "I do not know. "

"Yet, " Jazia mused, "all things which live must also die sooner orlater. And it is in my mind that these have also a fate they dread andfear. Perhaps we may find and use it. "

"They came from the sea--by a ship, then?" Ross asked. She shook herhead. 

"No, there was no ship; they came walking through the breaking waves asif they had followed some road across the sea bottom. "

"A sub!"

"What is that?" Torgul demanded. 

"A type of ship which goes under the waves, not through them, carryingair within its hull for the breathing of the crew. "

Torgul's eyes narrowed. One of the other captains who had been summonedfrom the two companion cruisers gave a snort of disbelief. 

"There are no such ships--" he began, to be silenced by a gesture fromTorgul. 

"We know of no such ships, " the other corrected. "But then we know of nosuch devices as Jazia saw in operation either. How does one war uponthese under-the-seas ships, Ross?"

The Terran hesitated. To describe to men who knew nothing of explosivesthe classic way of dealing with a sub via depth charges was close toimpossible. But he did his best. 

"Among my people one imprisons in a container a great power. Then thecontainer is dropped near the sub and--"

"And how, " broke in the skeptical captain, "do you know where such aship lies? Can you see it through the water?"

"In a way--not see, but hear. There is a machine which makes for thecaptain of the above-seas ship a picture of where the sub lies or movesso that he may follow its course. Then when he is near enough he dropsthe container and the power breaks free--to also break apart the sub. "

"Yet the making of such containers and the imprisoning of the powerwithin them, " Torgul said, "this is the result of a knowledge which isgreater than any save the Foanna may possess. You do not have it?" Hisconclusion was half statement, half question. 

"No. It took many years and the combined knowledge of many men among mypeople to make such containers, such a listening device. I do not haveit. "

"Why then think of what we do not have?" Torgul's return was decisive. "What _do_ we have?"

Ross's head came up. He was listening, not to anything in that cabin, but to a sound which had come through the port just behind his head. There--it had come again! He was on his feet. 

"What--?" Vistur's hand hovered over the ax at his belt. Ross saw theirgaze centered on him. 

"We may have reinforcements now!" The Terran was already on his way tothe deck. 

He hurried to the rail and whistled, the thin, shrill summons he hadpracticed for weeks before he had ever begun this fantastic adventure. 

A sleek dark body broke water and the dolphin grin was exposed asTino-rau answered his call. Though Ross's communication powers with thetwo finned scouts was very far from Karara's, he caught the message inpart and swung around to face the Rovers who had crowded after him. 

"We have a way now of learning more about your enemies. "

"A boat--it comes without sail or oars!" One of the crew pointed. 

Ross waved vigorously, but no hand replied from the skiff. Though itcame steadily onward, the three cruisers its apparent goal. 

"Karara!" Ross called. 

Then side by side with Tino-rau were two wet heads, two masked facesshowing as the swimmers trod water--Karara and Loketh. 

"Drop ropes!" Ross gave that order as if he rather than Torgulcommanded. And the Captain himself was one of those who moved to obey. 

Loketh came out of the sea first and as he scrambled over the rail hehad his sword ready, looking from Ross to Torgul. The Terran held upempty hands and smiled. 

"No trouble now. "

Loketh snapped up his mask. "So the Sea Maid said the finned onesreported. Yet before, these thirsted for your blood on their blades. What magic have you worked?"

"None. Just the truth has been discovered. " Ross reached for Karara'shand as she came nimbly up the rope, swung her across the rail to thedeck where she stood unmasked, brushing back her hair and looking aroundwith a lively curiosity. 

"Karara, this is Captain Torgul, " Ross introduced the Rover commanderwho was staring round-eyed at the girl. "Karara is she who swims withthe finned ones, and they obey her. " Ross gestured to Tino-rau. "It isTaua who brings the skiff?" he asked the Polynesian. 

She nodded. "We followed from the gate. Then Loketh came and said that. .. That. .. . " She paused and then added, "But you do not seem to be indanger. What has happened?"

"Much. Listen--this is important. There is trouble at an island ahead. The Baldies were there; they murdered the kin of these men. The odds arethey reached there by some form of sub. Send one of the dolphins to seewhat is happening and if they are still there. .. . "

Karara asked no more questions, but whistled to the dolphin. With a flipof tail Tino-rau took off. 

Since they could make no concrete plan of action, the cruiser captainsagreed to wait for Tino-rau's report and to cruise well out of sight ofthe fairing harbor until it came. 

"This belief in magic, " Ross remarked to Karara, "has one advantage. Thenatives seem able to take in their stride the fact the dolphins willscout for us. "

"They have lived their lives on the sea; for it they must have a vastrespect. Perhaps they know, as did my people, that the ocean has manysecrets, some of which are never revealed except to the forms of lifewhich claim their homes there. But, even if you discover this Baldy sub, what will the Rovers be able to do about it?"

"I don't know--yet. " Ross could not tell why he clung to the idea thatthey could do anything to strike back at the superior alien force. Heonly knew that he was not yet willing to relinquish the thought that insome way they could. 

"And Ashe?"

Yes, Ashe. .. . 

"I don't know. " It hurt Ross to admit that. 

"Back there, what really happened at the gate?" he asked Karara. "All atonce the dolphins seemed to go crazy. "

"I think for a moment or two they did. You felt nothing?"

"No. "

"It was like a fire slashing through the head. Some protective device ofthe Foanna, I think. "

A mental defense to which he was not sensitive. Which meant that hemight be able to breach that gate if none of the others could. But hehad to be there first. Suppose, just suppose Torgul could be persuadedthat this attack on the gutted Kyn Add was useless. Would the Rovercommander take them back to the Foanna keep? Or with the dolphins andthe skiff could Ross himself return to make the try?

That he could make it on his own, Ross doubted. Excitement and willpower had buoyed him up throughout the past Hawaikan day and night. Nowfatigue closed in, past his conditioning and the built-in stimulant ofthe Terran rations, to enclose him in a groggy haze. He had been warnedagainst this reaction, but that was just another item he had pushed outof his conscious mind. The last thing he remembered now was seeingKarara move through a fuzzy cloud. 

Voices argued somewhere beyond, the force of that argument carried moreby tone than any words Ross could understand. He was pulled sluggishlyout of a slumber too deep for any dream to trouble, and lifted heavyeyelids to see Karara once again. There was a prick in his arm--or wasthat part of the unreality about him?

"--four--five--six--" she was counting, and Ross found himself joiningin:

"--seven--eight--nine--ten!"

On reaching "ten" he was fully awake and knew that she had applied theemergency procedure they had been drilled in using, giving him a pepshot. When Ross sat up on the narrow bunk there was a light in the cabinand no sign of day outside the porthole. Torgul, Vistur, the two othercruiser captains, all there . .. And Jazia. 

Ross swung his feet to the deck. A pep-shot headache was alreadybeginning, but would wear off soon. There was, however, a concentrationof tension in the cabin, and something must have driven Karara to usethe drug. 

"What is it?"

Karara fitted the medical kit into the compact carrying case. 

"Tino-rau has returned. There _is_ a sub in the bay. It emits energywaves on a shoreward beam. "

"Then they are still there. " Ross accepted the dolphin's report withoutquestion. Neither of the scouts would make a mistake in those matters. Energy waves beamed shoreward--power for some type of unit the Baldieswere using? Suppose the Rovers could find a way of cutting off thepower. 

"The Sea Maid has told us that this ship sits on the bottom of theharbor. If we could board it--" began Torgul. 

"Yes!" Vistur brought his fist down against the end of the bunk on whichthe Terran still sat, jarring the dull, drug-borne pain in Ross's head. "Take it--then turn it against its crew!"

There was an eagerness in all Rover faces. For that was a game theHawaikan seafarers understood: Take an enemy ship and turn its armamentagainst its companions in a fleet. But that plan would not work out. Ross had a healthy respect for the technical knowledge of the galacticinvaders. Of course he, Karara, even Loketh might be able to reach thesub. Whether they could then board her was an entirely different matter. 

Now the Polynesian girl shook her head. "The broadcast there--Tino-raurates it as lethal. There are dead fish floating in the bay. He hadwarning at the reef entrance. Without a shield, there will be no way ofgetting in. "

"Might as well wish for a depth bomb, " Ross began and then stopped. 

"You have thought of something?"

"A shield--" Ross repeated her words. It was so wild this thought ofhis, and one which might have no chance of working. He knew almostnothing about the resources of the invaders. Could that broadcast whichprotected the sub and perhaps activated the weapons of the invadersashore be destroyed? A wall of fish--sea life herded in there as ashield . .. Wild, yes, even so wild it might work. Ross outlined theidea, speaking more to Karara than to the Rovers. 

"I do not know, " she said doubtfully. "That would need many fish, toomany to herd and drive----"

"Not fish, " Torgul cut in, "salkars!"

"Salkars?"

"You have seen the bow carving on this ship. That is a salkar. Such arelarger than a hundred fish! Salkars driven in . .. They might even wreckthis undersea ship with their weight and anger. "

"And you can find these salkars near-by?" Ross began to take fire. Thatdragon which had hunted him--the bulk of the thing was well above anyother sea life he had seen here. And to its ferocity he could givetestimony. 

"At the spawning reefs. We do not hunt at this season which is the timeof the taking of mates. Now, too, they are easily angered so they willeven attack a cruiser. To slay them at present is a loss, for theirskins are not good. But they would be ripe for battle were they to bedisturbed. "

"And how would you get them from the spawning reefs to Kyn Add?"

"That is not too difficult; the reef lies here. " Torgul drew lines withthe point of his sword on the table top. "And here is Kyn Add. Salkarshave a great hunger at this time. Show them bait and they will follow;especially will they follow swimming bait. "

There were a great many holes in the plan which had only a halfwaychance of working. But the Rovers seized upon it with enthusiasm, and soit was set up. 

Perhaps some two hours later Ross swam toward the land mass of Kyn Add. Gleams of light pricked on the shore well to his left. Those must markthe Rover settlement. And again the Terran wondered why the invaders hadremained there. Unless they knew that there had been three cruisers outon a raid and for some reason they were determined to make a completemop-up. 

Karara moved a little to his right, Taua between them, the dolphin'ssuper senses their guide and warning. The swiftest of the cruisers haddeparted, Loketh on board to communicate with Tino-rau in the water. Since the male dolphin was the best equipped to provide a fox for salkarhounds, he was the bait for this weird fishing expedition. 

"No farther!" Ross's sonic pricked a warning against his body. Throughthat he took a jolt which sent him back, away from the bay entrance. 

"On the reef. " Karara's tapped code drew him on a new course. Momentslater they were both out of the water, though the wash of waves overtheir flippered feet was constant. The rocks among which they crouchedwere a rough harborage from which they could see the shore as a darkblot. But they were well away from the break in the reef through which, if their outlandish plan succeeded, the salkars would come. 

"A one-in-a-million chance!" Ross commented as he put up his mask. 

"Was not the whole Time Agent project founded on just such chances?"Karara asked the right question. This was Ross's kind of venture. Yes, one-in-a-million chances had been pulled off by the Time Agents. Why, ithad been close to those odds against their ever finding what they hadfirst sought along the back trails of time--the wrecked spaceships. 

Just suppose this could be a rehearsal for another attack? If thesalkars could be made to crack the guard of the Baldies, could they alsobe used against the Foanna gate? Maybe. .. . But take one fight at a time. 

"They come!" Karara's fingers gripped Ross's shoulder. Her hand washard, bar rigid. He could see nothing, hear nothing. That warning musthave come from the dolphins. But so far their plan was working; themonsters of the Hawaikan sea were on their way. 

12

Baldies

"Ohhhh!" Karara clutched at Ross, her breath coming in little gasps, giving vent to her fear and horror. They had not known what might comefrom this plan; certainly neither had foreseen the present chaos in thelagoon. 

Perhaps the broadcast energy of the enemy whipped the alreadyvicious-tempered salkars into this insane fury. But now the moonlitwater was beaten into foam as the creatures fought there, attacking eachother with a ferocity neither Terran had witnessed before. 

Lights gleamed along the shore where the alien invaders must have beendrawn by the clamor of the fighting marine reptiles. Somewhere in theheights above the beach of the lagoon a picked band of Rovers should nowbe making their way from the opposite side of Kyn Add under strictorders not to go into attack unless signaled. Whether the independentsea warriors would hold to that command was a question which had worriedRoss from the first. 

Tino-rau and Taua in the waters to the seaward of the reef, the twoTerrans on that barrier itself, and between them and the shore the wildmelee of maddened salkars. Ross started. The sonic warning which hadbeen pulsing steadily against his skin cut off sharply. The broadcast inthe bay had been silenced! This was the time to move, but no swimmercould last in the lagoon itself. 

"Along the reef, " Karara said. 

That would be the long way round, Ross knew, but the only one possible. He studied the cluster of lights ashore. Two or three figures movedthere. Seemingly the attention of the aliens was well centered upon thebattle still in progress in the lagoon. 

"Stay here!" he ordered the girl. Adjusting his mask, Ross dropped intothe water, cutting away from the reef and then turning to swim parallelwith it. Tino-rau matched him as he went, guiding Ross to a second breakin the reef, toward the shore some distance from where the conflict ofthe salkars still made a hideous din in the night. 

The Terran waded in the shallows, stripping off his flippers andsnapping them to his belt, letting his mask swing free on his chest. Heangled toward the beach where the aliens had been. At least he wasbetter armed for this than he had been when he had fronted the Roverswith only a diver's knife. From the Time Agent supplies he had taken thesingle hand weapon he had long ago found in the armory of the derelictspaceship. This could only be used sparingly, since they did not knowhow it could be recharged, and the secret of its beam still remainedsecret as far as Terran technicians were concerned. 

Ross worked his way to a curtain of underbrush from which he had a freeview of the beach and the aliens. Three of them he counted, and theywere Baldies, all right--taller and thinner than his own species, theirbald heads gray-white, the upper dome of their skulls overshadowing thefeatures on their pointed chinned faces. They all wore the skintightblue-purple-green suits of the space voyagers--suits which Ross knew ofold were insulated and protective for their wearers, as well as a mediumfor keeping in touch with one another. Just as he, wearing one, had oncebeen trailed over miles of wilderness. 

To him, all three of the invaders looked enough alike to have beenstamped out from one pattern. And their movements suggested that theyworked or went into action with drilled precision. They all facedseaward, holding tubes aimed at the salkar-infested lagoon. There was nosound of any explosion, but green spears of light struck at the scaledbodies plunging in the water. And where those beams struck, fleshseared. Methodically the trio raked the basin. But, Ross noted, thosebeams which had been steady at his first sighting, were now interruptedby flickers. One of the Baldies upended his tube, rapped its buttagainst a rock as if trying to correct a jamming. When the alien wentinto action once again his weapon flashed and failed. Within a matter ofmoments the other two were also finished. The lighted rods pushed intothe sand, giving a glow to the scene, darkened as a fire might sink toembers. Power fading?

An ungainly shape floundered out of the churned water, lumbered over theshale of the beach, its supple neck outstretched, its horned nose downfor a gore-threatening charge. Ross had not realized that the salkarscould operate out of what he thought was their natural element, but thiswild-eyed dragon was plainly bent on reaching its tormentors. 

For a moment or two the Baldies continued to front the creature, almost, Ross thought, as if they could not believe that their weapons had failedthem. Then they broke and ran back to the fairing which they had takenwith such contemptuous ease. The salkar plowed along in their wake, butits movements grew more labored the farther it advanced, until at lastit lay with only its head upraised, darting it back and forth, itsfanged jaws well agape, voicing a coughing howl. 

Its plaint was answered from the water as a second of its kind wallowedashore. A terrible wound had torn skin and flesh just behind its neck;yet still it came on, hissing and bubbling a battle challenge. It didnot attack its fellow; instead it dragged its bulk past the first comer, on its way after the Baldies. 

The salkars continued to come ashore, two more, a third, a fourth, mangled and torn--pulling themselves as far as they could up the beach. To lie, facing inland, their necks weaving, their horned heads bobbing, their cries a frightful din. What had drawn them out of theirpreoccupation of battle among themselves into this attempt to reach thealiens, Ross could not determine. Unless the intelligence of the beastswas such that they had been able to connect the searing beams which theBaldies had turned on them so tellingly with the men on the beach, andhad responded by striving to reach a common enemy. 

But no desire could give them the necessary energy to pull far ashore. Almost helplessly beached, they continued to dig into the yielding sandwith their flippers in a vain effort to pursue the aliens. 

Ross skirted the clamoring barrier of salkars and headed for thefairing. A neck snapped about; a head was lowered in his direction. Hesmelled the rank stench of reptile combined with burned flesh. Thenearest of the brutes must have scented the Terran in turn, as it wasnow trying vainly to edge around to cut across Ross's path. But it wascompletely outclassed on land, and the man dodged it easily. 

Three Baldies had fled this way. Yet Jazia had reported five had comeout of the sea to take Kyn Add. Two were missing. Where? Had theyremained in the fairing? Were they now in the sub? And that sub--whathad happened to it? The broadcast had been cut off; he had seen thefailure of the weapons and the shore lights. Might the sub have sufferedfrom salkar attack? Though Ross could hardly believe that the beastscould wreck it. 

The Terran was traveling blindly, keeping well under cover of such brushas he could, knowing only that he must head inland. Under his feet theground was rising, and he recalled the nature of this territory asTorgul and Jazia had pictured it for him. This had to be part of theridge wall of the valley in which lay the buildings of the fairing. Inthese heights was the Shrine of Phutka where Jazia had hidden out. Tothe west now lay the Rover village, so he had to work his way left, downhill, in order to reach the hole where the Baldies had gone toground. Ross made that progress with the stealth of a trained scout. 

Hawaika's moon, triple in size to Terra's companion, was up, and thelandscape was sharply clear, with shadows well defined. The glow, weirdto Terran eyes, added to the effect of being abroad in a nightmare, andthe bellowing of the grounded salkars continued a devils' chorus. 

When the Rovers had put up the buildings of their fairing, they hadcleared a series of small fields radiating outward from thosestructures. All of these were now covered with crops almost ready toharvest. The grain, if that Terran term could be applied to thisHawaikan product, was housed in long pods which dipped fromshoulder-high bushes. And the pods were well equipped with hornyprojections which tore. A single try at making his way into one of thosefields convinced Ross of the folly of such an advance. He sat back tonurse his scratched hands and survey the landscape. 

To go down a very tempting lane would be making himself a clear targetfor anyone in those buildings ahead. He had seen the flamers of theBaldies fail on the beach, but that did not mean the aliens were nowweaponless. 

His best chance, Ross decided, was to circle north, come back down alongthe bed of a stream. And he was at the edge of that watercourse when afaint sound brought him to a frozen halt, weapon ready. 

"Rosss--"

"Loketh!"

"And Torgul and Vistur. "

This was the party from the opposite side of the island, gone expertlyto earth. In the moonlight Ross could detect no sign of their presence, yet their voices sounded almost beside him. 

"They are in there, in the great hall. " That was Torgul. "But no longerare there any lights. "

"Now--" An urgent exclamation drew their attention. 

Light below. But not the glow of the rods Ross had seen on the beach. This was the warm yellow-red of honest fire, bursting up, the flamesgrowing higher as if being fed with frantic haste. 

Three figures were moving down there. Ross began to believe that therewere only this trio ashore. He could sight no weapons in their hands, which did not necessarily mean they were unarmed. But the stream ranclose behind the rear wall of one of the buildings, and Ross thought itsbed could provide cover for a man who knew what he was doing. He pointedout as much to Torgul. 

"And if their magic works and you are drawn out to be killed?" The Rovercaptain came directly to the point. 

"That is a chance to be taken. But remember . .. The magic of the Foannaat the sea gate did not work against me. Perhaps this won't either. Once, earlier, I won against it. "

"Have you then another hand to give to the fire as your defense?" Thatwas Vistur. "But no man has the right to order another's battlechallenge. "

"Just so, " returned Ross sharply. "And this is a thing I have long beentrained to do. "

He slid down into the stream bed. Approaching from this angle, thestructures of the fairing were between him and the fire. So screened hereached a log wall, got to his feet, and edged along it. Then hewitnessed a wild scene. The fire raged in great, sky-touching tongues. And already the roof of one of the Rover buildings smoldered. Why thealiens had built up such a conflagration, Ross could not guess. A signaldesigned to reach some distance?

He did not doubt there was some urgent purpose. For the three weredragging in fuel with almost frenzied haste, bringing out of the Roverbuildings bales of cloth to be ripped apart and whirled into thedevouring flames, furniture, everything movable which would burn. 

There was one satisfaction. The Baldies were so intent upon thisdestruction that they kept no watch save that now and then one of themwould run to the head of the path leading to the lagoon and listen as ifhe expected a salkar to come pounding up the slope. 

"They're . .. They're rattled!" Ross could hardly believe it. The Baldieswho had always occupied his mind and memory as practically invinciblesupermen were acting like badly frightened primitives! And when theenemy was so off balance you pushed--you pushed hard. 

Ross thumbed the button on the grip of the strange weapon. He sightedwith deliberation and fired. The blue figure at the top of the pathwilted, and for a long moment neither of his companions noted hiscollapse. Then one of them whirled and started for the limp body, hiscolleague running after him. Ross allowed them to reach his first victimbefore he fired the second and third time. 

All three lay quiet, but still Ross did not venture forth until he hadcounted off a dozen Terran seconds. Then he slipped forward keeping tocover until he came up to the bodies. 

The blue-clad shoulder had a flaccid feel under his hand as if themuscles could not control the flesh about them. Ross rolled the alienover, looked down in the bright light of the fire into the Baldy'swide-open eyes. Amazement--the Terran thought he could read that in thedead stare which answered his intent gaze--and then anger, a cold anddeadly anger which chilled into ice. 

"Kill!"

Ross slewed around, still down on one knee, to face the charge of aRover. In the firelight the Hawaikan's eyes were blazing with fanaticalhatred. He had his hooked sword ready to deliver a finishing stroke. TheTerran blocked with a shoulder to meet the Rover's knees, threw himback. Then Ross landed on top of the fighting crewman, trying to pin thefellow to earth and avoid that recklessly slashing blade. 

"Loketh! Vistur!" Ross shouted as he struggled. 

More of the Rovers appeared from between the buildings, bearing down onthe limp aliens and the two fighting men. Ross recognized the limpinggait of Loketh using a branch to aid him into a running scuttle acrossthe open. 

"Loketh--here!"

The Hawaikan covered the last few feet in a dive which carried him intoRoss and the Rover. "Hold him, " the Terran ordered and had just timeenough to throw himself between the Baldies and the rest of the crew. There was a snarling from the Rovers; and Ross, knowing their temper, was afraid he could not save the captives which they considered, fairly, their legitimate prey. He must depend upon the hope that there were oneor two cooler heads among them with enough authority to restrain thewould-be avengers. Otherwise he would have to beam them intohelplessness. 

"Torgul!" he shouted. 

There was a break in the line of runners speeding for him. The big manlunging straight across could only be Vistur; the other, yelling orders, was Torgul. It would depend upon how much control the Captain had overhis men. Ross scrambled to his feet. He had clicked on the beamer to itslowest frequency. It would not kill, but would render its victimtemporarily paralyzed; and how long that state would continue Ross hadno way of knowing. Tried on Terran laboratory animals, the time hadvaried from days to weeks. 

Vistur used the flat side of his war ax, clapping it against theforemost runners, setting his own bulk to impose a barrier. And nowTorgul's orders appeared to be getting through, more and more of the menslacked, leaving a trio of hotheads, two of whom Vistur sent reelingwith his fists. 

The Captain came up to Ross. "They are alive then?" He leaned over toinspect the Baldy the Terran had rolled on his back, assessing thealien's frozen stare with thoughtful measurement. 

"Yes, but they can not move. "

"Well enough. " Torgul nodded. "They shall meet the Justice of Phutkaafter the Law. I think they will wish that they had been left to theboarding axes of angry men. "

"They are worth more alive than dead, Captain. Do you not wish to knowwhy they have carried war to your people, how many of them there may yetbe to attack--and other things? Also--" Ross nodded at the fire nowcatching the second building, "why have they built up that blaze? Is ita signal to others of their kind?"

"Very well said. Yes, it would be well for us to learn such things. Norwill Phutka be jealous of the time we take to ask questions and getanswers, many answers. " He prodded the Baldy with the toe of his seaboot. 

"How long will they remain so? Your magic has a bite in it. "

Ross smiled. "Not my magic, Captain. This weapon was taken from one oftheir own ships. As to how long they will remain so--that I do notknow. "

"Very well, we can take precautions. " Under Torgul's orders the alienswere draped with capture nets like those Ross and Loketh had worn. Thesea-grown plant adhered instantly, wet strands knitting in perfectrestrainers as long as it was uncut. 

Having seen to that, Torgul ordered the excavation of Kyn Add. 

"As you say, " he remarked to Ross, "that fire may well be a signal tobring down more of their kind. I think we have had the Favor of Phutkain this matter, but the prudent man stretches no favor of that kind toofar. Also, " he looked about him--"we have given to Phutka and the Shadesour dead; there is nothing for us here now but hate and sorrow. In oneday we have been broken from a clan of pride and ships to a handful ofstandardless men. "

"You will join some other clan?" Karara had come with Jazia to stand onthe stone ledge chipped to form a base for a column bearing a strange, brooding-eyed head looking seaward. The Rover woman was superintendingthe freeing of the head from the column. 

At the Terran girl's question the Captain gazed down into the dreadfulchaos of the valley. They could yet hear the roars of the dying salkars. The reptiles that had made their way to land had not withdrawn but stilllay, some dead now, some with weaving heads reaching inland. And thewhole of the fairing was ablaze with fire. 

"We are now blood-sworn men, Sea Maid. For such there is no clan. Thereis only the hunting and the kill. With the magic of Phutka perhaps weshall have a short hunt and a good kill. "

"There . .. Now . .. So. .. . " Jazia stepped back. The head which had facedthe sea was lowered carefully to a wide strip of crimson-and-gold stuffshe had brought from Torgul's ship. With her one usable hand the Roverwoman drew the fabric about the carving, muffling it except for theeyes. Those were large ovals deeply carved, and in them Ross saw aglitter. Jewels set there? Yet, he had a queer, shivery feeling thatsomething more than gems occupied those sockets--that he had actuallybeen regarded for an instant of time, assessed and dismissed. 

"We go now. " Jazia waved and Torgul sent men forward. They lifted thewrapped carving to a board carried between them and started downslope. 

Karara cried out and Ross looked around. 

The pillar which had supported the head was crumbling away, breakinginto a rubble which cascaded across the stone ledge. Ross blinked--thismust be an illusion, but he was too tired to be more than dully amazedas he became one of the procession returning to the ships. 

13

The Sea Gate of the Foanna

Ross raised a shell cup to his lips but hardly sipped the fiery brew itcontained. This was a gesture of ceremony, but he wanted a steady headand a quick tongue for any coming argument. Torgul, Afrukta, Ongal--thethree commanders of the Rover cruisers; Jazia, who represented themysterious Power of Phutka; Vistur and some other subordinate officers;Karara; himself, with Loketh hovering behind: a council of war. Butsummoned against whom?

The Terran had come too far afield from his own purpose--to reach Ashein the Foanna keep. And to further his own plans was a task he doubtedhis ability to perform. His attack on the Baldies had made him tooimportant to the Rovers for them to allow him willingly to leave them ona quest of his own. 

"These star men"--Ross set down the cup, tried to choose the mosttelling words in his limited Hawaikan vocabulary--"possess weapons andpowers you can not dream of, that you have no defense against. Back atKyn Add we were lucky. The salkars attacked their sub and halted thebroadcast powering their flamers. Otherwise we could not have takenthem, even though we were many against their few. Now you talk ofhunting them in their own territory--on land and in the mountains wherethey have their base. That would be folly akin to swimming barehanded tofront a salkar. "

"So--then we must sit and wait for them to eat us up?" flared Ongal. "Isay it is better to die fighting with one's blade wet!"

"Do you not also wish to take at least one of the enemy with you whenyou fight to that finish?" Ross countered. "These could kill you beforeyou came in blade range. "

"You had no trouble with that weapon of yours, " Afrukta spoke up. 

"I have told you--this weapon was stolen from them. I have only one andI do not know how long it will continue to serve me, or whether theyhave a defense against it. Those we took were naked to any force, fortheir broadcast had failed them. But to smash blindly against their mainbase would be the act of madmen. "

"The salkars opened a way for us--" That was Torgul. 

"But we can not move a pack of those inland to the mountains, " Visturpointed out reasonably. 

Ross studied the Captain. That Torgul was groping for a plan and that ithad to be a shrewd one, the Terran guessed. His respect for the Rovercommander had been growing steadily since their first meeting. Thecruiser-raiders had always been captained by the most daring men of theRover clans. But Ross was also certain that a successful cruisercommander must possess a level-headed leaven of intelligence and be astrategist of parts. 

The Hawaikan force needed a key which would open the Baldy base as thesalkars had opened the lagoon. And all they had to aid them was ahandful of facts gained from their prisoners. 

Oddly enough the picklock to the captives' minds had been produced bythe dolphins. Just as Tino-rau and Taua had formed a bridge ofcommunication between the Terran and Loketh, so did they read andtranslate the thoughts of the galactic invaders. For the Baldies, amongtheir own kind, were telepathic, vocalizing only to give orders toinferiors. 

Their capture by these primitive "inferiors" had delivered the firstshock, and the mind-probes of the dolphins had sent the "supermen" closeto the edge of sanity. To accept an animal form as an equal had beenshattering. 

But the star men's thoughts and memories had been winnowed at last andthe result spread before this impromptu council. Rovers and Terrans werebriefed on the invaders' master plan for taking over a world. Why theydesired to do so even the dolphins had not been able to discover;perhaps they themselves had not been told by their superiors. 

It was a plan almost contemptuous in its simplicity, as if the galacticforce had no reason to fear effective opposition. Except in onedirection--one single direction. 

Ross's fingers tightened on the shell cup. Had Torgul reached thatconclusion yet, the belief that the Foanna could be their key? If so, they might be able to achieve their separate purposes in one action. 

"It would seem that they are wary of the Foanna, " he suggested, alert toany telltale response from Torgul. But it was Jazia who answered theTerran's half question. 

"The Foanna have a powerful magic; they can order wind and wave, man andcreature--if so be their will. Well might these killers fear theFoanna!"

"Yet now they move against them, " Ross pointed out, still eyeing Torgul. 

The Captain's reply was a small, quiet smile. 

"Not directly, as you have heard. It is all a part of their plan to setone of us against the other, letting us fight many small wars and so useup our men while they take no risks. They wait the day when we shall beexhausted and then they will reveal themselves to claim all they wish. So today they stir up trouble between the Wreckers and the Foanna, knowing that the Foanna are few. Also they strive in turn to anger us byraids, allowing us to believe that either the Wreckers or Foanna haveattacked. Thus--" he held up his left thumb, made a pincers of rightthumb and forefinger to close upon it, "they hope to catch the Foanna, between Wreckers and Rovers. Because the Foanna are those they reckonthe most dangerous they move against them now, using us and weakeningour forces into the bargain. A plan which is clever, but the plan of menwho do not like to fight with their own blades. "

"They are worse than the coast scum, these cowards!" Ongal spat. 

Torgul smiled again. "That is what they believe we will say, kinsman, and so underrate them. By our customs, yes, they are cowards. But whatcare they for our judgments? Did we think of the salkars when we usedthem to force the lagoon? No, they were only beasts to be our tools. So now it is the same with us, except that we know what they intend. And we shall not be such obedient tools. If the Foanna are our answer, then--" He paused, gazing into his cup as if he could read some shadowyfuture there. 

"If the Foanna are the answer, then what?" Ross pushed. 

"Instead of fighting the Foanna, we must warm, cherish, try to allyourselves with them. And do all that while we still have time!"

"Just how do we do these things?" demanded Ongal. "The Foanna you wouldwarn, cherish, claim as allies, are already our enemies. Were we not onthe way to force their sea gate only days ago? There is no chance ofseeking peace now. And have the finned ones not learned from thewomen-killers that already there is an army of Wreckers camped about thecitadel to which these sons of the Shadow plan to lend certain weapons?Do we throw away three cruisers--all we have left--in a hopeless fight?Such is the council of one struck by loss of wits. "

"There is a way--my way, " Ross seized the opening. "In the Foannacitadel is my sword-lord, to whose service I am vowed. We were on ourway to attempt his freeing when your ship picked us out of the waves. Heis learned beyond me in the dealing with strange peoples, and if theFoanna are as clever as you say, they will already have discovered thathe is not just a slave they claimed from Lord Zahur. "

There it was in the open, his own somewhat tattered hope that Ashe hadbeen able to impress his captors with his knowledge and potential. Trained to act as contact man with other races, there was a chance thatGordon had saved himself from whatever fate had been planned for theprisoners the Foanna had claimed. If that happened, Ashe could be theiropening wedge in the Foanna stronghold. 

"This also I know: That which guards the gate--which turns your mindswhirling and sent you back from your raid--does not affect me. I may beable to win inside and find my clansman, and in that doing treat withthe Foanna. "

The Baldy prisoners had not underestimated the attack on the Foannacitadel. As the Rover cruisers beat in under the cover of night thefires and torches of both besieged and besiegers made a wild glow acrossthe sky. Only on the sea side of the fortress there was no sign ofinvolvement. Whatever guarded the gate must still be in force. 

Ross stood with his feet well apart to balance his body against theswing of the deck. His suggestion had been argued over, protested, butat last carried with the support of Torgul and Jazia, and now he was tomake his try. The sum of the Rovers' and Loketh's knowledge of the seagate had been added for his benefit, but he knew that this venture mustdepend upon himself alone. Karara, the dolphins, the Hawaikans, were alltoo sensitive to the barrier. 

Torgul moved in the faint light. "We are close; our power is ebbing. Ifwe advance, we shall be drifting soon. "

"It is time then. " Ross crossed to the rope ladder, but another wasthere before him. Karara perched on the rail. He regarded her angrily. 

"You can't go. "

"I know. But we are still safe here. Just because you are free of onedefense of the gate, Ross, do not believe that makes it easy. "

He was stung by her assumption that he could be so self-assured. 

"I know my business. "

Ross pushed past her, swinging down the rope ladder, pausing only abovewater level to snap on flippers, make sure of the set of his weightedbelt, and slide his gill-mask over his face. There was a splash besidehim as the net containing spare belt, flippers, and mask hit the waterand he caught at it. These could provide Ashe's escape from thefortress. 

The lights on the shore made a wide arc of radiance across the sea. AsRoss headed toward the wave-washed coast he began to hear shouting andother sounds which made him believe that the besiegers were in the midstof an all-out assault. Yet those distant fires and rocketlike blastsinto the sky had a wavery blur. And Ross, making his way with theeffortless water cleaving of the diver, surfaced now and then to spotfilm curling up from the surface of the sea between the two standingrock pillars which marked the sea gate. 

He was startled by a thunderous crack, rending the air above the smallbay. Ross pulled to one of the pillars, steadied himself with one handagainst it. Those twists of film rising from the surging surface werethickening. More tendrils grew out from parent stems to creep alongabove the waves, raising up sprouts and branches in turn. A wall of mistwas building between gate and shore. 

Again a thunderclap overhead. Involuntarily the Terran ducked. Then heturned his face up to the sky, striving to see any evidence of storm. What hung there sped the growth of the fog on the water. Yet where thefog was gray-white, it was a darkness spouting from the highest point ofthe citadel. Ross could not explain how he was able to see one shade ofdarkness against equal dusk, but he did--or did he only sense it? Heshook his head, willing himself to look away from the finger. Only itwas a finger no longer; now it was a fist aimed at the stars it was fastblotting out. A fist rising to the heavens before it curled back, descended to press the fortress and its surroundings into rock andearth. 

Fog curled about Ross, spilled outward through the sea gates. He loosedhis grip on the pillar and dived, swimming on through the gap with thefortress of the Foanna before him. 

There was a jetty somewhere ahead; that much he knew from Torgul'sdescription. Those who served the Foanna sometimes took sea roads andthey had slim, fast cutters for such coastwise travel. Ross surfacedcautiously, to discover there was no visibility to wave level. Here themist was thick, a smothering cover so bewildering he was confused as todirection. He ducked below again and flippered on. 

Was his confusion born of the fog, or was it also in his head? Did he, after all, have this much reaction to the gate defense? Ross ducked thatsuspicion as he had ducked the moist blanket on the surface. He had comefrom the gate, which meant that the jetty must lie--there!

A few moments later Ross had proof that his sense of direction had notaltogether failed him, when his shoulder grazed against a solidobstruction in the water and his exploring touch told him that he hadfound one of the jetty piles. He surfaced again and this time he heardnot a thunder roll but the singsong chanting of the Foanna. 

It was loud, almost directly above his head, but since the cotton mistheld he was not afraid of being sighted. The chanter must be on thejetty. And to Ross's right was a dark bulk which he thought was one ofthe cutters. Was a sortie by the besieged being planned?

Then, out of the night, came a dazzling beam, well above the level ofRoss's head where he clung to the piling. It centered on the cutter, slicing into the substance of the vessel with the ease of steel piercingclay. The chanting stopped on mid-note, broken by cries of surprise andalarm. Ross, pressing against the pile, received a jolt from his beltsonic. 

There must be a Baldy sub in the basin inside the gate. Perhaps theflame beam now destroying the cutter was to be turned on the walls ofthe keep in turn. 

Foanna chant again, low and clear. Splashes from the water as those onthe jetty cast into the sea objects Ross could not define. The Terran'sbody jerked, his mask smothered a cry of pain. About his legs andmiddle, immersed in the waves, there was cold so intense that it seared. Fear goaded him to pull up on one of the under beams of the pier. Hereached that refuge and rubbed his icy legs with what vigor he couldsummon. 

Moments later he crept along toward the shore. The energy ray had foundanother target. Ross paused to watch a second cutter sliced. If thecounter stroke of the Foanna would rout the invaders, it had not yetbegun to work. 

The net holding the extra gear brought along in hopes of Ashe's escapeweighed the Terran down, but he would not abandon it as he felt his wayfrom one foot- and hand-hold to the next. The waves below gave off anicy exudation which made him shiver uncontrollably. And he knew that aslong as that effect lasted he dared not venture into the sea again. 

Light . .. Along with the cold, there was a phosphorescence on thewater--white patches floating, dipping, riding the waves. Some of themgathered under the pier, clustering about the pilings. And the fogthinned with their coming, as if those irregular blotches absorbed andfed upon the mist. The Terran could see now he had reached the land endof the jetty. He wedged his flippers into his belt, pulled on over hisfeet the covers of salkar-hide Torgul had provided. 

Save for his belt, his trunks, and the gill-pack, Ross's body was bareand the cold caught at him. But, slinging the carry net over hisshoulder, he dropped to the damp sand and stood listening. 

The clamor of the attack which had carried all the way offshore to theRover cruisers had died away. And there were no more claps of thunder. Instead, there was now a thick wash of rain. 

No more fire rays as he faced seaward. And the fog was lifting, so Rosscould distinguish the settling cutters, their bows still moored to thejetty. There was no movement there. Had those on the pier fled?

Dot . .. Dash . .. Dot . .. 

Ross did not drop the net. But he crouched back in the half protectionof the piling. For a moment which stretched beyond Terran time measurehe froze so, waiting. 

Dot . .. Dash . .. Dot . .. 

Not the prickle induced by the enemy installations, it was a real codedcall picked up by his sonic, and one he knew. 

Don't rush, he told himself sharply--play it safe. By rights only twopeople in this time and place would know that call. And one would haveno reason to use it. But--a trap? This could be a trap. Awe of theFoanna powers had touched him a little in spite of his off-worldskepticism. He could be lured now by someone using Ashe's call. 

Ross stripped for action after a fashion, bundling the net and itscontents into a hollow he scooped behind a pile well above water level. The alien hand weapon he had left with Karara, not trusting it to thesea. But he had his diver's knife and his two hands which, by training, could be, and had been, deadly weapons. 

With the sonic against the bare skin of his middle where it wouldregister strongest, knife in hand, Ross moved into the open. Thefloating patches did not supply much light, but he was certain the callhad come from the jetty. 

There was movement there--a flash or two. And the sonic? Ross had to besure, very sure. The broadcast was certainly stronger when he faced inthat direction. Dared he come into the open? Perhaps in the dark hecould cut Ashe away from his captors so they could swim for it together. 

Ross clicked a code reply. Dot . .. Dot . .. Dot . .. 

The answer was quick, imperative: "Where?"

Surely no one but Ashe could have sent that! Ross did not hesitate. 

"Be ready--escape. "

"No!" Even more imperative. "Friends here. .. . "

Had he guessed rightly? Had Ashe established friendly relations with theFoanna? But Ross kept to the caution which had been his defense andarmor so long. There was one question he thought only Ashe could answer, something out of the past they had shared when they had made their firstjourney into time disguised as Beaker traders of the Bronze Age. Deliberately he tapped that question. 

"What did we kill in Britain?"

Tensely he waited. But when the reply came it did not pulse from thesonic under his fingers; instead, a well-remembered voice called out ofthe night. 

"A white wolf. " And the words were Terran English. 

"Ashe!" Ross leaped forward, climbed toward the figure he could onlydimly see. 

14

The Foanna

"Ross!" Ashe's hands gripped his shoulders as if never intending to freehim again. "Then you did come through--"

Ross understood. Gordon Ashe must have feared that he was the only oneswept through the time door by that freak chance. 

"And Karara and the dolphins!"

"Here--now?" In this black bowl of the citadel bay Ashe was only ashadow with voice and hands. 

"No, out with the Rover cruisers. Ashe, do you know the Baldies are onHawaika? They've organized this whole thing--the attack here--troubleall over. Right now they have one of their subs out there. That's whatcut those cutters to pieces. Five days ago five of them wiped out awhole Rover fairing, just five of them!"

"Gordoon. " Unlike the hissing speech of the Hawaikans, this new voicemade a singing, lilting call of Ashe's name. "This is your swordsman intruth?" Another shadow drew near them, and Ross saw the flutter of cloakedge. 

"This is my friend. " There was a tone of correction in Ashe's reply. "Ross, this is the Guardian of the sea gate. "

"And you come, " the Foanna continued, "with those who gather to feast atthe Shadow's table. But your Rovers will find little loot to theirliking--"

"No. " Ross hesitated. How did one address the Foanna? He had claimedequality with Torgul. But that approach was not the proper one here;instinct told him that. He fell back on the complete truth utteredsimply. "We took three of the Baldy killers. From them we learned theymove to wipe out the Foanna first. For you, " he addressed himself to thecloaked shape, "they believe to be a threat. We heard that they urgedthe Wreckers to this attack and so--"

"And so the Rovers come, but not to loot? Then they are something newamong their kind. " The Foanna's reply was as chill as the sea bay'swater. 

"Loot does not summon men who want a blood price for their dead kin!"Ross retorted. 

"No, and the Rovers are believers in the balance of hurt against hurt, "the Foanna conceded. "Do they also believe in the balance of aid againstaid? Now that is a thought upon which depends much. Gordoon, it wouldseem that we may not take to our ships. So let us return to council. "

Ashe's hand was on Ross's arm guiding him through the murk. Though thefog which had choked the bay had vanished, thick darkness remained andRoss noted that even the fires and flares were dimmed and fewer. Thenthey were in a passage where a very faint light clung to the walls. 

Robed Foanna, three of them, moved ahead with that particular glidingprogress. Then Ashe and Ross, and bringing up the rear, a dozen of themailed guards. The passageway became a ramp. Ross glanced at Ashe. Likethe Foanna, the Terran Agent wore a cloak of gray, but his did not shiftcolor from time to time as did those of the Hawaikan enigmas. And nowGordon shoved back its folds, revealing supple body armor. 

Questions gathered in Ross. He wanted to know--needed desperately toknow--Ashe's standing with the Foanna. What had happened to raise Gordonfrom the status of captive in Zahur's hold to familiar companionshipwith the most dreaded race on this planet?

The ramp's head faced blank wall with a sharp-angled turn to the rightof a narrower passage. One of the Foanna made a slight sign to theguards, who turned with drilled precision to march off along thepassage. Now the other Foanna held out their wands. 

What a moment earlier had been unbroken surface showed an opening. Thechange had been so instantaneous that Ross had not seen any movement atall. 

Beyond that door they passed from one world to another. Ross's senses, already acutely alert to his surroundings, could not supply him with anyreason by sight, sound, or smell for his firm conviction that this holdwas alien as neither the Wrecker castle nor the Rover ships had been. Surely the Foanna were not the same race, perhaps not even the samespecies as the other native Hawaikans. 

Those robes which he had seen both silver gray and dark blue, now faded, pearled, thinned, until each of the three still gliding before him wereopalescent columns without definite form. 

Ashe's grasp fell on Ross's arm once more, and his whisper reached theyounger man thinly. "They are mistresses of illusion. Be prepared not tobelieve all that you see. "

Mistresses--Ross caught that first. Women, or at least female then. Illusion, yes, already he was convinced that here his eyes could playtricks on him. He could hardly determine what was robe, what was wall, or if more than shades of shades swept before him. 

Another blank wall, then an opening, and flowing through it to touch himsuch a wave of alienness that Ross felt he was buffeted by a storm wind. Yet as he hesitated before it, reluctant in spite of Ashe's hold to goahead, he also knew that this did not carry with it the cold hostilityhe had known while facing the Baldies. Alien--yes. Inimical to hiskind--no. 

"You are right, younger brother. "

Spoken those words--or forming in his mind?

Ross was in a place which was sheer wonder. Under his feet darkblue--the blue of a Terran sky at dusk--caught up in it twinkling pointsof light as if he strode, not equal with stars, but above them!Walls--were there any walls here? Or shifting, swaying blue curtains onwhich silvery lines ran to form symbols and words which some bemusedpart of his brain almost understood, but not quite. 

Constant motion, no quiet, until he came to a place where those swayingcurtains were stilled, where he no longer strode above the sky but onsoft surface, a mat of gray living sod where his steps released a spicyfragrance. And there he really saw the Foanna for the first time. 

Where had their cloaks gone? Had they tossed them away during that walkor drift across this amazing room, or had the substance which had formedthose coverings flowed away by itself? As Ross looked at the three inwonder he knew that he was seeing them as not even their servants andguards ever viewed them. And yet was he seeing them as they really wereor as they wished him to see them?

"As we are, younger brother, as we are!" Again an answer which Ross wasnot sure was thought or speech. 

In form they were humanoid, and they were undoubtedly women. Themuffling cloaks gone, they wore sleeveless garments of silver which weregirded at the waist with belts of blue gems. Only in their hair andtheir eyes did they betray alien blood. For the hair which flowed andwove about them, cascading down shoulders, rippling about their arms, was silver, too, and it swirled, moved as if it had a separate life ofits own. While their eyes. .. . Ross looked into those golden eyes and waslost for seconds until panic awoke in him, forcing him after sharpstruggle to look away. 

Laughter? No, he had not heard laughter. But a sense of amusement tingedwith respect came to him. 

"You are very right, Gordoon. This one is also of your kind. He is notwitches' meat. " Ross caught the distaste, the kind of hauntingunhappiness which colored those words, remnants of an old hurt. 

"These are the Foanna, " Ashe's voice broke more of the spell. "The LadyYnlan, The Lady Yngram, the Lady Ynvalda. "

The Foanna--these three only?

She whom Ashe had named Ynlan, whose eyes had entrapped and almost heldwhat was Ross Murdock, made a small gesture with her ivory hand. And inthat gesture as well as in the words witches' meat the Terran read theunhappiness which was as much a part of this room as the rest of itsmystery. 

"The Foanna are now but three. They have been only three for many wearyyears, oh man from another world and time. And soon, if these enemieshave their way, they will not be three--but none!"

"But--" Ross was still startled. He knew from Loketh that the Wreckershad deemed the Foanna few in number, an old and dying race. But thatthere were only three women left was hard to believe. 

The response to his unspoken wonder came clear and determined. "We maybe but three; however, our power remains. And sometimes power distilledby time becomes the stronger. Now it would seem that time is no longerour servant but perhaps among our enemies. So tell us this tale of yoursas to why the Rovers would make one with the Foanna--tell us all, younger brother!"

Ross reported what he had seen, what Tino-rau and Taua had learned fromthe prisoners taken at Kyn Add. And when he had finished, the threeFoanna stood very still, their hands clasped one to the other. Thoughthey were only an arm's distance from him, Ross had the feeling they hadwithdrawn from his time and world. 

So complete was their withdrawal that he dared to ask Ashe one of themany questions which had been boiling inside him. 

"Who are they?" But Ross knew he really meant: What are they?

Gordon Ashe shook his head. "I don't really know--the last of a very oldrace which possesses powers and knowledge different from any we havebelieved in for centuries. We have heard of witches. In the modern daywe discount the legends about them. The Foanna bring those legendsalive. And I promise you this--if they turn those powers loose"--hepaused--"it will be such a war as this world, perhaps any world hasnever seen!"

"That is so. " The Foanna had returned from the place to which they hadwithdrawn. "And this is also the truth or one face of the truth. TheRovers are right in their belief that we have kept some measure ofbalance between one form of change and another on this world. If we wereas many as we once were, then against us these invaders could not moveat all. But we are three only and also--do we have the right to evokedisaster which will strike not only the enemy but perhaps recoil uponthe innocent? There has been enough death here already. And those whoare our servants shall no longer be asked to face battle to keep anempty shell inviolate. We would see with our own eyes these invaders, probe what they would do. There is ever change in life, and if a patterngrows too set, then the race caught in it may wither and die. Maybe ourpattern has been too long in its old design. We shall make no decisionuntil we see in whose hands the future may rest. "

Against such finality of argument there was no appeal. These could notbe influenced by words. 

"Gordoon, there is much to be done. Do you take with you this youngerbrother and see to his needs. When all is in readiness we shall come. "

One minute Ross had been standing on the carpet of living moss. Then . .. He was in a more normal room with four walls, a floor, aceiling, and light which came from rods set in the corners. He gasped. 

"Stunned me, too, the first time they put me through it, " he heard Ashesay. "Here, get some of this inside you, it'll steady your head. "

There was a cup in his hand, a beautifully carved, rose-red containershaped in the form of a flower. Somehow Ross brought it to his lips withshaking hands, gulped down a good third of its contents. The liquid wasa mixture of tart and sweet, cooling his mouth and throat, but warmingas it went down, and that glow spread through him. 

"What--how did they do that?" he demanded. 

Ashe shrugged. "How do they do the hundred and one things I have seenhappen here? We've been teleported. How it's done I don't know any morethan I did the first time it happened. Simply a part of Foanna 'magic'as far as spectators are concerned. " He sat down on a stool, his longlegs stretched out before him. "Other worlds, other ways--even if theyare confounded queer ones. As far as I know, there's no reason for theirpower to work, but it does. Now, have you seen the time gate? Is it inworking order?"

Ross put down the now empty cup and sat down opposite Ashe. As conciselyas he could, he outlined the situation with a quick résumé of all thathad happened to him, Karara, and the dolphins since they had been suckedthrough the gate. Ashe asked no questions, but his expression was thatof the Agent Ross had known, evaluating and listing all the younger manhad to report. When the other was through he said only two words:

"No return. "

So much had happened in so short a time that Ross's initial shock at thedestruction of the gate had faded, been well overlaid by all the demandsmade upon his resources, skill, and strength. Even now, the fact Ashevoiced seemed of little consequence balanced against the struggle inprogress. 

"Ashe--" Ross rubbed his hands up and down his arms, brushing awaygrains of sand, "remember those pylons with the empty seacoast behindthem? Does that mean the Baldies are going to win?"

"I don't know. No one has ever tried to change the course of history. Maybe it is impossible even if we dared to try. " Ashe was on his feetagain, pacing back and forth. 

"Try what, Gordoon?"

Ross jerked around, Ashe halted. One of the Foanna stood there, her hairplaying about her shoulders as if some breeze felt only by her stirredthose long strands. 

"Dare to try and change the course of the future, " Ashe explained, accepting her materialization with the calm of one who had witnessed itbefore. 

"Ah, yes, your traveling in time. And now you think that perhaps thispoor world of ours has a choice as to which overlords it will welcome? Ido not know either, Gordoon, whether the future may be altered nor if itbe wise to try. But also . .. Well, perhaps we should see our enemybefore we are set in any path. Now, it is time that we go. Youngerbrother, how did you plan to leave this place when you accomplished yourmission?"

"By the sea gate. I have extra swimming equipment cached under thejetty. "

"And the Rover ships await you at sea?"

"Yes. "

"Then we shall take your way, since the cutters are sunk. "

"There is only one extra gill-pack--and that Baldy sub is out there, too!"

"So? Then we shall try another road, though it will sap our powertemporarily. " Her head inclined slightly to the left as if she listened. "Good! Our people are now in the passage which will take them to safety. What those outside will find here when they break in will be of littleaid to their plans. Secrets of the Foanna remain secrets past others'prying. Though they shall try, oh, how they shall try to solve them!There is knowledge that only certain types of minds can hold and use, and to others it remains for all time unlearnable. Now--"

Her hand reached out, flattened against Ross's forehead. 

"Think of your Rover ship, younger brother, see it in your mind! And seewell and clearly for me. "

Torgul's cruiser was there; he could picture with details he had notthought he knew or remembered. The deck in the dark of the night withonly a shaded light at the mast. The deck . .. 

Ross gave a choked cry. He did not see this in his mind; he saw it withhis eyes! His hand swung out in an involuntary gesture of repudiationand struck painfully against wood. He was on the cruiser!

A startled exclamation from behind him--then a shout. Ashe was here andbeyond him three cloaked figures, the Foanna. They had their own roadindeed and had taken it. 

"You . .. Rosss--" Vistur fronted them, his face a mixture ofbewilderment and awe. "The Foanna--" said in a half whisper, echoed bycrewmen gathering around, but not too close. 

"Gordon!" Karara elbowed her way between two of the Hawaikans and ranacross the deck. She caught the Agent's both hands as if to assureherself that he was alive and there before her. Then she turned to thethree Foanna. 

There was an odd expression on the Polynesian girl's face, first ofmeasurement with some fear, and then of dawning wonder. From beneath thecloak of the middle Foanna came the rod of office with its sparkingknob. Karara dropped Ashe's hands, took a tentative step forward andthen another. The knob was directly before her, breast high. She broughtup both hands, cupping them about the knob, but not touching itdirectly. The sparks it emitted could have been flashing against herflesh, but Karara displayed no awareness of that. Instead, she liftedboth hands farther, palm up and cupped, as if she carried some invisiblebounty, then flattened them, loosing what she held. 

There was a sigh from the crewmen; Karara's gesture had been confident, as if she knew just what she was doing and why. And Ross heard Ashe drawa deep breath also as the Terran girl turned, allying herself with theFoanna. 

"These Great Ones stand in peace, " she said. "It is their will that noharm comes to this ship and those who sail in her. "

"What do the Great Ones want of us?" Torgul advanced but not too near. 

"To speak concerning those who are your prisoners. "

"So be it. " The Captain bowed. "The Great Ones' will is our will; let itbe as they wish. "

15

Return to the Battle

Ross lay listening to the even breathing from across the cabin. He hadawakened in that quick transference from sleep to consciousness whichwas always his when on duty, but he made no attempt to move. Ashe wasstill sleeping. 

Ashe, whom he thought or had thought he knew as well as one man couldever know another, who had taken the place of family for Ross Murdockthe loner. Years--two . .. Four of them now since he had made half ofthat partnership. 

His head turned, though he could not see that lean body, that quiet, controlled face. Ashe still looked the same, but . .. Ross's sense ofloss was hurt and anger mingled. What had they done to Gordon, thosethree? Bewitched? Tales Terrans had accepted as purest fantasy forcenturies came into his mind. Could it be that his own world once hadits Foanna?

Ross scowled. You couldn't refute their "magic, " call it by whatscientific name you wished--hypnotism . .. Telaporting. They got results, and the results were impressive. Now he remembered the warning theFoanna themselves had delivered hours earlier to the Rovers. There werelimits to their abilities; because they were forced to draw on mentaland physical energy, they could be exhausted. Thus, they had barriers, too. 

Again Ross considered the subject of barriers. Karara had been able tomeet the aliens, if not mind-to-mind, then in a closer way even thanAshe. The talent which tied her to the dolphins had in turn been a bondwith the Foanna. Ashe and Karara could enter that circle, but not RossMurdock. Along with his new separation from Ashe came that feeling ofinferiority to bite on, and the taste was sour. 

"This isn't going to be easy. "

So Ashe was awake. 

"What can they do?" Ross asked in return. 

"I don't know. I don't believe that they can telaport an army into Baldyheadquarters the way Torgul expects. And it wouldn't do such an armymuch good to get there and then be outclassed by the weapons the Baldiesmight have, " Ashe said. 

Ross had a moment of warmth and comfort; he knew that tone of old. Ashewas studying the problem, willing to talk out difficulties as he alwayshad before. 

"No, outright assault isn't the answer. We'll have to know more aboutthe enemy. One thing puzzles me: Why have the Baldies suddenly steppedup their timing?"

"What makes you think they have?"

"Well, according to the accounts I've heard, it's been about three orfour planet years here since some off-world devices have beeninfiltrating the native civilization--"

"You mean such things as those attractors set up on the reef at Zahur'scastle?" Ross remembered Loketh's story. 

"Those, and other things. The refinements added to the engine power onthese ships. .. . Torgul said they spread from Rover fleet to fleet; noone's sure where they started. The Baldies began slowly, but they arespeeding up now--those fairing attacks have all been recent. And thisassault on the Foanna citadel blew up almost overnight on a flimsyexcuse. Why the quick push after the slow beginning?"

"Maybe they decided the natives are easy pushovers and they no longerhave to worry about any real opposition, " Ross suggested. 

"Could be. Self-confidence becoming arrogance when they didn't uncoverany opponent strong enough to matter. Or else, they may be spurred bysome need with a time limit. If we knew the reason for those pylons, wemight guess their motives. "

"Are you going to try to change the future?"

"That sounds arrogant, too. Can we if we wish to? We never dared to tryit on Terra. And the risk may be worse than all our fears. Also, thechoice is not ours. "

"There's one thing I don't understand, " Ross said. "Why did the Foannawalk out of the citadel and leave it undefended for their enemies? Whatabout their guards? Did they just leave them too?" He was willing tomake the most of any flaw in the aliens' character. 

"Most of their people had already escaped through underground ways. Therest left when they knew the cutters had been sunk, " Ashe returned. "Asto why they deserted the citadel, I don't know. The decision wastheirs. "

There--up with the barrier between them again. But Ross refused toaccept the cutoff this time, determined to pull Ashe back into thefamiliar world of the here and now. 

"That keep could be a trap, about the best on this planet!" The idea wasmore than just a gambit to attract Ashe's attention, it was true! Aperfect trap to catch Baldies. 

"Don't you see, " Ross sat up, slapped his feet down on the deck as heleaned forward eagerly. "Don't you see . .. If the Baldies know anythingat all about the Foanna, and I'm betting they do and want to learn allthey can, they'll visit the citadel. They won't want to depend onsecond- and third-hand reports of the place, especially ones deliveredby primitives such as the Wreckers. They had a sub there. I'll bet thecrew are in picking over the loot right now!"

"If that's what they're hunting"--there was amusement in Ashe'stone--"they won't find much. The Foanna have better locks than theirenemies have keys. You heard Ynlan before we left--any secrets left willremain secrets. "

"But there's bait--bait for a trap!" argued Ross. 

"You're right!" To the younger man's joy Ashe's enthusiasm was plain. "And if the Baldies could be led to believe that what they wanted wasobtainable with just a little more effort, or the right tools--"

"The trap could net bigger catch than just underlings!" Ross's thoughtmatched Ashe's. "Why, it might even pull in the VIP directing the wholeoperation! How can we set it up, and do we have time?"

"The trap would have to be of Foanna setting; our part would come afterit was sprung. " Ashe was thoughtful again. "But it is the only movewhich we can make at present with any hope of success. And it will onlywork if the Foanna are willing. "

"Have to be done quickly, " Ross pointed out. 

"Yes, I'll see. " Ashe was a dark figure against the thin light of thecompanionway as he slid back the cabin door. "If Ynvalda agrees. .. . " Ashe went out Ross was right behind him. 

The Foanna had been given, by their own choice, quarters on the bow deckof the cruiser where sailcloth had been used to form a tent. Not thatany of the awe-stricken Rovers would venture too near them. Ashe reachedfor the flap of the fabric and a lilting voice called:

"You seek us, Gordoon?"

"This is important. "

"Yes, it is important, for the thought which brings you both has merit. Enter then, brothers!"

The flap was looped aside and before them was a swirling ofmist? . .. Light? . .. Sheets of pale color? Ross could not have describedwhat he saw--save if the Foanna were there, he could not distinguish themfrom the rippling of their hair, the melting film of their robes. 

"So, younger brother, you think that which was our home and our treasurebox has now become a trap for the confounding of those who believe weare a threat to them?"

Somehow Ross was not surprised that they knew about his idea before hehad said a word, before Ashe had given any explanations. Theiromniscience was only a small portion of their other talents. 

"Yes. "

"And why do you believe so? We swear to you that the coast folk can notbe driven into those parts of the castle which mean the most, any morethan our sea gate can be breached unless we will it so. "

"Yet I swam through the sea gate, and the sub was there also. " Ross knewagain a flash of--was it pleasure?--at being able to state this fact. There _were_ chinks in the Foanna defenses. 

"Again the truth. You have that within you, young brother, which is botha lack and a shield. True also that this underseas ship entered afteryou. Perhaps it has a shield as part of it; perhaps those from the starshave their own protection. But they can not reach the heart of what theywish, not unless we open the doors for them. It is your belief, youngerbrother, that they still strive to force such doors?"

"Yes. Knowing there is something to be learned, they will try for it. They will not dare not to. " Ross was very certain on that point. Hisencounters with the Baldies had not led to any real understanding. Butthe way they had wiped out the line of Russian time stations made himsure that they dealt thoroughly with any situation they considered athreat. 

From the prisoners taken at Kyn Add they had learned the invadersbelieved the Foanna their enemies here, even though the Old Ones had notrepulsed them or their activities. Therefore, it followed that, havingtaken the stronghold, the Baldies would endeavor to rip open every oneof its secrets. 

"A trap with good bait--"

Ross wondered which one of the Foanna said that. To see nothing but theswirls of mist-color, listen to disembodied voices from it, wasdisconcerting. Part of the stage dressing, he decided, for buildingtheir prestige with the other races with whom they dealt. Three womenalone would have to buttress their authority with such trappings. 

"Ah, younger brother, indeed you are beginning to understand us!"Laughter, soft, but unmistakable. 

Ross frowned. He did not feel the touch-go-touch of mental communicationwhich the dolphins used. But he did not doubt that the Foanna read histhoughts, or at least a few of them. 

"Some of them, " echoed from the mist. "Not all--not as your olderbrother's or the maiden whose mind meets with ours. With you, youngerbrother, it is a thought here, a thought there, and only our intuitionto connect them into a pattern. But now, there is serious planning to bedone. And, knowing this enemy, you believe they will come to search forwhat they can not find. So you would set a trap. But they have weaponsbeyond your weapons, have they not, younger brother? Brave as are theseRover kind, they can not use swords against flame, their hands against akiller who may stand apart and slay. What remains, Gordoon? What remainsin our favor?"

"You have your weapons, too, " Ashe answered. 

"Yes, we have our weapons, but long have they been used only in onepattern, and they are atuned to another race. Did our defenses holdagainst you, Gordoon, when you strove to prove that you were as youclaimed to be? And did another repulse younger brother when he dared thesea gate? So can we trust them in turn against these other strangerswith different brains? Only at the testing shall we know, and in suchlearning perhaps we shall also be forced to eat the sourness of defeat. To risk all may be to lose all. "

"That may be true, " Ashe assented. 

"You mean the sight you have had into our future says that this happens?Yes, to stake all and to lose--not only for ourselves, but for allothers here--that is a weighty decision to make, Gordoon. But the trappromises. Let us think on it for a space. Do you also consult with theRovers if they wish to take part in what may be desperate folly. "

Torgul paced the afterdeck, well away from the tent which sheltered theFoanna, but with his eyes turning to it as Ross explained what might bea good attack. 

"Those women-killers would have no fear of Foanna magic, rather wouldthey come to seek it out? It would be a chance to catch leaders in atrap?"

"You have heard what the prisoners said or thought. Yes, they would seekout such knowledge and we would have this chance to capture them--"

"With what?" Torgul demanded. "I am not Ongal to argue that it is betterto die in pursuit of blood payment than to take an enemy or enemies withme! What chance have we against their powers?"

"Ask that of them!" Ross nodded toward the still silent tent. 

Even as he spoke the three cloaked Foanna emerged, pacing down tomid-ship where Torgul and his lieutenants, Ross and Ashe came to meetthem. 

"We have thought on this. " The lilting half chant which the Foanna usedfor ordinary communication was a song in the dawn wind. "It was in ourminds to retreat, to wait out this troubling of the land, since we arefew and that which we hold within us is worth the guarding. But now, what profit such guardianship when there may be none to whom we may passit after us? And if you have seen the truth, elder brother"--the cowledheads swung to Ashe--"then there may be no future for any of us. Butstill there are our limitations. Rover, " now they spoke directly toTorgul, "we can not put your men within the citadel by desiring--notwithout certain aids which lie sealed there now. No, we, ourselves, mustwin inside bodily and then . .. Then, perhaps, we can pull tight thelines of our net!"

"To run a cruiser through the gate--" Torgul began. 

"No, not a ship, Captain. A handful of warriors in the water can riskthe gate, but not a ship. "

Ashe broke in, "How many gill-packs do we have?"

Ross counted hurriedly. "I left one cached ashore. But there's mine andKarara's and Loketh's--also two more--"

"To pass the gates, " that was the Foanna, "we ourselves shall not needyour underwater aids. "

"You, " Ross said to Ashe, "and I with Karara's pack----"

"For Karara!"

Both the Terrans looked around. The Polynesian girl stood close to theFoanna, smiling faintly. 

"This venture is mine also, " she spoke with conviction. "As it isTino-rau's and Taua's. Is that not so, Daughters of the Alii of thisworld?"

"Yes, Sea Maid. There are weapons of many sorts, and not all of them fitinto a warrior's hand or can be swung with the force of a man's arm andshoulder. Yes, this venture is yours, also, sister. "

Ross's protests bubbled unspoken; he had to accept the finality of theFoanna decree. It seemed now that the make-up of their task forcedepended upon the whims of the three rather than the experience of thosetrained to such risks. And Ashe was apparently willing to accept theirleadership. 

So it was an odd company that took to the water just as dawn colored thesky. Loketh had clung fiercely to his pack, insisted that he be one ofthe swimmers, and the Foanna accepted him as well. Ross and Ashe, Loketh, and Baleku, a young under-officer of Ongal's, accorded the bestswimmer of the fleet, Karara and the dolphins. And with them those threeothers, shapes sliding smoothly through the water, as difficult todefine in this new element as they had been in their tent. Before themfrisked the dolphins. Tino-rau and Taua played about the Foanna in anecstatic joy and when all were in the sea they shot off shoreward. 

That sub within the sea gate, had it unleashed the same lethal broadcastas the one at Kyn Add? But the dolphins could give warning if that wereso. 

Ross swam easily, Ashe next, Loketh on his left, Baleku a little behindand Karara to the fore as if in vain pursuit of the dolphins--the Foannawell to the left. A queer invasion party, even queerer when one totaledup the odds which might lie ahead. 

There was no mist or storm this morning to hide the headlands where theFoanna citadel stood. And the promontories of the sea gate were starklyclear in the growing light. The same drive which always was a part ofRoss when he was committed to action sustained him now, though he wasvisited by a small prick of doubt when he thought that the leadershipdid not lie with Ashe but with the Foanna. 

No warning of any trouble ahead as they passed between the mighty, sea-sunk bases of the gate pillars. Ross depended upon his sonic, butthere was no adverse report from the sensitive recorder. The terriblechill of the water during the night attack had been dissipated, but hereand there dead sea things floated, being torn and devoured by hunters ofthe waves. 

They were well past the pillars when Ross was aware that Loketh hadchanged place in the line, spurting ahead. After him went Baleku. Theycaught up with Karara, flashed past her. 

Ross looked to Ashe, on to the Foanna, but saw nothing to explain theaction of the two Hawaikans. Then his sonic beat out a signal from Ashe. 

"Danger . .. Follow the Foanna . .. Left. "

Karara had already changed course to head in that direction. Ahead ofher he could see Loketh and Baleku both still bound for the mid-point ofthe shore where the jetty and the sunken cutters were. Ashe passedbefore him, and Ross reluctantly followed orders. 

A shelf of rock reached out from the cliff wall, under it a darkopening. The Foanna sought this without hesitation, Ashe, Karara, andRoss following. Moments later they were out of the water where footingsloped back and up. Below them Tino-rau and Taua nosed the rise, theirheads lifting out of the water as they "spoke. " And Karara hastened toreply. 

"Loketh . .. Baleku . .. " Ross began when he caught a mental stroke ofanger so deadly that it was a chill lance into his brain. He faced theFoanna, startled and a little frightened. 

"They will not come--now. " A knob-crowned wand stretched out in the air, pointing to the upper reaches of the slope. "Nor can any of theirblood--unless we win. "

"What is wrong?" Ashe asked. 

"You were right, very right, men out of time! These invaders are not tobe lightly dismissed. They have turned one of our own defenses againstus. Loketh, Baleku, all of their kind, can be made into tools for amaster. They belong to the enemy now. "

"And we have failed so early?" Karara wanted to know. 

Again that piercing thrust of anger so vivid that it was no mere emotionbut seemed a tangible force. 

"Failed? No, not yet have we even begun to fight! You were very right;this is such an evil as must be faced and fought, even if we lose all inbattle! Now we must do that which none of our own race has done forgenerations--we must open three locks, throw wide the Great Door, andseek out the Keeper of the Closed Knowledge!"

Light, a sharp ray sighting from the tip of the wand. And the Foannafollowing that beam, the three Terrans coming after . .. Into theunknown. 

16

The Opening of the Great Door

It was not the general airlessness of the long-closed passage which woreon Ross's nerves, made Karara suddenly reach out and clasp fingers aboutthe wrists of the two men she walked between; it was a crushingsensation of age, of a toll of years so long, so heavy, as to make timeitself into a turgid flood which tugged at their bodies, mired theirfeet as they trudged after the Foanna. This sense of age, of a dead andheavy past, was so stifling that all three Terrans breathed in gasps. 

Karara's breaths became sobs. Yet she matched her pace to Ashe and Ross, kept going. Ross himself had little idea of their surroundings, but onesmall portion of his brain asked answerless questions. The foremostbeing: Why did the past crush in on him here? He had traveled time, butnever before had he been beaten with the feel of countless dead anddying years. 

"Going back--" That hoarse whisper came from Ashe, and Ross thought heunderstood. 

"A time gate!" He was eager to accept such an explanation. Time gates hecould understand, but that the Foanna used one. .. . 

"Not our kind, " Ashe replied. 

But his words had pulled Ross out of a spell which had been as quicksandabout him. And he began to fight back with a determination not to besucked into what filled this place. In spite of Ross's efforts, his eyescould supply him with no definite impression of where they were. Theramp had led them out of the sea, but where they walked now, linked handto hand, Ross could not say. He could see the glimmer of the Foanna;turning his head he could see his companions as shadows, but all beyondthat was utter dark. 

"Ahhhh--" Karara's sobs gave way to a whisper which was half moan. "Thisis a way of gods, old gods, gods who never dealt with men! It is notwell to walk the road of the gods!"

Her fear lapped to Ross. He faced that emotion as he had faced so manydifferent kinds of fear all his life. Sure, he felt that pressure onhim, not the pressure of past centuries now--but a power beyond hisability to describe. 

"Not our gods!" Ross put his stubborn defiance into words, more as ashield against his own wavering. "No power where there is no belief!"From what half-forgotten bit of reading had he dredged that knowledge?"No being without belief!" he repeated. 

To his vast amazement he heard Ashe laugh, though the sound bordered onhysteria. 

"No belief, no power, " the older man replied. "You've speared the rightfish, Ross! No gods of ours dwell here, Karara, and whatever god doeshas no rights over us. Hold to that, girl, hold tight!"

 "Ah, ye forty thousand gods, Ye gods of sea, of sky, of woods, Of mountains, of valleys, Ye assemblies of gods, Ye elder brothers of the gods that are, Ye gods that once were, Ye that whisper. Ye that watch by night, Ye that show your gleaming eyes, Come down, awake, stir, Walk this road, walk this road!"

She was singing, first softly and then more strongly, the liquid wordsof her own tongue repeated in English as if what she strove to call shewould share with her companions. Now there was triumph in her singingand Ross found himself echoing her, "Walk this road!" as a demand. 

It was still there, all of it, the crushing weight of the past, and thatwhich brooded within that past, which had reached out for them, topossess or to alter. Only they were free of that reaching now. And theycould see too! The fuzzy darkness was lighter and there were normalwalls about them. Ross put out his free hand and rubbed finger tipsalong rough stone. 

Once more their senses were assaulted by a stealthy attack from beyondthe bounds of space and time as the walls fell away and they came outinto a wide space whose boundaries they could not see. Here that whichbrooded was strong, a mighty weight poised aloft to strike them down. 

"Come down, awake, stir. .. . " Karara's pleading sank again to a whisper, her voice sounded hoarse as if her mouth were dry, her words formed by ashrunken tongue, issued from a parched throat. 

Light spreading in channels along the floor, making a fierypattern--patterns within patterns, intricate designs within designs. Ross jerked his eyes away from those patterns. To study them was danger, he knew without being warned. Karara's nails bit into his flesh and hewelcomed that pain; it kept him alert, conscious of what was RossMurdock, holding him safely apart from something greater than he, butentirely alien. 

The designs and patterns were lines on a pavement. And now the threeFoanna, swaying as if yielding to unseen winds, began to follow thosepatterns with small dancing steps. But the Terrans remained where theywere, holding to one another for the sustaining strength their contactoffered. 

Back, forth, the Foanna danced--and once more their cloaks vanished orwere discarded, so their silver-bright figures advanced, retreated, weaving a way from one arabesque to another. First about the outer rimand then in, by spirals and circles. No light except the crimson glowingrivulets on the floor, the silver bodies of the Foanna moving back andforth, in and out. 

Then, suddenly, the three dancers halted, huddled together in an openspace between the designs. And Ross was startled by the impression ofconfusion, doubt, almost despair wafted from them to the Terrans. Backacross the patterned floor they came, their hands clasped even as theTerrans stood together, and now they fronted the three out of time. 

"Too few . .. We are too few. .. . " she who was the mid one of the triosaid. "We can not open the Great Door. "

"How many do you need?" Karara's voice was no longer parched, frightened. She might have traveled through fear to a new serenity. 

Why did he think that, Ross wondered fleetingly. Was it because he, too, had had the same release?

The Polynesian girl loosed her grip on her companions' hands, taking astep closer to the Foanna. 

"Three can be four--"

"Or five. " Ashe moved up beside her. "If we suit your purpose. "

Was Gordon Ashe crazy? Or had he fallen victim to whatever filled thisplace? Yet it was Ashe's voice, sane, serene, as Ross had always heardit. The younger Agent wet his lips; it was his turn to have a dry mouth. This was not his game; it could not be. Yet he summoned voice enough toadd in turn:

"Six--"

When it came the Foanna answer was a warning:

"To aid us you must cast aside your shields, allow your identities tobecome one with our forces. Having done so, it may be that you shallnever be as you are now but changed. "

"Changed. .. . "

The word echoed, perhaps not in the place where they stood, but inRoss's head. This was a risk such as he had never taken before. Hischances in the past had been matters of action where his own strengthand wits were matched against the problem. Here, he would open a door toforces he and his kind should not meet--expose himself to danger such asdid not exist on the plane where weapons and strength of arm coulddecide victory or defeat. 

And this was not really his fight at all. What did it matter to Terransten thousand years or so in the future what happened to Hawaikans inthis past? He was a fool; they were all fools to become embroiled inthis. The Baldies and their stellar empire--if that ever had existed asthe Terrans surmised--was long gone before his breed entered space. 

"If you accomplish this with our aid, " said Ashe, "will you be able todefeat the invaders?"

Again a lengthening moment of silence before the Foanna replied:

"We can not tell. We only know that there is a force laid up here, setbehind certain gates in the far past, upon which we may call for somesupreme effort. But this much we also know: The Evil of the Shadowreaches out from here now, and where that darkness falls men will nolonger be men but things in the guise of men who obey and follow asmindless creatures. As yet this shadow of the Shadow is a small one. Butit will spread, for that is the nature of those who have spawned it. They have chanced upon and corrupted a thing we know. Such power feedsupon the will to power. Having turned it to their bidding, they will notbe able to resist using it, for it is so easy to do and the resultsexult the nature of those who employ it. 

"You have said that you and those like you who travel the time trailsfear to change the past. Here the first steps have been taken to alterthe future, but unless we complete the defense it will be ill for all ofus. "

"And this is your only weapon?" Ashe asked once more. 

"The only one strong enough to stand against that which is nowunleashed. "

In the pavement the fiery lines were bright and glowing. Even when Rossshut his eyes, parts of those designs were still visible against hiseyelids. 

"We don't know how. " He made a last feeble protest on the side ofprudence. "We couldn't move as you did. "

"Apart, no--together, yes. "

The silvery figures were once more swaying, the mist which was theirhair flowing about them. Karara's hands went out, and the slenderfingers of one of the Foanna lifted, closed about firm, brown Terranflesh. Ashe was doing the same!

Ross thought he cried out, but he could not be sure, as he watchedKarara's head begin to sway in concert with her Foanna partner, herblack hair springing out from her shoulders to rival the ripplingstrands of the alien's. Ashe was consciously matching steps with thecompanion who also drew him along a flowing line of fire. 

In this last instant Ross realized the time for retreat was past--therewas no place left to go. His hands went out, though he had to force thatinvitation because in him there was a shrinking horror of thissurrender. But he could not let the others go without him. 

The Foanna's touch was cool, and yet it seemed that flesh met his flesh, fingers as normal as his met fingers in that grasp. And when that holdwas complete he gave a small gasp. For his horror was wiped away; heknew in its place a burst of energy which could be disciplined to use asa weapon or a tool in concentrated and complicated action. His feet so. .. And then so. .. . Did those directions flow without words from theFoanna's fingers to his and then along his nerves to his brain? He onlyknew which was the proper next step, and the next, and the next, as theywove their way along the pattern lines, with their going adding anecessary thread to a design. 

Forward four steps, backward one--in and out. Did Ross actually hearthat sweet thrumming, akin to the lilting speech of the Foanna, or wasit a throbbing in his blood? In and out. .. . What had become of theothers he did not know; he was aware only of his own path, of the handin his, of the silvery shape at his side to whom he was now tied as ifone of the Rover capture nets enclosed them both. 

The fiery lines under his feet were smoking, tendrils rising andtwisting as the hair of the Foanna rippled and twisted. And the smokeclung, wreathed his body. They moved in a cocoon of smoke, thicker andthicker, until Ross could not even see the Foanna who accompanied him, was only assured of her presence by the hand which grasped his. 

And a small part of him clung desperately to the awareness of that claspas an anchorage against what might come, a tie between the world ofreality and the place into which he was passing. 

How did one find words to describe this? Ross wondered with that part ofhim which remained stubbornly Ross Murdock, Terran Time Agent. Hethought that he did not see with his eyes, hear with his ears but usedother senses his own kind did not recognize nor acknowledge. 

Space . .. Not a room . .. A cave-anything made by normal nature. Spacewhich held something. 

Pure energy? His Terran mind strove to give name to that which wasnameless. Perhaps it was that spark of memory and consciousness whichgave him that instant of "Seeing. " Was it a throne? And on it ashimmering figure? He was regarded intently, measured, and--set aside. 

There were questions or a question he could not hear, and perhaps ananswer he would never be able to understand. Or had any of this happenedat all?

Ross crouched on a cold floor, his head hanging, drained of energy, ofall that feeling of power and well-being he had had when they had beguntheir dance across the symbols. About him those designs still gloweddully. When he looked at them too intently his head ached. He couldalmost understand, but the struggle was so exhausting he winced at theeffort. 

"Gordon--?"

There was no clasp on his hand; he was alone, alone between two glowingarabesques. That loneliness struck at him with the sharpness of a blow. His head came up; frantically he stared about him in search of hiscompanions. "Gordon!" His plea and demand in one was answered:

"Ross?"

On his hands and knees, Ross used the rags of his strength to crawl inthat direction, stopping now and then to shade his eyes with his hands, to peer through the cracks between his fingers for some sight of Ashe. 

There he was, sitting quietly, his head up as if he were listening, orstriving to listen. His cheeks were sunken; he had the drained, wornlook of a man strained to the limit of physical energy. Yet there was aquiet peace in his face. Ross crawled on, put out a hand to Ashe's armas if only by touching the other could he be sure he was not anillusion. And Ashe's fingers came up to cover the younger man's in agrasp as tight as the Foanna's hold had been. 

"We did it; together we did it, " Ashe said. "But where--why--?"

Those questions were not aimed at him, Ross knew. And at that moment theyounger man did not care where they had been, what they had done. It wasenough that his terrible loneliness was gone, that Ashe was here. 

Still keeping his hold on Ross, Ashe turned his head and called into thewilderness of the symbol-glowing space about them, "Karara?"

She came to them, not crawling, not wrung almost dry of spirit andstrength, but on her two feet. About her shoulders her dark hair wavedand spun--or was it dark now? Along those strands there seemed to bethreaded motes of light, giving a silvery sheen which was a faint echoof the Foanna's tresses. And was it only his bemused and bewilderedsight, Ross mused, or was her skin fairer?

Karara smiled down at them and held out her hands, offering one to each. When they took them Ross knew again that surge of energy he had feltwhen he had followed the Foanna into the maze dance. 

"Come! There is much to do. "

He could not be mistaken; her voice held the singing lilt of the Foanna. Somehow she had crossed some barrier to become a paler, perhaps alesser, but still a copy of the three aliens. Was this what they hadmeant when they warned of a change which might come to those whofollowed them into the ritual of this place?

Ross looked from the girl to Ashe with searching intensity. No, he couldsee no outward change in Gordon. And he felt none within himself. 

"Come!" Some of Karara's old impetuousness returned as she tugged atthem, urging them to their feet and drawing them with her. She appearedto know where they must go, and both men followed her guidance. 

Once more they came out of the weird and alien into the normal, for herewere the rock walls of a passage running up at an angle which became sosteep they were forced to pull along by handholds hollowed in the walls. 

"Where are we going?" Ashe asked. 

"To cleanse. " Karara's answer was ambiguous, and she sped along hardlytouching the handholds. "But hurry!"

They finished their climb and were in another corridor where patches ofsunlight came through a pierced wall to dazzle their eyes. This wassimilar to the way which had run beside the courtyard in Zahur's castle. 

Ross looked out of the first opening down into a courtyard. But whereZahur's had held the busy life of a castle, this was silent. Silent, butnot deserted. There were men below, armed, helmed. He recognized theuniform of the Wrecker warriors, saw one or two who wore the gray of theFoanna servants. They stood in lines, unmoving, without speech amongthemselves, men who might have been frozen into immobility and arrangedso for some game in which they were the voiceless, will-less pieces. 

And their immobility was a thing to arouse fear. Were they dead andstill standing?

"Come!" Karara's voice had sunk to a whisper and her hand pulled at themen. 

"What--?" began Ross. 

Ashe shook his head. Those rows below drawn up as if in order to march, unliving rows. They could not be alive as the Terrans knew life!

Ross left his vantage point, ready to follow Karara. But he could notblot from his mind the picture of those lines, nor forget the terribleblankness which made their faces more unhuman, more frightenly alienthan those of the Foanna. 

17

Shades Against Shadow

The corridor ended in a narrow slit of room, and the wall before themwas not the worked stone of the citadel but a single slab of whatappeared to be glass curdled into creamy ridges and depressions. 

Here were the Foanna, their robes once more cloaking them. Each held, point out, one of the rods. They moved slowly but with the precisegestures of those about a demanding and very important task as theytraced each depression in the wall before them with the wand points. Down, up, around . .. As their feet had moved in the dance pattern, sonow their wands moved to cover each line. 

"Now!"

The wands dropped points to the floor. The Foanna moved equidistant fromone another. Then, as one, the rods were lifted vertically, brought downtogether with a single loud tap. 

On the wall the blue lines they had traced with such care darkened, melted. The glassy slab shivered, shattered, fell outward in a lace offragments. So the narrow room became a balcony above a large chamber. 

Below a platform ran the full length of that hall, and on it weremounted a line of oval disks. These had been turned to different anglesand each reflected light, a ray beam directed at them from a machinewhose metallic casing, projecting antennae, was oddly out of place here. 

Once more the three staffs of the Foanna raised as one in the air. Thistime, from the knobs held out over the hall blazed, not the usual whirlof small sparks, but strong beams of light--blue light darkening as itpierced downward until it became thrusting lines of almost tangiblesubstance. 

When those blue beams struck the nearest ovals they webbed with lineswhich cracked wide open. Shattered bits tinkled down to the platform. There was a stir at the end of the hall where the machine stood. Figuresran into plain sight. Baldies! Ross cried out a warning as he saw thosestar men raise weapon tubes aimed at the perch on which the Foannastood. 

Fire crackling with the speed and sound of lightning lashed up at thebalcony. The lances of light met the spears of dark, and there was aflash which blinded Ross, a sound which split open the whole world. 

The Terran's eyes opened, not upon darkness but on dazzling light, flashes of it which tore over him in great sweeping arcs. Dazed, sick, he tried to press his prone body into the unyielding surface on which helay. But there was no way of burrowing out of this wild storm of lightand clashing sound. Now under him the very fabric of the floor rockedand quivered as if it were being shaken apart into crumbling rubble. 

All the will and ability to move was gone. Ross could only lie there andendure. What had happened, he did not know save that what raged abouthim now was a warring of inimical forces, perhaps both feeding on eachother even as they strove for mastery. 

The play of rays resembled sword blades crossing, fencing. Ross threwhis arm over his eyes to shut out the intolerable brilliance of thatthrust and counter. His body tingled and winced as the whirlwind ofenergy clashed and reclashed. He was beaten, stupid, as a man pinneddown too long under a heavy shelling. 

How did it end? In one terrific thunderclap of sound and blasting power?And when did it end--hours . .. Days later? Time was a thing set apartfrom this. Ross lay in the quiet which his body welcomed thirstily. Thenhe was conscious of the touch of wind on his face, wind carrying thehint of sea salt. 

He opened his eyes and saw above him a patch of clouded sky. Shakily helevered himself up on his elbows. There were no complete walls any more, just jagged points of masonry, broken teeth set in a skull's jawbone. Open sky, dark clouds spattering rain. 

"Gordon? Karara?" Ross's voice was a thin whisper. He licked his lipsand tried again:

"Gordon!"

Had there been an answering whimper? Ross crawled into a hollow betweentwo fallen blocks. A pool of water? No, it was the cloak of one of theFoanna spread out across the flooring in this fragment of room. ThenRoss saw that Ashe was there, the cloaked figure braced against theTerran's shoulder as he half supported, half embraced the Foanna. 

"Ynvalda!" Ashe called that with an urgency which was demanding. Now theFoanna moved, raising an arm in the cloak's flowing sleeve. 

Ross sat back on his heels. 

"Ross--Ashe?" He turned his head. Karara stood here, then came forward, planting her feet with care, her hands outstretched, her eyes wide andunseeing. Ross pulled himself up and went to her, finding that the oncesolid floor seemed to dip and sway under him, until he, too, mustbalance and creep. His hands closed on her shoulders and he pulled herto him in mutual support. 

"Gordon?"

"Over there. You all right?"

"I think so. " Her voice was weak. "The Foanna . .. Ynlan . .. Ynvalda--"Steadying herself against him, she tried to look around. 

The place which had once been a narrow room, then a balcony, was now aperch above stomach-turning space. The hall of the oval mirrors wasgone, having disappeared into a hollow the depths of which were veiledby a vapor which boiled and bubbled as if, far below, some huge caldronhung above a blazing fire. 

Karara cried out and Ross drew her back from that drop. He wasclearer-headed now and looked about for some way down from this doubtfulperch. Of the other two Foanna there was no sign. Had they been suckedup and out in the inferno they had created with their unleashing ofenergy against the Baldies' installation?

"Ross--look!" Karara's cry, her upflung arm directed his attentionaloft. 

Under the sullen gathering of the storm a sphere arose as a bubble mightseek the surface of a pool before breaking. A ship--a Baldy ship takingoff from the ruined citadel! So some of the enemy had survived thattrial of strength!

The globe was small, a scout used for within-atmosphere exploration, Ross judged. It arose first, and then moved inland, fleeing thegathering storm, to be out of sight in moments. Inland, where themountain base of the invaders was reputed to be. Retreating? Or bound togather reinforcements?

"Baldies?" Karara asked. 

"Yes. "

She wiped her hand across her face, smearing dust and grime on hercheeks. As raindrops pattered about them, Ross drew the girl with himinto the alcove where Ashe sheltered with the Foanna. The cowled alienwas sitting up, her hand still gripping one of the wands, now ahalf-melted ruin. 

Ashe glanced at them as if for the first time he remembered they mightbe there. 

"Baldy ship just took off inland, " Ross told him. "We didn't see eitherof the other Foanna. "

"They have gone to do what is to be done, " Ashe's companion replied. "Sosome of the enemy fled. Well, perhaps they have learned one lesson, notto meddle with others' devices. Ahh, so much gone which will never comeagain! Never again--"

She held up the half-melted wand, turning it back and forth before her, before she cast it away. It flew out, up, then dropped into the caldronof the hall which had been. A gust of rain, cold, chilling the lightlyclad Terrans, swept across them. 

The Foanna was helped to her feet by Ashe. For a moment she turnedslowly, giving a lingering look to the ruins. Then she spoke: "Brokenstone holds no value. Take hands, my brothers, my sister, it is time wego hence. "

Karara's hand in Ross's right, Ashe's in his left, and both linked toYnvalda in turn. Then--they were indeed elsewhere, in a courtyard wherebodies lay flaccid under the drenching downpour of the rain. And movingamong those bodies were the two other Foanna, bending to examine one manafter another. Perhaps over one in three they so inspected they heldconsultation before a wand was used in tracing certain portions of thebody between them. When they were finished, that man stirred, moaned, showed signs of life once more. 

"Rosss--!" From behind a tumbled wall crept a Hawaikan who did not wearthe guard armor of the others. Gill-pack, flippers, diver's belt, hadbeen stripped from him. There was a bleeding gash down the side of hisface, and he held his left arm against his body, supported by his righthand. 

"Baleku!"

The Rover pulled himself up to his feet and stood swaying. Ross reachedhim quickly to catch him as he slumped forward. 

"Loketh?" the Terran asked. 

"The women-killers took him. " Somehow the Rover got that out as Rosshalf supported, half led him to where the Foanna were gathering thosethey had been able to revive. "They wanted to learn"--Baleku wasobviously making a great effort to tell his story--"about . .. Aboutwhere we came from . .. Where we got the packs. "

"So now they will know of us, or will if they get the story out ofLoketh. " Ashe worked with Ross to splint the Rover's broken arm. "Howmany of them were here, Baleku?"

The Rover's head moved slowly from side to side. "I do not know intruth. It is--was--like a dream. I was in the water swimming through thesea gate. Then suddenly I was in another place where those from thestars waited about me. They had our packs and belts and these theyshowed us, demanding to know whereof these were. Loketh was like onedeep in sleep and they left him so when they questioned me. Then therecame a great noise and the floor under us shook, lightning flashedthrough the air. Two of the women-killers ran from the room and all ofthem were greatly excited. They took up Loketh and carried him away, with him the packs and other things. And I was left alone, though Icould not move--as if they had left me in a net I could not see. 

"More and more were the flashes. Then one of those slayers of womenstood in the doorway. He raised his hand, and my feet were free, but Icould not move otherwise than to follow after him. We came along a halland into this court where men stood unstirring, although stones fellfrom the walls upon some of them and the ground shook--"

Baleku's voice grew shriller, his words ran together. "The one whopulled me after him by his will--he cried out and put his hands to hishead. Back and forth he ran, bumping into the standing men, and oncerunning into a wall as if he were blinded. And then he was gone and Iwas alone. There was more falling stone and one struck my shoulder so Iwas thrown to the ground. There I lay until you came. "

"So few--out of many so few--" One of the Foanna stood beside them, hercloak streaming with the falling rain. "And for these"--she faced thelines of those they had not revived--"there was no chance. They died ashelplessly as if they went into a meeting of swords with their armsbound to their sides! Evil have we wrought here. "

Ashe shook his head. "Evil has been wrought here, Ynlan, but not by yourseeking. And those who died here helplessly may be only a small portionof those yet to be sacrificed. Have you forgotten the slaughter at KynAdd and those other fairings where women and children were also struckdown to serve some purpose we do not even yet know?"

"Lady, Great One--" Baleku struggled to sit up and Ross slipped an armbehind him in aid. "She for whom I made a bride-cup was meat for them atKyn Add, along with many others. If these slayers are not put to thesword's edge, there will be other fairings so used. And these Shadowones possess a magic to draw men to them helplessly to be killed. GreatOne, you have powers; all men know that wind and wave obey your call. Doyou now use your magic! It is better to fall with a power we know, thananswer such spells as those killers have netted about the men here!"

"This is one weapon which they shall not use again. " Ynvalda rose from astone block where she had been sitting. "And perhaps in its way it wasone of the most dangerous. But in defeating it we have by so muchweakened ourselves also. And the strong place of these star men lies noton the coast, but inland. They will be warned by those who fled thisplace. Wind and wave, yes, those have served our purpose in the past. But now perhaps we have found that which our power will not best!Only--for this"--her gesture was for the ruins of the citadel and thedead--"there shall be a payment exacted--to the height of our desire!"

Whether the Foanna did have any control over the storm winds or not, thepresent deluge appeared not to accommodate them. The dazed, injuredsurvivors of the courtyard were brought to shelter in some of theunderground passages. 

There appeared to be no other reminders of the Wrecker force which hadearlier besieged the keep than those survivors. But within hours some ofthose who had served the Foanna for generations returned. And the Foannathemselves opened the sea gates so that the Rover cruisers anchored inthe small bay below their ruined walls. 

A small force, and one ill-equipped to go up against the Baldies. Somefive star men's bodies had been found in the citadel, but the ship hadgone off to warn their base. To Ross's thinking the advantage still laywith the invaders. 

But the Hawaikans refused to accept the idea that the odds were againstthem. As soon as the storm blew out its force Ongal's cruiser headednorthwest to other clan fairings where the Rovers could claim kinship. And Afrukta sailed on the same errand south. While some of the Wreckerswere released to carry the warning to their lords. Just how great aforce could be gathered through such means and how effective it wouldbe, was a question to make the Terrans uneasy. 

Karara disappeared with the Foanna into the surviving innercliff-burrows below the citadel. But Ashe and Ross remained with Torguland his officers, striving to bring organization out of the chaos aboutthem. 

"We must know just where their lair lies, " Torgul stated the obvious. "The mountains you believe, and they can fly in sky ships to and fromthat point. Well"--he spread out a chart--"here are the mountains onthis island, running so. An army marching hither could be sighted fromsky ships. Also, there are many mountains. Which is the one or ones wemust seek? It may take many tens of days to find that place, while theywill always know where we are, watch us from above, prepare for ourcoming--"

Again Ross mentally paid tribute to the Captain's quick grasp ofessentials. 

"You have a solution, Captain?" Ashe asked. 

"There is the river--here--" Torgul said reflectively. "Perhaps I thinkin terms of water because I am a sailor. But here it does run, and forthis far along it our cruisers may ascend. " He pointed with his fingertip. "This lies, however, in Glicmas's land, and he is now the mightiestof the Wrecker lords, his sword always drawn against us. I do notbelieve that we could talk him into----"

"Glicmas!" Ross interrupted. They both looked at him inquiringly, and herepeated Loketh's story of the Wrecker lord who had had dealings with a"voice from the mountain" and so gained the wrecking devices to make himthe dominant lord of the district. 

"So!" Torgul exclaimed. "That is the evil of this Shadow in themountains! No, under those circumstances I do not think we shall talkGlicmas into furthering any raid against those who have made him greatover his fellows. Rather will he turn against us in their cause. "

"And if we do not use the cruisers up the river"--Ashe conned themap--"then perhaps a small party or parties working overland couldstrike the stream here, nearer to the uplands. "

Torgul frowned at the map. "I do not think so. Even small parties movingin that direction would be sighted by Glicmas's people. The more so ifthey headed inland. He will not wish to share his secrets with others. "

"But, say--a party of Foanna. "

The Captain glanced up swiftly to favor Ashe with a keen regard. "Thenhe would not dare. No, I am sure he would not dare to interfere. Not yethas he risen high enough to turn the hook of his sword against them. Butwould the Foanna do so?"

"If not the Foanna, then others wearing like robes, " Ashe said slowly. 

"Others wearing like robes?" repeated Torgul. Now his frown was heavy. "No man would take on the guise of the Foanna; he would be blasted bytheir power for so doing. If the Foanna will lead us in their persons, then we shall follow gladly, knowing that their magic will be with us. "

"There is also this, " Ross broke in. "The Baldies have the gill-packsthey took from Baleku and Loketh, and they have Loketh. They will wantto learn more about us. We hoped that the citadel would provide bait todraw them and it did. That our plan for a trap there was spoiled was illfortune. But I am sure that if the Baldies believe we are coming tothem, they will hold off an all-out attack against our march, hoping togather us in intact. They'd risk that. "

Ashe nodded. "I agree. We are the unknown they must solve now. And thismuch I am sure of--the future of this world and her people balances on avery narrow line of choice. It is my hope that such a choice is still tobe made. "

Torgul smiled thinly. "We live in perilous times when the Shades requireour swords to go up against the Shadow!"

18

World in Doubt?

The day was dully overcast as all days had been since they had begunthis sulk-and-march penetration into the mountain territory. Ross couldnot accept the idea that the Foanna might actually command wind andwave, storm and sun, as the Hawaikans firmly believed, but the gloomyweather _had_ favored them so far. And now they had reached the lastbreathing point before they took the plunge into the heart of the enemycountry. About the way in which they were to make that plunge, Ross hadhis own plan. One he did not intend to share with either Ashe or Karara. Though he had had to outline it to the one now waiting here with him. 

"This is still your mind, younger brother?"

He did not turn his head to look at the cloaked figure. "It is still mymind!" Ross could be firm on that point. 

The Terran backed out of the vantage place from which he had beenstudying the canyonlike valley cupping the Baldy spaceship. Now he gotto his feet and faced Ynlan, his own gray cloak billowing out in thewind to reveal the Rover scale armor underneath. 

"You can do it for me?" he asked in turn. During the past days theFoanna had admitted that the weird battle within the citadel hadweakened and limited their "magic. " Last night they had detected a forcebarrier ahead and to transport the whole party through that bytelaporting was impossible. 

"Yes, you alone. Then my wand would be drained for a space. But what canyou do within their hold, save be meat for their taking?"

"There can not be too many of them left there. That's a small ship. Theylost five at the citadel, and the Rovers have three prisoners. No signof the scout ship we know they have--so more of them must be gone in it. I won't be facing an army. And what they have in the way of weapons maybe powered by installations in the ship. A lot of damage done there. Oreven if the ship lifted--" He was not sure of what he could do; this wasa venture depending largely on improvisation at the last moment. 

"You propose to send off the ship?"

"I don't know whether that is possible. No, perhaps I can only attracttheir attention, break through the force shield so the rest may attack. "

Ross knew that he must attempt this independent action, that in order toremain the Ross Murdock he had always been, he must be an actor not aspectator. 

The Foanna did not argue with him now. "Where--?" Her long sleeverippled as she gestured to the canyon. Dull as the skies were overhead, there was light here--too much of it for his purpose as the ground aboutthe ship was open. To appear there might be fatal. 

Ross was grasped by another and much more promising idea. The Foanna hadtransported them all to the deck of Torgul's cruiser after asking him topicture it for her mentally. And to all outward appearances the Baldyship before them now was twin to the one which had taken him once on afantastic voyage across a long-vanished stellar empire. Such a ship heknew!

"Can you put me in the ship?"

"If you have a good memory of it, yes. But how know you these ships?"

"I was in one once for many days. If these are alike, then I know itwell!"

"And if this is unlike, to try such may mean your death. "

He had to accept her warning. Yet outwardly this ship was a duplicate. And before he had voyaged on the derelict he had also explored a Wreckerfreighter on his own world thousands of years before his own race hadevolved. There was one portion of both ships which had beenidentical--save for size--and that part was the best for his purpose. 

"Send me--here!"

With closed eyes, Ross produced a mental picture of the control cabin. Those seats which were not really seats but webbing support swingingbefore banks of buttons and levers; all the other installations he hadwatched, studied, until they were as known to him as the plate bulkheadsof the cabin below in which he had slept. Very vivid, that memory. Hefelt the touch of the Foanna's cool fingers on his forehead--then it wasgone. He opened his eyes. 

No more wind and gloom, he stood directly behind the pilot's web-sling, facing a vista-plate and rows of controls, just as he had stood so manytimes in the derelict. He had made it! This was the control cabin of thespacer. And it was alive--the faint thrumming in the air, the play oflights on the boards. 

Ross pulled the cowl of his Foanna cloak up over his head. He had haddays to accustom himself to the bulk of the robe, but still itsswathings were sometimes a hindrance rather than a help. Slowly heturned. There were no Baldies here, but the well door to the lowerlevels was open, and from it came small sounds echoing up thecommunication ladder. The ship was occupied. 

Not for the first time since he had started on this venture Ross wishedfor more complete information. Doubtless several of those buttons orlevers before him controlled devices which could be the greatest aid tohim now. But which and how he did not know. Once in just such a cabin hehad meddled and, in activating a long silent installation, had calledthe attention of the Baldies to their wrecked ship, to the Terranslooting it. Only by the merest chance had the vengeance of the stellarspacemen fallen then on the Russian investigators and not on his ownpeople. 

He knew better than to touch anything before the pilot's station, butthe banks of controls to one side were concerned with the innerwell-being of the ship--and they tempted him. To go it blind was, however, more of a risk than he dared take. There was one futureprecaution for him. 

From a very familiar case beside the pilot's seat Ross gathered up acollection of disks, sorted through them hastily for one which bore acertain symbol on its covering. There was only one of those. Slappingthe rest back into their container, Ross pressed a button on the controlboard. 

Again his guess paid off! Another disk was exposed as a small panel slidback. Ross clawed that out of the holder, put in its place the one hehad found. Now, if his choice had been correct, the crew who took off inthis ship, unless they checked their route tape first, would findthemselves heading to another primitive planet and not returning tobase. Perhaps exhaustion of fuel might ground them past hope of everregaining their home port again. Next to damaging the ship, which hecould not do, this was the best thing to assure that any enemy leavingHawaika would not speedily return with a second expeditionary force. 

Ross dropped the route disk he had taken out into a pocket on his belt, to be destroyed when he had the chance. Now he catfooted across the deckto look into the well and listen. 

The walls glowed with a diffused light. From here the Terran could countat least four levels under him, with perhaps another. The bottom twoought to be supplies and general storage. Then the engine room, techlabs above, and next to the control cabin the living quarters. 

Through the fabric of the ship, shivering up his body from the soles ofhis feet, he could feel the vibration of engines at work. One such mustcontrol the force field which ringed this canyon, perhaps even poweredthe weapons the invaders could turn against any assault. 

Ross whirled about, his Foanna cloak in a wide swing. There was onecontrol which he knew. Yes, again the board was the same as the one hewas familiar with. His hand plunged out and down, raking the lever fromone measure point to the very end of the slit in which it moved. Then heplanted himself with his back to the wall. Whoever came up the wellhunting the cause for the failure would be facing the other way. Rosscrouched a little, pushing the cape well back on his shoulders to freehis arms. There was a feline suppleness in his stance just as a junglecat might wait coming of its prey. 

What he heard was a shout below, the click of foot-gear on the rungs ofthe level ladder. Ross's lips drew back in a snarl which was alsofeline. He thought that would do it! Spacemen were ultra-sensitive toany failure in air flow. 

White head, bare of any hair, thin shoulders a little hunched under theblue-green-lavender stuff of the Baldies' uniforms. .. . Head turning nowso that the eyes could see the necessary switch. An exclamation from thealien and--

But the Baldy never had a chance to complete that turn, look behind him. Ross sprang and struck with the side of his hand. The hairless headsnapped forward. His hands already hooked in the other's armpits, theTerran heaved the alien up and over onto the deck of the control cabin. It was only when he was about to bind his captive that Ross discoveredthe Baldy was dead. A blow calculated to stun the alien had been toosevere. Breathing a little faster, the Terran rolled the body back andhoisted it into the navigator's swing-seat, fastening it with thetake-off belts. One down--how many left?

He had little time to wonder, for before he could reach the well onceagain there was a call from below--sharp and demanding. The Terransearched his victim, but the Baldy was unarmed. 

Again a shout. Then silence--too complete a silence. How could they haveguessed trouble so quickly. Unless, unless the Baldies' mentalcommunication had been at work . .. They might even now know their fellowwas dead. 

But not how he died. Ross was prepared to grant the Baldies super-Terranabilities, but he did not see how they could know what had happenedhere. They could only suspect danger, not know the form it had taken. And sooner or later one of them must come to adjust the switch. Thiscould be a duel of patience. 

Ross squatted at the edge of the well, trying to make his ears supplyhim with hints of what might be happening below. Had there been analteration in the volume of vibration? He set his palm flat to the deck, tried to deduce the truth. But he could not be sure. That there had beensome slight change he was certain. 

They could not wait much longer without making an attempt to reopen theair-supply regulator, or could they? Again Ross was hampered by lack ofinformation. Perhaps the Baldies did not need the same amount of oxygenhis own kind depended upon. And if that were true, Ross could be thefirst to suffer in playing a waiting game. Well, air was not the onlything he could cut off from here, though it had been the first and mostimportant to his mind. Ross hesitated. Two-edged weapons cut in bothdirections. But he had to force a countermove from them. He pulledanother switch. The control cabin, the whole of the ship, was plungedinto darkness. 

No sound from below this time. Ross pictured the interior layout of theships he had known. Two levels down to reach the engine room. Could hedescend undetected? There was only one way to test that--try it. 

He pulled the Foanna cloak about him, was several rungs down on theladder when the glow in the walls came on. An emergency switch? With aforward scramble, Ross swung into one of the radiating side corridors. The sliding-door panels along it were all closed; he could detect nosounds behind them. But the vibration in the ship's walls had returnedto its steady beat. 

Now the Terran realized the folly of his move. He was more securelytrapped here than he had been in the control cabin. There was only oneway out, up or down the ladder, and the enemy could have that underobservation from below. All they would need to do was to use a flamer ora paralyzing ray such as the one he had turned over to Ashe several daysago. 

Ross inched along to the stairwell. A faint pad of movement, a shadow ofsound from the ladder. Someone on the way up. Could they mentally detecthim, know him for an alien intruder by the broadcast of his thoughts?The Baldies had a certain respect for the Foanna and might desire totake one alive. He drew the robe about him, used it to muffle his figurecompletely as the true wearers did. 

But the figure pulling painfully up from rung to rung was no Baldy. Thelean Hawaikan arms, the thin Hawaikan face, drawn of feature, painfullyblank of expression--Loketh--under the same dread spell as had held thewarriors in the citadel courtyard. Could the aliens be using thisHawaikan captive as a defense shield, moving up behind him?

Loketh's head turned, those blank eyes regarded Ross. And their depthswere troubled, recognition of a sort returning. The Hawaikan threw upone hand in a beseeching gesture and then went to his knees in thecorridor. 

"Great One! Great One!" The words came from his lips in a breathy hissas he groveled. Then his body went flaccid, and he sprawled face down, his twisted leg drawn up as if he would run but could not. 

"Foanna!" The one word came out of the walls themselves, or so itseemed. 

"Foanna--the wise learn what lies before them when they walk alone inthe dark. " The Hawaikan speech was stilted, accented, butunderstandable. 

Ross stood motionless. Had they somehow seen him through Loketh's eyes?Or had they been alerted merely by the Hawaikan's call? They believed hewas one of the Foanna. Well, he would play that role. 

"Foanna!" Sharper this time, demanding. "You lie in our hand. Let usclasp the fingers tightly and you shall be naught. "

Out of somewhere the words Karara had chanted in the Foanna temple cameto Ross--not in her Polynesian tongue but in the English she hadrepeated. And softening his voice to his best approximation of theFoanna singsong Ross sang:

 "Ye forty thousand gods, Ye gods of sea, of sky--of stars, " he improvised. "Ye elders of the gods that are, Ye gods that once were, Ye that whisper, yet that watch by night, Ye that show your gleaming eyes. "

"Foanna!" The summons was on the ragged edge of patience. "Your trickswill not move our mountains!"

"Ye gods of mountains, " Ross returned, "of valleys, of Shades and notthe Shadow, " he wove in the beliefs of this world, too. "Walk now thisworld, between the stars!" His confidence was growing. And there was nouse in remaining pent in this corridor. He would have to chance thatthey were not prepared to kill summarily one of the Foanna. 

Ross went to the well, went down the ladder slowly, keeping his robeabout him. Here at the next level there was a wider space about theopening, and three door panels. Behind one must be those he sought. Hewas buoyed up by a curious belief in himself, almost as if wearing thisrobe did give him in part the power attributed to the Foanna. 

He laid his hand on the door to his right and sent it snapping back intoits frame, stepped inside as if he entered here by right. 

There were three Baldies. To his Terran eyes they were all superficiallyalike, but the one seated on a control stool had a cold arrogance in hisexpression, a pitiless half smile which made Ross face him squarely. TheTerran longed for one of the Foanna staffs and the ability to use it. Tospray that energy about this cabin might reduce the Baldy defenses tonothing. But now two of the paralyzing tubes were trained on him. 

"You have come to us, Foanna, what have you to offer?" demanded thecommander, if that was his rank. 

"Offer?" For the first time Ross spoke. "There is no reason for theFoanna to make any offer, slayer of women and children. You have comefrom the stars to take, but that does not mean we choose to give. "

He felt it now, that inner pulling, twisting in his mind, the willingwhich was their more subtle weapon. Once they had almost bent him withthat willing because then he had worn their livery, a spacesuit takenfrom the wrecked freighter. Now he did not have that chink in hisdefense. And all that stubborn independence and determination to behimself alone resisted the influence with a fierce inner fire. 

"We offer life to you, Foanna, freedom of the stars. These other dirtcreepers are nothing to you, why take you weapons in their cause? Youare not of the same race. "

"Nor are you!" Ross's hands moved under the envelope of the robe, unloosing the two hidden clasps which held it. That bank of controlsbefore which the commander sat--to silence that would cause trouble. Andhe depended upon Ynlan. The Rovers should now be massed at either end ofthe canyon waiting for the force field to fail and let them in. 

Ross steadied himself, poised for action. "We have something for you, star men--" he tried to hold their attention with words, "have you notheard of the power of the Foanna--that they can command wind and wave?That they can be where they were not in a single movement of the eyelid?And this is so--behold!"

It was the oldest trick in the world, perhaps on any planet. But becauseit was so old maybe it had been forgotten by the aliens. For, as Rosspointed, those heads did turn for an instant. 

He was in the air, the robe gathered in his arms wide spread as batwings. And then they crashed in a tangle which bore them all backagainst the controls. Ross strove to enmesh them in the robe, using thepressure of his body to slam them all on the buttons and levers of theboard. Whether that battering would accomplish his purpose, he could nottell. But that he had only these few seconds torn out of time to try, heknew, and determined to use them as best he could. 

One of the Baldies had slithered down to the floor and another wasaiming strangely ineffectual blows at him. But the third had wriggledfree to bring up a paralyzer. Ross slewed around, dragging the alien heheld across his body just as the other fired. But though the fighterwent limp and heavy in Ross's hold, the Terran's own right arm fell tohis side, his upper chest was numb, and his head felt as if one of theRover's boarding axes had clipped it. Ross reeled back and fell, hisleft hand raking down the controls as he went. Then he lay on the cabinfloor and saw the convulsed face of the commander above him, a paralyzeraiming at his middle. 

To breathe was an effort Ross found torture to endure. The red haze inhis head filled all the world. Pain--he strove to flee the pain but washeld captive in it. And always the pressure on him kept that agonysteady. 

"Let . .. Be. .. . " He wanted to scream that. Perhaps he had, but thepressure continued. Then he forced his eyes open. Ashe--Ashe and one ofthe Foanna bending over him, Ashe's hands on his chest, pressing, relaxing, pressing again. 

"It is good--" He knew Ynvalda's voice. Her hand rested lightly on hisforehead and from that touch Ross drew again the quickening of body andspirit he had felt on the dancing floor. 

"How--?" He began and then changed to--"Where--?" For this was not theengine room of the spacer. He lay in the open, with sweet, rain-wet windfilling his starved lungs now without Ashe's force aid. 

"It is over, " Ashe told him, "all over--for now. "

But not until the sun reached the canyon hours later and they sat incouncil, did Ross learn all the tale. Just as he had made his own planfor reaching the spacer, so had Ashe, Karara, and the dolphins worked ona similar attempt. The river running deep in those mountain gorges hadprovided a road for the dolphins and they found beneath its surface anentrance past the force barrier. 

"The Baldies were so sure of their superiority on this primitive worldthey set no guards save that field, " Ashe explained. "We slipped throughfive swimmers to reach the ship. And then the field went down, thanks toyou. "

"So I did help--that much. " Ross grinned wryly. What had he proven byhis sortie? Nothing much. But he was not sorry he had made it. For thevery fact he had done it on his own had eased in part that small achewhich was in him now when he looked at Ashe and remembered how it hadonce been. Ashe might be--always would be--his friend, but the oldtight-locking comradeship of the Project was behind them, vanished likethe time gate. 

"And what will you do with them?" Ross nodded toward the captives, thethree from the ship, two more taken from the small scouting globe whichhad homed to find their enemies ready for them. 

"We wait, " Ynvalda said, "for those on the Rover ship to be broughthither. By our laws they deserve death. "

The Rovers at that council nodded vigorously, all save Torgul and Jazia. The Rover woman spoke first. 

"They bear the Curse of Phutka heavy on them. To live under such a curseis worse than a clean, quick dying. Listen, it has come upon me thatbetter this curse not only eat them up but be carried by them to rotthose who sent them--"

Together the Foanna nodded. "There has been enough of killing, " saidYnlan. "No, warriors, we do not say this because we shrink from rightfuldeaths. But Jazia speaks the truth in this matter. Let these depart. Perhaps they will bear that with them which will convince their leadersthat this is not a world they may squeeze in their hands as one crushesa ripe quaya to eat its seeds. You believe in your cursing, Rovers, thenlet the fruit of it be made plain beyond the stars!"

Was this the time to speak of the switched tapes, Ross wondered. No, hedid not really believe that the Rover curse or their treatment of thecaptives would, either one, influence the star leaders. But, if theinvaders did not return to their base, their vanishing might also workto keep another expedition from invading Hawaikan skies. Leave it tochance, a curse, and time. .. . 

So it was decided. 

"Have we won?" Ross asked Ashe later. 

"Do you mean, have we changed the future? Who can answer that? They mayreturn in force, this may have been a step which was taken before. Thosepylons may still stand in the future above a deserted sea and island. Weshall probably never know. "

That was also their own truth. For them also there had been asubstitution of journey tapes by Fate, and this was now their Hawaika. Ross Murdock, Gordon Ashe, Karara Trehern, Tino-rau, Taua--five Terransforever lost in time--in the past with a dubious future. Would this bethe barren, lotus world, or another now? Yes, no--either. They had foundtheir key to the mystery out of time, but they could not turn it, andthere was no key to the gate which had ceased to exist. Grasp tight thepresent. Ross looked about him. Yes, the present, which might be verysatisfying after all. .. . 

 * * * * *

SCIENCE FICTION by ANDRE NORTON

THE DEFIANT ANGENTS

Operation Cochise: a carefully planned Western move to colonize a planetahead of the Reds. Travis Fox had been an eager volunteer, but themorning he dragged himself half-conscious from the wrecked spaceship onthe planet Topaz, he sensed the terror which would threaten the project. Travis never learned why the ship had crashed, nor why he and the otherApache agents had been shot into space without warning and under Redaxcontrol, a machine which had returned them to ancestral mentality. 

But the dangers on Topaz demanded free minds, for Travis soon realizedthat if the Reds already encamped beyond the mountains--a horde ofbarbaric Mongols completely dominated by their masters--discovered thesecret of the eerie underground chamber in the towers hidden in a valleyof mists, not only Topaz but Terra itself would be destroyed. 

Andre Norton's ability to grip the reader and transport him to otherworlds in space and time is well known. In this fast-paced adventure inwhich the struggle for domination of men's minds ranges from control oftheir prehistoric memories to the risk of unleashing a horror nevermeant for the hands of men, the author again proves to be "a superbstoryteller whose skill draws the reader completely into a fantasticother-world, " (_Chicago Tribune_). A companion book to _GalacticDerelict_. 

STORM OVER WARLOCK

"Fleeing from Throg invaders, Shann Lantee and Ragnar Thorvald enter theworld of beautiful women. Immensely powerful as they are lovely, thesewitches control men by thought domination. Shann's victory over thebeetle-like Throg and his civilized alliance with the women is toldhere with that sweep of imagination and brilliance of detail whichrender Andre Norton a primary talent among writers of sciencefiction. "--_Virginia Kirkus_ (starred). 

GALACTIC DERELICT

"Andre Norton has no peer in his chosen field of science fiction forteen-agers. This time his story involves an expedition in both time andspace, as some young scientists . .. Set forth on a journey to repossessa lost spaceship. "--_Virginia Kirkus_ (starred). 

THE TIME TRADERS

"Effectively utilizing the concept of time travel, the author . .. Haswritten another imaginative, action-filled science fiction story forteenage boys. Young Ross Murdock . .. Is sent back into the Bronze Age, discovers a derelict galactic ship, and finds himself fighting . .. Togain control of the secrets of space flight. "--ALA _Booklist_. 

STAR BORN

Young Dalgard Nordis of the planet Astra and his merman companion Sssurijoin forces with a space man from Terra to outwit resurgent nonhumanAliens. A sequel to _The Stars Are Ours!_

THE STARS ARE OURS!

To escape the tyranny on Terra in the year 2500, a group of scientistsmake a last-minute getaway under fire and take off for another planet inanother solar system. Their adventures make top-flight entertainment forall science-fiction fans. 

SPACE PIONEERS

_Edited With an Introduction and Notes by Andre Norton_

Outstanding stories by some of the finest writers in the science-fictiongenre that present a startling glimpse into the future of space travel, artificial satellites, and colonization. 

REBEL SPURS

THE DEFIANT AGENTS

RIDE PROUD, REBEL!

THE TIME TRADERS

YANKEE PRIVATEER

SPACE SERVICE _Edited by Andre Norton_