The Star Of Life

Edmond Hamilton

To Leigh

Chapter 1

He was more alone than anyone had ever beenbefore. He was alone, and he was dead.

His heart beat. His eyes saw, and his earsheard, and he felt. And yet, thought KirkHammond, he was a dead man and already inhis tomb, this spheroid of magnesium andsteel, this bubble of air and light flying silentlyout into the deeps of space, the vast andillimitable oceans of night.

It was funny. It was so funny that the sun andmoon and stars were screaming with soundlesslaughter. A great nation had aspired, and manyhundreds of brilliant men had worried andsweated, and many millions of dollars had beenspent, and all of it just to give Kirk Hammond afuneral liked nobody had ever had before.

He laughed about it.

He sobbed.

The radio was buzzing, the last thin thread ofcoded sounds that still bound him to Earth.Soon, very soon, that umbilical cord of soundthat tied him to his birth-world would break,and he would be dead to Earth.

"Canaveral to Explorer Nineteen, 17:44. ThePresident announces award of theCongressional Medal of Honor to KirkHammond. The President adds, "With it goes anation's thanks to its hero! End message."

That's fine, thought Hammond. I'm a hero. Fivegot a medal. They might as well have called ita posthumous award. That's what it is.

The radio buzzed again, almost at once.

"Canaveral to Explorer Nineteen, 17:47. World-wide gatherings are praying for you,Hammond, Every church, every creed, isholding special prayer services. End ofmessage"

message"

Prayers for the dead, he thought dully. Thatwas nice of them. Very nice.

He could imagine the great wave of emotionsweeping around the world, the horror and pityat his fate. Those people didn't know him. Untilthe firing of Explorer Nineteen they had neverheard of him. But now that he was trapped bya doom unlike any that had ever befallen aman before, their emotions would be realenough.

Hammond was tired. For more than a hundredhours he had been sitting strapped into hischair in this little sphere, and his body wascramped and numb. His mind was numb, too.He had had too much, in too short a time. Theshock of the first firing. The blackout. Thecoming to, the struggle to breathe, to think, toraise his hand to the radio key and send backthe signal that he still lived. The fear, and thegasping, and the tearing at his entrails, andthen the thunder of God when the second stageof the rocket let go and hurled him intocomplete unconsciousness. He had come out of

complete unconsciousness. He had come out ofthat shaken and sick, but with nothing insidehim broken. And then had come the tensestwait of all, the waiting for the third stage tofire, the one that would hurl the little sphericalshell of Hammond's satellite into its pre-calculated orbit. An orbit that would carry KirkHammond, first of all men, out around theMoon and back again to Earth.

Since years before, since 1957 and the firstRussian Sputnik, they had been sending upsatellites. First, in orbit around the Earth,unmanned ones to begin with and then whenthe ejection-escape mechanism had beenperfected, with a man inside. Then the firstunmanned satellite had been sent out in anorbit around the Moon. Now a man was goingout, not to land upon the Moon but to fly outaround it and back again and to land-if theejection gimmick worked!-safe and alive onEarth. And Hammond was the man, the manwho had waited tautly for that third stage tofire as he whirled up high over Earth in thesteep trajectory.

Too soon! He had known from the very instant

Too soon! He had known from the very instantthat the third stage exploded that somethinghad gone wrong with the timer-relays, that thethird stage had fired too soon. It had happenedbefore, when satellites were launched. Thecurve was too steep, and the orbit was allwrong. Explorer Nineteen would not comenearly as close to the Moon as planned. Itwould be far enough to keep clear of theMoon's gravitational pull. And that meant . . . .

It meant that the satellite would not swingaround the Moon at all but would pass it, andwould go on, and on, and on.

The radio buzzed again.

"Canaveral to Explorer Nineteen, 18:02. Yourhourly report is two minutes overdue. Pleasegive your readings. End message"

Hammond smiled mirthlessly. That was JohnWilling. He could imagine Willing down there inCommunications, sweating blood, keeping up apretense with him, trying to pretend to himthat everything was still routine, trying to keephis mind off the other thing. He switched on

his mind off the other thing. He switched onand tapped out the figures that he read off themeters, the dust-density, radiation,temperature sunside and darkside. Before hecontinued, he turned for a look back. Thealuminum frame of the ejection seat, the seatin which he had been doubled for all thesehours, swiveled easily in gimbals and he lookedback through the Number Four filter-glass port.

A gigantic shadowed skullface glared at him,filling much of the star-decked blackfirmament. It was a little off to his right and hecould not see that it was any smaller than anhour before, but he knew it was. The Moonwould get smaller and smaller as ExplorerNineteen went on away from it, but after acertain point he would not be alive to see itsdiminishing. He looked beyond it to Earth. Itwas nothing but a biggish fuzzy greenish globe.He tried again to think how great a thing it wasto be first of men to go out this far from it.

He tried, and he couldn't, it wouldn't work, andoh God why had he ever left? A man had to diesometime but nobody had ever died this way,alone in the dark lifeless emptiness a million

alone in the dark lifeless emptiness a millionmiles from all his kind. A warm and passionateawareness of Earth, of all its ways that he hadalways taken for granted, arose in Hammond.Soft rain in spring nights, old trees beside asleeping farm, the crude, brassy, surginghuman noises of a big city street, the wash androll of the sea, the ways of winds and wavesand birds. You had so much when you wereliving, that you never thought about until youwere dead. Could the dead think? One of themcould. Kirk Hammond could.

He clenched his fist and made his fingers stoptheir trembling before he sent the lastsentences of his report, giving his visualreactions. The answer came quickly.

"Canaveral to Explorer Nineteen, 18:24. Reportreceived. Do not lose hope, Hammond. Staffastronomers state that there is a chanceunknown gravitational factors might bring youback into orbit. End message."

Hammond smiled a crooked smile again. Hetouched the key rapidly.

"Explorer Nineteen to Canaveral, 18:33. Don'tfeel you have to cheer me up, Willing. Ilearned my astrogation at Base too well. I'vecalculated the orbit of this satellite and it'sgoing a long way before it comes back again.End message."

A long way, yes. The calculations, the franticfigures on the sheets that had slowly spelledout his doom to him, were still on his lap. Withthe cold finality of mathematics, they told whatwould happen to him. Explorer Nineteen wasgo far out beyond the Moon, very far. Its orbitwould be a vastly elongated ellipse and thatmeant that somewhere out there it would turnand fall back and take up a far-swinging orbitaround the Sun like that of a periodic comet.Once in a century or so it might comecomparatively near to Earth.

Once in a century . . . Hammond's air-supply,not to mention water and food, had beencalculated for a six-day swing out around theMoon and back again. And the six days werealmost gone. He looked down at the actuatinglever of the ejection-seat, the gadget that had

lever of the ejection-seat, the gadget that hadbeen meant to bring him safely down byparachute when Explorer Nineteen returned toEarth. It would never be used, now. He wasnot going to return to Earth.

"Canaveral to Explorer Nineteen, 18:55. Yourcall is weaker but we can still work you. Areyour batteries fading? Any message? Endmessage."

Yes, Hammond thought, he had a message forthem. He wanted to send it, to shout it, toscream it. He wanted to tell them to get himout of this neat, glittering little tomb, to gethim back to Earth, somehow, anyhow. Butthere was no somehow. No help could reachhim. There just wasn't any way. Someday, inthe future, there might be manned rocket-shipsthat could do it, but not now. All the peoples ofEarth could do, now, was to watch and listenhelplessly as Explorer Nineteen bore himinexorably away into the darkness and thedeath.

Hammond felt panic rising in him fast. He mustnot let it master him. It would not help one

not let it master him. It would not help onelittle bit for him to sob his guts out over theradio. He had asked for this job, and he hadknown it was dangerous, and he might as wellend up like a man and not a crybaby.

But he distrusted himself. Sooner or laterhysteria might get the best of him, and starthim to screaming across the void.

With sudden decision, Hammond tapped thekey.

"Explorer Nineteen to Canaveral. Yes, mybatteries are about gone. This will be my lastcontact. Don't let this accident stop you in thefuture. Good luck to all the guys who followme. End message."

And as he finished, Hammond convulsivelywrenched off the shielding and smashed at thetubes with a blind, quivering blow of his fist.Then he sat shaking. The batteries were notdead, but the radio was. No more talking backand forth. No danger now of breaking downand bawling and making a spectacle of himself.Back there on Earth, they'd think it a heroic lastmessage. They wouldn't know that dread of

message. They wouldn't know that dread ofpanic had dictated it.

He was alone now. Really alone.

He looked through the port in front of him, atthe glittering chains of stars. He was going todie out here where no man had ever diedbefore. Well, there was a certain distinction inthat.

Hammond felt very tired. It was odd, that withdeath looming you could still feel fatigue. Buthe did. He had sat in the cramped seat hereinside the satellite for more than a hundredhours, and his body ached, and his brain feltnumb. He had come a long way from the boyin an Ohio town who had yelled in excitementat the news of the first Sputnik. Had it beenworth it, the struggle through Tech, thegrinding nights of study, the planning and thetoil, just for this?

He tried to imagine what they'd be sayingabout him back on Earth now. Thank God hehad no one back there to grieve too deeply.The death of his parents in that auto-crash a

The death of his parents in that auto-crash afew years ago was one reason, he knew, whyWilling had picked him out of the final group ofvolunteers. But what was Willing saying, whatwere the crowds saying, the radio and TVannouncers? It didn't matter. When he brokethe radio, when he severed his last link withEarth, Earth and its people had somehowceased to matter any more.

He was Kirk Hammond, alone in the universeand soon to die.

How soon?

Hammond studied the gauges of theoxygenator. He had less than two hours'oxygen left, even counting the small supply inthe ejection-gimmick's tank. He wished he hadeven less time. He was afraid, terribly afraid,of going mad before he died.

"But why wait?"

It was as though a voice had spoken inside histired brain. Why wait for the inevitable tortureof asphyxiation? All he had to do was to openthe hatch and the airless cold of space would

the hatch and the airless cold of space wouldend it all for him with merciful painlessness.

Hammond laid his hand on the heavy dogs ofthe hatch. So this was forgivable, this escapefrom madness and strangulation?

All of a sudden, in his brain the blind will to livefrantically suggested impossible hopes.

"Don't do it! Don't open the hatch! Maybe thesatellite will still turn back-maybe someone willcome in a rocket-maybe-"

Crazy, impossible, he knew those hopes to be.It was only his subconscious putting up a lastfight against his reason. Hammond foughtdown the clamorous voices. He had to do thisthing quickly, or he would not do it at all. Hebegan un-dogging the hatch with nervoushaste.

The hatch went pung! and opened a tiny crack.Air started to whistle out of it in a needle-likejet. Hammond opened it no further, for to doso would mean an explosive decompression. Hesat back, his shoulders sagging. He had come a

sat back, his shoulders sagging. He had come along way and he was very tired.

He suddenly felt an awful and agonizingsensation of cold invade his whole body. Thisdeath was not as painless as he had expected!

That was his last thought.

Chapter 2

There had been only darkness, but now therewas pain also.

He wished that the pain would go away, andcease to trouble his comfortable not-being, not-feeling. But it did not go away. Instead, it gotworse, a fiery, rasping agony of his lungs eachtime he tried to breathe.

How could he breathe when he had died? Thatwas Hammond's first dazed and bewilderedthought. The thing was impossible. Yet hislungs were pumping in and out, burning up,gasping for air that was not there.

Hammond's brain struggled numbly with theproblem. He tried to open his eyes, and couldnot. He could not move a muscle. But he could

not. He could not move a muscle. But he couldfeel. Each moment the fiery agony in his lungsspread and crept in his body, and now he couldalso feel that the metal arms of the ejection-seat on which his hands rested were blisteringhot.

He could hear, also. There was a thin, hissingscreaming sound somewhere close to his ears.It went on and on without varying in pitch orvolume.

The pain very swiftly became a torment toogreat to be borne. He was strangling,suffocating, he was going to die again. It wasnot fair that he should have to die again. Hemade a convulsive effort, and his body movedjerkily.

His eyes opened.

He saw through a red haze. He was still seatedin the ejection-seat of the satellite. Its hatchwas open a tiny crack and the screaming soundcame from that. Thin air, air so thin and ozone-laden that his lungs could not breathe it, wasstreaming in through it. The air or mockery of

streaming in through it. The air or mockery ofair was utterly cold, yet the metal of thesatellite itself was scorching hot.

Hammond was only one-third consciousness buthe knew that he was dying for lack of oxygen.The drill back at Rocket Base had beenstamped deep into his memory, and a phrasefrom it flashed across his fading mind. TheTime of Useful Consciousness. The time a manhad to save himself when his oxygen ran out.Even at five miles up in the atmosphere, it wasless than two minutes. Further up, in spaceequivalent, it could be counted in seconds. Hisseconds were running out. Remember the drill .. . .

He remembered. He groped with leaden armsand hands that felt like muffs, for the oxygentube of the ejection capsule. He got it into hismouth, and then fumbled blindly at the valve.His fingers would not work right, he had to pawthe little metal handle as a dog might until itopened.

The blessed relief of oxygen pouring into hisstarved, super-heated lungs set him to

starved, super-heated lungs set him toquivering and shaking.

He sat breathing, trembling, looking withvacant and uncomprehending eyes at theblazing star-fields that slid by outside theforward port as the satellite slowly rotated.Then, swinging slow and majestically into view,came a gray-green thing so vast that itcompletely filled the port. A cloudy, striatedsurface swept past the glass, and then a curvedlimb and then the stars again.

Hammond watched, numbly. In less than aminute the phenomenon was repeated.

Now the first faint curiosity stirred in his dulledbrain. The oxygen was taking effect, and hecould think and wonder, and it was about thevast gray-green object that he wondered. Hehitched the chair forward in its gimbals so thathe could get a wider view through the port.

A hoarse cry burst from Hammond. Gigantic instarry space beneath the satellite, arcing vastlyacross the heavens, was a familiar sphericalbulk of gray and green.

bulk of gray and green.

"Earth." He whispered the word, but it was onlyan automatic recognition, he did not believe ityet.

The glass was blistering his face, the wholesatellite was heating up by the minute, yet hewould not take his face away from the glassuntil the revolving of the satellite brought thevast bulk again into view. And after this secondlook, there was no doubt about it at all. Hisbrain suddenly clamored, shocked into fullwakefulness. He yelled the name, this time. Hewaited, trembling, unbelieving, until therotation of the satellite brought Earth, or him,around again.

This time he studied its surface with more care.He estimated that Explorer Nineteen was nomore than forty miles above the surface ofEarth, and revolving around it at a velocity inexcess of twenty thousand miles an hour. Hehad been headed for the outer reaches of theSolar System, when he had opened the hatch.He had been certain that Nineteen would goout and out, for days, for years. There seemedno way in which it could return to Earth. Yet,

no way in which it could return to Earth. Yet,somehow, it had.

"-a chance unknown gravitational factors mightbring you back into orbit-"

He remembered that penultimate messagefrom Canaveral. He had thought that they weremerely trying to soften the end for him with alittle hope. But maybe they had been right?One thing was sure. Nineteen had fallen backtoward Earth, and was now spinning around itin a tightening spiral.

But there was a bigger mystery. He had soughtquick death by opening the hatch in space. Hehad died. Yet now he was alive.

How could a man be frozen instantly in death,and then live again?

Solemn, majestic, the vast sphere of Earthreturned into his view each few minutes, andhe clung, and gasped the life-giving oxygen,and stared. His body was one great ache, andthe scorching breath from hot metal and the icyblast of thin air that screamed through the

blast of thin air that screamed through thepartly-opened hatch simultaneously blisteredand froze him.

Hammond's dazed mind groped for someexplanation of the incredible fact of hisawakening. Suppose, instead of being reallydead, he had only been in a state of ultra-hypothermia? Hypothermia, or radicallylowered body temperatures, was a commontool of medicine and surgery these days. Thefirst experiments back in the '40's and early'50's had proved that you could almost literallyfreeze a man and then bring him back to life byapplying warmth, if you did it right. Even backat the time of the first Sputnik, Americanscientists had frozen dogs and then re-startedtheir heart action after an hour or so. TheRussians were supposed to have done thesame thing with people, and their claims fortheir hypothermic techniques had beenastonishing.

Hypothermia . . . And what, Hammondthought, if the thing were done suddenly as ithad never been done before, as it could not bedone in any laboratory, by the absolute cold of

done in any laboratory, by the absolute cold ofspace? A super-hypothermia acting withincredible speed, freezing every cell in his bodyrigid before any cellular or organic damagecould begin, plunging him into a rock-like stateof suspended animation. And then, when thesatellite dropped back toward Earth, wouldn'tthe thin air of the upper atmosphere and theincreasing warmth of the friction-heated spheregradually revive him?

It all went whirling through Hammond's brain,the instinctive attempt of a 2oth Century manto find a rational explanation for the incredible.And then he forgot it. For he suddenly realizedthat however he had come back to life he haddone so only to die again very quickly, unlesshe did something. The satellite was gettinghotter by the minute. He could no longer standthe touch of the hot metal. As it whirled roundand round Earth in the upper atmosphere,friction was heating Explorer Nineteen to thepoint where it would soon burn up like a fallingmeteor.

He would burn with it, if he didn't get out.

Until now, he had been too amazed and numbwith wonder to feel a personal concern. Butnow the instinct of self-preservation set up afrantic clamor in his mind. By some strangefreak of cosmic factors, Explorer Nineteen hadbeen brought back to Earth. It was up to himnow to get out of it in time. His body still feltleaden, his head heavy to bursting, but hebegan an urgent study of his exact situation.

Below lay the sunlit side of Earth, most of itveiled in drifting cloud. He thought he couldrecognize the coastline of the Iberian Peninsulathrough a gap in the clouds. If that were so, hewas moving westward over the Atlantic towardNorth America, that was now on the night side.He must time his ejection from the satellite tomake sure he came down over land.

As Hammond's fingers fumbled clumsily overthe levers and switches, an oddly humorousthought shot across his mind.

"Won't they be surprised when their dead herochutes down alive? Wonder if they'll take thatmedal away from me?"

medal away from me?"

The chair in which Hammond sat strapped wassuspended so that it hung inside a semi-globular plastic bowl, inside the satellite. Now,as the controls responded, other curved plasticsections swung up from underneath him,enclosing him and the chair and the ejectionemergency gimmicks, inside a round plasticsphere. That type of enclosure had beenmandatory in planning for a man to bail out ofa satellite.

Hammond kept the oxygen-tube in his mouth,and peered through both the plastic and thefilter-glass port together, to estimateNineteen's progress around the Earth.

"Damn those clouds! I won't be able to see anylights of cities when I do pass over!"

Nineteen was rushing on toward the darkshadow of Earth, toward its nighted side. Andbelow, the clouds were an almost solid mass.

Inside the closer confines of the plastic sphere,it was getting hotter very rapidly. His skin feltparched and withering. And now, with sudden

parched and withering. And now, with suddensharp alarm, he saw that the aluminum rim ofthe filter port was glowing faintly in thedarkness. Explorer Nineteen, sinking intodenser atmosphere with each pass around theEarth, was beginning to reach the critical stageof frictional heat.

Hammond resisted a strong temptation to pullthe ejection lever at once. He must be overmid-Atlantic, it was night, he might not bepicked up for a long time. No, wait-wait till hewas sure he was over land.

But could he wait? The sinister, faint red glowwas suffusing the whole skin of the satellitenow, and his brain reeled from the heat. Hehung on and waited. It was all guess work forhe hadn't been able to gauge speed andaltitude too closely, but he thought he must bealready sweeping across the coast. Wait a little,and be sure . . . .

Hammond yanked one of the two levers set inthe central axle of the plastic sphere's gimbaledframework.

Nothing happened.

Panic clamored again in him. If he couldn't getthe ejection bay open, he'd never get out.Frantically, he tugged the lever.

This time, it took hold. With a grating soundaudible even over the thin screaming of air, thewhole bottom plate of the satellite vanished,unlinked and then blown clear by a smallexplosive charge. He could now look right downthrough the plastic, right down past his feet, atthe cloudy darkness below. His fingers grippedthe other lever, the one with the big "E" on it.It was too hot to hold, everything was gettingtoo hot, he couldn't wait any longer, surely hemust be well over land by now.

Hammond pulled the "E" lever.

He was flung violently against the straps as thecharge shot the ejection-capsule out of thenow-open satellite. The plastic bubble whirledover and over, falling. His leaden hulk of abody rocked back and forth and the oxygentube fell out of his mouth. He groped for it butthere was a fiery mist obscuring his vision and

there was a fiery mist obscuring his vision andhe could not find it. His breathing becameagonized again. The pain in his lungs made himflail his hands frantically till they touched thedangling tube. He got back into his mouth andthen almost lost it as another sharp shockthrew him against the chair-straps again.

He did not quite lose the tube. And presentlyhis mind cleared a little. The ejection-bubblewas not now spinning. He looked up and sawthe blaze of the starry night sky steady over hishead, for the first time since his awakening.Against the star-fields up there a great rounddarkness bulked, and Hammond knew what itwas. The parachute of the ejection-bubble hadopened right on time, and he was driftingsteadily down toward the nighted surface of theEarth.

He felt a shivering relief. Until now, almosteverything he had done had been semi-mechanical, from habit of training. But now thethin edge of excitement rose in his numb brain.

"I'm going to make it-"

Blood pounded through his veins. He felthorribly weak but an access of new life sweptaway the leaden heaviness. Hammond lookedeagerly down. There was nothing but the darkclouds. Until he got down through them, therewould be nothing.

It seemed to take the parachuted plasticsphere a long time to float down into theclouds. His heart suddenly began to hammerviolently, and he took the oxygen tube out ofhis mouth. No need for that now . . . .

He kept peering down, alert for the first lightsthat he would see when he came out of theclouds.

He saw no lights.

There was only the solid, frustrating darkness,and he could not even be sure that he was outof the clouds yet he must be, he ought to beclear and able to see by now. Then, suddenly,his eyes caught a vague loom below, a faintlyglistening expanse that made contrast with thedarkness. Of a sudden, badly startled, herealized that the glistening was not far beneath

realized that the glistening was not far beneathbut was close under him, and he realized whatit was.

It was the sea. He had misjudged and jumpedthe satellite too soon.

The plastic ball hit the water and was sweptaway on a long wave-crest. Hammond just intime remembered the parachute-release andactuated it, cutting loose the vast billowingfabric before it smothered down on him. Theejection-sphere had been designed for apossible water landing. Its air-intakes wereopposite its slightly weighted "keel". It bobbedup and down on the dark ocean with Hammondin it feeling like a minnikin in a floating bottle.

Hammond sagged in the straps, feeling now ahorrible reaction. He slept.

When he awoke, he thought that hours hadpassed. A wind was tossing the sea, and themotion of the sphere was sickening. But thewind had swept away the clouds overhead. Thestars shone now across the whole sky. Hepeered westward. Surely he could not be far

peered westward. Surely he could not be farfrom the coast. He saw a dark, low line ofblackness where stars and ocean met. He feltsure it was the coast, and the wind was drivingthe bubble in that direction.

Hammond looked up at the sky. Incredible, tothink he had come back from out there,surviving the pseudo-death of space, wakeningagain when some strange quirk of circumstancehad brought the satellite back toward Earth.What could have brought it back?

But that tremendous question faded fromHammond's mind as he continued to stare atthe sky. His gaze became fixed upon the starsin the northern heavens.

There was something wrong about the stars.Something impossibly, insanely wrong.

Chapter 3

Hammond knew the constellations thoroughly.A close knowledge of star-groups was a part ofthe astrogation course that had been poundedinto him and the other volunteers before theyever went to Canaveral. And the northern

ever went to Canaveral. And the northernconstellations, glittering low above the sea,were not right. Ursa Major and Draco and theothers were all revolving slowly around thecelestial northern pole. But the center of thatmovement, the pole-star, was no longerPolaris. It was a fainter star that he recognizedas Delta Cygni, many degrees across theheavens from the former polar star.

He could not quite believe it at first. But as theplastic sphere bobbled and drifted on towardthe land, as he watched the stars up theremoving like cosmic clock-hands, there could nolonger be any doubt. Hammond faced astaggering realization.

"But that would mean that hundreds of yearshave gone by. No, not hundreds-thousands!"

The celestial pole constantly changed position inthe heavens, due to the precession of theequinoxes. Every twenty-seven thousand years,the pole described a small circle in the sky. Ifthe pole was now at or near Delta Cygni, it haddescribed more than a third of that circle. Andthat would mean that something like ten

that would mean that something like tenthousand years had passed since he had lastchecked the northern stars.

Ten thousand years? It was too ridiculous, toofantastic. There was some aberration of thestarlight, or something wrong with his eyes.There was no possible way in which such a vastperiod of time could have elapsed since he hadtaken off, since . . . .

Hammond's angry mental repudiation of whathe saw suddenly received a check. An icyfeeling invaded his mind. Maybe there was anexplanation that he hadn't thought of, astupefying one. That frozen sleep, the ultra-hypothermia that had gripped him insuspended animation in the satellite-he hadassumed without thinking about it that it hadbeen comparatively brief in duration. A fewdays, perhaps even a week, but no more. Buthad he any reason for assuming that? Theabsolute cold of space, gripping every cell in hisbody when he opened the hatch out there, wasa changeless thing. It could have held himfrozen a year as easily as a day. A year-or athousand years.

thousand years.

How long had he lain in frozen sleep?

The glittering hands of the vast star-clockanswered him, but he could not accept thatterrifying answer.

And yet-it would explain the thing that wasotherwise incomprehensible, the return ofExplorer Nineteen to Earth. When he hadopened the hatch to avoid a torturing end, thesatellite had been beyond the Moon, on its wayout into space in a vast elliptical orbit. He hadcalculated that it would return on that orbit inmany years, and that after returning manytimes in many centuries it might fall into thegravitational field of Earth. If that hadhappened, if the star-clock told true time, for ahundred centuries Kirk Hammond had satfrozen in the sphere until at last it swung soclose to its parent planet that it was pulleddown into the atmosphere, where frictionalheat had revived him.

Hammond's mind recoiled from the thought. Hecould not, would not, believe it. If that were

could not, would not, believe it. If that weretrue, countless generations had risen and diedon Earth since he had ridden the roaring flamesup from Canaveral. If it were true, whole racesand empires could have flashed forth andblown away like candles on the wind during thatfrozen coma that had seemed so brief to him.And if it were true, all on Earth whom KirkHammond had known were dead for ages,their dust dispersed and their memoryforgotten.

"John Willing, and Barnett, and Cray, and thatgirl in Cleveland, and-"

No. There was some other explanation, therehad to be. He would find out when he reachedland. He would laugh then at having had such afantastic thought. Willing would laugh, theywould all laugh.

He peered toward the land with an increasedtenseness and urgency. He wanted to reach itas soon as possible, to disprove the nightmarethought he had been afflicted with.

The dark line of the coast was thicker, higher

The dark line of the coast was thicker, higheragainst the starlit sea. Presently he made out aspectral white line below it and knew it to besurf. A sharp alarm jabbed him as he thoughtof the bobbing plastic sphere being hurledagainst rocks. His alarm increased when hecame nearer and could make out the irregularblacker blots of jagged rock around which thesurf was creaming. He unloosened his strapsand made ready to scramble out and swim, asthe long swell bore the sphere forward in asmooth rush.

There was no shock of impact. The surf suckedthe sphere in between two craggy boulders anddeposited it on a little beach of sand as gentlyas a mother would put down a child. Hammondhad the sphere open instantly. He jumped outand fell onto his face, filling his mouth with wetsand. His legs could no more support him thana pair of wet strings. He had forgotten howmany hours he had sat cramped in thesatellite-not to mention how long he hadremained rigid in frozen sleep out there in thegloom and glare of space.

He lay in the sand unable to move. He gave

He lay in the sand unable to move. He gaveup.

Then the cold flood of the surf washed overhim and he was nerved to effort again by theshock of the chill water and the fear of beingswept back into the ocean. He still could notstand, but he crawled and floundered furtherup the beach until he reached a towering rockwith rough eroded sides that he could cling to.After a few minutes Hammond got hold of therock and hauled himself up to a standingposition. His legs were steady enough to holdhim if he leaned against the rough stone. Thusleaning, he turned his head to peer again atthose incredible northern constellations.

But as he turned his head, he glimpsed thefirefly lights.

They looked like that-three or four firefliesflitting about far out over the starlit sea whencehe had come. They seemed to dance andwaver, to spin and mill and spread out in apattern of increasing area. He knew that theycould not really be glowing insects, so theymust be lighted planes of some kind, but they

must be lighted planes of some kind, but theydid not look or fly like any planes he knew.

Without warning, a powerful hand grabbedHammond's right wrist from behind.

"What the devil-!" he exclaimed, starting towhirl around.

He did not complete the movement. His rightarm was instantly drawn up into a painfulhammerlock behind his back. Unable to breakfree, Hammond wildly squirmed his headaround to look up at his assailant.

The man who held him was a big hulkingindividual in loose dark jacket and trousers. Hetopped Hammond by at least a foot. He hadshort-cropped, bristling black hair partlycovered by a tight turban over the back of hisskull. But what made Hammond gasp inastonishment was his face. It was a massive,battered-looking face that reminded him of anold-time boxer's, not at all unlikable eventhough his narrowed eyes were glaring down atHammond with hostility and suspicion. Whatwas odd about it was the color it showed in thestarlight.

starlight.

The man's face was pale blue.

Holding Hammond like a child, the blue manpointed with his free hand in the direction ofthe distant firefly lights and spoke harshly.Hammond could not understand a word hesaid. It was not English or any other languagehe had ever heard. And standing there on whatshould have been the familiar American coast,facing this man of a race and language he hadnever known, there fell upon Hammond aterrible conviction that the hands of the star-clock had told true time and that his frozensleep had indeed carried him across an age.

The blue man seemed upset by Hammond'sobvious lack of understanding, and puzzled bysomething else. He pointed to Hammond'shead and then to his own, then once more atthe few fireflies flickering out there over thesea.

"Vramen! Vramen!" he repeated sharply, in atone that might be either a suspicious challengeor a warning.

or a warning.

Hammond could not understand at all. Againthe man pointed to his own head and then hepointed at Hammond's, questioningly. Thatmade Hammond look at him more closely. Hesaw now that the tight turban that partiallycovered the blue man's skull was of a gleamingmetallic fabric.

"Vramen!" yelled the other suddenly, pointingeastward.

Hammond looked and saw that the distantfireflies were now separating. One still hoveredlow above the sea out there. But the otherswere now quartering westward over the ocean,in a search-pattern that was rapidlyapproaching the coast.

The blue man's face expressed indecision, amingled doubt and apprehension. Abruptly hedragged Hammond down to the ground intothe deep black shadow beside the big boulder.Hammond struggled angrily but the blue manheld him without effort and fiercely motionedhim to be still.

Hammond looked up and saw one of thefireflies approaching at a low altitude. It was acraft that flew quite silently and at great speed.He could make out a long, transparent hull orfuselage-the light from inside it, and its darting,searching movements, were what had madehim think of fireflies. Beside him, the blue manhad suddenly released his hold and wasfrantically active. He had unwound part of hismetallic cloth turban and was using a thin knifeto cut off the length he had unwound. It was soincomprehensible a thing to do that Hammondforgot to take advantage of his momentaryfreedom and gawked in wonder.

And suddenly Hammond heard a clear voicespeak inside his mind. It was a commandingvoice resounding in his brain, carrying anhypnotic weight of authority.

"Come from hiding and show yourself," itcommanded. "Signal your whereabouts to us!"

Hammond, totally without volition, foundhimself getting up and starting mechanically outof the shadow toward the starlit beach. The

of the shadow toward the starlit beach. Theblue man grabbed his ankles and tripped him.As Hammond sprawled, the man hastilywrapped around his head the length of metalliccloth he had cut from his own turban. At oncethe hypnotic mental command stopped.

Hammond found himself shaking violently, asthough drawn back from the edge of an abyss.The whole swift experience had been unearthlyin nature. He lay in the shadow, trembling likea hunted animal. What kind of an Earth had hebeen thrown into?

His companion seemed to take it all as amatter of course. The blue man crouched,looking up shrewdly at the firefly craft that keptdarting to and fro. Those flitting, silent flierswere moving along the coast in a continuingregular search-pattern. Now Hammond beganto understand a little. That eerie mentalcommand must have come from the searchingcraft-and because it was mental there hadbeen no language difficulty, a thought directlytransmitted would not require any translation.The metallic turban was of a material thatprovided shielding against that hypnotic attack.

provided shielding against that hypnotic attack.The blue man wore it for that reason, and alength of it had screened Hammond from it.

The blue man now uttered a grunt ofsatisfaction. The firefly craft were flying straightback to the one that still hovered far out overthe sea. They had, obviously, given up thesearch for the time being.

Sitting up, the blue man looked at Hammond.He still looked wary. But he seemedtremendously curious and interested, ratherthan hostile. Finally he touched his own chestand spoke.

"Rab Quobba," he said.

That, at least, was unmistakable. Hammondtouched his own chest and spoke his name.

"Hammond?" the other repeated, accenting itoddly. He stared puzzledly at Hammond, andthen he pointed west toward the dark land andasked, "Do Rurooma?"

That meant nothing at all. Hammond made ashrugging gesture to show his ignorance.

shrugging gesture to show his ignorance.

Rab Quobba frowned. He was a big andformidable man but he did not look toHammond like an intellectual type, and he wasclearly out of his depth. He pointed inland againand repeated, "Rurooma? Dal Vramen?"

It sounded to Hammond as though he wasbeing asked if he came from the place whencethe searching firefly craft had come. He couldnot be sure, but he took a chance. He shookhis head.

Quobba frowned and hitched his feet and thenseemed to make up his mind. He motioned toHammond to accompany him, and startedsouthward with long strides along the beach.Hammond hesitated a moment and then wentwith him. He had not the faintest idea wherethey were going or who this big man with theoddly bluish skin might be. He had beenpitchforked into an Earth that was asincomprehensible to him as another planet. Buthe had sensed menace in the searching fireflycraft-that uncanny hypnotic attack had beenupsetting. And Rab Quobba had been friendly,

upsetting. And Rab Quobba had been friendly,at least so far.

He took a dozen steps and then stopped,swaying. His legs were too weak and leaden,he couldn't keep up. Quobba turned swiftly andcame back to him. The blue man seemed totake in Hammond's weakness. He grunted andput one arm around Hammond to help himalong.

Quobba kept wherever possible in the shadowof the great boulders that studded the beach.He moved fast between patches of shadow,and he kept a wary eye on the fireflies outthere over the sea. He seemed in a sweatinghurry to get where they were going. A hazydimness settled over Hammond's brain. Hisstrength was running out and he moved hislegs like an ill-made mechanical doll, his weighthanging more and more on Quobba's massivearm. Then for a moment he was startled out ofhis daze. Far to the west inland, a sword oflight struck upward into the starry sky. It waslike a monster lightning-bolt going up, leaving alivid fiery trail. As it faded out there came adistant twanging sound.

distant twanging sound.

Quobba, in answer to Hammond's wonderinglook, pointed briefly westward and then straightupward at the stars. Hammond wondered. Thatfiery flash had looked like the trail of anascending space-ship. Then, if all those hadreally passed, men had fully conquered spaceby now? Perhaps even interstellar space?

But if that were so, why were some of the menof Earth furtively hiding-and from whom?

He was reeling and knew he could go nofarther when Quobba finally stopped. Theywere in the shadow of a huge boulder, on arocky ridge well inland from the coast. The blueman looked carefully all around the starry sky.Then he spoke sharply.

"Shau Tammas! Quobba-aben!"

A section in the side of the great boulder swunginward, disclosing a dark aperture. At first,Hammond thought that his eyes were playingtricks on him. Then he realized that the wholeboulder must be a hollow camouflage. He had

boulder must be a hollow camouflage. He hadlittle time to look, for Quobba drew him hastilyinside. There was a sighing sound as theaperture closed behind them, and they were inutter darkness. Then a globe overhead flashedinto light.

Hammond stood rocking on his feet andstaring. The interior of the big fake boulder wasa small room. There were three other men init, men dressed also in dark jackets and slacks.Two of them were quite ordinary young men ofhis own age. The other man, whom Quobbawas addressing as Tammas, was not ordinaryat all. He was a wizened little chap with awrinkled golden-yellow face and beady blackeyes, yet with no Oriental cast of countenancewhatever. He exclaimed in wonder at the sightof Hammond, and the other two stared indumb amazement.

Hammond's dazed eyes swept from the men tothe big instrument that occupied much of theroom. It looked like a six-inch refractingtelescope mounted on a heavy pedestal, andyet there were things about it that didn't fit atelescope at all. He noticed that a section of the

telescope at all. He noticed that a section of theceiling above it was so mounted that it could beswung aside, allowing the big tube to sweepthe sky. The unfamiliar instrument, theunfamiliar technology it represented, completedHammond's bewilderment.

Quobba took the turban off Hammond's headand drew him by the arm toward a well-mouththat yawned at one side of the chamber. Anarrow spiral stair of metal dropped down thisvertical shaft. Hammond went down it with theblue man going ahead and reaching back tosteady him. The wizened little yellow mannamed Shau Tammas came after them withmonkey-like agility. There was bright white lightbelow, and they went down into the light, into agreat room or hall that had been cut or blastedsomehow out of solid rock.

The room was big and lofty. Brilliant whiteglobes in the rock ceiling shed an almostshadowless illumination. Around the walls wereunfamiliar machines, tables of whirringinstruments, glittering metal assemblies. Therewere more than a score of people workingbusily at the machines-most of them were

busily at the machines-most of them weremen, but some were women who wore shirtsand shorts. The majority of these people wereof a perfectly familiar type but there were afew who looked as unusual as Quobba andTammas-a couple of stocky men with dull redskins, a lanky hollow-eyed man with a curioussmooth gray complexion. They turned fromtheir work to look at Hammond in surprise andquick-rising alarm.

He stared back, seeing their faces as though ina dream. He knew that he was nearly out. Hewould have sunk to the floor if Rab Quobba hadnot steadied him as he led him across the hall.Behind him wondering and excited men andwomen followed, their voices rising in a buzzingchatter. They went through connecting rock-cuthalls to a small chamber that seemed theirdestination. Here were shelves of curiousmetal-bound books, wall-charts of astronomicaldiagrams, a couple of littered desks.

"Ez Jon Wilson, lanf do nos Hoomen," Quobbasaid to Hammond, pointing to the man whowas coming toward them.

Jon Wilson was past middle age. Heoverwhelmingly reminded Hammond ofsomeone, and suddenly he remembered. Therehad been a man named John Brown ofHarper's Ferry, a long time ago. A harsh,fanatic leader. He had seen pictures of thatman and this one was like him-the same gauntnarrow face of iron-hard planes, the same iron-gray hair, the deep hollow-caverned eyes,everything but the beard. The impact of thoseeyes was like a blow, and in them was an alertanxiety as he looked at Hammond.

There was a girl at his side, slender in her briefgarment, her dark hair falling to touch hershoulders. She was pretty as a hawk, and herdark eyes were wide with wonder.

"Ez an do Vramen?" she asked quickly of RabQuobba.

"Nun, Iva!" the blue man said. His batteredface was earnest as he made rapidexplanations, pointing excitedly upward towardthe rock ceiling.

To Hammond it was more like a dream every

To Hammond it was more like a dream everyminute. The whole scene was blurring. He hadkept going on sheer nerve, but now theinevitable reaction hit him like a mountainfalling on him. He tried to hold on, to fight backthe shapeless darkness. He became aware thatan altercation was going on. A tall hard-eyedman with sandy hair was speaking rapidly toWilson, gesturing at Hammond with suspicion inevery line of his face. Suspicion and hate.

"Dito, ez fa Vramen!" the sandy-haired mansaid, and a mutter of agreement came fromthose crowded in behind Hammond. ButQuobba shook his head in angry denial.

"Ez nun, Lund!"

But the sandy-haired man only talked louder,against Quobba.

It was pretty obvious, Hammond thought, thatat least some of these people thought he was aspy or ally of some enemy of theirs called theVramen. And, ignorant as he was of theirlanguage, how was he going to tell them thetruth about himself?

truth about himself?

Even more important, how was he going tomake them believe it?

Chapter 4

Hammond's eyes fell upon the astronomicalcharts on the wall, and a thought came into hismind. He went unsteadily toward the charts.Most of them seemed to be star-maps ofvarious regions of the galaxy, but one was adiagram of the Solar System with all theplanets depicted in their orbits. Hammondpicked up a pencil and hastily drew a smallpicture on this chart. He drew a tiny rocket-propelled satellite speeding away from Earth,with the crude figure of a single man visibleinside the sphere.

He pointed to the satellite and the little figurein it, and then pointed to himself. It did notseem to lessen the hostility of the crowd.

"How the devil can I tell them I slept in thesatellite for centuries?" Hammond wonderedgroggily.

Then he saw that one of the charts depictedthe northern constellations as seen from Earth,with the crossed lines of the celestial pole atthe star Delta Cygni. He reached up and drewnew crossed lines at the star Polaris. Hepointed to that, then pointed again to thepicture of the satellite leaving Earth and tohimself. He hoped they would understand thathe meant he had left Earth when Polaris wasthe pole star, but if they did not understand hedid not know what else he could do.

Some of them understood at once. Jon Wilson,the leader, did. The hostility on his gaunt facefaded into an expression of incredulity. Helooked at Hammond and seemed about tovoice his skepticism, but something inHammond's appearance stayed him. Therecame into his deep eyes a hint of dawning awe.

"Do phrann?" he said. There was disbelief in histone, but it was not violent, not sure.

He and the girl Iva and the others stared atHammond, more startled now than suspicious.The man Lund spoke up with harsh denial

The man Lund spoke up with harsh denialstrong in his attitude, and Quobba answeredhim loudly and excitedly, but Hammond did notcare any longer what they said. The cumulativeeffects of his ordeal were closing down uponhim and the whole room seemed to darken andmove slowly around him.

Quobba ran toward him. He and the dark-haired girl supported Hammond. With JonWilson leading, they helped him down acorridor and into another room. This was asmall sleeping chamber, cut from the solid rocklike the other rooms of this strangeunderground refuge. Hammond was vaguelyaware that they were stretching him out on anarrow bunk and covering him with something.Then sleep overwhelmed him.

A nightmare came to him. It seemed to himthat he was not sleeping at all, but frozen andlifeless. With the strange duality of dreams, helooked and saw himself, Kirk Hammond, sittingin icy dignity inside a metal sphere as upon athrone. And the throne upon which this frozenHammond sat was far from Earth, moving outthrough the great darkness between the

through the great darkness between theplanets in vast and sweeping curves. Thefrozen eyes stared without seeing at planetsand moons that rose up from the darkness andthen fell behind him, and at the pallid glory ofcomets streaming light, and at the blaze andsplendor of the distant stars. And then thefierce radiance of the sun fell upon those blindeyes as the throne-sphere he sat upon turnedand came back. He was a king indeed of spaceand of time, for what was time to the dead?For year upon year, age upon age, he held hisicy royal state and all was well until he heard adespairing voice say, "Oh God, I could bebounded in a nutshell, and count myself a kingof infinite space, were it not that I have baddreams." And then the nutshell-satellitecrumbled away around him and he was alonein space and not a king at all but a dead manwho must live again. And Hammond wokeyelling aloud that line from Hamlet and fightinghands that tried to hold him down, until therewas a sharp needle of pain in his arm andsleep came that had no dreams.

He half-awoke again, and again, and thenthere came a time when he awoke completely.

there came a time when he awoke completely.He had a feeling that many days had passed.He was weak and limp but he no longer feltthat sickening dizziness. He lay for someminutes, looking up at the smooth rock ceilingin which one bright globe shone softly. It hadbeen no mere dream, then, that nightmare. Ithad been a deep memory carried by hisphysical body, the very texture of his being, ofsomething his mind could not remember.

A whimpering dread came upon Hammond atthe thought. He looked down at his hands andthought of those hands frozen and lifeless,resting on the arms of the ejection-chair whilethe satellite whirled him on its endless orbituntil it fell into the gravitational field of Earthand was drawn down. Years, decades,centuries, piled one upon another, and howcould a man go through all that and awake andstill be human? How could he ever get the coldof space out of his bones, how could he keepthe nightmare vision out of his soul? It wouldcome again, and again, and he would go madwith it, and . . . .

He did not know that he was sitting up on the

He did not know that he was sitting up on thebunk and crying out until Quobba ran into theroom, with the girl Iva close behind him. Theblue man forced him back down with his bighands, speaking to him loudly and cheerfully asone might to a frightened child. Iva peered athim, startled and distressed.

Hammond quit struggling and lay back. He saiddully, "All right, I'm okay." Then he realizedthat they could not understand, and forcedhimself to smile and nod his head.

They both looked relieved. Quobba saidemphatically, "Ez nun do Vramen." He went toa corner of the room and brought back thingshe held up for Hammond to see, exhibitingthem with the air of a defense attorney whohas won his case.

Hammond recognized his own zipper-jacketand a few small things that had been in hispockets-a book of astrogational tables, a smallslide-rule, a vial half full of the stimulant tabletsthat had been supposed to get him through theblast-off shocks more comfortably. Quobbagrinned all across his massive face as he

grinned all across his massive face as heshowed them, and Iva smiled at him too,though with a touch of awe in her clear darkeyes. And when Jon Wilson hurried in a minutelater to inject something into Hammond's arm,he seemed reservedly friendly.

They believed him, Hammond realized. Andsuddenly he understood. Those simple objects-the textile fabric of the jacket, the book printedin a long-dead language, the other things,would be in this age relics of an ancient past.Everything about him, from the fillings in histeeth to the buttons on his pants, would beproof to a scientific mind. No words on his partcould have been a tenth so effective inconvincing them that he was what he claimed,and not one of their enemies the Vramen.

He thought he might as well make the pointagain, though, and he said "Vramen", andtouched himself, and shook his head asvigorously as he could. Then he pointed tothem and asked on a rising note, "Vramen?"

Iva shook her head fiercely, her blue-black hairbrushing her shoulders. Her eyes flashed.

brushing her shoulders. Her eyes flashed.

"Nun! Sin do Hoomen."

Hoomen? Was that what these people calledthemselves? It sounded very much like"human". He would have liked to learn more,but Iva pressed him back down on his pillowwith firm hands. She spoke to him and heguessed that it was a command to sleep. Hewas afraid to sleep, afraid that the nightmarewould come again and that he would be sweptout through the dark in the cold loneliness ofthe dead. But he could not fight the drug thathad been given him. He slept, and he did notdream.

Time passed, measurable to him only assleeping and waking periods. In the wakingtimes, he felt strength slowly returning to him.He had no appetite, and the rather insipidnutrient jellies they gave him were not such asto tempt one, but nevertheless he gained. Hewanted to get up, but Jon Wilson and the girlIva who was Wilson's daughter would not lethim. Nor would they at first let him talk much,so that Hammond had little to do when awake

so that Hammond had little to do when awakebut lie and look at the ceiling and think. Hethought of friends dead for ages, of all thecustoms, languages, nations and races that hadbeen his own world and that had now goneforever, and a terrible loneliness came overhim. There were times when he felt that onlyone thing held him back from madness.

That thing was his curiosity. He wanteddesperately to know more about this strangefuture Earth into which he had been catapulted.He wanted to know who the Vramen were andwho these Hoomen were and why they hid, andwhat they were doing down here, and whysome of them had the look of men never bornon Earth. He wanted to know, especially, if thathad been a space-ship that he had seenclimbing the night on wings of thunder. Hewanted to know everything about everythingand there was only one way to know and thatwas to learn the language of these people.

Iva spent long hours teaching him, when hewas able to sit up. She worked with picturesand gestures, building up his vocabularypatiently. There were a few haunting

patiently. There were a few hauntingresemblances to the languages of his own timeand general structure seemed the same, andthat helped. But Quobba and the little yellowman Tammas helped not at all. It seemed thatthey talked a different dialect or used someform of slang, and finally Iva forbade them toteach him words.

But when Hammond was able to frame simplequestions to Iva, he found they got himnowhere. She only looked uncomfortable andsaid, "My father will tell you."

"When?" he demanded. "How soon?"

"Soon," she evaded. "You can not speak wellenough yet. You need more words."

It tantalized Hammond's curiosity. He was herein a world that appeared to be totally changedfrom the one he knew, and yet the simplebarrier of language kept him ignorant of what itmight hold. He felt like swearing.

Two sleep-periods later he lost all patience anddemanded to be let out of his underground cell.

"I want some sun," he said. "I want to go out."

Iva looked grave. "Wait," she said, and left theroom. She did not come back. Jon Wilson cameinstead.

He stood looking down at Hammond, andHammond again got that chilling feeling that itwas old John Brown of Pottawattamie whosedeep eyes inspected him. He had a convictionthat this was a man to whom ideas wereimportant and that he would not hesitate tosacrifice any man, least of all himself, to anidea.

"You cannot go out yet," he said. "You arefortunate to be living. For a time, we did notthink you would survive."

Hammond asked, "How long-" And then hestopped, his mind and tongue unable to framethe question.

How long was I dead? How many centuries didmy frozen body ride through the darkness andthe silence?

the silence?

How could a man ask such a question? But JonWilson understood. He said, "All the physicalevidence of your body and your possessionsputs your origin in a remote period. By the oldchronology, the 2oth or 2ist Century."

"I was born in the year nineteen forty-nine."whispered Hammond.

Wilson thought for a moment. "Then by thatchronology, though we no longer use it, thiswould be the year twelve thousand oh-nine-four."

Then it was true, and the star-clock had notlied, but still it was a truth too vast and terriblefor Hammond to accept. He fought against it.

"But how could I live again? I've heard ofhypothermia experiments, but a thing like this-"

Wilson shrugged. "I can't give you all thescience of this age in a few sentences. Most ofthe terms, the words, you would not evenunderstand. But-we found long ago in the firstdays of the conquest of space that a man

days of the conquest of space that a manstricken suddenly into deep hypothermia by thecold of space could be revived. Ordinary cold,ordinary freezing, shuts off circulation of bloodto the brain so there is damage to the delicatebrain cells before the full hypothermia can takehold. The cold of space freezes even the braincells rigid before any damage can take place.The heart stops, everything stops, but withoutany ventricular fibrillation or cellularimpairment. It was learned that the gradualapplication of heat to a body frozen in this waywould in most cases start up the vital processesagain."

Jon Wilson paused and gave Hammond athoughtful glance. "In the old days they wouldhave said that you were singled out byProvidence. For in falling back into Earth'satmosphere in the satellite, the increasingwarmth of frictional heating closelyapproximated the necessary curve of thermo-revival that brings a man out of deephypothermia."

Hammond put his head between his hands andshut his eyes. Then after a moment he took

shut his eyes. Then after a moment he tookrefuge from this staggering revelation in a sideissue.

"You said, 'Long ago in the first days of theconquest of space'. Then space is conquered?"

"Yes." said Wilson.

"The stars, even?"

"Yes."

"Then Quobba, and Tammas-"

"Quobba was born on one of the worlds ofVega. Tammas comes from Mizar. The men ofEarth have colonized some far worlds sinceyour day, Hammond."

Hammond felt a heavy leaping of his pulses.Then the dream of his own time had come trueand the first foredoomed little attempts like hisown had been followed up, and the oceans ofspace were open to all men.

He said that, and on Wilson laughed. It was aharsh and shocking sound, and Hammond saw

harsh and shocking sound, and Hammond sawa deep hot spark in the man's eyes.

"Oh, no," said Wilson. "You're wrong. Spacewas conquered, by men like you and by menlike my own ancestors. But it does not belongto us, not to you nor to me and mine. Spacebelongs to the Vramen."

Hammond said, "Who are the Vramen?"

"They're why you can't go out," said Wilson."They're our enemies, and they're yourenemies too. They're still hunting over thiswhole coast. Their radar installations wouldhave caught your satellite as it fell back toEarth and their fliers must have found yourparachute in the sea. They're hunting for you,Hammond."

Chapter 5

Hammond lay unsleeping, still stunned by theimpact of a thousand centuries. It was themiddle of the night, though in these rockcatacombs one knew it only because the ceilingbulbs were dimmed and the murmur of activityfrom the other chambers quieted. He lay in the

from the other chambers quieted. He lay in thedimness and the silence, his mind feverishlygoing over all that Wilson had told him, and hefelt all the vast events of those ten thousandyears thunder down on him like an avalanche.

Jon Wilson had talked a great deal. For the firsttime he had answered fully and carefully everyquestion Hammond put to him. Now Wilsonslept because all this was old familiar stuff tohim, the norm, the status quo. But Hammondcould not sleep. His brain was a brightkaleidoscope and the visions evoked by Wilson'swords went round in it, and round again untilhe was dizzy with them.

Fantastic, splendid visions. Earth sending outher ships and mourning them and stubbornlysending out more until one of them returnedand the Big Step had been made-Someone,Hammond thought, was luckier than me-andthen the ships going out proud and confident,taking the children of Earth to the emptyplanets and filling them with life, and after thatlike strong swimmers leaving the shallows oftheir youth behind, plunging into the black seasthat run cold and tideless across the universe,

that run cold and tideless across the universe,girdling ten billion stars, until the children ofEarth were spread across the galaxy. Theywere born now under the light of alien suns, oncountless alien planets, and they had changedas Quobba and Tammas were changed to suittheir environments, but still they were thechildren of Earth, and space belonged to them.

By every rule and right space belonged tothem. Only they did not possess it. The Vramendid.

It was odd, Hammond thought, that already hewas beginning to hate that name. He hadnever seen a Vramen. He had only a storyWilson had told him to go on, and for all heknew that story might be, if not exactly a packof lies, at least so colored by fanatical prejudiceas to be anything but true. He kept remindinghimself how easy it would be for him to acquirea whole set of biases from these people simplybecause they had been good to him and heliked them, and because he had no other databy which to evaluate what they told him. Eventhe name they called themselves, Hoomen,was a semantic trap, aligning him automatically

was a semantic trap, aligning him automaticallywith them and against the non-human Vramen.

But no matter how judicious he tried to beabout this, telling himself that he would reservejudgment on this or that point until he knewmore about it, he could not help feeling atwinge of blind emotional hatred whenever hethought of the Vramen. Part of that, he knew,was transmitted to him from the intensefeelings of everyone around him. But a goodpercentage of it was entirely his own, and hethought he knew why. It was because of space.He had taken his modest part in that conquest,he had given his life for it. And now that thatlife had been miraculously returned to him, itinfuriated him to learn that a new, strangebreed of man had sprung up as a direct resultof that space-conquest and had pre-empted it,stepping arrogantly between human man andall he had worked for. Hammond had a verypossessive feeling about space and space-flight.These had always been a personal dream anda personal challenge. And it was one of hispersonal tenets of faith that space ought to bejust as free as it was wide.

The Vramen, according to Wilson, did not thinkso.

And who were these Vramen who arrogated tothemselves the lordship of space? They weremen and women of the same old Earth stockas the Hoomen, the ordinary humans. Therewas only one basic difference between themand ordinary humanity.

The Vramen did not die.

Hammond went over the story Wilson had toldhim for the hundredth time. It was anincredible story but he supposed that if anancient Roman had awakened back in his ownTwentieth Century he would have found atomicenergy just as incredible.

The Vramen had happened; it seemed, moreor less by accident. Some two thousand yearsbefore, while Hammond in his satellite was anunnoticed fleck of meteoric debris engrossed inhis blind cold journey to nowhere, somescientists were exploring a region called theTrifid that was located in the densest, least-

Trifid that was located in the densest, least-known part of the galaxy. It was a vast regionof double and multiple stars involved in far-flung nebulosity; which Twentieth Centuryastronomers had called the Trifid Nebula. Andsomewhere in the stellar wilderness of theTrifid, upon a world they had named Althar;they had found the secret of indefinitelyprolonged life.

"What kind of a secret?" Hammond haddemanded, half-skeptically. "What could do athing like that?"

"It's generally believed," Wilson told him, "thatthey found on that world a deposit of super-radioactive matter with emanations unlikeanything we know. Even you must realize thedeep effects of radiation upon life. But we don'treally know what they found."

Whatever it was there on Althar, it did conferindefinite life on the normal perishableorganism. The Vramen were not impervious toinjury, but they were to disease and age.Nobody knew how long a Vramen could livebecause nobody had known one to die of old

because nobody had known one to die of oldage.

The first Vramen were the discoverers of thatsecret hidden in the Trifid. They had enlargedtheir numbers by taking other carefully selectedmen and women in there to the mysteriousworld called Althar. When there were as manyVramen as they thought suitable, that was theend of it. No one else was allowed to go toAlthar, or even into the Trifid. The mass ofhumanity remained as it had always been,most cruelly short-lived. The Vramen became acaste apart, living on and on.

"But is their super-longevity hereditary?" askedHammond. "Do their children inherit it?"

"The Vramen have no children," Wilsonanswered. "Neither do they marry, in oursense, though I believe they have longcompanionships between themselves that maybe matings."

Because all the Vramen were picked scientists,with no arbitrary period put to their learningpower, it had not been difficult for them toevade the disorganized attempts of the

evade the disorganized attempts of theHoomen first to force their secret out of themand then to destroy them out of sheerjealousy. They made themselves impregnablewith powerful weapons and defenses, and thenover the decades they began quietly to assumea background control over the whole galacticcivilization. They did not take any official part inthe government-the Federated Suns, Wilsonhad called it, a fine ringing phrase-but theirscientific knowledge was so great and soconstantly growing and their contributions tothe general welfare so important that theHoomen were grudgingly forced to submit tothis shadowy dominance, granting to theVramen through the council of the FederatedSuns the one privilege they required-theprivilege of keeping indirect control over allinterstellar ships.

This was the one that set Hammond's back tobristling.

"According to the law." Wilson had explained tohim, "every star-ship has a secret, tamper-proof device of the Vramen built into it. Thiscan be used to explode the whole ship if it goes

can be used to explode the whole ship if it goesinto the Trifid, which is closed to all but Vramenships. Also, in every solar system there areVramen stationed to keep constant radar checkon every star-ship that comes or goes. That'swhy they're so hot after your craft, Hammond.They won't rest until they find it, and you."

Hammond found this a sufficiently disturbingthought. The one brush he had had with theVramen power in the form of the hypno-amplifier, which would have forced him to givehimself up like any suggestible imbecile ifQuobba hadn't saved him, still frightened himto remember. And that, too, was part of hisgrowing hatred of the Vramen. He had an old-fashioned ingrained notion that a man's mind,and the freedom thereof, was an inviolableright. In his own historical past some very greatwars had been fought for the sake of thatright. He was not prepared to surrender itmeekly to these self-made supermen.

It was then that Wilson had dropped his finalshattering bomb.

"There is one more thing I have to tell you,

"There is one more thing I have to tell you,Hammond, and then you must make up yourown mind what you want to do about it. To bebrutally honest, you won't have a great deal ofchoice, but I would like to tell you as much as Ican.

"You've been very curious about what we'redoing down here in these dismal catacombs-why we're in hiding, afraid to show our headsabove ground. It's very simple. We're engagedin an illegal activity, and if we're caught at itwe'll get the extreme penalty."

He paused and then said quietly,

"We're building a star-ship."

Hammond stared at him. He did not know whyhe should have been so stunned by thisrevelation. Perhaps it was because the idea ofa star-ship, legal or illegal, could still stun him.

"A star-ship?"

"Yes. It will not have the Vramen device in it. Itwill fly with a picked crew-all of us here arespacemen and volunteers-and it may eventually

spacemen and volunteers-and it may eventuallyreach its destination."

Hammond's pulses began to hammer. Heleaned forward. "Althar?"

"Althar. The hidden world of the Vramen. It's asuicide attempt, Hammond. We all know it."Wilson's eyes had that John Brown look again,ruthless and exalted. "But if we should succeed,we will have given all mankind indefinitely longlife, freeing them forever from the tyranny ofthe Vramen and the vastly greater tyranny oftime. We think it's worth the risk."

He stood up, looking down at Hammond.

"I don't know whether you will think so or not.We hope that you will join us. But that's adecision you must make yourself."

Hammond looked up at him incredulously."Why would you want me? It doesn't makesense. Granted that all this is true, and I stillcan't half believe it, why me? I don't know star-ships or stars. I don't know your technologies.I'm a primitive, compared to you people. What

I'm a primitive, compared to you people. Whatuse would I be?"

"There's a big struggle ahead." Wilson said."Even if we reach Althar and expose theVramen's hoarded secret to the whole galaxy,that will only begin the fight. The peoples of thegalaxy are used to the Vramen dominance andit will be hard for them to shake it off. Andthat's why we'll need you, Hammond. Once weprove to everyone you're what you are, one ofthe first of the oldtime spacemen, you'llbecome a symbol of the oldtime freedom ofspace we're trying to win back."

Hammond grunted. "I see. Propaganda value-Imight have known."

"Don't decide now," Wilson had concluded."Think it over. Talk to Quobba and Tammasand the others. Then decide."

Hammond was thinking it over now, lyingawake and restless in the little dim rock-cutchamber. His head ached with thinking of it,but he had to decide what he wanted to do.

What did he want to do? He wanted to go back

What did he want to do? He wanted to go backto his own time and the hell with all this crazytime and talk of star-ships and people thatdidn't die. No use thinking about that. Hecouldn't go back. He was in this time to stayand he had to make the best of it. But how washe to know what was best?

To begin with, on Wilson could be lying. Thesepeople might be no more than fugitivecriminals hiding out from the law. No, hecouldn't believe that. They were buildingsomething here, he had seen them at work.But even if it was a star-ship, that didn't provethat it was for any such farfetched purpose asmaking a forbidden attempt to find the secretworld of the Vramen. How could he be sure?

He groaned to himself. Why the devil had menever gone to space anyway? They had reallystarted something, back there in the TwentiethCentury.

There was a heavy step and Quobba came intothe little room and bent over him, his big headoutlined against the dim light.

"You feel bad?"

"I'm all right," Hammond said. He sat up. Heasked, "Tell me, Quobba. Are you my nurse ormy guard?"

The blue man shuffled his feet. "Well. Both, Iguess."

"Meaning I'm still not trusted?"

"Not till we're sure you're with us. We're surenow you did drop out of the past, the way yousaid. But you could still turn against us and tryto reach the Vramen."

"I see." Hammond thought for a moment,looking at Quobba. He felt that the big blueman was a fairly simple soul and would not betoo good at deception. He said, "What do youthink of the Vramen?"

Quobba said promptly, "They're--" The word heused meant nothing and Hammond said so.Quobba explained at length.

"So you think they're bastards," Hammond

"So you think they're bastards," Hammondsaid. "Why?"

"Who wants to die?" Quobba asked reasonably."Nobody. We wouldn't have to, if the Vramenwould let us in on their secret. They keep righton living while we grow old and get weak andsick and die. They tell us, 'It's better for younot to live so long as us, you wouldn't like itand it wouldn't be good for you.' They say it'sfor our own good they won't tell us the secret.Our own good! That's a lot of-"

Here again he used a word that Hammond hadnot learned, but he thought he knew aboutwhat that word meant. And looking at Quobbait was impossible to believe that he was lying,so that meant that at least part of what JonWilson had told him was true. It came toHammond that these Vramen really grabbed ina big way, if they had monopolized both thecontrol of space and the secret of indefinite life.

Quobba had sat down on the corner of thebunk, which creaked under his massive weight.Looking at him, Hammond asked suddenly,

"You're really from Vega?"

"You're really from Vega?"

The blue man seemed surprised by thequestion. "Sure. Vega Four."

"What's it like?"

Quobba shrugged. "A nice world. Different, ofcourse-I've never yet really got used to yellowor red sunlight, or green grass, or things likethat. I was a fool to leave it but I went space-crazy. Followed the ships for ten years, andthen Shau and I got acquainted with Jon Wilsonand decided to follow him."

Hammond tried to imagine what it would havebeen like to be born on the world of a blue sun,and to spend one's life along the starways. Itwas hard to imagine. And yet-he felt a smallthrill of pride when he thought about it-he hadhelped pioneer the way to all this, long ago.

And his pride increased as he talked to RabQuobba in these dim night hours, of thestarways and the men who followed them. Hishead spun with the Vegan's tales of spaceman'slife, tales of the vast glooms of cosmic clouds

life, tales of the vast glooms of cosmic cloudsthat ships rarely dared to enter, of wrecks andcastaways in the vast unexplored fringes of thegalaxy, of the strange autochthonous races thatcolonizing Earthmen had found on farawayworlds when they first landed. The thinkingrocks of Rigel Two and the amphibious cities ofArcturus' inmost watery world, the uncannytree-wizards of Algol Nine, and moreinformation floating through Quobba's casualtalk. Hammond was unable to tell which ofthem were fact and which were merespaceman's legend, but through them all camethe sense of the vast galactic web of commerceand travel in this latter age. And he,Hammond, who so long ago had dreamed ofbeing the first man to go out around Earth'slittle moon, might voyage instead to the shoresof the universe.

But there were the Vramen. Always they cameback into Quobba's stories, and the Vramenhad not let a ship go this way, or the Vramenhad ordered shipping to go that way, untilHammond got the feeling of what it was like tohave a superior caste over you, a super-long-lived oligarchy who held the starways as their

lived oligarchy who held the starways as theirrightful realm, and to whom the passing humangenerations, the Hoomen, were mereephemerae. Hammond began to shareQuobba's detestation of the Vramen quite fully.

Next morning when Jon Wilson came,Hammond told him, "I'm with you, if all you'vetold me is true."

Wilson said gravely, "It is true. But before I canwelcome you as one of us, the others mustapprove. Until then, please stay here."

When Iva Wilson came a little later, bringing abreakfast of the insipid nutrient jellies thatHammond had come to hate, he looked at herquizzically. "Are you my guard too, Iva?"

"Of course not," she said. "I never did believeyou were a Vramen spy. I told Gurth Lund thatfirst night that the Vramen would never usesuch a weak, helpless person as a spy."

Hammond laughed-the first time for how manyages?-and the dark-haired girl flushed quickly.

"Oh, I didn't mean it that way. You couldn't

"Oh, I didn't mean it that way. You couldn'thelp being weak after all you went through."

After a little while Quobba came along andgrinned at Hammond. "Well, you've just putyour neck in it. Come along."

Hammond went with the Vegan, with Ivafollowing them, to the small rock room thatwas Jon Wilson's study and the heart of theunderground project. The Hooman leader wasthere with Lund, the sandy-haired manHammond well remembered, and two othermen.

Lund came forward promptly with his handextended and with all hostility gone from hissquare young face.

"You've been accepted and that settleseverything," he told Hammond bluntly. "I hopeyou don't hold my caution against me?"

"Of course not," Hammond said, and added, "Ifanyone had dropped in on me with a story likethe one I told, I wouldn't have believed iteither."

either."

"So you become one of us," Jon Wilson said toHammond. "I can't help thinking that it is fatethat sent you to us so strangely from the past,as though you had been saved until just thistime when you might be the most useful."

Lund said, "Of course we needn't warn you thatyou'll share our punishment if we fail."

"You mean the Vramen will kill us if we'recaught?" Hammond asked.

Wilson answered him. "The Vramen hold noofficial position. Their domination is throughtheir scientific prestige. They would turn usover to the nearest court of the FederatedSuns, which would have to sentence us forbreaking the star-ship laws."

He and Lund took Hammond through theworkshops, showing him the amazing activitythat was going on. After venturing a fewquestions, Hammond gave up asking andmerely stared and listened. He had not thetechnical vocabulary yet, let alone the technicalknowledge, to understand a tenth of what he

knowledge, to understand a tenth of what hesaw. He was able to gather that atomic energywas the power-source for all the work downhere, but the shielded machinery he saw wasno more comprehensible to him than a radiowould have been to a Hottentot.

He had supposed he would see the frameworkof a star-ship and he was eager for that sight.But the project was not that far along yet. Theship was being built in small sub-assemblies.Metal was secured from deep workings belowthe cavern refuge, the site having been chosenfor that reason. When it was time to assemblethe ship, the walls of the different chamberswould be cut away carefully by some agency orenergy that was not explained, and all wouldbe converted into one large undergroundhangar.

"And when the ship is ready to go, we willsimply cut away the rock roof and take off bynight," Jon Wilson added.

"But won't the Vramen radar in Rurooma pickyou up?" Hammond asked.

Gurth Lund said, "That's taken care of. We'llarrange to sabotage a legitimate ship and takeoff on its time. The Vramen won't suspectanything until we're in deep space-on our wayto the Trifid and Althar."

Jon Wilson's deep eyes shone. "For the firsttime in ages, a free ship will fly space again-aship that the Vramen can't destroy with atouch."

Hammond met all the members of the band.There were thirty-two men and thirteen womenand all of them were technicians or space-mencarefully chosen for a definite part in theproject. Beside Quobba and Tammas, who hadgone on duty in the lookout, there were fournatives of other star-systems-two red-skinnedengineers from Betelgeuse, a swarthy little pilotfrom Altair, and a hollow-eyed, gray-skinnedand gloomy-looking technician of some sortfrom Algol. Hammond looked in a kind ofunbelieving wonder at these men who wereevidence of how far humankind had spreadfrom Earth. It was only after a time that henoticed how all of them stared at him with even

noticed how all of them stared at him with evenmore interest and awe.

"To all of us," Wilson said, "you're ratherincredible. The time from which you came isthe dawn of history to us, and few records of ithave survived at all."

They were interrupted by the hurriedappearance of Shau Tammas. The littleMizarian had come down from the camouflagedlookout-post.

"Quobba's getting worried," he said. "There's aVramen flier cruising overhead, and he thinksthey may suspect our location."

Wilson's gaunt face became instantly anxious."I don't see how they could. But I'll go up."

He and Lund started up the spiral stair withTammas. Hammond was hungry for a look atthe sky and he followed them, without anyoneobjecting. Looking back, he saw that theHoomen were stopping work as the alarmingreport passed from one to another. They werebeginning to gather in anxious little groups. Upin the room inside the fake boulder were Rab

in the room inside the fake boulder were RabQuobba and another man. The lookout was sosmall that Hammond had to squeeze againstthe pedestal of the telescope-like instrument toget in at all.

"Take a look at the way that flier keeps circlingback over this area." said Quobba to JonWilson.

Wilson bent to one of the cleverly concealedpeepholes. So did Lund. After a minuteHammond located another of the peepholesand peered through the lens of the tinyaperture.

The lens was cleverly designed to give a widefield of vision. It was a bright, sunny morningout on the rocky coast. He could see bluewaves creaming into white against the distantbeach. It all looked remarkably familiar toHammond, very lovely, very peaceful.

Until he saw the Vramen flier.

It came suddenly into his field of vision, a longshimmering torpedo without wings or jets andpartly transparent. It was flying slowly and

partly transparent. It was flying slowly andrather low, in steadily tightening circles.

"They surely can't have found us," Wilson said."Their spy-rays wouldn't penetrate our shield."

He sounded worried just the same, andHammond understood why even if he did notunderstand much about spy-rays and shields.The Vramen flier was coming ever closer in itscircling. Finally it poised motionless in mid-air,only a few hundred feet above the maskedlook-out post. Wilson groaned.

"No doubt about it now. We've got to bring thatflier down fast before they can call moreVramen here."

Rab Quobba's massive face flamed withexcitement. "I'll bring it down. Open the ceiling,Tammas!"

With eager quickness the little Mizarian swungaside the movable section in the ceiling of thefake boulder. Quobba was already at the baseof the telescope-instrument, and Hammondrealized suddenly that the thing was a weapon.

realized suddenly that the thing was a weapon.

Chapter 6

Quobba had jabbed switches and a lowpowerful drone was now coming from the baseof the "telescope". He sighted swiftly and thenpressed a button.

A little puff of shining vapor sprang silently upfrom the end of the tube. Hammond had justtime to think that if this were indeed a weaponit was a singularly unimpressive one, and thenhe stopped thinking that very quickly. For asthe little puff of vapor sped upward it almostinstantly changed size and shape and balloonedinto a whirling, shining vortex that got biggerby the split-second.

The Vramen flier made a sudden frantic dartaway from there, but a shade too late. Onearm of the glittering, expanding vortex touchedthe tail of the flier and that whole tail sectionmelted into dust. The flier plunged earthwardbut the vortex spun on higher and higher, stillglittering and growing. Hammond followed itwith awed eyes until he saw it suddenly snapout of existence. Only then did he look at the

out of existence. Only then did he look at theVramen flier. The craft crashed down onto theground a hundred yards away from the lookoutand rolled over and over until it fetched up witha loud impact against a massive boulder.

"Got him." said Quobba, his eyes hot with fierceexcitement.

Wilson said, "Gurth-Rab-destroy all trace of thatflier before others find it here."

He pushed open the concealed door in the sideof the camouflaged lookout and ran out intothe sunlight with Lund and Quobba close behindhim. Hammond yielded to the impulse to followand ran after them.

His legs were a little shaky under him but thesun was a welcoming brightness in his eyes andthe wind from the sea was clean and cold in hisface after the sterile conditioned air of thecatacombs. He saw now that the whole frontpart of the torpedo-shaped flier was acrumpled wreck. Certain sections of the hull orfuselage were transparent and others were ofopaque and silvery metal, and it came to him

opaque and silvery metal, and it came to himas a minor sharp surprise that in spite of thatthe hull was all of one piece, with some partsof its metal treated to make them transparent.

Quobba tore aside an unhinged door that nowhung like a broken jaw. He squirmed into theinterior of the wreck with Wilson and Lund afterhim, heading toward the wrecked forward part.

"They're dead-two of them!" the Veganshouted.

Hammond, crawling in after them, glimpsedbeyond their shoulders two men pinned andcrushed and almost hidden by crumpled metalplates and stanchions. He was scrambling tofollow them forward for a better look when heheard a slight sound behind him.

He turned, and then gaped like a fool. Back inthe shadowy opaque mid-section of the flier, afigure was moving, rising from the floor. Thiswas no man but a woman, for he glimpsed amop of ashen-blonde hair and the curve of awhite knee as she got unsteadily off the floor.She was young, and she wore the same

She was young, and she wore the samecostume of shirt and shorts as did the Hoomenwomen.

Wide blue eyes still stunned by shock stared atHammond and at the Hoomen beyond him. Hethought that her face, even now when it wasblank and dazed, was one of the most beautifulhe had ever seen, and one of the strongest. ToHammond, the strength detracted from thebeauty. He resented the woman because hefelt instantly that in many ways she was hissuperior, and always would be.

The moment endured, with Hammond staringwon-daringly and the woman's eyes lookingback with pain and shock in them, until Lundhappened to look around. At first he saw onlyHammond.

"What are you doing here?" he said angrily."Get back to the-" He did not finish. There wasan instant of complete silence and then Lundsaid two words. "Thayn Marden."

That brought Wilson's head around with a snap.

"Marden! Get her, Lund-don't hurt her-look

"Marden! Get her, Lund-don't hurt her-lookout!"

The final words were a sharp warning and themen behind Hammond came scramblingdesperately along the broken metal flooringtoward him. Lund's voice seemed to havebrought the Vramen woman suddenly out ofher daze. She sprang toward a locker in thewall and clawed at its door. The door wasjammed and would not open.

The agonized warning from Wilson madeHammond understand that there was danger.Whatever the woman was trying to get out ofthat locker would not be good for any of them.He was much the nearest to her. He sprangawkwardly and grabbed her. The next momentHammond felt as though he had tackled awildcat. The physical strength in this supplefemale body was so unexpectedly great, andhe himself still so weakened, that his grip onher was almost broken. He hung on, his facepressed against her perfumed blonde hair, thetwo of them locked like lovers in a fierceembrace until Quobba reached them andgrabbed the woman in his massive arms.

grabbed the woman in his massive arms.

"Tie her hands," Wilson said. "Quickly, quickly!"

Lund tore a thin cable loose from the wreckageinside the flier and used the insulated wire topinion her wrists. Hammond stood panting andshaken. The woman ceased to struggle whenher wrists were bound but her blue eyes blazedwith fury and indignation. She did not sayanything.

"Take her to the lookout," Wilson said toQuobba. "Gurth and I will fuse the power-chambers." He added angrily to Hammond, "Gowith them-get out of here!"

Quobba picked up the captive woman like achild and scrambled out of the wreck into thesunlight. Hammond went after him. The blueman hastened across the stretch of rock to thefake boulder. When they entered it Iva Wilsonwas there anxiously waiting for them. Shelooked at the Vramen woman in sheerastonishment.

"Thayn Marden!" she said.

"You know her?" asked Hammond.

Iva nodded. "Of course. She's been one of theVramen at Rurooma since long before I wasborn."

That shocked Hammond profoundly. In theexcitement he had forgotten how long-lived theVramen were supposed to be. Now, looking atthis woman they called Thayn Marden, theclaim seemed preposterous. Her striking, clear-cut beauty had about it that unselfconsciousquality of power and superiority that still madehim bristle. But physically she looked no olderthan Iva.

Thayn had recovered all her poise. She stoodarrow-straight and she looked at them,Hammond thought resentfully, as an outragedadult might look at vicious juvenile delinquents.And still she would not speak.

"There goes the wreck!" exclaimed ShauTammas gleefully.

Hammond, turning to look out, saw that Jon

Hammond, turning to look out, saw that JonWilson and Lund had come out of the wreckedflier and taken shelter behind a big bouldersome distance away. Inside the wrecked craftthere shone now an intensely white point oflight, and this spark grew in seconds into aslow, soundless explosion of light and forcewhich enveloped the whole wreck. WhenHammond's dazzled eyes regained vision, thewreck was totally gone and there was only ablackened patch of sand. Lund and Wilson ranto this and smoothed fresh sand over thescorched area. Then, smoothing away allfootprints behind them, they hurried back intothe shelter of the lookout.

Wilson, breathing hard, closed the door of thelookout. He ignored Thayn Marden. He went toone of the lensed loopholes and looked out.

"If they got off a message to Rurooma beforethey were shot down, there'll be other Vramenhere in a few minutes. We'll wait and see."

They waited.

The minutes went by. In the close, stuffy littleroom where too many of them were crowded,

room where too many of them were crowded,no one spoke. Finally Wilson said,

"Nothing. They got no message off."'

Quobba, still holding the Vramen woman by thearm, breathed a noisy sigh of relief.

Wilson came and stood in front of Hammond,and his face was made of planes as harsh asrock. He said,

"Why did you follow us out there? I told Gurthand Quobba only to come with me!'

A spark of temper flared in Hammond. "Iwanted to come. And it's a good thing for you Idid!'

Wilson looked at him dourly. "You were right,you are a primitive. But understand this-nomatter how anarchic a time you came from, inthis time you obey orders if you're one of us."

Hammond felt a hot resentment but he kept itto himself. Wilson turned toward the Vramenwoman, and it was only then that Hammondnoticed that the anger had momentarily left the

noticed that the anger had momentarily left thewoman's face. She had been keenly observingthe exchange between him and Wilson and shewas still staring at him as though fascinated.

Now for the first time she spoke.

"Who is that?" she asked Wilson, her eyes stillon Hammond.

"Your people will find out," Wilson told hergrimly. "The whole galaxy will find out beforelong."

"What do you mean, the time he came from?"

Wilson ignored that. "I have a question for you,Marden. How did you locate our refuge, whichis completely shielded from spy-rays?"

Thayn Marden looked at him in scornful silence.

"Perhaps," said Lund thoughtfully, "the veryfact of an underground area completelyimpenetrable to spy-rays gave her the clue."

Wilson said stubbornly, "Our ray-shield wasarranged to make it seem a natural deposit of

arranged to make it seem a natural deposit ofresistant metals."

Lund nodded. "And it would fool most of theVramen. It did. But remember that Marden isone of the highest-ranking Vramen scientists inthis System. She could guess the truth whereanother wouldn't."

Hammond, standing back with Iva against thewall of the crowded lookout room, only partlyunderstood this talk of spy-rays and shields. Hewas less interested in it than he was in thewoman herself. She was the first of the hatedVramen he had seen, and he thought he couldunderstand now why they were so hated. Youwould get tired indeed of sharing the world andthe Solar System and the whole galaxy withpeople who looked at you in the way thiswoman looked at the Hoomen, not a look ofcontempt so much as one of utter impatiencewith stupidity.

The odd thing was that when she glanced atHammond himself, as she did several timeswhile Lund and Wilson were talking, herexpression was one of intense interest. Those

expression was one of intense interest. Thosebrilliant blue eyes seemed to be trying to lookright through him, and not quite succeeding. Herealized that she was intrigued by him, not inany personal way at all but as a problem shecould not yet solve.

Wilson pointed to the stair and said curtly,"Down there, Marden."

"You might as well stop this nonsense andcome with me to Rurooma," she said. "Youknow it won't be long before others come tolook for me."

"They're not all as clever as you," Jon Wilsonsaid. "And-we now have you as a hostage. Goon."

The hatred in his deep eyes was mirrored inthe faces of the others. Lund's face, inparticular, was deadly as he looked at theVramen woman.

Thayn shrugged and started down the littlestair. They followed, leaving Tammas andanother man on guard in the lookout. When hegot down into the underground halls,

got down into the underground halls,Hammond saw the blazing excitement of theother Hooman men and women at this capture.They stared in mixed awe and hatred at thecaptive. Wilson explained briefly to them, thenled the way toward the small chamber fromwhich he directed activities. Thayn's cool blueeyes missed no detail of the machines andlabor in the rooms through which they went.And the astronomical charts upon the walls ofWilson's room instantly attracted her attention.

"So this is why you left Rurooma and hid here."she said "You're attempting to build an illegalstar-ship."

"Not attempting." Wilson said. "We're doing it."

Thayn frowned. "But you've only begun. Thiscan't be the illegal ship we tracked on radarsome time ago. You have another ship."

Wilson pointed to Hammond. "It was his craftyou tracked. Do you want to know where itcame from?"

"Yes."

Wilson told her. The telling took quite a fewminutes and in that time Hammond felt theVramen woman's eyes searching every detail ofhis appearance. But her face showed onlycomplete incredulity as Wilson finished.

"I don't know what part of your conspiracy thisman represents." she said, "but it's a foolishhoax."

"No hoax, Marden." said Wilson. "You know allabout hypothermia. He really comes from thattime. Every bit of evidence about him provesit."

"How would you know?" retorted Thayn. "Evenwe know little about that remote age. And whatwould a man of that time be doing with yououtlaws?"

"He's one of us now." Wilson said. "And whenour ship is built he'll go with us to the Trifid, toAlthar."

There was a moment of silence. Thayn's facedid not change but it seemed to Hammond that

did not change but it seemed to Hammond thatit hid a deep and powerful emotion.

"No," she said finally, in a low voice. "Oh, no,you will never go to Althar."

"But we will," said Wilson quietly. "Andwhatever the secret of life may be that youhave hidden there, we'll find it. For ourselves,and for all Hoomen."

"You are children," whispered Thayn. "You talkof things you do not know. If you knew whatreally lies at Althar-"

"You know." said Wilson. "That's why you'revaluable to us. When our ship goes there it willnot have any detonator in it, which eliminatesone danger. You will help to eliminate anyothers by telling us exactly what and wherethey are."

Thayn's blue eyes flashed. "I will tell younothing. You should know the Vramen betterthan that."

Wilson's face was gaunt and somber, unyieldingas iron. "You will tell, and what you tell will be

as iron. "You will tell, and what you tell will bethe truth. You will tell it under theencephaloprobe."

Hammond did not understand the word at all,but the Vramen woman obviously did. Her facetightened. She said,

"You don't have one."

"We can build one. There are workers frommany fields among us, including two psycho-technicians. They are quite familiar with theencephaloprobe. And if you try to resist, then-"

"You can destroy my mind but you will learnnothing," Thayn said. She added bitterly, "Theencephaloprobe itself is one of the things thatVramen science gave you."

Wilson ignored that. He said, "It will take sometime to construct a 'probe. You have that longto reconsider your decision. Don't mistake me.The thing will be used on you-and if you try toresist it, what happens will be your own doing."He turned abruptly. "Quobba, lock her in thesmall empty storeroom at the end of the northcorridor. And set a guard outside the door."

corridor. And set a guard outside the door."

Kirk Hammond felt a vague oppression as hewatched the Vramen woman led away. Hewent out into the corridor and looked after herand Quobba. Iva Wilson came out too, and heturned to her and asked,

"What did she mean, destroy her mind? What'sthis encephaloprobe they were talking about?"

"It's an instrument psycho-technicians use," Ivasaid, "It has a long name but that's whatpeople call it. It reads brains."

Hammond looked at her incredulously.

"It's true," she said. "I'm not a scientist, but the'probe is common knowledge. It scans thesynaptic patterns of a living brain andtranslates them into coded symbols. Of course,it can't scan everything in a person's brain, butit can search out the things most deeplyimprinted on his memory, his dominantemotions and attitudes."

"But-how would it destroy her mind?"

"If the subject resists the 'probe with all his will,it may wreck his main synapses and shatter hismind."

Hammond felt a thrill of horror. "It soundsghastly. Surely your father wouldn't use such athing?"

"Our lives, the fate of all Hoomen, may dependon this," Iva said. "Yes, he would use it." Shelooked challengingly at him and asked, "Is itbecause Thayn is so beautiful that you hate theidea?"

Hammond smiled.

"She is beautiful. But she's not human like us atall," Iva said. "The Vramen are loveless andchildless, caring only for knowledge and power.Don't be deceived by her beauty."

Hammond saw that Iva's face was flushed, herdark eyes brilliant with some strong emotion."Why, Iva, you sound a little jealous," he said,and grinned.

She did not think it was funny. "If you think

She did not think it was funny. "If you thinkthat," she snapped, "your wits must still benumb from your long sleep."

She turned sharply away and left him, but notbefore he had seen the hint of angry tears inher eyes. He looked after her, and then heshook his head and swore softly to himself.

Just before darkness fell on the upper world,Shau Tammas was relieved and came downfrom his hours in the lookout with disquietinginformation.

"Two Vramen fliers went up the coast an hourago and then came back. They're alreadylooking for Marden."

Jon Wilson nodded grimly. "Pass the order toeveryone-and be sure they understand. Noone, for any reason whatsoever, is to go outonto the surface."

Looking at them, Hammond felt a sudden colddoubt that he knew these Hoomen at all. Hehad thought he knew them; in the long periodof his recuperation and learning they had

of his recuperation and learning they hadbecome familiar friends to him, people like thepeople of his own time. Jon Wilson seemed likemany a stubborn upright man he had known inthe old days, struggling indomitably for what hebelieved in. And yet Wilson was planning to doa thing to the Vramen woman that madeHammond wince back in repulsion.

Well, he had made his decision and it was right.He would go forward with the Hoomen andfight on their side. For the Vramen to own allspace and dominate all its worlds was a wrongthing. Too many men, back even to his ownTwentieth Century, had died to win space forthat to be suffered! Yet Hammond felt now thatthough he had crossed the abyss of timephysically, he was and always would be astranger among these people, alone, lostforever out of his own world.

Chapter 7

The unexpected happened four days later.During that time Hammond had felt a growingclaustrophobia. He wanted to go outside. It wasa frustrating thing to have returned as he hadfrom the vastness of space, from the very

from the vastness of space, from the verycoasts of death, and yet not to see anything ofthe world of this time except these rockchambers with their artificial light and sterileair. But Jon Wilson sternly forbade anyone toventure from the lookout.

"Vramen fliers are still searching this coast forMarden's craft." he said. "They don't give upeasily. The search will go on for a long time."

"And in the meantime, what do I do?"Hammond demanded. "Everyone else here haswork to do."

"There will be work for you, in plenty," saidWilson. "But not until you learn more. You can'teven read our language, nor understand thesymbols and settings of our machines. Learn."

So Hammond spent long hours with Iva andbooks. He liked the Hooman girl but he was toorestless to enjoy the lessons. Between them,he roamed from the lookout, where he peeredhungrily out at the sunshine and the stars, tothe connected rock chambers where theendless work upon the star-ship sub-assemblies

endless work upon the star-ship sub-assemblieswent on.

Two men had left their former work and beguna new task. One of them was an ordinaryHooman and the other, North Abel, was theAlgolian, a tall man with a curious dull-graycomplexion and a gloomy face. They wereconstructing a device that looked to Hammondlike an incredibly complex form of electric chair.He learned that this was the encephaloprobe.

Looking at it with dislike, Hammond asked, "Isit true that the Vramen first invented thisthing?"

"True enough," said Abel. "But they gave it tous freely. Why not? It's to their advantage. Ourcourts use it to test anyone suspected ofplotting against the Vramen. There's never anyerror."

"But," Hammond objected, "Iva said thatanyone who used all his will-power could resistthis thing, even though it wrecked his mind. Adetermined man couldn't be questioned, then."

Abel snorted. "The Vramen don't give away all

Abel snorted. "The Vramen don't give away alltheir inventions, Hammond. I hear you had alittle experience with their hypno-amplifier?Well, using that, they can beat down anymental resistance to the 'probe."

"But you don't have that," Hammond said. "So-"

The Algolian shrugged. "So if Marden resists,it's liable to tear her brain apart. I hope not.This is a lot of work for nothing, if thathappens."

His matter-of-fact callousness grated onHammond, but he knew enough by now of theattitude of these people toward the Vramenthat he did not protest. He too hoped thatThayn Marden would not resist. He didn't wantto see anyone's mind rent to tatters. He hopedthat she would talk her head off and that theywould be able to finish the ship and get out ofthis hole in the rock, to Althar or anywhere elseso long as it was not here.

It was then that Hammond got his surprise. Hewent to Jon Wilson to ask him if any progress

went to Jon Wilson to ask him if any progresshad been made with the Vramen woman, butWilson, who had been talking with Lund,forestalled him.

"I was going to send for you, Hammond. Anodd thing has come up. Marden wants to talk toyou."

Hammond stared. "With me? Why on Earth-"

Lund interrupted, saying uneasily, "I still don'tlike it You know the Vramen. It's a trick ofsome kind."

"Possibly," Wilson said. "But she won't even talkto us. Hammond might be able to persuade hernot to resist the encephaloprobe." He turnedback to Hammond. "She's very interested inyou. She thinks that your claim to be from thepast is a hoax, but she's not quite sure. Andshe's eager to find out-all the Vramen areextremely interested in remote history. If youcan convince her of your origin and get her totalking, you might be able to convince her thatwe're in dead earnest about using theencephaloprobe."

encephaloprobe."

Hammond felt an odd little pulse of excitement."But she may guess what I'm up to."

"Of course she'll guess it," Wilson said acidly."The Vramen are a lot of things but they're notfools, not with all their many lifetimes ofexperience. Remember that."

The guard outside Thayn Marden's room hadhis instructions. He very carefully unlocked thedoor and let Hammond inside, and immediatelyshut the door after him.

A softly glowing ceiling bulb lit the bare littlerock room. There was a cot and chair and littleelse. The Vramen woman had risen to her feetwhen he entered, and now she facedHammond. She did not look like one of thesuperhuman lords of space he had heard somuch about. She looked like a remarkablyhandsome blonde young woman with intelligentblue eyes and a figure, as revealed by her briefwhite shorts, that ordinarily Hammond wouldhave whistled at. He did not feel like whistlingnow. He felt a little scared.

Thayn made an easy gesture toward the chair."You might sit down. And why do you stare atme like that?"

Hammond shrugged and sat down. "I don'tknow. I guess it's because I've never talkedwith an undying woman before."

Thayn made an angry, derisive sound."Undying? The same old childish fairy-tale.Because we have longevity you Hoomen prattleabout-" Then she broke off. "But I forgot.You're not supposed to be a Hooman at all, areyou?"

"No, I'm not." He looked at her, fascinatedly."How long-lived are you? How old are you?"

"A little more than two hundred years old," saidThayn.

It shook Hammond. For a moment his nervesbristled as though at the proximity of someonequite unhuman. His feeling must have shown inhis face, for Thayn said,

"Why should you look like that? If your claim is

"Why should you look like that? If your claim istrue, you've been living for over ten thousandyears."

"Not living," Hammond told her. "Not quiteliving."

"You remember nothing of all that time?" sheasked skeptically.

I remember nothing but a dream. A dream ofa man who sat in a tiny sphere like a king upona throne, with frozen face and blind eyesturned upon the cold realms of space that hemoved through forever and ever.

"Nothing," said Hammond, almost in a whisper.

Thayn's face changed. She was silent for amoment, looking at him keenly. She said in adifferent tone,

"You do not talk or look like an imposter."

"I wish to God I was one," said Hammond.

"Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"Go ahead."

She asked them. They were remarkably quick,searching, pointed inquiries concerning theTwentieth Century. Some of them seemed tobe more or less repetitious of ones alreadyasked, and then it dawned on Hammond thatshe was crosschecking his answers very swiftlyand scientifically. Especially, her questionsdwelled on the first space-pioneering attempts.

When she stopped she looked sorely puzzledand increasingly excited.

"I can almost believe you are from that remotetime." she said. "We Vramen have formed anhypothetical reconstruction of that dawn age,and no Hoomen know our researches. Yet youranswers, with a few exceptions, check withours. And the exceptions could be mistakes onour part."

"Hypothetical reconstruction?" repeatedHammond. "Don't you know from records whatthat age was like?"

She shook her head. "There are no records.

She shook her head. "There are no records.The interplanetary wars of the Twenty-ThirdCentury pretty well destroyed them, on Marsand Venus as well as on Earth."

"Interplanetary wars?" said Hammond. Then hesaid heavily, "That's fine. That's what we wereworking for, what we risked our lives for. Thewonderful space age. Planet wars, and Vramenwho own space, and people trying to get themoff their necks. That's what our wonderfulgoddamned space age turned out to be."

Thayn looked at him, her blue eyes brilliantwith excitement. "Either you are the cleverestimposter ever heard of, or your story is true.And it all checks-that parachute-device wefound, like nothing made for ages-" She brokeoff, then said intently, "Listen, Kirk Hammond.Don't let yourself be involved in this Hoomanplot. It will come to nothing, and you could getkilled."

"This anxiety of yours about me is touching, buthardly convincing," Hammond said sourly.

Her eyes flashed with impatience. "Do you

Her eyes flashed with impatience. "Do yousuppose I care what happens to youpersonally? You represent, if your story is true,a vast storehouse of knowledge of the remotepast. I don't want that knowledge to perish."

Hammond could believe that, at least. And itgave him a lead. So far, all the information hadcome from him but he attempted to reversethat now.

"There'll be no danger." he said lightly. "Whenour ship is completed, we'll go to Althar andfind out how you Vramen make yourselves solong-lived."

"You haven't a chance in a billion of reachingAlthar." she said. "We keep too close a watchon the whole Trifid. And even if you passed theVramen-"

She stopped suddenly.

"Yes?" said Hammond.

Thayn shook her head. "Oh, no. They'll get noinformation from me, either by tricks or by theencephaloprobe."

encephaloprobe."

"Not even to save your mind, your sanity?"

"No, not for that or anything." she answered,and her tone carried conviction to Hammond."Their quest is quite hopeless, believe me. Ican't help it if they're determined on suicide.But I do want to save you and all theknowledge you have from a useless death."

In her earnestness she laid her small hand onhis wrist. Hammond flinched slightly andinstantly Thayn's expression changed.

"So you've already picked up the Hoomanhatred of us?" she said, her eyes searching hisface. "You too think us un-human?"

He tried to find words of denial, but Thaynturned away from him. She looked weary anddejected. And for the first time Hammond felta spark of real sympathy for her.

"Are you really going to be so foolish as to letthem wreck your mind?" he asked.

"I will tell nothing that will help Hoomen to

"I will tell nothing that will help Hoomen toreach Althar," she said, without turning.

"But they're-we're-going there anyway,"Hammond said. "You might as well tell."

"Why should you care what happens tosomeone who is not human?" she said. And ofa sudden she turned and came over and stoodfacing him, close to him. "Am I really so alien,so repulsive, in your eyes?"

She was looking up at him, and her tilted whiteface was provocative in its mock-innocence.The subtle perfume of her glimmering blondehair made his pulses pound. There were littletaunting devils in her eyes that utterly beliedthe softness of her face and voice. Her smallhands reached out and grasped his shoulders,and her red lips were very close.

"Am I, Kirk Hammond?"

Hammond fully realized what she was doing.Yet for his life he could not refrain from thekiss she invited. Her half-parted lips werestrangely cool and sweet, and her supple bodywas firm and elastic in his grasp. Next moment

was firm and elastic in his grasp. Next momenthe was thrust violently away and Thayn waslooking at him in scornful triumph.

"It seems I am not. But you are to me-I'd aslief be touched by an animal. By a dumbbrute!"

Hammond, after a moment, said steadily, "Allright, I hurt your feelings and you wanted tohurt mine. Are we even now?"

The scorn and anger left Thayn's face. Shesaid, "You're right. I'm used to the hatred ofthe Hoomen, but you are of another age andyour action hurt me. For a moment, I wassmall and spiteful."

The avowal was so honest that Hammond couldnot help admiring her. And the subtle scent ofher hair was still in his nostrils.

He said, "I meant what I said, Thayn. I hate tosee your mind destroyed."

"I cannot and will not help these people," shesaid. "Tell them so. And-come again if they willlet you. I have much more to ask you about

let you. I have much more to ask you aboutthe old times."

The guard carefully let Hammond out of thelittle locked chamber. He had a lot to thinkabout as he went through the busy work-chambers in search of Wilson.

Wilson listened intently when Hammond toldhim what Thayn had said about Althar. Herepeated it slowly. " 'We keep too close a watchon the whole Trifid. And even if you passed theVramen-' That seems to imply that there areother obstacles for us at Althar, beside theVramen. She added nothing to that?"

"Nothing. She stopped short as though sherealized she was letting information slip out."

"The Vramen make very few slips," Wilson saidskeptically. "Her 'information' could be quitecalculated."

"I can talk to her again," Hammond suggested."She seems quite eager to see me, now thatshe's practically convinced I'm what I say Iam."

am."

It was odd, he thought, how tensely he waitedfor Wilson's reply to that, as though a greatdeal depended upon it. He did not know quitewhy he should feel like that. But he did knowthat Wilson's answer, when it came, was ashock.

"North Abel says the encephaloprobe will befinished by tomorrow night. We'll use it on herthe following morning, and it's her own fault ifshe resists it."

"But if she does, you learn nothing," Hammondsaid. "And if I could persuade her not to resist,you'll learn everything."

Wilson finally nodded. "You may as well tryagain to make her see reason. I'll tell theguard to let you in tomorrow afternoon."

He looked shrewdly at Hammond as he added,"You regard the encephaloprobe with horror,don't you? The necessity for it repels you?"

Hammond nodded. "I don't like to see even aVramen's mind wrecked."

Vramen's mind wrecked."

"Neither do I," Wilson said. "I'm not like Lundand some of the others, though they havegood reason for their bitterness. But like it ornot, with the future of all Hoomen hanging onthis, the thing will be done. Try to make herrealize that."

On the next afternoon when he entered thesmall prison-room, Hammond had his mindmade up. He didn't know for sure whether heliked Thayn or detested her, but like Wilson hehad no desire to see her mind blasted. He saidso to her as earnestly as he could.

She shook her head. "I will not yield to theprobe."

"Would it really be so terrible if other people,the ordinary Hooman men and women, hadlongevity too?" he demanded resentfully.

Thayn said, "Yes. It would be terrible."

"But why?"

"I can't tell you that. I will not tell it to anyone,

"I can't tell you that. I will not tell it to anyone,not even under the probe."

Hammond felt helpless, and angry because hewas helpless. "All right," he said roughly. "Ihate to see this happen to anyone. But if you'redetermined to put caste loyalty ahead of yourown sanity, there's nothing I can do about it."

Thayn did not answer that for a moment. Herclear eyes studied his face, and then she said,

"You don't want me made into a mindlessidiot?"

"I told you, I don't want that to happen toanyone."

"You can prevent it if you wish," she said. Andthen as he started to object she added quickly,"No, I'm not suggesting that you help meescape. I know you wouldn't do that."

"Then what?"

She spoke very rapidly. "The encephaloprobewas a Vramen invention. We taught theHoomen how to construct it, but they all follow

our original plan, generating an ultra-highelectromagnetic radiation capable ofpenetrating tissue and scanning the minuteelectric impulses of the human brain. Theprobe that has been built to use on me wouldhave the same wiring diagram as every other."

Hammond stared at her uncomprehendingly."So?"

Thayn said, "There is a small terminal board inthe back of the instrument, inside the shield. Ithas twelve numbered binding-posts. It wouldbe quite easy to change the whole wiringdiagram. Wire Two should go to Post Four,Wire Four to Post Six, and Wire Six should bedisconnected completely."

Hammond began to understand. "What wouldthat do?"

"Change the quality of the 'probe's radiation. Icould resist it then without having my mindwrecked."

Hammond got to his feet. "I've sided with theHoomen in this fight. I believe in their cause,

Hoomen in this fight. I believe in their cause,and I don't see why the Vramen should hog allspace and long life. Now you're asking me todouble-cross them."

"It amounts to that." Thayn admitted. "But theywon't get the information they want from me inany case. This would merely save my mind. Icould, you know, pretend mindlessness afterthey use the probe."

Hammond shook his head, feeling increasinglyangry and upset. "No, I can't do it. I'm sorrythey're going to do this thing to you, and I'msorry you're so blind stiff-necked obstinate. ButI'm not responsible for it."

Unexpectedly Thayn said, "You're right, it's notyour responsibility. Well, I can't blame you. Ionly wish that when fate brought you from yourpast age, it had brought you to the Vrameninstead of these Hoomen."

And of a sudden, she smiled. "Since nothingcan be done about tomorrow, let us forget it. Iwant to hear more about that time when thefirst men went out from Earth. So long-so long

ago."

The hours went by as she questioned him, andnever once did she refer to what was to come.Only, when Hammond was about to leave, shecame up to him and said,

"I think this is goodbye, Kirk Hammond. But Ihave one favor to ask, something that theHoomen might do at your request."

"It's no good, Thayn," he said. "They'redetermined on this probing, and I can't talkthem out of it."

"That's not what I meant," she said. "But afterit's over-will you ask them to destroy my body?I've lived very long-but I have no desire to liveon without a mind."

He did not know what to say to that. He lookedat her, feeling a little sick, and then nodded,and turned and rapped for the guard to openthe door.

That night Hammond could not sleep. He hadmade an appeal to Jon Wilson not to use the

made an appeal to Jon Wilson not to use theprobe, and it had been rejected so sternly thathe had known it was useless to carry thesubject farther. He wondered if Thayn wassleeping. Somehow he felt sure she was, eventhough the morrow would end her mind, herpersonality.

He damned the fate that had brought him outof his own time to this crazy age. These peoplehad scientific attainments far beyond those ofhis own time, they had conquered the stars. Itwas a pity that they, especially Thayn Marden,could not make more sense.

He washed his hands of the whole business. Itwas not his fault, any of it. Let it happen, hecouldn't stop it. He would go to sleep.

He did not go to sleep.

After a while he rose quietly from his bunk andwithout putting on his shoes he walkedstealthily out into the corridor.

"I'm a fool," he told himself.

All right, so he was a fool. He was the kind of a

All right, so he was a fool. He was the kind of afool that couldn't let this nightmare happen.

He was with the Hoomen. He would not havelet Thayn escape, to bring the Vramen down onhis friends. But this business of reducing her toan idiot, without any gain whatever, was toomuch.

There was no one in the main laboratory andworkshop rooms. The lights were dimmed andeveryone slept except the watch on duty in thelookout above. Hammond made straight for theencephaloprobe. Thayn's description had beenaccurate. It took only a few moments tochange the wires.

Hammond went back to bed and slept.

When he awoke the next morning he wassurprised to find that he did not feel guilty. Hefelt relieved. He realized now how much thething had weighed upon his mind.

"They're bringing Marden out now for theprobing," Iva Wilson told him, a little later.

"You're not going to watch it?" Hammond

"You're not going to watch it?" Hammondasked.

Iva shook her head. Her face was pale. "Icouldn't. I hate the Vramen and I hate Marden,but this-even though it's necessary, I don'twant to see it."

Hammond left her and went to the mainlaboratory. Few of the other Hoomen appearedto share Iva's feelings-they were nearly allthere to watch.

Thayn came quietly with Lund and North Abel.Her glance fell casually on Hammond's face butshe did not speak or nod.

"Your last warning, Marden," said Wilsongrimly. "Resist the probe, and what happenswill be your own doing."

She made no answer. North Abel, a littleuncertainly, gestured toward the seat aroundwhich the complicated apparatus of the probewas arranged. When Thayn silently sat downthe Algolian looked relieved, as though he hadfeared a messy struggle to force her into it.She looked stonily ahead as the big metal

She looked stonily ahead as the big metalhelmet was placed carefully over her head. Herface, the only part of her head not covered bythe helmet, was white and cold andexpressionless.

"Don't resist. Relax." said Abel to her. And herepeated it, almost in a tone of entreaty."Relax."

He went to the control panel and began turningswitches. There was now a breathless silenceon the part of the whole watching group. Intothat silence stole a sound of droning powerfrom the machine.

Abel carefully turned a rheostat. Thayn flinchedslightly and suddenly closed her eyes.

"I'm starting." said Abel.

He touched a switch, and a roll of paper tapebegan to come clicking out of a slot at the sideof the coding unit of the machine.

Hammond felt a sharp shock. Had he failed,was the woman getting the full blast of theprobe? Her face was very white and strange

probe? Her face was very white and strangeand he might have got the wiring wrong and-

North Abel, bending over the tape, saidsuddenly in a puzzled voice, "I don't quiteunderstand what I'm getting-"Hammondexhaled a deep breath. Then he had not failed.Thayn was merely acting.

The guard came running down the spiral stairfrom the lookout, yelling, and every headturned toward him.

"Our radar in the lookout is picking up stronghigh-octave radiation that comes from downhere!" he cried. "What are you doing?"

They stared at him, not believing.

"You must be wrong." Jon Wilson said. "There'sno radiation down here high enough to getthrough our shield."

"I'm not wrong." said the man, "and you'dbetter find the leak and shut it off before everyVramen flier along the coast has it on radar."

Suddenly Gurth Lund ran forward shouting at

Suddenly Gurth Lund ran forward shouting atNorth Abel. "Shut the 'probe off! Now!"

The Algolian, uncomprehending but obedient,reached out and turned the switches. Thedroning of the encephaloprobe died.

Thayn Marden opened her eyes.

"You said the probe wasn't working right," Lundsaid fiercely to Abel. "It's the only thing thatcould be leaking high radiation."

Abel shook his head emphatically. "Impossible.I wired and tested it myself."

A fatal foreknowledge came upon Hammondthen, as though he heard the rumble andcracking of the rock roof falling in on him. Helooked at Thayn and there was a sickness inhim, and a shaking rage.

"Check it," said Wilson to North Abel.

Abel took off the back shield. He looked at thewiring and then up at them with a strickenface. "The wiring has been altered.Deliberately-to make a signal that would reach

Deliberately-to make a signal that would reachthe Vramen radar."

All Hammond could do at that moment was tostand and glare at Thayn, and out of thehelmet her face looked at him calmly.

"You-" he began, his voice choking.

Lund saw, and heard. "There's our traitor." hesaid, pointing at Hammond. "Look at him. I toldyou what would happen if you let Marden gethold of him. I told you-"

He plunged forward and caught Hammond bythe throat.

Hammond fought him off and there was aroaring in his ears and a yelling of many voicesaround him and then it all stopped andeverything was quiet. And in that quiet itseemed that a clear, cold voice spoke inHammond's brain. It was like that strangemental voice that had spoken to him on thenight when he and Quobba crouched beneaththe boulder, hiding from the firefly ships.

"Put down your weapons, all of you" said the

"Put down your weapons, all of you" said thechill mental voice.

Hammond looked upward as Lund releasedhim. Down the spiral stair from the lookoutpost a half-dozen men were coming. Two ofthem carried objects like bulky searchlights,from which sprang broad fans of pale force orlight that enveloped every Hooman in the rockhall.

It was the weapon of hypnotic attack, thehypno-amplifiers. And as he realized that,Hammond realized also that neither he nor anyof them were wearing the protective metalturbans now. He looked up at the calm facesand superb bodies of the descending men, andhe looked at Thayn, and he heard Jon Wilsongroan.

"The Vramen. This-"

No one said anything more. In Hammond'smind came another cold, hypnotic command.

"Sleep now." it ordered. "Sleep!"

The Hoomen were already sinking to the flooraround him as darkness swept overHammond's brain.

Chapter 8

It was with an unusual sensation of strengthand vigor that Hammond awoke. For the firsttime since his strange resurrection in this futureworld he did not feel a dragging weakness.Rarely, indeed, had he ever felt so well.

He looked around him, puzzled. He was lyingon a soft, low couch. At its foot stood aninstrument like a tall lamp whose spiral glassbulb projected a flood of rosy light upon him.He wondered fleetingly if that was what hadwashed away his former weakness. Then thethought faded out of his mind as he lookedpast it at the room. It was small. Its floor,ceiling, and three of its walls were of asubstance that looked like green porcelain. Thefourth wall, a slightly curving one, was perfectlytransparent and admitted the brilliant sunshineunhindered.

"Good God!" Hammond exclaimed, as memory

"Good God!" Hammond exclaimed, as memorysuddenly rushed over him. "The Vramen-"

He remembered everything now, and thememory was a painful shock. Thayn had madea fool of him as easily as though he were achild. She had tricked him into altering theprobe into a signal device that called theVramen to the underground refuge. He couldremember them using the hypno-amplifiers,the command to sleep, and now-this.

Hammond leaped to his feet and went to thesingle door of the room. It was locked, and allhis hammering on it had no result. Baffled, heturned and went to that curved transparentwall which was actually a great window.

He looked forth, and was stunned.

He was high in a city. And it was such a city asneither Kirk Hammond nor any other man ofhis time had ever seen. This was no vastplanless metropolis of huddled structures.

There were no more than a hundred buildingsin this city. But they were the buildings of

in this city. But they were the buildings ofgiants, colossal pylons, each one almost a milein height. Each gigantic pylon looked like anerect bundle of round glass rods, the cross-section being such as to admit maximumsunlight to the interiors. Flashing and glitteringin the sunshine, with sleek fliers flitting to andfro above them, the pylons were mind-rocking.

"Rurooma," Hammond whispered. "The cityRurooma, as the Hoomen described it. And thatmeans-"

His presence here meant tragedy. It meantthat he and all his Hooman friends,overpowered by the Vramen, had been broughthere to be punished for their conspiracy.

Hammond felt the anguish of guilt. It was abitter irony that he, who had sympathized sodeeply with the Hooman aspiration to makespace free again, should have been the one tobring ruin to their hopes. Where were JonWilson and Iva and the others now?

He swung around sharply as the door opened.When he saw that it was Thayn Marden, a hot,bursting anger made him start toward her with

bursting anger made him start toward her withhis hands clenched.

Thayn spoke quickly but calmly, displaying asmall plastic tube she held.

"I can shock you unconscious with this if youforce me to."

Hammond stopped, shaking with rage. Yeteven in his fury he admitted to himself that theVramen woman was more beautiful than ever.She now wore shirt and shorts of a black, silkymaterial that made the loveliness of her supplewhite body transcendent. On her breast was anodd badge of glittering gems, and there was ajeweled band around her blonde hair. Her facewas quite calm, her blue eyes inspectingHammond gravely.

"What have you done with Jon Wilson, andQuobba, and the others?" he demandedsavagely.

Thayn said unhesitatingly, "They're all right.Like you, they've been kept here the last fourdays, awaiting trial."

days, awaiting trial."

"Four days?" Hammond repeated, for themoment astonished out of his anger. "Do youmean it's been that long?"

Thayn nodded. "When our medico-techniciansexamined you, they found your body stillsuffering from that long deep hypothermia.They recommended keeping you undertherapeutic radiation during this time."

Hammond's mind reverted to her statementabout his friends. "You say Wilson and theothers are all right. How do I know you're notlying?"

"We Vramen are not in the habit of lying."

"I suppose it wasn't a lying trick you used onme?"

"I told you that if you altered the wiring of theencephaloprobe my mind would be unharmed.That was the truth, wasn't it?"

"You didn't tell me I was signaling yourfriends," he said bitterly. "It amounted to a lie."

Again, Thayn Marden displayed an unexpectedhonesty. "Yes, it did," she admitted. "However,it was a case of extreme emergency. Anymeans is excusable to prevent Hoomen fromgoing to Althar."

"You deliberately played on my sympathy foryou," Hammond said. "No decent humanwoman would use a trick like that. But it wouldcome naturally enough to a woman who isn'treally a woman, a two-hundred-year-oldcreature without real emotions."

He wanted fiercely to hurt her and hesucceeded. Thayn winced, and when she spokeagain after a moment her voice was dull withpain.

"You have a right to say that." She looked athim steadily. "But now that you have said it,will you hear why I've come?"

"To tell me that I'm to be tried and punishedwith the others?" he said. "All right. I'm ready."

"You will not receive punishment unless you're

"You will not receive punishment unless you'reutterly intractable," Thayn said. "You've beenexamined most carefully in our laboratories,during your sleep. We know now that yourstory of coming from the remote past is true,for we scanned your mind with theencephaloprobe."

Hammond felt a sense of outrage. "You usedthat damned thing on me?"

"It's always used on accused persons beforetrial." Thayn said. "A Vramen psycho-technicianwith a hypno-amplifier sees to it that there isno resistance."

"I hope you enjoyed learning how I feel aboutthe Vramen."

"We found out many things. But the 'probecan't search out everything in a man's mind,only dominant memories and emotions. We gottantalizing fragments, glimpses of your remotetime of which-as I told you-no other recordremains."

She came closer and spoke very earnestly."You could add tremendously to our knowledge

"You could add tremendously to our knowledgeof that dawn of the space age. If you agree tohelp our researches, to cooperate fully with ourhistorians and psycho-technicians, we'll ask theHooman court to suspend sentence on you foryour part in the conspiracy."

"No deal." Hammond snapped. "I'll do nothingfor you and your little caste of supermen. Istick with Wilson and my friends."

"That's because you don't know the truth."Thayn said. "They're jealous of the Vramen andthey've infected you with their jealousy. Theyhate us, and yet the truth is that the Vramenhave never harmed humanity in a single way,but have helped them in many."

"If you want to help humanity, why not letthem all have the same long lives asyourselves? Or would that be helping them toomuch?"

Thayn looked a little weary. "I see that youwon't listen to reason. You've learned theHooman prejudices. And you're resentful of meespecially because you're in love with me."

especially because you're in love with me."

"In love with-" Hammond stared at her blankly,and then said, "For God's sake, you reallybelieve that, don't you? What gave you thatcrazy idea-the fact that I felt sorry for you?"

Thayn smiled. "I told you the encephaloproberecords dominant memories and emotions. Iwent over all the records, and yours clearlyindicates that you've been in love with me sinceyou first saw me, though your prejudice againstVramen has made you crowd the feeling downinto your subconscious."

And before Hammond could say any of thethings he wanted to say Thayn turned and wentout of the room.

Hammond swore in frustration and anger.That, he thought, was how much their brain-probing was worth. He had felt Thayn's physicalattraction, any man would feel it. And she,unhuman herself and therefore unable todistinguish between human emotions, hadtaken that as evidence that he was in love withher. In love with a two-hundred-year-oldVramen woman! He laughed.

Vramen woman! He laughed.

An hour later the door was opened and twomen entered. They were clean-cut young menin black uniforms with an emblem of clusteredgolden disks. Hammond knew from whatQuobba had said that it was the insigne of theFederated Suns government. And since Vramenhad no official part in the government, thesemust be Hoomen.

One of them said quietly, "Please come. Weare to take you to your trial."

Neither of them wore a visible weapon, but hehad no doubt that they had them. He shruggedand went with them.

The corridor outside was wide and curved, itswalls and ceilings of a substance like cool greenglass somehow lighted from within. There wasa small crowd there-a half-dozen otheruniformed men, and all the men and women ofJon Wilson's band, with Rab Quobba's massivehead towering above everyone. Hammondwent to them.

"Wilson-Iva-you're all right? I was afraid-"

The words trailed into silence. Jon Wilson waslooking at him with a stony hostility. Gurth Lundlooked as though he wanted to kill him. EvenQuobba and little Tammas avoided his gazeand Iva stared unhappily at the floor.

"Look." said Hammond. "I know what you'rethinking. I don't blame you for feeling that way.But please-"

A guard officer came up to him. "You can't talkhere. The court is waiting."

They were marched quietly along the corridorand into a small metal room that proved to bea lift which went suddenly downward withbreathtaking speed. Hammond found himselfbeside Iva Wilson.

"Iva, don't they realize that Thayn Mardentricked me, that I didn't do it purposely?"

She glanced at him briefly, then away again."They say you did do it deliberately-that youbetrayed us all for Thayn."

betrayed us all for Thayn."

The lift stopped and they were led from it intoa large and austerely beautiful hall. Its floorwas a lake of smooth black. The walls justabove the floor were dusky gray, and thisshaded upward through lighter and lightergrays to the pure white climax of the vaultedceiling. There was a large audience of men andwomen in the place, sitting in semicircularrows. Upon a dais facing them sat a manwearing the clustered-suns emblem, and on thewall above his head glittered a large replica ofthe insigne of the Federated Suns. Hammondsaw no jury, no provision for attorneys, nothingelse like a Twentieth Century court. He did see,on one of the front row seats, Thayn Mardensitting with three men who wore the samecurious badge she did.

"The damned Vramen are here to see that weget our proper punishment," he heard RabQuobba mutter to Tammas.

As Hammond and his fellow prisoners were ledto stand directly under the dais of the judge,he heard a murmur of voices from the

he heard a murmur of voices from thespectators and became suddenly aware thateveryone was looking at him. Apparently newsof his strange history had spread. Even theHooman judge, a stern-faced, middle-agedman, examined him with a keen and particularinterest. Then he spoke to them all.

"You are charged with the offense ofattempting to construct an illegal star-ship.During this activity and as a direct result of it,you caused the deaths of two Vramen, whosepatrol flier you destroyed by means of avortice-gun, an illegal weapon. You further putunder restraint and threatened with extremeinjury a third Vramen." He picked up a sheaf ofpapers. "These are the official encephaloproberecords of your minds. You have had a chanceto examine them. Do you protest any part ofthese records?"

Jon Wilson, bitter-eyed, said, "We will notprotest the records."

The judge looked at Thayn. "Thayn Marden, asthe person bringing the charge against theaccused, you also have been permitted toexamine the records. Do you protest any part

examine the records. Do you protest any partof them?"

"I do not," Thayn answered.

It became apparent to Hammond from thespeed with which all this was carried throughthat it was a mere legal formality, that no oneexpected the encephaloprobe's findings to bechallenged. How could you challenge a precise,scientific recording of a man's mind? In thissuper-modern court there was no place forlawyers and legal tricks.

The judge was speaking again to the prisoners."You knew that you were breaking a basic lawof the Federated Suns when you attempted tobuild an unauthorized star-ship. You know thatthis government long ago entered into anagreement with the Vramen providing that nostar-ship would be built or licensed without theincorporation into it of their Restrictive Controldevice."

Wilson answered that, with harsh passion. "Wedo not recognize that agreement as binding onall Hoomen for all time to come." He swung

all Hoomen for all time to come." He swungaround so that he was speaking as much to thespectators as to the judge. "We see no reasonwhy the Vramen should hold such restrictivepower merely to bar us from attaining the longlife they enjoy."

Hammond heard a low mutter of assent fromthe crowded rows of seats. Evidently most ofthe Hoomen in the hall felt the sameresentment as Wilson. The sound from themwas like the first low growl of a great angryanimal. Yet Thayn and the three Vramen mensat with faces perfectly calm.

"The validity of our agreement with the Vramenis not in question here." said the judge. "It wasmade freely, as a small return for all thebenefits the Vramen have conferred uponhumanity. By breaking it, by using violence andfomenting hostility toward the Vramen, youhave committed a crime of state. Since you canoffer no extenuating circumstances, and sinceyou have not protested the probe records, yourguilt is beyond dispute. You are sentenced tolife on the penal planet of Spica."

With quiet dignity Jon Wilson said, "Weexpected no other judgment. But a day willcome when the Vramen domination of ourwhole civilization will be thrown off. And thenwe will take the secret of life from them."

Again a mutter of angry assent swept thespectators. It was silenced by the judge.

"Our sentence applies to all the defendantsexcept the one named Kirk Hammond," hesaid. "I understand that the Vramenrepresentatives here wish to ask forcommutation of his sentence."

He looked at Thayn Marden. The Vramenwoman rose and glanced at Hammond's defiantface as she spoke.

"That was our intention." she said, "but theman Kirk Hammond has utterly refused hiscooperation, so we withdraw the request."

The judge looked down at Hammond, frowning."That is unfortunate. Your history is known, andas a man cast by almost miraculous chancefrom your far past age into our time you would

from your far past age into our time you wouldordinarily be an admired and honored guestamong us. But you have, by the evidence ofthe encephaloprobe, conspired with theseothers in full knowledge that you were breakingour laws. The exceptional circumstances of yourpersonal history cannot justify overlooking yourdeliberate infraction of the law of theFederated Suns. Only if the Vramenrepresentatives request it can I suspend yoursentence."

"We are still quite willing to make the request ifthe man Hammond will agree to aid ourhistorical researches." Thayn said calmly.

The judge said earnestly to Hammond, "Iwould advise you to comply with that request."

Hammond looked across at Thayn. He felt fullof rage, against her for putting him into thisposition, against the Vramen for arrogating tothemselves the space he had helped toconquer, against the whole universe fortrapping him in this intolerable exile from hisown world and time. And all of his frustratedrage and resentment came out in his answer.

rage and resentment came out in his answer.

"I'm damned if I will!"

"Then you must serve your sentence on Ktium,the penal planet of Spica," said the judge. "Youwill not be released unless you change yourmind and agree to do as the Vramen ask."

Hammond walked out of the courtroom withthe others, in a curious state of shock. It hadall happened so fast and so smoothly that hehad trouble realizing that he had actually beensentenced to a life term in prison.

"Isn't there any appeal?" he asked, of no onein particular. "Isn't there any parole, time offfor good behavior-"

Wilson's voice answered him, cold and distant."Every ten years they run a new series of'probe tests. If the tests show that the prisonerhas been completely rehabilitated-in otherwords, that he will not repeat his crime-he maybe returned to society. But this needn't worryyou, Hammond."

"Why not?"

"Why not?"

"You heard Marden, so did we. The gates willopen any time for you."

There was a pause, while their massedfootsteps rang hollow in the high corridor,marching them toward the beginning ofpunishment.

Then Jon Wilson said softly, "Was that part ofher promise to you, Hammond-part of thetraitor's pay?"

Chapter 9

Long ago a boy in Ohio had cried, "I want to goout into space someday" And he had gone,toward the strangest doom in history.

And now Hammond was out in space again. Butthis time he was not in a little satellite but in agreat star-ship, outward bound toward the vastdeeps of interstellar space.

"Too big." he thought, feeling a numbness ashe looked out through the port. "Too big, toofar."

far."

He was still a little dazed by it all. From thecourtroom he and his fellow prisoners had beentaken within a few hours by guarded cars,through the city Rurooma. His glimpses of themighty pylons they passed between, toweringstark and clean and shining from green parks,had been overpowering enough. But it was atthe starport that the full impact of ten thousandyears of change crushed him. He had thoughtof the base at Canaveral and the pitifully smalland hopeful rocket, the little satellite it wouldtry to push into an orbit around the Moon andback. And how small the memory of thatseemed when he stood on a tarmac that ranfor miles to the horizon and saw the vast andordered confusion of cranes and shops andwarehouses and launching pits.

And the ships.

Far removed indeed were these great ships ofthe starways from the unsteady little rockets ofthe Twentieth Century. Their dark hulls loomedvast as thunderclouds over the tiny men andvehicles that came and went around them.

vehicles that came and went around them.They rested now, but it was the rest of giantswho had been to the far shores of infinity, whoknew the ways of distant suns and worlds,whose sides were scarred by the drift ofremote nebulae, and who would presentlyspurn this little planet Earth from beneath themand return into the cosmic glare and gloomthat was their home. And as they were takentoward one ship that had the Federated Sunsinsigne on its side, Hammond had seen thethrongs that swirled through the starport,Hoomen from every part of the galaxy, red-skinned, green-skinned, pink and blue andgray-skinned, their pigmentation andappearance changed by generations of lifeunder alien suns, but all of them fruit of Earth'sfar-flung seed.

Utterly different had been the take-off in theship from the roaring climb on an oldtimerocket. He knew something of these star-ships,from his eager questions in the caverns. Theywere driven by a far-reaching development ofthe ion-drive suggested in his own time.Cesium was vaporized and its ions acceleratedby the voltage of great generators to provide

by the voltage of great generators to providebackward thrust through plasma-jets. Then ahigher-speed photon drive took over, pushingthe ship rapidly to many multiples of the speedof light, throwing it into "overdrive" by shiftingit just a little out of ordinary three-dimensionalspace to escape the limiting mass-speed ratio.

Hammond and the others sat in recoil-chairs inthe main cabin of the sealed prison-deck of theship, and then the loud droning of generatorswas followed by a sudden sense of weight,growing and growing but so smoothly that atno moment was it unbearable. It had not evenseemed to interest the others near him. JonWilson sunk in brooding silence, Quobbaarguing with Tammas, all of them star-shipmen or men, well used to star-ships. They hadnot even bothered to look out. But Hammonddid.

He was still looking out.

He knew this port was not really a window. Youdidn't really look through it, you looked into it,as into an oldtime television. It was a scannerwith a mechanism more complex than any

with a mechanism more complex than anytelevision inside it, one that translated twisted-up light-rays no one could see by into a picturethat made sense, so that he seemed to lookright out into space.

Hammond had seen space before, the hosts ofstars marching forever across the blackmeadows of heaven, burning companies of hotgold and smoky red and ice-blue and green,trailing bannerettes of nebulosity, a maze oflight so vast that it was hard to think of eachgleaming point as a mighty sun boiling withatomic fire as it plunged falling with its planetsthrough infinity. He had seen this before but hewatched it again with fascination as the sun Soland its planets fell behind. He could not turnfrom the spectacle.

He looked and looked, and of a sudden itseemed that the ship had vanished fromaround him. He was alone in space and therewas nothing but himself and the stars. Theywatched him with bright and pitiless eyes, andhe looked back at them and could not seethem, for he sat in the little satellite, frozenand blind and deathlike, through all the

and blind and deathlike, through all themillennia following his lone unending orbit.

"-count myself king of infinite space, were it notthat I have bad dreams!" It had been only adream of the dead-alive Hammond that he wasawakened to live again. He would neverawaken, he would go on forever and ever . . . .

"Kirk!"

A voice pleading in his ear, a hand tugging athis arm, and abruptly the spell snapped and hewas in the ship again, sick and shaking, withIva Wilson pulling him away from the scanner.

"Your face." she whispered. "I couldn't stand it.It was-awful."

He had to make an effort to speak. "My oldnightmare got me again. Self-hypnosis, Iguess. Thanks, Iva."

The voice of Jon Wilson spoke up harshlybehind them.

"Let him be, Iva."

Hammond turned, a cold sweat still on him.Wilson and Gurth Lund had come up, and therewere others behind them, and there washostility on every face except the faces ofQuobba and Tammas.

"Wait a minute." said Hammond. He was stillshaking inside but he forced himself to speak."I don't blame you for being angry. I was madea fool of, and I did a foolish thing. But I didn'tbetray you deliberately."

Jon Wilson's gaunt face did not soften. He saidbitterly,

"I could forgive a mistake, even though it'swrecked everything we worked for. But I don'tthink it was a mistake. I think you diddeliberately make that signal at Marden'srequest."

"Father, you can't really think that!" Ivaprotested.

Anger was beginning to conquer Hammond'sshakiness. He said, "Damn it, if I'd done thatwhy would I refuse to help the Vramen when it

why would I refuse to help the Vramen when itmeant my freedom?"

"That," said Wilson, "is what I would like toknow. Unless the Vramen sent you along withus as a spy."

"You don't have a scrap of proof for such acharge," Hammond said hotly. "You-"

Wilson said, "Yes I have. As leader of theaccused, it was my duty to examine theencephaloprobe records made before our trial."

Quobba and Lund and the others lookedpuzzled. But Hammond, with a sudden sinkingsensation, guessed what was coming.

"I found in the 'probe record of your mind,Hammond, a clear indication that you loveThayn Marden."

A roar of anger burst from the others, and outof it Lund's voice rose clear and deadly, saying,"He betrayed us for her."

He charged at Hammond.

Surprised by the sudden fierce attack,Hammond was caught off guard. Lund's fisttook him hard on the jaw, half stunned him,knocked him down, and then both Lund's handswere around his throat shutting off his breath,and Lund's face was above his in the darkeningair as implacable and intent as a tiger's. With asavage effort, Hammond doubled his kneesand sent Lund reeling back off him.

Wilson grabbed Lund and held him.

"No! You'll only bring the guards down here andget us all locked in our cabins."

Hammond got to his feet. He ignored Lund andthe others. He spoke straight to Wilson.

"I did not betray you, not with intent. And I donot love Thayn Marden, no matter what the'probe said."

Wilson said flatly, "A man can lie, a man can bemistaken, but the 'probe does not lie and it isnever mistaken. Whether you sent that signaldeliberately or not, a man who loves a Vramencan not be trusted."

can not be trusted."

He turned away, taking Iva with him, and theothers followed him. Hammond looked afterthem in anger and frustration. The hell withthem, he thought. If that was what theythought of him he might just as well accept theVramen offer.

But when he thought of Thayn Marden he knewhe would never do that. He wouldn't give thaticy, unhuman imitation of a female that muchsatisfaction. He might resent the Hoomen'ssuspicions, but the Vramen he actively hated. Itmight be just because he felt uneasily inferiorto them, but whether that was so or not he stilldetested their domination of space and theirmonopoly of the secret of life.

It came home to Hammond again that he wasand always would be out of place in this age.He would never completely understand thepsychology of these people, the abyss betweenhis origin and theirs was too great. But herefused to give way to that feeling. If he did,disorientation and loneliness would push himover the brink into madness. He had to pick up

over the brink into madness. He had to pick uphis life and live it in this strange new universe,the best way he could.

"And I've made a fine start of it," he thoughtheavily. "With the only friends I had here allhating and distrusting me."

A bell rang softly and an enunciator spoke,informing the prisoners that it was meal-time.They trooped away forward, ignoringHammond. He was not hungry and heremained where he was, not moving, until heheard a step behind him.

He turned sharply. It was Iva Wilson, and herdark, pretty face was unhappy as she looked athim.

"Kirk, I came back-I'm sorry about whathappened."

"Then you don't believe I was a deliberatetraitor?"

"Of course not." she said quickly. "It was ThaynMarden's doing." She paused, then asked, "Is ittrue that you're in love with her?"

true that you're in love with her?"

"Hell, no!" he exploded. "She's beautiful and Iwas attracted to her. What man wouldn't be?And that got into my brain-record and theythought it meant I loved her. That's the truth."

Iva looked relieved. "I was sure it must be so.For a Hooman really to love a Vramen is tooimpossible."

"Your father said the Vramen never reallymarry or have children," Hammond said. "Isthat what you mean-that they have no realemotions?"

"We don't really know what the Vramen are likeemotionally," Iva said. "They're strange,unhuman." She went on earnestly, "Kirk, theothers will realize in time that you're no traitor.We'll be on Kuum a long time, and Father andthe rest will have time to think. Don't arguewith them now and they'll come around."

"I hope so," Hammond said dubiously. "But Ican't figure Gurth Lund ever warming up tome. Why does he hate me so?"

me. Why does he hate me so?"

"It's the Vramen he hates, very bitterly." Ivasaid. "The girl he loved died of illness a fewyears ago. Ever since, he's had it on his mindthat if the Hoomen had the secret of life shewould not have died. My father is the sameway. It was my mother's death that made himso fiercely determined to get the Vramensecret of life for the Hoomen."

She pointed out toward a region of the starryheavens thick-sown with stars, a glitteringwilderness of close-clustered suns andnebulosity.

"How would you feel if you saw the person youmost loved dying, and knew there was a secretout there that would have prevented it?"

Hammond stared at the far, shiningmagnificence of that star-crowded region. "TheTrifid is out there, then?"

Iva nodded. "The Trifid-and Althar."

Hammond felt that he could perfectlyunderstand Lund's bitterness and Wilson's

understand Lund's bitterness and Wilson'sfanatic determination. No wonder they hatedthe Vramen. He took Iva's hand.

"Thanks for believing in me. And no matterwhat the others think, I'm still with you, all theway."

Iva shook her head. "The fight's over, for us."She turned away. "I'd better go before anyonesees me here. Father would be very angry."

Her hand was still in Hammond's. On suddenimpulse he bent and kissed her.

The touch of her mouth was warm and eagerand dear. And yet-what devil put the thoughtinto his head?-it was not the electric thrill thathe had found in Thayn Marden's cool lips.

When she was gone, he looked for a long timeat the stupefying distant wilderness of stars andshining gas. Great bastions and ramparts ofsuns gleamed hotly, like walls of eternal fireguarding-what? What was it the Vramen had inthere that gave them almost endless life?Althar was a name that told nothing. What didthat name mask? Of a sudden, forgetting his

that name mask? Of a sudden, forgetting hisown situation, Hammond felt withoverwhelming force the mystery and wonder ofthe galaxy, all the magic and marvels andenigmas that could exist inside this vastpinwheel of stars that rolled forever throughthe infinite.

He kept his resolve and determinedlyoverlooked the hostility of his fellow prisonersduring the next "days". Sooner or later, whentheir first resentment had abated, he would beable to convince them he was no traitor. But hehad to admit that in the meantime hisostracism was hard to bear in these closequarters.

The "days" went by, and inside the ship theywere marked only by the sleep-period bells,and the regular inspection carried out by thecaptain of Federated Suns Police in charge. Butif there was no change inside the ship, it wasnot so outside. Day by day the whole aspect ofthe constellations changed, and this was proofof the incredible speed at which the photondrive now hurled them across the galaxy. Itwas hard for Hammond to realize that hosts of

was hard for Hammond to realize that hosts ofother ships were out there, speeding throughthose vast starry spaces to red Antares orgreen Sirius or dim Algol. He could not as yetwholly grasp the magnitude of the galacticcivilization that had been built in ten thousandyears.

Twice Hammond awoke screaming andsweating in his cabin in the middle of the sleep-period, breaking frantically from that recurrentnightmare of being back in the satellite infrozen sleep. He did not think he would everget over that, at least not as long as he was inspace. The horror of it made him dread sleepwhen each "day" ended.

There came a time when the ship veered anddisclosed the blazing white globe of Spica deadahead. The unearthly velocities of the drive hadtaken them across scores of parsecs and theywere approaching their destination.

The droning generators changed in key,dropping down the scale, as the ship curved inthrough the dazzling glare of Spica. By acosmic freak of chance the great white sun had

cosmic freak of chance the great white sun hadonly one planet, Kuum. It was obvious that theunusual isolation of this world was the reasonwhy it had been chosen as a penal planet.

Kuum was a black-and-white planet, to theireyes. It was no larger than Earth and it hadsmall milk-white oceans and continents coveredwith blue-black jungle and occasional clearingsof pale gray grass. As the ship swung in itslanding pattern they saw that there was onelarge cleared region scores of miles across,surrounded by the dark jungle. This space heldcultivated fields and a small town of metalhouses. Off some distance from the town was aspaceport but the whole spaceport area wasenclosed by a high barrier of pale, shimmeringlight.

"So this is Kuum." said Rab Quobba. "It's oneof the few worlds I never visited or wanted tovisit."

"They've got a damned tight set-up here,"muttered Shau Tammas. "Look at that force-wall around the spaceport." Jon Wilson's voicesounded unutterably weary and discouraged as

sounded unutterably weary and discouraged ashe said, "I see it. And I understand why noprisoner has ever escaped from this planet"

Chapter 10

Sitting in a blaze of diamond sunlight,Hammond reached down and pulled a tuft ofgrass from beneath his feet. It was thick-bladed grass, and each blade was a curiousmottled white-and-black that looked gray fromeven a little distance. The bit of soil adhering tothe root was jet-black.

"Not Earth," thought Hammond. He told himselfthat again. "I am not on Earth, I am on adifferent world."

Try to realize the differentness. Breathe it in, inthe warm and humid air with the curiouspungent rankness in it that is not quite aperfume and not quite a stink. Feel it, in theodd lightness of your body that comes from aslightly different gravitation. Look up and bedazzled by that differentness, by the iridescentun-blue sky in which a too-big, too-bright, too-white sun sinks like a blazing emperor toward

white sun sinks like a blazing emperor towardthe horizon.

He looked slowly around. He sat on a bench infront of a long, low metal barrack. The buildingwas one of a dozen such structures, andbeyond the barracks the paved black street wasbordered by neat, shining metal cottages withsmooth gray grass and bright unfamiliarflowers around them. In the distance there wasa thin black line where the fields around thesmall settlement gave way to dark, wild jungle.

It did not look like a penal colony to Hammond.It had startled him when he first saw it, with itsneat houses, its women chattering from door todoor and children playing in the streets. Menhad been coming in from their day's work inthe jungle in heavy power-trucks, a motley lotof Hoomen from every part of the galaxy,hailing their wives and children or staringcuriously at the new arrivals, not looking likeprisoners at all. It had taken Hammond a whileto realize that conceptions of prisons hadchanged and that the Federated Sunscivilization was too enlightened to use harshpunishments. Kuum was a detention world, not

punishments. Kuum was a detention world, nota place of punishment. There was not even aguard in sight.

Actually, it was the guards who were in a sensethe prisoners here. Over in the direction hethought of as east, Hammond could glimpsethe top of the highest spaceport tower.Between him and the tower was a curiousconstant shimmer in the air. That was the highbarrier of almost invisible radiance thatcompletely enclosed the spaceport, the guardoffices and barracks, and the supplywarehouses. When they had first come out ofthe ship after it landed, a Hooman guardofficer showed them this surrounding barrierand explained that it was an electrodynamicfield constantly generated from guardheadquarters.

"If you touch it, it won't kill you." he said, "butyou'll be unconscious for a very long time.Don't approach it, now or in the future."

He had made a signal toward the high cementtower, and a narrow section of the radiantbarrier suddenly vanished. The prisoners went

barrier suddenly vanished. The prisoners wentthrough it in single file, and then the barrierclosed again.

"And it can only be turned off from the towerinside it," Quobba growled. "That's fine. That'sjust fine."

Then Hammond had understood. You couldonly escape from this world in a ship. And star-ships only landed in the spaceport area, wherethe electric barrier barred out all prisoners. Sothe prisoners were free of this whole world-butcould not escape from it.

They had been assigned quarters in this town,family units to separate cottages and singlemen to barracks. They had hardly had time tolook around before men returning from work inthe jungle poured in and began asking eagerquestions. The babble of talk, the excitedqueries about far stars and galactic ports ofwhich he had never heard, had beenbewildering to Hammond. He had escapedfrom it to this bench outside, to stare andwonder and try to realize that he was faracross the galaxy from Earth.

across the galaxy from Earth.

A man came out and sat beside him.Hammond turned quickly, on the defensive, butthis man was a stranger to him. He had veryintelligent eyes in a face that was of a curiousgray pallor. It was the same complexion thatNorth Abel had, but though this man's face wasunwrinkled he looked in some indefinable waymuch older and more mature than Abel.

"I'm Thol Orr," he said. "You're Hammond ofEarth?"

Hammond nodded. He asked, "Are you by anychance from Algol?"

"That's right. But I've been here on Kuum forquite a while." Orr went on, "They're saying inthere that you're a spy for the Vramen."

Hammond's heart sank. After a moment hesaid heavily, "It's not true. But I can't convincethem of it"

He was feeling hopeless about that. He hadthought that sooner or later the resentment ofthe others would abate and they would listen to

the others would abate and they would listen toreason, but that had not happened. No one,not even Quobba, would speak to him directly.No one even seemed to see him. He had beenmost thoroughly sent to Coventry during thewhole voyage and now it was beginning hereon Kuum.

Damn Thayn Marden. He blamed her, not theHoomen. The trick she had played on him hadput him in this position. He had a savage desireto pay her and the whole Vramen race back forit.

Thol Orr was looking at him with deep interest."They are also saying that you come from thefar past. I find that much harder to believe."

Hammond explained, not much caring whetherthe man believed it or not. When he wasfinished Thol Orr shook his head.

"An incredible story, and yet it's scientificallyquite possible. I want to hear more of it. I'llhave you assigned to my work-crew."

He explained that all work on Kuum was underthe direction of the prisoners themselves. The

the direction of the prisoners themselves. TheFederated Suns paid a fixed wage to the menfor clearing away the jungle that surroundedthe settlement. They had power-dozers, trucksand other machines, but nothing that could beconverted into a weapon. No guards botheredthem except that a guard-officer made a shortinspection trip through the settlement eachevening.

"You'll have a less rough time of it working inmy crew, with all this hostility against you," theAlgolian added.

"Then you don't believe I'm a Vramen spy?"

Thol Orr smiled. "The Vramen have no need ofspies. That's only the old Hooman hatred ofthem talking."

"You don't seem to hate them so much," saidHammond curiously.

Thol Orr shrugged. "It was the Vramen whosent me here. But on the other hand, theycould much more easily have killed me-andthey didn't." He went on to elaborate. "I was a

physicist of some note, once. My enthusiasmfor research got the best of me. I was doingsome in the field, in a small chartered ship, andstrayed too near the Trifid."

Hammond looked at him with sudden intenseinterest. "You were hunting for Althar?"

"No, not at all. I was studying cosmic radiationand came across some odd spectra near theTrifid. I got too interested and went too close.The Vramen could legally have detonated ourship, but they didn't. I was given a life-sentence on Kuum, and my hired crew got fiveyears. Quite lenient, I thought."

The sun had set and the dusk was passing intoa moonless night. Unfamiliar constellationsglittered hotly in the sky, and away beyond thelights of the little town the barrier around thespaceport shimmered out like a strange aurora.Thol Orr stood up and stretched.

"We rise early." he said, "so you had better getas much sleep as you can."

Hammond followed him unwillingly into the big

Hammond followed him unwillingly into the bigcommunal main room of the barrack, hating toface what he knew awaited him. All the sixty orseventy occupants of the building weregathered around the newcomers at one end ofthe room. He heard Quobba's voice rumblingas he entered, and from the excited commentsof the others he knew that Quobba had beentelling them of Jon Wilson's frustrated plans.

"By all the suns, I wish you'd made it!" cried afat, pink man. "If we could get Hooman handson whatever's at Althar-"

"Cut it, for now." Gurth Lund said curtly.

He was looking at Hammond, and all eyesturned in the same direction. Hammondthought that he had never seen such a circle ofhostile faces, staring at him. He wanted tospeak to them, to try again to convince themthat he was neither a traitor nor a spy, but herealized that they would not even listen to him.He turned and went into the little sleepingroom that had been assigned to him.

Lying in the dark little room, Hammond felt his

anger slowly crystallize into a savagedetermination. These Hoomen hated andsuspected him because his folly had wreckedtheir dream of reaching Althar. All right, hewould make them eat that hatred andsuspicion. He would do so by getting them andhimself out of this planetary prison so theycould carry out that quest for Althar. He didn'tknow how he would do it but he would do itsomehow, soon or late. He'd show them howmuch he loved the Vramen!

Next morning Hammond ate his breakfast insilence, no man speaking to him. But when thework-crews were announced, Thol Orr calledhis name.

"You can ride in the cab with me," Orr said, asthey went out to the waiting trucks. Men werealready climbing into them. Hammond did notlook forward to riding with them, but he said,

"They'll all be down on you too if you talk tome."

Thol Orr smiled. "I don't think so. I've beenhere so long. But I'll risk it anyway. I want to

here so long. But I'll risk it anyway. I want totalk about the past."

By the time they crossed the cleared land andreached the edge of the jungle, the glaring orbof Spica had already risen well into the sky.The warm, humid air brought a dank mist fromthe tenebrous glades of the forest. Hammondhad never seen anything like this black jungle.It was a forest out of some demoniac painter'sfevered imagination, a bewildering tangle ofglossy black trees and shrubs whose ebonylimbs bore great masses of pale gray leaves.There were looping black vines, and enormouspure-white flowers, and strange featherlessand songless birds flitting among the grayfronds.

The trees and brush had to be rooted out withthe power-dozers. As fast as a small sectionwas cleared it was plowed deeply andchemicals were mixed into the soil to inhibit thegrowth of the rank jungle plants and allow thegray grass to spring up instead.

"You'll handle one of the chains," Thol Orr toldHammond. "We pull the larger trees out by

Hammond. "We pull the larger trees out bymain force."

Hammond found himself working with theothers of the motley little crew under theAlgolian's orders.

"Fasten your chain around that tree-no, lowerdown," Thol Orr called. "Now stand clear."

The power-dozer, driven by a heavy atomicmotor, sank its spiked tracks into the groundand yanked the tree forth. Flights of hugeinsects, like giant dragon-flies, skittered fromits branches as it fell. The sun poured downever more hotly. Crawler-vines writhed downfrom trees and looped around Hammond'sbody, tiny sucker-roots trying to fasten onto hisarms and face. He tore the uncanny plantsloose. By late afternoon Hammond was hot andtired but felt he had got the routine of thework. But he quickly found that he still hadmuch to learn about the jungles of Kuum.

He was pulling one of the drag-chains into thethick brush ahead of the crew when he smelleda peculiarly heavy, musky odor. Next moment

a peculiarly heavy, musky odor. Next momenthe bumped into a round black mound higherthan his head. The black mound came suddenlyalive. It heaved slightly and from beneath it ahuge horny paw reached out and graspedHammond.

Crushed, half stunned, he felt himself beingdragged back toward the mound he nowrecognized as a giant shelled turtle-likecreature. Hammond was near the beast's bodywhen the paw that dragged him stopped. Itheld onto him, but a sharp tremor ran throughit and through the whole huge body.

Half conscious, unable even to cry for help inthe crushing grip of that enormous paw,Hammond felt lost. The others were out ofsight beyond the thick brush. His brain whirledand darkened, and all he could think of wasthat it was crazy and impossible for him tohave survived all that he had to die in thisbrute's grasp on this distant world.

Other and more violent tremors ran throughthe huge body. The great paw weakened andrelaxed. Then Hammond saw something thatmade him doubt his sanity. The whole horny

made him doubt his sanity. The whole hornycarapace was splitting wide open. As hecrawled away from the creature he saw theghastly final phase of the incredible change.From out of the split remains of the body thereclimbed a much smaller creature of exactly thesame species.

"Thol Orr!" yelled Hammond, getting to his feetand stumbling away.

The Algolian answered his cry by driving hispower-dozer right through the brush. Thesmaller black creature that had emerged fromthe broken body of the larger one scuttledhastily away into the jungle.

"A mud-phoenix." said Thol Orr. "Did it harmyou?"

Hammond told him what had happened, andthe Algolian whistled.

"You were lucky. You blundered into the thingjust at the time of its rebirth, and that's all thatsaved you." He went on to explain. "The mud-phoenix is asexual and reproduces itself by that

phoenix is asexual and reproduces itself by thatmessy cycle of sudden death and rebirth.They're dangerous when they're full grown.Didn't the other men warn you that a muskyodor means there's one around?"

"No. They didn't warn me." said Hammondshortly.

He knew now how much they hated him. Theyhad deliberately let him walk into the thing.

Their enmity was further emphasized whenthey all returned to the settlement thatevening. The other men talked over the day'swork, gathered in the small drinking-shops,hailed friends in the darkening streets. Butwhen Hammond came by, no one spoke to himand he got only unfriendly stares. He saw IvaWilson at the door of a cottage but she hungher head and turned away from him and wentinside. He understood that Jon Wilson hadforbidden any further talk with him.

Only Thol Orr talked with him, and lent himbooks and helped him to learn the writtenlanguage. But Hammond suspected that he didso only because of his deep scientific interest in

so only because of his deep scientific interest inHammond's survival from the distant past. Theothers did not have enough of that interest tocounterbalance their hatred.

Let them hate him, Hammond thought. Theyhad a right to. Wait till his chance came, achance to pay back Thayn and all the Vramen.A traitor, was he, and a Vramen spy? He wouldram that idea down their throats.

Holding to that grim determination, Hammondbrooded over plans of escape as the dayspassed. No prisoner had ever got away fromKuum. The great reason was the fact that fewstar-ships ever came here, and when one didcome it stayed inside the barrier of thespaceport area into which prisoners could notgo.

He kept running up against that insurmountableobstacle of the force-wall, discarding this planand that because of it, and then he suddenlyrealized that he alone of all the prisoners heredid have a way to get to a star-ship. Suddenlyeverything was clear. He thought out everydetail in his long lonely hours, and he had

detail in his long lonely hours, and he hadplenty of them, until he was sure just howeverything would go.

Then he realized that there was still anotherobstacle.

"It won't work unless the others follow me." hethought. "But they won't. They won't evenlisten to me. They'd think I was leading theminto a Vramen trap."

And there it stood.

Weeks of labor in the jungle made Hammondhardy and sun-blackened and grimlyaccustomed to constant loneliness. He hadlearned to drive the power-dozers and wastaking one of them along the edge of thejungle to where Thol Orr and his crew waitedfor the replacement vehicle, when he heard achoking cry from inside the brush.

The yell was cut off. But there had been in it aquality of desperate appeal that madeHammond swing his machine around and sendit crashing into the brush.

it crashing into the brush.

A cold musky taint hit his nostrils and then hesaw ahead the big shelled black mound of amud-phoenix, one almost as large as the onehe had escaped on his first day. The grotesquepaws were just drawing a man in. Hammondrammed the heavy dozer right at the thing,aiming to miss the man but knock the bruteaway from him. The impact of collision hurledhim out of his seat and he crashed into thebrush. He got up to find that the dozer had runright over the mud-phoenix before its safety-control stopped it.

A few feet away the man who had been caughtby the phoenix was scrambling to his feet, andHammond saw that it was Rab Quobba, fouledwith mud and slime but unhurt enough to standstaring at him with an expression of peculiarembarrassment.

"Hammond," he said. And then, "Thanks. I-" Hestopped, swore, and came forward to graspHammond's hand. "I've been a damned fool."

"I see." said Hammond harshly. "Because Ihappen to save your neck, all of a sudden I'm

happen to save your neck, all of a sudden I'mnot a Vramen spy any longer."

Quobba shuffled his feet and said ruefully, "Inever did believe that, to tell you the truth. Iwas just boiling mad because you let thatVramen wench wreck all our plans."

Hammond stopped bristling. "Well, you had aright to be." he said. And then suddenly herealized that here was the opportunity he hadbeen waiting for. He grabbed it. "Quobba,listen. Would you and the others escape fromhere and try for Althar again, if you could?"

Quobba said, "We would." His eyes narrowed,became bright and sharp. "How could we?"

"It'll take Wilson and all his people to help.They can run a star-ship, if we get our handson one. But they won't trust me. They'd followyou."

"What's your idea?"

Hammond said, "There'll be a star-ship cominghere soon-"

Quobba interrupted. "No. Not for almost amonth. The last supply-ship was just here."

Hammond smiled. "I can make a ship comeany time I choose, and not a supply-ship,either."

"Well," said Quobba, "go on. I'll listen."

He listened, and Hammond talked, and theVegan's face got longer and longer, and whenHammond stopped he shook his head.

"It won't be easy. And you'd be taking thebiggest share of the risk." He was silent aminute and then he said, "But it might work."

"Will you go along with it?"

Quobba grinned. "I'm a star-man. I never didtake to grubbing in the dirt. What do I do?"

"I'll start things moving right away," Hammondsaid. "You talk to the others, get them ready tofollow you in a break. Just don't mention myname, that's all. Tell them you have a plan inmind but you don't want to tell it yet."

mind but you don't want to tell it yet."

Quobba nodded. "I'll get them on their toes.But Hammond-you better look out. What you'regoing to do tonight will make the others morebitter against you than ever."

"I know that," said Hammond, and went away.

When the guard officer came through thebarrack that evening on his usual inspectiontour, Hammond stepped out and spoke to him.

"I have a request to make." he said, and sawthat instantly the other prisoners turned towatch and listen.

"What is it, Hammond?"

"When I was sentenced to my term here."Hammond said carefully, "the court told methat whenever I was willing to cooperate withthe Vramen in their historical researches, mysentence would be suspended. I am now willingto do so. Will you notify your authorities andalso Thayn Marden, the chief Vramenrepresentative at Earth?"

The officer was a loyal servant of theFederated Suns but he was a Hooman and notwithout Hooman prejudices. He stiffened a littleand looked at Hammond with unfriendly eyes.

"Very well. I'll have a message sent to Earth atonce."

When he had gone, Gurth Lund and the othersglared at Hammond. "So you're going to quitspying and go back to your Vramen friends, areyou?" Lund said.

Hammond did not answer. There was so muchraw hatred of him in the room now that he felta single word would bring an explosion.

The guard officer came back three hours later.

"Your request has been granted by theFederated Suns officials at Earth. ThaynMarden, representing the Vramen, will come atonce to Kuum. She will interrogate you, and ifshe is satisfied of your sincerity you will beparoled."

"Thank you," said Hammond.

"Thank you," said Hammond.

The officer left.

There was a strained silence. Hammond startedtoward his room. He looked at the faces of hisfellow-prisoners as he went, and he thoughtthat he would have to take care every momentnow. He thought that he would be lucky if hewas still living when that star-ship came.

Chapter 11

A sound vast as the voice of God filled thesunlit heavens, a thunderous roar thathammered the dark jungle into silence andmade great echoes that bawled and banteredoverhead. The men, in the act of climbing intothe trucks, stopped and stared upward,squinting against the white blaze of the sinkingsun.

Hammond, looking with sudden tenseness, sawthe low scattered clouds boil and swirl. Thenthe fleecy vapors rolled and parted and downthrough them came a long black shape,dropping toward the spaceport fast, fast.

dropping toward the spaceport fast, fast.

Thol Orr looked down at him from the cab ofthe truck. "That will be it?"

"I think so," said Hammond. A breathlessexcitement was taking hold of him. "I hope so."

"We'll soon know," said the Algolian, andstarted the motor.

As the truck rolled and lumbered out of theedge of the jungle and across the clearedfields, Hammond felt tension growing in him.He had been waiting many days for the ship,for the moment. And they had not been easydays. Only Quobba knew the truth, everyoneelse regarded him as a proved traitor. He feltthat Lund, and a good many others, would killhim if he had a chance. Hammond had beencareful in the jungle not to give anyone thatchance. Even Iva Wilson had looked at him withstony contempt when he encountered her.

There had been only one exception to thegeneral feeling and that was Thol Orr. TheAlgolian had only said,

"So you're going to cooperate with theVramen? Perhaps it's for the best."

"You don't seem to hate the Vramen as muchas most people do." Hammond had said. "Eventhough they sent you here."

Thol Orr shrugged. "Well, I'm a scientist. Andthe Vramen are the greatest of scientists. Theinventions they've given as in past centuries arewhat have enabled Hoomen to spread all overthe galaxy."

"But don't you resent it that they hoard thesecret of unlimited life for themselves?"

"I don't know." said the Algolian. "I suppose Ido resent it unconsciously. I'm sure that if Iwere dying I'd hate them frantically. On theother hand, the Vramen lead such dedicated,hard, barren lives that I don't envy them theirimmortality."

But Thol Orr was alone in his tolerantviewpoint. The others hated the Vramen andhated Hammond as a creature of the Vramen.The only exceptions there were Quobba and

The only exceptions there were Quobba andTammas, who knew the truth. The littleMizarian, always the shadow of his big Veganfriend, had been let into Hammond's secret andtwice Hammond had found opportunities toconfer secretly with them. He had asked manyquestions of them, particularly about the non-lethal shocker weapons and about the probablecontrol mechanism of the electrodynamicbarrier. And Quobba had told him that he hadprepared some of the boldest spirits for abreak, without mentioning Hammond at all.

Now the slowly growing tension of the longwaiting days was approaching its climax, andHammond found himself jumpy as a cat asthey drove back to the settlement. A guard waswaiting in the barrack when he entered. Hespoke to Hammond without love.

"A ship has arrived from Earth. Thayn Mardenof the Vramen is here to interrogate you.Come along."

Hammond's pulse quickened. The otherswatched him with bitter hatred as he startedafter the guard. He looked back meaningly at

after the guard. He looked back meaningly atRab Quobba and the Vegan played up to thecue. He strode into the corridor afterHammond, swearing furiously.

"It's blasted good riddance of you!" hebellowed. "I hope I never see your damnedtraitor's face again!"

Once out in the corridor, Quobba dropped hisvoice to a whisper and asked hastily,

"Now? Tonight?"

Hammond nodded quickly. "Get Wilson and theothers to walk near the barrier. I'll do mybest."

The guard looked back and Quobba beganagain to roar curses after Hammond as hewalked away.

There was a small ground-car with anotherguard at the wheel. They entered, and the carsped out of the neat little town toward thedistant spaceport. Spica was a great whiteflame on the horizon, glancing in glitteringshafts off the shining metal roofs. People in the

shafts off the shining metal roofs. People in thestreet looked at the pass car. From the door ofher father's cottage Iva Wilson looked too, andthen turned her back and went inside. He knewshe had seen him. It occurred to him that if hefailed in his attempt, she might never knowthat he hadn't really gone over to the Vramen.

Of a sudden, the weariness and tension ofthese weeks of hatred triggered a reaction inHammond. He thought: And why not go over tothe Vramen? Why not, and to the devil with allthese people who were so ready to call him aspy and worse?

No. He couldn't. The Hoomen were not hispeople, though they came closer to it than theVramen. But this wasn't a matter of loyalty to aparticular group. To Hammond, it was loyalty toan ideal from ten thousand years ago. He hadrisked death and he had died, almost, to winthe freedom of the stars for men. Not if hecould help it was anyone going to abridge orlimit that freedom. Not the Vramen, noranyone else. He was going through on that allthe way.

He thought that it might be ridiculous of him topit himself against the near-immortals whodominated the life of the galaxy. They hadknowledge, vast knowledge, of things he'dnever even heard about. But he might, he justmight, carry this through in spite of that.

He would do it or die trying, if for no otherreason than the childish but very powerfuldesire to see Wilson and Lund and all the restof them including Iva eat crow.

The car approached the shimmering barrierand stopped. The guard leaned out and madea signal toward the high tower inside. Again, ason the day when Hammond had arrived here, anarrow section of the barrier vanished. The carrolled quickly through that opening, and theweb of force instantly sprang shut again behindthem.

Hammond's pulses hammered as they spedtoward the complex of buildings. Beyond thebuildings, out on the wide tarmac of thespaceport, towered a black star-ship ofcomparatively small size. Its base was in

comparatively small size. Its base was inshadow but its tip was high enough to catch thelast rays of the setting sun, and it was like agreat dark hand grabbing for the dying light.

It was a hand that could grab for Althar andthe greatest secret of infinity, he thought.

The main building was ahead, a three-leveloblong white block with a square tower at oneend rising several levels higher. The top of thetower was a room with all its walls transparent,glowing in the dusk. Hammond looked up at itcasually as he went with the two Hoomen intothe building. That would be the spaceportcontrol-room. The commandant's headquarterswere in the tower under it, if the informationQuobba had gathered from older prisoners wascorrect.

It was correct. Hammond was taken throughcorridors to a lift that jumped smoothlyupward. He came out into another hallwayabove. He glanced covertly at two stairwaysthat led up. One of them must be a way to thecontrol-room.

The commandant of the guards of Kuum was a

The commandant of the guards of Kuum was atall man with the faintly greenish skin of aHooman from Sirius. But Hammond hardlyglanced at him when he first entered the office.He had eyes only for Thayn Marden.

Thayn turned from the window beside whichshe had been standing, and her blue eyessearched his face quickly. He had forgotten, hethought, how beautiful she was. In the blackshorts and shirt that made her white limbs andashen blonde hair stand out, with the jeweledbadge of the Vramen glittering on her breast,she was breathtaking.

She said, "You're willing now to cooperate withour historians, to gain your freedom?"

Hammond nodded. "I might as well. TheHoomen think I'm a traitor to them anyway." Itwas easy to sound bitter.

"If you'll answer some preliminary questions toprove your sincerity." Thayn said, I'll take youback to Earth. You'll work there with a specialgroup of Vramen historians."

Hammond looked at the commandant. "I've acertain condition to make first. But-it's for yourears alone, Marden."

The commandant shook his head. "The rules donot per-"

Thayn said, "There'll be no danger. Give meyour shocker and wait outside."

The commandant still looked doubtful, but hebowed and said, "Very well, if you wish it."

He took a little black plastic tube from the caseat his belt that contained it and handed it toThayn. He went out of the room and closed thedoor.

Thayn held the shocker in front of her and saidquietly, "Keep at that distance. Now what is thiscondition that's so confidential?"

Hammond nerved himself for the part he hadto play. So far, so good. But everything nowdepended on the next few minutes.

"Thayn, it isn't just freedom I'm doing this for,"

"Thayn, it isn't just freedom I'm doing this for,"he said. "It's you. I want to see you, be nearyou again."

She looked at him, coolly, cynically. "Why?"

"Because I'm in love with you," Hammond said."I'm the prize fool of the universe, but I can'thelp it."

He expected her to laugh, to get angry, tovoice some expression of contempt or call hima liar. She did none of these things. He thoughthe must have put some real conviction in hisvoice, because she stared at him and there wassuddenly a strange, strained look in her whiteface.

"No," she said finally. "It's not possible. Don'tever talk of love between you and me."

"Why not?" he demanded. "You may beimmortal or nearly so, but you're still a woman.And I love you."

"You don't know what you're saying. NoVramen can love or marry in the way youmean-especially a Hooman. You haven't the

mean-especially a Hooman. You haven't thefaintest idea of all that stands between us."

Hammond was elated. She had not doubtedhim at all. He had gambled on that, gambledon her acceptance of the encephaloproberecord that had mistaken physical desire forlove. He was lying in his teeth when he talkedof loving her but the lie was only a just returnfor what she had done to him. He hoped itworked as well.

He took a step toward her and spread out hishands in a gesture of appeal, speaking with allthe passion he could pretend.

"Thayn, it doesn't make sense! Why couldn't aVramen marry a Hooman?"

There was a look of pain in her face, and hervoice was so low he could hardly hear it.

"I can't tell you why. But you can believe mewhen I say that it would be easier for you tocross the ages back to your own time than tocross what separates us."

She had never looked more beautiful than she

She had never looked more beautiful than shedid at this moment, standing before him withthat strange look of doubt and pain. Hammondfound it easy, very easy, to counterfeit passion.He took a step closer.

"Thayn, listen to me. Whatever separates us,we could overcome it-"

She was shaking her head, her blue eyeshaunted with a secret misery, as he took thatstep closer.

He swung his fist and hit her hard on the chin.

Thayn fell without a sound. He grabbed her andcaught her before she hit the floor, but theplastic shocker dropped from her limp handand rolled across the floor. He eased her downand hastily retrieved the weapon. Then hestood for a moment, breathing hard andtrembling, looking down at Thayn's still whiteface.

His trick had worked. It had put Thayn offguard for the crucial moment he needed. Butsomehow he had not expected her to react tohis avowal of love in quite the way she had. It

his avowal of love in quite the way she had. Italmost seemed as though she-

He told himself that he was a fool to stand herewasting precious seconds. He examined theshocker, driven now by a feverish haste. Thesenon-lethal weapons were the only onespermitted by the laws of the Federated Suns,such instruments of destruction as Jon Wilson'svortice-gun being utterly taboo. From whatQuobba had told him, the shocker was merelya capacitor which held a certain electricalcharge. The slide on the tube released aportion of the charge in a wave ofelectromagnetic energy tuned exactly tooverload the electro-encephalic circuits of thehuman brain, producing unconsciousness. Thedrawbacks of the thing as a weapon were itsextremely short range and the fact that in usethe charge was rapidly exhausted.

Hammond gripped the thing in his hand andwent to the door that led to the outer office.He opened it with a sudden movement.

There were three men in the room-an orderly,the commandant, and the guard who had

the commandant, and the guard who hadbrought him here. They turned and when theysaw Hammond there alone with the shocker inhis hand they moved fast.

Not fast enough. Hammond pressed the slideon the tube forward. There was no visibleemanation from it, but it buzzed like an angryrattlesnake. He swept it back and forth withfrantic awkwardness. The three charging menstaggered and fell crashing to the floor.

It was so quick that it took Hammond amoment to realize he had dropped them andthat he was wasting the shocker's limitedcharge. He hastily slid back the control.

Now what?

The stairs. One of them must lead to thecontrol-room above.

He stuck his head cautiously out into thecorridor. He heard distant voices from otheroffices, but no one was in the corridor. He ranacross it to the nearest of the two stairs, andstarted up it.

started up it.

His heart was pounding but he felt a certainheady zest.

He had never done anything like this before, hehad been a scientific student and not a soldieror man of action, and there was a delightfulwickedness in all this that was a littleintoxicating.

There was a closed door at the top of the stair.It might lead into the control-room or into ahornet's nest of guards. In his excited mood,Hammond didn't much care which. He pulledthe door open.

It was the control-room. The transparent wallslooked out on four sides across the now darkspaceport, toward the glowing shimmer of theelectrodynamic barrier. In the center of theroom was a U-shaped bank of control panels,with gauges, switches, scanners, and manylittle blinking lights. There was a guard insidethis U peering into something that looked like aradar screen. There was another guard at theright-hand wall, looking out. The backs of bothwere to Hammond.

were to Hammond.

He pointed the shocker at the back of the manlooking out and pressed the slide. The tubebuzzed and the man fell.

The man in the U of switchboards turned astricken, staring face toward Hammond.Hammond turned the shocker on him.

The shocker did not buzz. He realized suddenlythat his inexpert handling had exhausted itscharge.

The man in the U grabbed a mike andscreeched into it. "Tower calling! Escapedprisoner-"

Hammond ran in and banged him on the headwith the black shocker-tube. He had never hitanyone on the head that way before and heexpected the fellow to fall right down but he didnot. Instead he howled with pain and fury andducked down to shelter his head, still yelling hisalarm into the mike. Hammond, desperate,grabbed him by the hair and banged his headhard against the switch-panel. This time the

hard against the switch-panel. This time theman fell, tearing out of his grasp.

Bells went off somewhere down in the mainpart of the building.

"Oh, damn it," said Hammond, groaning. Hedidn't feel any delightful excitement now. Hehad botched it, he was a miserable failure atthis sort of thing.

Say less than a minute before someone got uphere. Lock the door? No, there was no lock onit, no reason for one in a building whereunauthorized persons were never allowed. Howmany seconds did he have to find the rightcontrols? Not many. Not enough, probably.

He did a sort of frantic shuffle along the panels,peering at the legends underneath each backof controls. Most of them he could notunderstand. Iva and Thol Orr had taught himHooman writing but not every technical term inthe book. But he was not trying to read themall. He was searching for a particular legendthat meant "Field Generator Control", whichQuobba had taught him with great care. Hecouldn't possibly find it in all this complexity . . .

couldn't possibly find it in all this complexity . . ..

He found it.

It was under a big rheostat with a bar as longas his arm and a knob at the end of the bar.Hammond grabbed it and swung it back aroundto the symbol that meant zero.

As he ran out from the U of panels toward thenearest window, he heard feet starting topound up the stairs.

Hammond yelled when he looked out. Itseemed six times as dark out there as before,for there was no shimmering, glowing barrieraround the spaceport area now. And from two,three, no, four or five places around thecompound the dark figures of men wererunning in. Rab Quobba had been as good ashis word, the prisoners had been ready andthey were swarming into the spaceport inscores. Bells chattered hysterically as guardsstartled by the first break in the history of theplanet tumbled out of wherever they were. Butat least a hundred prisoners were in now, and

at least a hundred prisoners were in now, andmore coming . . . .

The door banged open behind Hammond andhe started to spin around but there was abuzzing sound and the universe exploded intoblackness.

Nothing.

For a timeless period, nothing at all. And then avoice saying, "He's coming around."

Coming around what? Not around the Moon,they sent you out but you can't go home again,you can only go around and around the track inspace you've followed for a hundred centuries,around and around.

"Hammond?"

He knew that voice. He tried to open his eyesand couldn't. After a moment he tried again,and could.

Thol Orr was looking down at him. Beyond theinterested face of the Algolian he saw a curvedmetal ceiling, with a light glowing in it. He had

metal ceiling, with a light glowing in it. He hadseen a ceiling like that before. He had heardbefore the kind of heavy droning sound hecould both hear and feel now.

He tried to whisper. "I thought I was in space-"

Thol Orr nodded. "You are." And then he saidquickly, "Don't try to talk too much or get upyet. Your nerves are recovering from theshocker but it will take a little more time."

The shocker? Then Hammond remembered. Hestared and now beyond Thol Orr he saw IvaWilson looking down at him, anxious, joyous,smiling.

"We took the spaceport, Kirk," she said. "Andwe took the ship. They dropped the barrieragain but it was too late, too many prisonerswere in by then. We only learned from Quobbaafter the fight that it was you who raised thebarrier."

"You took the ship?" he repeated. "Then this-"

"We're in it." Her eyes flashed. "We're on ourway, we've been going for hours. On our way

way, we've been going for hours. On our wayto the Trifid."

For a moment, weak as he still was, Hammondfelt a sharp surge of elation. Then heremembered something and a chill crept overhim.

"-thirty-four of us aboard." Iva was saying. "Allof us who worked and planned in the cavernsand a few others. And after what you did, wewouldn't leave you behind."

Hammond's strength was returning. He sat up,holding to the side of the bunk for support. Helooked at Thol Orr and asked,

"You came too. Why?"

The Algolian shrugged. "They thought that withmy past experience at the Trifid I could helpsneak this ship in. Anyway, Kuum has becomea little tedious. If we're recaptured they'll sendme back there, but in the meantime what haveI to lose?"

"You know damn well what you have to lose,"Hammond said. "Your life. This ship isn't like

Hammond said. "Your life. This ship isn't likethe one Iva's people were building in thecaverns. This has the Vramen detonator builtinto it like every ship, doesn't it?"

Thol Orr nodded. "It does."

"And if we're detected, they can press a keyand blow us to fragments, can't they?"

Again Orr nodded. "They can. But Wilson andthe others don't think they will."

"Why not?"

"We brought along a hostage," said Iva. "Oneof the Vramen. Thayn Marden."

Chapter 12

There had been a man named Goddard once,who watched his little rockets go up into theNew Mexican sky and dreamed of the day whenthey would go farther. There had been a mannamed Oberth who planned the first conquestof space. A Laika dog had died, and a mannamed Kirk Hammond had as good as died,and many another man back in the Twentieth

and many another man back in the TwentiethCentury had given his thought and toil and lifeto the cause of setting man free in space.

And this was what all their sacrifices had beenfor, this ship in which Hammond now was. Hehad been in a ship like this before, but in asealed prison-deck. Now he was in the pilot-room of a star-ship hurtling through infinity. Hewas glad that a freak of fate had let him live tosee this. He wished that the other men he hadworked with at Canaveral, all the men who haddreamed of this, could be here to see it.

"It gets you, doesn't it," said Quobba, withoutturning his head, from the pilot-chair.

"Yes," said Hammond a little unsteadily. "Itdoes."

It was not only the vista through the forwardviewplates that was overwhelming, this time. Itwas stunning enough, that view of the galacticwilderness. Colossal ramparts of scattered andclotted suns rose up in front of them, gleaminghotly in clusters like great hives of stars orshining out like foggy witchfires through the

shining out like foggy witchfires through thefarflung nebulae. A dark cloud brooded to theleft, with the starlight from behind it forming ashining halo around it. Close ahead to the righthung a magnificent double star whosecomponents were pale yellow and smoky red,and the size of those two suns increased visiblyas he watched.

But it was the ship itself that was mostoverwhelming to Hammond now. Especially thispilot-room, this small and crowded place wherethe minds of frail little human men forced ahurtling bulk of metal through the universe inthe way they wanted it to go. In front and oneither side of Quobba were three panelscrowded with dials and ground-glass discs andgraduated knobs. At intervals a figure orsymbol would flash on one of the discs andQuobba would instantly adjust a knob to a newsetting. The dim drone of the drive neverchanged or faltered.

Thol Orr had brought Hammond here and theAlgolian spoke now from behind him."Technically, this control-room is vestigial. Imean, the star-ship could actually be flown by

mean, the star-ship could actually be flown bythe big computer you saw in the calc-room. Itdoes fly the ship when it goes on auto-pilot, forit uses ultra-radar and doesn't need vision. Butpsychologically, there's a need for men to feelthat they themselves fly the ship and that's whywe still use this set-up."

Quobba looked around with a grin on hisbattered blue face. "Luckily for me, all I haveto do is handle the controls and let thecomputer figure the course. Want to try it?"

"Me?" said Hammond. "Why, no, I couldn't-I-"

"I'll be right behind you," said Quobba, gettingout of the chair. "Go ahead. Lord knows you'veearned the right."

Unbelievingly, Hammond slid into the chair. Asthe shining symbols and figures flashed,Quobba leaned over and showed him how toset the controls. He sat there and heardQuobba and Thol Orr talking behind him, aboutthe course, about Althar. But their voices fadedout of his hearing and there was nothing butthe drone of the drive. There was nothing butstars and space and the ship, and himself.

stars and space and the ship, and himself.

"You've earned the right." Yes, he had earnedit. Lots of others had too, back in the dawn ofthe space age. But destiny had decreed that heshould be the one to live through to this time.And here was the dream made manifest andreal, the aspiration of many men come at lastto splendid fruition. His fingers touched theknobs in a caress. He sat and flew the ship andlooked ahead into the stars.

He looked too long. For of a sudden,Hammond's high elation faded away in astrange self-hypnosis. He stared at the shininghosts and could not turn his gaze away. Howcould he turn, with his body frozen iron-hard?He had not moved for centuries, he would notmove ever again, he would sit frozen in thelittle satellite and keep up his eternal and awfulpatrol in space . . . .

Hammond felt that dread nightmare memoryoverwhelming him again. He struggled againstit, but in vain. And then, abruptly, he ceased tostruggle. Stop trying to push it out of yourmind, he told himself. Remember it, realize it,

mind, he told himself. Remember it, realize it,accept it. Yes, you were dead in nearly everysense of the word.

Yes, your frozen form moved as a bit of cosmicdebris among the drift for ten thousand yearswhile the generations came and went. It was aterrible thing and also it was splendid.

No man ever was or ever will be so long a partof space as you. Do not shudder at thememory of your pseudo-death.

Be proud that destiny picked you to be one withthe cosmic vastness of space and stars. Lookthe stars in the eyes as you did for tenthousand years, and know them for yourbrothers.

And slowly the hypnotic tension lifted fromHammond's mind and he did look into thebright hot eyes of the stars without dread. Thenightmare quality was all gone from hismemories, and he did not think that it wouldever return again.

Behind him, Thol Orr said, "I have to leave

you. We are to have a council of war and thereare things I must get ready Hammond, staringand dreaming, hardly heard him and did noteven turn. Rab Quobba smiled.

The council was many hours later in the bigcrew-room of the ship. Forty-odd men andwomen from many worlds gathered here, allwho were not actually on duty in the ship.

Jon Wilson sat with Lund and Quobba behind atable. Hammond, sitting with Iva among theothers, still smarted from Wilson's greeting tohim.

"Let us be clear, Hammond," said Wilson. "Weowe you our escape, this last chance at Althar.We feel we can trust you in all things but one."

"And that one?"

"Marden," said Wilson grimly. "You're not to seeher alone again. Oh, yes, we know how youhandled her back at Kuum, but in view of thatprobe record we don't want you talking to her."

He added, holding out his hand, "In everything

He added, holding out his hand, "In everythingelse, you're one of us again."

Hammond thought resentfully now that theymight forget that damned 'probe record, afterwhat he'd done. Then he became interested inWilson's crisp explanation of their position.

"The mathematical probabilities of oursuccessfully entering the Trifid are very low."he said. "On the other hand, we have a betterchance than any Hooman has had forgenerations, so it seems we should make theattempt. Is that agreed?"

There was a murmur of assent. No excitement,no bravado, but a nodding of heads and a wordfrom each.

"How long have we got?" asked Tammas, andWilson turned to Lund. "You've been figuringthat, Gurth."

Lund nodded and picked up a sheet of paper."We smashed the telaudio transmitter at Kuum,and all spare parts, before we left. They can'tsend out an alarm and they have no ship. Buttheir silence, the cessation of their daily report,

their silence, the cessation of their daily report,will undoubtedly cause an investigation to bemade within twenty-four hours."

He referred to the sheet. "The Federated Sunspolice base nearest to Kuum is at Alto Four. Itwill take ten days for a ship to go from there toKuum."

"So that we have ten days before a generalalarm goes out?" said Quobba. "That should beenough. We'll be to the Trifid before then."

Lund said sourly, "There's a variable in myequations. If a police cruiser happens to be inspace nearer Kuum than Alto Four, it willundoubtedly be detailed to investigate. Thatwould cut our ten days down considerably.Perhaps even to a day."

Their faces got longer at that information. ButHammond was thinking of something else. Heasked,

"Suppose we get to the Trifid. I take it we'll bechallenged by the Vramen from somewhereinside when they radar us?"

Thol Orr answered that. "That's what happenedwhen they caught me. I suddenly got a telaudiochallenge and an order to remain where I wasand await arrest or our ship would bedetonated."

"What do we do if we get such a challenge andorder?" Hammond asked.

He was thinking of what Iva had said, that theywere holding Thayn Marden as a hostage. Hesaw Iva glance swiftly at him.

Jon Wilson was frowning. "If we show them wehave Marden aboard-"

"It won't stop them from detonating us," TholOrr said quietly. "Believe me, the Vramen won'thesitate to sacrifice one of their own number tokeep us from reaching Althar. My way is theonly way."

"What way?" asked Quobba puzzledly.

"Thol Orr has prepared certain instruments thatmay help us," Wilson said evasively, and turnedto Lund. "Bring Marden now."

to Lund. "Bring Marden now."

Hammond felt his back go up. Were they goingto start that encephaloprobe business again?He didn't like it one bit better than he ever had,and anyway he didn't see what good it woulddo.

Lund returned with Thayn Marden. There wasstill a bruise on her small chin. She lookedintently at Hammond as she passed him, andher look surprised him. It was not the look offlaming resentment he had expected, but agrave, most troubled glance. Thol Orr got upand motioned politely toward his chair. Thaynsat down, facing Wilson with her clear profiletoward Hammond and the others. Beforeanyone said anything, she spoke to Wilson in alow voice.

"I beg you to listen to the warnings I've alreadygiven you. You cannot reach Althar. You willsurely perish if you try-all of you."

"You mean, I suppose, that this ship will bedetonated?" said Wilson. "!

Thayn said wearily, "You cannot approach theTrifid without being detected by Vramen radar.And please do not cherish the illusion that mypresence here will keep the Vramen officer whochallenges you from doing his duty."

Wilson glanced at Thol Orr, and the Algolianspoke gently to Thayn. "Suppose we have away to get past that obstacle?"

"There is no way. Surely you know that if youtry to remove the detonator, it willautomatically explode."

"We know that," Thol Orr said. "But there is away, nevertheless. You can't stop us, Marden.You may as well help us."

"Help you reach Althar?" she said incredulously.

Thol Orr continued to press her with questions,and Thayn gave more and more scornfulanswers. To Hammond the questions did notseem to make too much sense. They wandereda field, and he began to think that Thol Orr wasa bit stupid in his examination.

But suddenly Thayn looked intently at Thol Orrand said, "There is some purpose behind theseirrelevant questions. I have nothing more tosay."

Wilson nodded to Lund. "Take her back to hercabin, Gurth."

When she had gone Thol Orr sat down in thechair again and Wilson asked him anxiously,

"Have you got it?"

"I think so," said Thol Orr. "But it was a closething. Marden's no fool. Another minute andshe'd have guessed what we were up to."

"And what the devil were you up to?" Quobbaasked.

Thol Orr went to the metal wall of the cabin afew yards in front of his chair. He slid aside asmall plate in the wall, invisible till then. In arecess behind it was mounted a compact,camera-like device.

"This is a stereovideo-tape recorder," he said.

"This is a stereovideo-tape recorder," he said."I brought it along from the guard base atKuum, figuring we'd surely need it for thispurpose."

"For what purpose?"

"It has been making a stereovideo tape ofevery word Marden said. I asked her leadingquestions so that she would speak certainwords in her answer. Now, we'll edit the tape,cut it into separate words and piece the wordsinto a new tape which will show Maidenspeaking a certain sentence."

For the next few days Thol Orr spent all hiswaking hours in the communic room of theship. Hammond could not understand all thathe was doing. The editing and reshuffling of thestereovideo tape he could comprehend, andthe fact that Thol Orr was setting up aprojector so that the ship telaudio transmitterwould present the tape as a live speech byThayn Marden.

"It should work if there's only a formalchallenge," said Thol Orr, and added worriedly,"The danger is if extensive questions are asked,

"The danger is if extensive questions are asked,for no pre-recorded tape can carry on aconversation."

"And if we pass the challenge?" Hammondasked.

The Algolian pointed to a complex of apparatusin one corner. "The challenge will come fromAlthar. That's a very powerful and sensitivedirection-finder. From the Vramen telaudio callit should give us a fix on just where Althar liesinside the Trifid."

Six days after Hammond's awakening in theship, it passed completely around a dark cloudthat lay like a gloomy curtain across their way.

The Trifid lay before them.

It had been impressive enough in theastronomical photographs that Hammond hadseen back in the Twentieth Century, when itwas called the Trifid Nebula. But from thisdistance it was stunning.

Great star-clouds glittered all around them, the

swarms of suns that in the Sagittarius region ofthe Milky Way made brilliant the summer nightsof faraway Earth. But beyond all these loomeda vastness of light, glowing like a furnace inwhich stars were forged, stretching acrosswhole parsecs of space. Groups of double andmultiple stars shone from within that far-flungnebulosity, some of them fiercely bright andothers dim and muffled. And the whole shiningmass of the Trifid was riven by three greatcracks that were themselves light-years inwidth and that formed clear roads into theinconceivable interior.

The light of the Trifid glowed upon their facesas they peered from the pilot-room, Tammasat the controls and Jon Wilson and Quobba andIva crowded beside Hammond. Hammondwondered if they felt the same awe as he did.For now, with the Trifid looming gigantic beforethem and dwarfing the stars to dust, it seemedto him that they were impiously approachingthe very throne of God.

Wilson's taut voice broke the spell. "We couldget a challenge any time. I'll make sure Thol is

get a challenge any time. I'll make sure Thol isready."

Hammond turned and followed him out of thepilot-room. He didn't want to look any longer atthe Trifid. He thought that if he did, all hiscourage would run out of him.

In the communic room, Thol Orr noddedcalmly. "It's all ready. Remember, no one is tospeak or get within range of the telaudiotransmitter eye."

They waited. The generators droned and theship went on and on. They looked at thetelaudio screen and nothing happened.

The telaudio buzzed sharply and Hammondstarted violently.

"That'll be it," said Wilson. "Be sure-"

"Quiet," said Thol Orr, in the tone of one whosoothes a nervous child. He touched a switch.

In the telaudio receiver screen appeared thehead of a man. He was a handsome youngman, and beyond him was a background of

apparatus unfamiliar to Hammond. He lookedlike any other pleasant, efficient young man.He was a Vramen and Hammond hated him.

"State the identity of your ship," he said.

Thol Orr touched another switch. Thestereovideo projector came on. It threw, rightin front of the transmitter-eye of the telaudio,a life-sized three-dimensional image whosesolidarity and reality made Hammond catch hisbreath. The image was Thayn Marden.

The Marden-image spoke quickly. "Returningfor special consultation. There are none butVramen on this ship."

The speech was only faintly jerky. It shouldconvince anybody, Hammond thought. Hehoped it would convince the Vramen in thescreen. If it didn't, the man had only to press akey and they would never know what happenedto them.

Chapter 13

In the screen, the eyes of the young Vramen

In the screen, the eyes of the young Vramenman lighted with pleasure. He said,

"We'll be glad to see you here again, Thayn. Ithas been a long time. Proceed."

And the screen went dark.

Thol Orr turned a switch and the vividly realstereovideo image of Thayn disappeared. AndHammond suddenly became conscious thatthere had been an iron band around his chestwhich had now loosened. They looked at eachother with relief and triumph, and Wilson said,

"Well done, Thol. We foxed the Vramen thistime!"

Thol Orr shook his head. "Not for very long.Remember, the Vramen will now expectMarden to arrive at their Althar base, whereverit may be. When she doesn't, they'll take alarmand start searching."

"By that time, we'll hope to have gotsomewhere," muttered Wilson. He went over toNorth Abel, the younger Algolian, who duringall this time had been hunched over the

all this time had been hunched over thecomplex of directional receivers in the corner ofthe room. "Did you get a fix, North?"

"Yes, I got one. I'll have to work out thebearings before I plot it."

Presently the small navigation room wascrowded as Lund, Abel, Wilson and Thol Orr allhung over a table. Hammond looked on frombehind them, but could not make the slightestsense out of the mass of symbols and graphsthey were studying.

"That's it." said Abel finally. "Unless they wereusing a relay point, that's the direction ofAlthar."

They all looked at Wilson. He tugged at his lipnervously, staring down at the sheets ofsymbols. Finally he said,

"This is the way we have to take. The Vramenmay have some better way but we don't knowit At least, this takes us in along a rift a goodway before we have to cut through thenebula."

Lund's hard face became a trifle more bleak."Cutting through the nebula will be rough."

"It will," said Wilson. "It is also the only chancewe have."

Hammond found the opportunity to ask TholOrr, "Why will the nebula be rough going? Ialways thought that nebular matter was sotenuous it was hardly there."

Thol Orr nodded. "That's right. The Trifid lookslike a fiery mass but actually it's all reflection oflight from the many stars inside it. The dust ofwhich it's composed is less dense than any hardvacuum we use in a laboratory. It wouldn'tbother the ship."

"Then what will?"

"Magnetic fields. The clouds of dust in the Trifidare in motion, swirling and colliding with eachother. The collision of these clouds creates themost intense kind of magnetic fields, constantlychanging. You can imagine how those fields willaffect our photon-drive."

Time went by and the ship still droned towardthe Trifid. Hammond ate and slept, and thistime he had no fear of the nightmare that hadhaunted him. Nor did that nightmare come, yetwhen he awoke he remembered a differentand strangely disturbing dream. It seemed tohim that he had again held Thayn Marden in hisarms and that suddenly she had laughed at himand vanished, and he realized that she wasonly a stereovideo image and had neverexisted at all.

He wondered how she felt, locked up in herlittle cabin. Was she scared? He doubted that.She was an arrogant and unhuman witch, butshe had courage. He supposed that she wasvery angry. He hoped she was. He askedhimself why the devil he was thinking about herat all, and got up out of his bunk and wentforward.

The vista in the pilot-room viewplate hit himlike a blow. The Trifid walled all the heavens infront of them, a glowing glory of inconceivabledimensions. Stars and star-groups burned hereand there in it, their reflected radiance lighting

and there in it, their reflected radiance lightingthe tenuous dust. The great black rifts that hadbeen visible even from Earth were now colossalchasms of darkness through this continent oflight. The ship was heading toward the mouthof one of those mighty cracks.

Shau Tammas turned his yellow face from thepilot-chair and grinned. "Pretty, isn't it? Onlythe damned Vramen would want to live in aplace like this."

After a while the firmament on either side ofthem was walled with light as the ship crawledinto the vast dark chasm. By this time RabQuobba was back at the controls, and theircourse was close alongside one of the glowingwalls.

They moved along the coasts of light like amote beside a sun, past fiery-glowing capesthat could have held the whole Solar System,past great bays of darkness that ran far backinto the nebula. Hammond's mind quailed. Hewas still a child of the Twentieth Century, of thelittle Earth, and this monster cloud was noplace for man. The light of it beat upon the

place for man. The light of it beat upon thefaces of Iva and Tammas and Abel, peeringwith him, and he saw awe in their eyes too.

Jon Wilson came and said, "You'd better strapin. Our direction-line takes us into the nebulasoon, and we'll have to run that on autopilot."

Iva went away but Quobba pointed to one ofthe empty chairs and Hammond sat down andstrapped in.

Lund's voice came from the enunciator."Autopilot."

"Autopilot it is, and I hope the blasted calcsknow their business," said Quobba.

He closed a circuit and then turned and gaveHammond a wry grin. "Here's where you getan advanced lesson. Running any nebula istricky, but the Trifid-"

His words were drowned out. The computersback in the calc-room, whose relays could thinkfaster than any human being, had taken over.They had been given an objective, the linedeep in the cloud that was the way to Althar.

deep in the cloud that was the way to Althar.They made their computations in a few secondsof whirring and clicking. They spoke, not inaudible speech but in electric impulses thatgave imperious orders to the autopilotmechanism. The generators deep in the ship,forewarned of the need for a greater power,droned loud. The autopilot took the ship and, ata speed that just stopped short of the thresholdof human endurance, flung it right at theglowing wall.

Hammond saw them coming, those precipicesof light that went forever up into starry space.He braced himself for an impact that he knewwould not come. He was right. There was noimpact when they hit the nebula. There wasonly light all around them, not so fiery or brightnow that they were in it but more a moonyglow. They droned and raced through a softly-lit limbo that seemed not to change at all untilfinally the muffled fires of a triple sun shonevaguely ahead of them and to the right. And ofa sudden the ship shivered and then quieted,and then shivered again and again. The greatmagnetic tides of the nebula abruptly took hold

of the ship and carried it away for an instantlike a chip on a millrace, and Hammond sawthe whole vague vista of glowing nebula andflaring triple suns spinning around and around.

The generators droned louder still. Theautopilot stuttered furiously. The mindless brainof the computer had detected the change incourse and was instantly giving its orders. Theship broke free of the magnetic field that heldit and shot away from the three suns, and thenwas gripped again. It seemed certain toHammond that the crazy interaction ofintersecting fields was going to end up bydragging them into one of those stars that soonloomed frighteningly big and bright through theglow, two of them warm yellow and one a hotblue-white.

But the computer fought the nebula. Whereman had not the quickness of thought to act,the thing that man had made acted for him,did battle for him. Hammond thought that hehad been right and that there was no placehere for man, that only a mechanicalintelligence that had no nerves or feelings could

intelligence that had no nerves or feelings couldfight the blind vast forces of the cloud.

The three suns dropped behind them. Therewas a deceptively quiet period. Then Hammondsaw the telltale lights on the control panelblinking furiously, like little bright mouthsopening and closing, crying soundlessly ofdeath and danger near them.

He could not read those telltales but Quobbacould, and he groaned. "Drift all around us-that's all we needed!"

The computer had been until now theirchampion. Hammond thought of it with a dimreverence. But it seemed that it had had toomuch to bear for it appeared now to go crazy.

It threw the ship every which way in the nextfew minutes. They were hurled against theirstraps and the blurred view in the scannerswhirled in dizzying fashion. Then for the firsttime Hammond heard an actual sound ofimpact, a crash of hail on the hull, hitting thegyrating ship now on one side and then on theother.

Over the full-throated roar of the generators,Quobba yelled reassuringly to Hammond. "It'sthe drift-little dust-aggregates. Our radar-warning system keeps us from ramminganything big."

The warnings were also going to break theminto little pieces, Hammond thought, as the shiptwisted and turned and dodged to avoid thedrift. He was sore from the pressure of thestraps by the time the telltales stopped theirflashing.

And still they droned on through the nebula.Far-off stars shone glimmering in the glowingdust like drowned fires, and dropped away.Again the suck of a magnetic tide drew themaway, and again the computer with a sublimepig-headedness brought them back on course.

Hammond slept in his straps, finally. Notphysical but mental and nervous exhaustionoverpowered him, after what he had seen.

He was awakened by a change of timbre in thedroning that pervaded the ship. He rubbed his

droning that pervaded the ship. He rubbed hiseyes, which felt tired and bleary. There was nowild motion now, but something was different.He looked inquiringly at Quobba.

"We're slowing down." said Quobba. "Caught astar ahead on radar. It has a planet-we think itmay be Althar."

The name snapped Hammond to fullwakefulness. He peered eagerly forward. Therewas the moony glow, and there was somethingin it dead center ahead of them, a vague spotof brighter light.

Lund and Wilson came and peered sharply. Thespot of light brightened very slowly in theglimmering haze, and Hammond thought thatthey must have decelerated quite a bit beforehe awoke.

Wilson said, "I've got Thol and North scanningfor drift. Any debris in space near that sun willgive us some cover from their radar."

North Abel came hurrying into the pilot-roomwith a sheet of paper in his hand. "Here's thedata on the nearest drift."

data on the nearest drift."

Wilson looked at the sheet and then handed itto Quobba. "Not too bad. If you can jockey intothat stuff it ought to hide us."

The haze of the nebula was thinning out aheadof them. Of course, Hammond thought. Thegravitational field of a star would keep spaceclear of the tiny particles for a distance aroundit, since the star would sweep them up as itmoved. And because there was clear space notfar ahead, the star there came brighter to hiseyes. It looked weirdly iridescent, opalescent,many-colored, and that he supposed wasbecause he saw it through the thinning haze.He heard the occasional rattle of tiny particlesof dust-aggregate against the hull, but none ofthem paid any attention to that.

They were all of them, Wilson, Quobba, Abeland Lund, staring ahead as fixedly asHammond himself. And now as the ship rushedthrough the last of the haze, the solitary sunahead came clear to their eyes. It spun here inthe depths of the Trifid, a sun with a singleplanet that looked a little smaller than Earth,

planet that looked a little smaller than Earth,and that planet might well be Althar, desired byall Hoomen for so long. Yet in this moment, notone of them looked at the planet. They lookedat the star.

"By all the gods of space." muttered Quobba. "Inever saw a sun like that."

Nobody answered him. Nobody could answer,least of all Hammond. All he could do wasstare.

It had been no trick of refraction that hadmade this star look strange. Its weirdopalescence was even more pronounced nowthat they looked upon its naked glory. Itappeared to have no single hue, but red,green, violet, and golden yellow spun in its lightlike the writhing colors of a huge fire-opal. Itwas uncanny, hypnotic, as it spun here at theheart of the nebula, bathing its little planet incoruscating and changing light.

Wilson broke the silence. "I thought I knew allstar-types, but this one-"

"There's never been a type like this," said North

"There's never been a type like this," said NorthAbel. His pallid face was slack and stunned ashe stared. He turned and almost ran. "I'mgoing to tell Thol about this."

Hammond looked at the others. "Is that planetAlthar?"

A deep glow came into Wilson's eyes. "It couldbe."

Quobba looked at him inquiringly. "Then weland on it?"

"Yes. But we have to stay under cover of thedrift as long as we can. Gurth, you set it up onthe computer."

Lund went out. Hammond remained withWilson and the Vegan, staring at the opalescentstar. Its weird glory deepened as they drewnearer to it. Watching the continual flux of colorin its light, Hammond felt more than a littlemesmerized. This was not like a star of his owngalaxy. It was as alien as though it had comeinto being to illumine unimaginably strangeworlds in some remote galaxy far across the

worlds in some remote galaxy far across thecosmos. When Iva Wilson came in and lookedat it, she uttered a low exclamation.

"It's beautiful-but somehow frightening."

"Thol wants you," said North Abel to Wilson."Right away. He's found out something aboutthat star."

"What?"

Abel looked as though his eyes were poppingout of his head from excitement, but he wasmaking an effort to appear calm.

"He'll tell you himself. He wants you rightaway."

Wilson gave him a sharp glance and thenturned and went. Iva and Hammond followed,the girl with a wondering look and Hammondwith a sudden excitement setting his ownpulses to leaping.

Thol Orr was in the navigation room and asthey entered he turned from the spectroscopicinstrument he had been poking toward the

opalescent star. Hammond had never seen theAlgolian look like this. His hands were tremblingand his face had a stiff, strange look. He said,

"You know I was a radiation expert? And that Iwas sent to Kuum because I was nosing aroundtoo near the Trifid, studying a flicker of unusualradiation?"

"Yes, we know that," said Wilson impatiently."What I want to know is more about this star.Is it the sun of Althar?"

"I'm trying to tell you," Thol Orr said. "Theunprecedented radiation I tried to trace yearsago-it's coming from this star, in greatstrength. And it's a kind of radiation neverfound before."

He paused, apparently trying to put into wordssomething difficult to communicate. Withastonishment, Hammond realized suddenly thatThol Orr was afraid.

"It's been postulated that there could beradiation far higher in frequency than the so-called cosmic rays. Theory has indicated that

called cosmic rays. Theory has indicated thatelectromagnetic vibrations of such highfrequency might have incalculable effects onhuman tissue. And-it is that kind of radiationthat is pouring out of the star."

Wilson said, "Suppose you're right, what doesit-"

He stopped suddenly. A strange pallor cameover his face. He looked at the opalescent starand then back again at the Algolian.

Thol Orr nodded. "That's what I mean. I thinkthat you won't have to look for the Vramensecret of life on Althar. I think the secret isthere."

And he pointed at the alien glory of the star.

Chapter 14

Since the dawn of eternity, the mighty cloud ofthe Trifid had guarded a secret. What strangechemistry had created it, what unimaginableblind interplay of cosmic forces, were beyondhuman thinking. In the deepest recesses of thegreat nebula a thing had been born that was

great nebula a thing had been born that waslike no other known in the cosmos. And then,two thousand years ago, eight thousand yearsafter the conquest of space, the ships of menhad come questing and nosing into the nebulaand men had found the secret.

Had found-the star?

No, Hammond thought. It's too monstrous aviolation of the familiar, too incredible.Whatever they found in here that gave themunending life and made them the Vramen, itcan't be this.

Or can it?

Thol Orr was talking. He had been talking nowfor some minutes, and there was a passion inhis voice that Hammond had never heard therebefore. The talk was of radiation and of tissue,of what high-frequency energy could do tocells, of how it might stimulate and powerfullystrengthen the regenerative process, the powerof a cell to renew itself, so that the cell wouldnot age or die. And again and again Tholpointed to the opalescent star, and in his eyes

pointed to the opalescent star, and in his eyesas he looked at it was the hungering joy of alover who finds his dream.

Jon Wilson flung up his hand for silence. "Let usthink! If this thing is as you believe-"

Quobba, his eyes wide and stunned, exclaimed,"If it is, the radiation of the star-just thesunlight from it-can give us all indefinite life.Make us Vramen."'

It is impossible, said Hammond's mind. Thesemen have followed a fierce desire so long thatnow they are embracing a chimera. But thoughhis reason said that, his eyes looked at the starand his heart cried out, Life, life, life!

Of a sudden the whole ship was full of callingvoices and running feet, men and womencrowding to get into the pilot-room, to get tothe scanners and look out. Either Abel orsomeone else had been babbling and there wasan excitement that was rising to hysteria. Allyour life you lived with the knowledge of deathhanging over you like a sword, and as long aseveryone else died in time it was a thing youaccepted. But to live and age and die in the

accepted. But to live and age and die in thesame universe with other men and women likeyourself who neither aged nor died, to passdown into the darkness while the few, theundying went on and on, and now at last towork and dare and see the great flaringfountain of undying life before your very eyes,it was for all these people an even more soul-shaking thing than it was for Hammond.

Discipline was dissolving into hysteria and theship would be a madhouse within minutes. Butnot for nothing was Wilson their chosen leader.His voice rose and he ordered them, cursedthem and practically beat them back downfrom the heights of their exalted excitement.

"There's nothing sure about any of this yet," heshouted. "You hear me-nothing! The radiationof the star may be the secret of life, or it maynot. If you act like children, we'll never have achance to find out. Remember what's down inour hull."

That sobered them, that reference to theVramen detonator that at any instant couldblow them to atoms. Death seemed a more

blow them to atoms. Death seemed a moreterrible thing now that unending life might bewithin their grasp.

"Get them back down below," he told Lund."And bring Marden up here, quick."

"We're almost out of the drift cover," Quobbawarned. "What now?"

Hammond looked ahead at the greenish littleplanet that swung in the rays of the glitteringstar. So did Wilson, and his deep eyes glowedwith determination.

"Hit straight for the planet," he said.

"Minute we come out of the drift, the Vramenon that world will radar us," warned Quobba.

"Let them. They'll still think it's Marden's shipcoming in-for a while yet."

The computer had already calculated the flightpattern, and the ship went ahead fast. It wasnot on autopilot now, and Hammond sawQuobba's big hands twitching and clenching ashe touched the controls from time to time. The

he touched the controls from time to time. Thegenerators droned loud again.

Thayn came into the little room, ahead ofGurth Lund. She did not at first spareHammond, or any of them, a glance. Her eyesfixed on the scanner, on the stunning view ofthe opalescent star and its little world. Herwhite face became composed andexpressionless.

"It's Althar, isn't it?" said Wilson.

She looked at him then, but she did notanswer.

"Too late for silence, Marden!" said Wilson."We're going to land there anyway."

Her face became very white, and when shespoke her voice was almost a whisper.

"Don't do it. I beg of you, turn and leave here.Now, at once."

Lund laughed. Thol Orr pressed forward andasked her eagerly, "The high-frequencyradiation of the star there-it is the secret, isn't

radiation of the star there-it is the secret, isn'tit?"

Thayn looked at him, and then at Wilson, andthen, suddenly, at Hammond. He thought thatthere was a shadow of agony in her eyes, andsomething in her expression chilled him. Finallyshe said,

"Yes."

A long breath exhaled from Wilson, the sigh ofa man who all his life has struggled up amountain and now at last can see the summit.

"How long does it take?" Thol Orr asked her."How much exposure to the stellar radiation, tomake our bodies like yours?"

She did not turn her gaze from Hammond'sface as she answered. "Many days. Too many.You will not live that long, if you land onAlthar."

And then she suddenly turned from Hammondand her gaze swept them all, her voice rising inpassionate appeal.

"Don't do it. You are grasping for life, and youdon't know yet what goes with it. That radiationis a dreadful biological snare. If you exposeyourselves to it too long-"

"Please, Marden," interrupted Jon Wilson in acutting voice, "don't try to frighten us likechildren. If the radiation had any deleteriouseffects, you Vramen wouldn't have lived solong."

Thayn's shoulders sagged a little. "Hopeless,"she murmured. "It's why we Vramen havenever told you the truth. We knew it washopeless, that you'd never believe."

"At least," said Hammond, "we could hear whatshe has to say about it."

Lund turned fiery eyes on him. "That's what Iwould expect from you. I told them youcouldn't be trusted, now or ever."

Tension made Hammond's own temper flare."Listen, you damned well wouldn't have beenhere if it hadn't been for me!"

Jon Wilson roared at both of them like an angryold lion. "No more of that! By God, I'll have noquarrels now."

He turned back to Thayn. "Where is the mainVramen center on this planet?"

She said, "It is in the high mountains in thenorth polar region of Althar. If you land at all,it must be there. Nowhere else on Althar willyou be safe."

"Safe?" said Lund, and laughed again. "Oh,yes, safe in the arms of the Vramen."

"You don't understand!" she said. "We Vramencontrol only that limited north polar region.Almost all the rest of Althar is dominated byanother race, the Third Men. You must not landwhere they can reach you."

Lund said violently, "What is the good oflistening to all these lies? Of course she's tryingto fob us off."

Thayn made a final appeal. "You won't land atSharanna-at our Vramen center?"

Sharanna-at our Vramen center?"

"Are we fools?" said Wilson.

She looked at them, and her eyes came to reston Hammond's face. Then she murmured, "Itmakes little difference then. We shall not livelong. Goodbye, Kirk Hammond."

And she was gone with Tammas, and herGoodbye, Kirk Hammond left a troubled echo inHammond's ears. Lund glared at him and thensaid to Wilson,

"You know what she means, that we won't livelong."

Wilson nodded curtly. "It's obvious. TheVramen must have radar locked on us rightnow. If we set down anywhere but at that baseof theirs, they'll suspect something wrong andblow the ship."

Quobba turned, and there was a fine film ofsweat on his massive face. "So?"

"So," said Wilson, "ram straight in as thoughheading for the north polar region. Then, as

heading for the north polar region. Then, aswe're coming in, do some freak spins and fall-offs, and set down suddenly. It'll look as thoughwe're having mechanical trouble."

Hammond asked doubtfully, "You think that'llkeep them from blowing the ship?"

"There's a chance." said Wilson, uncheeringly."It seems that they'd try to call us first, maybesend out an assistance party."

"And if they find us?"

"They'll find trouble. We'll get out of the shipfast, with everything we can get out of it. We'llwear rayproof turbans, and if the Vramencome after us with hypno-amplifiers they'll dono good. We have the shockers we broughtfrom Kuum, we can stand them off."

"For how long?" asked Thol Orr skeptically.

"Long enough, maybe." answered Wilson. "Wemight have help. If the Vramen have enemieshere, those enemies could be our friends. Youheard Marden talk of a race she called theThird Men."

Third Men."

"A lie to frighten us into the arms of theVramen." said Lund contemptuously.

"Maybe." said Wilson. "Yet back on Earth,remember what she told Hammond, 'And evenif you passed the Vramen-' There was animplication there of others beside the Vramenat Althar. Who knows what other race besideman has found this world, this star of life?"

It was a thought that had not occurred toHammond and it gave him a shock. There wassomething staggering about the possibility thatfrom far away, perhaps even from galaxiesbeyond this one, other races might have cometo this star to seek unending life. A greatmagnet drawing peoples human and unhumanfrom far away, like moths flitting around acandle, settling upon Althar, struggling jealouslywith each other . . .

The driving voice of Wilson swept such wildspeculations out of his mind.

"We have to go on the assumption that the

"We have to go on the assumption that theVramen will detonate this ship soon," Wilsonwas saying. "Everything must be ready fordisembarkation the moment we land. I wanteverything possible to be taken out of the ship-all the auxiliary atomic generators and tools, allthe emergency repair equipment, as well as allweapons, tools, batteries and rations. Get itready, Gurth-and hurry!"

There began a buzz of feverish preparations inthe ship, with Lund and Thol Orr designatingwhat must be made ready for rapid unloading.Wrenches clanged as men hastily unboltedmachines the very purpose of which was amystery to Hammond. Sweating men skiddedthem toward the cargo ports, and others underLund's direction rigged improvised power-winchequipment to get the heavy items out whenthey landed. Hammond found himself with Abelcarrying flat cartons of food-capsules which IvaWilson brought out of a storeroom. There wasa hurrying and crowding in all the corridors,and an echoing of excited voices that rose evenabove the drone of the generators.

Iva asked him, as he took still another carton

Iva asked him, as he took still another cartonfrom her, "What did Thayn Marden say?"

"A lot of things. Most of them intended tofrighten us away from Althar."

She looked at him and unexpectedly she said,"Listen to her when she warns you of anything,Kirk. About the rest of us she may not care butI don't think she wants you to die."

He was startled. "Iva, you're crazy if you'reimplying-"

He got no farther than that. Air roaredsuddenly loud outside the hull, and then theenunciators throughout the ship bawled,

"Strap in, everyone!"

There was a scramble for the recoil-chairs.Hammond and Iva got two in the crew-roomand then twisted their necks to stare up at thescanner in the wall.

It showed the view ahead, the sunlit side of theplanet looming up across the screen. Therewere no seas on it but the rolling surface was

were no seas on it but the rolling surface wasrough with forests of some kind. They weredark green except for slashes of pure yellowthat made Hammond think of the New Mexicomountains in the fall, with the aspens goldenagainst the pines. The surface of the planettilted sharply in the screen and then the shipseemed to stand on its tail and fall off in adizzying roll.

The straps around Hammond cut into him andhe heard a dismayed exclamation from Iva.They were in a spin, going down, and hewondered if Quobba was merely carrying outhis orders to make it seem the ship wascrashing, or whether this was a real crash. Hethought it was real, this was too wild a spin tobe a fake. The air roared louder and in thescanner he could glimpse the forest rushing uptoward them, a thick forest of grotesquelylumpy dark-green growths. There was acrackling and crashing outside the ship andHammond thought, It's a crazy way to die.Then there was a bump and that was followedby the most breathtaking thing of all.

Silence. No sound, no movement, for the first

Silence. No sound, no movement, for the firsttime since they had left Kuum.

The enunciators instantly shattered the silence."Outside, everyone! Get the equipment out!"

Hammond helped Iva out of her straps andthey ran, with others joining them to crowd thecorridors, down toward the cargo-ports. Theports were already swinging open and outsidethere was a blaze of blinding sunlight slantingon tall, strange-looking clumps of green. Theair swirled in, warm and light and dry.

Quickly the holds inside the cargo-ports becamean organized madhouse of activity and noise.The gangways were run out, and menhastened to set up the power-equipment towinch the big atomic generators and otherheavy machinery out of the ship. Others,including Hammond and Iva and Abel, carriedloads of supplies out and well away from theship and set them down in an improvised dumpthat was located on the side of a low ridge.Only when Hammond was running back to theship for another load had he time to glanceeven at the weird forest that rose around

them. Jon Wilson, out beside the ship, keptdriving them.

"Faster! The ship can blow any moment! Geteverything up to the dump-don't put downanything nearer the ship!"

A Vramen somewhere on this world could pressa key and they would all be nothing. Thatknowledge spurred them, and the winchesscreaked and men bawled and sweated and theheavier machines moved out with brutishstolidity. And finally, they all stood amid theheaps of their frantic salvage, all out of theship and able for the first time to catch theirbreath and look around them.

All about them rose the green clumps. Theywere not trees, they were mosses like giganticcushions, towering twenty and thirty feet highand more than that in diameter. Between thehuge moss-clumps grew a carpet of dark mossin which here and there were areas of truegrass that was bright yellow in color. Hammondlooked wonderingly at the colorless sky. Theblaze of the setting opal sun was hidden fromhim by the clump beside him, but its rays

him by the clump beside him, but its raystwitched and quivered in the heavens like adaytime aurora. No birds or even insectsmoved in this somber moss-forest. No soundbroke the deep and brooding silence as theystood, between fear and rapture, on the worldof their desire.

Chapter 15

Night lay over Althar, but it was like no nightthat Hammond had ever seen before. Therewas no moon in the sky, and no stars. Insteadthe whole heavens were a glowing sheet, anebula sky that shed a glimmering, almostshadowless radiance down upon the huge darkmosses. The Hoomen were gathered in a tightgroup beside their dump of machines andsupplies, and since the sun set an hour beforethey had shown no lights. Some of them,armed with shockers, walked to and fro onwatchful guard. Others slept.

Hammond could not sleep. Neither could ThaynMarden. He looked to where she sat at a littledistance from him. Behind her and quite closeto her sat Shau Tammas, and he knew that the

to her sat Shau Tammas, and he knew that themonkey-faced little Mizarian kept his shockertrained constantly upon her. Hammond couldsee the white blur of her face in the eldritchglow. He wished he could talk to her. Hedecided he would talk to her, and the devil withLund and Wilson's orders.

He stood up. The whole world blazed to ablinding white light that lit up startled faces andtowering mosses, and there was a clap ofthunder and a wave of hot air hit Hammondfrom behind.

He staggered, retaining his balance and tryingto turn around fast. A chorus of astonishedcries broke as the flare and the thunder died.

"The ship!" yelled Quobba's bass voice.

Swinging around, Hammond saw a column ofsteam arising in the middle distance where theship had rested. A breath of super-hot air stilleddied around him.

Jon Wilson had leaped to his feet and run a fewsteps forward but now he stopped and his stern

steps forward but now he stopped and his sternvoice rang above the babble.

"Stay back! The Vramen have detonated theship. We expected that."

A cold feeling went up Hammond's back. Thatcould so easily have happened when they werein the ship, at any time since they had firstapproached the Trifid. His nerves were shakenby it, and it made him suddenly hate theVramen more than ever to realize that theyhad that power of life and death over everyship in the galaxy.

Wilson turned and went back to Thayn. Shewas standing up, and in the moony glow herface was unreadable in expression, toHammond. Wilson asked her harshly,

"Your friends did that-why did they blow itinstead of coming to your assistance?"

Thayn said, "My people do not come into thispart of Althar. It is too dangerous. I tried to tellyou."

"Oh, yes." sneered Lund. "The Third Men. The

"Oh, yes." sneered Lund. "The Third Men. Theboggle that was to frighten us into the hands ofthe Vramen."

"I think," said Thayn, "that the Third Men arecoming now. At Sharanna, my people would bewatching on the radar. If they detected hostilefliers searching for this ship, they'd detonate itat once." Her voice had a hopeless quality in it,and then it rose in a passionate appeal. "Forthe last time, I beg you-destroy the metal andmachines you have here! If these fall into thehands of the Third Men-"

"Naturally you would like us to be withoutweapons or equipment of any sort," interruptedWilson sourly. He turned and raised his voice."All of you keep sharp watch and have yourshockers handy. But don't use them unless Isay so."

Hammond had one of the little stunning tubes.He didn't think much of it as a weapon if a realfight was coming up, and he said so.

"There need not be any fight," said Wilson."There won't be, if I can prevent it. Whoeverthese other people are, if they're enemies of

these other people are, if they're enemies ofthe Vramen it stands to reason they could beour friends. I don't want anyone gettingpanicky and spoiling the chance of that."

"Listen!" said Iva.

A sound was coming out of the glowingheavens, a shrill piping that was discontinuousand very thin, now fading away and thencoming more strongly than before.

"Fliers," said Thayn. "They would have seen theflare of the ship going."

"Watch her," said Wilson to Shau Tammas."Don't look at anything else but her, no matterwhat happens."

He hurried off with Lund and they stood withthe Hoomen clustered around them, beside oneof the giant mosses, staring up into the sky inwhich the piping was now changing to a steadywhistling.

Thayn looked at Hammond. "You should bevery happy," she said. "You have done what

you dreamed of doing, what Hoomen forcenturies have dreamed of doing. You havereached Althar, and in time the radiation of thestar will make you all undying as we Vramenare and you will be happy then, just as weare."

There was a shocking bitterness in her words.It grated painfully on Hammond's nerves, andhe stepped closer to her.

"Thayn, what is it? What are you expecting?"

She made a mirthless sound. "Nothing. Iexpect nothing at all. I am merely telling moreVramen lies." She paused for a moment, andHammond heard the whistling across the skyscreeching louder and lower. Thayn said, "Yournew friends are coming. Run to them, greetthem. For they will surely help you against thehated Vramen!"

The screeching roar blotted out anythingHammond might have wanted to say, and helooked up and saw four long slim shapes flashswiftly above them, standing out black againstthe glowing sky. The whistling rose to maniacal

the glowing sky. The whistling rose to maniacalheights, and then fell off as the four fliersbanked sharply around on their stubby wingsand came back. This time one was much lowerthan the other three. The three made anotherstraight pass overhead but the single craftswept down to land out of sight behind theridge.

They waited then, their shockers in their hands,their tension rising. No one came and nothinghappened, except that the three fliers whistledback overhead again. Waiting, listening,peering, Hammond felt the deepening of anunease that had been in him since he hadheard Thayn's bitter words. He went to Wilson,who stood a little in front of them facing theridge, and spoke to him.

"I don't like it. They could be taking up positionall around us while we wait here," saidHammond.

"There will be no fighting, there is no need forit," Wilson said inflexibly.

And then the Hooman leader stepped forward

And then the Hooman leader stepped forwarda little farther and called aloud, his voice rollingout into the lonesome night, the great darkmoss-clumps brooding beneath the glowingsky.

"We are friends!"

There was no answer for moments, no soundexcept the whistling scream of the other flierscircling around somewhere overhead. Thenfrom over the low ridge, a cold, strong voicerepeated the last word upon a rising note.

"Friends?"

"We are Hoomen, not Vramen," said Wilsonloudly. "We don't know who you are but wetake it you are not Vramen either."

This time the answer came more quickly in thesame universal galactic language, and itseemed to Hammond that there was a tone ofirony in the chill, precise voice.

"No, we are not Vramen," it said. "Oh, no! TheVramen are no friends of ours."

"Nor of ours," Wilson assured quickly. "Theyhunted us, they tried to keep us from comingto this world, they destroyed our ship. We haveone of them prisoner here."

"A Vramen prisoner?" The counter-questioncame quickly as a wolf-snap.

"Yes. So if you are enemies of the Vramen,you cannot be our enemies."

There was a pause, and in the strain of themoment Hammond thought he heard lowwhisperings from beyond the little ridge. Thenthe chill voice spoke clearly.

"I am Mar Kann of the Third Men, and I cometo you without weapons. There is no reasonwhy we cannot be friends."

Hammond, peering with the others, saw a mancome up from behind the low ridge and standupon it. He was a dark, stark figure against theglowing sky, big but completely human inoutline. He walked toward them and now theysaw that this man was fully seven feet inheight, superbly statured. He wore a close-

height, superbly statured. He wore a close-fitting dark tunic, his arms and legs bare. Hishead was bare too and his completely hairlessskull gleamed in the soft light as he came withlong strides. Now they could see him clearly.

A woman among the Hoomen uttered a briefnervous sound that was half a giggle and half ascream. Rab Quobba exhaled his breath in along gusty sigh. Iva had come to Hammond'sside and her small hand dug suddenly into hisarm.

Hammond felt shock himself. The first sight ofthe man's figure had swept away all his vaguespeculation about alien, unhuman beings whomight have thronged to this star of life. He hadfelt relieved, but now he saw the man's face. Itwas a completely hairless face, the eyesbrowless and lashless. The features wereregular and handsome, but the eyes wereutterly without warmth or compassion. It wasthe cold, mask-like face of an uncaring god.

The man stopped a few yards away from them,and stared. He was not staring at the Hoomenbut at the heaped-up supplies and machines

but at the heaped-up supplies and machinesbeyond them. He stood quite motionless for along moment, and then his head moved andhis gaze swept over them. Hammond felt thatgaze like a physical impact.

"Let me see this Vramen prisoner," said thecold voice.

Wilson turned and nodded toward ThaynMarden, a little behind them. The eyes of MarKann fastened upon her. After a moment hesaid, "I do not know her. I had hoped that shemight be someone very dear to me."

"I was spared that shame," said Thayn, andthough Hammond could not understand hermeaning, the hatred and loathing in her voicewere beyond mistaking.

"Witness the injustice of the Vramen," said MarKann in a bantering tone. "For all these agesthey have hated us, whom they should love themost."

The irony was lost on Jon Wilson but onephrase caught him and his stern face becamehungering as he repeated, "For all these ages?

hungering as he repeated, "For all these ages?Then you too-you Third Men-have unendinglife?"

"But of course," said the other. "It is a sorrowto the Vramen that it is so, but all who dwellunder the rays of our sun live very long."

"Including the beloved children of the ThirdMen," said Thayn.

The reference was incomprehensible toHammond but he saw that Mar Kannunderstood it for the ironic amusement left thatunhumanly handsome face and his eyes shot alook of fiery hatred at Thayn. But again, Wilsonclung to his lifelong purpose to the exclusion ofall else.

"Then the rays of the star can give Hoomenunending life too?"

He hung tensely upon the answer andHammond saw that all of them were eagerlylistening. The momentary flash of anger leftMar Kann's face and he surveyed the Hoomenshrewdly.

shrewdly.

"So that is why you have come to Althar," hemurmured. "Ah, yes. Well, you have not comein vain. After some weeks' exposure to the raysof our sun your bodies will be changed in everycell, and sickness and aging will be cleansedfrom them." His voice rose, addressing themall. "You can help us, and we can help you.Come with us to Vonn-it is our chief city-andtalk of these things."

Before anyone else could say anything, Thaynspoke rapidly "Don't trust the Third Men. Whatthey really want is-"

"Be silent, woman," said Mar Kann, taking astep toward her and speaking in tones of ice.

Hammond saw Thayn glance at the Third Manand then he saw her face stiffen and change.Her voice trailed away, and a dull look cameinto her eyes. Her slim body seemed to sag,and she stood like a marionette without powersof speech or movement.

Hammond sprang forward. "What have youdone to her?"

done to her?"

Mar Kann turned toward him, and Hammondfelt the impact of those lashless eyes. "She isunharmed. I have merely silenced her bymental command."

"No hypnosis would work that fast," saidHammond angrily. "You used some weapon-"

Contempt came into the other's face. "Mentalmastery of the Vramen is easy. Look at her.Yet these are the people who keep the ThirdMen prisoned on this world."

"Prisoned?" repeated Jon Wilson, amazed. "Idon't understand-"

"It will all be explained to you in Vonn," saidMar Kann smoothly. "I am sure we can beallies. We do not need you people-but we doneed some of these metals and machines youhave here. They are of elements very scarceupon this world."

Wilson looked at him and then he swungaround and

spoke to all the staring Hoomen. "I say, we go!If these

people are the enemies of the Vramen, that'senough."

"You choose wisely," nodded Mar Kann. "It willrequire more fliers than we have here totransport you and these valuable things. Wait,and I will call for more to come from Vonn."

He turned and strode back up over the ridge,was darkly outlined once more against thenebula sky, and went on down out of sight. Theeyes of all except Hammond followed him.

Hammond had gone to Thayn. He took herhand, spoke to her. She made no answer andher eyes looked at him with a stunned,unseeing expression. Thol Orr came over andlooked at her closely.

"I think she is all right, merely under post-hypnotic command." he said. "But-what kind ofpeople are these who have such mentalmastery over even the Vramen?"

Lund spoke angrily to Hammond. "You couldhave ruined our chances of alliance with theseThird Men by your solicitude for this damnedVramen woman."

"I wonder," Hammond said, "just how equal analliance we'll have with people to whom eventhe Vramen are inferiors."

Jon Wilson nodded nervously. "I thought ofthat. Yet the Vramen must be in some waytheir superiors, you heard what he said aboutthe Vramen keeping them prisoned on thisworld. Well, without a ship we're prisoned heretoo, and we want to get back eventually andtell the secret of this star to the whole galaxy.So our best chance is to work with these ThirdMen."

There was a general murmur of agreement butit was not a hearty or enthusiastic one. Andwhen Hammond stepped back, Quobba cameup to him and said,

"Who the devil are these Third Men, anyway?"

Hammond shook his head. "I wish I knew. And

Hammond shook his head. "I wish I knew. AndI wish I knew what Thayn was about to tell us-though maybe it would only have been a lie."

They had reached the guarded planet thatHoomen for centuries had dreamed ofattaining, and yet it seemed to Hammond thatthey were enmeshed in darkening mysteriesthat took the joy out of their triumph. Andthough this was the planet of life that all mencoveted, it seemed a brooding, silent, joylessworld.

Quobba asked, "Did you see his hands?"

"His hands? Why, no," said Hammond. "He keptthem down against his sides."

Quobba nodded. "I know, but I was close whenhe turned and I saw them. They were six-fingered. These people may look like humans,but they don't belong to our species at all."

Chapter 16

Standing at the window with the hot opalescentsunlight beating upon his face and his hands,

sunlight beating upon his face and his hands,Hammond wondered.

What will it be like to live indefinitely? How mil Ifeel a hundred years from now? A thousand?

Take the idea into your mind. Turn it over andover, look at the shape of it from every side. Itis impossible that Kirk Hammond of Earth is,barring accident, going to live practicallyforever. It is impossible but it is true. Thesunlight beating on you is more than sunlight.It is the radiation of a star unique in thegalaxy, perhaps in the whole cosmos, a starthat is a gigantic generator of electromagneticforces unknown elsewhere. Its invisible highest-frequency rays are at this moment searchingevery cell in your body, with a polarizing effectthat in time will transform cytological structurecompletely. Each cell will acquire a regenerativepower hitherto unknown in higher animals, willbe able to I repair the ravages of age ordisease at once. In a few weeks, you will betransformed by the cumulative effect of thisradiation. You will be, practically speaking,immortal.

Hammond, struggling with the hugeness of that

Hammond, struggling with the hugeness of thatthought, heard the voices of the others in theroom only vaguely. They were still talking,there at the long table in the center of theroom. They had been talking ever since theHoomen had rived in this city-Wilson and adozen of the Hoomen with four of the ThirdMen. They had talked of some strange things inthat time, but it was the final assurance ofunending life that had made Hammond get upfrom the table and walk to this open window.He had to have time to take that in.

He looked out with half-unseeing eyes acrossthe city of Vonn. It was a black cement city, seton the open yellow plain, its ebon colorunrelieved by the glorious flood of light thatstreamed down from the opal sun. It was asmall city but it looked stark and massive. Itsbuildings were almost all square in cross-section, arranged in a severely geometricaldesign around this massive central structurefrom whose window he looked. There werestreets down there, and buildings that lookedlike factories or laboratories, and others thatwere certainly apartments. There was a paved

were certainly apartments. There was a pavedplaza below in which were parked a score ofthe fliers. It was where they had landed whenthey had come here.

Hammond thought of those fliers. They hadbeen a surprise to him. They were not of metalbut of plastic, and they were not powered byatomic generators like nearly every othermachine he had seen in the outer universe.Their propulsion was by means of jets and thechemical jet motor was of ceramic stuff, notmetal. Looking down at them, he saw men andwomen moving between them on the plaza,and the square, shiny forms of several Mechs.He had met Mechs when they arrived, and hedidn't like them.

Two fliers zoomed up as he watched, rising onvertical jets and then darting away. His eyesfollowed them but in a moment they were outof sight in the glittering blaze of sunlight,heading out over the vast moss-forest thatsurrounded the plain of the city. He wonderedwhere they were going. He wondered where,ultimately, he was going himself.

"Hammond." It was on Wilson speaking and hisvoice was impatient, almost querulous. "Willyou come back here?"

Hammond turned and went back to the table.It was of black plastic and so were the chairs,while the walls and ceiling of the room were ofa pleasant gray. It occurred to Hammond thatthese people did not like colors, not in flowers,textiles, anything.

He sat down in his chair again. He hated tomeet the cold probing gaze of the four men atthe end of the table. He thought, the hell withthem, look them in the eye. He did.

"It's hard to take it all in, isn't it?" said HollGormon pleasantly to him. "But your coming toAlthar has precipitated a situation that hasbeen long building, and there is a certainurgency. We want you to understandeverything."

Holl Gormon was one of the directors of theThird Men. What that title meant, Hammondhad not the faintest idea but he assumed thatGormon was high in whatever form of

Gormon was high in whatever form ofgovernment these people had, and that MarKann and the other two men at the end of thetable were also. It disturbed him that the fourmen looked so much alike. There were no agedifferences here to make identification easy.They all looked to be in strong youth or young-middle-age, they were all big men, they all hadgrave, cold faces. The Hoomen along the table,different in age, size, even in color, looked likea motley rabble beside them.

"You were saying," Jon Wilson said with anirritated glance at Hammond, "that you'rewilling for all the Hoomen in the galaxy toshare in the secret of life."

"Yes," said Holl Gormon. "We have no desire tomonopolize undying life. That is the Vramen'sdoing. Of course, it would be impossible tobring all the trillions of the galaxy here toAlthar. But we feel sure the unique radiation ofour sun could be duplicated artificially in time,and thus be extended to all your peoples."

Wilson's face became rapt. He said, "I don'tcare for myself. But if I could see that happen,

care for myself. But if I could see that happen,see all human life extended-"

"It can be," said Gormon. "It will be. The long,jealous monopoly of the Vramen will surely beunlocked now. For your coming has brought thekey."

He looked around their faces, and againHammond felt a flinching at the impact of thatchill gaze. It didn't make you feel easy whenyou were sure the man talking to you coulddominate you hypnotically if he wanted to, justas Mar Kann had dominated Thayn. Hewondered if Thayn was still under thatinfluence. She had been left under a Hoomanguard in one of the rooms assigned to them inthis building, and Hammond had had no chanceto see her.

"-and we Third Men are native to this world,born upon it, always an undying race since ourbeginning," Gormon was saying. "But we'venever been able to leave this world, despite ourgreat advances in scientific knowledge. For thisis a world without metal."

And suddenly Hammond realized that he hadnot indeed seen a scrap of metal in use, not inthe fliers or anywhere in this building.

"You mean, you've built this whole civilization ofyours on a non-metallic basis?" said Thol Orrincredulously.

Gormon nodded. "We have had to. The peculiarnon-metallic constitution of our sun, to which itowes its unique radiation, is duplicated inAlthar, its planetary offspring. We have had tolearn to use plastics, ceramics, cements,instead of metal. But one thing you cannotbuild without metal is a star-ship. You have tohave metal for its frame, for its atomicgenerators and their fuel, for the magneticenclosures necessary in fusion-power reactors.So we have had no star-ships. The only star-ships on this world are those in which theVramen come and they land in only one place-their guarded base Sharanna in the northernmountains. And they never let us near thatplace for they have no intention of letting us goto the outer galaxy and tell the peoples thereof the secret of life."

of the secret of life."

He paused and spread his hands out upon thetable in a frank gesture.

"You see that I am being quite honest with you.The metals and atomics that you salvagedbefore your ship was blown are infinitelyprecious here. With them, we could start aprocess of element-building that would give usall the materials we lack. And with them, wecould very quickly construct a weapon morepowerful than all the weapons by whichSharanna dominates Althar."

Wilson leaned forward. "Let us be clear. Forour equipment and our help, you offer what?"

"The secret of the star of life, to be taken to allthe galaxy by star-ships we shall be able thento build," said Gormon promptly. "Andprotection, with the weapon we can forge,against the Vramen. For when they learn whatwe plan, you will need such protection!"

He stood up. "Think about that and talk it overamong yourselves. Whatever your decision, youare our guests. We hope that you will be our

are our guests. We hope that you will be ourallies also."

"I think you can count us as allies right now,"Wilson said warmly.

Gormon said gravely, "That is good to hear.But still you will want to rest and to discuss thematter."

It was in effect a dismissal, though Gormonmade it a courteous one by walking with themto the door. He said,

"There are many things we have to tell you yet,but they can wait a little. You are the firstvisitors we have ever had and every man andwoman among us welcomes your coming."

The words reminded Hammond of something,of a puzzling taunt that Thayn Marden hadflung at Mar Kann, and he asked,

"Men and women are all I've seen here-don'tyou have any children?"

Gormon turned swiftly and there was a suddenleaping blaze in his eyes. Hammond felt that

leaping blaze in his eyes. Hammond felt thatlook like a blow, but almost instantly it wasgone, the man answered pleasantly, "Ourchildren do not live here but apart from us, forreasons of safety you will understand later."

He touched a plate and the door slid open.Outside it stood one of the Mechs. They hadalready learned that these things were merelycleverly designed, nonmetallic robots actuatedby chemical energy. There was nothing manlikeabout their shapes. This one was like the othersHammond had seen, a heavy black plastic cubefour feet square, with jointed plastic armsfurnished with pincer-hands for simplemanipulation, the whole cube mounted onsmall wheels for movement. It hadphotoelectric lenses for purposes ofrudimentary vision, and to provide depth-perception there were two of these set severalinches apart. They gave the thing a goggling,glassy-eyed stare Hammond disliked. "Conductthese people to Corridor Four-Two-Nine," saidGormon.

The Mech spoke metallically from a smallgrating in its side. "Please follow me."

grating in its side. "Please follow me."

It turned and rolled smoothly away. "It will takeyou back to your quarters," German said. "Weshall confer again when you've rested."

The Mech rolled down a wide corridor, turnedinto another, and then turned again into amoving, ascending ramp. Each time it changeddirection it repeated, "Please follow me."

They came up into a corridor with open doorsalong it. The Mech stopped and spoke again.

"Your quarters. A nutrition-dispensary button isbeside each door. The red button next to it willsummon one of us."

The thing rolled back out of the corridor.Hammond followed Wilson and the others downthe hall to the biggest room. Tammas, standingoutside a closed door, greeted them as theypassed.

"Any trouble?" Wilson asked.

The little Mizarian shook his head. "Not a bit.She hasn't said a word."

She hasn't said a word."

Hammond wondered. Was Thayn still under theinfluence of post-hypnotic command? He hadnot seen her on their arrival, Wilson had beencareful to arrange that she and Hammond hadmade the trip in different fliers. He found itoppressive to think of her still staring blankly aswhen he had seen her last.

They went into the big common room of thesuite, where the other Hoomen men andwomen awaited them. Iva ran anxiously to herfather.

"Well?"

Jon Wilson looked around the anxious faces."Everything is fine. These people here want tobe our friends. They're as anxious as we are toleave this world and take the secret of life tothe whole galaxy. The Vramen will try toprevent that, but we'll be allies together againstthe Vramen."

He added, after a moment, "They're so farbeyond us in scientific ability that they wouldn't

need us at all but for two things: they badlyneed the atomics and metals we saved out ofthe ship, and they want to learn more aboutthe outer galaxy from us. I think we're lucky."

"I wonder," said Hammond, "just how lucky weare. These Third Men speak with contempt ofthe Vramen. How do they really feel towardus?"

Rab Quobba nodded uneasily. "The way theylook at us gives me the creeps, somehow."

Wilson said angrily, "We've had the luck to findstrong allies and you start finding fault withthem. Maybe they don't think so much of usHoomen. What of it? What matters is that withtheir help we can give undying life to allHoomen."

Thol Orr had been listening silently, but now hespoke. "It will be a difficult task to reproducethe rays of the star artificially, to use allthrough the galaxy, but I believe it can be donein time."

Wilson nodded enthusiastically. "And the long

Wilson nodded enthusiastically. "And the longlife that the Vramen have always arrogated tothemselves alone will belong to everyone."

"I am thinking." said Thol Orr slowly, "that itmight be wise to study the effects of thisradiation very carefully before using it on awide scale-in fact, before we ourselves receivea definitive accumulation of it."

"What do you mean?" Wilson demanded. "Doyou doubt that the radiation will have the effectthey say?"

"I believe it will make us indefinitely longevous,just as they said," answered Thol Orr. "Butradiation can have other effects too. I wasstruck by what Hammond said about therebeing no children here."

It took a moment for the implication to sink in.When it did there was a sudden gasp of horrorfrom one of the women.

"Do you mean that the radiation could make ussterile?" exclaimed Lund.

"It could," Thol Orr said. "Radiation of those

"It could," Thol Orr said. "Radiation of thosefrequencies can have the most powerful effecton the genes."

"It's nonsense," said Wilson angrily.

"I wonder," muttered Quobba. "Nobody's everheard of the Vramen having any children."

For a moment Hammond shockedly thought ofthe Tree of Life, and why the sons of men hadbeen forbidden to eat of it. But then he thoughtof something else.

"No," he said to Thol Orr. "I don't believe if sso. Thayn spoke to Mar Kann of the children ofthe Third Men as though they actually existed."

"Furthermore," put in Wilson, "if sterility wentwith the secret of life the Vramen wouldcertainly have told the whole galaxy so. Thatwould have quieted down the Hooman demandfor the secret."

The Algolian scientist nodded thoughtfully. "Ihadn't thought of that. It does seem thatsterility can't be it, though I feel sure theremust be some powerful genetic effect from

must be some powerful genetic effect fromsuch radiation."

The talk went on, around and around in anendless circle of hope, fear and worry untilHammond's head spun with it. He was tired ofthis gloomy world that they had risked so muchto reach. He was tired of the endlessspeculation on what the Vramen would do andwhat the Third Men wanted. He was tired,period.

He went along the corridor to one of theaustere little sleeping-chambers. It would notbe dark for hours but he needed sleep. Hestretched out on the plastic cot and sleptheavily, until he dreamed that enormous six-fingered hands were reaching for him, graspinghim. He awoke with a snort of repulsion andfound that it was night, that the room was halfdark, and that Iva Wilson was shaking him.

"What the devil-" he began, and then saw thewhite, strained look on her face. He sprang up."What's the matter, Iva?"

"I wanted to talk to you," she said. "I'm

"I wanted to talk to you," she said. "I'mworried, afraid, and I can't talk to father anymore. He's been so obsessed for years withthis secret of life that now he won't even listento me."

Hammond drew her toward the open window.Out there in the night below them the city ofthe Third Men was illumined by a bluish,sourceless light that added a final touch of theoppressive to the black, massive buildings.From one big building far across the city camea blaze of white radiance that leaped and fell,and a distant, hammering clangor. It was asound that Hammond had not heard herebefore and it rolled and echoed over the darkcity lying quiet and still under the nebula sky.

Iva shivered. "I wish we had never come here.I do not like this place, and the eyes of thesepeople horrify me."

"I agree," said Hammond. "They may lookhuman, but they're not."

Iva turned to him, and in the half-light her softface was pale and earnest.

"Will you tell me the truth about something,Kirk?"

"Of course. What?"

"Do you love Thayn Marden?"

Hammond felt exasperation. "For the Lord'ssake, are you going to start that again?" hesaid impatiently. "I've explained over and overthat that probe-record was a million miles offthe truth-"

Iva nodded. "You have, but you have notconvinced me, any more than Thayn herselfcan conceal from me that she loves you."

"Thayn in love with me?" he exclaimed. "Why,Iva, that's crazy. She hates me, despises me-"

"She loves you, I am certain of it," Iva said. "Iwatched her look at you, in the ship. And itmust be a very great love indeed that canmake her forget that she is a Vramen and youa Hooman."

Hammond felt overwhelmed, stunned. And out

Hammond felt overwhelmed, stunned. And outof his mental chaos rose the conviction, thecertainty. He had fought it down all along. Hehad crowded it into his subconscious where onlythe encephaloprobe and Iva's keen eyes hadbeen able to see it. He had deceived evenhimself by constant reiterations. But it was thetruth. He had loved Thayn from their firstmeeting. He knew it now, and the knowledgeof it would stay with him while he lived.

Iva seemed to read his catastrophic self-revelation in his face. She said, "I was surethat it was so. And since it is, there issomething I must tell you."

"What?"

"This, Kirk. While you slept my father has madefinal, formal alliance with the Third Men. Heturned over all the machines and metal wesaved, and they were taken to that building."

And she nodded her dark head toward thedistant building from which came the rising andfalling radiance and the thunderoushammering.

hammering.

Hammond felt startled, then angry. But beforehe could say anything, Iva added,

"The Third Men also wanted Thayn. They said itwas vitally necessary to question her. My fatherturned her over to them hours ago."

Chapter 17

For a moment it seemed to Hammond that hecould not breathe, that the words just spokentied all his nerves into a freezing knot. All of hisdread and dislike of the unhuman Third Menfocused into an agonized fear for Thayn. Thena revulsion of rage came to him and hereached and grasped Iva's shoulders roughly.

"Wilson had no right to do that!" he said. "I wasthe one responsible for the capture of that shipand of Thayn-yet without a word to me, he letsthem have her."

Iva hung her head. "He knew you would objectso he would not let you be awakened." Thenshe added defensively, "But even though he'sobsessed with the secret, he's not a cruel man.

obsessed with the secret, he's not a cruel man.He made them promise they would not harmher either bodily or mentally."

"And a lot a promise would mean to thosebastards," Hammond said savagely. He felt ananger and a hatred he had never felt before.The shattering realization of how he really feltfor Thayn, followed so swiftly by awareness ofher position of deadly peril, left him wild andshaken.

"Please, Kirk," whispered Iva. There were tearsin her eyes and he became conscious of thefurious strength with which he held her.

"I'm sorry, Iva," he said, releasing her. "It's notyour fault. And you did come and tell me aboutit."

"My father and Gurth would call me a traitor fordoing it," she said. "I don't love the Vramen.But I'm far more afraid of these strange ThirdMen. I can't help thinking that Thayn may havetold the truth when she warned of terribledanger from these people."

Hammond tried to think. He had never felt

Hammond tried to think. He had never feltmore alone and helpless yet he was utterlyresolved to go to Thayn no matter who stood inthe way.

"Do you know where she is?" he asked.

"Father said he turned her over to them in thesame room where you talked this morning."Iva said. "I don't know where that is."

"I do." Hammond said. He made up his mindswiftly. He first made sure the shocker was stillin his pocket. Then he asked, "The others aresleeping?"

Iva nodded. "I waited until they were so I couldcome and tell you."

"Then wait here, till I see whether I can getdown to that room." he said. "If anyoneawakes, don't tell them I've gone."

He went out into the corridor and passed thesilent rooms in which the other Hoomen slept.He went around the corner of the nextintersecting corridor, following the way theyhad come.

had come.

A Mech confronted him in the middle of thehallway. The square machine goggled at himwith its staring lenses, and spoke in its tonelessmetallic voice.

"What are your wishes? If you desire to goanywhere, I am programmed to summon themasters."

Hammond stood, and the thing repeated thesame words. When it started a third repetition,he turned and went back to the suite and roomhe had just left.

"We're practically prisoners," he told Iva."They've got Mechs posted to watch us."

The anxiety in her pale face deepened. "Thenthese Third Men don't really trust us at all? Idon't like it."

"I wish to Heaven we'd never come here." hemuttered, "But I've got to get down theresomehow."

He went to the window. The city Vonn

He went to the window. The city Vonnslumbered with its strange blue illuminationundimmed. Few were the sounds that camefrom its streets, but from far came thehammering of the radiant forge. Over it allarched the incredibly splendid glow of thenebula sky, dripping a soft radiance down uponthis world at the heart of the mighty Trifid.

The great building in which they were seemedquiet. He could make out one or two shadowyfigures moving in the paved court where theplastic fliers were kept, but that was all. Heturned back to Iva and said quickly,

"I'm going down the wall. Help me fix a rope."

They tore strips from the cover on the pad ofthe cot. These were soon twisted together intoa rude but serviceable rope. Hammond tied itto the cot-frame, tested its strength, and thendropped it out of the window and clamberedover the sill. Iva leaned out and looked down athim, her face pale in the nebula glow, as heslid down the smooth black cement wall. Hereached the ground and crouched for amoment at the base of the wall, holding the

moment at the base of the wall, holding theshocker ready in his hand and looking andlistening. There was nothing, and after amoment he crept along the wall until he cameto a door.

He opened it, peered in, then whipped insidequickly. He was in a softly lighted passagesomewhere in the rear of the building. He triedto orient himself. If his somewhat hazymemories were right, the room in which theyhad held council with the Third Men that daywas somewhere toward his right, in the part ofthe building near the court of the fliers.

Hammond started in that direction along thecorridor. There was a cross-corridor a little wayahead, and he reconnoitered it carefully beforerunning across it. Then as he started forwardagain, he heard voices from ahead, comingtoward him.

Hammond poised, in an agony of indecision asto whether he should go boldly ahead and usethe shocker or try to hide. One shout of alarmmight be fatal and he chose the latteralternative. Running silently back to the cross-

alternative. Running silently back to the cross-corridor he turned into it and hurried along ituntil he found a door that would open. Hedodged into a dark, silent office. Crouchedinside its doorway, he heard the murmur of thevoices louder, and peered out and saw two ofthe tall Third Men across the corridor at theintersection. He heard their voices clearly for amoment.

"This is a bad night for the Vramen." one said,in high good humor.

"And the Fourth Men," said the other grimly.

They went on and their voices faded butHammond remained for a moment, startled bythe words. Who were the Fourth Men, hewondered? Was there still another race onAlthar he hadn't heard about?

It was no time for speculation. He hurried tothe intersection and went on again along theway from which the two had come.

"If I just don't meet any Mechs-." he thought,sweating. He had an extreme apprehension ofthe wheeled robots, that could move so silently.

the wheeled robots, that could move so silently.

A feeling of despair came to Hammond as heworked on through the hallways of the sleepingbuilding. He was not used to this sort of thing,he had never in his life tried to steal through aplace in this furtive fashion. If only he couldremember the way more clearly!

He heard a low, steady sound from ahead ashe went on. He went more slowly, tensed upfor anything. He saw a flicker of movementdown the corridor he followed. A moment later,he felt ashamed of his own scariness. Themovement was that of a moving ramp and thesteady whirring sound came from it. Withsudden hope, Hammond recognized this as theramp up which the Mech had led them earlierin the day. If that was so, he knew the waynow.

Yes. It was the way. In a minute he stood infront of the closed door of the room in whichthey had held council with the Third Men. Hisear against the door, Hammond listened.

Nothing.

Nothing.

He touched the plate beside the door and it slidopen.

The table and chairs were there, but no onenow was there except at the end of the tableThayn Marden sat fettered in a chair. She wasfacing him, and her face was no longer dull anddazed, but it had a haggard, infinitely wearyexpression. Then her blue eyes opened wide asshe saw Hammond come toward her.

"Behind you!" she cried.

He felt a breath of movement and spun aroundfast. One of the Mechs was rolling toward himfrom a corner of the room.

"No intruders are allowed here." said thehateful toneless voice. "I am programmed forlethal action after this warning. Withdraw."

Hammond leveled the shocker and pressed itsstud. He had a wild hope that the electriccharge might knock out the robot's circuits.

It didn't. Without repeating its warning, the

It didn't. Without repeating its warning, theMech rolled swiftly toward him and its jointedcrab-like arms flashed out to grasp him.

"On top of it, Kirk! Get on top of it!" criedThayn.

Hammond had leaped to avoid the grasp of thepowerful arms, but the Mech turned moreswiftly than he and rolled toward him again.

Desperately, he slipped sidewise and thenleaped up onto the flat square top of the Mech.Instantly the boxy robot began wheelingaround the room with incredible swiftness,turning this way and that so suddenly thatHammond had to cling to avoid being thrownoff. He thought at first it was consciously tryingto throw him off, but then discovered that itwas swiftly searching the room, over and overagain. It was but a machine and when he wason top of it, it could not perceive him. Thayn'squick brain had glimpsed the one vulnerabilityof the thing.

Hammond, crouching on top of it, reacheddown with the shocker tube and smashed hard

at one of the lenses in its front. The lenscracked and shivered. It was horribly likegouging out the eye of a living thing. He set histeeth and hammered at the other lens until ittoo broke. At once, as he had hoped, asafeguard relay came into play somewhere inthe Mech and it stopped and was motionless.

Breathing hard, he went over to Thayn. Herwide blue eyes looked up at him and her faceseemed white and strange.

"Have they hurt you?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, but I've been underhypnosis for hours while they questioned me."A flash of agony crossed her face. "They'venever had a Vramen prisoner before andthey've learned much from me-too much!"

He knelt down and examined the fetters thatbound her wrists to the arms of the chair. Theyhad no locks but consisted of spiral strips ofvery stiff plastic that wound around the wristand chair-arm and held them tightly together.Hammond found them harder to uncoil than astiff steel spring would have been.

stiff steel spring would have been.

Thayn said rapidly, "Kirk, I have to tell you this.If you free me I must try to get to my peoplein Sharanna and warn them what the ThirdMen plan."

He got one plastic spiral off, and started workon the other. He asked, without looking up,

"What do they plan?"

"Attack on Sharanna! They've tried it manytimes before but now, with the weapons theycan forge out of the materials you Hoomenbrought, they may succeed. Believe me,they're only using you; they regard you asanimals."

"I believe that, all right," he muttered,struggling with the coiled plastic.

"They must not get out into the galaxy, Kirk!It's what we've always feared. And they'll do it,if they can smash us and-"

She stopped, but he remembered what he hadoverheard, and as he tugged hard at the

overheard, and as he tugged hard at thesecond strip of plastic he asked, "Who are theFourth Men, Thayn?"

She seemed startled by the question. "Howcould you-They're another race here on Althar.There's no time to explain now-those whoquestioned me only went to report, and theywill return!"

He got the second strip of plastic off. Butbefore Thayn could rise he grasped her wrists,and looked up into her face.

"You tricked me once, Thayn. Is this story ofyours another trick?"

Her brilliant eyes looked down into his eyes."No."

"You know why I came after you, don't you?"

She whispered, "Don't say it."

"Why not say it? I'm a fool. I'm fool enough tosay I love you and to hope that you love me."

Her lips quivered. "I do, but-"

Her lips quivered. "I do, but-"

He waited for no more. He kissed her, and herlips answered his with an almost desperatepassion. And then her head drew back.

"It is hopeless! We Vramen cannot really loveanyone. I thought I had forgotten all suchemotions."

"Why is it hopeless, Thayn?" he demandedpassionately. "What's to keep us apart?"

"A gulf that is wider than space and deeperthan time," she said, her eyes wet with tears.She tore away from him and rose to her feet.

Hammond's mind was a swirl of emotion. Heknew the extreme and immediate danger inwhich they stood, and every word that Thaynhad said reinforced his impression of unknownmenace brooding on this world of endless life.And yet all he could think of was that he loveda woman who was not quite human with all hisheart and that she returned his love.

Thayn's urgent voice recalled him. "We haveonly one chance of escape and that is to seize

only one chance of escape and that is to seizea flier. I can operate one-we've captured morethan one of them in the past."

Hammond, trying hard to think clearly, hungback. "I can't leave my friends, Thayn."

"Will you help them by staying here to be killedby the Third Men? The only way you can helpthem now is by getting warning to Sharanna."

He still stood irresolute. "I betrayed them oncefor your sake."

She came and looked searchingly into his face."Do you think I am lying to you now?"

He looked at her for an instant, and it wasenough. In that moment something quiet andirrevocable happened inside his mind andheart. Nothing in the world would ever again bequite so important to him as was the womanwho stood before him.

He said, "No. No more doubts. Let's go."

The supernal sky cast its soft light on themwhen they slipped silently out of the great

when they slipped silently out of the greatbuilding. They had met no one in the shortcorridor they had traversed, but Hammondthought that if those who had questioned Thaynreturned soon, time was short. They paused,looking around, and then ran silently towardthe wide paved court on which were parked thesleek plastic fliers.

No one moved among the machines.Hammond flung a glance backward, where thestark black mass of the building hung againstthe glowing sky, but saw no one behind them.They reached the nearest flier and Thayn wasalready climbing lithely into its cabin when arasping and familiar metallic voice spoke frombehind Hammond.

"Show authorization, please."

Hammond turned sharply and faced the box-like Mech and its glittering lenses. It spokeagain.

"Show authorization, please. I am programmedto give alarm after this request."

From inside the cabin of the flier Thayn said

From inside the cabin of the flier Thayn saidrapidly,

"Stand clear of the wing."

Hammond and the Mech were just in front ofthe thick, stubby wing of the flier. He thoughthe knew what Thayn meant and he quicklystepped clear.

The Mech started to follow but at the samemoment there was a whistling blast from thetail of the flier and it shot forward several feet.The wing hit the Mech and knocked it away. Itrolled wildly out of control, banged into thenext parked flier, and canted over on one side.But it was only damaged, not disabled. Withmindless mechanical fidelity, it gave utteranceto a shrieking alarm siren.

The flier had stopped after that brief leapforward. Hammond scrambled up into thecabin.

"Hang on!" said Thayn, from the control-seat.

Vertical jets whistled loudly underneath thebelly of the craft, and it screeched upward into

belly of the craft, and it screeched upward intothe night. As Hammond clambered unsteadilytoward the seat beside Thayn, her handsmoved and the flier went out of vertical intohorizontal flight. Rocking and dipping, it rushedheadlong across the black roofs of Vonn.Almost at once it was out from over the cityand hurtling at rising speed over the plain. Andthen ahead of them the moss-forests showedas an endless stretch of dark clumps under theglowing sky.

"They'll follow," said Thayn. "Keep lookingback."

Hammond did so, and after a while hedescribed a swarm of shining specks in the skyfar behind them. They rushed on and on, theirflier attaining a speed that made its plasticwalls hot with friction. They were flying overthe moss-forests at such low altitude that theirspeed seemed dizzying. Yet as time passed thepursuing fliers drew ever closer.

"They know the operation of these craft betterthan I do and must have radar locked onto usby now," said Thayn.

by now," said Thayn.

Hammond looked at her, her clear profile tensebut fearless in the hooded glow of theinstrument-panel, her small hands quicklyshifting the controls. He forgot imminent perilin a feeling of immense pride. She might notbe an entirely human woman but she wasmore than any woman he had ever seen, andhe had won her for his own.

She flashed him a quick glance. "We can't quitereach Sharanna, they'll get within range of usand use their weapons before we do. We'veonly one chance."

Hammond did not understand, and said so.

She was peering tensely ahead. "Black Lakeshould not be far ahead. If we can make thembelieve they've destroyed us-"

The softly lighted forest of great moss-clumpscontinued to unreel beneath them withappalling speed. Then a little way ahead a glintof gleaming water broke the weird forest.

"There it is!" said Thayn. "Open the cabin door

"There it is!" said Thayn. "Open the cabin doorand wait beside it till I get the autopilot on."

He did that, hanging to the edge of the opendoor with the wind screaming at him and tryingto tear him loose. Then their speed decreasedsharply and the flier sank lower, now only afew yards above the loftiest mosses.

"Take my hand and jump when I do!" Thaynsaid in his ear.

It seemed startlingly suicidal to Hammond buthis pride and trust were so great that he madeno objection. He gripped her small hand.

"Now!" she exclaimed, and threw herself out ofthe door with him.

Chapter 18

Hammond expected a violent shock when theyhit the ground, but they did not hit it. Instead,he and Thayn plunged from the slow-movingflier into a big, soft, yielding mass only a fewyards below. It was one of the great moss-clumps. Thayn had accurately estimated theexact moment of jumping so as to land in it.

exact moment of jumping so as to land in it.

As they rolled in the soft moss, the empty flierwas winging on out over the dark waters of thelake. A moment later the pursuing fliers of theThird Men whistled by overhead. At their fargreater speed they overtook the unoccupiedmachine out over the lake. There was no visibleor audible evidence of weapons being used, butsuddenly the empty flier was smashed into awreck of broken plastic. It plummeted downand disappeared with a splash into the darkwater.

"They will think we are still in it," Thaynmurmured, crouching down with Hammond inthe moss. "Unless they suspect the trick."

For some time the fliers of the Third Mencircled over the spot where the wreckage hadsunk. Then, as though those in them weresatisfied no one had survived the wreck, thefliers turned and raced whistling back in thedirection of Vonn.

"We've escaped them." Thayn said with relief.Then, in the sky-glow, he saw her face fall.

Then, in the sky-glow, he saw her face fall."But we're still a long way from Sharanna byfoot, and we have no other way of travel."

He helped her climb down from the big clump.When they reached the ground, Thayn startedwithout hesitation.

"We must skirt the lake and then strike straightnorth for the mountains," she said. "Sharannais high in them."

It was weird, walking through the nightedmoss-forests of Althar. The canopy of thenebula overhead cast its almost shadowlesslight down upon the silent, solemn mosses.Black Lake lapped and sucked gently along theshore they followed, and that was the onlysound. There was no sign whatever of animalor bird life.

"Time is short, and we're many hours travelfrom Sharanna," said Thayn, quickening herstride.

"Even if the Third Men are preparing a weaponfrom the materials we brought, surely it'll takethem some time," Hammond said.

them some time," Hammond said.

She shook her head. "You don't comprehendtheir intellectual and scientific power. And whilethere are only a comparatively few Vramen inSharanna to guard our base, the Third Men aremany. They've waited long for a chance tostrike at the Vramen-yes, and at their ownchildren too."

Hammond felt puzzled. "You speak as thoughthey were enemies of their children. Where arethese children, anyway?"

Thayn looked at him, her face somber in theglow. "You were asking about the Fourth Men. Iwill tell you who they are. They are the childrenof the Third Men."

He stopped, astounded. "But why would theybe called that? And why would they-" He tookher hand, looking into her face. "I've had afeeling that there's some terrible mystery aboutthis world. What is it, Thayn? Surely I have aright now to know."

"Yes." she said. "You have the right." Yet it

"Yes." she said. "You have the right." Yet itseemed that for a moment she could not bringherself to speak. When she did, it was aquestion. "What did the Third Men tell you oftheir origin?"

He shrugged. "Not much. They said they wereborn on this world."

"So they were," she said. "Here they wereborn, many centuries ago. And their parentswere the Vramen."

The enormity of the statement so stunnedHammond that it was moments before he couldfind his voice. And in those moments Thaynlooked at him with the shadow of old tragedystrong on her white face.

"Those unhuman Third Men, the children of theVramen!" he said finally. "Thayn, it'simpossible."

"I wish it had been," she said. "But it is true.That is why they have their name. The Hoomenare the First Men, the first human species. WeVramen are the Second Men. The children ofthe Vramen, being a genetically different

the Vramen, being a genetically differentspecies, are the Third Men. And their children,genetically different from them in turn, are theFourth Men."

She took his hand and urged him forward. "Wemust keep moving, Kirk. It is urgent that wereach Sharanna as soon as we can."

But as they walked, Thayn talked. And inHammond's mind her words unfolded atremendous and terrible saga.

"It began some two thousand years ago whensome Hooman scientists, exploring the interiorof the Trifid, came first to this star and itsplanet. They landed here on Althar, to studythe strange radiation of the star. And afterweeks of exposure, the unique radiation gaveevery cell in their bodies such an enhancedpower of biological regeneration as to makethem imaging, almost undying. They becamethe first Vramen."

"Jon Wilson told me that, back in the caverns."Hammond said. "And how they brought otherpicked Hoomen here to make them into

picked Hoomen here to make them intoVramen too."

"Yes," said Thayn. "They had dreams ofchanging the whole Hooman race into Vramen,in time. They brought others here to Althar,they built Sharanna in the northern mountainsas a base. And then-"

And then, Hammond learned, there had comea terrible revelation. A biological trap had beensprung. Children had begun to be born to theVramen in Sharanna and they were not likeeither the Hoomen or the Vramen. They werea totally new human species, large in stature,with six-fingered hands, possessing brains andmental powers far beyond those of theirparents. They were the Third Men. And theVramen realized that though the rays of thestar gave indefinite life, they also powerfullyaffected the genes, the units of heredity.

The Vramen, knowing the power of intenseradiation to effect genetic changes, had beenprepared for minor changes. They had verycarefully ascertained that there would be nosuch changes of the genetic pattern as might

such changes of the genetic pattern as mightcause monstrous births. But they had not beenprepared for a great burst of evolutionarymutation in the human stock, one that createda new species from an old-as had happenedmany times in the past to other creatures.

Hammond gathered that the Vramen had atfirst hoped for great things from this godlikeand big-brained new generation. But as theThird Men grew up, that hope had faded. Forthese were so completely a new species thatthey had not the same psychological make-upas their parents, at all. The emotions of theirparents were quite alien to them. It was asthough the too-sudden burst of evolutionarymutation had given them vast mental andphysical development at the expense of whatmight be called spiritual development. For theThird Men, when they grew to maturity, werefound to cherish the rooted conviction that theywere destined to dominate everyone in thegalaxy, Vramen and Hoomen alike, as inferiorspecies of no great intelligence.

"So the Vramen came to a decision." Thaynsaid. "These children of theirs, this new and

said. "These children of theirs, this new andalien species, were a danger to all galacticpeoples and must not be allowed ever to leaveAlthar. The Vramen acted before it was toolate, against their sons and daughters-"

And, Hammond thought, what agonies ofnecessity and decision those few words mustcontain!

"-and forced them to leave Sharanna. TheThird Men, totally devoid of filial emotion, setup a new city, Vonn. There their intellectualand scientific powers increased swiftly as theyears passed. They would have come back thenand tried to conquer their parents had theirplans not been upset by a new turn of events."

The Third Men, it seemed, had intermarriedand children had been born to them. The samedeep power of the radiation that had causedthe first mutation now caused another one. Thechildren of the Third Men were not like theirparents at all. They were still another newhuman species-the Fourth Men. And the FourthMen had gone far down the road of change.They were closer to pure mind than any

They were closer to pure mind than anyhumans had ever been, overspecialized as tomind and with no capacity or inclination for anylife of action. They cared nothing for the strifebetween their parents and grandparents. Theydesired only a life of quiet thought.

Their parents, the Third Men, had for seen thattheir children would be a new species and haddeliberately planned to use its greater mentalpowers for their own purposes. But the FourthMen, hating action and ambition, would not letthemselves be so used. When they maturedthey deserted their parents and went off tofound a strange new city, and refused to havecontact with either Vramen or Third Men.

"And there." Thayn said, "they have lived eversince, engaged in the pure mental researchthat is their purpose in life."

Hammond felt overwhelmed by this epic historyof mutation running wild with the human stockon this world of unending life.

"And did the Fourth Men produce still anothermutation?" he asked.

Thayn shook her head. "No. The Fourth Menare sterile. They are the end-products ofhuman evolution on this world. But since, likeus Vramen and the Third Men, they haveindefinite life, they have lived on ever since."

Many things became clear to Hammond, asthough lit by a terrible lightning-flash. He knewnow why Mar Kann had mockingly said ofThayn, "I had hoped that she might besomeone very dear to me" and why Thayn hadbitterly answered, "I was spared that shame"He knew now why her reference to the"beloved children of the Third Men" had sostung Mar Kann.

Thayn added somberly, "And that is the reasonwhy we Vramen have kept the Hooman racesaway from Althar and the secret of life."

"But, good God, why didn't you just tell thewhole galaxy the truth?" exclaimed Hammond."People wouldn't want any part of the secret oflong life if they knew what went with it."

Thayn looked at him. "Wouldn't they?"

Thayn looked at him. "Wouldn't they?"

And when Hammond thought about it, hebecame less sure. The will to live was thedeepest, strongest human trait. Suppose youare an ordinary man or woman, and you learnthat there is a way by which you can liveindefinitely. You are told that there is a catch init, that your children will be different, biggerand brainier than you are. Would that stop youfrom grabbing at long life? He had to admit tohimself that it would not. And when you hadchildren who were of the new species, the ThirdMen, they too would want to live indefinitelyand would hunger for the rays of the star oflife, and so would come the next mutation andyou ended up with the Fourth Men, a sterilerace that would be the blind-alley end ofhumanity.

"You're right, Thayn," he said. "They'd comeflocking to this star like moths to a flame."

"And the flame would consume the races ofmen, in time," she said. "It would take verylong but finally there would be only the FourthMen, and after them, nothing."

After a moment she added, "There is one thingsure and that is that the Third Men are adanger not only to the Vramen but to theFourth Men. And out of that danger we maydraw salvation yet."

Thayn fell silent as they tramped on throughthe moss-forests under the softly glowing sky.And Hammond's mind was so feverishlyconsidering what he had heard, that he did noteven notice her silence. He thought again ofthe Tree of Life that had been forbidden tomen. It seemed to him that it was not bychance alone that this unique Star of Life hadcome to being inside the depths of the greatnebula where it was difficult to attain. But menhad attained it and to their sorrow. And nowhe, Kirk Hammond, had attained it also andthat brought up a question in his mind.

Hours passed before Thayn stopped and brokeher silence. "We had better rest. We still havea long way to go."

Hammond thought that very probably she wasless tired than he. He sat down with her by a

less tired than he. He sat down with her by agreat moss-clump and looked at her clearprofile. Then she turned suddenly and said,

"Do you feel differently toward me now thatyou know what a different species I belong to?"

He stared. "Is that what you've been broodingabout? Once and for all, Thayn-no!"

He took her by the shoulders but she drewback from him, and shook her head. Her facewas tragic.

"It is no good, Kirk. You are a Hooman and willwant a wife and children in the normal Hoomanway. And no Vramen can marry in that senseor have children. We renounce all that when weaccept the rays of the Star."

"But Thayn-", he began, but she rushed on.

"I made that renunciation two hundred yearsago, and I knew what it entailed. The Vramenwho invited me to become one of their castetold me that terrible history of what happenedtwo thousand years ago, just as I have told itto you. I understood the conditions, and I came

to you. I understood the conditions, and I camewith them to Althar and became a Vramen."

He put his hand over her lips. "Let me speak.You're forgetting something. You're forgettingthat I'll become a Vramen too, when I've livedunder the Star long enough."

"No." she whispered. "You must not. You wouldregret the decision in time and would come tohate me."

He did not answer that in words. He took herinto his arms and held her. Dark and solemnabove them towered the ungainly moss and allabout them was the silence of the weird forestand the soft radiance of the unearthly sky. Astrange place, and a strange fate that hadbrought these two together from across spaceand time to cling blindly to each other.

"Thayn, Thayn-"

Chapter 19

Sharanna of the Vramen rose before them latein the afternoon, when the Star of Life was lowin the western sky and its light was muted and

in the western sky and its light was muted anddarkened, striking the high peaks and thesingle great soaring pylon with shafts ofsomber purple and angry red and an uglygreen like spilled poison. Hammond shivered. Itseemed an ill omen to have his first look at theVramen city in this light, as though it were aplace already under the shadow of destruction.

Whether Thayn felt that way or not he couldnot tell. Her face was set and pale, a mask thathad not changed expression during all that longand bitter day. She was as remote from him asthough she were on another star, and herremoteness hurt him, and yet he sensed thather withdrawal was rather because she did lovehim than that she did not. Bewildered andunhappy, he had tried many times to breakthrough that barrier, but finally he had had togive up and walk beside her as silent as shewas.

Now the tall pylon of Sharanna was in front ofhim, and the air was heavy with clotted colorand the mountains veiled themselves in bloodymists, cold watchers around an arena wherethe victim waited for-what was the old phrase?-

the victim waited for-what was the old phrase?-the moment of truth.

Thayn walked faster, faster, leaving himbehind. Hammond forced himself to keep up.

There was a spaceport with perhaps half adozen ships parked on it and a series ofbuildings with a slim radar tower rising abovethem. The pylon was beyond the port in asplendid upland valley, its disciplined linescontrasting strongly with the rough wild rock ofthe surrounding peaks. There were no defensesthat Hammond could see, but Thayn spoke tohim suddenly for the first time in hours and putout her hand.

"Stay close by me. Now-step where I do-exactly, Kirk!"

She held his hand and he walked with her in acurious sort of ritual pattern, so many steps tothis point, so many more to that, and he knewthat she was leading him on the equivalent of amarked path through a mine-field. Probably itwas only his nervous imagination that madehim sense a quivering of energy in the air

him sense a quivering of energy in the airaround him. Thayn's hand was cold in his, andhe was ashamed because his own palmbecame slippery with sweat.

She released him at last. They were close tothe pylon now. Hammond wiped his handsfurtively on his jacket, and saw the Vramenmen coming toward them, running.

Things happened quickly after that. Hammondhad no part of them because this was Thayn'sworld and these were her people, but he feltthe impact of them none the less.

He found himself swept into the pylon almostbefore he knew it, while voices rose andechoed around him, hard and sharp in thequiet corridors, and then he was alone in anantechamber with two Vramen men whowatched him but did not speak. He sat, and feltthe whole mighty pylon-city stir and wakearound him, clangorous with bells andfootsteps. The ugly light of the setting sunmocked him through the window.

In the next room, beyond a white door, Thayn

In the next room, beyond a white door, Thaynwas talking to the leaders of the Vramen.

He did not know how long it was before thedoor opened again. Probably not long, becausetime had run out on the men of Sharanna, whohad always had so much of it before. Thaynstood there and beckoned him to come in.

Five men sat around a table. They seemedolder than any of the Vramen Hammond hadseen before-not in any sense aged, but moremature, as though the passing of manycenturies had worn the lines deeper in theirfaces. Their eyes were very wise, frighteninglyso, but there was more than wisdom in themnow. They looked at Hammond as men mightlook at a headstrong child who has set theirhouse on fire with forbidden matches.

"It is very hard," one of them said to him, "notto want to kill you." He rose suddenly andturned his back on Hammond as though heneeded to fight for self-control.

"I had to tell them how it all happened," Thaynsaid.

Hammond said nothing. There did not seem tobe any words to cover the enormity of hismistake, and yet he felt that it had been anhonest mistake and in some part due to theVramen themselves.

Apparently the man behind the desk had hadsome such thought himself, for he turnedaround again and said harshly,

"I suppose this was bound to happensometime. Probably it's a miracle it hasn'thappened sooner." He looked hard atHammond. "Thayn tells us we have you tothank for getting her away from the Third Men-otherwise we would have had no warning at all.Now there's another choice for you to make.Go ahead, Thayn."

Her voice sounded very tired when she spoke,and she would not look at him.

"I'll tell you this first of all, Kirk, so that therewon't be any mistake. Your life may depend onwhat you decide to do. We're getting our shipsoff the ground at once, to keep them out of the

off the ground at once, to keep them out of thehands of the Third Men. You can go with them.Or you can stay here and take your chances--"

"What will you do?" he asked, interrupting her.

"Stay. But you-"

"I'll stay too," he said.

She shook her head impatiently. "Hear me out,Kirk. We have decided to ask the Fourth Menfor help. That sounds easy, but it isn't. TheFourth Men do not allow trespassers. Anyone,Third Man or Vramen, who crosses theirboundary is subjected to a withering mentalassault that stuns him and drives him outbefore he even gets close to the city, let alonehas a chance to speak. I thought-"

She hesitated, and the Vramen at the tablelooked at her and she sighed and went on.

"I thought that you might be our one hope ofgaining entrance to their city. If you werewilling to try."

"I don't quite see-" said Hammond.

"I don't quite see-" said Hammond.

"Your background, Kirk. Your origin. The FourthMen are interested in every field of knowledge.They might be interested enough in you-inwhat they would see in your mind-to let youcome in."

One of the Vramen at the table said, "I don'tthink we Vramen, or you Hoomen either, cansurvive as free individuals without their help.The Third Men have the capacity now tooverrun us all. Keeping our ships out of theirhands is only a delaying action. Your friendshave provided them with metals and atomicpower. They will start element-buildingprocesses, and it won't be long before theyhave ships of their own. They'll be free of thegalaxy, and there's no power that can standagainst them.

"Except the Fourth Men." Hammond said.

"Except the Fourth Men. If they will. If we canpersuade them to, now, before the situationgets beyond them. They don't care whathappens to us or to the galaxy. They may justpossibly be made to care what happens to

possibly be made to care what happens tothem."

Through the high window Hammond could seethe spaceport lights flare on, white in thecurdled dusk. He felt an enormous weariness, ahomesickness that was like an actual physicalpain. He had shot everything he had in thefight to get out here and take away the secretof life from the Vramen. Victory had turnedinto a cruel nightmare and it was all fornothing, and he was where he had never hadany business to be. He was tired. He wanted togo home, to hide himself under the little sky ofEarth and forget that there was anythingbeyond it.

He turned suddenly and caught Thayn lookingat him, and she flushed and dropped her gaze.He smiled, because he knew that she had beenhoping against all reason that he would say Noand go out with the ships where he would besafe for at least a while, perhaps for the rest ofthis life, since even the Third Men would requiresome time to conquer a galaxy.

He said to the Vramen leader, "I don't really

He said to the Vramen leader, "I don't reallyhave much choice, do I? Does somebody gowith me, or do I try it alone?"

"I go with you," Thayn said, and stood besidehim.

The Vramen leader said, "No. The Fourth Menmight let two into their city, but certainly notmore, and the second one must obviously bemyself. They wouldn't treat with anyone else."

Thayn said furiously, "But Rymer, I thought-"

Rymer shook his head. "You know how theydetest emotion. I'm afraid they would find youand the Hooman in combination far tooupsetting."

This was so obviously a rebuke that Hammondbristled up and started to say something. ButThayn put a hand on his arm and said quietly,"Good luck, Kirk." She smiled and went outthrough the white door, walking erect with herhead high. Hammond called after her but shedid not turn nor pause, walking away from himacross the room that was filled with the lastblood-purple and blackish green of the sunset,

blood-purple and blackish green of the sunset,hideous light like the light of an evil dream. Herwhite flesh and her pale hair glimmered,became indistinct. It was as though she werevanishing like the stereo-image on the ship,and a sudden fear caught at Hammond. Heshouted her name and then he started to runafter her, but Rymer was in front of himbarring his way, and Rymer said, "We havevery little time."

In less than a quarter of an hour their flier washurtling eastward under the glow of the nebularsky. The dark mountains dropped behind them.For quite a while Hammond could see the lightsof the pylon, and the pillars of flame where theships took off one by one for the safety ofspace. Then even those were gone.

Rymer said, not unkindly, "You may as wellsleep while you can."

Hammond did not think he would ever sleepagain. He kept seeing Thayn moving away fromhim, vanishing in the ominous light, and therewas a coldness around his heart that would notgo away. And somewhere over the dark land

go away. And somewhere over the dark landthe blue lights burned and the forges clanged inthe city of Vonn, hammering out the sword thatwould destroy Sharanna. He wondered if theHoomen there understood yet what they haddone. He wondered if they were still alive tounderstand anything.

He wondered if any of them would be alive thistime tomorrow.

Rymer shook him and he knew that he hadslept, in spite of himself. The flier had landedon a barren plain, where there was not a rockor a tree to break the emptiness except whereone great bulk rose up ahead, a flat-toppedmesa dim in the night-shine of the nebular sky.

"We'll have to go the rest of the way on foot,"Rymer said. And added, "As far as we go."

Hammond supposed that Rymer was afraid ofcrashing the flier when the mental attack of theFourth Men came. He followed the Vramen outonto the plain and looked around, puzzled.

"I don't see any city."

"I don't see any city."

Rymer pointed to the dark bastion of the mesa."There. Inside the rock. A thousand tunnels, amillion holes. They live like ants in a hill thatcan't be broken, stepped on, or burned." Heshook his head, looking like any man preparingto do a necessary but hateful act. "Come on,"he said. "Forget Thayn if you can. Think aboutyour past, the world and the people you knewten thousand years ago. Think hard."

They started toward the mesa.

Hammond thought about Earth, the old Earththat was lost to him forever, the sounds andthe colors, faces, voices, streets, the rockets,the launching pad, life and death fading outtogether in the cold moon. And underneaththese thoughts he knew where he was andwhat he was doing, and he tasted fear in hismouth like liquid copper.

He was not at all prepared for what happened.It was a cloudburst, a hurricane, earthquake,the slapdown of a million G's in a crazy rocketgoing right out of the universe, and all of itsoundless, all of it in his head. He couldn't

soundless, all of it in his head. He couldn'tstand it. He couldn't fight it. He couldn't doanything but turn blindly, screaming, and runrun run-He had fallen and there was dirt in hismouth.

The flier sat all by itself on the plain far aheadof him. A dark twisted shape crouched someten feet away to his left and he saw that it wasRymer, folded over his own knees. Thestunning agony was gone from Hammond'sbrain but there was still something wrong,something strange in his head. He could feel apresence there, turning over his memories likethe pages of a book. He made an instinctiveeffort to get up and run again and found thathe was unable to move. Tremors of fear andrevulsion shook him. He was very cold.

Somebody said, "You are permitted to enterthe city."

Hammond got up. The presence had withdrawnfrom his mind, leaving only a thin thread ofitself behind. The thread pulled him gently butfirmly toward the mesa. He walked. Rymerwalked beside him. Hammond could hear his

walked beside him. Hammond could hear hisheavy breathing. Neither one of them spoke.Hammond's thoughts were strangely confused.He was not sure of anything.

The wall of the mesa rose above them, blackand impenetrable. There was no sign of anopening anywhere, but Hammond and Rymerwalked without hesitation to a certain place. Asmall portion of the rock opened quietly onpivots.

They entered the city of the Fourth Men.

Some of Hammond's daze left him. He blinkedin the soft light and looked around. He andRymer were in a very small room with opaqueglassy walls. It pressed hard against their feetand he knew it was a lift taking them up tohigher levels. He imagined that with the liftdrawn up there would be no way for an invaderto get beyond that single doorway even if hecould find it.

An impregnable ant-hill, Rymer had said. Butthings had changed. They were forging ahammer in Vonn that would smash this rock to

hammer in Vonn that would smash this rock toshards.

The lift stopped. A section of the wall slid backand they stepped out into a corridor that hadthe same gleaming glassy walls and the sameglow of indirect light, so that it seemed toplunge ahead of them in an endless shiningtube. It was far too small for his size. He benthis head and shuffled forward along the shiningfloor. Rymer came after him, his knucklesalmost brushing his feet.

Someone stood in the corridor ahead of them.

At first Hammond thought it was a child. It wasperhaps four feet tall, dressed in a single briefgarment. The body had the slim unformedbeauty of childhood, before sex has begun tomake any significant changes. The head waslarge in proportion to the body, not much morethan is normal in a child. The features were alittle cold in expression but very handsome.Only the eyes were completely alien, huge anddeep and of a strange pale color as thoughthey were accustomed to looking at thingsforever hidden from the eyes of man.

forever hidden from the eyes of man.

"Reverend grandfather." the small person saidto Rymer, with icy irony. "I am Clede." Thecreature looked at Hammond with considerableinterest. "This is the first Hooman I have seen.Its brain is rudimentary but does containinformation of a unique sort. It will take us onlya few moments to extract and record. In themeantime, reverend grandfather-"

"In the meantime." said Rymer harshly, "youhad better look inside my mind and see whythis Hooman was brought here."

"Oh," said Clede, "that has already been done.I was about to say that three of our numberwill listen to you while the Hooman is beingexamined. Please walk softly. Noise is verydistracting to thought."

Clede led the way along the corridor and intoother corridors, moving like thistledown.Hammond, feeling gross and clumsy, followedafter with Rymer. On either side of thecorridors now he saw that there were cells inthe rock at regular intervals, lined with theglassy glowing substance and closed by

glassy glowing substance and closed bytransparent panels. In each one of these child-sized cells a small figure sat in an attitude ofprofound thought.

"Since we have complete telepathiccommunication," Clede murmured, "we areable to link a number of our units together forgroup effort on larger problems. Most of us areso occupied. Only the few of us engaged inprivate research are free to deal with you, andeven so it is a painful interruption. We willmake it as brief as possible."

Rymer started to say something forceful andthen shut his jaws again with an audible snap.In spite of himself Hammond was amused. Thischief of the Vramen, so vastly superior tohimself, was humble and unsure in thepresence of this little pattering creature. Thenhe wondered what he was amused about. Itwas not funny at all. It was terrifying to realizethat his life and Thayn's and the lives ofcountless people both Vramen and Hooman,now and in the future, depended on the whimof these cool unhuman minds. He looked at thechildlike forms that sat with folded hands and

childlike forms that sat with folded hands andunseeing eyes in their monastic cells, and hehad a sudden conviction that they could not bemoved, that they would sit there until the worldfell literally crashing on their heads, too farwithdrawn from the realities of life to know orcare until it was too late.

"In here, reverend grandfather." said Clede,pointing to an open panel in the wall.Hammond saw a chamber beyond in whichthree of the Fourth Men sat waiting. Rymerlooked at Hammond, took a deep breath, andwent in. The panel closed.

"Come." said Clede. The small mouth curvedwith the distant shadow of a smile. "There'snothing to fear. You will not be harmed in anyway. Your thoughts are quite clear to me. Youwonder whether I am male or female. Youwonder how it is possible to live without sex,without love, without emotion. Open your mindto me and listen and perhaps I can make youunderstand a little, a very little, for your mindis unformed, so limited-"

The little figure drew away from him along the

The little figure drew away from him along theshining corridor and Hammond followed it. Itdanced like a will-o'-the-wisp in a glowing mistand now Hammond floated lightly after it, calmand unafraid. All fear, all feeling had left him,and he was only aware in the most detachedfashion when he came into a quite largecircular place where there were rows and rowsof cells rising in tiers, each one with a figure init dimly seen.

"This is our group memory," Clede whispered."Stand here."

Hammond stood, and the living memory bankof the Fourth Men emptied his brain ofknowledge like a cup. There was no pain. Hewas not aware when it was over. He was notaware of anything at all until he found himselfwalking down the corridor again and there wassomebody with him. Not Clede. Oh, yes.Rymer.

They got into the lift again and went down andout the door of pivoted stone, which closedbehind them and was not. They walked towardthe flier and did not speak. Hammond's mind

the flier and did not speak. Hammond's mindwas totally incurious, at peace.

It was not until they were almost back to theflier that that muffling influence suddenlyvanished. It was as though the Fourth Men hadkept them in that state so as not to bedisturbed by the noise of their emotions. Thetwo men looked at each other like sleeperssuddenly wakened, and then Hammond cried,

"What did they say? Will they help?"

Rymer's voice was edged and bitter withhelpless rage. "They said they would look intoit. They do not like to be disturbed. It annoysthem excessively. But because there is apossibility that the Third Men may nowconstitute a threat to their continued peace,they will look into it."

"When?" said Hammond desperately. "What willthey do?"

"Nothing," said Rymer, "unless they feel thatthe threat to them is actual. They do not like tobe disturbed." He looked at the mesa. "I hopethey are disturbed. I hope they-No. I'm getting

they are disturbed. I hope they-No. I'm gettingworse than a Hooman. I didn't know I had somuch childish emotion left after two thousandyears."

He turned and ran for the flier.

As they took off Hammond repeated, "Twothousand years?"

"Yes," said Rymer. "I was one of the first. Myblood runs in the Third Men, and through themin the Fourth. I was in at the beginning."

The flier hurtled westward and behind them theStar of Life rose up and it was day.

This time, on the way back, Hammond did notsleep. He sat hunched forward in the seat ofthe flier, straining his eyes for the first glimpseof Sharanna.

The way seemed very long. The Star of Lifeclimbed in many-colored splendor up the skyand the empty miles reeled back under theflier. And all the time Hammond's heartpounded heavy and slow and there was a cold

pounded heavy and slow and there was a coldsickness in him.

They came to Sharanna shortly before noon,and it was already too late.

Chapter 20

In the sky low above the mountains therepoised and whirled and slashed a colossalscimitar of light. The hand of a god might havewielded that stupendous sword of radiance butthere was no hand visible. There was only thegreat blade of destruction that slashed throughpeaks and sent them tumbling in avalanches ofbroken rock, that turned and came back andsliced again, cutting through all in its path. Evenin that first horrifying glimpse, Hammond knewthat its radiance must be a force somehowpotent to dissolve the subtle bonds betweenelectrons and sub-electrons and thus shatterthe lattice-work of particles and emptiness thatmatter really is.

Up from the hidden defenses all aroundSharanna struck the weapons of the Vramen,the savage, raving sheets and bolts of force,the leaping missiles that exploded in hellish

the leaping missiles that exploded in hellishflowers of flame. But the sword in the skydisdained them. Some remote-controlled flyingdevice at its heart might generate it but thatwas beyond the reach of Vramen weapons,shielded by the destructiveness it created. Noempty boast had been the promise of the ThirdMen that they could build a thing of terror whenthey had the materials! Out of long-cherishedplans of a superhuman science theyconstructed and sent this sword that washacking Sharanna to bits.

Riven in twain was the great pylon that hadbeen a city in itself, and it stood like a brokentombstone in its own wreckage. And down uponit again came the inexorable blade of radiance,cutting through the shattered building toquarter it, sweeping on in destruction.

"Make it stop, oh God, make it stop!" criedHammond. "Thayn-"

But it would not stop, it danced in the sky andexultantly flashed down again and again untilall the mountains were a broken wilderness ofstone around the broken stronghold of the

stone around the broken stronghold of theVramen. Then the sword of light faded swiftlyfrom the sky.

"Rymer," said Hammond. "Rymer!"

Rymer was sitting with his hand loose upon thecontrols of the flier and his face was a stonymask. He had seen the destruction ofSharanna, the end of his personal world andera, and he could not hear Hammond at all.

Hammond yelled in his ear, then cursed andbeat him with his fists and pointed away to thesouthward where a covey of black midges hadappeared.

"Land!" Hammond yelled. "Damn you, land-they stayed back in safety till now but nowthey're coming!"

Rymer turned a perfectly blank look upon him.Then he moved his hands on the controls. Hesent the flier down toward the broken stonewreckage of Sharanna. He handled the craftwith the stiff mechanical perfection of a robotpilot, and he brought them down smoothly ontothe rock in front of the shattered pylon.

the rock in front of the shattered pylon.

Hammond leaped out. Already the midges hadbecome big and black in the sky and they werebeginning to circle and drop, whistling likehawks. Hammond left Rymer standing besidethe flier white-lipped, and ran.

The air had a scorched smell. The ground waspartly fused. He passed a queer splotch andrealized that it was a puddle of melted steel.Wreckage lay everywhere, broken fragments ofstone and metal.

There were bodies, too.

None of them were Thayn. None, at least, thatwere still recognizable. He ran on, heading forthe pylon. He did not know why. She mighthave been anywhere on the plain, anywhereunder the terrible blade of that apocalypticsword. He sobbed as he ran. Behind him theblack fliers fell whistling out of the sky.

He went into the shattered pylon.

The doorway was broken, but inside there was

The doorway was broken, but inside there wasa hundred feet of the high corridor that wasundamaged. Amid the universal destruction itgave a curious illusion of peace and wholeness.

He saw Thayn.

She sat quite alone in that long and emptyplace, her back resting against the mass ofshattered, fallen stone and metal at its end. Itwas as though she had sat here waiting forhim, and when she saw him she smiled andsaid his name. She looked somehow like abroken doll and then he saw that her wholeside had been crushed in and that she kept itpressed against the broken stone.

"Kirk." she said, and he went down on hisknees beside her and took her in his arms.

"You must have help." he said. "I'll get helpsomewhere." Though where he would find it infallen Sharanna he did not know, and anyway itwas no use, no use at all, and he knew it. Onlythe unhuman vitality of the Vramen had kepther alive this long.

She held him close, close against her and the

She held him close, close against her and theperfume of her hair mingled with the smell ofburning.

"There's no help." she said. "Even the Vramendie sometime. I've lived a long time, but noneof it was really good until the end, until I metyou and loved like any Hooman woman-"

He could not say anything but her name,holding her as though he would keep the life inher with his hands, and all the time it wasrunning out of her with every breath.

"I wish I could know that you'll be safe." shewhispered.

"I'll be all right."

She said suddenly, "Kirk!"

Her face had changed, it was no longer theproud face of Thayn of the Vramen, it had ascared, shy, little-girl look and she clung hardto him. And then her hands fell away, and heheld her tightly and knew that he was holdingnothing at all.

He sat there, not moving. He heard thewhistling of many fliers landing and he knewthat Sharanna had indeed fallen, but Thaynwas dead and beside that the fall of empireswas nothing. He wished that he was dead too.He wished that he had stayed forever on his icythrone, staring blindly at the stars and neverwaking again at all. He sat there in theshattered pylon, until there came a sound sostrange that it roused him from his stupor.

The sound of laughter.

Hammond got slowly to his feet and walkeddown the hall and into the brilliance of the opalsun. He heard a man's voice shouting, and thenthere was much more laughter.

Out in a clear space amid the wreckage ofSharanna, Rymer stood and raised his voice incurses at the Third Men. He was a grotesque,gesticulating figure, all the dignity of his longliving fallen away from him, as he raved andraged.

And the Third Men laughed. There were very

many of them in wrecked Sharanna now, someof them alertly searching the debris, full of thebusiness of conquest, others rounding up thefew stunned Vramen who alone survived. But agroup of them stood here in the open facingRymer. They were tall and godlike, full ofpower, full of confidence. They had triumphed,and the highest note of their triumph was thescreaming, raging man before them, and theywere happy. They laughed.

They had killed Thayn.

Hammond, slowly and with heavy purpose,began to move out toward them. He might killone, only one-but that would be something.

Rymer stopped screaming and looked blanklytoward Hammond. The Third Men looked too,and Hammond saw their faces become hardand ruthless.

Then he realized that they were not looking athim at all. He turned.

From behind him, from beyond the shatteredpylon, four childlike figures were coming. They

pylon, four childlike figures were coming. Theywere Fourth Men, and he thought that one ofthem was Clede.

There was a silence, and the Third Mengathered and Clede and his three smallcompanions went toward them. How the fourhad come to Sharanna Hammond could notguess. They might have landed in a flier behindthe broken pylon. Or they might well, hethought, know the ways of teleportation.

The four little figures faced the godlike crowdof their parents, and Rymer stared and wassilent and Hammond watched from where hehad stopped. So at last all of the four humanspecies had come together on this world, andoverhead the Star of Life blazed with itspeacock fires in the sky and cared nothing forthe tragedy it had made.

Clede's voice was soft and bitter as he spoke tothe Third Men. "You are happy. You have filledAlthar with war and confusion, and you think itgood."

Holl Gorman spoke from among the Third Men.

"Our children are come to lesson us-listencarefully, all!" He laughed scornfully and thenhis eyes blazed. "Dreamers, fools besotted withtoo much thought, it is you who shall learnnow! We fathered you. Your brains were to befor our use, and now they shall be. You willserve us from now on in proper filial piety, orperish. Go back and tell your weakling peoplethat!"

"There is no need," murmured Clede. "Theminds of all are linked with ours at thismoment. And we are all agreed. You are ourfathers but you must not destroy us andyourselves, and all peace and thought onAlthar. We must save you from that-now!"

A shade of anxiety flashed into Holl Gorman'sface and he opened his mouth to shout, butbefore he could utter a sound it happened.

Hammond felt in his mind the explosion of amental force that seemed to rive his brain. Yeteven as he staggered and cried out, he feltthat it was only the fringes of that explosionthat reached him, that it was directedelsewhere. He shut his eyes and pressed his

elsewhere. He shut his eyes and pressed hishands against them. He knew-and this was aknowledge not born of his own mind-that it wasthe immeasurable massed mental power of allthe distant Fourth Men, channeled throughClede and his three companions, whose edgehe felt.

As swiftly as it had come that violent mentalexplosion faded. Hammond opened his eyesand blinked dazedly.

For nothing had happened.

Nothing? It seemed to him that there wassomething odd now about the Third Men.

They no longer stood defiant and lordly. Someof them smiled vacantly. Some of them satdown in the dust and played with little bits ofcharred destruction. Some wept, or stumbledabout whimpering like very small, lost babies.

"My God," said Rymer. "You-"

Clede turned on him and Rymer stopped asthough he had been struck in the face.

"What we have done is not for your sake!" saidClede in a bitter voice. "Remember that,reverend grandparents-not for you!"

There was a cold and terrible anger in Clede'sface and it was reflected in the eyes of hiscompanions, pale and strange. They looked atthe stumbling, creeping, infantile creatures whohad been the Third Men. Hammond looked atthem, and felt sick.

"We have not blasted our fathers' minds," saidClede. "We have only wiped them clean-of hateand hunger, of all hope and all memory. Theyare infants again-mentally they are as whenyou birthed them, but they are our chargesnow, and we will care for them and teach themand perhaps make better men out of themthan you did. But it was done for them and forus-not for your Vramen whose ambition forimmortality brought us all to this!"

Clede added, "You have done enough harmhere on Althar. We will have no Vramen orHoomen here. Recall the ships you sent forth,and leave in them. And come here no more."

and leave in them. And come here no more."

"But-" said Rymer.

Clede put out a small hand and touched thecheek of a Third Man who played baby-like inthe dust beside him. It was a gesture curiouslycompounded of tenderness and cruel mockery.He did not repeat his words, but he looked atRymer steadily.

Rymer took a step backward. "Very well," hesaid. "We'll go-"

Clede smiled. He looked up at the Star of Life,the peacock blaze of it beating on his face,catching in uncanny flashes in his eyes.

"It's an evil star," he murmured. "Men havefound it twice now, they will find it again.They'll hunt for it, or the legend of it, as longas its rays hold life. Well, I think we can end allthat. It should not be too hard for us to alter itsgravitational field so that it draws the nebuladust in upon itself, to smother it in burning dustso its rays no longer have that power. Then weshall have peace here."

He turned his back on the Vramen andstretched out his hands to the Third Man whosat beside him in the dust.

"Come," he said gently. "It is time to gohome."

After that, time stopped for Hammond. He satin the shadow of the broken pylon and lookedat nothing and there was a great weariness inhim. Ships landed, and Vramen came andspoke to him, and he would not answer. Timepassed and others came and spoke to him, inthe voices of Iva and Quobba and Thol Orr,voices shaken and wild telling how the FourthMen had come to Vonn and how the Third Menthere had been made like children and theHoomen had been sent to Sharanna.Hammond heard their voices and they werelike voices in a dream, and he saw through agray mist.

The mist lifted, finally. He was in a Vramen shipthat droned through space, and when helooked through the scanner he could see quiteclearly. He saw the Star.

clearly. He saw the Star.

It blazed in triumphant opal glory, pouring itsiridescence upon its little planet. He did notthink it would blaze long. He thought that ifmen ever came again they would find itdrowned in dust as Clede had promised, and sothe long fight between Vramen and Hoomanwas over. Men would no longer search forAlthar and Thayn would have the quiet ofeternity around her.

"Hammond-"

Quobba spoke beside him. He could see theothers, Iva looking earnestly toward him, JonWilson sitting sunken and sad amid the wreckof his long hopes. But of them only Quobbahad quite dared approach him.

"It's not the end of everything." he said."They'll take us back to Kuum, but the waythings turned out I think they'll soon let us go.You'll forget-"

"No," said Hammond.

Quobba shuffled. "Well, maybe not. But

Quobba shuffled. "Well, maybe not. Butremember, there's all space to roam, and it'llbe free now that the Vramen have nothingmore to hide. And you're a spaceman, one ofthe first of us all. That's something to hang to,Hammond."

"Is it?" asked Hammond. "Was it such a goodthing to conquer space? We thought it wouldbe, back in the Twentieth Century. But was it?"

He looked out into the blind light and darknessof the universe but there was no answer therefor his question. There would never be ananswer, for it was not a matter of good or ill.Man could not choose now, he had made hischoice long ago when as half-man he hadlooked up at the stars and coveted them. Hewould look farther yet with desire, upongalaxies and realms beyond present thinking,and would struggle for them, falling into manya cosmic trap like the one here, and alwaysstriving pitifully to snatch individual happinessbefore he died in that struggle.

It came to Hammond that he had had thehappiness which so many grasped for and

happiness which so many grasped for andmissed. He had had to come far across timeand space to find it and he had had it only foran hour, a day, but he had had it, and he hadthe memory of it, and of a sudden he wasstrangely content.