+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Transcriber's note: | | | | This story was published in _Amazing Stories_, February | | 1957. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that | | the U. S. Copyright on this publication was renewed. | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+

[Illustration: equation of doom

 His agony of soul at being unable to save Margot was far greater than physical torture. ]

 _They grounded Ramsey's ship on a hostile planet hoping he would starve to death, so the first thing he did was give most of his money away and lose the rest gambling. Then he picked a fight with the Chief of Police and joined forces with a half-naked dream-chick who was seemingly bent on self-destruction. The stakes were big--a planet or two--but it all added up to an----_

EQUATION OF DOOM

by

GERALD VANCE

"Your name ith Jathon Ramthey?" the Port Security Officer lispedpolitely. 

Jason Ramsey, who wore the uniform of Interstellar Transfer Service andwas the only Earthman in the Service here on Irwadi, smiled and said:"Take three guesses. You know darn well I'm Ramsey. " He was a big maneven by Earth standards, which meant he towered over the Irwadian'sgreen, scaly head. He was fair of skin and had hair the color of copper. It was rumored on Irwadi and elsewhere that he couldn't return to Earthbecause of some crime he had committed. 

"Alwayth the chip on the shoulder, " the Port Security Officer said. "Won't you Earthmen ever learn?" The splay-tongued reptile-humanoids ofIrwadi always spoke Interstellar _Coine_ with a pronounced lisp whichRamsey found annoying, especially since it went so well with theofficious and underhanded behavior for which the Irwadians were famousthe galaxy over. 

"Get to the point, " Ramsey said harshly. "I have a ship to take throughhyper-space. "

"No. You have no ship. "

"No? Then what's this?" His irritation mounting, Ramsey pulled out theInterstellar Transfer Service authorization form and showed it to theSecurity Officer. "A tip-sheet for the weightless races at FomalhautVI?"

The Security Officer said: "Ha, ha, ha. " He could not laugh; he merelyuttered the phonetic equivalent of laughter. On harsh Irwadi, laughterwould have been a cultural anomaly. "You make joketh. Well, nevertheleth, you have no ship. " He expanded his scaly green barrelchest and declaimed: "At 0400 hours thith morning, the government ofIrwadi hath planetarithed the Irwadi Tranthfer Thervith. "

 * * * * *

"Planetarized the Transfer Service!" gasped Ramsey in surprise. He knewthe Irwadians had been contemplating the move in theory for many years, but he also knew that transferring a starship from normal space throughhyper-space back to normal space again was a tremendously difficult andtechnical task. He doubted if half a dozen Irwadians had mastered it, yet the Irwadi branch of Interstellar Transfer Service was made up ofseventy-five hyper-space pilots of divers planetalities. 

"Ecthactly, " said the Security Officer, as amused as an Irwadian couldbe by the amazement in Ramsey's frank green eyes. "Tho if you willkindly thurrender your permit?"

"Let's see it in writing, huh?"

The Security Officer complied. Ramsey read the official document, scowled, and handed over his Irwadi pilot license. "What about the_Polaris_?" he wanted to know. The _Polaris_ was a Centaurian ship he'dbeen scheduled to take through hyper-space on the run from Irwadi toCentauri III. 

"Temporarily grounded, captain. Or should I thay, ecth-captain?"

"Temporarily my foot, " said Ramsey. "It'll be months before youIrwadians can get even a fraction of the ships into hyper. You must beout of your minds. "

"Our problem, captain. Not yourth. "

That was true enough. Ramsey shrugged. 

"Your problem, " the Security Officer went on blandly, "will be to find ameanth of thelf-thupport until you and all other ecthra-planetarieth canbe removed from Irwadi. We owe you ecthra-planetarieth nothing. Ethpectno charity from uth. "

Ramsey shrugged. Like all extra-planetaries on a bleak, friendless worldlike Irwadi, he'd regularly gambled away and drank away his monthlypaycheck in the interstellar settlement which the Irwadians hadestablished in the Old Quarter of Irwadi City. But last month he'dmanaged to come out even at the gaming tables, so he had a few hundredcredits to his name. That would be enough, he told himself, to tide himover until Interstellar Transfer Service came to the rescue of itsstranded pilots. 

Ramsey went up the gangway and got his gear from the _Polaris_. When hereturned down the gangway, the late afternoon wind was blowing acrossthe spacefield tarmac, a wet, bone-chilling wind which only thereptile-humanoid Irwadians didn't seem to mind. 

Ramsey fastened the toggles of his cold-weather cape, put his head downand hunched his shoulders, and walked into the teeth of the wind. He didnot look back at the _Polaris_, marooned indefinitely on Irwadi despiteanything the Centaurian owners or anyone else for that matter could doabout it. 

 * * * * *

The Irwadi Security Officer, whose name was Chind Ramar, walked up thegangway and ordered the ship's Centaurian first officer to assemble hiscrew and passengers. Chind Ramar allowed himself the rare luxury of afleeting smile. He could imagine this scene being duplicated on fiftyships here on his native planet today, fifty outworld ships which had nobusiness at all on Irwadi. Of course, Irwadi was an importantplanet-of-call in the Galactic Federation because the vital metaltitanium was found as abundantly in Irwadian soil as aluminum is foundin the soil of an Earth-style planet. Titanium, in alloy with steel andmanganese, was the only element which could withstand the tremendousheat generated in the drive-chambers of interstellar ships duringtransfer. In the future, Chind Ramar told himself with a kind of coldpride, only Irwadian pilots, piloting Irwadian ships throughhyper-space, would bring titanium to the waiting galaxy. At Irwadiprices. 

With great relish, Chind Ramar announced the facts of planetarizationand told the Centaurians and their passengers that they would bestranded for an indefinite period on Irwadi. Amazement, anger, bluster, debate, and finally resignation--the reactions were the expected ones, in the expected order. It was easy, Chind Ramar thought, with all butthe interstellar soldiers of fortune like Jason Ramsey. Ramsey, ofcourse, would need watching. As for these others.... 

One of the others, an Earthgirl whose beauty was entirely missed byChind Ramar, left the _Polaris_ in a hurry. She either had no luggage orleft her luggage aboard. Jason Ramsey, she thought. She had read ChindRamar's mind; a feat growing less rare although by no means common yetamong the offspring of those who had spent a great deal of timebombarded by cosmic radiation between the stars. She hurried through thechilling wind toward the Old Quarter of Irwadi City. Panic, she thought. You've got to avoid panic. If you panic, you're finished.... 

 * * * * *

"So that's about the size of it, " Ramsey finished. 

Stu Englander nodded. Like Ramsey he was a hyper-space pilot, butalthough he had an Earth-style name and had been born of Earth parents, he was not an Earthman. He had been born on Capella VII, and had spentmost of his life on that tropical planet. The result was not an uncommonone for outworlders who spent any amount of time on Irwadi: StuEnglander had a nagging bronchial condition which had kept him off thepilot-bridge for some months now. 

Englander nodded again, dourly. He was a short, very slender man a fewyears older than Ramsey, who was thirty-one. He said: "That ties it. AndI mean ties it, brother. You're looking at the brokest Capellan-earthmanwho ever got himself stuck on an outworld. "

"You mean it?"

"Dead broke, Jase. "

"What about Sally and the kids?"

Englander had an Arcturan-earthian wife and twin boys four years old. "Idon't know what about Sally and the kids, " he told Ramsey glumly. "Iguess I'll go over to the New Quarter and try to get some kind of ajob. "

"They wouldn't hire an outworlder to shine their shoes with his ownspit, Stu. They have got the planetarization bug, and they've got itbad. "

Sally Englander called from the kitchen of the small flat: "Will Jase bestaying for supper?"

Englander stared at Ramsey, who shook his head. "Not today, Sally, "Englander said, looking at Ramsey gratefully. 

"Listen, " Ramsey lied, "I've been lucky as all get out the last coupleof months. "

"You old pro!" grinned Englander. 

"So I've got a few hundred credits just burning a hole in my pocket, "Ramsey went on. "How's about taking them?"

"But I haven't the slightest idea when I could pay back. "

"I didn't say anything about paying me back. "

"I couldn't accept charity, Jase. "

"O. K. Pay me back when you get a chance. There are plenty of hyper-spacejobs waiting for us all over the galaxy, you know that. "

"Yeah, all we have to do is get off Irwadi and go after them. But theIrwadians are keeping us right here. "

"Sure, but it won't last. Not when the folks back in Capella and Deneband Sol System hear about it. "

"Six months, " said Englander bleakly. "It'll take at least that long. "

"Six months I can wait. What d'you say?"

Englander coughed wrackingly, his eyes watering. He got off the bed andshook Ramsey's hand solemnly. Ramsey gave him three hundred andseventy-five credits and said: "Just see you make that go a long waysupporting Sally and the kids. I don't want to see you dropping any ofit at the gaming tables. I'll knock your block off if I see you there. "

"I'll knock my own block off if I see me there. Jase, I don't know howto thank--"

"Don't is right. Forget it. "

"Do you have enough--"

"Me? Plenty. Don't worry about old Jase. " Ramsey went to the door. "Well, see you. "

Englander walked quickly to him and shook his hand again. On the wayout, Ramsey played for a moment or two with the twins, who were rollinga couple of toy spaceships marked hyper-one and hyper-two across thefloor and making anachronistic machine-gun noises with their lips. SallyEnglander, a plump, young-home-maker type, beamed at Ramsey from thekitchen. Then he went out into the gathering dusk. 

 * * * * *

As usual on Irwadi, and particularly with the coming of night, it wasbitterly cold. Sucker, Ramsey told himself. But he grinned. He felt goodabout what he'd done. With Stu sick, and with Sally and the kids, he'ddone the only thing he could do. He still had almost twenty-five creditsleft. Maybe he really would have a lucky night at the tables. Maybe ... Heck, he'd been down-and-out before. A fugitive from Earth didn't havemuch choice sometimes.... 

"Red sixteen, " the croupier said indifferently. He was a short, heavy-set Sirian with a shock of scarlet hair, albino skin, and redeyes. 

Ramsey watched his money being raked across the table. It wasn't hisnight, he told himself with a grim smile. He had only three creditsleft. If he risked them now, there wouldn't even be the temporaryphysical relief and release of a bottle of Irwadian brandy beforehitting the sack. 

Which was another thing, Ramsey thought. Hitting the sack. Ah yes, youfilthy outworlder capitalist, hitting the sack. You owe that fish-eyed, scale-skinned Irwadian landlady the rent money, so you'd better waituntil later, until much later, before sneaking back to your room. 

 * * * * *

He watched the gambling for another hour or so without risking his fewremaining credits. After a while a well-dressed Irwadian, drunk andobviously slumming here in the Old Quarter, made his way over to thetable. His body scales were a glossy dark green and he wore glittering, be-jeweled straps across his chest and an equally glittering, be-jeweledweapons belt. Aside from these, in the approved Irwadian fashion, he wasquite naked. An anthropologist friend had once told Ramsey that once theIrwadians had worn clothing, but since the coming in great number of theoutworlders they had stripped down, as though to prove how tough theywere in being able to withstand the freezing climate of their nativeworld. Actually, the Irwadian body-scales were superb insulation, whether from heat or from cold. 

"... Earthman watching me, " the Irwadian in the be-jeweled straps saidarrogantly, placing a fat roll of credits on the table. 

"I'm sorry, " Ramsey said. "Were you talking to me?"

"I thertainly wath, " lisped the Irwadian, his eyes blazing with drunkenhatred. "I thaid I won't have any Earthman thnooping over my thoulderwhile I gamble, not unleth he'th gambling too. "

"Better tell that to your Security Police, " Ramsey said coldly but notangrily. "I'm out of a job, so I don't have money to throw around. Goahead and tell me--" with a little smile--"you think it was my idea. "

The Irwadian looked up haughtily. Evidently he was looking for trouble, or could not hold his liquor, or both. The frenzy of planetarization, Ramsey knew from bitter experience on other worlds, made irrationalbehavior like this typical. He studied the drunken Irwadian carefully. In all the time he'd spent on Irwadi, he'd never been able to tell anative's age by his green, scale-skinned, fish-eyed poker-face. But theglossy green scales covering face and body told Ramsey, along with thesturdy muscles revealed by the lack of clothing, that the Irwadian wasin his prime, shorter than Ramsey by far, but wider across the shouldersand thicker through the barrel chest. 

"You outworlderth have been deprething the thandard of living on Irwadiever thince you came here, " the Irwadian said. "All you ever broughtwath poverty and your ditheath germth and more trouble than you couldhandle. I don't want your thtink near me. I'm trying to enjoy mythelf. Get out of here. "

 * * * * *

It was abruptly silent in the little gambling hall. Since theestablishment catered to outworlders and was full of them, the silence, Ramsey thought, should have been both ominous and in his favor. Helooked around. Outworlders, yes. But not another Earthman present. Hewondered if he was in for a fight. He shrugged, hardly caring. Maybe afight was just what he needed, the way he felt. 

"Get out of here, " the Irwadian repeated. "You thtink. "

Just then a Vegan girl, blue-skinned and fantastically wasp-waisted likeall her kind, drifted over to Ramsey. He'd seen her around. He thoughthe recognized her. Maybe he'd even danced with her in the unit-a-dancehalls reserved for humanoid outworlders. 

"Are you nuts?" she said, hissing the words through her teeth andgrabbing Ramsey's elbow. "Don't you know who that guy is?"

"No. Who?"

"He's Garr Symm, that's who. "

Ramsey smiled at her without mirth. "Do I bow down in awe or run fromhere screaming? I never heard of Garr Symm. "

"Oh you fool!" she whispered furiously. "Garr Symm is the brand newnumber one man of the Irwadi Security Police. Don't you read the'casts?"

Before Ramsey could answer or adjust to his surprise, the Irwadianrepeated:

"I'm telling you for the third time. Get out. "

Ostentatiously, Ramsey reached into his cloak-pocket for a single creditbill and tossed it on the table. 

"The denomination is not sufficient, sir, " the albino Sirian croupiersaid indifferently. Ramsey had known it was not. 

Garr Symm's face turned a darker green. The Vegan girl retreated fromRamsey's side in fright. Symm raised his hand and an Irwadian waiterbrought over a drink in a purple stem glass with a filigree pattern oftitanium, bowing obsequiously. Symm lurched with the glass towardRamsey. "I'm telling you to go, " he said in a loud voice. 

Ramsey picked up his credit note but stood there. With a little sigh ofdrunken contentment, Garr Symm sloshed the contents of his stem glass inRamsey's face. 

The liquor stung Ramsey's eyes. Many of the other outworlders, neitherIrwadian nor Earthmen, laughed nervously. 

Ramsey wiped his eyes but otherwise did not move. He was in a rough spotand he knew it. The fact that their new Security Chief went out drunk atnight with a chip on his shoulder was the Irwadian government's affair, not Ramsey's. He'd been insulted before. An Earthman in the outworlds, particularly an Earthman fugitive who knew he dared not get into thekind of trouble that could bring the Earth consul to investigate, wasused to insults. For Earth was the leading economic and military powerof the galaxy, and the fact that Earth really tried to deal fairly withits galactic neighbors meant nothing. Earth, being top dog, wasresented. 

The thing which got Ramsey, though, was this Garr Symm. He had neverheard of Garr Symm, and he thought he knew most of the big shots in theIrwadian Security Police by name. But there must have been a reason forhis appointment. A government throwing off outworld influence had areason for everything. So, why Garr Symm?

 * * * * *

"You, Mith Vegan!" Garr Symm called suddenly. "You whithpered to theEarthman. What did you tell him?"

"Not to look for trouble, " the Vegan girl said in a frightened voice. 

"But what elth?"

"Honest, that's all. "

"Come here, pleath. "

Her blue skin all at once very pale, the Vegan girl walked back towardGarr Symm. He leered at her quite drunkenly and took hold of her slenderarm. "What did you tell him? For the latht time. "

The girl whimpered: "You are hurting my arm. "

Thoughts raced through Ramsey's mind. As an administrator, as anIrwadian public servant in a touchy job, Garr Symm, a drunkard, wasobviously grossly incompetent. What other qualifications did he havewhich gave him the top Irwadian Security job? Ramsey didn't know. Hesighed. The Vegan girl's mouth formed a rictus of pain. Ramsey had ahunch he was going to find out. 

He said curtly: "Let go of her, Symm. She told me nothing that wouldinterest you. "

 * * * * *

Garr Symm ignored him. The blue-skinned girl cried. 

Ramsey grimaced and hit Garr Symm in the belly as hard as he could. 

Symm thudded back against the table. It overturned with a crash and theSecurity Chief crashed down on top of it. There wasn't a sound in thegambling hall except Ramsey's sudden hard breathing, the Vegan girl'ssniffling, and Garr Symm's noisy attempts to get air into his lungs. Then Garr Symm gagged and was sick. He writhed in pain, still unable tobreathe. His hands fluttered near his weapons belt. 

"Come on, " Ramsey told the Vegan girl. "We'd better get out of here. " Hetook her arm. Dumbly she went with him. None of the outworlders theretried to stop them. Ramsey looked back at Garr Symm. The Irwadian wasshaking his fist. He had finally managed to draw his m. G. Gun, but thecrowd of outworlders closed between them and there was no chance hecould hit Ramsey or the girl. Retching, he had dirtied the glossy greenscales of his chest. 

"I'll get you, " he vowed. "I'll get you. "

Ramsey took the girl outside. It was very cold. "I'm so afraid, " shesaid. "What will I do? What can I do?" She shook with fear. 

"You got a place to sleep?"

"Y-yes, but I'm the only Vegan girl in Irwadi City. He'll find me. He'llfind me when he's ready. "

"O. K. Then come home with me. "

"I--"

"For crying out loud, I don't look that lecherous, do I? We can't juststand here. "

"I--I'm sorry. I'll go with you of course. "

Ramsey took her hand again and they ran. The cold black Irwadian nightswallowed them. 

"So you live in the Old Quarter too, " the Vegan girl said. 

"Heck yeah. Did you expect a palace?"

 * * * * *

Ramsey had a room, rent one Irwadi month in arrears, in a cold-watertenement near the river which demarked the Old and the New Quarters. Thefaçade of the old building was dark now. His landlady was probablyasleep, although you never could tell with that old witch. Ramsey knewit wouldn't be the first time she stayed up through half the night toawait a delinquent tenant. 

"I--I never went to a man's room before, " the blue-skinned Vegan girlsaid. She was rather pretty in a slender, muscleless, big-eyed, female-helpless mode. 

"You're a dance-hall girl, aren't you?"

"Still, I never spent the night in a man's--"

"What's the matter with you? You think we're going to spend the nighthere? Somebody over at those gaming tables will be able to identify me. Garr Symm'll be on his way before long. "

"Then what are we going to do?" The girl was shivering with cold. 

"Hide, " Jason Ramsey said. "Somewhere. I just came back to get mythings. There isn't much, but there's an old m. G. Gun which we mightneed. "

"But they'll find us, and--"

"You coming upstairs or will you wait out here and freeze to death inthe cold?"

"I'm coming. "

They went upstairs together, on tip-toe. Ramsey's room was on the thirdfloor, with a besooted view of the industrial complex on the river byday. The narrow hall was dark and silent. Behind one of the closed doorsan outworlder cried out in his sleep. Ramsey had to cup a hand over theVegan girl's mouth so she wouldn't scream in empathic fear. He openedthe door of his room, surprised that it was not locked. He thought hehad left it locked. 

At once he was wary. It was dark in the hall, just as dark in the room. He could see nothing. The door hinges squeaked. 

"Come in, Captain Ramsey, " a voice said. "I thought you would never gethere. "

He stood on the threshold, uncertain. The voice had spoken notInterstellar _Coine_, but English. It had spoken English, without aforeign accent. 

And it was a girl's voice. 

 * * * * *

Still, it could have been an elaborate trick. It was unlikely, but notimpossible, that Garr Symm had learned Ramsey's identity already and hadsent an operative here to await him. Ramsey and the Vegan girl had comeon foot. It was a long walk. 

"I'm armed, " Ramsey lied. "Come over here. Slowly. Don't put any lightson. " He could feel the Vegan girl trembling next to him. Not able tounderstand English, she didn't know what was going on. 

"You're armed, " the unseen girl's voice said in crisp, amused English, "like I'm a six-legged Antarean spider-man. You have an m. G. Gun, Ramsey. It's in this room. I have it. That's all you have. No, don't tryto lie to me. I'm a telepath. I can read you. Come in and put the lighton and shut the door. You may bring the girl with you if you want. Brother, is she ever radiating fear! It's practically drowning your ownmind out. "

The unseen girl wasn't kidding, Ramsey knew. She could read minds. Shehad proved it to him. Which left him this choice: he could grab theVegan girl's arm again and get the heck out of there, or do what theunseen Earth girl told him to do. He wanted that m. G. Gun. He took theVegan girl's hand and advanced over the threshold and closed the doorand switched on the light. 

The girl was sitting on the bed. She was an Earthgirl, all right. Shehad come in a toggle-cloak of green Irwadian fur, which was foldedneatly at her side on the bed. Under it she wore a daring net halter ofthe type then fashionable on Earth but which had not yet taken over theoutworlds. It left her shoulders bare and exposed a great deal ofsmooth, tawny skin through the net. Her firm breasts were cupped in twosolid cones of black growing out of the net. Her midriff was bare to aninch or two below the navel. Her loins were covered by an abrevitogwhich formed a triangle in front and, Ramsey knew, would form one inback. Her long, well-formed legs were bare down to the mid-calf bootsshe wore. She had a beautiful body and had dressed so Ramsey couldn'tmiss it. Her face was so provocatively beautiful that Ramsey just stoodthere staring at it--after he had taken in the rest of her. She wore herhair quite long. She seemed perfectly composed. In her right hand sheheld Ramsey's m. G. Gun, but she wasn't pointing it at them. 

She looked at the timid Vegan girl and smiled. "Oh, I am sorry, CaptainRamsey, " she said. "I couldn't know, of course, you'd be coming homewith--company. "

"It isn't what you think it is, " Ramsey said, surprised to find himselfon the defensive. "The girl's in trouble. So'm I. "

The Earthgirl laughed. "Already? You looked the type, but I thought itwould take a little time. "

"What do you want?" Ramsey said. They were speaking in English. TheVegan girl tugged at Ramsey's arm. She wanted to get out of there andhoped Ramsey would go with her. Abruptly the Earthgirl burst outlaughing. 

"What's so funny?" Ramsey demanded. 

"Your little Vegan friend. I read her mind, Ramsey. She thinks I'm yourwife. She thinks I'm mad at you for bringing her home. "

"Then why don't you talk in _Coine_, " Ramsey said in the interstellarlanguage, "and make her feel better? She might as well know I never sawyou before in my life. " He was annoyed. 

 * * * * *

The Vegan girl smiled timidly, taking hope. 

"But you did, " the beautiful Earthgirl said. "I was on the _Polaris_today, Captain. You were to be the pilot, until Interstellar Transferhere on Irwadi was planetarized. "

"I didn't see you. Dressed like that I wouldn't have forgotten you. "

"I wasn't dressed like this. " The girl smiled, very sure of herself. "Iread your mind when you came in. The costume's had the desired effect, Isee. But you needn't broadcast your animal desires so blatantly. "

"Nobody asked you to read my mind. Besides, you needn't broadcast yourphysical assets so blatantly. "

"Touché, " said the Earthgirl. 

"Listen, " Ramsey began. "We're in a jam. We're in a hurry. "

"So you told me. I couldn't have wished for more. It looks like I didn'tneed this costume and its obvious inducements at all, if you're reallyin a jam. "

"What the devil is that supposed to mean?"

"My name is Margot Dennison, Captain Ramsey. I have managed to buy anold starship, small and held together by spit and string and whateverthe Irwadians use for prayer--"

"They're atheists, " Ramsey said a little pointlessly. It was the girl. Darn her hide, she was beautiful! What did she expect? Looking at her, how could a man concentrate.... "Hey!" Ramsey blurted suddenly. "Did yousay Margot Dennison? The tri-di star?"

 * * * * *

Margot Dennison smiled. "That's right, " she said. "Stranded five hundredlight years from nowhere, Captain Ramsey. With a ship. With money. Inneed of a hyper-space pilot. That's why I'm here, or didn't you guess?"

"I'm listening. "

"Isn't it clear? I'll pay you to take me away from here. "

"Where to?"

"Through hyper-space to Earth. Well?"

"I've been grounded. If I take you through hyper-space, I lose mylicense. "

"You really don't believe that, do you? After the Irwadians grounded allof you without warning, and grounded all ships until they can train afew more pilots. You don't really think I. T. S. Would take your licenseaway if you took a ship up and through hyper, do you? Under thecircumstances? Especially since you're in a jam with a totalitariangovernment gone wild? Do you?"

Ramsey said abruptly: "I'm sorry. I can't take you to Sol System. "

Margot Dennison smiled. It wasn't the kind of smile designed to make aman roll over on his back and wave all fours in the breeze. MargotDennison didn't need that kind of smile. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, " she said. "I read your mind, you see. Very well, Captain. If you're a fugitive from Earth--I assume Ramsey isn't yourreal name, by the way--you may take me through hyper to Centauri. Thatwill be quite satisfactory. I will make my way from Centauri. Well?"

"Give me the gun, " Ramsey said. 

"My goodness, of course. I'm not trying to hold you up. Here. " She gotup from the bed for the first time and walked toward them. She had firm, long legs, and used them well. She was utterly lovely and although partof it was probably her professional know-how, she made you forget that. She was the most attractive girl, Earth or outworld, Ramsey had seen inyears. 

Ramsey took the gun. Their hands met. Ramsey leaned forward quickly andkissed her on the lips. He was still holding the Vegan girl's slenderarm, though. She tried to run away but couldn't. Margot Dennisonreturned the kiss for an instant, to show Ramsey that when she reallywanted to return it, if she ever really would, she would pack the samekind of libidinal vitality in her responses as she did in herappearance; then she stood coldly, no longer responsive, until Ramseystepped back. 

"Maybe I was asking for it, " she said. "I was prepared for that--andmore. But it isn't necessary now, is it? My gosh, Ramsey! Will youplease close that mind of yours? You make a girl blush. "

"Then put on your cloak, " Ramsey said, and, really blushing this time, she did so. 

She said: "I'm prepared to pay you one thousand credits; what do yousay?"

"I say it must be a pretty important appointment you have on Centauri. "

"Earth, Captain Ramsey. I'm settling for Centauri. Well?"

"I'll take you, " Ramsey said, "if this girl comes too. "

Margot Dennison looked at the frightened Vegan girl and smiled. "So it'slike that, " she said. 

"It isn't like anything. "

Ramsey packed a few things in an expanduffle and the three of themhurried through the doorway and down stairs. The cold dark nightawaiting them with a fierce howling wind and the first flurries of snowfrom the north. 

"Where to?" Ramsey hollered above the wind. 

"My place, " Margot Dennison told him, and they ran. 

 * * * * *

Margot Dennison had a large apartment in Irwadi City's New Quarter. Thissurprised Ramsey, for not many outworlders lived there. That night, though, he was too tired to think about it. He vaguely remembered acouch for himself, a separate room for the Vegan girl, another forMargot Dennison. He slept like a log without dreaming. 

He awoke with anxious hands fluttering at his shoulder. Opening onesleepy eye, he saw the Vegan girl. He saw daylight through a window butsaid, "Gmph! Middle of the night. "

The Vegan girl said: "She's gone. "

Ramsey came awake all at once, springing to his feet fully dressed andflinging aside his cloak, which he'd used as a blanket. "Margot!" hecalled. 

"She's gone, " the Vegan girl repeated. "When I awoke she wasn't here. The door--"

 * * * * *

Ramsey ran to the door. It was a heavy plastic irising door. It waslocked and naturally would not respond to the whorl patterns of Ramsey'sthumb. 

"So now we're prisoners, " Ramsey said. "I don't get it. "

"At least there's food in the kitchen. "

"All right. Let's eat. "

There were two windows in the room, but when Ramsey looked out he sawthey were at least four stories up. They'd just have to wait for MargotDennison. 

It took the Vegan girl some time to prepare the unfamiliar Earth-stylefood with which Margot Dennison's kitchen was stocked. Ramsey used thetime to prowl around the apartment. It was furnished in Sirian-archaic, a mode of furniture too feminine to suit Ramsey's tastes. But then, theuni-sexual Sirians, of course, often catered to their own femininetaste. 

Ramsey found nothing in Margot Dennison's apartment which indicated shehad done any acting on Irwadi, and that surprised him, for he'd assumedshe had plied her trade here as elsewhere. He felt a little guilty abouthis snooping, then changed his mind when he remembered that Margot hadlocked them in. 

In one of the slide compartments of what passed for a bureau inSirian-archaic, he found a letter. Since it was the only piece ofcorrespondence in the apartment, it might be important to MargotDennison, thought Ramsey. And if it were important to her.... 

Ramsey opened the letter and read it. Dated five Earth months before, itran:

 _My darling Margot: By the time you read this I shall be dead. Ironical, isn't it? Coming so close--with death in the form of an incurable cancer intervening. _

 _As you know, Margot, I always wished for a son but never had one. You'll have to play that role, I'm afraid, as you always have. Here is the information I told you I would write down. Naturally, if you intend to do anything about it, you'll guard it with your life. _

 * * * * *

 _Apparently the hyper-space pattern from Irwadi to Earth is the one I was looking for. The proto-men, if I may be bold enough to call them that, first left hyper-space at that point, perhaps a million, perhaps five million, Earth years ago. I don't have to tell you what this means, my child. I've already indicated it to you previously. It suffices to remind you that, in what science has regarded as the most amazing coincidence in the history of the galaxy, humanoid types sprang up on some three thousand stellar worlds simultaneously between one and five million years ago. I say simultaneously although there is the possibility of a four million year lag: indications are, however, that one date would do quite well for all the worlds. _

 _Proto-man was tremendously ahead of us in certain sciences, naturally. For example, each humanoid type admirably fits the evolutionary pattern on its particular planet. The important point, Margot, is the simultaneity of the events: it means that proto-man left hyper-space, his birth-place, and peopled the man-habitable worlds of the galaxy at a single absolute instance in time. This would clearly be impossible if the thousands of journeys involved any duration. Therefore, it can only be concluded that they were journeys which somehow negated the temporal dimension. In other words, instant travel across the length and breadth of the galaxy!_

 _Whoever re-discovers proto-man's secret, needless to say, will be the most influential, the most powerful, man in the galaxy. Margot, I thought that man would be me. It won't be now. _

 _But it can be you, Margot. It is my dying wish that you continue my work. Let nothing stop you. Nothing. Remember this, though: I cannot tell you what to expect when you reach the original home of proto-man. In all probability the whole race has perished, or we'd have heard of them since. But I can't be sure of that. I can't be sure of anything. Perhaps proto-man, like some deistic god, became disinterested in the Milky Way Galaxy for reasons we'll never understand. Perhaps he still exists, in hyper-space. _

 * * * * *

 _Finally, Margot, remember this. If you presented this letter to the evolutionary scientists on any of the worlds, they'd laugh at you. It is as if unbelief of the proto-man legend were ingrained in all the planetary people, perhaps somehow fantastically carried from generation to generation in their genes because proto-man a million years ago decided that each stellar world must work out its own destiny independently of the others and independent of their common heritage. But in my own case, there are apparently two unique factors at work. In the first place, as you know, I deciphered--after discovering it quite by accident--what was probably a proto-man's dying message to his children, left a million years ago in the ruins on Arcturus II. In the second place, isn't it quite possible that my genes have changed, that I have mutated and therefore do not have as an essential part of my make-up the unbelief of the proto-man legend?_

 _Good luck to you, Margot. I hope you're willing to give up your career to carry out your dying father's wish. If you do, and if you succeed, more power will be yours than a human being has ever before had in the galaxy. I won't presume to tell you how to use it. _

 _Oh, yes. One more thing. Since Earth and Alpha Centauri are on a direct line from Irwadi, Centauri will do quite well as your outbound destination if for some reason you can't make Earth. Again, good luck, my child. With all my love, Dad. _

Ramsey frowned at the letter. He did not know what to make of it. As faras he knew, there was no such thing as a proto-man myth in wide currencyaround the galaxy. He had never heard of proto-man. Unless, he thoughtsuddenly, the dying man could have simply meant all the myths of humancreation, hypothecating a first man who, somehow, had developedindependently of the beasts of the field although he seemed to fit theirevolutionary pattern.... 

But what the devil would hyper-space have to do with such a myth?Proto-man, whatever proto-man was, couldn't have lived in hyper-space. Not in that bleak, ugly, faceless infinity.... 

Unless, Ramsey thought, more perplexed than ever, it was the very bleak, ugly, faceless infinity which made proto-man leave. 

"Breakfast!" the Vegan girl called. Ramsey joined her in the kitchen, and they ate without talking. When they were drinking their coffee, anEarth-style beverage which the Vegan girl admitted liking, the apartmentdoor irised and Margot Dennison came in. 

Ramsey, who had replaced the letter where he'd found it, said: "Justwhat the devil did you think you were doing, locking us in?"

"For your own protection, silly, " Margot told him smoothly. "I alwayslock my door when I go out, so I locked it today. Naturally, we won'thave a chance to apply for a new lock. Besides, why arouse suspicion?"

"Where'd you go?"

"I don't see where that's any of your business. "

"Believe it or not, " Ramsey said caustically, "I've seen a thousandcredits before. I've turned down a thousand credits before, in jobs Ididn't like. As for being stranded here on Irwadi, it's all the same tome whether I'm on Irwadi or elsewhere. "

"What does all that mean, Captain Ramsey?"

"It means keep us informed. It means don't get uppity. "

Margot laughed and dropped a vidcast tape on the table in front ofRamsey. He read it and did not look up. There was a description ofhimself, a description of the Vegan girl, and a wanted bulletin issuedon them. For assaulting the Chief of Irwadi Security, the bulletin said. For assaulting a drunken fool, Ramsey thought. 

"Well?" Margot asked. This morning she wore a man-tailored jumper which, Ramsey observed, clashed with the Sirian-archaic furniture. She lookedcool and completely poised and no less beautiful, if less provocativelydressed, than last night. 

Ramsey returned question for question. "What about the ship?"

"In a Spacer Graveyard, of course. There isn't a landing field on theplanet we could go to. "

"You mean we'll take off from a Graveyard? From a junk-heap of batteredold derelict ships?"

"Of course. It has some advantages, believe it or not. We'll work on theship nights. It needs plenty of work, let me tell you. But then theGraveyard is a kind of parts department, isn't it?"

Ramsey couldn't argue with that. 

They spent the next three days sleeping and slowly going stir-crazy. They slipped out each night, though, and walked the two miles to theSpacer Graveyard down near the river. It was on the other side of theriver, which meant they had to boat across. Risky, but there was no helpfor it. Each night they worked on the ship, which Ramsey found to be afifty-year old Canopusian freighter in even worse condition than Margothad indicated. The night was usually divided into three sections. First, reviewing the work which had been done and planning the evening'sactivities. Then, looking for the parts they would need in the jungle ofinterstellar wrecks all about them. Finally, going to work with theparts they had found and with the tools which Ramsey had discovered onthe old Canopusian freighter the first night. 

 * * * * *

As they made their way back across the river the first night, Ramseypaddling slowly, quietly, Margot said:

"Ramsey, I--I think we're being watched. "

"I haven't seen or heard a thing. You, Vardin?" Vardin was the Vegangirl's name. 

Vardin shook her head. 

Ramsey was anxious all at once, though. Things had gone too smoothly. They had not been interfered with at all. Personally, things hadn't gonesmoothly with Ramsey, but that was another story. He found himselfliking Margot Dennison too much. He found himself trying to hide itbecause he knew she could read minds. Just how do you hide your thoughtsfrom a mind reader? Ramsey didn't know, but whenever his thoughtsdrifted in that direction he tried thinking of something else--anythingelse, except the proto-man letter. 

"Yes, that's just what I was thinking, " Margot said in the boat. "I canread minds, so I'd know best if we were being watched. To get a clearreading I have to aim my thoughts specifically, but I can pick upfree-floating thoughts as a kind of emotional tone rather than words. Does that make sense?"

"If you say so. What else did you read in my mind?"

Margot smiled at him mysteriously and said nothing. 

Ramsey felt thoughts of proto-man nibbling at his consciousness. Hetried to fight them down purely rationally, and knew he wouldn'tsucceed. He grabbed Margot and pulled her close to him, seeking herlips with his, letting his thoughts wander into a fantasy of desire. 

Margot slapped his face and sat stiffly in her cloak while he paddled tothe other side of the river. Vardin sat like a statue. Ramsey had cometo a conclusion: he did not like letting Margot know how he felt abouther, but it was mostly on a straight physical level and he preferred herdiscovering it to her learning that he'd read the proto-man letter fromher father. In his thoughts, though, he never designated it as theproto-man letter from her father. He designated it as X. 

When they reached the bank, Margot said: "I'm sorry for slapping you. "

"I'm sorry for making a pass. "

"Ramsey, tell me, what is X?"

Ramsey laughed harshly and said nothing. That gave Margot something tothink about. Maybe it would keep her thoughts out of his mind, keep herfrom reading.... 

X marks the spot, thought Ramsey. XXX marks the spot-spot-spot. X is aspot in a pot or a lot of rot.... 

"Oh, stop it!" Margot cried irritably. "You're thinking nonsense. "

"Then get the heck out of my mind, " Ramsey told her. 

Vardin walked on without speaking. If she had any inkling of what theywere talking about, she never mentioned it. 

Margot said: "I still get the impression. "

"What impression?"

"That we're being followed. That we're being watched. Every step of theway. "

Wind and cold and darkness. The hairs on the back of Ramsey's neckprickled. They walked on, bent against the wind. 

 * * * * *

Security Officer Second Class Ramar Chind reported to his Chief in theHall of Retribution the following morning. Chind, a career man with theIrwadi Security Forces, did not like his new boss. Garr Symm was nocareer man. He knew nothing of police procedure. It was evenrumored--probably based upon solid fact--that Garr Symm liked his brandyexcessively and often found himself under its influence. Worst ofall--after all, a man could understand a desire for drink, even if, sometimes, it interfered with work--worst of all, Garr Symm was ascientist, a dome-top in the Irwadi vernacular. And hard-headed RamarChind lost no love on dome-tops. 

He saluted crisply and said: "You wanted to see me, sir?"

 * * * * *

Garr Symm leaned forward over his desk, making a tent of his scaly greenfingers and peering over it. He said three words. He said: "TheEarthgirl Dennison. "

"The Spacer Graveyard, " Ramar Chind said promptly. That was an easy one. His agents had been following the Dennison girl, at Garr Symm's orders. Ramar Chind did not know why. 

"And?" Garr Symm asked. 

"The Earthman Ramsey, the Vegan Vardin, both are with her. We can closein and arrest the lot, sir, any time you wish. "

"Fool, " Garr Symm said softly, without malice. "That is the last thing Iwant. Don't you understand that? No, I guess you don't. "

"Yes, sir. "

"Their ship?"

"Every morning after they leave we go over it. Still two or three nightsaway from completion, sir. Also--" Ramar Chind smiled. 

"Yes, what is it?"

"Two or three nights away from completion, except for one thing. They'llneed a fuel supply. Two U-235 capsules rigged for slow implosion, sir. The hopper of their ship is empty. "

"Is there such a fuel supply in the Graveyard?"

"No, sir. "

"But could there be?"

"Usually, no. Naturally, the junkers drain out spaceship hoppers beforescrapping them. U-235 in any form brings--"

"I know the value of U-235. Proceed. "

"Well, there could be. If they were lucky enough to find such a fuelsupply in one of the wrecks in the Graveyard, they wouldn't besuspicious. Naturally, we won't put one there. "

"But you're wrong, my dear Ramar Chind. You'll load the hopper of one ofthose wrecks with enough U-235 for their purposes, and you'll do ittoday. "

"But sir--"

"We're going to follow them, Chind. You and I. We want them to escape. If they don't escape, how can we follow them?"

Ramar Chind shrugged resignedly and lisped: "How much fuel will theyneed for their purposes, sir, whatever their purposes are?" Naturally, his lisping sounded perfectly normal to Garr Symm, who also spoke inthe sibilantless Irwadi manner. 

"You'd really like to know, wouldn't you?" Garr Symm said. 

"Yes, sir. To put me in a position in which I could better do my--"

"To satisfy your curiosity, you mean!"

"But sir--"

"I am a scientist, Chind. "

"Yes, sir. "

 * * * * *

"Didn't it strike you as odd that a scientist should be elevated to thetop post in your department?"

"Of course, sir. I didn't question it, though. "

"As you know, Chind, when it was decided to planetarize Irwadi as afirst step toward driving away the outworlders, the quarters of everyoutworlder on Irwadi were thoroughly searched. "

"I participated in the--uh, program, sir. "

"Good. Then I needn't tell you. Something was found in Margot Dennison'sapartment. Something of immense importance. Something so important that, if used properly, it can assure Irwadi the dominant place in the galaxyfor all time to come. "

"But I thought Irwadi craved isolation--"

"Isolation, Chind? To be sure, if intercourse with the other galacticpowers saw us at the bottom of the heap. But at the top--who would craveisolation at the top?"

"I see, sir. And the something that was found needed a scientist?"

"Very perceptive of you, Chind. Precisely. It was a letter. We copiedit. Of course, Margot Dennison knows more than what is in the letter;the letter alludes to previous information. We need Dennison and Ramsey. We have to let them go ahead with their plans. Then we follow them, Chind. You understand?"

"Yes, sir. "

"You're a good policeman, Chind. The best we have, I understand. You'llbe going with me--on the most important assignment you or any Irwadianever had. "

"I am grateful, sir, that you consider me--"

"Now, see about that U-235 slow-implosion capsule. "

"At once, sir. "

Saluting smartly, Ramar Chind left Garr Symm's office. Symm smiled andsat perfectly still for some minutes. For Irwadi, yes, he was thinking. Certainly for Irwadi. For Irwadi absolutely. To make Irwadi the mostimportant planet in the galaxy. But important planets--in the way thatIrwadi would be important--couldn't maintain the status quo. Forexample, Irwadi's form of government might have to be changed. Atpresent, an autocratic bureaucracy with no one man at the top. Ultimately, after the rediscovery of proto-man's secret--rule by oneman. 

Garr Symm, absolute dictator of the galaxy, if he played his hand right. 

Garr Symm sat there for a long time, dreaming of power as no man beforehim on any world had ever dreamed of power.... 

 * * * * *

Vardin rushed into the airlock of the Canopusian freighter in a state ofexcitement. At last they had given her something to do, and she had beensuccessful at the outset. Specifically, Ramsey and the beautiful womanhad given her a scintillation-counter and told her to prowl among thewrecks with it while they worked on the control board of the freighter, which the beautiful woman had named _Enterprise_. 

"I found it!" Vardin cried. "I found it!"

She led a sceptical Margot Dennison outside while Ramsey continuedworking on the _Enterprise_. The two girls walked swiftly through thedarkness between the wrecks. By this time they knew every foot of theGraveyard. 

"There, " Vardin said. "You see?"

The scintillation counter was clicking and blinking. Margot smiled andwent to work with a portable mechanical arm and a leaded bottle. In tenminutes, she had the slow-implosion capsule out of the hopper of abattered old Aldebaranese cargo ship. 

"I never saw one of those mechanical arms working before, " Vardin said. 

Margot smiled. She was delighted with the timid Vegan girl, with thecold night, with the way the wind blew across the Graveyard, witheverything. They had their fuel. Tomorrow night the _Enterprise_ wouldbe ready for its dash into hyper-space. In thirty-six hours she mighthave her hands on the most valuable find in the history of mankind.... 

When they returned to the _Enterprise_, she let Ramsey kiss her andtried to slip the telepathic tentacles of her mind behind his guard--

Lewd libidinous fantasies, X stands for nothing for nothing for nothing, XXX--she got nowhere. 

What was X? What was Ramsey's secret? Margot did not know, and wonderedif she would ever find out. 

She smiled, reading Vardin's mind. For Vardin was thinking: it must beso wonderful to have beauty such as she has, to melt the wills of stronghandsome men such as Ramsey. It must be truly wonderful. 

For the first twenty-eight years of her life, Margot Dennison would haveagreed, would have delighted in her own beauty. She still did, to apoint. But beyond that point, she could dream only of proto-man and hissecret. 

Beauty or power?

She had beauty. 

She wanted power. 

 * * * * *

In the early hours of the following morning, behind the cover of whatappeared to be a dense early morning fog but what actually was anartificially produced fog, a team of Irwadi technicians swarmed all overa battered Procyonian cruiser of three thousand tons. By mid-morning, working swiftly and with all the tools and spare parts they would need, they made the ship, called _Dog Star_, space-worthy. 

Later that day, but still two hours before nightfall, Ramar Chindarrived with a small crew of three Security Police. He had selected hismen carefully: they knew how to handle a spaceship, they knew how tofight, they were quite ruthless. He thought Garr Symm would be pleased. 

Symm did not arrive until just before nightfall. He was very agitatedwhen he came. Ramar Chind, too, was eager. What would happen within thenext several hours, he realized, might be beyond his ken, but he stillrecognized its importance. And, being an opportunist, he would pounce onwhatever he found of value to himself.... 

Several hours after the setting of the Irwadi primary had ushered in thecold night, Margot Dennison, Ramsey and Vardin arrived at the Graveyardand made their way at once to the _Enterprise_. They went inside swiftlyand in a very few minutes prepared the thousand-tonner for blastoff. Ramsey's mouth was dry. He could barely keep the thoughts of proto-manfrom his mind. If Margot read them.... 

"Centauri here we come, " he said, just to talk. 

"Centauri, " said Margot. 

But of course, she had another destination in mind. 

Several hundred yards across the Graveyard, watching, waiting, theoccupants of _Dog Star_ were armed to the teeth. 

Ramsey sat at the controls. Vardin stood behind him nervously. The spacetrip from Vega to Irwadi was probably the only one she had ever taken. Margot sat, quite relaxed, in the co-pilot's chair. 

"I still can't believe we're not going to feel anything, " Vardin said inher soft, shy voice. 

"Haven't you ever been through hyper-space before?" Margot asked theVegan girl. 

"Just once. "

"In normal space, " Ramsey explained, "we feel acceleration anddeceleration because the increase or decrease in velocity is experiencedat different micro-instants by all the cells of our body. In hyper-spacethe velocity is felt simultaneously in all parts of the ship, includingall parts of us. We become weightless, of course, but the change isinstant and we feel no pressure, no pain. "

Ramsey was waiting until 0134:57 on the ship chronometer. At thatprecise instant in time, and at that instant only, blastoff would placethem on the proper hyper-space orbit. And, before they could feel themounting pressure of blastoff, the timelessness of hyper-space wouldintervene. 

"0130:15, " Margot read the chronometer for Ramsey. "It won't be longnow. 30:20--"

"All right, " Ramsey said suddenly. "All right. I can read thechronometer. "

"Why, Ramsey! I do believe you're nervous. "

"Anxious, Margot. A hyper-pilot is always anxious just before crossover. You've got to be, because the slightest miscalculation can send youfifty thousand light years off course. "

"So? All you'd have to do is re-enter hyper-space and go back. "

Ramsey shook his head. "Hyper-space can only be entered from certainpoints in space. We've never been able to figure out why. "

"What certain points?"

 * * * * *

Ramsey looked at her steadily. "Points which vary with the orbits of thethree thousand humanoid worlds, Margot, " he said slowly. He watched herfor a reaction, knowing that strange fact about hyper-space--perfectlytrue and never understood--dovetailed with her father's letter aboutproto-man, an unknown pre-human ancestor of all the humanoid races inthe galaxy, who had discovered hyper-space, bred variations to colonizeall the inhabitable worlds, found or created the three thousandcrossover points in space, and used them. 

Margot showed no response, but then, Ramsey told himself, she was atri-di actress. She could feign an emotion--or hide one. She merelyasked: "Is it true that there's no such thing as time in hyper-space?"

"That's right. That's why you can travel scores or hundreds or thousandsof light years through hyper-space in hours. Hyper-space is a continuumof only three dimensions. There is no fourth dimension, no dimension ofduration. "

"Then why aren't trips through hyper-space instantaneous? They takeseveral hours, don't they?"

"Sure, but the way scientists have it figured, that's subjective time. No objective time passes at all. It can't. There isn't any--inhyper-space. "

"Then you mean--"

Ramsey shook his head. "0134:02, " he said. "It's almost time. "

The seconds ticked away. Even Margot did not seem relaxed now. Shestared nervously at the chronometer, or watched Ramsey's lips as hesilently read away the seconds. A place where time did not exist, anunder-stratum of extension sans duration. An idea suddenly entered hermind, and she was afraid. 

If proto-man had colonized the galactic worlds between one and four orfive million years ago, but if time did not exist for proto-man, thenwasn't the super-race which had engendered all mankind still waiting inits timeless home, waiting perhaps grimly amused to see which of theirprogeny first discovered their secret? Or must proto-man, like humanseverywhere, fall victim to subjective time if objective time did notmatter for him?

Ramsey was saying softly: "Fifty-three, fifty-four, fifty-five, fifty-six ... Blastoff!"

His hand slammed down on the activating key. 

An instant later, having felt no sensation of acceleration, they werefloating weightlessly in the cabin of the little _Enterprise_. 

 * * * * *

"The qualities of radar, " Garr Symm said, "exist in their totality in auniverse of extension. Time, actually is a drawback to radar, necessitating a duration-lag between sending and receiving. Therefore, Ramar Chind, radar behaves perfectly in hyper-space, as you see. "

"Yes, " Ramar Chind said, floating near the radar screen aboard the _DogStar_. At its precise center was a bright little pip of light. 

_The Enterprise_.... 

"But don't we do anything except follow them?" Ramar Chind said after along silence. 

Garr Symm smiled. "Does it really matter? You see, Chind, time actuallystands still for us here. Duration is purely subjective, so what's yourhurry?"

Ramar Chind licked his lips nervously and stared fascinated at thelittle pip of bright light. 

Which suddenly dipped and swung erratically. 

 * * * * *

"What is it?" Margot asked. "What's the matter?"

"Take it easy, " Ramsey told her. 

"But the ship's swooping. I can feel it. I thought you weren't supposedto feel movement in hyper-space!"

"Relax, will you? There are eddies in hyper-space, that's all. If youwant an analogy in terms of our own universe, think of shoals in anocean--unmarked by buoys or lights. "

"You mean they have to be avoided?"

"Yes. "

"But this particular shoal--it's midway between Irwadi and Earth?"

"There isn't any 'midway, ' Margot. That's the paradox of hyper-space. "

"I--I don't understand. "

"Look. In the normal universe, extension is measured by time. That is, it takes a certain amount of time to get from point A to point B. Conversely, time is measured by extension in space. On Earth, a day oftime passes when Earth moves through space on an arc onethree-hundred-sixty-fifth of its orbit around the sun in length. Sincethere isn't any time to measure extension with in hyper-space, sincetime doesn't exist here, you can't speak of mid-points. "

"But this--shoal. It's always encountered in hyper-space between Earthand Irwadi?"

Ramsey nodded. "Yes, that is right. "

Margot smiled. 

The smile suddenly froze on her face. 

The _Enterprise_ lurched as if an unseen giant hand had slapped it. 

At that moment Ramsey leaned forward over the controls, battling tobring the _Enterprise_ back on course. 

And let down his mental guard. 

_... Precise place in hyper-space her father must have meant ... Home ofproto-man ... Thinks I'm going to stop there, she's crazy ... Heck, I'mno mystic, but there are things not meant to be meddled with ... _

The ship swooped again. Ramsey went forward against the control panelhead-first and fell dazed from the pilot chair. His head whirled, hisarms and legs were suddenly weak and rubbery. He tried to stand up andmake his way back to the controls again, but collapsed and went down tohis knees. He crouched there, trying to shake the fog from his brain. 

With a cry of triumph, Margot Dennison leaped at him and bore him downto the floor with her weight. He was still too dazed from the blow onhis head to offer any resistance when her strong hands tugged at hisbelt and withdrew the m. G. Gun. She got up with it, backing away fromhim quickly toward the rear bulkhead as the ship seemed to go into asmooth glide which could be felt within it. Vardin stood alongsideRamsey, a hand to her mouth in horror. Ramsey got up slowly. 

"Stay where you are!" Margot cried, pointing the m. G. Gun at him. "I'llkill you if I have to. I'll kill you, Ramsey, I mean it. "

Ramsey did not move. 

 * * * * *

"So you knew about my father, " Margot challenged him. 

"Yeah. So what?"

"And this shoal in hyper-space is a world, isn't it?"

Ramsey nodded. "I think so. "

"O. K. Sit down at the controls, Ramsey. That's right. Don't tryanything. "

Ramsey was seated in the pilot chair again. His head was still whirlingbut his strength had returned. He wondered if he could chance rushingher but told himself she meant what she said. She would kill him in coldblood if she had to. 

"Bring the _Enterprise_ down on that world, Ramsey. "

He sat there and stubbornly shook his head. "Margot, you'll be meddlingwith a power beyond human understanding. "

"Rubbish! You read my father's letter, didn't you? That fear's beenimplanted in your genes. It's part of the heredity of our people. It'srubbish. Bring the ship down. "

Still Ramsey did not move. Vardin looked from him to Margot Dennison andback again with horror in her eyes. 

"I'll count three, " Margot said. "Then I'll shoot the Vegan girl. Do youunderstand?"

Ramsey's face went white. 

"One, " Margot said. 

Vardin stared at him beseechingly. 

Ramsey said: "All right, Margot. All right. "

Five minutes later, subjective time, the _Enterprise_ landed with alurch. 

That they had reached a world in hyper-space there could be no doubt. But outside the portholes of the little freighter was only the murkygrayness of the timeless hyper-space continuum. 

 * * * * *

"They've gone down, sir!" Ramar Chind cried. 

Garr Symm nodded. For the first time he was really nervous. He wonderedabout the Dennison letter. Could his fear be attributed to ancestralmemory, as Dennison had indicated? Was it really baseless--thiscrawling, cold-fingered hand of fear on his spine?

There was no physical barrier. The _Enterprise_ had established thatfact. Then was there a barrier which Garr Symm, along with allhumanoids, had somehow inherited?

A barrier of stark terror, subjective and unfounded on fact?

And beyond it--what?

Power to chain the universe.... 

Think, Garr Symm told himself. You've got to be rational. You're ascientist. You've been trained as a scientist. This is their barrier, erected against you, against all humanoids, a million years ago. Itisn't real. It's all in your mind. 

"Do you want me to follow them down?" Ramar Chind asked. 

Garr Symm envied the policeman. Naturally, Ramar Chind did not share histerror. You didn't know the terror until you learned about proto-man;then the response seemed to be triggered in your brain, as if it hadbeen passed to you through the genes of your ancestors, waiting amillion years for release.... 

Fear, a guardian. 

Of what? Garr Symm asked himself. Think of that, fool. Think of what itguards. 

Power--

Teleportation or its equivalent. 

Gone the subjective passage of hours in hyper-space. 

Earned--if you were strong enough or brave enough to earn it--theability to travel instantly from one humanoid world to another. Instantly. Perhaps from any one point on any humanoid world to any onepoint, precise, specific, exact, on another world. 

To plunder. 

Or assassinate. 

Or control the lives of men, everywhere. 

_Sans_ ship. 

_Sans_ fear. 

_Sans_ the possibility of being caught or stopped. 

Sweating, Garr Symm said: "Bring the _Dog Star_ down after them, RamarChind. "

 * * * * *

Ramsey smiled without humor. "What now, little lady?" he said mockingly. 

"Shut up. Oh, shut up!"

"What are you going to do now?"

"I told you to shut up. I have to think. "

"I didn't know a gorgeous tri-di actress ever had to think. "

"Let me see those figures again, " Margot said. 

Ramsey handed her the tapes from the _Enterprise's_ environment-checker. 

Temperature: minus two hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit. 

Atmosphere: none. 

Gravity: eight-tenths Earth-norm. 

"And we don't have a spacesuit aboard, " Ramsey said. 

"But it can't be. It can't. This is the home of proto-man. I know it is. But if I went out there I'd perish from cold in seconds and lack of airin minutes. "

"That's right, " Ramsey said almost cheerfully. "So do I take the shipback up?"

"I hate you, Jason Ramsey. Oh, I hate you!" Margot cried. Then suddenly:"Wait! Wait a minute! What was that you were thinking? Tell me! You musttell me--"

Ramsey shook his head and tried to force the thoughts from his mind withdoggerel. Ben Adam, he thought. Abou Ben Adam, Humpty Dumpty, hurry, hurry, hurry, the only two headed get yours here the sum of the squareof the sides is equal to the square of the hyper-space, no, mustn'tthink that mimsy were the borogroves and the momraths now what the heckdid the momraths do anyhow absolute zero is the temperature at whichall molecular activity.... 

"What were you thinking, Ramsey?"

His mind was a labyrinth. There were thousands of discrete thoughts, ofcourse. Millions of them, collected over a lifetime. But all at once hedid not know his way through that labyrinth and his thoughts keptwhirling back to the one Margot Dennison wanted as if, somehow, shecould pluck it from his mind. 

She stood before him, her brow furrowed, sweat beading her pretty face. 

And she was winning, forcing the thought to take shape in Ramsey'smind--

_But if I went out there I'd perish from cold in seconds and lack of airin minutes. _

_Cold_, came the known and unbidden thoughts to Ramsey's strugglingmind. _And lack of air. Attributes of extension, of space_, but measuredby duration, by time. _And since time does not exist in hyper-space, thevacuum out there and the terrible, killing cold, could have no effect onyou. You could go out there perfectly protected from the lethalenvironment by the absence of the time dimension. _

Margot smiled at him. "Thank you, " she said. "Thank you, Ramsey. "

He was about to speak, but she added: "And don't give me that stuffabout a power we shouldn't tamper with. I'm going out there. Now. "

Ramsey nodded slowly. "I won't stop you. "

"But just so you don't get any ideas of stranding me here--Vardin. Vardin's going with me. "

The Vegan girl looked at Ramsey mutely. 

 * * * * *

Ramsey said: "What makes you think I'll let you take her?"

Margot smiled again. "The m. G. Gun makes me think so. "

"The heck of it is, you're not really bad, Margot. This thing's got you, is all. You're not essentially evil. "

"Thank you for the thrilling compliment. I'm delighted, " Margot saidsarcastically. 

"Vardin stays with me. "

Margot reminded him of the lethal m. G. Gun by showing it to him, muzzle-first. 

He laughed in her face. "Go ahead and shoot. "

She stared at him. 

"There isn't a lethal weapon'd do you any good here in a timelesscontinuum. Take an m. G. Gun. It induces an artificial breakdown ofradioactive fuel in its chamber, firing an instantly lethal dose ofradiation. But in order for radioactive breakdown to occur, time mustpass. Even if it's only milliseconds, as in the case of an m. G. Gun. There aren't any milliseconds on this world, Margot. There isn't anytime. So go ahead and pull the trigger. "

Margot frowned and pointed the gun to one side and fired. 

Nothing happened. Margot almost looked as if her hard shell had beensundered by the impotence of the m. G. Gun. She pouted. Her eyes gleamedmoistly. 

Then Ramsey said: "O. K. Let's go. "

"What--what do you mean?"

"Out there. All of us. "

"But I thought you said--"

"Sure, I'm scared stiff. A normal man would be. It's in our genes, according to your father. But I'm also a man. What the devil d'you thinkit was first got man out of his cave and started along the road tocivilization and the stars? It was curiosity. Fear restraining him, andcuriosity egging him on. Which do you think won in the end?"

"Oh, Ramsey, I could kiss you!"

"Go right ahead, " Ramsey said, and she did. 

They opened the airlock. They went outside smiling. 

But Vardin, who went with them, wasn't smiling. There was sadnessinstead. 

 * * * * *

In cumbersome spacesuits, the five Irwadians made their way from the_Dog Star_ to the _Enterprise_. Ramar Chind and his three policemencarried m. G. Guns; Garr Symm was unarmed. Chind used a whorl-neutralizerto force the pattern of the lock on the outer door of the _Enterprise's_airlock. Then the five of them plunged inside the ship. 

The inner door was not closed. 

The _Enterprise_ was empty. 

Garr Symm looked doubtfully at the gray murkiness behind them. Althoughthe _Dog Star_ stood out there less than a quarter of a mile away, theycouldn't see it through the murk. 

"Where did they go?" Ramar Chind asked. 

Symm waved vaguely behind them. 

Chind and his men turned around. 

Gritting his teeth against the fear which welled up like nausea from thepit of his stomach, Garr Symm went with them. 

At that moment they all heard the music. 

"You hear it?" Ramsey asked softly. His voice did not carry on theairless world, of course. But he spoke, and the words were understood, not merely by Margot, who could read his mind, but by Vardin as well. 

"Music, " said Margot. "Isn't it--beautiful?"

 * * * * *

Ramsey nodded slowly. He could barely see Margot, although he held herhand. He could barely see Vardin although they stood hand in hand too. The music was un-Earthly, incapable of repetition, indescribably theloveliest sound he had ever heard. He wanted to sink down into theobscuring gray murk and weep and listen to the haunting, sad, lovelystrains of sound forever. 

"What can it possibly be?" Margot asked. 

Surprisingly, it was Vardin who answered. "Music of the Spheres, " shesaid. "It's a legend on Vega III, my world. "

"And on Earth, " Ramsey said. 

Vardin told them: "On all worlds. And, like all such legends, it has abasis in reality. This is the basis. "

That didn't sound like timid little Vardin at all. Ramsey listened inamazement. He thought he heard Vardin laugh. 

Music. But didn't the notes need the medium of time in which to beheard? How could they hear music here at all? Or were they hearing it?Perhaps it merely impinged on their minds, their souls, just as theywere able to hear one another's thoughts as words.... 

They'd never understand fully, Ramsey knew suddenly. Perhaps they couldgrasp a little of the nature of this place, a shadow here, thehalf-suggestion of the substance of reality there, a stillborn thoughthere, a note of celestial music there, the timeless legacy of proto-man, whatever proto-man was.... 

"The fog is lifting!" Vardin cried. 

The fog was not lifting. 

Then it was. 

Ramsey would never forget that. Vardin had spoken while the dense graymurk enveloped them completely. 

Then it began to grow tenuous. 

As if Vardin's words had made it so. Little Vardin, shy, frightenedVardin, suddenly, inexplicably, the strongest, surest one among them.... 

The sky, white and dazzling, glistened. The gray murk glistened too, ahundred yards off in all directions, like a wall of polished glasssurrounding them. 

In the very middle of the bell-jar of visibility granted them all atonce, stood a black rectangular object. 

"The teleporter!" Margot cried. "The matter-transmitter! I know it is. I_know_ it is!"

Ramsey stood waiting breathlessly. 

No, he realized abruptly, not breathlessly. You couldn't saybreathlessly. 

For Ramsey had not breathed, not once, since they left the _Enterprise_. 

You didn't breathe on a timeless world. You merely--somehow--existed. 

"It's opening!" Margot cried. 

The black rectangle, ominously coffin-shaped, was indeed opening. 

"The matter transmitter, " Margot said a second time. "The secret ofproto-man, of our ancestors who colonized all the worlds of space withit, instantly, at the same cosmic moment. Think of what it means, Ramsey, can you? Instantaneous travel, anywhere, without the need forenergy since energy cannot be used here, without the passage of timesince time does not exist here. " She stood transfixed, looking at theblack box. The lid had lifted at right angles to the rest of the box. 

 * * * * *

Margot said, in the whisper of an awed thought: "Who controls itcontrols the galaxy.... "

And she walked toward the box. 

At that moment Ramsey had a vision. He saw--or thought he saw--MargotDennison in the costume she had worn when they first met. She stood, eyes wide, fearful, expectant, before a chess-board. The pieces seemedto be spaceships. It was a perfectly clear vision, but it was the onlysuch vision Ramsey had ever been vouchsafed in his life. He was nomystic. He did not know what to make of it. 

Playing chess with Margot was--proto-man. 

Ramsey only saw his hand. 

A hand perhaps five million years old. 

He blinked. The vision persisted, superimposed over Margot's figure asshe walked toward the box. 

A game, he thought. Because we don't understand it. Not that kind ofpower. Not the power a matter-transmitter would give. A cosmic game ona chess-board which wasn't quite a chess-board, with a creature who hadnever lived as we know life and so could never die.... 

With the future of the galaxy hanging in the balance. Life or death forman hanging on a slim thread, because man wasn't ready formatter-transmission, couldn't hope to use it wisely, would use itperhaps for war, transmitting lethal weapons, thermonuclear, world-destroying weapons, instantly through space, for deliveryanywhere, negating time.... 

Death hovered. 

"Wait!" Ramsey called, and ran forward. 

Just then five new figures, space-suited, appeared under the gleamingdome. 

"Stop that woman!" a voice which Ramsey should not have been able tohear but which he somehow heard perfectly cried. "Stop her!"

M. G. Guns were raised, fired. 

Without effect. 

Three of the spacesuited figures ran after Margot as the voice repeated:"Stop her! The box is mine, mine!"

It was Garr Symm's voice. 

Ramsey did not know if he should stop Margot himself, or fight Symm'smen. Although they couldn't use their weapons on this world, they couldstill hurt--possibly even kill--Margot. Ramsey turned and waited forthem. 

The strange, mystic vision was gone. He saw only three space-suitedfigures, saw Margot walking steadily toward the box. Either she wasmoving very slowly or the box retreated or it was further away than ithad looked at first. For she hadn't reached it yet. 

Ramsey met the space-suited figures head-on. 

There were three of them, but they were awkward in their suits, cumbersome, incapable of quick responses. 

Ramsey hit the first one in the belly and darted back. His fist feltcontact with the soft bulk of the insulined suit, then with the harderbulk of the man. He struck again, harder this time. 

 * * * * *

The scaly green face of the Irwadi within the space-suit grimaced withpain. He doubled over and fell, his helmet shattering against the groundat Ramsey's feet. 

Then an incredible thing happened. The Irwadi opened his mouth toscream. His face froze. He lost his air. His face bloated. 

And he died. 

Ramsey couldn't believe his eyes. 

It was not possible to die from lack of air or from cold on a worldwithout the time continuum. Ramsey, Vardin and Margot had proved that byventuring out without protection. 

But the Irwadi had died. 

Mental suggestion?

Because he thought he would die?

Because that was the only way you could perish on a world lacking in thetime dimension--by your own thoughts?

The second space-suited figure closed with Ramsey awkwardly. Ramsey hithim. The man of Irwadi fell, his helmet cracked, he tried to scream--anddied. 

The third man fled. 

Ramsey ran after Margot. "Wait!" he cried. He couldn't talk to her abouthis fantastic vision. It was personal. She wouldn't understand. Mysticexperience always is like that. And yet, with the conviction that only amystic can have--although he certainly was no mystic--Ramsey knew thegalaxy would be in grave trouble if mankind were given the secret ofmatter-transmission. 

A voice said: "You are right. "

It was Vardin's voice, and Vardin went on:

"Ramsey, stop her. I can't stop her. It is only granted that Iobserve--and convince, if I can. I am not a Vegan girl. I am--"

Ramsey said it. "Proto-man!"

"There aren't many of us left. We discovered matter-transmission. Weused it once, to people the worlds of the galaxy. It was our finalcreative effort. We merely observe now, unable to destroy our creation, trying to keep it out of mankind's hands. You see--"

"Then back on Irwadi you knew all along we would come here!"

"I was vouchsafed the vision, yes. Even as you--stop her, Ramsey. Youmust stop her!"

 * * * * *

Ramsey sprinted forward. Margot was nearing the black coffin now. 

Ramsey ran at her, and tackled her. 

They went down together, the girl fighting like a tigress, tooth andnail, wildly, sobbing, striking out at Ramsey with small impotent fists, until he subdued her. Panting, they glared at each other. 

And could not stop Garr Symm from running past them, eyes rapt behindthe plastiglass of his helmet, and jumping into the black box. 

"To the end of the universe and back!" he cried. "Take me there andback. Instantly. Prove to me that you work! Now.... " His voice trailedoff. He had addressed the black rectangle almost as if it were somethingalive. 

 * * * * *

Ramsey thought he heard a growl from the box. He stood before it, looking in. The hackles rose on his neck. 

"You see, " Vardin said. "My ancestors and yours discovered the power ofa god--and did not understand it. We were incorporeal. We createdlife--your ancestors. We patterned it to fit the evolution of the threethousand worlds. Human life. Millions of them, colonists for the worldsof normal space. We were tampering in our tragic pride, Ramsey, withforces we would never comprehend. 

"We colonized the worlds, deciding that physical existence, along withthe mental prowess we had, was the ideal state. A few of us, likemyself, or my ancestors if you wish, although the purely mental livescontinuously--a few of us stayed behind and saw--the loss of a millionyears!"

Ramsey's eyes still could not pierce the darkness inside the box. 

"What do you mean?" he asked in an awed voice. 

"We sent out god-like men. We did not understand our discovery. Thegod-like men--but look at Garr Symm. "

The spacesuited figure got up slowly. It blinked at Ramsey. It growled. It had a recognizably green, scale-skinned face. But it was not the faceof Garr Symm. It was the face of Garr Symm's caveman ancestors, amillion years ago.... 

"This is what happened to my people, " Vardin said. 

She looked at Ramar Chind and Chind, responding, went to Garr Symm andled him quietly back toward the _Dog Star_. Chind never said a word. Garr Symm growled. 

"Take the Earthgirl and go, " Vardin told Ramsey. 

"But I--you--aren't you coming?"

"My work is finished, " Vardin told him. "For now. "

"For now?"

"I am a guardian. When I am needed again--" She shrugged her slim blueshoulders. 

"But Margot will never be content now, " Ramsey protested. "Not whenshe's come so close. "

"She'll understand. Just as you understand. You'll be good for eachother, Ramsey, you and the girl. She's had only her fierce pride and herdreams of power. She has room for love. She needs love. "

"But you--"

"I? I am nothing. I am the end-product of an equation our ancestorsfound a million years ago. An equation to give them god-like power. Instead it made them savages and I have had to watch their slow climbback to the stars. An equation, Ramsey. Almost an equation of doom. Nowgo. "

Vardin flickered, became insubstantial. Her body seemed to melt into thegray mists. 

The gleaming walls were gone. The black box was gone. Vardin was gone. 

Ramsey led Margot back to the _Enterprise_. 

Moments later--although the elapsed time was subjective--they blastedoff. 

Margot opened her eyes. She had been sleeping. She smiled at Ramseytremulously. "I love you, " she said. Her words seemed to surprise her. 

"I can't go back to Earth, " Ramsey said. 

"Who wants to go back to Earth--if you can't?"

They had, Ramsey knew, all of space and the life-span of mortal man toenjoy together. 

THE END

 +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Transcriber's note: | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation (matter-transmitter/matter | | transmitter, scintillation-counter/scintillation counter, | | space-suit/spacesuit) has been retained. | | | | Deliberate mis-spellings (borogroves, momraths; plus all the | | lithping) have been retained. Minor changes to punctuation | | were made without comment. | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+