HUNTERS

 OUT OF

 SPACE

 By JOSEPH E. KELLEAM

 ILLUSTRATED by FINLAY

CHAPTER 1

In Kansas, spring usually falls on the day before summer. It had been sucha day, and now at midnight I was sitting at my desk. Both hands of theclock were pointing to the ceiling--and to the limitless stars beyond. Mywife and daughter had long been asleep. I had stayed up to write a fewletters but it was not a night for working. Although it was a bit chillyoutside, the moon was bright and a bird was singing a glad and plaintivesong about the summer that was coming and all the summers that had passedand all that would be. Adding, here and there, a bit of melody about allthe good things that happen to birds and men without their knowing why. 

Both hands of the clock were pointing upward. And I was half-asleep, andhalf-dreaming. Remembering all the friends I had--most of them scattered tothe four winds by now. And that best friend of all, Doctor Jack Odin! Iwondered where he was and how he had fared since he disappeared into thatdark cave in Texas. 

Suddenly I became aware of a flickering light above me. I looked up. I hadthought that the lights were winking, but they were not. The room was litby a reading lamp, and the ceiling was so shadowy that at first I could seenothing at all. Then I saw the light--or the ghost of a light--gleamingfaintly upon--or through--the ceiling. It was the faintest yellow, neithera bull's eye nor a splotch. Instead, it seemed to be a tiny whirlpool ofmovement--the faintest nebula in miniature with spirals of light swiftlycircling a central core. For a second I thought I could see through theroof, and the stars swarmed before me. It was as though I was at thevortex of a high whirlwind of dancing, shining specks of light. Then thatsensation was gone, and there were two faint coiling spirals of yellowlight upon the ceiling. 

The lights began to whisper. 

"We are Ato and Wolden, " they said. "Remember us?"

I remembered them from the notes that I had pieced together to tell thestory of my old friend, Doctor Jack Odin, and his adventure in the World ofOpal. It seemed impolite to tell them that we had never met. So I listened. 

"Wolden's work has succeeded, " the whispering continued. "We have reducedtime and space to nothing. You see us as lights, or as we once put it, 'asflame-winged butterflies, ' but we are neither. We are Ato and Wolden. Byadding ourselves to another dimension we are hardly recognizable to you. Actually, we are at our starting point billions of miles away! We aretraveling through space toward you at a speed which would make the speedof light look like a glow-worm crawling across the dark ground; and at thesame time, we are there in your room. Do you understand?"

I didn't, but I have learned that a man can live quite comfortably bymerely keeping his mouth shut. So I kept still. 

 * * * * *

My little daughter had been playing in the room before she had unwillinglygone to bed. She had left a red rubber ball upon my desk. 

"Look at the ball, " the voices whispered. "We will give you an idea of thetime-space in which we live. "

I looked. Suddenly the little ball twitched, vanished and reappeared. Igazed in wonder. It had been red. Now it was white. I picked it up and awhite powder rubbed off upon my fingertips. 

"See. " The lights whispered. "We have turned it inside out--"

The whispering continued. 

 * * * * *

"We are bringing you a gift. Our last gift, probably, because we are wearyof your world and the affairs of men. Pygmies! Now, stand back from yourdesk--"

It was such a command that I fairly leaped out of my chair and drew awayfrom the desk. Still leaning upon it I stared in wonder at the shadow whichwas forming itself upon the cleared space by the side of my typewriter. At first it was merely a dark square. Then it was a shadowy cube, growingdenser all the time until it became a dim shape. The shape grew brighter. There was a tiny spitting sound, like two hot wires being touched together. There was a smell in the room, not unpleasant but not pleasant either--acompletely alien smell. A wave of cold air struck me, and passed by, leaving me shivering. Our furnace came on with a start. 

Then the lights were gone and I was looking in wonder at a leaden box, about a foot square. It had a hinged lid, and around the middle of it thefigure of a snake was excellently carved. It held its tail in its mouth, locking the box securely. Its eyes were two great moonstones that appearedto look up at me with half-blind amusement--winking at the wisdom they hadforgotten and the fear that I was feeling. 

I touched the box and drew my hand away in pain. It was colder than cold. Desolate, burning cold. 

It was two hours before the box became warm enough--or cool enough--totouch. Then, after several experiments I got the snake's mouth open and thelid swung upward on chilled hinges. 

Within it was a manuscript. As soon as I looked at it I recognized thehandwriting of my old friend, Doctor Jack Odin. 

Well, it was just as before. It was more of a series of notes and jottingsthan a story. It took months to piece it together. Several pages were badlyburned and spotted. It was hard work and slow work--

And this is the tale that Jack Odin sent me--from Somewhere. 

CHAPTER 2

Jack Odin descended into the cavern--or what Keefe had called the Hole--forless than a hundred yards before his strong flashlight sent its lancingbeam into a stone wall. At his feet was a crevice which went straight downas though it had been measured by a giant square. He got to his knees andlooked over. Playing his light around he detected a few ledges like narrowsteps far below. It was pitch-dark down there, and not even his stronglight could reach to the bottom. He tried tossing a few pebbles into it;listening he heard the faint rattle of their fall, but could not be surewhether they had landed on one of the ledges or had reached bottom. 

Looking about him, he found a weathered bit of limestone that thrust itselfup like a small table. It did not look very substantial but it was his onlyhope. Odin had crammed his ammunition, food and canteen into a knapsack. Looping the rope through it and his rifle strap, he lowered them over untilhe felt the rope slacken as his gun and supplies rested upon the firstledge. Releasing one end of the rope he carefully drew it back. 

 * * * * *

Now he knotted the rope about the stone and let the two lengths of it traildown toward the ledge. He had kept his flashlight which he thrust into hisbelt. One other thing, a little miner's cap and light, now came into use. It was warm down there, and as soon as the cap with its lighted lamp was onhis head, sweat began to pour down his neck. Suddenly he remembered a scenehe had witnessed one morning in West Virginia--so long ago that it shouldhave been forgotten. His car had stalled in a tiny town one evening. He hadslept in the only hotel, but had got up before daybreak so he could startan early search for a mechanic. Looking up toward the hills he had seen asilent procession of lights going upward to some unknown mine. There wassomething grotesque about those climbing lights; the identity of the menwas lost, and this was a crawling thing up there on the hillside. For amoment he felt himself feeling infinite pity for all the men everywhere whospent their days in the dark. 

Then he laughed. Better feel a bit sorry for Jack Odin too. Getting readyto lower himself over a precipice, and not having the slightest idea whenhe would reach bottom. Or whether there was any bottom at all. Theblackness beat at the little light. A startled bat left its upside-downperch and fluttered against his face, clicking its teeth in warning. 

Well, one could stay here and think until doomsday. So, with a shrug of hisbig shoulders, he got a firm grip on his doubled rope and slid over theedge. He went down and down until his shoulders ached. Once he got hisfeet down on an outcropping but dared not brace himself there for fear ofloosening his rope from its unsteady mooring above. Then, at last, he cameto the ledge with only a few feet of his doubled rope to spare. 

After resting the little cap and lamp in a secure cranny he lay flat on hisstomach for a few minutes, gulping great draughts of air and trying to rubsome feeling back into his aching shoulders. Then he got up and startedlooking about for some anchorage. Some twenty feet away, he found a littlespur of rock. 

The second ledge was negotiated in the same fashion as the first. Itwas scarcely four feet in width. Leaning over it, with his powerfulflashlight spraying a beam of light downward, he saw that there wereno more ledges between him and the floor of the crevice below. Noteven a single out-cropping. The wall was smooth and glassy as thoughat one time, for ages and ages, water had flown down it and had lefta glossy coating upon its face. 

Moreover, when he awkwardly dangled his rope into the abyss with one hand, and kept his light upon it with the other, he found to his disappointmentthat not even a single length would reach to the dimly-seen floor below. 

He sat there for a while, chewing at a bit of jerked beef, trying to gethis strength back, racking his brains for a plan. But he could think ofnothing except getting back to Opal. Then, at last, with a sigh and maybea curse at the things that happen and maybe a bit of a prayer, he began totie a loop, lasso fashion, in his rope. Finding another spur of rock becamea problem. This ledge was smooth. But in time he found one and drew hisloop tightly about it. Rolling the knapsack up into a ball and tying itsecurely, he threw it over the brink. Listening, he heard it land andbounce two or three times. The gun was slung over his shoulder. The miner'scap and lamp went back upon his head. He stuffed his pockets full ofammunition and slid over the edge. Once he nearly lost his grip on thesingle strand and slid downward for a yard or two with the rough coilstaking the hide off his palms. But he held on. And at last he was danglingat the end of the rope like a plumb-bob. Carefully he tightened his gripwith his right hand and let go with the left. His shoulder creaked, andfangs of pain struck at his wrist and elbow. 

 * * * * *

But he hung on. Playing the flashlight below him, he saw that the floor ofthe crevice was still many yards away. It seemed to be of sand, but he wasnot sure. Limestone could be deceiving. Putting the light back in his belt, he began feeling along the wall. It was smooth. Finally, reaching down asfar as he could, he found a little hole scarcely large enough for one hand. There was no time left to consider. Getting his fingers into it he turnedloose of the rope and dropped down. It felt as though his left shoulder wastearing loose, but he held his grip. Kicking about he found a toe-hold inthe wall--and finally another grip for his hand. 

In this way, Odin went down for nearly a dozen yards. But at last he couldfind neither a grip for his hands nor a rest for his feet. He did not carenow. The pain in his shoulders was becoming unbearable. Taking one greatgulp of air, he released his hold on the wall and thrust his body out intospace. The little light in his cap went out. Odin fell through darkness. He fell into soft sand, doubling up as his feet touched it. Odin rolledover and over, losing both flashlight and gun as he tumbled. Then he cameup against hard rock, with most of the wind knocked out of him, and laythere gasping, feeling about him with frantic hands for the light and thegun. 

 * * * * *

The old terror of the dark swept over him as he clutched this way and thatand found nothing. Then he got a grip on himself and laughed at hisfears--remembering that he had matches in his pockets. 

The spurt of a match showed him his miner's cap not five feet away. He musthave missed it by inches as he was clutching about in the dark. He lit itand soon found gun and flash. 

Pointing his light upward, he could faintly see the knotted end of his ropeswinging back and forth up there against the precipice. It was his onlylink with the outside world, and it was far out of reach. He shrugged andplayed the light about the cavern into which he had ventured. 

The walls of the crevice into which he had fallen were never over tenfeet apart and in spots were less than three. But the sandy bed slopednoticeably downward, so downward he went. Only pausing occasionally totake a mouthful of water from his canteen or eat a bite or two. Hiswatch had been broken in that last fall. He threw it away. 

The air grew hotter. So hot at last that Odin had to pause more oftenand rest upon the sand. But it too was hot, as though it had never knownanything but this one temperature. 

Stumbling along, his nostrils and chest burning, and something thumping inhis ears, he finally fell to his knees. Jack Odin lay there for a longtime. But the floor of the cavern still led downward. So, with nothing elseleft in his mind, he got to his knees and crawled on. 

That last determination saved him. A cool breath of air struck him in theface. He toiled downward and was soon in a wider cavern that was so coldthat he was shivering. He rested again and then went on. The cold grewworse. 

Odin came to a tunnel of ice. The faint smell of ammonia set him tocoughing. It was nearly as uncomfortable here as the heat had been a fewhours before. But he kept on. Finally, there was no ice left on the wallsabout him. The air grew warmer. 

Soon the walls opened out until he could scarcely see them with hisflashlight. Playing it upward he could only get a faint reflection from thestalactites hundreds of feet away. 

At length Odin came to a vast room where his light could reach neitherwalls nor ceiling. But in the center of it was a tiny pool, rimmed by whitesand and a shell-like lip of limestone. He got to his knees and tested thewater. It was clean--but old and old and old. Filling his canteen, heopened his knapsack and prepared a hearty meal. He was dog-tired butbefore he slept he walked around the little pool. He had heard of fishbeing found in underground caverns--or even the fossils of things that hadonce been there. But here Odin found no sign of life. Nothing except tracesof the vast underground river that must have once swept through here longago. 

It was a desolate feeling to stand there with his beam of light pushing thedark away. Alone in a place which apparently had never known the beat oflife before. And then Odin saw it--

A footprint. A small footprint which must have been made by someone whowore moccasins or sandals. He recognized it at once. He had seen hundredsof those footprints!

A Neebling had been there. How long before he did not know. But, certainly, Odin's theory had been right. The cavern led the way to Opal. Jack Odin wasnot sure how many times he ate and slept as he toiled his way downward. Thelong dead river had carved cunningly and beautifully upon the walls of thetunnel. And the dripping waters of centuries had fashioned pedestals, carvings, and statues that were beautiful indeed. Ordinarily he would havebeen interested in these, for Jack Odin was a man who loved beautifulthings, but now he had but one idea: To go on. 

Occasionally he found more footprints. But always near the scatteredpools. The dwarfs must have kept against the walls and come out upon thesand only to quench their thirst. He wondered about that. And a possibleanswer came to him. They had been there without a light--feeling their way, almost--although he knew that they could see in the dark to a certainextent. He wondered at their courage. Here, with two lights, the staringdarkness and the silent empty spaces were making him shaky. 

The descent became sharper. At times he slid down long grades of limestone. Now and then he came to sharp drops where little waterfalls had once been. But there was usually sand below and he was able to leap down without muchharm, other than a jolt or two. 

But once he came to one of these drops that must have measured a hundredfeet. He found a few rocky steps where the little precipice met the walland clambered down, but it was rough going, and he had to make a jump forit at the last. 

 * * * * *

Picking himself up and dusting the sand from his clothes he thought he sawa white gleam over against the wall. His light found a squat skeletonsitting there grimacing at him. He touched the skull and it fell to powder. Here was one of the dwarfs--a Neebling--but the bones did not belong tothis age; the poor fellow must have lain there for centuries. 

Doctor Jack Odin was never able to get all of his medical training out ofhis mind. Examining the skeleton he found that both legs had been broken. Apparently, the little man had been climbing up or down the precipice Odinhad just negotiated and had slipped and fallen. His legs shattered, andinfection setting in, the Neebling had crawled against the wall to die. Odin could imagine him doing that last task silently. They were akin to theanimals that they loved, the Neeblings. They did not complain. 

 * * * * *

Hours and hours later, as Odin toiled his way downward, he became aware ofa growing stench in the stale air. Even this was welcome, for he wasbecoming obsessed with the idea that the cavern had not changed since thelong-ago river had died, and that nothing in it could change. It was anodor of rottenness. Where there was decay, life had also been. 

By the time he reached the next pool the putrescence which hung on thestale air was almost sickening. There he made his second discovery. Asaurian of some sort, with squat legs and long, fanged mouth, had diedthere. Half-decayed, it made a little phosphor glowing in the dark and itslong teeth flashed as he played a beam of light over it. 

Noisome as it was, the sight of it made his heart quicken, for here was oneof the things of Opal. It must have crawled up here from that silent sea. Then a feeling of gloom and dread swept over him. What had happened downthere to make this thing leave its home and crawl here to die!

Odin went on and on, and the smell of the thing behind him slowly fadedfrom the air. 

Then, as he rounded a corner, Odin blinked his eyes. Far ahead of him was ared glow. Taking a deep breath, he thought he smelled smoke. Or was itsulphur? He had never been able to get one grim possibility out of hismind. What if some of the fires and lava streams of inner earth should liebetween him and the world of Opal?

He had gone too far to turn back. So Odin went on cautiously. As he nearedthe red glow, he saw that it was only a campfire dying down to coals. Butfrom the darkness came such a clamoring of hisses, groans, and screechesthat he could feel goose-pimples popping out on his arms. 

His rifle held a clamp for his flash. Making gun and light ready, headvanced cautiously, still unable to determine what was happening exceptthat one hell of a fight was going on. Then a coal burst into quick flameand he could see the struggle. A broad-shouldered man, stripped to thewaist, was fighting with one of the saurians. He had closed its long mouthwith a huge hand and was striking again and again at the white throat witha broad-bladed knife. The thing was screeching and clawing at the man'sarm. Its razored tail was lashing forward--and the man was dodging it as hekept backing in a circle and thrusting the head upward and backwards. Bothbrute and man were streaming blood. The man made no sound other than anoccasional savage grunt as his blade struck deep through the horny hide ofthe thing. The Saurian became wilder with each blow. 

It was a long shot. But Jack Odin made it. Both man and reptile quickenedinto momentary stone as his light centered its beam upon them. Odin aimedand fired. The heavy bullet shattered the top of the saurian's head. 

Then Odin was running forward, calling out in the language of Opal. Thebroad-shouldered man kicked the wriggling carcass of the thing out of theway and threw a few sticks upon the coals. They flamed up. The man sat downcalmly, though still gasping for breath, and began to wipe the blade of hisknife upon his thigh. 

He had regained some of his breath when Odin reached him. Rubbing a gashedforearm and smiling as though such a meeting were an every-day occurrencehe called out cheerfully. 

"Ho, Nors-King. I knew you would come. Sooner or later you would be hereand we would go hunting together. "

The man was Gunnar, successor to Jul, and Chief of the Neeblings!

CHAPTER 3

Going to the pool, Gunnar began to wash his bleeding arms. "Yes, Old Gunnarknew you would be here, Jack Odin, for it was writ in runes of silver longago that a man will go to the gates of death and brave Old Nidhug thedragon there to find his maid. "

"And how is she, Gunnar? Where is she?"

But the dwarf did not answer for a few minutes. He stared moodily into thecoals, and then feeling behind him in the dark he found a bright shirt andstruggled into it. "I was getting ready to take a bath when the thing cameat me, " he explained simply. 

"Gunnar! Where is Maya?"

Gunnar's big hand squeezed Odin's shoulder. 

"Steady, lad. I wish I knew. I wish I knew. But you are here now, and wewill go hunting together. For you are my friend and Maya is my friend. AndI swore by my sword, the Blood-Drinker, to her father I swore it. And toJul. That I would look after her. But I failed. And is my word no strongerthan a puff of wind? I have sworn a new oath. I will find her. Even thoughwe go farther than the graveyard of stars--or beyond the gates of hell, maybe--I will find her. "

There was a sob in the squat man's throat and Jack Odin could see bythe light of the flickering coals that Gunnar had aged. His face wasmore seamed. The knots of muscle at each jaw were larger. His hair wasgray-streaked and thinner. But those huge shoulders were huger still, and the big gnarled hands kept closing and unclosing as though theywere grasping at a throat. 

"We will go together, then, " Odin said. "But tell me--"

"Then swear it by my blade. " And Gunnar took the long sword and harness upfrom the sand where he had left it. 

"My people do not swear by the sword. "

Gunnar cursed. "The tongues of your people are like two-edged knives. Ihave had enough of them. But you are not like them, Odin. I said beforethat you were a throwback to the men of old-time, when they went berserkertogether, or followed the whale's path in their dragon-headed ships. Here, swear by the sword, my sword. "

 * * * * *

And Jack Odin reached forward and touched the sword and swore that he wouldgo with Gunnar even to the edge of the stars--

"Now, " Odin pleaded. "Tell me what happened down there. "

"It is a long story. And not a pretty one, either. Have you anything toeat?"

Odin produced some bread and jerked beef. As they sat there, with the coalswinking red eyes at them, Gunnar told his tale between wolfish bites. 

"Grim Hagen planned well. " (So Gunnar began). "He planned well, and evenyet I hope to kill him. 

"That was an evil day when you and Maya decided to go back to outer-earth. An evil day. Some of Grim Hagen's men snared Maya with their thons. Therewas much fighting. We killed many but many got away. 

"I should have known from the black scowl which Grim Hagen had worn thosemany months that he would not be stopped by one defeat. You will remember, Odin, how I told you of the little flying machines that we strapped on ourbacks in the old days and went sailing through the air. They were outlawed. But during the time that Grim Hagen held the tower he must have found theplans for the flying machine, or maybe even one of the machines. For whenhis men attacked us, each one had such a machine. And each man carrieddozens of little glass eggs. When they threw them they exploded anddissolved nearly everything for twenty foot around. 

"Oh, we fought. We killed many. But it is hard to fight the hawk. One byone they blew up our ships. Then, carrying Maya and a few other prisonerswith them, they flew out to sea like a flight of evil birds--no, not birds, for not even the hawk is evil. What was the word that you used for theleather-winged, toothy things that live in the forest?"

"Dactyls, " Jack Odin prompted. 

"Yes, that's it, " Gunnar said as he stared into the fire. "Dactyls. I likethat word. It has an evil, bloody ring to it. "

He stopped talking to take a huge bite of stale bread that nearly chokedhim. Then he continued his story. 

"Meanwhile, in the city of the Scientists, the same kind of fighting hadbeen going on. We learned later that when Grim Hagen's men winged their wayin from the sea, his army had already retaken the Tower. Ato and hissoldiers were scattered. Half of them were dead. So, after scattering theirexplosive eggs across the city, and killing the very old and the veryyoung, Grim Hagen and his men took refuge in the Tower and prepared towithstand our siege. They had learned much from their first defeat, andthis time they held it well. 

"As soon as we could patch up our ships, we came a-following and joinedforces with Ato's soldiers. We assaulted the Tower day after day. Until theground and the walks around it were black with our dried blood. But theyheld out. Not once did they try a counter-attack. We should have guessed atwhat Grim Hagen was planing. But we didn't until one of the prisonersescaped. His name was Zol, and he was a friend of Maya's father. Poorfellow, he is dead now, but if we of Opal went in for monuments we wouldbuild one a mile high for Zol. He told us that Grim Hagen was readying theOld Ship for flight into space. Also, he planned to leave the sea gatesopen. 

"Zol saved us. Or saved some of us and a part of Opal. Ato began trainingdivers against the day when the tunnel would be flooded. We moved as manypeople as we could onto the ledges high up on the walls of Opal. We got ourgreat pumps ready to cope with the flooding. 

"Also, Ato and I renewed our assault upon the Tower. But they bested us. They had learned too many of the old secrets. Most of the young men of theNeeblings died there against the walls. That is how we keep our promises, Nors-King. 

"But Old Gunnar had a trick or two left. Remember the tale that I read toyou in the throne-room of Baldar. The first of the Brons to enter the worldof Opal were soldiers sent from some blasted planet in outer space to finda new home. They could fly their ship, but they knew nothing of the scienceand the magic that had gone into it. We of the Neeblings learned that. Andwe Neeblings were their historians for a thousand years. Also, it was wewho pieced together what little is known of their trip through space. Andthis is why:

"We of Opal have always kept up with the world above us. About thirtyyears ago there were some popular stories in your land about Tani ofEkkis[Footnote: Amazing Stories, c. 1929. ] whose people came through thevoid in a spaceship. They traveled slow, and this is how they made thetrip. They had discovered something which kept most of the crew undersuspended animation for years upon years. That tale was not far fromright. For the Brons too had a capsule, red like a ruby, which made themsleep for a score of years. There was an antidote, a yellow liquid likecurdled flames. Three drops into the veins and the sleeper would awake. That is how they made the trip. Only a pilot, a co-pilot, a navigator, and a chief engineer were ever awake at one time. Their log-books werebrief. But we of the Neeblings have them. 

 * * * * *

"So, " (Gunnar continued, drawing a huge forearm across his moist blue eyes)"I persuaded Zol to go back to the Tower. I might as well have run himthrough, but he was our best and last hope. Wolden gave him a tiny cube, nolarger than a ring-case. In it was a crystal with a number of silver wireswoven into it, but it was a good transmitter. Better than yours, Jack Odin. For a week we heard from him daily. 

"I say it was a week. We were working the clock around and our little sunwas misbehaving again. It was a feverish week, not measured by day andnight, for the sun would wink on and off as though it were getting ready togive up. 

"For a week we heard from Zol. He gave the ruby capsule to Maya. She sleepsand will continue to sleep for twenty years unless the antidote which lookslike curdled yellow flame is given to her. I have it. Grim Hagen may killher or cast her adrift in space, but he cannot awaken her. That hound ofhell can taunt her no more. She sleeps, until Gunnar stands by her side. 

"Then Zol sent us his last message. Maya was sleeping. He was barricaded inone of the rooms of the Tower, and Grim Hagen and his men were batteringdown the door. From what we heard in the next few minutes, I suppose thatthe door gave way and Zol died. Then Grim Hagen's voice came to us, screaming in rage. He had all that he wanted. Even though our princessslept, he would take her into space with him. And she would awaken some daywith the smoke of plundered worlds in her nostrils. Yes, she wouldawaken--to be his slave, even as he had promised us that night in Maya'shome when we fought. And I wish I had killed the beast then. But Zol wasdead and there was no sense in listening to this man's ravings, so weturned off our radio. And that is the last we ever heard from Grim Hagen. 

"It was the next day when he opened the sea-gates and trundled the ship outupon the floor of the sea. We had done all that we could to be prepared. But it was not enough. 

"The water came pouring in upon Opal. Half of the people died. Many hadtaken refuge in ships, and I doubt if a single ship survived that night. Yes, just as the water came flooding in, our little sun went out. Wefought. The waters flooded both Valla and the Scientists' City. Here itrose nearly to the top of the Tower. There were only a few forests andmeadows in the land that were not flooded. These were high up against thewalls. As for the creatures of the deep, the reptiles and amphibians, mostof them were dead. Many crawled into the ancient caves and fled upward. Most of them died. 

"That is nearly all. We know now that Grim Hagen and his ship, with all hisprisoners and loot, took off from the bed of the sea with a flourish whichwas just like Grim Hagen. 

"Meanwhile, Ato and his crews got the gates closed and started thepumps. Only a few men of that crew are alive today, for the tunnelwas radio-active at that time. It was weeks before the pumps couldforce the water back into the Gulf. Most of our plants were lost. Mymen and I have been foraging in the world above for these--and havehelped ourselves to your cattle when we could. 

"The waters are back to their old level, but they left a soggy, ruinedworld behind them. There is a deal of work to be done before it will belike the world that you knew. And our sun is of so little use that it canscarcely dry out the sloughs. 

"Meanwhile, Wolden and his men are working on another ship. Even a largership than the one which Grim Hagen stole. They work day and night. GrimHagen took his choice of our treasures. He stole our princess, and hekilled millions. We are going after him, even if he drives to the edgeof space. And I am going because of a promise I made long ago, and becauseof the love that I have for Maya. And because of you, Jack Odin. The swordis forged now. It is white-hot upon the anvil. The sparks leap out likestars as the hammer of the smith clangs down. And I will follow Grim Hagenas far as a man can go--even a league beyond the outer shell of space--ora day's journey beyond the grave. " (So Gunnar's tale was ended. And thetwo sat there in silence, watching the coals wink out, and feeling theall-devouring dark coming back into the cavern. )

"Then I will go with you, " Jack Odin told Gunnar. "To fight at your rightside until we find my princess--"

"And until Grim Hagen is dead, " Gunnar added. "For he is a noisome leaventhat will pollute all of space that he touches. "

The last coal went back to ashes. Odin turned on his light, and Gunnarblinked in pain at the sudden glare. Then they went onward and downward, past columns of limestone that were already old when the world was young. 

CHAPTER 4

Soon the floor of the cavern was slippery beneath their feet. 

"The waters came up to here, " Gunnar said. "Now, take a deep breath, Nors-King, for the air gets worse before it gets better. "

He was right. The stench of dead things came crawling upward to meet them. Soon the floor was littered with the things from Opal's sea that had crepthere to die. Huge, fanged saurians, lizards, toads, snakes. The cave wasstrewn with their carcasses, some half-decayed, others drying into hardenedshells, others already reduced to stinking bones and sinew. 

 * * * * *

Gunnar kicked several out of the way as he made a trail for Odin to follow. 

The short man did not tire. He went on and on at his steady shuffling gaitwhich left the miles behind, while Odin's pack and rifle grew heavier andheavier. But Gunnar did not stop. So Jack gritted his teeth and stumbledafter him, while the dead things grinned at them from the dark. 

At last they saw a reddish light ahead. 

Gunnar paused and pointed with a gnarled forefinger. "Opal ahead. All thatis left of it. "

They came out upon a narrow ledge high up in the cliff wall. Odin filledhis lungs with clear air and gasped at the changes. Above them the littlesun had dwindled to a red coal. The crimson-flecked clouds of Opal steamedand boiled beneath it. The sluggish sea was black now, and the long lowwaves were crested with bloody foam. 

Something was choking in his throat. All the wealth of June-land hadspilled over into the night. Gone, all gone! And for what reason? It wasnot enough to say that time, and gravity worked against the things of men'shands. It was not enough to say that all good things must pass. No, herewas Old Loki the Mischief-maker at work. The one who destroyed for noreason at all--who ran through space like quicksilver and laughed asblossoms and leaves, towers and trees, the old and the young, fell beforehis senseless jests. 

Tears came to Odin's eyes as he looked out there at the ruins andremembered the splendor that had been. As he thought of all who haddied there, his hands were begging for the feel of Grim Hagen's throat. Darkling he stood there on that narrow ledge and thought how strange heand Gunnar must seem. Like two trolls peering out of Hell's Gate. 

As though fanned by a tiny wind the red coal of a sun flamed up. Out there, far away, its red beams flashed upon the topmost turrets of the Tower. Theybathed it in reddish light, and it loomed halfway out of the slate-blacksea like something left alone in a ruined world. An emblem of man's prideand his love for beautiful things, it stood there bravely and held back thenight. 

There were tears in Gunnar's eyes also. Nearly two heads shorter than Odin, he stood beside him and clutched the taller man's forearm with a huge, gnarled hand. 

"Over there, " he said, pointing in a direction opposite from the Tower, "iswhere I was raised. Ah, it was good in those days, Odin. Very good. We ofthe Neeblings do not care for cities, but our farms and pastures were soarranged that there were several houses close together. And what fun theboys had hunting and fishing. Then I would straggle home for supper--and mymother, who wasn't old then, would be at the back door with a laugh and ajoke to see that her Gunnar had come home whole, and to make him wash hishands properly. And the supper table, Odin! You ought to have seen it. Itgroaned. There was no end to our food in those days. And after supper, theyounguns of the neighborhood would play outside until dark. One of ourgames was like one of yours. Some lad shut his eyes and counted while allof us hid. And then, after the counting was done, he came hunting us. Andtoward the last he would sing out for those who were still hiding: 'Bee, bee, bumblebee, all's out's in free. ' It was a great game, and then thenight would fall and we would hurry home. One had no trouble sleeping inthose days. " Gunnar paused to sigh a great sigh. "But it didn't work out. No one got in free. The homes, the pastures, the players, most of them aregone--and time took a heavy price. And only Gunnar is left to toss the lastcoin upon the counter. Well, I am ready to pay, so long as I get my handson Grim Hagen. "

Jack Odin gave him a playful punch on the shoulder, for Gunnar's thoughtsseemed to be growing more dismal by the minute. "Well, little man, it wasall a bright dream that went too fast. And are we to stay here on thisledge 'til doomsday while you try to re-spin the broken threads of thepast?"

So Gunnar's thoughts came back to the present and his big shoulders heavedwhen he laughed. "Eh! Spoken like a Nors-King, Odin. I must be getting old. Well, there's a way from here to the sea. If we were cliff-swallows wecould make it easily. But being men we had better trudge--"

 * * * * *

He led the way along the ledge which did not appear to have much of adescent until they came to a place where a rocky slide had taken trailand all into the sea. The avalanche that had made it must have been agranddaddy of avalanches, for there was a steep slope of rocks andrubble from here to the water below. There, the stones had spilled outin all directions and the waves moiled over and about them for severalhundred yards. Far out, the rocks had piled up into a little sea-wall, with gaps here and there where the breakers foamed through. 

"We go down here now, " Gunnar instructed. "But don't start anythingrolling. The stones are loose, and we might end up in the water with ahundred feet of granite over us for a tombstone. "

Gunnar led the way. Crawling backwards like a crab, he felt his way downthe precarious slope. Odin followed. Once his foot slipped and he sent ashower of stones down upon the dwarf. Gunnar caught them like a jugglerand held them in place so comically that Jack Odin laughed for the firsttime since he had started on this journey. 

"And could you do better?" Gunnar grumbled. "Maybe I let you go first andwe all go tumbling into the sea--"

"Oh, Gunnar, you did fine. But you reminded me of a cartoon back home wherethe cat's in the kitchen and has upset some pots and pans and is trying tocatch them before they fall and make a clatter. "

"And is this a time to talk about cats? A cat's place is in the woods. Tellme about dogs, maybe, but I have no time for cats. Besides, if you wouldthrow that gun away you wouldn't be so clumsy. It's no good. "

"No. I was here once without a rifle, and I needed it badly. One bulletbetween Grim Hagen's eyes and none of this would have happened. "

Gunnar retorted: "I doubt if you could have changed one thread of theSpinners--"

"But didn't I save you back there in the tunnel with this same rifle?"Jack Odin answered. 

"And nearly deafened me, too. Oh, well, I would probably have killed thatthing anyway. "

Odin shrugged. Gunnar's philosophy couldn't be shaken. 

But the dwarf was serious about the rifle. "One shot would bring the rocksdown upon us, Odin. Throw the thing away. It's no good. "

"Not until I find a better weapon. " Jack Odin shook his head. 

At last they struggled through to the water's edge. It could not be calleda beach, or even a landing, for the rocks came down at a sixty-degreeangle. 

"I have a boat over here, " Gunnar said, and led the way. 

Going parallel to the water was nearly as hard as coming down to it. ThenGunnar, who by now was a score of yards ahead, stopped and held up hishand. 

When Odin came up he whispered, "We have a visitor. "

Peering behind a huge rock Odin saw a tiny motorboat moored in a littleinlet that was barely large enough to fit it. But the boat, curious as itwas in Opal, was not the attraction. 

 * * * * *

A great sea-serpent had coiled up in it and was taking a nap. The thing wasnearly a foot thick. Though it was coiled closely its tail hung over intothe water. Its head looked very much like the head of an enlarged moccasin, except that there were long barbels about its mouth. And just below thethroat were two limbs that were a bit like forearms, but were made up oflong spikes joined by pulsing white skin. 

Gunnar reached back of his shoulder and drew his huge broadsword from itsscabbard. Then, with sword upraised, he advanced cautiously toward thesleeping snake. 

A rock must have grated beneath his feet, for suddenly the snake awoke andits ugly head rose nearly ten feet into the air. It looked down upon theadvancing dwarf with a hungry look and its long red tongue flicked in andout. Then with a devilish hiss it swept toward him, nearly capsizing theboat. Gunnar's sword went halfway through the thick, scaly neck, but witha leap it was upon him, its fore-limbs spread out fan-wise, flogging andclawing. The head opened. Long fangs gleamed as it struck. Gunnar duckedand dodged and the striking fangs missed. The head flashed over Gunnar'sshoulder. The weight of it sent him to his knees, and his broadsword burieditself in the snake again. Blood spouted, but it seemed as alive andvicious as ever. 

Jack Odin had unslung his rifle as Gunnar, went forward. Now he knelt andtook aim at the swaying head that was rising above the dwarf. 

The sound of the shot was deafening. Its backbone drilled just beneath theskull, the snake dropped upon Gunnar, burying him beneath its writhingfolds. Then Gunnar was loose, and running to the boat. Above them the cliffwas groaning as though it were tired of hanging there. 

"Hurry, Nors-King, hurry! The rocks tremble. "

The snake's writhing tail still lay athwart the boat. Gunnar swung hissword and severed it. It slid into the water and something that was mostlytriangular teeth and mouth hit the water and seized it. Then it was gone, leaving a fading trail of froth and blood. 

The boat was half-full of water. Gunnar climbed in and Odin came rightbehind him. 

 * * * * *

Gunnar struggled with the controls. The boat sputtered, moved, and thenstopped. Odin was staring at the cliff above them. A huge layer of stonewas cracking and leaning outward. The boat came to life. Gunnar swung itcrazily through the rock-strewn water. 

Looking back, Jack Odin watched the cliff coming down. Slowly, as though ina dream, the cracks grew larger--and then with a roar of pain the rocksparted and one huge section of the wall leaned outward, tore itself loose, and came at them like a waterfall of rumbling stones. 

The rocks fell just a few feet short of the fleeing, sputtering boat. Thehuge wave that followed the settling of thousands of tons of stone into thewater swiftly picked them up and hurled them through one of the gaps in thesea-wall. 

Long after, while Odin was bailing water from the boat, and Gunnar wasfiddling with the motor that had conked out again, the dwarf looked back atthe cliff. It was shadowy now. Dust was still rising as it shook loose anoccasional, crumbling ledge. 

"Eh, Nors-King, we fight again, " the squat man laughed. "You saved Gunnar'slife once more--and you almost killed him, too. " He paused to wipe sweatfrom his dripping face. 

Odin grinned back at him. Then, without another word, he took up theexpensive rifle and let it slip overboard. The ammunition that cost him somuch trouble and pain as he lugged it all the way to Opal followed after. He watched the copper shells as they gleamed like a school of minnows andplunged out of sight. 

"There, Gunnar. I have nothing left to fight with but my hands. "

"Good-riddance to that thing, " Gunnar smiled. "I will make you a blade thatwill slice through an anvil. "

The motor coughed, sputtered--and began to purr. 

The boat churned a wide arc in the water as Gunnar turned it and headedtoward the Tower, which now loomed far ahead like a beacon. 

CHAPTER 5

As the boat sped over the water, leaving a churning wake behind it, JackOdin remembered that first sea-voyage he had made on the seas of Opal. Itwas June-time then, and Maya had been with him. Perhaps they had thoughtthat June would last forever. Perhaps they had thought that all of lifewould go by at five miles per hour. Remembering that slow, wonderfultrip--almost like a voyage in a dream--he sighed as he held on to theskipping boat. They were now going well over sixty. 

Gunnar seemed to sense his thoughts. "Wolden has ordered speed and morespeed, my friend, " he called over the roar of the motor. "The governors areall gone from the old machines. The smiths are turning out newer and fasterones all the time. Sometimes I think even the hands of the clocks are goingfaster. "

Odin muttered a curse. What he had loved about this world was its leisure. What he had hated about his own world above was its constantly increasingspeed. Like a squirrel caught in a cage, his world had gone faster andfaster until reality had vanished into a mad blur of turning wheels andrunning feet. Oh, well, he thought, a man is like a pup. Contented enoughuntil life takes him by the scruff of the neck and shakes him up and provesto him that things change and a pup's world changes and he had betteraccustom himself to new standards or be shaken up again. 

So they sped on through the low waves while the Tower loomed nearer andtaller before them. Gunnar was guiding with one hand while he talked intoa little square box of gleaming metal. 

He turned his head, and the boat careened into a trough that set it toshaking. "I have contacted Wolden and Ato, " he called cheerfully. "They aremeeting us at the dock. Not the old dock--it is still under water. The newone is farther up the street. "

 * * * * *

As they neared Orthe-Gard, Gunnar slowed the boat. Looking down into themurky water, Jack Odin could detect, now and then, the faintly-tracedshadow of a roof or tower. Once as he looked down at a finely-carvedweather-vane, a huge fang-fish rolled between him and his view. A whitebelly gleamed through the water, and a serrated mouth opened wide. Its jawsbent out of proportion by the refraction of the water, it reminded Odin ofthe old story of the Monster of Chaos rushing with gaping mouth to swallowthe works of men. 

Then they were at the dock, which was scarcely a dock at all but a placewhere the waters ended halfway up the sloping streets of the city. 

One thing had not changed. To the last the people of Opal refused to takepart in any governmental excitement. A car was there. A driver. Wolden wasthere looking much thinner and grayer. Beside him was his son, Ato, inchestaller and perhaps a bit thicker in the shoulders and a bit thinner at thewaist. These were all. 

He had nearly broken his neck half a dozen times to get there, but JackOdin was glad that the old idea had survived. Being reared so near toWashington, he had been puzzled for years over his country's mile-longprocessions and the spectacle of thousands rushing to watch a parade forsome visiting celebrity or some current politician who would be forgottenbefore the next snow. 

He and Wolden shook hands. Odin was surprised at the change in him. Whenlast seen, Wolden had been a man just leaving the prime of life. Toomuch of a brain, perhaps. A bit too curious and a bit too fearful of theaffairs of the world. But now the hand was weak--the face was thinnerand grayer, although even nobler than it had been, but the eyes were sadand pained as though they had seen too much and had dreamed dreamsbeyond the comprehension of his fellows. Somehow, Odin found himselfremembering a lecture about Addison, who probably knew as much as anyoneabout the hearts of men, but upon being made second-high man in hisgovernment could only stand tongue-struck in the presence of Parliament. 

Then there was Ato. The months had changed him too. He stood talland lean, and there was a deep line running from each cheekbone downhis face. He looked older, but his eyes were piercing now, while hisfather's were somber. Strife and hard work had sweated all the fat fromhis bones. He seemed much stronger than when Odin had first met him. But here was something more than strength. Ato had developed into afirst-class fighting man. Wolden could never have been a fighter. 

There was something both terrifying and sad in the comparison. Ato lookedlike a man who could calmly send a hundred-thousand to their deaths forone objective, while Wolden would have theorized and rationalized untilthe objective was lost. The old comparison between the impulsive executiveand the liberal arts man who has learned that there are only one or twopositive decisions available in all the world of thinking. 

But each in his own way was glad to see Odin, and welcomed him back to theruins of Opal. 

Then, just before the reunion was over, the clouds grew grayer and it beganto rain. As they got into the little car, Wolden told Odin that they wouldhave to circle the bay before going to the Tower on a ferry, since thelower stories were still under water. The city had once been beautiful withtrees. Now they stood like gaunt skeletons, drowned by the sea water. Hereand there a few limbs struggled to put out their leaves. The rain was cold, colder than Odin had ever felt in Opal before. He shivered, but there wassomething more than the cold dankness of the air to make him shiver. 

Then they came to the ferry, and the ferryman was so old and bent that Odinlooked twice at him to make sure that he wasn't one-eyed. He wasn't. So theferry creaked its way out to the Tower--to an improvised landing justbelow the sixth-story windows. They climbed through the windows into ahuge room that seemed to be carved of fairy-foam, and behind them the raingrew heavier and the thunder rolled in the distance and the lightningflashed like witch-fires across the jaded sky. 

 * * * * *

Three days had passed since Gunnar and Odin had returned to Opal. Doctor Jack Odin stretched out on a huge bed and felt the strength ofthe ultra-violet light upon the ceiling pour into his shoulders. Inthe next room, Gunnar was bathing and complaining about the sea water. Drinking-water in Opal was now at a premium. 

Odin had been in the dumps. Now he was feeling better, although memory ofthe sodden ruins that he had seen in the last three days would never leavehim. 

"And are you howling, my strong little man?" he called out cheerfully. "InKorea I once bathed in a mud puddle and enjoyed the bath. "

Gunnar's first few words were unprintable. "There was a river close to myhouse where the water ran silver over the stones of the ford. And thereGunnar used to bathe. This is slop, Nors-King. Nothing but slop. "

Odin laughed again. "You are getting old, Gunnar. Did anyone ever guaranteethat ford to you for always?"

Gunnar, dripping water, and with a towel wrapped around his middle, camedashing into the room. He stood there, his arms and shoulders flexed. "Anddoes Gunnar look too old to fight?" he asked. 

Odin blinked. Gunnar's muscular development had always amazed him. Theshort man stood an inch less than five feet. His chest and shoulders musthave measured more than that, his muscles writhed like iron snakes as hemoved. His biceps and forearms were those of a smith--which indeed Gunnarhad been, for Gunnar had been many things. The huge torso slanted down tonarrow waist and hips. Then his short legs propped him up like carvedthings of oak. Gunnar had once killed a bull with one blow of his fist. He had once snapped a man's back across those bulging, stubby thighs. 

 * * * * *

Gunnar disappeared in search of fresh clothing. Odin lay there, thinkingof all the things he had seen since returning to Opal. 

Although the water level was still high up on the Tower, the lower floorshad been made water-tight and had been pumped dry. On his first trip to theTower, Odin had little chance to survey the rooms. Now he knew something ofwhat Opal had lost. Curtains, paintings, rugs, statues, the finestfurniture. All these had been ruined or damaged by the flood. Each room ofthe Tower had been a work of art. Both Brons and Neeblings had contributedto it, back in the days when they were working shoulder to shoulder. 

In spite of his thoughts for Maya, he could not help thinking that theBrons had brought this on themselves. When they tried to put the Neeblingsin second place, that was when the bell had sounded. Even so, why had thissplendor been reduced to ruin? Oh, there were jewels that could besalvaged. And statues. But the Tower was a work of art from top to bottom. The finest lace. China as thin as paper. Paintings. These were gone. Onemight as well salvage Mona Lisa's eyes and swear that they were theoriginal. Higher up, where the water had not reached, the machines had beenstored along with other treasures. But Opal's best had been water-logged. 

And the trip that Odin had made with Wolden into the tunnel. That was themost heart-breaking of all. The Brons and the Neeblings had saved thetreasures from the warring civilizations of the world above. The statuescould be preserved. Some of the machines might possibly be restored. Butthe paintings, the art, and the books. All gone. Wolden especially mourneda Navajo sand-painting, which he compared to Goya. Not a trace was left ofit. 

Wolden had taken him into the tunnel, just as he had once before. It wasdripping now, and the sound of the pumps throbbed through the ruins likethe struggling heart of a wounded thing. Their little car moved slowlydown the old tracks. Occasionally it had to stop, where some disintegratingpile of treasures had spilled out. One sack of diamonds had broken. Woldenstopped and kicked the stones away. An ancient Ford, with its back seatpiled high with rotting and sprouting sacks of prize-winning oat seed, wasboth heart-breaking and ludicrous. 

The Brons and the Neeblings had been the true antiquarians of the world. And they had taken centuries to gather their collection. A dinosaurskeleton stared at them. The salvaged carved prow of a galleon leanedagainst a gaping whale's jaw. A model of the first atomic pile supported ascore of leaning spears, but the feathers and artwork on those spears werenow stains and shreds. An English flag, delicately embroidered, droopedbeside the dripping tatters of the Confederacy. A Roman eagle was liftedhigh beside the crudely beautiful banner of the Choctaws--on which Odincould barely make out the three arrows and the unstrung bow. 

 * * * * *

Chinese vases, thin as egg shells, most of them broken, lay in a tumbledpile beside ancient cradles and spinning wheels. 

A Neanderthal skull was staring hungrily at a twelve foot skeleton of agiant bird. And a restoration of a tiny little equus was looking up likean inquisitive mouse at a huge ruined painting by Rosa Bonheur. 

Thousands upon thousands of relics of the world above--some taken from thejetsam of the sea and others taken by exploring parties from Opal duringthose long glad years when the inner-world was as comfortable as Eden andalmost as happy. Gems by the millions, gold and silver coins, trappingsinlaid with diamonds, furs, silks, bone instruments and ivory carvings. AStradivarius was warping apart, and a Gutenberg was swollen to twice itssize, its moldy pages curling away from the parent-book. The books hadfared worse. Great stacks of leather-covered libraries were turning intomoldy, starchy mounds. Papyrus and lambskin scrolls were falling apart. Once, when they stopped for Wolden to thrust some moldy folds of Hinduthread-of-gold weaving from their path, Odin stopped and picked up thecover of a book. It was soggy and faded. But he could make out the title:"Poems by a Bostonian. "

So they had gone on, but slower now than on their first journey into thetunnel which led to the floor of the Gulf. An odor of dankness and decayhung over everything. The air was cold and damp. And everywhere were thefootprints and handprints of Death who had spared this galley for so long, but who had come back with his flashing scythe to claim his own. Thestinking carcass of a hammer head shark, washed in by the flood, laysprawled across the sodden sarcophagus of an Egyptian princess. 

And a gloomy sickness fell upon Jack Odin there in the tunnel as he thoughtof all the splendor that had died here, and the ages and ages of sweat andblood that had gone into these treasures. A thousand, thousand treasureswere trying to whisper their stories to him, but the dripping water wasdrowning them out. Thousands of men, some slaves and some kings, weretrying to tell him what the jewels and books, and swords and cradles hadmeant to them--but the drip-drip-drip of the water choked the echoes oftheir voices. The darkness that was ever crowding in seemed to be filledwith the shadows of beautiful women in fine laces, with flashing jewelsabout their throats, and pendants brushing their half-covered breasts. Theywere trying to smile out of the dark, but a cold fog was creeping from thewalls of the tunnel, settling about the shadows, and driving them back, farther and farther into all pervading nothingness. 

 * * * * *

Seeing his misery, Gunnar had clutched Odin's arm. "These were things ofthe past, Nors-King, and the things of the past belong to the old dragon. Let us not complain if he has taken them at last. We have things to do andwe cannot do them if we are sick at heart. Did I tell you that four of mychildren died in the flood?" The voice of the broad-shouldered dwarfsounded husky and far away. 

"No, Gunnar. You never told me. Indeed, old friend, I am sorry. Verysorry. And ashamed that I sit here mourning the past and forgetting yourtroubles. "

"Yes. They died. My Freida and the other three are coming here. And we willeat at the same table again--and I will tell them that their grand-sire andtheir great-grand-sires were men among men. And that Gunnar himself hasoften sat high at the councils. Then we will go out to find Grim Hagen--andFreida and the three will go back to rebuild the farm. For that is the wayof things--and as long as there are strong ones left to rebuild, Lokicannot altogether destroy us. "

The car moved slowly forward. The dismal fog grew heavier. Until at lastthey came to the place where the Old Ship had stood. 

Now there was a new ship taking form within its huge cradles. Lights wereeverywhere. The red lights of the forge. The blue lights of the weldingtorches, the white light of the workbenches. The yellow lights thatsurrounded the high scaffolds went up and up to the top of the hour-glassfigure. 

"This is our second, " Wolden explained. "Our first was much smaller. We had been working on a smaller model long before Grim Hagen gotambitious. Some of our scientists have already gone into space. We arein touch with them. They went quietly and noiselessly. There was no needfor all the destruction and havoc that Grim Hagen worked. But this modelis larger even than the Old Ship, and all the improvements that we oncedreamed of are here. You see, Odin, " Wolden continued, "the Old Shipwas ours for centuries. We of Orthe-Gard have exploring minds. We wentover the ship thousands of times. We knew where every bolt and pin waslocated. We improved it. In the beginning, when it brought our ancestorshere, it must have been comparatively slow. But during the past fortyyears we learned much from your scientists about space. Einstein wasthe only thinker in a century gone mad from bickering. About ten yearsago we perfected what I call The Fourth Drive. It would take days toexplain it, but it can throw a ship into Trans-Einsteinian Space. We hadequipped the Old Ship with the new invention. Our experimental ship wasso equipped. And this newer, larger one will also have The Fourth Drive. But we have made a few improvements at the last. "

 * * * * *

It was all too deep for Odin. And there was so much to see that he did notask any questions. 

Workers and smiths were everywhere. They crawled over the scaffolding likeants. They hammered and pounded at the framework. They were bent over thefurnaces and the anvils. The presses and the shapers were pounding away. Never before had Jack Odin seen so much activity in Opal. 

"We are wrecking our buildings for this ship, " Wolden mourned. "Given time, my experiments would have made worlds and space unnecessary. But it hasbeen voted that we go after Maya and punish Grim Hagen, even though wedrive to the edge of space. So be it. We are now building in weeks what itwould once have taken years to do. Those on our experimental ship who havealready gone out into space, they have helped us immensely. Daily theyreport the results of their tests to us. The good points--the bad ones--theimprovements. Oh, when this is finished it will be a greater ship than weever dreamed of. I did dream of such a ship when I was young. But now Ifind that I do not want it. Even so, I will go out among the stars. Woldenwas never a coward, nor his fathers before him. "

"So be it, " Odin answered and he leaned his head back and looked high up atthe scaffolding where the welders' torches flashed like stars. "So be it, Wolden. But I would have gone anyway. "

And Gunnar spoke: "I would have gone beside you. My sword is thirsty. "

High up on the hour-glass shape a bit of magnesium caught fire and burnedbrilliantly for a second, its sparks flashing out and down. A worker, whowas no more than a shadow, smothered the flame. 

The sparks drifted downward like lost suns seeking a course that they couldfind no more. They sparkled and burned. Then they winked out, and there wasnothing left upon the scaffolding but lancing flames and scurrying shadows. 

All about them now, the smiths were beating out old chanteys on the ancientanvils and the newer, clashing machines. 

CHAPTER 6

In the days that followed there was no time for rest. Thanks to thesmaller prototype which had already gone into space, no elaborate testswere required of the new ship. Moreover, the scientists had takencenturies to go over the Old Ship, bolt by bolt, part by part, wire bywire. Improvements had been made, but these had been incorporated intothe little prototype which was now successfully berthed within a cavernsomewhere on the moon. Over thirty men and women had gone with it. Wolden was constantly in touch with them and daily growing more enviousof their position. 

Odin knew little of such matters, but he sat daily at the council tablewhere progress reports and squawk-sheets were examined and discussed. Thespeed with which they were developing the new ship was amazing. There wasone innovation to be noted. 

Wolden referred to it as the Fourth Drive. Odin gathered that the Old Shiphad been equipped with such a drive, but new principles and new mechanicshad been added. Odin showed him a little book, which had been privatelyprinted in the world above some fifteen years before. It was entitled:"Einstein and Einsteinian Space, with Conjectures upon a Trans-Einsteinianconcept. " Wolden said it had been written by a young refugee from theNazis, and he doubted if over two or three copies of the manuscript werenow in existence. Memories of concentration camps, poverty, and theinternecine battles of the professors in a small college where the refugeewas an assistant in the Physics Department, had finally driven the poorfellow to suicide. 

"He was grasping at something new, " Wolden explained. "His concept was onlynascent. But such a mind! The book has been invaluable. Still, it isnothing but a starting point--but such a starting point!"

Time passed. It was like working in a dream, where no sooner was one taskdone than another was ready. Odin ached. His head spun with all theinformation that Wolden had given him--the basic principles behind thosemachines that had gone into the ship. 

Then, at last, it was finished. A young girl who reminded him of Maya washoisted up on a scaffold to the highest bulge of the hour-glass shapedcraft. Workers and visitors stood below by the thousands while she spokeinto a tiny microphone and swung a ruby-colored bottle against the ship. 

"You are christened The Nebula, " she cried. "Go out into space--"

They had used a bottle of red wine for the christening. A shower ofruby-glass and winedrops came sprinkling down. They fell slowly--like dropsof blood, and the onlookers, who were by nature opposed to crowds, began todisperse. 

"That girl, " Odin grasped Gunnar's arm "Who is she?"

Gunnar looked at him curiously. "Her name is Nea. A distant cousin ofMaya's. Also, a distant cousin to Grim Hagen. "

Nothing else was said. But Odin suddenly realized that since the day he hadbeen unwillingly carried back to the world above in the elevator he had notnoticed any girl at all. 

That night Jack Odin could not sleep, although he had never slept more thanfive hours at a time since returning to Opal. Getting up he found a littleradio and turned it to a frequency which occasionally caught some of thestations above. A hill-billy band was playing, and a comic was singing:"So I kissed her little sister and forgot my Clementine. "

He turned off the radio with a curse and finally got to sleep, and dreamedof star spaces and emerald worlds ruled by beautiful Brons girls who lookedlike Maya--or maybe a bit like Nea. Until the worlds streaked across thedark sky like comets. And Gunnar was shaking him by the arm and a streakof light was coming in at the window. 

"Ho, sluggard. We start to load the ship today. How long have you waitedfor this? We were going to savor each moment, remember! And you lie herelike a turtle in the sun. "

Odin yawned. "The lists are ready. Everything is packed. I, myself, havechecked the lists. "

Gunnar laughed. "How much time have your people spent checking lists?You are the world's best list-checkers. And the worst. I wish we werejust a handful of warriors going out for a fight. But whole families arecoming along. Apparently the Brons intend to sow their seed among thestars. And with families. I'll wager that your lists are not worth adarning needle. Something will be left behind. A slice of some bride'swedding cake. Little Nordo's favorite toy. Papa's best pocket-knife. Mama's button-box. " The strong little man made a wry face. "Bah, this isno trip for families. They want too much. They are never satisfied. Withwarriors it is much different. They can take things as they are andgrumble a bit--or if they grumble too much, Gunnar can slap them silly. But families--on a trip like this. No!"

"Well, they're going, " Odin retorted. "From what I hear, you were the onlyone who voted against them. So you had better get ready to listen to thepatter of little feet, and squalling babies, and Mamas and Papas arguingover whose idea it was to make the trip anyway. "

"Oh, well, it does not matter. I am not of the Brons, but I go becauseof a promise. " Gunnar shrugged and his face appeared sad and seamed. "My Freida and the boys will be here today. I want you to meet them. Ihave spent over half my days a-wandering, Jack Odin, but now I have asick feeling inside me. And I think to myself if I could go back to thefarm with Freida and the boys, I could work there, and die an old, oldman--as my father and his father did before me. But the wanderlust isheavy upon me. Freida understands. And I swore that I would go afterGrim Hagen--and after Maya. But this way, I die up there among the starssome day, and no one unless it be you and Maya will think of Gunnar. "

Odin slapped his arm across Gunnar's shoulders. "You are chief among theNeeblings. Stay here with your family. I will go out there to the stars, and I will always remember Gunnar. Faith, man, you owe us nothing. Thedebts are ours--"

But Gunnar shook his head. "I swore by my sword. And I go. "

 * * * * *

A few hours later, they stood at the water's edge and waited for Freida andthe boys. It was not long before a boat hove into sight. And soon Gunnarwas helping Freida and the three sons upon the landing. 

Family meetings always made Odin ill at ease. He stood there, shuffling hisfeet. 

Freida was a short, broad woman, with big breasts and broad hips. Her eyes, the palest blue, were still beautiful. Odin guessed that when she was youngher face had matched her eyes. But the face was worn and the hand that sheoffered him was calloused. She was dressed in linsey-woolsey, and theoveralls of the three sons were also home-spun. 

The three lads, miniature copies of Gunnar, stood there solemnly. Each worea new straw hat with a black and red band around it. They were barefooted. Odin guessed that the hats had been bought special for the occasion. 

 * * * * *

For the next three days Odin was kept busy by Ato. There were amillion things to go on the ship. The Brons had done a wonderful jobof warehousing. All was packaged and tagged. A place for each box ormachine was already marked and numbered on the prints of The Nebula. The tunnel had been cleared for two lanes of trucks and tractors. Steadily the line of laden cars moved down to the ship and steadilyanother line came back for more supplies. 

Odin was assigned to superintend one of the warehouses, and he was bothannoyed and pleased to find that the girl Nea was his assistant. She wasa hard worker and pleasant enough, though she said little to him. And theonly time he saw her flustered was when she ordered a young man of theBrons out of the building. Jack felt a bit sorry for the fellow. He wasscarcely out of his teens and was all shook up because Nea was going outthere into space instead of staying here in Opal with him. 

So the work went on at a furious pace, and before he realized that threedays had gone he was back at the improvised docks with Gunnar and hisfamily. 

The parting was a quiet one. Gunnar told the boys to mind their motherand not stay out late at night. "Get strong muscles on your legs andshoulders, " he told them. "A man is not too good at thinking, and he neverknows what will happen next. The muscles will keep him going, and afterthe muscles are gone a fighting heart will carry him a little farther. "

No tears were shed. They talked of little things, and laughed at old jokesthat Gunnar's grandfather had told them. One of those family jokes thatnever seem very funny to an outsider. 

After that, Freida worked the conversation around to the voyage that Gunnarwould soon be making. 

"They say it is cold out there, " she ventured cautiously. 

"Oh, yes. Very cold. " Gunnar agreed. 

"Then you wrap up good, Gunnar. We wouldn't want you to have a chill. "

Gunnar scoffed, "I never had a chill in my life. "

"Oh, such talk. Don't pretend to be so big. I have nursed you through manya chill. " Then she produced her parting gift--a muffler that would haveswathed poor Gunnar from chin to belt. 

"You promise you wear this if it gets cold, " she urged. 

"I tell you, mama, I don't need such things. You don't know how tough oldGunnar is. "

"Yes, I know. You promise to wear the muffler--"

Gunnar took it as he cast a sheepish look at Odin. "All right. All right. I'll take it--"

After Freida's boat had disappeared, Gunnar tried to joke about themuffler. But he was a bit proud of it too, and put it around his neck. Theends almost brushed the ground, but it was so warm that he soon had to rollit up and carry it with him. 

The two went for a meal. But Gunnar ate little, grumbling at the food. Once he assured Odin that he had never had a chill in his life--that Freidawas too thoughtful about him--

"Sure. Sure. " Odin agreed. 

Then, finally, Gunnar cleared his throat and spoke the things that were inhis mind. 

"Friend Odin, " he began, looking down at his plate as though he expected tosee an answer there. "I fear that I have seen my family for the last time. We are in for a trip beyond the dreams of men. Beyond Ragnarok--to the edgeof the night where the mad gods make bonfires of worn-out suns--where spaceitself serves the mad squirrel. "

Gunnar paused to mutter a few words to himself and then looked up at Odinwith the old smile on his broad face. "Oh, well, a man must go as far ashis heart will take him--"

 * * * * *

But for all his big talk, Gunnar tossed and muttered that night. And once, Odin heard him cry out--"So, Hagen, the stars swing right at last, and youare mine for the taking. Oh, my lost little boys and my lost little girl--"

And Gunnar, the strong one, sobbed in his sleep. 

 * * * * *

The ship was loaded at last. The time for departure was near. The crew ofThe Nebula--over two hundred men, women and children--went quietly into thetunnel. Thousands of relatives and friends had come to the Tower to seethem off. There was little weeping though most of the faces were sad andlined. 

Ato and Wolden had some last words with the captains who were working uponthe rebuilding of Opal. 

"We can talk to you from the moon, " Wolden was saying. "Beyond that, whenwe swing into the Fourth Drive, we cannot. May your work prosper. "

The last man had filed up the ramp to the sphere at the center of thehour-glass shaped craft. The door was finally closed and sealed. 

There were no portholes in the Nebula. But at least a dozen screens weremounted at convenient locations. These showed the outside world as clearlyas a window. 

The ship moved along its rails to the Great Door. The door opened. Thenit closed behind them. The second door--the one that opened upon thesea--slowly parted and slid back into the walls of the tunnel. The waterpoured in. For a second or two, all that Odin could see was swirlingbubbling water. Then water was all around them. Seaweed still swirled inmad little whirlpools. A fish swam close to an outside scanner, and seemedto peer closer and closer at them until there was only one great staringeye upon the screen. Then it flirted its tail at them and sped away. 

The ship moved on. Far out upon the floor of the Gulf, it paused. Therewere twenty minutes of last-minute checking. 

Then, swiftly, as a cork bobs upward, the Nebula arose through the partingwaters. 

Then the sea was below them and they were still rising. The scanner showedthe sea receding. They were looking down at a segment of a curved world. Far away was land, and Odin saw two dark specks in the distance which hethought were Galveston and Houston. The world below them became half of asphere that filled the viewer. And then it was a turning globe, growingsmaller and smaller. As it diminished, the stars winked out on the screen'sbackground. 

The sensation of rushing upward was no worse than being in a fast elevator. And yet, as Odin watched the earth recede, he realized that they must haverisen from the water at a speed much faster than a bullet. 

Soon the earth appeared no larger than a basketball. The viewers werechanged. The moon appeared upon it--a growing sphere, with its mountainsand craters all silver and black in the reflected light. 

Wolden turned to Odin. "See how it is done. We left there quietly. Not adrop of water entered Opal. We left so fast that I doubt if your world evennoticed us. Grim Hagen always loved the sensational. There was no need forthe havoc that he made--"

In less than an hour, the onrushing moon filled the screens. And withscarcely a quiver of excitement the Nebula circled it swiftly--and landed. 

CHAPTER 7

Wolden and Ato, acting as pilot and co-pilot, set The Nebula down with asmuch ease as a housewife putting a fine piece of china upon the drainboard. 

There was no fuss and no noise. Jack Odin had seen B-47's come in with agreat deal more hubbub and dithers than the Nebula had caused. 

The screens were still on. Out there all was dark, and a wealth of starswas in the purple-black sky. They seemed larger and brighter. Woldentouched a knob and the stars on the screen before them slowly grew largerand larger. "An astronomer's paradise, " he said to Odin. "Look closely andyou can see Centauri's binary suns. Here, with no refraction, a smalltelescope can do as well as the best that your people have made. There isno telling what your large ones could do. Ah, the riddles that could beanswered. "

Odin shrugged. Like almost everyone else, he had often fancied how it wouldbe to land on the moon. Now he was here, and the surface of the moon wasblacker than the blackest night he had ever seen. Moreover, there had beenno change in gravity. The Nebula had been built to take care of that. 

As though sensing his thoughts, Wolden began to explain. "We are less thanfifty miles from a spot where the earth could be seen. Not over a degreebelow the curvature. In fact, if the moon were full, there would be a bitof light here, for a strong light playing upon any globe always lights upover half of it. We are not far from the Heroynian Mountains and the Bay ofDew. Just a few miles within that other side of the moon which none of yourpeople have ever seen before. "

Odin remembered Jules Verne's account of a volcano spouting its last breathof life in that zone, but out there was nothing but the dark and the starsthat smoldered like sapphires, rubies, and diamonds upon a black velvetsky. There were no shadows. The darkness was solid, as though it had frozenthere since old and no spark had ever invaded it. 

"Be patient, my friend, " Wolden had sensed his thoughts again. "Beforelong, you will see more of the moon than men have ever known. We sent asmaller ship into space. Remember! Our scientists are here. In a placebeyond your dreams. Look. They are coming now. "

Wolden was adjusting the screen again. Far off, something like a longjointed bug with a single glaring light in its head was crawling towardthem. 

It drew nearer. Jack Odin saw that it was no more than a huge caterpillartractor with several cars attached, armored and sheathed with sort of abellows-type connection at each joint. As it neared the Nebula, it playedits light around so that Odin got his first glimpse of the moon. Barren, worn, cindered. An ash-heap turned to stone. Puddles and splashes shapedlike great crowns, as though liquid rock had congealed at the very heightof its torment. Needles of rock, toadstools of rock, bubbles of rock, andglassy sheets of rock--this was the surface of the moon. 

Then the crawling tractor with its cars lumbering along behind it on theirendless tracks was below them and playing its single light upward. 

 * * * * *

An air-lock in the Nebula opened and a huge hose came slowly down. Odinwatched it on the screen. It seemed to have been pleated and shovedtogether like an accordion. Now it opened out in little jerking movements, extending itself about two feet at each writhing twitch. As it grew longerit expanded and was nearly three feet across when it reached the top of thefirst car. A round door opened. Unseen hands reached the end of the bighose and fastened it securely. 

Odin had often dreamed of landing on the moon. There, in the traditionalspace-suit, with a plastic bubble about his head, he would leap twenty feetinto the air, and maybe even turn a somersault as a gesture of man's escapefrom the tiring tyranny of gravity. Compared to this dream, his arrivalupon the moon was just a bit ridiculous. He and over a score of otherssimply slid down the inside of the long, slanting hose like a group ofthird-graders practicing on the fire-escape at the school house. 

 * * * * *

Larger than the others, Odin landed awkwardly upon the floor of the car. Before he could jump aside, another passenger piled upon him. It was agirl, and the perfume in her hair was the same that Maya had always used. He helped her to her feet and drew her aside just as another voyager camesliding down. The girl was Nea. Somehow, he had an odd feeling that Mayawas here. He was just a bit annoyed at Nea, and wished to himself that shewasn't making the trip. She shook her black curls and thanked him softly. 

"How awkward of me, " she explained. "It wouldn't have happened if I had notbeen carrying this--"

She held up a little round satchel. It was exactly like the cases thatpeople used in his country for carrying bowling balls. Odin was puzzled. And he assured himself that he would never understand women. Why wouldthe girl be carrying a bowling ball with her into outer space?

Odin joined Wolden, Ato, and Gunnar in the "engine" of the bumpy littletrain. Here were real windows of quartz, and he could see more of themoon's surface as the tractor and its jointed cars wheeled about in agreat circle and headed off in the direction from whence it had come. 

Once there was a loud _Ping_ upon the roof above them. The tractor shook. 

"A meteorite, " the driver explained. "They're thick tonight. Don't worry. There's a screen upon the roof that slows them down and melts 'em. Thelarger ones never reach us. Some of the tiny ones get through. "

They came to a sheer mountain which in the beams of the tractor looked likea silver pyramid painted across a jet-black canvas. 

As though answering an unheard vibration, a door opened and they lumberedin. The door closed behind them. For a moment they were in such darknessthat even the beam from the tractor seemed alien. Then another door startedto open before them and a widening shaft of light was there to greet them. 

Odin was thinking that each race must have some craft at which it excelsall others. If so, then the building of air-locks was certainly the Brons'highest art. 

Then they advanced into a cavern where five tiny atomic suns were strungout at equal distances upon the ceiling. The cavern was geometrical. Roughly, it was a mile long, half a mile wide, and half a mile high. Thefloor was smooth; the walls were sheer. "As though they had been shaped byhuman hand, " Odin thought, but he soon learned that other hands hadsheered those walls. 

In the very middle of the cavern was a little lake, shaped in the sameproportion as the floor. It was surrounded by green grass, and at onecorner was a profusion of water-lilies and cat-tails. There were no trees, but flowers were everywhere. A few small bushes. Here and there were greatclumps of vines. Odin guessed them to be wild cucumber and trumpet vines, for they had grown riotously. 

It was beautiful indeed, but there were other things to catch the eye. Atleast a hundred hemispheres--little igloos of porcelain--were scatteredabout the floor of the cave. Each one was a different color. They shimmeredand glittered. Scarlet, mauve, mother-of-pearl, the blue Capri, and theblue of cobalt. Pinks, yellows, oranges. Every possible shade had gone intothose porcelain igloos. And the lighted walls of the cavern were coveredfrom floor to ceiling with numberless figures, marching, fighting, working, playing. At first, Odin thought it was a vast procession of armored knightswith huge chests and closed visors. But none of them stood completelyerect--and each of them had two sets of arms. 

Straining his eyes at the windows to look up, Odin learned that the vastceiling was completely covered by similar figures. 

In contrast to these was one huge tower of rough stone which Odin guessedto be new. 

So they came to the moon, and disembarked. And at last Odin felt thelightened pull of the moon's gravity. He felt so free that he laughed andleaped into the air and turned a somersault just as he had dreamed ofdoing. Then one of the Brons' scientists gave him a heavy pair of shoes--asif to remind him that no man can be altogether free. 

As he glumly strapped the heavy shoes to his feet, Jack thought ofsomething his father had told him: "No man was ever really free, unless itwas Robinson Crusoe. Then Friday showed up and became Crusoe's servant, andCrusoe's freedom flew away. "

 * * * * *

Forty-eight hours had passed since they came to the cavern. Odin andGunnar had gone with Wolden to visit the Scientist who had led the firstexpedition to the moon. The Scientist, whose name was Gor, was explaining:"--They were hardly out of the Iron Age. That was how we found this place. Our instruments detected a surplus of iron in this area. They must havedeveloped fast--for life did not last long. Insectival, beyond a doubt. Also, they had what we call The Moon Metal. Their houses, practicallyeverything they used, are made of that. It must have been an accident. Incooling, the moon spewed this new alloy out upon its surface. Yes, it lookslike porcelain--but it is as hard as steel. It has strange vibrations. They had musical instruments--although they may have produced tinglingvibrations instead of sound. When these people saw that all was lost, theyretreated here and closed the cave. 

"For over a thousand years, theirs was an economy of death and rottenness. Mushrooms and toadstools were their food. Banks of rotting mushrooms madetheir light. Also, it appears they had some rocks which gave out a dimglow. Even their dead went to feed the mushrooms. And so they lived. Withtime on their hands they covered the walls with paintings. Also, we thinkthey must have developed their music to a high degree--though we may neverknow about that. Then their water and air gave out and they died. "

 * * * * *

Good heavens, Odin thought, what a cold-blooded obituary for any race!

"And so, Wolden, " the Scientist continued, "it has worked out well. We werelucky to find this spot. We fashioned the two doors first, for the cave wasopen when we reached it--I think a meteor must have crashed here long afterthese people died. After that, it was easy to build the lights and to drawmoisture and air from the rocks. We have struck a balance now. I said allalong that it could be done, if we could escape the constant interferencefrom those ruffians above us--uh, Odin, I beg your pardon. "

Odin always resented these cracks at his people so he ignored the requestby asking another question. "But how did you do all this in so short atime? Those vines look like they have been growing for years. "

"Just as they do in Alaska during the growing season. We kept our sunsburning all the time. Soon we may be able to afford both day and night, butnot yet. 

"And after that, " the Scientist went on, "we were able to get back to yourwork on the Time-Space Continuum. We have made some wonderful advances. Iwould like to show you--but Gunnar and Odin, I am boring you. "

"Wouldn't you care to look at the new lake?" Wolden urged. 

"I can take a hint, " Gunnar grumbled. "Nobody wants a fighting man aboutuntil the swords are flashing--"

As Odin and Gunnar went down the front steps of the tower, they met thegirl Nea. She was swinging the bowling-ball-shaped satchel at her side. 

When they greeted her, Odin felt that he could hold back his curiosity nolonger. "Are you a bowler, Miss Nea?" he asked. 

"A bowler!" Then she laughed a silvery laugh. "Oh, no. This is an inventionof mine. My father and I were working on it. He died in the tunnel when itwas flooded. " For a second her dark eyes appeared infinitely sad. Then shelaughed again. "But it is not perfected. It may not ever be perfected now. I thought that perhaps Wolden and Gor might help me with it. "

Gunnar muttered some words that might be roughly interpreted as "FatChance" and he and Odin left the girl on the steps. 

As they walked around the little lake which was as smooth as a mirror, Gunnar explained. "Her mother was a cousin to Maya's mother. You know howthe Brons number their kin to the seventh generation. Her father was one ofthe Scientists. A brilliant man--but a poor provider. However, he diednobly. Remember, Nors-King, Nea's branch of the family is a strange group. They have done brilliant things, but they have thought up some hare-brainedschemes, too. As I said before, she is also kin to Grim Hagen--"

Another day had passed. The voyagers had been summoned to a council hallwithin the tower. A screen was set up for the convenience of those who hadbeen left upon the Nebula. 

Wolden arose to speak. "My friends, a troubled question has entered mymind. As you know, I am a man of peace. My entire life has been spent indeveloping theories upon what I call this subject before me. I had thoughtit to be something that could be developed within three generations--if wewere left at peace. But we were not left at peace. And I accepted yourdecision that we go forth into space and find Grim Hagen. But now I havelearned new things. This discovery of the Moon Metal has advanced my workby fifty years. Gor here has advanced it farther. We are upon the brink ofperfecting my life's work. Now, I ask that I be relieved of command. Look, you have my son Ato. A much better commander than I could ever be. Let mestay here with my work, I beg of you. "

So the votes were taken, following a century-old ritual. Wolden wasrelieved of command and Ato was given his place. 

Hours later Gunnar and Odin sat with Ato in his quarters, making somelast-minute decisions. 

There was a knock at the door. Wolden entered, carrying a strange-lookingslug-horn that glimmered like mother-of-pearl. "I want you to take thiswith you, " he begged his son. "It is made of the Moon-Metal. I think I knowits secret now. A vibration that defies a vacuum. I hope to perfect mywork, but I may not. Here, " he offered the tiny horn to his son. "Blow itif you need me. It is soundless, but it defies time and space just as mywork does. I carry a ring to match it. I may not succeed. But blow it whenyou need me, son, and if I can I'll be there--"

Tears were in the eyes of both when Ato took the slug-horn from his father. 

CHAPTER 8

At their request, eight couples and their children were brought from TheNebula to the cavern. For the crew of the first ship had been old men--andthe cavern had never known a child's laughter. 

Then Ato led his group back to the moon's surface. 

As a little conveyor belt hoisted him through the tube into the centralcore of the ship, Jack Odin found himself worrying a bit about Nea. She haddecided to go on with them. Due to her experimental interests, Jack hadsupposed that she would stay with Wolden. But there she was, still carryingthat perplexing case of hers. Quiet and sad-eyed, a little smaller thanMaya, her face a little sharper, she still looked so much like Maya thatOdin couldn't get his thoughts away from her. 

 * * * * *

There was one last period of final check-outs. Then Ato gave the signal, standing lean and tall in the control room, with a tight belt about hisnarrow waist, and Wolden's slug-horn fastened securely to it. 

The Nebula leaped toward the star-studded skies. 

Odin watched the moon disappear below them. Mars with its canals and mossydeserts loomed ahead--swerved aside, and was behind them, Jupiter with itsred clouds and its protean "eye" reached out for them and was left behind. The planets became smaller. They winked at them and cheered them on with afar halloo. Then Pluto loomed ahead, lost and forgotten up there in thenight. And to Odin's surprise, one last tiny planet, frozen to the colorof a moonstone, looked at them like a dead thing that could not evenremember life--and asked them what they were--and wearily bade themgoodbye. 

When the planets were no more than seed-pearls floating in the vast behindthem, Ato gave the signal for all to make ready. There was a scurryingaboard ship for couches and over-stuffed chairs. And after the warning bellhad ceased clanging, Ato muttered to Odin and Gunnar: "This has been testedenough. It ought to work. "

With one last shrug of his lean shoulders, Ato pulled the lever that threwthem into the Fourth Drive. 

The stars and the planets became streamers of light. They burst likesky-rockets and a million sparks fell into the void. The sparks winked outand the ship hurtled on through a darkness that seemed to take form beforethem. It was as though they burrowed through swathes of black cotton. 

Once before, Jack Odin had experienced a feeling akin to this. It wasthe time when he had used Ato's belt, and Gunnar had flung him into spaceas though he had been a minnow at the end of a snapping line. But thatexperience had been momentary. This built itself up--until Odin felthimself expanding and contracting at each pulse beat. His heart seemedto beat slower and slower. Waves of smothering pain struck him when theypassed the speed of light. Then the pain diminished. He gasped for air, and it seemed to take years to reach his chest. The pain and the feelingof speed went slowly away. They were merely drifting now, as though in adream, with a feeling of high exhilaration flooding over him. He rememberedfeeling that way once as a boy when a heavy storm had passed, taking itswracks of clouds with it, and the sinking sun had come out to turn all thetrees to emeralds. 

And now, beyond life, and beyond death, with eternity curving like arainbow of light around them, they dashed on and on into the unknown. 

Time did not exist. Space had a new concept. Speed was something thatadvanced them. It was little more than a sensation until Alpha Centauribegan to loom larger upon their screens. From their vantage point inTrans-Einsteinian space, it did not look like a star at all. It was twointertwined circular spirals of light, and at the intervals where thetwo coils met were little nodules of gold. 

The crew was given instructions on the anticipated sensations that wereto follow. 

"It will be like plunging back from immortality to mortality, " Ato toldOdin. "Over four years have passed, as light is measured. We have noteaten more than twenty meals. "

He pulled the lever that slowed them out of the Fourth Drive intothree-dimensional space. There was the same sickening sensation whenthey dropped lower than the speed of light. And, braking all thewhile, they zoomed swiftly down upon the binary suns and their sevenworlds. 

 * * * * *

Odin had been watching the screens for three hours. He felt sick and oldover the things that he had seen. Seven worlds--all blackened and burnedout. Life had been there, but what form of life only Grim Hagen might havetold them. They were cindered--their atmosphere, which had not been oxygen, had burned away. Ato's probing instruments found neither liquid nor gas. His screens found an occasional shattered city, where broken spires reachedtwisted fingers into the vacant sky. 

Ato was watching the needles upon another machine. "The Old Ship has beenhere. What happened I do not know. They may have defied Grim Hagen. Maybethey refused to join him. Certainly, in all the worlds, billions of them, there must be many where conflict and submission are unknown. These peoplemight not have been able to understand Grim Hagen's ultimatum. They mayhave died trying to figure out what the strange voice from the sky wastalking about. On the other hand, he may not have given them an ultimatumat all. This may have been a practice assault--like Hitler's attack uponPoland, just to see how much death could be inflicted. We shall neverknow. "

They flashed away into space. Ato threw them into the Fourth Drive again. And once more the lights from the far-off stars circled like fireflies. And eternity curved in a rainbow of light about them. 

 * * * * *

Hours no longer existed, but it seemed to Jack Odin that many hours passedwhile he tried to get that sick, cold feeling out of his chest. Timecrawled by while he tried to resolve his thoughts. Perhaps Wolden had beenright. Men did not belong here. Man and Brons were orphans of the stars. Was there some element upon the earth that made them vicious? Was there anyway that they could come out here into space on equal terms with livingthings? Or must they always come as conquerors, eager to fight, or refugeeswho soon became resentful of the natives. Would the worlds out there becomemere plundered planets with a portion of the aborigines' land grudginglyset apart for reservations?

Of course, Grim Hagen was a Bron--one of the worst of them. But Bronsand men had lived so close together for so long that there was littledifference between them. Odin knew some men who, given the ship andthe weapons, would have done as Grim Hagen had done. And would havearrogantly demanded a medal, besides. 

Oh, well, there was no sense in staying in the doldrums forever. Outthere, time was on the side of the stars. If a demon of discord stole in, time could wait--

They readied themselves for combat. Ato's instruments were probing spacefor a sign of the Old Ship. The ancient weapons and some new ones werenow in place. Each man took his turn at practice. 

But Gunnar, although he was put in charge of one of the needle-nosed guns, took the service lightly. In his spare time he busied himself with his andOdin's swords. 

"Grim Hagen has all of these. We have defenses for such weapons. So hasGrim Hagen. The total of all such endeavor will be zero. And then, when thechips are down, it will be the old swords and the knives and the strongarms. Wait and see--"

However, Odin soon learned that there was one new weapon aboard ship. Atthe request of Nea, Ato called a meeting of his ten captains. 

The girl was dressed neatly in a white skirt and blouse. She wore a redribbon in her hair. Odin had not known her to take any interest in clothes. Ordinarily she was the poorest dressed woman on the ship. 

Now, she produced her invention with a proud toss of black curls and aflush of excitement on her pale face. 

"My father's work is finished, " she told them proudly. "The Scientist backthere within the moon gave me the last idea. But, all in all, it is myfather's invention. Had he lived, he would have perfected it. Just as Ihave done. " Her eyes flashed. "Yes, some who are within this room thoughtthat he wasted his time away. He washed beakers in the labs because some ofyou said that he produced nothing--"

Ato's face was thin. "Nea, the past is behind us. Why carry your resentmentwith you? Your father died a hero's death. We have honored him. "

Again Nea's dark eyes flashed. "Oh, once he was dead you thought very wellof him. And as for resentment, isn't this whole trip being made because youresent Grim Hagen--"

Ato's face was growing darker. "You signed the ship's articles, Nea. We goto rescue our friends and loved ones. We go as a police force to punish onewho has done much evil--"

A grizzled Bron nodded in agreement. "Yes, Nea, this talk serves nopurpose. Get along with your invention. "

"Very well. I asked for a live thing, but Ato would not agree. "

Again Ato was on the defensive. "There are not a dozen pets on the ship. Ido not approve of such experiments. Besides, the batteries are already setup. " He pointed to a row of dry-cells, connected together and wired to alarge volt-meter upon the wall. 

"All right. " Nea threw a switch that put the batteries in circuit. Theneedle of the gauge moved over to its farthest point. "Now, " she told them. "You shall see. But be still. I am sure I can control it--"

Odin thought there was just a bit of doubt in her voice. If so, it wouldonly be natural. 

She opened the case and took out something which still looked to Jack Odinlike a bowling ball--except that it was studded with little brads of copperand a swatch of fine, silky wires was wrapped around it. 

She pressed a button upon its surface. It began to hum. Slowly it rose intothe air. The silky wires drooped down. They writhed and probed about. 

"This is as near as man has ever come to making a living thing, " Neaexplained. "It moves. It reacts to sensations. It makes its own energy. Watch!"

Slowly the globe with its trailing tentacles moved about the room. Itwhined hungrily when it found the batteries. It hovered above them andthe silky wires fanned out. Then it darted down. The wires felt overthe batteries and their connections--softly--eagerly. The whine changedto a purr of enjoyment. The thing fed. And slowly the pointer upon thevolt-meter moved over to zero. 

 * * * * *

Nea raised a tiny whistle to her mouth. There was no sound, but thecopper-studded globe seemed to hear. It raised itself back into the air. The silken wires wrapped themselves about the round body. It came back toNea--slowly--almost defiantly--and settled into her arms like a plump catreturning to a doting mistress. 

Nea pressed the button again and put it back into its case. 

"Wonderful, " Ato applauded. "I move that we give Nea a vote of thanks. "

"But what earthly good is it?" Gunnar asked. "I could have swatted it witha broom. "

"And you would have died. " Nea turned upon him like a tigress. "It feedsupon electricity and it can discharge a lightning bolt. Don't you see?There are few weapons that can resist it. But that is not all. In your ownbrain, Gunnar, there is a charge of electricity. It may be the only reallife that you have within you. This can take it all away. That was why Iasked for a live thing to demonstrate--"

The grizzled Bron who had spoken once before now laughed good-humoredly. "Demonstrate it on Gunnar, " he suggested. 

"And I will thump your skull--" Gunnar was ready to go for him, but Odingrabbed the little giant's arm. 

"He jokes. Besides, you are ruining the girl's show. This means much toher. "

Nea gave him a grateful glance. The council voted their thanks to Nea anda tribute to her father. She was assigned a half-dozen helpers to fashionas many of the globes as she could. They adjourned. 

 * * * * *

As The Nebula drove on, it became harder and harder for Odin to judgetime. He could only gauge it by some event such as the council meetingand say "before this" or "after that. "

He and Gunnar were with Ato in the control room when suddenly warningbells began to jangle and red lights flashed on and off. 

Ato adjusted the largest screen. And there, slowly revolving like anhour-glass of gold amid uprushing sparks of sun and flame, was The OldShip. 

Ato pointed to a bright star. "Aldebaran. They are headed there. "

His voice was shaking just a bit when he called into the speaker: "Battlestations, everyone!"

Gunnar took off for the needle-nosed instrument which he had grown to hate. Odin stood by to help with the screens. 

"Watch forward now!" Ato warned. "Sight at thirty degrees above the equatorof The Nebula. Adjust for Doppler--X over Y. We have him on the screensnow. This means that he can get a fix on us. Careful now--"

As he watched the screen, Jack Odin saw three tiny sparks leap from GrimHagen's ship. They danced toward them, growing as they came. At first theywere blue, but as they filled the screen, almost hiding the Old Ship fromhis vision, they changed to amber and topaz. 

Bells and klaxons shrieked their warnings. 

Ato watched and waited. Just as the three growing lights filled the screenhe touched a lever. The Nebula danced away. Breathless, Jack Odin alteredthe screens and watched the three globes of flame hurtle past them. 

Far away now, they slowed like living things, puzzled at having lost theirprey. 

Slowed they merged together--

And turned back upon their quarry!

CHAPTER 9

The three sunlets of flame merged together and dripped yellow blobs oflight into the darkness. They grew into a great soap bubble that turnedto topaz. 

Like something moving in a dream it gained upon The Nebula, until itwas pacing beside them--a little larger now and still growing--dwarfingthem and filling half the screen. 

A shadow--no, two shadows--were growing within it, Odin tried tomake them out. But they were dark and wavering. Still, they lookedsomething like a high priest standing above a prone victim stretchedout upon some sacrificial altar. 

Odin was working the screens like mad. Keeping their entire crew beforehis and Ato's eyes and at the same time watching the topaz bubble. 

The bubble cleared. Over the loudspeakers came Grim Hagen's shriek ofwild laughter. 

Odin turned another knob and the bubble loomed larger. 

Grim Hagen stood there, one lean hand rubbing his chin as he laughed atthem. 

And the figure lying prone upon a couch beside him was swathed by a sheetwhich came almost to its eyes. But the shadows were leaving the bubble now. And Odin saw that it was Maya. Asleep. Statuesque. Like a carving upon atomb--but it was Maya. 

Then he cried out in alarm. For upon another screen he saw Gunnar and hiscrew swing their weapon into action. Shell after shell of greenish fireburst about the globe. Green flame thrust out tiny rootlets that crawledover it, outlining it in garish light. Another shell seemed to burst uponGrim Hagen's chest, tearing the bubble of light apart. And as Jack watched, horrified and sick, the shards of flame came back together. And there wasthe globe again--with Grim Hagen and Maya as whole as ever. And a greenstreak of fire--one of Gunnar's misses--went careening off into space untilit shrank to a pinpoint of light and then vanished. 

At a signal from Ato, the firing stopped. 

Grim Hagen was still laughing. 

"You are wasting your energy, Ato. I am only a projection. And so is thisthat is with me. I have Maya. " He bowed mockingly. "See, Odin. Come and gether, Odin, so I can kill you. I had thought I was done with you but it isjust as well. Out here, somewhere, somewhen, I can kill you slowly. Look, she sleeps. "

Shrouded there within a bubble of changing light, Maya looked like abronze statue. Lying upon her back with her arms folded across her breasts, and with half of her face covered by the flowing folds of a coverlet, shewas like a bride of death, waiting the end of eternity. 

Hagen laughed again. "Here in Trans-Einsteinian space there is neither sizenor time as we once knew it. I could leave her on a giant planet, a statueten miles long for the ages to marvel at. Or I could cast her adrift tomake the trillion-mile-long trip with the suns until the last explosionwhen space will dissolve and be born again. So give up now. Bother me nomore. Space and its treasures are mine for the taking, and I have waitedtoo long. "

Then the topaz globe twitched as a bubble vanishes. And it was gone. Outthere was nothing but the night. 

 * * * * *

Ato set a course for Aldebaran. His watch finished, Jack Odin sat alone inthe lounge and watched the star upon the screen. It did not seem to be muchlarger. A single brilliant jewel of flame that beckoned them on. 

Gunnar had long since gone to bed, grumbling that the way order andmilitary discipline were maintained aboard ship they probably couldn't whiptheir way out of a child's wading pool. Odin was thinking of all the thingsthat had happened to him since that night when Maya and the dwarfs hadbrought the helpless Grim Hagen to the old Odin homestead. Lord, how longhad it been? Out here, where time could not be measured, and perhaps didnot exist at all, it seemed futile to count the weeks and the months. 

He stared at the single star upon the screen until he was half asleep. Behind it Maya's face, outlined in black curls, seemed to peer at him--andher pouting lips parted as she smiled. 

He stared and shook his head. The dream-vision vanished from the screen. Someone had entered the room. 

It was Nea. Dressed in slacks once more, she slouched over to his chair anddrew a hassock up beside it. As she looked at him, Jack Odin saw that hereyes were tired--tired--tired. As though they had not rested for months. 

"You ought to be asleep, " he warned. "Now that your work is finished--"

"And is it finished?" she asked. "Is anything ever finished?" Nea droopedupon the hassock. Resting her chin upon her hands she looked up at thescreen. 

"That is where we are going?" she asked. 

"Ato is certain that Grim Hagen is headed for Aldebaran, " Odin answered. 

"One star out of millions. What difference does it make?"

"You have been working too hard--"

"Oh, damn!" she said angrily. "There is more to the work than you and theothers guessed. Now, we are going to rescue a cousin of mine and to punishanother cousin. The old rat-race. Tell me why don't people just go sit ina corner and enjoy themselves. So far, we have done nothing but increaseour scurrying a thousand-fold. "

 * * * * *

He tried to make a joke of the matter. "You sound like a beatnik. "

"Perhaps, " she answered slowly, still looking up at the screen. "Theyconsidered my father beat--dead-beat. But I know more of this science thanyou do, Jack Odin. What if I told you there was little chance of findingMaya. Or, if you found her, she might be an old, old lady. "

"Well, I'd say 'Nuts. ' We would keep on looking. But why such gloomythoughts?"

"You do not understand. Here, flashing through Trans-Space, we are inanother time. Oh, it goes by. But not as the clocks of Opal. Once a shipslides out of here to a planet it is caught in a web of time and space. Theclocks resume their old work of grinding the minutes and the hours to bits. The black oxen of the sun take up their measured march. Oh, I could showyou the mathematical formula to prove this, but it would take a blackboardlarger than the screen. Don't you see! While we search through Trans-Space, it is highly possible that Grim Hagen, Maya, and all their crew are growingold on some planet that you might never find. "

Odin drew his hand across his face in dismay. "You make all this soundlike a mad voyage. Why, this is insane!"

"Check with Ato if you wish. " Her sad smile was almost a sneer. "And mentalk of going to the stars. Where is the clock they will use? Where istheir yardstick? Where is the concept? Why, out there, for all you know, Huckleberry Finn is still floating down the river, and Macbeth walksthrough the halls of Dunsinane. And the last man, in the year one-millionAD, may be squatting over a fire, watching his last stick of wood turn toashes. "

Lithely she got to her feet and reached a dial upon the screen. The lonestar vanished. A thousand pinpoints leaped out. 

"There is but a segment, " she said, sitting back upon the hassock again. "Ihave known Maya all my life. I was the poor relation. I envied her, but Idid not hate her. And so with Grim Hagen. I should hate him, but I rememberhim as a frustrated cousin who always ran second in the races. And allthat--even my father--seems far away and long ago. Why do you bring loveand hate with you out here to the stars, Jack Odin?"

"Because I am a man, I suppose. "

She sighed again. "There is much more to this invention of mine that Ishowed you. Upon that screen there must be ten thousand worlds. Let us pickone, you and I. We can glide out of here at any time. And we can make thatworld over as we please. We might even eat of the fruit of life and becomeas gods--"

As though it came from the dark corridor of the years, Jack Odin seemedto hear the resounding echo of slow footsteps, and a deep voice thatthundered: "For I, thy God, am a jealous God--"

She had almost hypnotized him with her weary, earnest voice. For a moment, it had seemed that all this frantic quest was nothing. That it would befar, far better to find a home with Nea and build a world of his own thanto go on searching the stars. 

Then he answered slowly, trying to measure his words, for he did not wantto hurt her feelings. "No, Nea. If I go wandering forever, it will be noworse than my fathers did before me. For a man is vagrant and restless. What he gets, he loses. And if he is lucky, he can hold fast to hisdreams. "

For a moment dark anger blazed in her eyes. Then they were calm and sadagain. She got to her feet, as though she were very tired. 

She smiled. "If I followed all the books, I would make a scene now. I haveoffered myself and a world to you and have been refused. But I wish you andyour dreams well, Jack Odin. "

She bent over him, and her lips brushed his. Faintly, like the touch of arose petal, and the perfume of her hair seemed to fill the room. 

Then she was gone. 

Jack Odin sat there, looking long and long at the swarm of stars upon thescreen, thinking of the unseen worlds about them--the worlds that he hadjust renounced. 

Until finally he got up and went to bed. 

CHAPTER 10

Ato's probing instruments still pointed the way to Aldebaran. In asurprisingly short time, the warning signals were flashing and jinglingthroughout The Nebula. There was that same sick feeling as it moved slowerthan the speed of light. 

And there was a glowing sun with nine planets circling stately about it. Slower The Nebula moved, and slower, until the outermost planet sparkled inthe light of its sun below them. They swooped down. 

Not a single blast was fired at them. Every man was at his post, while Atoguided them in, and Odin worked the screens. 

Once more, Jack was disappointed. He had looked forward to some alien--evenexotic--civilization. Here were fields and streams. And there werecities--looking very much like the cities of his world and of Opal. 

Those other worlds which he had seen had been blasted. So there was no wayof knowing how their cities had looked. But these were too recognizable. He was certain that he had seen several of the taller buildings before. 

Was space no more creative than this? Had the worlds dedicated themselvesto the same monotonous pattern? He had caught a glimpse of conventional, rocket-shaped spaceships, plying their courses back and forth among theplanets. He saw boats and cars and a few long-nosed airplanes, with themerest trace of vestigial wings far back near the empennage, streakingthrough the sky in high arcs, leaving curling trails of fog and smokebehind them. But there was little here that his world had not alreadymastered--or at least had on the drawing board. 

The Nebula came to rest upon a bare plain not far from the nearest city. Ashe turned to the scanner upon it, Odin saw that while it looked familiarenough there was one exotic thing about it. Toward the outskirts of thecity, in the bend of a wide river, was the Taj Mahal. 

He felt nearly as bewildered as he had been when Nea explained her theoriesof the Time-Space Concept to him. 

They had hardly landed before one of Ato's scientists announced that therewas good clean air outside. Oxygen and nitrogen with good old water held asmoisture within it. 

The city sat there upon the plain and stared at them. The Nebula lookedback. 

At length a procession of cars moved toward them. 

Grim Hagen's voice came thundering over the loud-speakers. 

"A truce, Ato. I offer you a week's truce in return for a few meetings. This world has seen enough destruction--"

Gunnar and his crew leveled their death-gun at the advancing party. Odinkept them on the screen. Ato and a few of his captains got ready todisembark. 

As Odin watched, he kept puzzling over that voice. It certainly was GrimHagen's. But it was different. Perhaps it was a bit lower, a bit morecommanding. But there was just a bit of weariness in it. And the answercame to him suddenly--although he never knew why. 

The voice was older!

 * * * * *

Then Grim Hagen and his staff were below The Nebula. They were dressed inwhite and gold uniforms. That was not surprising, either. Ato and his menadvanced for a parley. Odin watched and listened. 

At first he could not get a clear look at the man for Ato's broadshoulders. Then Ato turned aside, and Grim Hagen's head and shouldersfilled the screen. 

Odin gasped in amazement. Grim Hagen was nearly twenty years older thanwhen he had seen him last. 

The shoulders and arms were larger although there appeared to be little fatupon Grim Hagen. The dark hair was streaked with gray. The face was seamed, and though the black eyes still blazed they now burned with a fanatic hateand desperation. Where pride and ambition had once made a face coldlyhandsome, there was now nothing but seamed lines like scars and blazingeyes. It was an evil face. Grim Hagen had become a devil. 

Hagen looked at the much younger Ato and laughed. "So, the cub comes tofight with the tiger? Didn't you know? Didn't you guess? While you camegalloping after me, I had already landed within this system. And time beganits old alnage. These were a peaceful people. We wrecked them. We enslavedthem and built the nine worlds in our own fashion. Nearly nineteen years, Ato! No Caesar ever dreamed of a larger kingdom. I even gave them a newgoddess--for I did not want them to do much thinking. Yonder. " He pointedto the duplicate Taj Mahal in the distance. "She sleeps. My only failure. No older. And sometimes I go there and look at her, and my youth seems towalk beside me--"

"We want the people that you brought with you, Grim Hagen, " Ato answeredcoldly. "And the treasures. "

Grim Hagen laughed again. "Those that came with me willingly are dukes andkings beyond their wildest dreams. Those who would not take oath to serveme are still slaves. Except for Maya, who sleeps. As for the treasures, mytreasure houses are so full now that I doubt if I could separate one thingfrom the other. So youth grows old. But you must admit that this is betterthan cringing in a hole in the ground--"

"None of us cringed, unless it was you, " Ato retorted angrily. "Wehave come beyond time and space--for Maya and her friends--for thetreasures--and for you--"

The mad light flamed in Grim Hagen's eyes as he laughed again. "You couldnot get a thousand feet into the air unless I permitted it. Come, now, Ihave given a week's truce. Relax and enjoy yourselves. After all, we arekinsmen in a far country. " He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and repeated. "A far country. "

 * * * * *

Three days had passed since they had landed on Grim Hagen's planet. Ato, Gunnar, Odin, and a score of others had gone into the city where they hadbeen given quarters in a palace that made Windsor look like a second-classlodging. 

Odin and Gunnar shared a suite. As he dressed that morning, Odin lookedabout him at the splendor. Every bit of woodwork was hand-carved. The wallswere covered with frescoes. The chandeliers were jeweled masterpieces andthe carpets were thick crimson piles. The lace curtains must have ruinedthe eyes and hands of a dozen women. 

He had heard that the planets of Aldebaran had been peopled by a blondpeaceful race who were on a par with the culture of the Middle Ageswhen Grim Hagen arrived. Lord, how he must have worked himself andthem to bring them this far along in nineteen years. There was apeaceful air of prosperity about the planet; and trade, he understood, was flourishing with the other worlds of the system. But the peoplewere no more than slaves--beaten and cowed into submission. Oh, theyworked hard. But Odin wondered what had been their punishment in yearspast for not working. There was something in their eyes--a stunned, unhappy look--that made him wonder what would happen some day whenthey learned as much as their masters and turned upon them. Moreover, he had been told that the planets were over-crowded when Grim Hagenarrived. They did not seem so now. How many graves throughout thosenine planets were dedicated to the conquerors?

Only once had he seen one of them mistreated. That was at a dinner thenight before. The banquet hall had been a combination of medieval, modern, and Brons' splendor. The dishes, the food, and the music had been superb. But a fair-skinned girl had spilled a few drops of wine when she wasserving Grim Hagen. His face had grown dark. Half arising from hishigh-backed chair at the head of the table, he had doubled up his fist andstruck her below the cheek-bone. She reeled back, her face crimsoning fromthe blow and the shame. The other servants pretended to see nothing. But inthe girl's eyes and in the eyes of the others he saw the old promise thathad been written in the eyes of slaves since time began: "Some Day! SomeDay!"

Then, with perfect calm, Grim Hagen had sat down, wiping his lips with alacy napkin. "Pardon me, gentlemen, but they have so much to learn in soshort a time. " Then he looked down the long table at Odin and could notresist one gibe. "You don't know how happy I was to find that these planetswere peopled by a light-skinned race. "

 * * * * *

That was all. True to his promise, Grim Hagen had given them the run of thecity. But there was always one of Hagen's men or some native in uniform topolitely assure them that there was little to see down the off streets. Themain squares were a tourist's paradise. Beautiful buildings--in all colorsand styles, black marble and silver. Tracings of gold. Clocks, bells, statues, fountains. All the architecture of the world they had left, withfine selections and matching, with daring improvisations. And everythingnew. Odin had to admit that the squares were beautiful. Some day thisconquered race might even owe a debt to Grim Hagen and his crew. But rightnow they did not seem to be bubbling over. The natives were polite--toomeek for comfort. Some of the women were beautiful; most of the men weretoo slight of build, almost effeminate. 

But once Jack Odin and Gunnar managed to stroll down a narrow streetwithout anyone noticing them. It was the cry of the birds that caused themto turn aside into even a narrower one. So they came to a little run-downpark that looked old enough to have survived the conquest. Then they sawthe scaffoldings. And there were twelve shapes hanging from ropes andmeat-hooks. As they neared, a flock of fat revolting-looking birds aroseand complained as they fluttered away. 

Gunnar and Odin had stood there looking up at the half-dried mummies thatswung slowly about and grimaced at the tiny wind that perplexed them. Thegibbets were spotted with blood and filth. Flies swarmed about them. 

"So, " Gunnar remarked. "The leopard does not change his spots. Grim Hagenstill gives lessons to these people. And knowing Grim Hagen I would say heis a rough schoolmaster. "

They did not stay long. And a guard opened his mouth in surprise when hesaw them entering the square from the dark, little street. 

 * * * * *

Today Grim Hagen had invited them to another conference. Gunnar and Odindressed carefully. But Gunnar took a last look at harness and sword as hecomplained: "He wants something. And Grim Hagen can be mean when he doesn'tget what he wants. We should have started wrecking this world before welanded. The people would be no worse off. And maybe we could have ridourselves of a snake. Ato needs a big drink of tiger milk--"

"Oh, quit complaining, little giant. We still have some bargaining power. "

"Yes, our swords. This meeting reminds me of the conference that a kingonce held to decide upon another conference which would decide what thenext conference would be about. Bah!"

"Quit worrying. One of us will kill Grim Hagen, sooner or later. "

But Gunnar went on with his complaining. "You had better stay close tome, you understand, or you will be hanging from one of Grim Hagen'smeat-hooks. "

So they went to the conference. All of Ato's men and at least fifty of GrimHagen's were there. Contrary to Gunnar's prediction, Grim Hagen got to thepoint at once. 

"Kinsmen, " he began mockingly. "You may have wondered why I called a trucewhen I could just as well have destroyed you--"

"That I doubt, " Ato answered him. "We have defensive weapons. Even now theguns from our ship are trained upon the city. "

Grim Hagen shrugged. "Let us not quibble, Ato. Your father was a quibblerbefore you. "

Ato flushed in anger. 

Grim Hagen continued with an apologetic smile. "I'm only joking. But I doknow certain things. Your father, Wolden, is a brilliant man, Ato. " Hebowed slightly as he admitted this. "From time to time, as you hurtledthrough the star spaces, I picked up scraps of conversation with myinstruments. Also, I knew something of what Wolden has been working on allthese years. "

"Now, you're quibbling, " Gunnar jeered. "Get on with your speech, GrimHagen. "

Grim Hagen bowed to the broad-shouldered little man. "Some day, Gunnar, Imay have to kill you--"

"Now. Now. " Gunnar urged, fairly jumping in rage. "Just the two of us, GrimHagen. Just the two of us with bare hands--"

"Not yet. " Grim Hagen sneered. "Now, I will continue. From what I havelearned, it appears that Wolden's work has been a success. It is possiblefor men to master both time and space. I have mastered space, but time isturning everything to dust and ashes. What good is it to be an old emperor?No better than to be an old herdsman. " Again he tossed a sneer in Gunnar'sdirection--

"That's easy, " Gunnar retorted. "The old herdsman sleeps well at night. "

"Bah. Who wants to sleep? Please quit interrupting, Gunnar. "

"Even before we came to Aldebaran, " Hagen went on, "I was in contact with adying world out there at the edge of space. Those people are desperate. Andthey are weary of life, having seen too much of it. They have agreed to gowith me. Why, this sun and these worlds are piddling trifles. With thatinvention we could go from sun to sun. Space would be ours to play with--"

"Loki, the Mischief-Maker, running through creation--" Gunnar muttered. 

Grim Hagen may not have heard him for he continued in that same desperate, pleading voice. "So here is my proposition, Ato. Give me your father'ssecret. In return, I give you the treasures, the Old Ship, the prisoners, and even Maya. Is not that complete surrender?" He smiled disarmingly. 

 * * * * *

Ato stood tall and proud as he answered. His eyes were blazing now, as hesaw through Grim Hagen's plan. "So, you thought I would bargain awayWolden's secret, did you? Well, your surmises were wrong. When last I sawhim his work was not finished. I know so little about it that I could tellyou nothing of any value. But if I did, " Ato's voice was trembling indisgust. "If I did, Hagen, would I turn you and your hells' spawn looseupon the stars to perplex them forever?"

Grim Hagen's face was almost blue with rage. "You have said enough. Andthere are other ways to make you talk. Make these swine prisoners, " hescreamed. 

A dozen knives flashed. A dozen death-tubes were pointed toward Ato andhis followers. 

But one of Grim Hagen's lieutenants, a Bron who was now silver-haired, intervened. "No, Grim Hagen. They are under truce. The week is not yet up. I will not see you go back on your own word--"

Grim Hagen flamed. "You will die on the hook for this--"

"Maybe so. One thing is certain: I will die. And I can face it. But youcan't, can you, Grim Hagen? You would prefer to be some sort of eternaldevil, working its fury upon the stars. Now, where is the new thinking thatyou used to preach? That dream is as old as the incantations beside thecave-fires--"

"Arrest them all, " Grim Hagen screamed. "Arrest Rama too, " he added withrage. 

But the knives and swords were back in their holsters. The guns werelowered. One by one his men filed out of the council room. Grim Hagen'sface was so dark that Odin feared a stroke. But with a curse at Ato andOdin, Hagen lifted his chin high and followed his men from the room. Onlythe one called Rama remained. 

"I will do what I can, Ato, " he said quietly. "I was nearly fifty when westarted this journey. And we lived hard and fast. I am old now. I marriedone of the slave-girls. We have children. Were it not for that, I would gowith you. But I am tired. God, I'm tired--"

He saluted them as he went out the door. 

They never saw Rama again. 

CHAPTER 11

Although Gunnar had spent most of the past four days in grumbling andpolishing his sword, there had been hours and hours when Odin had not seenhim. The little man had a secret, but what it was he would not tell. "For, "he said to Odin, "then it would not be my secret. It would be mine andyours, and I would own but half of it. Does a man give half of his flocksaway?"

Odin was a bit hurt over his friend's behavior. He even wondered if Gunnarhad taken a liking to one of the white-skinned slave-girls--for they werebeautiful. Still, that did not seem like Gunnar. But you could never tell. After all, he found himself quoting, there's no fool like an old fool. 

Mixed up in this secret was a buckskin bag that Gunnar had brought with himfrom the ship. When Odin had inquired about it, Gunnar had replied: "Magic. A very old magic. "

That too was not like Gunnar. He relied upon his sword, since the Norsegods were usually busy with their own affairs. Those gods ate theirrejuvenating apples every day and then went out like healthy boys tosee what was happening; and though they meant well they usually weresomewhere else when they were needed. Therefore, the use of magic bagsand incantations was a lot of foolishness. But here was Gunnar fondlinga tightly-drawn buckskin bag as though it held eternity's secrets. 

"You ought to get yourself a witch-doctor's mask and a couple ofhollowbones to whistle through, " Odin had told him scathingly. 

"Never mind. Never mind. Old Gunnar will be there when they put out thefire and call the dogs. Now, you stay here in this room, Odin. And don'tgo looking after any of these slave-girls. They are too pretty. And you areyoung. After all, there's no fool like a young fool. So don't go wanderingoff. Just stay here and polish your sword and wait until I return. I thinkmy magic will do a great deal this afternoon. "

"Touché!" Jack Odin thought as Gunnar departed. "So he's been worryingabout me and the girls, has he?"

Odin polished his sword and looked at the paintings. But the entire palaceseemed to be whispering. An air of tension hung over it. The halls werequiet, where servants usually were busily going back and forth. 

Once he heard shouts and the sound of fighting far off. There was a loudshot and a scream of pain. After that, the unusual quiet returned. 

This was the sixth afternoon that he had spent on this enslaved world. Odindid not enjoy it. He tried to make plans to rescue Maya, but he had goneover those same plans many times before. The Taj Mahal was well-guarded. There was an unshaded road that went from the city to it. Also, the roadwas usually crowded with pilgrims. He never knew whether they went outthere in some strong belief that here was a goddess from outer space, orwhether they were forced to go. After all, Grim Hagen was clever--

 * * * * *

He took a bath and changed clothes. Then Jack Odin read one of those booksthat Grim Hagen had stolen. It was a first edition of the Rubaiyat, the onewith the jeweled peacock cover, and it would have been worth a fortune backhome. But here it was just another of Grim Hagen's treasures--it was dustyand neglected, and Odin wondered if he were not the first to take a look atit since Hagen had brought it here. 

The windows were dark when Gunnar returned. Jack Odin sat by a single tinylight, and greeted his old friend in a glum and sour fashion. But Gunnarwas in a gay mood. 

"Look, I told you that my magic would do great tricks. See, the bag isnearly empty. " He held the buckskin bag high and it was much thinner thanbefore. "You waited, did you? Good, Nors-King. I had to make sure that noone came here while I was gone. "

"Just myself, " Odin replied. "Now what--"

"Oh, I told you I had great magic in that bag. You shall see. " Gunnarreturned to the door, opened it, and led a tall white-skinned slave intothe room. A man of about thirty dressed in white uniform with some sort ofinsignia upon his shoulders. Odin had never bothered to learn the differentgradations in Grim Hagen's slave-world. 

"This man goes by the name of Piper, " Gunnar announced simply. 

The man bowed and smiled nervously. 

"And he is a Bro-Stoka among the slaves, " Gunnar continued. 

Odin was about to reply that he didn't give a damn if the man were acolonel or a two star general. But Gunnar hurried on to explain. "A Stokais a captain of a hundred. But a Bro-Stoka is a captain over ten Stokasand all their men. Not often does one advance so at an early age--"

Gunnar seemed to be buttering up the man for some reason or other so JackOdin decided to go along. "I have never seen a Bro-Stoka so young, " headmitted. This was true, Odin thought, since this was the first Bro-Stokawho had ever been identified to him. And he wondered if maybe Bro-Stokawere not a local term for "Ninety Day Wonder. " God knows he had seen toomany of them. 

 * * * * *

Gunnar seated himself comfortably and swung the nearly empty bag to andfro. "Ah, I told you that I carried great magic in the bag. With Piper'shelp, Maya will be ours before midnight. "

Odin's lethargy was gone now. "Gunnar, old friend! What magic was in thatbag of yours?"

"The oldest magic in the world. Pieces of gold, diamonds, and rubies. Whenwe left the Nebula I said to myself that if Grim Hagen owned everythinghere, it was quite possible that many would be eating very little. KnowingGrim Hagen, I said to myself, there will be a mad scramble for money andposition. It would be the only kind of a world that Grim Hagen couldfashion. "

Odin slapped him on the back. "Gunnar, you are a genius, a sheer genius. "

"Not at all. When I was a young man I learned such strategy from studyingthe world above me. "

Odin winced. 

Gunnar continued. "Well, it has turned out even as I figured. Only moreso. When traveling in far countries you should try to learn how the peoplelive, Odin. It is enlightening. I had an old uncle who always said thattravel broadens one. It must have, for he weighed nearly two-hundred whenhe died. "

"Please, Gunnar. When will we see Maya--"

"So, I have been working ever since we arrived. A jewel here. A bit of goldthere. It is amazing how a diamond can make a man see just what you tellhim to see. Much better than ordinary glasses. Then I found Piper here. AndPiper is ambitious. Do you know what it costs to become head-man and chieftax-gatherer of a town of five-thousand, Odin?"

"Gunnar, I know nothing of these matters. Tell me about Maya--"

"Well, Piper has been paid. The town will be his if our plan works outtonight. Otherwise, I will twist his neck. " And Gunnar paused to scowl atthe young man in the white uniform until poor Piper began sweating. 

"Many others have been paid. They are to stay away from their posts. Theywill see nothing and hear nothing at certain times tonight. Here, hand meyour book. "

 * * * * *

Odin obliged and Gunnar produced a ragged bit of pencil and started drawinga map upon the fly-leaf. "Here, " he said, "is the city. And here is theriver. Now, if you remember, there is a deep bend in the river, and thistomb that Grim Hagen has built is within the bend of the river. There isa good road that goes from the city to the tomb, but it is guarded. TheNebula is on the other side of the bend. So the answer is quite simple. Wego up the river. Piper has a boat waiting for us--"

"I have already paid many and have sworn them to silence, " Piperinterrupted. "But it will be a dangerous business. I would not dareit at all except that it will be five years before I am eligible fortax-gatherer, and the waiting is killing me. A city of my own--"

Piper, Jack Odin gathered, was a very ambitious man. 

The boat moved up-river in darkness. There were beacons upon the shore, turning this way and that, but they seemed to be trained a bit high thisnight. 

Once a motor-boat passed them, going at a fast clip, and somebody calledout that he saw a shadow over toward the far side of the river. And anothervoice answered. "You're always seeing things. A log, maybe. Didn't I tellyou that I found some money in the street? And aren't we going to have thebest meal that money can buy? Do you want to stay here with an empty bellyon this cold river all night? Our watch is nearly over. I'm tired. Let'sget along--"

Later, some one hailed them from the bank and threatened to shoot if theydid not pull in. Then there was a loud scream that died in a welteringgurgle. They heard a splash as something hit the water--and then all wasstill. They waited. A peculiar little whistle sounded three notes from thedarkness. 

As though reassured, Piper took up his oars. 

"That was the last guard, " Gunnar whispered. "It took a ruby the size of asparrow's egg to get him killed. Oh, well, blame Grim Hagen. He shouldn'thave gouged these people so hard--" And then, to Piper: "You're brightenough, I guess, but you don't know how to row a boat. Give me the oars. "

He took them and slid them into their hole-pins. "Now, give Gunnar room. "He bowed his broad head, leaning forward almost to his toes. Then he dugthe oars into the water and straightened up and bent backward like amachine. Noiselessly the oars came up again. He bent forward and dippedthem into the river again. And as he worked faster he began to count tohimself in a panting whisper: "Huh--huh--huh--huf!"

The boat streaked across the river's surface like a water-bug. 

At last they slid into some thick cat-tails. Gunnar got a hand-hold andpropelled them forward until the prow grounded in the shallows. 

"This is as far as I can go, " Piper told them in a sweating voice. "Overthere is the tomb. "

 * * * * *

Odin and Gunnar scrambled ashore. Piper pushed the boat back into theriver and was gone. Three thin sickles of moons were cleaving their wayacross the sky. A few unfamiliar stars were out. There was enough lightnow for them to see Maya's tomb not far away. It seemed to be fashioned ofmoonbeams. It was such a perfect copy of the Taj Mahal that here both deathand sleep were brothers--and a nirvana of peace hung over it in an aura ofsilver light. 

"That Piper is a smart lad, " Gunnar whispered. "He knows what he wants. He'll go far--maybe. "

They approached. Odin knew that four guards were stationed here at alltimes. They were all gone. The two went in, Gunnar turned on a littleflash. 

Had there been time, Odin might have grudgingly given Grim Hagen a few kindwords for the work he had done and the tribute he had paid Maya. The bestof a planet's treasures and art had been brought here. But all he couldsee was Maya, lying upon a golden, diamond-set couch. A silk embroideredcoverlet was drawn over her, and it too seemed to have been spun frommoonbeams. She looked no older. Odin could see no sign of breath. But hetouched her hand and it was warm. He knelt beside her. 

"Here, " Gunnar handed him the light. "Hold this while I get busy. Here now, Nors-King. No blubbering. "

He opened his buckskin bag and took out the last of its treasures--a smallhypodermic case. He filled the hypodermic from a little vial that glitteredin the light of the lamp. "Turn the light upon her forearm, now, " heinstructed. 

Gunnar slowly counted to sixty after he had given her the shot. Maya'sbreasts moved. She sighed and raised a hand to her dark curls. Then hereyes opened--in fear and wonder as a child opens its eyes in a strangeplace. 

Then her vision cleared and she recognized them. 

"Jack--Gunnar--" she gasped. Then she was in Odin's arms. And Gunnar, thestrong one, was standing over them--sniffling. 

It was one of those moments that seem to last forever. And then it wasover and she drew her hand through his light hair, "What happened? Whereare we? I dreamed the strangest dreams. "

"Never mind, " Odin comforted. "We will explain later. Can you walk now?"

"Walk? Of course I can walk. " But when Maya tried to sit up, she moaned inpain. "My whole body is stiff and sore. Have I been sick?"

Odin helped her to her feet. As he did so, hundreds of precious stones thathad been heaped upon the couch rolled unnoticed to the floor. 

Maya winced as she stood up. Reaching down, she rubbed the calves of herlegs and then stood straight with a little gasp of pain. 

"Carry her, Nors-King, " Gunnar muttered. "The night grows old and we mustmake our way to the Nebula. "

Odin lifted her easily. She put her arms around his neck and clung to him. The perfume of her hair was as faint as the ghost of autumn flowers. Herbreath was warm and caressing against his throat. 

Then the mausoleum turned into a blinding glare of lights. Gunnar droppedthe flash and his broadsword shrieked against the scabbard as he drew it. Odin set Maya's feet upon the floor. Still holding her with one arm, hedrew his sword and made ready to stand beside Gunnar. 

A dozen cloaked figures came into the room. The first was Grim Hagen, smiling sardonically. The others were Brons. The last to enter was carryingpoor Piper's dripping head by a handful of hair. 

"So. " Grim Hagen bowed. "The Princess awakens. And here is Prince Charming. And here is the last Neebling that I shall ever kill. I would like to killyou very slowly, but I am afraid I do not have time. Hell is bubbling overin that fair city of mine tonight. I thought I paid my captains well, butsome of them wanted more. Or they wanted what I could not give them. Itdoesn't matter. Let them fight it out. We have the Old Ship with the NewDrive. Out there at the edge of space a desperate people are waiting forme. And now I have Maya. Gunnar, that was a mean trick. You used thescience that your people stole from us to cheat me of my bride and myslave. "

 * * * * *

Gunnar had heard enough. The huge sword flashed in a circle as he swung itabove his head with both hands. A Bron stepped forward and Gunnar slashedhim from shoulder to stomach-pit. 

Odin thrust Maya to the couch as he came forward to help. 

But Grim Hagen had merely stepped back. Now he was holding a deadly littletube in his hand. A cold light winked on and off. Odin felt his musclesharden as though a hundred charley-horses had struck him at once. Hefroze, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Gunnar standing like astatue, his sword still upraised, a look of agony upon his face. 

"One more flash and you will be dead. " Grim Hagen mocked. "But before youplunge into the night, remember that I watched you so I could get Mayaback. You were not clever at all, Gunnar. Ato can have these worlds if hewants them. I have the ship and Maya. And space is mine to ravage as Iplease. "

Then, at last, while Maya watched with fear-struck eyes, the tube flashedonce more. Gunnar and Odin stood there for a second. They fell likeunbalanced things of stone. 

A Bron stepped forward and drew his sword. But Grim Hagen waved him asideas he bent over the two silent forms. "Put up your sword, " he said quietly. "They are dead. "

CHAPTER 12

He had been drowned. He was floating in a sea of light, and now andthen shining little fishes swam inquisitively up to him and stared. Theywould look at him with wide, cold eyes and then dart off into space, leaving a flashing wake behind them. They hurtled through the murkylight like shooting stars. And once two of them dashed together andburst like a rocket. The sparks came falling down through a billionmiles of space, and as they fell they built up planets and systems oftheir own. Until a dark coil that had the shape of a dragon slitheredacross the milky way and began to devour them one by one. The sparksdisappeared into its dark maw. Then it turned about and came snufflingthe air as it looked for him. It found him and buried its long fangsin the back of his skull. 

Jack Odin groaned in pain and awoke. The pain hit him again and he thrustout with his arms. But strong hands were holding him down. 

He became conscious of a buzzing, murmuring sound. It was neither sad norglad. Something like the sound that the last bee of autumn makes as ithovers above the last ball of clover. 

Something was falling across the back of his neck and spreading out acrosshis shoulders. Like a woman's hair, he thought. Perhaps it was a bitcoarser. But not much. But then, just as the strange soothing feeling wasputting him back to sleep, the hairs changed their soft caress and a dozenof them plunged into his spinal cord and upward into that small old-brainwhere all the bogies of the stone age still cowered. 

Odin yelled in pain and fought. But the hands held him tight. In his earshe could hear someone else screaming and cursing--threatening all sorts ofvengeance. The voice was Gunnar's. 

Three times more the soft mane of hair caressed him and three times morejust as he was getting ready to go back to sleep the torture began. Andall the while he was lying upon his belly, his face thrust into a pillow. He could see little as he writhed from one side to the other. The handsheld him securely. And once when he almost struggled clear, a strong kneewas thrust into his back and forced him down. 

At intervals, he could hear Gunnar's voice--and his own--crying, pleading, threatening. 

Then at last it was over. The hands turned Odin upon his back and he laythere, gasping and hurting, like one who has just come up from deep water. 

The lights were so bright that at first he could see nothing. Then hisvision cleared and he knew where he was--in the surgery room of the Nebula. 

Ato was standing nearby, trying to reassure him. Beside Odin on another bedwas Gunnar, lying flat on his back and stripped to the waist. Gunnar washowling curses and kicking like a frog. 

A doctor and a nurse were there. And completing the group was Nea holding around object in each hand--round things with unkempt, trailing hair. He wasnot completely conscious--and for a second she looked like a high priestessof the Amazon, holding two mummified heads before her--

The pain left him. His mind cleared and he lay there gasping from theordeal. 

Ato and Nea smiled at them. So cheerfully that he almost expected them towrite out a bill for surgical fees. 

"God, that was a close one, " Ato said, and wiped his forehead. "Five hoursof it. And it was touch and go all the time. "

"What happened?" Odin asked. He remembered something about a glitteringtomb and Maya awakening from her long sleep and Grim Hagen. He evenremembered the Bron carelessly swinging Piper's head by the hair. Butthese were mere scenes that flashed before his mind. He could not fit themtogether, as yet. 

"Tell him, Nea, " Ato said. 

 * * * * *

She smiled proudly. "It was my invention that saved you. You see, I havetwo of them now. I told you that they are as near as we can get to makingliving things. And I also told you that there is much more to them thanyou saw. They are destroyers and they are builders. We found you dead--ornearly so. Hagen had sent volt after volt through your bodies. You wereelectrocuted. "

"We hurried you back to the ship. And all this time, while Ato steeredus back into space, the Kalis and I--for that is what I have decided tocall them--have been working over you. You might say that we are masterelectronicians, rebuilding circuits, repairing transistors andcondensers--"

"You were plenty rough, " Gunnar grumbled. 

"We had to be. Do you remember a story about the bush-men dying from acurse? Here. " She held her two precious Kalis in one arm while she tappedthe base of her skull. "In here is a bulb, the old brain, not even anidiot's brain, that brought you up from the jungle. It is a simple, worrying brain. Easily frightened. Easily convinced. It was convinced thatyou were dead. We had to arouse it. "

Odin fancied that he could hear the two Kalis purring contentedly likecats. Well, they had done a good job. Let them purr. He would like to havethanked them, but how can you thank two bowling balls with scalps of cat'swhisker wire?

 * * * * *

Gunnar sat up and began grumbling anew: "Well, thanks. Now, get me someclothes. Freida would not like it if I sat here half-undressed before ayoung lady. And tell me where we are?"

It was Ato's turn to talk. "I threw The Nebula into the Fourth Drive sometime ago. That may have helped to save your lives too. We should check onthat, Nea. "

"Will you please tell me where we are?" Gunnar demanded. 

"Give me time, little man, " Ato retorted. "We are back in Trans-Einsteinianspace, and Aldebaran and its worlds are far behind us. Ahead of us is GrimHagen and the Old Ship. Maya is with him. So are at least a hundred of thewhite-skinned captains from the planet we just left. Also, a dozen Brons. Maybe more, but not many. What we saw at the council that day when Ramadefied Grim Hagen was just a sample of what was to follow. The people werebled white. Graft, corruption, and patronage had taken its toll. Some ofthe Brons were older and wanted to rest. But injustice couldn't stop untilthe last tear had washed away the last drop of blood. A few of the Bronsand most of the slaves revolted. They won, of course. Grim Hagen shouldhave known the result. He and his men were in flight when they found youand took Maya. They gathered at the Old Ship and took off. Meanwhile, wefought our way out of the city. We decided to have one last try for Maya. But we found you two and a dead Bron and the head of a native. We broughtyou here and took off. All this time I have had a fix on Hagen. "

"Can't we overtake him?" Odin asked. 

"We are trying to. He seems to be heading for a huge dust-cloud. He alsosent us a message. Some nonsense about having contacted some race at theedge of creation who would go with him to plunder the stars. He demandedthe secret of Wolden's invention again. I think his mind is going fast. "

"Not as fast as he will go if I ever get my hands on him, " Gunnar promised. 

"But Maya is awake now, " Ato explained. "We had time on our side before. Now, if he gets away from us he can live out his days on some obscureplanet. The years will pass like a whirlwind--while we go dashing thisway and that, and in a surprisingly short time our willing and unwillingfugitives will have lived out their lives. They have the vagaries of time, space, and speed upon their side. "

Nea laughed. "Even as I said before. " She gave Jack Odin a searching look, but Odin avoided her gaze--

"Then, what have you done?" Odin asked. 

"All that I could do under the circumstances. I have a fix upon him. Wesapped all the energy from Aldebaran that we could. We have power enough, but there are no stars nearby. As I said before, he is heading for adust-cloud. There, both ships can replenish their energy. After that wewill have to stick close by him and see what happens. After all, we arebehind him. By the old Airmen's rule of thumb, a ship with another uponits tail is a hundred percent loss. "

"Only at that moment, " Odin corrected. "If not destroyed, it has a chanceto improve its percentage when the pursuer has made its pass. "

"True enough, " Ato admitted. "That is why I propose to stay close behindit. I can't seem to find that dust cloud on any map. It must be far, faraway. "

Nea laughed again. "What is far? What is near? You do not even havecatch-words for Trans-Space. You are looking into the books of theadvanced classes, and you have not yet opened the primers of space. "

Ato flushed in anger. "Nea, I was my father's helper for years and years. I know as much about space as any man. "

She shrugged. "Oh, you can cover blackboards with formulas, and I don'tdoubt that they will be right. But living things and living emotions demandsomething to cling to. A measuring stick. Grim Hagen tried to give themsomething substantial back there: A system of brutality and graft thatworked for the last-minute Caesars. He even threw in a goddess. Did hesucceed?"

She paused to caress the two things she held in her arms. "My pets knowmore about time and space and energy than all of you, don't you, dears?"She kissed one of them and gave Odin a mysterious smile. 

The Kalis began purring contentedly, as though space were no more than ahuge living room, and they were beside a comfortable fireplace, looking upat their all-powerful mistress. 

CHAPTER 13

The dust-cloud was farther away than Ato had guessed. Long before theyreached it, his instruments began to waver. 

He looked at a star-map. Meanwhile, Nea fed rows of figures into a hummingcalculator. 

"We'll never make it this way, " Ato said. "Not even the emergency storagewould help us. Here, " he pointed to a pinpoint of light upon the map. "Awhite star. We can reach it, I think. "

Nea sighed. "That dust-cloud is beyond our calculations. We shouldbe nearly there, but it's still far-off. I think it is shrinking andexpanding. At the same time it's dashing off into space at a terrificrate of speed. You'll have to swing toward that star, Ato. I'll try toprobe the cloud some more. My father would have liked this problem--"

"I don't like the problem at all--" Gunnar complained. "Just where is GrimHagen?"

"He must be having as much trouble beating his way to that dust-cloud as weare, " Ato assured him. And then, doubtfully, he added. "But he has moreenergy. The Old Space Ship was sitting there below Aldebaran for years andyears. He surely took advantage of the time to replenish his fuel. All thewhile, we were using ours up in an effort to find him. "

 * * * * *

Jack Odin's science did not go far enough to pursue the conversation. Heknew that their power was something like a solar battery. When in gear, thecurrent that went through the "frame" of the hour-glass-shaped craft turnedit into a huge blob of plasma, a miniature nebula, and hurled it intospace. As for the Fourth Drive, he hadn't the slightest idea how it worked. Ato had said that the scientists who developed it were not sure--just asmen had developed generators long before they knew the laws that governedthem. Ato had a theory that the Fourth Gear slid the ship from plane toplane. If a bug were crawling along a million mile spiral of wire, he mightgo on until he died before getting anywhere--but if he simply lumberedacross the intervening space to the next coil, would he have traveled ashort distance, or a million miles? Ato had also told Odin that the shiptook energy from the gravitational field that it created when traveling attremendous speeds, so that the motors were 99% efficient. 

Ato set a course for the distant star, and in a short while it was loomingupon the screen with sheets of atomic flame leaping out like the teeth ofa circular saw. One huge explosion flicked a long tongue of heat at them. The corona of the sun gleamed and writhed like a thin band of quicksilver. 

"We're going in there, " Ato decided. "It's the quickest way. "

Warnings were sounded all through the ship. The screens were turned offnow, as no eye could have survived the sight of that flaming ball whichwas rushing toward them at such extraordinary speed. 

The ship groaned as it hit the corona. Vast whirlwinds of flame shook it. The motors coughed and spat. Then the gyroscopes took over. It steadieditself and went through. Like a moth fluttering through a candle-flame, The Nebula drew away from the star. But this moth was unharmed--and amillion cells had drunk so much energy that the ship reeled with its power. 

 * * * * *

On and on. In zig-zag pursuit of Grim Hagen, they crashed throughTrans-Space. The dust-cloud loomed larger now upon their screens. Itwas still no larger than a baseball, though it must have been millionsof miles across. 

Three times they had to sweep from their course to renew their energyfrom straggling suns that seemed to be farther and farther apart. Thefirst was a tiny blue sun that burned its way through the emptiness. The second was a huge nebula that pulsed and spouted flame and proteanworlds into space--enveloped them again as it breathed, scared them, andcast them out once more. And Odin wondered if in such a furnace and suchtorment his own world had been born. He had now seen as much of spaceas any man, with the exception of Grim Hagen, and so far it had been atumultuous creation that he had watched. Nothing was still. The forgesof space were white-hot. As they sped toward this sun, they passed twoplanets, perilously close together, pelting each other with splashinggobs and spears of flame and slag. The third was a red sun with lonelyburned-out planets circling wearily about it. As they skimmed above itssurface Odin slid a dark plate over the screen and watched. Here weremolten lakes of metal rimmed by red flames that looked like writhingtrees. The surface was splitting and bubbling. A mountain of moltenooze swiftly grew to a height of thirty miles. Then it burst into redflame from its own weight and came toppling down. 

As they hurled away from the red star, Ato turned to Odin and Gunnar andsaid: "I'm afraid that will be the last. Even the stars are behind us--"

The screens now showed nothing but the dust-cloud, with specks of light andcoils of darkness threaded through it. It loomed larger and larger until itfilled the screen. 

"Ragnarok, " Gunnar growled in his throat. He adjusted the shoulder strapthat harnessed his broadsword to his back and looked at Odin curiously. 

"You should have rest, Nors-King. You look gaunt and tired--but strongertoo. I wonder if I have changed as much as you since we started this trip. Eh, Nors-King, " he chuckled, "if you had but one eye, I would swear thatyou were old Odin himself, rushing out to the edge of space to start thatlast bonfire of suns. "

"Quiet, " Nea pleaded as she worked with the calculator. "So far this hasdefied computation. It's unstable, Ato. Before I can identify it, a factoris added or taken away. "

"Grim Hagen went in there, " Ato replied as he studied his instruments. "Ifhe can, we can. "

"Perhaps, " she answered. "But space out there is curdling in his wake. " Sheshivered. Nea's shoulders were beautifully shaped, and Odin found himselfthinking that they were made for a man's arms instead of bending overcalculators and machines. 

"Oh, well!" he thought. "They are not for my arms, but why doesn't Ato wakeup and claim her? Then there wouldn't be distractions like this--"

With one warning blare, The Nebula plunged into the fringe of thedust-cloud. 

The boat rocked. A spattering sound like the falling of heavy sleet filledthe control room. Needles jumped and wheeled. Dials turned madly, spun backand forth, and jammed. 

The lights flickered on and off. For a time they were in darkness. Then thelights came back, but continued their flickering. The screens were dark. 

Nea worked with the instruments. When power enough was available she beganprobing the dust-cloud as though nothing had happened. Then she fed morefigures into the calculator and handed the result to Ato. 

"Try this, " she said in a tremulous voice. "It may work. "

Ato took the tape from her hands and set the controls accordingly. 

The lights dimmed again--came on--and remained steady. The expanses of dimyellow light through which coils and ellipses of darkness crawled likeblack worms. 

Odin knew that such a feeling was impossible out here, but it seemed to himthat The Nebula leaped forward. 

Ato cried out in triumph. "I've got another fix on Grim Hagen. He's muchnearer now. "

"Hurry, Ato. Hurry, " Nea was pleading. 

They drove on and on. The screens remained as before. Yellow light andcrawling shadows. Then, suddenly, the screens were filled with dancingcircles of flame. They blazed brightly, and thrust out little fiery armsand took their neighbors' hands. They danced. They gleamed and glistened. They became circles of flame. They grew toward each other and ran togetherinto little puddles of light. 

"Ato. Hurry, " Nea screamed. One of her instruments melted as she staredinto it and she jumped back, her hands to her eyes--

Then they were out of the cloud, and space lay empty and free before them, with only one tiny sun in view. 

 * * * * *

Jack Odin twisted the controls to take a look at what was happening backthere in the cloud. 

Just as he got it in view, the moiling space out there coalesced into onesmoldering ember. Crushed by the awful weight, that single giant of flamesuddenly burst into a thousand pieces. Comets streaked away. Dripping sunsstreamed across the mad sky. Worlds spewed out--and moons dripped tears oflight as they followed after their mothers. They crashed and wheeled. Theymerged in gigantic splashes of fire. Pinwheels rushed across the screen. Rockets flashed. And fountains of flame spilled sun after sun into thesparkling void. Odin stood transfixed by the sight. 

Then, momentarily, the holocaust of flame was over. New suns and newworlds drifted calmly, with only a few erratic meteors and some settlingdust-clouds left to tell of the explosion that had shaped them. 

 * * * * *

All was as bright and calm out there as the day after creation. But onlyfor a while. For a very short time the new suns sparkled clean and fresh. Then one by one they guttered and winked out. They drew closer together asthough afraid of the dark. Then smoldered and flickered. Then they weregone. And all that was left was one dark cloud that slowly drifted away. 

"It was an artificial explosion, " Nea murmured in a puzzled voice. "GrimHagen's ship and ours destroyed the balance and caused a premature burst. There must be some law--some time and weight factor that governs thesethings. I would judge that the explosion was not violent enough. "

"Not violent enough, " Odin exclaimed. "How violent can an explosion be?"

Her eyes were still wide and creamy with wonder when she replied. "I don'tknow. Something went wrong. Relatively speaking, it may have been a mildexplosion. At any rate, that new galaxy was unstable. I wish we had timeto go back and make some tests--"

Gunnar shivered. "Not back there. I have seen enough. Now, Ato, what liesahead?"

Ato shrugged his lean shoulders. "I still have a fix on Grim Hagen. Andthere seems to be but one place for him to go. "

He turned a dial and the screens picked up one lone red sun far away. Onetiny black dot slowly circled it. 

That was all. Space itself was wrapped in primeval darkness. And the sablewings of nothingness spanned the void. Odin's eyes ached at sight of theawful emptiness. His heart felt heavy as the weight of dread distancespressed upon him. Could space itself reach some limit and curve wearilyback upon itself? Like folds of black silk, the emptiness out thereshimmered and flowed away--

One other speck now appeared upon the screen. A pinpoint of light thatcrawled toward the lone sun and its single huge planet. 

Grim Hagen and the Old Ship!

 * * * * *

Time, if time existed at all, went slowly by. They ate and slept. Nea andher workers were busy with the Kalis, as she called them. Four were nowfinished. A fifth had been fashioned, but Nea had sent it through thelocks into space and it had been lost. It had simply sailed out there anddisappeared. 

"Sunk from sight, " were Gunnar's words, and this explained thedisappearance as well as anything. It was as though they had been ona boat and the thing had dived overboard. 

Nea, who had been trained to scientific thinking since she was knee-high, had to think up an answer. Her explanation was that it had slid down aplane into three-dimensional space. Even now, it might be on some planet, puzzling and worrying the natives. For the Kalis were almost like livingthings--and almost like gods. 

That was like Nea, Odin thought. A scientist, always. Anythingunexplainable must be immediately attached to a theory--whether thetheory were right or wrong. Just as long as there was an explanationto hang upon a phenomenon she was happy enough. She might blithely thinkup a new theory tomorrow and throw the old one away, but that was of noconsequence. Odin had grown skeptical of such thinking when he was amedical student. Each doctor had his own pet diagnosis--and too manytried to fit the patient to the cure instead of working out a cure forthe patient. Oh, well, that was far away and long ago. 

How far away and how long ago!

 * * * * *

Meanwhile, the red sun and its planet were looming large upon the screen. The shining light that was the Old Ship was crawling nearer to them. TwiceGrim Hagen had hurled sheets of flame at them. And once he contacted TheNebula on the speaker--and cursed everyone fluently in three languages. Heassured them that he now had a fighting crew and would soon join up withothers. He had a dozen new weapons. So why didn't they simply get lost?

Sleep after sleep went by and still the two ships crawled toward that lastport on the edge of space. 

Until, finally, they saw the Old Ship leave Trans-Space and glide down tothe huge planet. And with a last burst of speed, Ato came in behind it. 

CHAPTER 14

The two ships landed a few miles apart at almost the same time. 

They settled to the plane's surface like whirling hour-glasses. Firespouted from them in all directions. Then their movement stopped. Smokeshrouded them and slowly drifted away. 

They were upon a reddish plain. Above them, the red sun filled a twelfth ofthe sky. That sky was one vast swirl of crimson. Even the few clouds seemedto be on fire. And yet their instruments showed that the temperature of thethin air outside was in the sixties. 

There were no mountains or valleys. The giant planet had weathered down toone great curving plain. It was mostly red sandstone, but here and therewere reddish carpets of moss and grass. In the distance were a few gaunttrees. They had seen no rivers or seas before they landed. Odin learnedlater that there were many muddy ponds left upon the surface from theremains of stagnant seas. He also learned later that huge reservoirs wereunderground. 

With the exception of the trees, the only thing that broke the monotonousline of the horizon was one great dome of violet stone or metal. It flashedlike an amethyst in the red glare of the sun--and it was certainlyman-made. 

But on that occasion Jack Odin had little time to look at the scenery. Theyhad hardly settled to the planet's surface before Grim Hagen trained hisguns upon them and began to fire. Flame enveloped them. Bombs of acid andsteel shook The Nebula. The battle-stations were already manned, and Atogave orders to return fire. For nearly an hour, the holocaust continued. Both ships rocked upon their steady foundations. They were bathed in flame, acid streamed down their sides, and rockets tore at them. Shells burst uponthem. And then it was over. 

The two ships, scarred and blackened; glared at each other across athree-mile expanse that had now turned to cinders. And that was all. Practically indestructible, and evenly matched, they had fought to astandstill. Neither ship had lost a man. 

"See how it is, Nors-King?" Gunnar said as he drew his fingers across theshaft of his sword. "It is as I told you before. We have the same weapons. The same defenses. I will use the Blood-Drinkers yet, before this is over. "

There was a demanding buzz from the loudspeaker. 

Ato turned the dial. A strange, harsh voice was calling. "You there, on theSecond ship. You on the second ship. Answer. "

"Yes!" Ato replied gruffly. "Who are you?"

"I am the head man of the city--the city within the dome. "

"How did you know our language?"

"We have known it for thirty years. For that long have we been in contactwith Grim Hagen. "

 * * * * *

Jack Odin was never quite able to cope with the passing of time on theseplanets, while the ships scurried through Trans-Space in what appeared tobe a matter of a few days. 

The voice continued. "We invited Grim Hagen to our world. We did not inviteyou. Go away. "

"I don't think I like his tone, " Gunnar interrupted. "Some day I will catchthe owner of that voice and make him eat his ears. "

"We are not going away, " Ato told the voice stubbornly. 

"Then you can stay where you are. We have just witnessed the battle. We donot have weapons such as yours. But we do have a defense. An electricscreen nearly half a mile across has been placed about you. Watch. "

They looked at the screen, and a tiny drone-torpedo came winging its wayfrom the violet dome. It came to within a thousand yards of them andsuddenly crashed into an unseen barrier. Broken and blazing, it camefalling down like a crippled bird. 

"There, " the voice said triumphantly. "That is what will happen to you. Whydon't you leave us? You are not wanted. Leave us. "

"Faith, he's a hospitable soul, " Odin murmured. 

Ato's voice was shaking in wrath when he answered. "We can find a way tosmash that curtain. We want Grim Hagen and his prisoners. When we have themwe will depart. "

"Grim Hagen is our ally. We have already sworn our allegiance. I have nomore words for you. "

There was a clicking sound and the loudspeaker died with a sputter ofstatic. 

It sputtered again, and this time Grim Hagen's voice mocked them. "There, Ato. You have your answer. You are wasting your time. But I ama reasonable man. You can have Maya. You can have the ship. You can havethe prisoners--the few that are left. I will trade all these for Wolden'ssecret. "

"Greed has you in its hand, Grim Hagen. I know nothing of my father'ssecret. I do not even know if he succeeded--"

"Then summon him and let him decide for himself. You are young, buttwo-thirds of my life is gone now--"

"Your calculation is wrong, " Gunnar shouted. "You life is nearly all gone, Grim Hagen. "

"The dwarf still lives, " Grim Hagen answered with a curse. "But so doesMaya, my slave. I had to beat her the other day. My boots were not polishedvery well--"

"Talk on, Grim Hagen, " Odin growled. "I am here. And I intend to killyou--Just as I promised. "

"Like most of your race, you talk too loud, Odin. Well, Ato, Gunnar, andOdin, I am going now. Please don't get in my way or I will hatchet theflesh from your bones. "

Another click and the loudspeaker was silent. 

 * * * * *

They had landed on the giant, worn planet very early in the day. Now, astime went on, they watched Grim Hagen's ship and tried to make plans. 

Gunnar was in favor of hazarding an attack on the barrier and then goingon to the city. 

Ato and Odin voted in favor of waiting, although they admitted that theycould think of no better plan. Ato was sure that The Nebula could plungethrough any curtain, but he wanted to try that as a last resort. 

Meanwhile, a steady stream of tractors and men was going back and forthfrom the Old Ship to the city. Odin watched them on the screen. They weremostly the white-skinned people of Aldebaran. The Brons who had gone outinto space with Grim Hagen had dwindled away. Odin saw a few white-headedones. And once he saw a captain stop to lash a worn, gray-haired Bron whomust have been one of the original prisoners. The poor fellow looked so oldand frazzled that Odin could not recognize him. His heart grew heavy as hethought of those prisoners. They had done no harm. Their lives had beenwasted away because of their loyalty to Maya. And the words of an old poetcame to his mind: "Think of man's inhumanity to man and write your poem ifyou can. "

The day passed wearily by. 

Odin felt that it was one of the worst days of his life. They had spannedthousands of light-years and time had slid by like a stream of quicksilverwhile they hunted through space. And now, at the last, they were pinneddown on a gaunt planet while a triumphant Grim Hagen went back and forthfrom the Old Ship to the violet dome. Welcomed like a conqueror, andholding every card, Grim Hagen was the man of the hour. 

Yes, it was certainly Grim Hagen's day. 

Night fell quite suddenly. But the sky above them turned to the faintestmauve, and there was still a pale ghost of a light hovering over the plain. There were no stars. No moon. Jack Odin learned later that the people ofthis planet had fed their moon to the dying sun long before. 

 * * * * *

They ate supper--as Gunnar called it--and then Ato and Odin studied somephoto-maps which they had taken just before they landed. Meanwhile, Gunnarbusied himself with the sword. And Nea, who stayed in her lab most of theday, brought in a few calculations on the barrier that prisoned them. 

"It's an old idea, " she told them quietly. "It can be broken by a steadilyincreasing force. Twenty days, perhaps, after I rig up the machine--"

Odin groaned. "In twenty days Grim Hagen will be back among the stars--"

She smiled quietly. And now he saw how tired her face and eyes were. Likethe face of a child that has worked too hard. "I think not, " she answeredhim simply. "Gunnar is always talking about fate. I do not believe in such. But all day I have felt that the end is drawing near. Remember, I stillhave my Kalis. With them I could have been a huntress on some greenerplanet--another Diana, perhaps. Oh!" She stamped her foot in worriment. "Weheld creation in our grasp out here. We could have forced the last secretsfrom her. Yes, I will say it! We could have been as gods. And where is itending? A mad chase after a madman. And for all the years and all the livesthat have been spent on these two ships, time and space are the onlywinners. "

 * * * * *

Nea went back to the lab. Odin and Ato continued their study of the maps. Gunnar was putting a fine edge to his broadsword. 

Then the warning buzzer sounded its alarm. Odin dived for the screen andturned on the controls. 

A long procession of mauve shadows was approaching. Already inside thebarrier, they came single-file and slowly circled The Nebula. 

Even in the pale weird light, they certainly seemed to be men. 

Ato ordered "Battle-Stations" and sirens sounded all over the ship. 

 * * * * *

But the circling host made no offer to attack. Odin turned the receiver upto its highest point, and speaking brokenly in the language of the Brons avoice came through. 

"Men of the strange ship. Men of the strange ship--"

"Yes, " Odin answered. 

"Good. You hear me. We are those who have been driven out of the city. Wewould visit you in peace. We are called Lorens. "

Within a few minutes, a dozen of the strangers had been brought aboard TheNebula. Ato summoned Nea and the rest of the captains. 

The leader of the visitors was a man by the name of Val. He was a tall, lean man with a Norman nose and his dark skin was drawn so tightly abouthis face that he looked a bit like a mummy. Val was over sixty, Odinjudged, and though his wrists were skinny the tendons and muscles on hisarms stood out like taut lengths of cable. He and his men were dressedalike--a sleeveless shirt of walnut-brown plastic, dark peg-bottomedtrousers of corduroy, and footgear that looked like engineer's bootswith rippled soles. The tops of the boots were tight-fitting and thepeg-bottomed trousers were drawn snugly over them. Odin learned laterthat what had appeared to be green moss out there on the weathered plainwas a kind of thistle with cat-claw thorns. 

Each man wore a heavy black belt about his waist. Attached to the beltwere at least a dozen weapons: several grenades, a pistol, anotherpistol with a flaring muzzle, a long knife, a glassy looking tube fittedto a pistol-butt, and a blue-black ugly thing which was shaped like anover-sized toadstool. 

In addition to this odd assortment of gear, each man carried somethingin his hand which greatly resembled the frame of an old-fashionedumbrella--except that half a dozen vari-colored buttons were set intothe handles. 

"It was nearly thirty years ago, " Val was explaining, "that the voice ofGrim Hagen began to interfere with our broadcasting system. Some said itwas a god. Some said it was a devil. It came from space. It came fromalmost anywhere. We have been an intelligent race, but we were sore beset. Our sun was dying. All that we had was our sun and a huge dust-cloud in thedistance. In times past, our astronomers had seen the glow of millions ofsuns, millions upon millions of miles away. But we were never able toperfect a telescope that could bring a single sun into view. 

"Nor did we ever have a chance to do this. The dust-cloud surged out towardus every twenty years, and our scientists were able to use a gravitationalbeam to deflect a part of it toward our sun. In this way we kept it aliveand might have been able to do so for ages. But now the dust-cloud isgone. "

 * * * * *

Val paused to sigh, and then resumed his story. "The voice--I mean thevoice of Grim Hagen--promised my people that if they would accept him hewould take them forth into the stars. They would plunder thousands ofworlds and they would live for centuries while generations died. Also, hesaid, he was on the brink of discovering eternal life--"

"He was playing at being the eternal Loki--the old mischief-maker--" Gunnarinterrupted and went on edging his sword. 

"Well, " Val continued, "I cannot blame my people too much for believingthis story. Our plight was desperate. But there were those of us who didnot believe him. He seemed to know too much, when according to ourphilosophy the only wise man is the one who admits that he knows nothing--"

"I am not a philosopher, " Gunnar interrupted again. "I only know that onceyou have thrust a foot of steel into a man he does not bother you again. "

"Please, Gunnar, " Ato begged. "Let Val go on with his story. "

"The rest of the story I do not understand at all, " Val said with a shakeof his grizzled head. "This Grim Hagen said that he did not age until hestopped to conquer a planet and replenish his ship's energy. It was thirtyyears ago when he first spoke to us. He looks like a man of forty-fivenow. Could he have been an upstart of fifteen when he first spoke into ourreceivers?"

"I will try to explain that later, " Ato answered. 

"Well, there were those of us who could not agree with the general idea. There are even some of the Lorens in the Violet Dome who think he is a god. We think he is an evil man. We have no desire to plunder the stars. If heis so great, why doesn't he give new life to our feeble sun? That is whatwe really need. Meanwhile, the people of the Dome are building five newships, as Grim Hagen directed. They have been working upon them foryears--"

"Good God, " Jack Odin was thinking, "what a hideous propaganda machinethese ships are? To condition and instruct a whole generation while youflash through space in the twinkling of an eye!"

"And that is all, " Val finished with a shrug of his lean shoulders. "Thoseof us who had never agreed with the idea were thrown out of the city assoon as Grim Hagen arrived. We have come to join forces with you. "

"How did you get through the barrier?" Nea asked. 

Val lifted the umbrella-frame. "We have had the barrier for years. Thereare strange beasts out there on the plain. This instrument allows us to gothrough the barrier when we please. "

"Then we can go to the city?" Gunnar exclaimed with a joyful war-whoop. "To kill, and kill, and kill--"

"You are right, " Ato admitted. "Delay will only increase Grim Hagen'sadvantage. To the city--as fast as we can--"

CHAPTER 15

Val and his men had brought along enough of the umbrella-shaped defensesto get them through the barrier. 

They held a short council of war. It was agreed that every able-bodied manwould go into the city. Nea and a few of the older men were detailed tostay by The Nebula and take care of the women and children. 

Nea had screamed and protested against that. She had only agreed to stayupon one condition: That she be left one of the umbrella-skeletons. 

The nights, Odin learned, were about sixteen hours long on this dyingplanet. It was toward midnight when they started out from the ship towardthe violet dome. The strange half-light still hovered over the ground. Inthe sky, splinters of mauve tore at curtains of purplish flame. Somethinglike northern lights, they glinted and gleamed, wrestled and writhed. Therewas no peace up there in that abandoned sky. But there was enough of thatunearthly light glimmering below for him to watch his footsteps. 

They had brought every kind of weapon that they could lug with them. Atomic machine-guns. Needle-nosed things that spat blobs of flame. Anti-gravitational bombs. Bombs that swirled slowly toward the enemyand cut him down with scythe-blades. 

Gunnar had laughed at that. "Hang on to your sword and knife, Nors-King. We will need them yet. "

With the umbrella frames held over them, as though protecting them from aflood, they went through the barrier. Beyond it, thousands of men rose upfrom the scarred plain to join them. Val had a much larger following thanOdin had ever guessed. These men were swathed in long coats and capes. Similar items of apparel were hastily furnished the crew of The Nebula--forwhen they were through the barrier the temperature dropped to about thirty. Once they passed through a thin swirl of snow. 

Then something screamed at them out there in the night and came at themlike a juggernaut. It must have stood nearly fifty feet high, and camerushing at them on a score of legs, with dozens of eyes flashing green asit hurtled forward. 

The men of Loren were not greatly worried. They began to fire at it withthe pistol-shaped weapons. There was only a popping noise, but Odin couldhear the bullets smashing into the onrushing thing. Others used thetulip-flared guns, which made no noise at all, but bolts of lightning sankinto the sides of the behemoth. 

After it was dead its furious drive sent it nearly a score of yardsforward. It slid into a clump of twisted trees and tore them to splintersbefore it stopped quivering. Finally the way was clear. 

They waited there for a time to see if they had attracted any attentionfrom the city of the violet dome. Nothing happened, so they advanced again. At least five thousand men now made up this little army. Val guessed thatthere were a hundred thousand fighters left in the city, not counting theexperienced ruffians that Grim Hagen had brought with him. 

They had advanced not over half a mile before the pale glow of the nightturned to utter darkness. Something that looked like a vast sea-nettle wasslowly sinking down toward them from the sky. Its tentacles glowed faintlyas it fell--and it must have been a hundred yards across at the top. Oncemore bullets, lightning bolts and sheets of flame were hurled at thedescending thing. It fell apart and came writhing down. Men rushed to getaway from the reach of those flailing arms. They laid low and watchedwhile the thing died. 

"Listen, " Gunnar warned. 

From far away came the sound of shots and an eerie whine that seemedfaintly familiar. The shots died down. The whine continued, louder andlouder, almost to the top peak of sound, as though a tiger was growling toitself as it feasted. 

Then all was still. 

"It was from the Old Ship, " Gunnar said. "I wonder--"

But there was no time left to wonder. As the thing died, the phosphorglow faded from its lashing tentacles. Finally it was still. They pickedthemselves up and went on toward the dome. 

The dome was propped upon miles of forty-foot columns, all carved anddecorated like those from the Hall of Kings. Below the dome, the samebarrier came pouring down like an unseen waterfall. Again they used theirprotective umbrella-frames. Then, sweating and cursing and grunting, theyhauled their weapons of war into the city. 

 * * * * *

Val the Loren had explained that the city was not a city as Ato and Odinunderstood the words. Being domed, there was no use for rooms of anykind. The temperature stayed constant. There were wide streets, pavedwith blocks of pink and black marble. These streets were flanked bysidewalks and walls. At intervals of a hundred feet the huge columnswere placed. They were minutely decorated and carved. These supported asilver and clear-plastic framework that held up the violet dome. Lookingupward, Odin had the impression that he was standing beneath a vastspider-web. 

There were many hedges, all neatly trimmed. Some resembled privet, butmost of them were like pomegranate with larger reddish blossoms thatseemed to drip blood. 

 * * * * *

Here and there were railings with steps going down. Like subway entrances, Odin thought, except they were more elaborately carved. These steps wentdown to tier after tier of labyrinths. It was a skyscraper-city turnedupside down, Odin gathered from Val's explanations. The first level belowthe city was made up of factories and machine shops. The next was whereplants, flowers, and trees were forced, producing the city's food. Belowthat, for nearly a thousand feet, were the living quarters of the people. 

The ground-level of the city was in reality a beautiful park. During theday, Val explained, it was busy with street-vendors, open-air schools, theaters, and thousands who came up from underground to drink the air andthe sun. 

Now, it was nearly empty. The columns were evenly spaced and at a spotexactly between each two columns was a great cresset of stone. At the topof each cresset were flickering flames that burned without leaving anysmoke. "Like stone tulips with petals of flame, " Gunnar said as he lookedat them. They stood nearly twelve feet high. Their pedestals were broad;their stems were nearly a foot thick, nearly a yard across. Their flameswere violet, tipped with blue. They made a beautiful sight, but it did notmatter. For within less than an hour this lovely park with its carvedcolumns and tulip-shaped cressets of fire was turned into a shambles. 

They had not gone a quarter of a mile before a guard hailed them. A scoreof guns popped like opened bottles and the guard died before the echo ofhis voice was gone. But his cry was taken up by others. And now Odin sawthat up there in the spider-web framework that held the dome were hundredsof little cubicles--all manned. 

Shafts of flame darted through the dim-lit area. Bullets whizzed. Ato'sneedle-nosed machines began to whine and the metal in the guards' cubiclesgrew red-hot and melted. Charred bodies came tumbling down. Men camepouring out of the subway entrances. There was a crashing and grinding ashidden elevators brought weapons of death to the surface. The fires in thecressets danced higher. They fought now in mid-day light. 

There was a blast nearby that nearly burst Odin's eardrums. A crash offlame that half-blinded him. A gun-crew screamed and died as one of theneedle-nosed machines melted into puddles of steel. One by one theseguns exploded, taking their crews with them. But even as they died, theylittered the streets with the bodies of those who were pouring up from thedepths of the city. Even as one melted, its needle-nose swung upward andits beam cut through girders as though they were soft cheese. There was anawful grating sound as the heavy dome sagged a few inches. Splinters ofglass and plastic rained down upon invader and defender alike. 

Guns burst in men's hands--or turned to soft wax. The machine guns grewred-hot and melted. Ato sent his swirling bombs toward the enemy. Thescythe-blades dripped as they cut swaths through massed rows of humanflesh. But from far down the street a swarm of red sparks came rushing atthe bombs like hornets. They swirled about them, humming angrily. And thenthe bombs and the hornet-sparks were gone. 

Odin learned that the toadstool-shaped weapon which Val's men carried wasa defense against the lancing beams from the glassy tubes. So one by onethe weapons of offense and the weapons of defense fell apart. Sirens werescreaming within the city. Hordes were still arriving from the depthsbelow. 

Ato had set up a huge, slowly-whirling globe that was studded with spines. As it turned upon its axis, it emitted a strange pulsing light. As thedefenders came rushing up the stairways to the upper world, the guns attheir belts exploded in furious heat. They died by the hundreds at thoseentrances. They filled the stairways and the halls below. Screams fromseared throats drowned out the noise of battle. The stench of burned fleshand blood was now so heavy that it was hard to breathe. Another wild shellcrashed into the spider-web framework of the dome. It sagged again with ashriek and a groan of protest. And once more a rain of glass showered downupon them. 

The defenders cleared the choked stairways and came on--dying at theentrances and falling back and blocking the stairs again. 

 * * * * *

At the last they unbuckled their belts and their weapons and threw themaside. Then they plunged through the entrances in a flood, armed with onlyknives and clubs. 

Meanwhile, Ato's guns were going out. The last became a white torch whena magnesium blob struck it. 

The side-arms were all gone. 

They fought now with sword and knife. 

Jack Odin felt a heavy hand upon his arm. Gunnar was at his side. "Itis even as I foretold you, Nors-King. The weapons are all gone. Stayclose by Gunnar's side now. We will fight together, as we fought before. Eh, they are coming up from underground like ants. I think we have lostthe advantage. Hagen's dead lie thick, though. And now it is our turn. The old swords and the swinging chant. Ah, Old Blood-Drinker will not bethirsty tonight. Brace yourself. Here comes the first assault. "

And with his huge short legs spread wide apart, Gunnar swung hisbroadsword. The first wave of attackers went down like ripe wheat. Gunnar and Odin cut their way through them, and came out against asmoking hedge. Behind them, Ato and his Lorens strewed the streetswith dead. 

Gunnar and Odin went through a hole in the hedge. A defender was makingfor it from the other side, and Gunnar broke the man's neck. Clinging tothe thin shadow of the hedge they moved forward, killing as they went. 

CHAPTER 16

Gunnar and Odin followed the hedge for a long way, until they came outagainst the far side of the dome. The noise of fighting still continued. It was back of them, but drawing nearer. Odin guessed--or hoped--that Atoand Val were driving the defenders before them. 

They came out upon a lane that was flanked by the beautiful colonnades. Near them was one of the entrances to the tunnels below, and beside it wasone of the stone cressets with a high-flaring flame. At the end of the lanewas a dais. Upon this dais stood Grim Hagen, shouting instructions to acrew of white-skinned, soldiers below him who were trying to set up astrange machine. It looked like a model of Saturn balanced upon a tripod. Except that it had three concentric rings about it. 

Grim Hagen's shirt was scorched and tattered. It was falling from his leanshoulders. His face was seamed and lined. The muscles upon his neck stoodout in cords. His hair was gray now. His left arm was gashed from elbow towrist, and blood was dripping down his fingers. He dashed the drops asideas he screamed orders. His black eyes still blazed with that old feralhate, and though the years had wasted him, his hips were still as thin asan Apache's and he looked iron-hard. 

Odin and Gunnar knelt beside the railing that marked the entrance to thetunnels below. Neither Hagen nor his men saw them. 

Gunnar grasped Odin's shoulders and pulled him down. "Listen, " he whisperedin Odin's ear. "Do you hear anything strange?"

Odin listened. Above the tumult behind them came that same sound which hehad heard out on the plain. A whining, purring sound. The purring of atiger feeding contentedly. 

Then screams drowned out the whining sound, and Odin wondered if he had notimagined it. 

Nearly a hundred of the defenders came running toward Grim Hagen. They werein mad flight now. Most of them were weaponless. Grim Hagen cursed them, rallied them about him, and urged them to pick up new weapons and fight. 

Now, Ato and Val and another hundred men came charging forward. 

Leaving three men to set up the strange machine, Grim Hagen's trainedAldebaranians met them. They clashed head-on--blade against blade, fistagainst bone. They held there, like two wrestlers evenly matched. For amoment Grim Hagen's men were forced back. Then some new defenders swarmedout of the side-alleys and joined them. A head was poked up from thestairway below, Gunnar split the man's skull and sent him tumbling downupon some new replacements. 

Now Grim Hagen spied Odin and Gunnar as they advanced to help Ato. 

Standing upon the dais, his face livid with rage, Hagen pointed to them andscreamed--as mad as any of the last Caesars who had gone insane from toomuch power. 

"Look, men of the Lorens, " Hagen cried, still pointing. "I will giveimmortality to the men who bring me those two alive. "

The first two to reach Gunnar and Odin died at the end of Gunnar's andOdin's swords. 

"Your immortality does not last very long, Grim Hagen, " Gunnar shouted ashe wiped his blade. 

Then another man came up the stairway. Odin killed him and flung him backupon the men who followed. 

But reinforcements were pouring in from other lanes. Grim Hagen and hismen now numbered over a thousand. 

Seeing Odin and Gunnar, Ato swung his men over against the subway entrance. They rallied there. Grim Hagen's soldiers came at them. Ato, Gunnar, andOdin stood side by side and led the counter-attack that forced them backupon Grim Hagen's strange machine. 

But Hagen's men rallied and drove them back again--almost to the stairway. 

"The next drive will get us, " Ato groaned. "Brace yourselves, men. "

 * * * * *

But the next drive did not come. Suddenly a dozen screaming wretches--theycould no longer be called soldiers--came running up the street. They joinedGrim Hagen's men and gibbered in fear as they pointed back. 

From down there came a sudden burst of music. Odin's heart leaped when heheard it. It was the old song of the Brons. But the lights were burning lowback there and as yet he could see nothing. 

Then they came. Nea and Maya, walking side by side. Behind them werehalf a dozen women, playing fifes and horns. One was carrying a tatteredflag. Behind the musicians came a motley crowd. Old women, young women, half-grown children, and dozens of old men. All were armed. And theycame forward like the wrack of a surviving army at judgement day. 

Oh, there was something noble about them, and pitiful too. And somethingterrible. For before them, floating upon the air like bobbing heads wereNea's four fantoms, the Kalis, whining hungrily as they came, their copperhair trailing about them. 

One caught a fugitive as he lagged behind--and he died screaming. 

[Illustration: Grim Hagen's men writhed helplessly in the grip of theKalis' deadly copper hairs!]

The Kalis darted this way and that and Grim Hagen's men writhed. Theirmuscles clenched. Their jaws set as though tetanus had struck them. Theyslid to the marble street and died. 

And the Kalis laughed and whined and screamed as they fed. Even above theirfeeding-song and the screams of their victims came the shrill, triumphantcry of Nea urging them on. 

Nor was the rest of Maya's army still. One old Bron who had been a slave ofGrim Hagen for too long had found a shotgun among Hagen's treasures and wasblasting away. They were armed with everything from staves, blunderbusses, old forty-fours and Sharps rifles to machine guns. They fired and fired. Grim Hagen's men went down. But though dozens of ill-aimed shots were firedat him, Grim Hagen still lived, dodging here and there, rallying his men, and urging his gun-crew to finish setting up that odd weapon. 

Few were left of the thousand that had rallied to Grim Hagen. But anotherthousand were coming through the hedges from other lanes and streets. Although it was a gallant, ragged little army that Nea and Maya led, itwould have lasted no longer than a straw in a whirlwind had it not been forthe Kalis. They appeared to be enjoying themselves, even as Grim Hagen'smen were not. They zig-zagged this way and that. They purred. They fed. They were stronger now and their movements were quicker. Their victims diedfaster. 

 * * * * *

And as they forged forward, Nea was growing in strength. She leaped afterthem, leaving Maya to command the small army. She screamed. She urged themon with a "Kill, kill, kill!" that froze the back of Odin's neck. Here wasno girl trained to work in a laboratory. This was a high-priestess, longderided and forgotten, come back from the stars to wreak her vengeance. 

"Good God, " Odin was thinking. "What unexplored labyrinths are left in thehuman brain?"

Then there was no time for thinking. The Lorens who were trying to gainthe stairway had finally dislodged the two bodies that Odin and Gunnar hadflung down upon them. They came up like a surging tide, and for the nextfew minutes Odin and Gunnar were busy. 

Gunnar had never been any happier in his life. He talked to his sword andhe growled at those that he killed. He yelled at Ato's and Maya's wearyingarmies, urging them to go on and account themselves well. He stood byOdin's side, and the two hacked and thrust until the stairway was chockedwith bodies and no one was left to assail them. 

He and Odin were splashed with blood. The tumult was deafening. Thetiger-screams of the Kalis, the agonized torment of their prey. Thegun-blasts from Maya's army, the cry of Ato who had hacked his way almostto Gunnar and Odin, the victory-scream of Nea, the broken music! And evenabove this, the mad curses and commands of Grim Hagen!

Some of Grim Hagen's Lorens were in flight. Most of them were dead. Buthis white-skinned warriors held firm. Not over a dozen were left at GrimHagen's side. Two were still working with the odd-shaped weapon. 

There were other Lorens coming out of the hedges, but they held back. They had seen enough. 

Had fortune favored Ato then, his army would have won. 

But at the precise moment when the balance was swinging toward the Brons, Grim Hagen's gun-crew got the strange weapon unlimbered. The globe startedturning. Unseen motors roared within it. As though spun out like gleamingstrands of cobwebs, coils of light came flickering toward the attackingBrons. Like blue-white ripples they went across the fore-running Kalis. The ripples of light went on expanding. The shotgun in the hands of theold Bron suddenly burst to pieces. The old rifles fell apart. The newermachine-guns talked briefly, and then disappeared in a burst of flame thattook their masters with them. 

The first coil of light struck Odin. There was a tingling sensation, neither painful nor pleasant. But it went through his body like a mildopiate. He did not want to sleep. He merely wanted to relax and forgetthis slaughter. He fought against it. Gunnar leaned against him, suddenlyweak and shaken. 

 * * * * *

More widening circles of light swept out upon them. Ato's and Maya'stroops fell back. Those who had been armed with explosive weapons had died. Odin was almost too weak to lift his sword. From the stairway below camea scrabbling sound, as men pulled the corpses away from the stairs. 

Nea's Kalis reeled back. She urged them on and they advanced like corksbobbing on ripples of light. Three moved slowly toward Grim Hagen'smachine. A fourth faltered and fell back. 

The Kalis were no longer screaming their frightful song. The purr ofvictory was gone. Instead they yowled a savage, tormented scream asthough they had been cornered by an enemy they could not understand. 

But the three moved forward, while the fourth hesitated behind them. Asthough struggling against a heavy flood they came on. The gun-crew dieddefending their whirling weapon. The three Kalis swarmed over it--likebees smothering the enemy, Odin thought. The pulsing coiling light died. There was a burst of flame. The weapon and the three Kalis suddenlybecame one immense sardonyx that blazed huge and grand for a briefmoment. Then the jewel-blaze burned out, and a handful of ashes siftedto the ground. 

The fourth Kali was undone. It tried to go forward against that jewel-fire. Then it hesitated and darted back. With a shrill cry of fear it flungitself into Nea's arms, its coppery tentacles holding her close in a lasteffort to escape destruction. 

 * * * * *

She had said before that the Kalis were the nearest things to human thatcould be made. She had been the poor relation, the daughter of a dreamingfailure. Perhaps something of the fear and doubt which Nea had known allher life had gone into the making of the Kalis. She screamed once--more inbewilderment than pain, as though a favorite cat had suddenly clawed her. She must have been dead before she fell, and the last Kali clung to herbosom and spread its copper-wires about her face. It emitted one weakpurr--then it stopped purring and moving forever. 

Grim Hagen's Lorens who had been clinging to the hedges now came forwardtriumphantly. Strength came back to Gunnar and Odin. The attackers hadcleared the stairway again. And once more Gunnar and Odin threw them back. 

By now both Ato and Maya had swung their shattered little armies over tothe subway entrance. 

Hagen had retreated from the dais. Meeting the advancing Lorens, he ledthem forward. 

Those on the stairway retreated as they saw that they were no longeragainst two warriors. 

Gunnar rested his sword against his leg and reached out with huge armsand pulled Ato and Odin toward him. "Down there, " he pointed toward thestairway. "There is plenty of room to fight, and those who have been comingup don't seem to be so strong. Force your way down there and make anotherstand. Make a barricade if you can. Up here you will soon be surrounded. "

"But Grim Hagen will be at our heels--" Odin protested. 

Gunnar laughed deep in his throat. "Oh, no. The stairway is narrow. Astrong man could hold the entrance for some time--perhaps a long, longtime. And Gunnar is strong. To get at you, Grim Hagen would either haveto go down this stairway or take another entrance. These entrances, arefew and far apart. "

"Go with Maya, Ato, " Odin said, "and I will stay here with Gunnar. "

"No. The entrance is narrow. You would be in the way, " Gunnar protested. "Now, go! Oh, but the valkyries will be busy tonight!"

 * * * * *

Ato and Odin led the rush down the stairs. There were only a dozen menbelow and they had already tired of warfare. Three fell and the othersrushed off into the shadows. 

Ato's and Maya's fighters tumbled after them. There were only a few of theold people and children left. 

Now they found themselves in a huge room which was filled with benches andsmall machines. It was evidently a wood-working shop. The room was lit byseveral of the high-flaring cressets of stone. It was rectangular, aboutthe size of a football field. They were fortunate that there was no heavymachinery left here. From each side, dim-lighted tunnels led off into thedistance. While Odin and the strongest soldiers guarded, Ato and his peopleshoved benches, tables and chairs to the four tunnels and set them afire. There were still quite a number of benches left, and some of these werestacked close together into one corner of the room, making a sort of rudebalcony that looked down upon the littered floor. More benches and machineswere left. These were made into a barricade a few yards in front of thebalcony. 

All was done now that could be done. So Odin rushed back to the stairwayto help Gunnar. But his heart sank as he stood at the foot of the stairs. Up there was nothing but swirling, violet flame. Some liquid was burningfuriously at the entrance-way, and blazing rivulets were pouring down thesteps. There was no way to go through those flames. There was now no wayto go around. Gunnar, if he lived at all, must fight alone. And Odin'seyes filled with tears as he cursed himself for deserting his old comrade. 

 * * * * *

The attackers were almost upon Gunnar before the last of Maya's rag-tagarmy had gone down the stairs. There were high bannisters around theentrance-way. These afforded plenty of protection to his back and flanksunless someone scaled them, which he doubted. One of the heavy cressets wasburning nearby. It seemed to be no more than a huge, open lamp. Standingupon a circular base about three feet across, the twelve-inch stem went upnearly eight feet and then flared out into a tulip-shaped bowl that wasfilled with flickering violet fire. Bending low, Gunnar grasped the bottomof the stem and moved it a little closer to the stairway entrance. Ittook all of his strength, but it moved, complaining as it slid along theflagging. Now he was almost under it. The light was in his opponents'faces, and it gave a little added protection to his left side. 

Gunnar braced himself, his long blade high over his shoulder, both handslocked to the long carved haft. 

"Grim Hagen, " he called mockingly. "Here we are at the edge of the stars. Just you and I left on top of this world. Just you and I of the two crewsthat sailed from Opal. The mad gods have made bonfires of the suns. Ragnarok has come and passed. I have no quarrel with these people, GrimHagen. Come forward now and let the two of us end what should have beenended long ago--"

 * * * * *

Grim Hagen silenced his men and screamed back: "Gunnar, what I say now Ihave said before. I promised you death. But I will let you go free--andall the frightened rats below can go free--if you will give me Wolden'ssecret--"

"I know nothing of Wolden's secret. It may be nothing but a twitch in yourmad brain. The old Blood-Drinker and I know but one secret, Grim Hagen, thesecret of death. Step forth like a man now and I promise you more peacethan even Wolden's secret could give you. "

Grim Hagen said no more to Gunnar. He sent four companies in the directionof other entrances to the underground city. Then he martialled hisremaining men and threw them toward Gunnar in threes. 

Three by three they came, and three by three they went down. Braced onhis strong, short legs Gunnar flailed them like wheat. Screams and cursesfilled the night. And Gunnar piled the dead before him. 

One by one the companies returned to Grim Hagen and reported that for thepresent there was no other way into the room below. 

Grim Hagen held a short council of war. He had less than a score of thewhite-skinned soldiers left. These he sent at Gunnar in a body, and camefollowing after with the remaining Lorens. 

Gunnar cut them down, but a leaping soldier died as he buried his knife inGunnar's side. The Lorens were throwing sticks and stones when they could. They closed in like dogs upon a wolf. Gunnar reeled back and then advancedonce more as he swung his broadsword. 

He cleared a path and sent his attackers back until they stood about himin a circle, their fangs ready. 

And then Gunnar reached forth and took the stem of the huge torch high upin his hands and bowed his back. The lamp rocked upon its pedestal and thencame crashing forward. Its fuel spilled down and caught fire as it fell. Flames leaped up and lashed out at the Lorens. 

The fierce flames drove the attackers farther back. But in falling, thegreat lamp careened and half of its liquid had splashed across the entranceto the tunnel. It caught fire. Gunnar gasped as it struck him. Then hestrode forward, like a dwarf-king advancing from Hell. 

A thrown knife caught him in the chest. Gunnar took another step, andanother knife caught him below the throat. He stood there, trying to goon, and a mace thudded against his temple. 

Gunnar reeled back into the flames. 

CHAPTER 17

A deadening quiet fell over the huge room where Maya's and Ato's littlearmies were making their last stand. The flames were dying out in thetunnels and on the stairway. They fed more fuel to the fires and waited. 

Maya was at Odin's side now. They clung together. Jack Odin kissed herand swore that they would never be parted again. 

"Until death--" Maya said and raised her lips to his. 

He shivered. It was a promise and an assurance that might be kept toosoon. The fires could not burn much longer. Grim Hagen's power over theLorens might be questioned after the havoc that had been wreaked in thecity above. But Hagen and his white-skinned soldiers could still fight. And Grim Hagen's hate was hotter than the fires that were now dying outin the tunnels. 

Ato joined them. He had proven himself a general. Outnumbered all the way, he had broken Grim Hagen's lines time and again during that awful night. 

"I think we had better wait behind the barricades and make our last standupon the balcony, " he said. "We can't defend five entrances at the sametime. "

Odin agreed. 

"Some of Maya's people are unarmed. We still have a few of the Lorens whojoined us. They are good fighters. Better than the Lorens who are withGrim Hagen. Apparently, he drew his following from the weakest among them. "

"Aye, " Val the Loren agreed. He had fought near Ato's side all through thenight, and his lean left hand was rubbing two deep cuts across his chest. "They have already had enough. But they have asked the wild things of themoss-country to dine with them, and now they can't get rid of their guests. If Grim Hagen and his soldiers should die, they would give up in a minute. "

"Are your men still armed, Val?" Odin asked. 

"Aye. They know to hang on to their weapons. "

"Not all of Maya's people are, " Odin said. "I don't like the idea of thechildren and old men fighting. "

"Children and old men have fought before, " Ato answered simply. "If thisshould be the last time, then the battle would be worth the blood. Anyway, I have set them to fashioning lances and staves from wood that we savedfrom the fires. "

They waited. All the troops and all the weapons were moved behind thebarricade. 

Some of the best throwers were mounted upon the improvised balcony. They had rigged up a rude catapult from some lumber and ropes. They hadbarrels of nails and spikes for ammunition. Odin wished for some goodbowmen, but the bow was as foreign to the Lorens as it was to the Brons. There was nothing left to do except move all the workshop's water-pailsand sand-buckets behind the barricade in case of fire. 

Soon they heard the sound of war-cries and the splashing of water fromthe tunnels. Smoke poured into the room from the quenched and dying fires. It disappeared almost as fast as it came. Evidently the Lorens were mastersof air-conditioning. Odin was thankful. Knowing Grim Hagen, he had beenfearful of gas. Now that seemed unlikely. Even as Gunnar had predicted, this last fight would be with knife and sword and spear. Or, if it lastedlong, with clubs and bare hands. 

They had spanned space and had mocked at time. Now time was triumphantas always. Would they end up as pre-stone-age men throwing sticks at oneanother? And was this a sample of the end of all the thinking men whowould follow after into space? If so, what a hollow, foolish end to suchhigh endeavor. Odin remembered an old professor who had said that allraces carry their own seeds of destruction with them wherever they go. The bees who steal the honey soon die, the old man had said, but theflowers are pollinated anew and life goes on forever. 

But such bleak thoughts were short-lasting. For as soon as the tunnels andthe stairway were cleared of smoke, Grim Hagen's army came pouring into theroom. Grim Hagen had mustered at least two-thousand men. He had dividedthese into five groups, and they came through the five entrances at thesame time. Yelling and brandishing swords and flares, they rushed thebarricade. 

Jack Odin had underestimated the catapult. The crew released it. And ashower of spikes tore the invading ranks apart. Odin saw a white-skinnedwarrior go to his knees and scream as he tried to pull a six-inch spikefrom his eye. 

Ato had ordered his men to try for Grim Hagen's trained soldiers first. Odin saw an old Bron cast a home-made spear with as much ease as a trainedjavelin-thrower back home. A soldier tried to pull it out of his chestuntil his legs buckled beneath him and he tumbled over backwards. 

Then a white-skinned warrior leaped at the barricade and Odin thrust himthrough. 

 * * * * *

Torches began to rain down upon them. Half the defending forces were nowbusy with water and sand, beating out the flames. 

Then, after what seemed to be hours, the catapult crew cranked theirawkward weapon to the trigger-point again and sent another rain of spikesinto Grim Hagen's ranks. 

The floor beyond the barrier was littered with dead and slippery withblood before Grim Hagen's men broke the barrier. 

There were only two hundred to meet the charge of two thousand. The endwas inevitable. 

As the barrier went down, Jack Odin and Maya urged their men to climbupon the balcony. Odin was the last to retreat. A soldier caught at himas he scrambled upward and Odin turned and slashed him across the face. 

Ato was calling his men around him. They drew back to a corner where twothick walls met. Ato had placed one bench there. This he stood upon, calling out orders and cheering them on as the attackers climbed theunsteady tiers of benches and tables to reach them. The defenders gatheredaround. There were not over fifty of them left now. Odin thrust Maya behindhim. A body fell at his feet. He bent and lifted up a twelve-year-old boywho was streaming from wounds. He handed the lad to Maya. 

Grim Hagen led the attack. Odin braced himself. He took one step forwardand waited. Seeing him, Grim Hagen veered toward him, screaming a madbattle-cry--his eyes wild with hate. Even in what appeared to be the lastmoment, Jack Odin saw that only three or four of the white-skinned soldierswere left; and not over a dozen of the Brons who had stayed with GrimHagen during all those wasting years remained. 

He did not take his eyes from Grim Hagen. He was conscious only of a suddenflickering, as of many lights twinkling on and off. But he did not knowwhat was happening. Maya told him later. 

Ato was already bleeding badly from a deep slash in his shoulder. As herallied his men around him, someone threw a knife that buried itself in theright side of his chest. He stumbled and went down to his knees. Then hestruggled up, and as he stood straight he reached down to his waist andclutched the little slug-horn of moon-metal that his father had given him. His head went back as he raised the horn to his lips. Like Childe Roland, who came at last to the Dark Tower, he blew one unheard blast. 

 * * * * *

Suddenly the room was filled with lights, flashing and dancing everywhere. Whispering. 

A stillness fell upon the room and the shambles. Men paused as they liftedtheir knives or braced themselves for a last thrust. 

For a single breath, all was in silence. 

Then a light began to whisper. "Ato, it is I, your father, Wolden. We havelearned the secret of time and space and we have come for you, my son. Butbefore we go, we must rid ourselves of the mischief-makers. "

The lights darted down upon Grim Hagen's men. And as they touched them, the cold of space came flowing through. They fell one by one. And thehoar-frost covered them like spiderwebs across the faces and bodies oflong-dead mummies. 

There was a spattering sound, as of sleet falling against a distant roof. A strange smell filled the air. 

And one by one Grim Hagen's men went down. 

CHAPTER 18

All this happened while Grim Hagen was rushing toward Odin and Maya. A thintrickle of blood was flowing down the corner of Hagen's mouth. Odin heardthe voices. Out of the corner of his eye he saw some men go down. The roomfelt cold now, and a thin breeze was going through it, as though blowngently across the star-spaces. 

He saw a light dart down toward Grim Hagen. 

But at that instant Grim Hagen reached him and swung his sword. JackOdin stepped aside. His foot slipped upon the unsteady planking of theimprovised balcony. He thrust for Grim Hagen's throat, but his bladewent high and wide. It gashed Grim Hagen from the lower corner of hischin clear back to the jawbone. Blood streamed and as Odin slipped tohis knee Grim Hagen swung again. 

Then Maya was between them, both hands grasping Hagen's sword-arm. Hagen'sfree hand closed about her wrists. He swung her aside and the point of hissword came down to rest upon her throat. 

"Now, " Grim Hagen screamed, and his voice was the shriek of a man whohas nothing left to lose. "Let no light come near me and Maya or we dietogether. Wolden, I caught scattered words about your work as I fledthrough space. I held the stars and planets in my hands and I flung themaway, for they were no more than the sparks that fly out from flint. Theywere worthless and I flung them away. And there was nothing to matchmy desire. Not even Maya. Now, listen, if you care for her life. "

The descending lights hesitated and drew back. Jack Odin righted himselfand chanced a thrust at Hagen. The thrust failed as Grim Hagen moved Mayabetween them. 

"No more of that, Odin. Drop your sword or she dies. Drop it now!"

And Odin lowered his hand and let his sword fall to the table beneath him. 

Grim Hagen continued: "The ship is yours. This world is yours. Let mehave your secret, Wolden. I would not care to be with such as you. Iwould laugh at space with the comets. I would make the stars cringe. Iwould watch the generations go by like falling snow. I would--"

"No, you would be like Lucifer, wreaking his vengeance upon the planets, "the voice of what had been Wolden interrupted in a whisper. "No, GrimHagen, even if I gave you what you asked, all space would seem as hellto you. "

Grim Hagen smiled an evil smile. "So. But it is I who make the bargain. Even yet. Maya goes with me. Remember!"

But at that instant Maya got one hand free and thrust the sword aside. 

It was all the time that Jack Odin needed. Reaching forward he graspedGrim Hagen's sword with his bare hand. It cut to the bone. And then he hadHagen's wrist with his free hand. He twisted. A bone cracked and he shookthe blade from Hagen's grasp. Maya leaped to one side. Then Hagen's fingerswere pushing Odin's face back and Odin was clutching at Hagen's throat. 

They stood there swaying. Then they tumbled down the rude stairway oftables that Ato had fashioned for his last stand. 

They rolled to the blood-stained floor beneath. And Odin never knew howeither of them survived the fall. 

The lights hovered above them, waiting for an opening. Maya took up afallen sword and came following after. 

Grim Hagen's fingers were feeling for Odin's eyes. Odin got a bloody fistagainst Hagen's face and shoved him back. Then he rolled on top of him andgot the man's throat between his hands. Hagen's fists worked like pistonsas he beat at Odin's face. Odin felt the blood dripping down upon his handsand upon Hagen's throat but he held on. At the last, Grim Hagen screamedand clawed like an animal. And then it was over. The hands stoppedclawing. There was one last sob of pain and hate that was cut off in themiddle. Then Grim Hagen was still. And Odin, with his face dripping blood, held on while Maya and the others struggled to tear his hands free fromthe man he had killed. 

 * * * * *

With the death of Grim Hagen the fight was over. None of Hagen's Brons orAldebaranians were left. The Lorens threw down their arms and swore loyaltyto Val. 

A cot was improvised for Ato. The lights hovered around him, whisperingcheerfully and ignoring all others. 

Val, Odin and Maya tried to count the survivors. Of the fifty who had livedthrough the fighting, only eighteen were Brons. The rest were Val's men. 

"There are a hundred more on the two ships, " Maya told Odin. "Oh, Jack, wehave Nea to thank for most of this. Nea and Wolden. After you and your menleft, Nea took her Kalis, as she called them, and some of her people. Theycame through the barrier and made their way to the Old Ship. They surprisedthe few guards that Grim Hagen had left. They freed me and the otherprisoners. Then we got our little army together and came to help. WithoutNea, it could never have been done. " She buried her face on Odin'sshoulder. "Oh, Jack, when we were kids together we used to laugh at her. "

He patted her shoulder comfortingly, for he could think of nothing to say. He had seen soldiers like Nea--cast-offs from their home-towns gallantlygoing to their deaths. It was something that he could not understand. Andbeing honest, he had nothing to say. 

Clean-up was begun. Jack Odin left Val of the Lorens to take over. Then herushed to the stairway where last he had seen Gunnar. The fires had burnedout. The steps were blackened. A few smoking corpses were still upon thestairs. 

Odin's face was covered with blood. His strength was nearly gone. But hewent up the stairs two steps at a time, his spent breath whistling throughhis bloody nostrils. 

 * * * * *

There at the top of the stairs he found Gunnar. And Gunnar's dead lay thickabout him. 

Gunnar had moved himself to a sitting position against one of the railings. His chin was upon his great chest and his eyes were closed as though heslept. But when Odin knelt beside him, he opened one eye and looked up witha twisted smile upon his broad face. One side of his face was barelyrecognizable. Gunnar was badly burned. He had been thrust through at leasta dozen times. But Gunnar lived. 

"Eh, Nors-King, " he whispered, sitting up straight as Odin steadied him inhis arms. "It was a long time to wait. And I thought sometimes that I wouldnot make it. But I held on, for I knew you would come. Oh, it has been along wait--and it took all my strength. "

"As fast as I could, " Odin answered in a choking voice. "As fast as Icould, O Chief of the Neeblings. For Ragnarok is past, and the tree of lifestill reaches into the stars. The twilight is past and new suns and newearths are quickened. And Gunnar still lives. "

"Part of him. " Gunnar blinked his good eye. "What happened down there? Oh, "he gasped in pain, "to have missed the fighting!"

"Maya lives and I live. Ato is wounded. Wolden came at the last to help us, Gunnar. We won. And I have killed Grim Hagen with my bare hands, even as Ipromised. "

"Good, Nors-King. I knew always that one of us would kill him. Oh, it wasa grand fight. But Gunnar will sharpen his sword no more. There was a fordnear my father's house where the clear water ran fresh over the stones. That might help me. But it is far away. And my father too. You tell Freidathat we did not make the long trip in vain. "

"If I can, " Odin promised. 

"Oh, you can. For we have won the stars and nothing is beyond us--exceptyouth, maybe. "

Gunnar closed his eyes and slept for a few minutes while Odin held him inhis arms. Then Gunnar awoke. 

He smiled at Jack Odin and murmured:

"To awake on the sea of the stars--"

Jack Odin had heard Gunnar sing those words before. They belonged to an oldNorse lullaby that Gunnar's mother had crooned to him when he was a littleboy. 

Then Gunnar died. 

And Odin knelt over him, tears streaming down his broken face. 

CHAPTER 19

Six months had passed since the battle. 

The city of the violet dome was rebuilt. The ashes of the dead had beenstrewn upon the mossy plains. The two ships now stood in peace and gazedat each other across the expanse of moss and grass that had replaced thecinders left from the fighting. 

Another city was being built a few miles away. 

Ato had soon recovered from his wounds, and as ship's captain had marriedMaya and Odin. 

So it was over. But Odin and Maya had asked for Gunnar's ashes, and hadburied them out there on the plain, beneath a gaunt tree which wassomething like a mesquite. Gunnar would have liked that. Twisted, gnarled, and tough, the tree spread out its branches above him; and a bird had builtits nest there and sang its old song of stars and men and time. 

The Lorens were a happier people. One of the first things that the lightshad done was to plunge back into space. Within a few days they returned, trailing a huge dust-cloud behind them. It must have been the last salvagefrom the explosion that Odin had witnessed back there in space. The cloudtrailed out in one great streamer and slowly circled the ancient sun. Slowly the spirals came nearer to the fires. The sun fed. Its old warmthreturning, it smiled at its lone child. The air of the planet of the Lorensgrew warmer and fresher. The plains seemed to shake themselves as a newspring returned to enliven the land and take up its old work of helpinglife to begat new life. Out there in empty space, Odin fancied, Deathlowered his scythe and smiled and shrugged his lean shoulders as he wentaway to harvest other suns. 

Oh, it was a wonderful spring. The trip was over, but what a haggard fewhad beached the boats at the vast edge of space!

The few surviving Brons were happy now. Those who had been Grim Hagen'sslaves out of their loyalty to Maya were offered anything that they wished. However, it turned out that most of them wanted little except peace andrest. 

The families of Brons that survived were now building their houses aboveground--although the Lorens had generously offered them quarters below thecity. The Brons wanted no more of caves or tunnels. They preferred to liveup there on this world's surface and take their chances with frost andflood. 

Opal had been beautiful and wonderful. It had been like living eastward inEden, but Eden's gardens were no more. And perhaps it would be better toface the elements and meet them head-on instead of seeking shelter. Fortime and chance were working everywhere--even in Eden--and as Gunnar hadalways said, a fighting heart could carry a man to the last. 

 * * * * *

The days and the nights were longer than on earth. The work was long andhard. But the world of the Lorens was being rebuilt. And at night, Odinusually set an hour aside to work on his notes. 

At times he talked with Wolden, although he could never be completely atease when talking to a light. Nor could he understand half the things thatWolden told him. Wolden quoted formulas on time and space, mass and speed. Odin guessed that the belt which he had once used so briefly embodied aNo-Time and No-Space factor. But this was beyond him. 

As for Ato, he grew moodier every day. At last he came to see Maya and Odinone evening. Sitting by the fire--for the nights there were chilly--hetalked to them of his decision. 

"It was a great fight, " he said. "And I will always remember it. If Nea hadlived, I might have felt differently. But Wolden and the others say thatthey will not stay here much longer. I have decided to go with them. Theirsis a sort of Nirvana, a timeless, dimensionless existence. Yesterday andtomorrow, near and far, are one--"

Maya shivered. "It sounds like a frightening existence. I don't understandit at all. It is as though they had become spirits without dying. "

"Perhaps, " said Ato thoughtfully, looking into the fire. "You may beright. But they say it is wonderful to be freed from the shackles ofspace and time. You remember the belt, Odin? Wolden has merely improvedupon it. Soon, I think, I will put on the belt that they brought for meand go forth with them like Laelaps to invade the night. "

He paused a minute and then added cautiously, "They have brought two morebelts with them. For you two, if you should decide--"

Maya shivered. Odin laughed, as he shook his head. "No. I am a man. Justflesh and blood, Ato. And I choose to stay here and take the blows oftime. To endure to the end--even as my fathers before on earth--"

Maya snuggled against his shoulder as she nodded her agreement. 

Ato smiled. "I thought so--But we will say no more about it. There isone thing that you may not understand. Wolden has tried to tell you. Buthe is a scientist, and his words are different and difficult to follow. You and I have fought shoulder to shoulder. Perhaps I can explain--"

Then he talked for nearly an hour about the passing of time--and how aship could circle the universe at the speed of light--and upon returningit might find its home-port nothing but dust and memories. For while theirhearts were beating once a month out there in space tide after tide ofyears had flowed over their homes and their loved ones. 

It was a sad, bewildering speech. It reduced time to nothing--and bothMaya and Odin felt a lump of ice in their throats as Ato talked. 

But even after he had finished, they shook their heads and clung together. A chill wind from space seemed to be blowing through the room, whisperingof time's vagaries, and how space had different clocks, and how theaffairs of men were swept by time and chance down to a sunless sea. 

For the last time Jack Odin and Maya refused Ato's offer. Eden was behindhim. Immortality was lost. But Adam and Eve held close to each other thereat the edge of space--and as they left Eden behind an old sad nobilityclung to them. Something brave and beautiful, like the last leaves ofautumn glinting in the setting sun. 

 * * * * *

The notes that Doctor Jack Odin sent me are ended. But even as before hewrote a short letter and added it to the package at the last. 

 Dear Joe: (he began)

 Wolden and Ato have agreed to deliver this message and the attached notes. Wolden says that it is a terrible experience to go from the fourth-dimensional light of his into a time-bound world. He will not again obligate himself as a messenger boy. 

 I promised to let you know how we fared. And here is the tale, if you can piece it together. And I suppose you can, for you always liked to monkey around with words. (From this distance, I would say that putting words together has been both the curse and the blessing of your entire life. )

 I fear that I cannot understand Ato's and Wolden's talk. But let me put it this way. We traveled fast and furiously through space. And all the while, Father Time was laughing at us. You will remember how Grim Hagen aged on Aldebaran while we sped after him in what seemed to be only a few weeks. Well, if we left in The Nebula now and plunged back to earth we would arrive there two hundred years from the day that we took off. And from what I saw of your civilization at the last, I have no desire to see it two hundred years later. 

 Bewildering, isn't it? Nea always said that we would have to use new concepts and develop new mores if we ever conquered space. She was right. 

 Theoretically, you are gone and forgotten for two centuries. And yet, Wolden assures me that he can deliver this to you in short order. Therefore, time does not exist as we know it. Or is it a river that can be navigated?

 Our home is finished. Maya and I are happy. This is a peaceful planet. Val's people are philosophers. They only fought out of desperation. 

 My sword and Gunnar's are growing rusty upon the wall. I have a small office now, and will probably end up as a country doctor. The two ships are still out there on the plain. Our children, if they wish, can man them and go out into space. But as far as we are concerned we go no more a-hunting. 

 The notes that I am sending you are fairly complete. It is nearly midnight and the fire is burning low. Maya is nodding beside me. So--happy at last--parsecs away and years away--I wish my old friend a hearty fare-thee-well--and

 IT IS A TALE THAT IS TOLD. 

 Best wishes, Jack Odin, M. D. 

 THE END

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

This etext was produced from Amazing Science Fiction Stories May 1960. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U. S. Copyrighton this publication was renewed. 

The following corrections have been made to the text:

Page 48: Both hands of the clock were pointing upward{original had uward}. 

Page 51: Rolling the knapsack up into a ball and tying it securely{originalhad securly}, he threw it over the brink. 

Page 52: The spurt of a match showed him his miner's cap{original had cape}not five feet away. 

Page 55: Even though we go farther than the graveyard of stars--or beyondthe gates of hell, maybe--I will find her. "{original omitted quotationmark}

Page 59: We know now that Grim Hagen and his ship, with all his prisonersand loot, took off from the bed of the sea with a flourish which was justlike Grim Hagen{original had Hagin}. 

Page 70: They hammered and pounded at the framework. {original omitted theperiod}

Page 71: It was entitled: "Einstein and Einsteinian Space, with Conjecturesupon a Trans-Einsteinian concept. {original had a comma here}"

Page 73: She was dressed in linsey-woolsey{original had lindsey-woolsey}, and the overalls of the three sons were also home-spun. 

Page 75: And once, {original had a period} Odin heard him cry out

Page 78: Larger than the others, Odin landed awkwardly{original hadawkardly} upon the floor of the car. 

Page 79: It was surrounded by green grass, and at one corner was aprofusion of water-lilies{original had water-lillies} and cat-tails. 

Page 80: "{original omitted this quotation mark}For over a thousand years, theirs was an economy of death and rottenness. Mushrooms and toadstoolswere their food. 

Page 82: Jupiter with its red clouds and its protean{original had portean}"eye" reached out for them and was left behind. 

Page 83: "It will be like plunging back from immortality{original hadimortality} to mortality, " Ato told Odin. 

Page 84: "My father's work is finished{original had finisheded}, " she toldthem proudly. 

Page 86: Don't you see?{original had a period instead of the question mark}

Page 91: He saw boats and cars and a few long-nosed airplanes, with themerest trace of vestigial{original had vestigeal} wings far back near theempennage, Page 95: Again he tossed a sneer in Gunnar's direction--{original had asuperfluous quotation mark here}

Page 95: "If I did, Hagen, would I turn you and your hell's{original hadhells'} spawn loose upon the stars to perplex them forever?"

Page 97: "Touché{original had Touche}!" Jack Odin thought as Gunnardeparted. 

Page 98: This was true, {original omitted the comma} Odin thought, sincethis was the first Bro-Stoka who had ever been identified to him. 

Page 98: "And he is a Bro-Stoka among the slaves, {original omitted thiscomma}" Gunnar continued. 

Page 100: "Turn the light upon her forearm{original had fore-arm, but allother occurrences were spelled forearm}, now, " he instructed. 

Pages 103-104: Do you remember a story about the bush-men dying from acurse?{original had a period instead of the question mark}

Page 106: {original had a superfluous quotation mark here}Here, " he pointedto a pinpoint of light upon the map. 

Page 107: "Perhaps, " she answered. {original had a comma} "But space outthere is curdling in his wake. "

Illustration caption (Page 122): Grim Hagen's men writhed helplessly inthe grip of the Kalis'{original had Kali's} deadly copper hairs!

Page 128: The bees who steal the honey soon die, the old man{original hadmen} had said, Page 134: Soon, I think, I will put on the belt that they brought for meand go forth with them like Laelaps{original had laelaps} to invade thenight. "

The following words were inconsistently hyphenated, and have been left asin the original:

 cheek-bone/cheekbone fore-arm/forearm loud-speakers/loudspeakers motor-boat/motorboat out-cropping/outcropping