Star Ship on Saddle Mountain

- Title Page

- CHAPTER ONE

- about the big rambling room. But he could think of nothing. Even as he stood there in that short mom

- CHAPTER TWO

- CHAPTER THREE

- CHAPTER FOUR

- About to tell the man he had almost reached his full height, a good height for an Earthman, Charlie

- About to accept, Charlie turned and glanced at Navajo.

- CHAPTER EIGHT

- CHAPTER TEN

- About to protest, Charlie held back his anger at not being allowed to see Navajo right now. Just as

- CHAPTER ELEVEN

- CHAPTER TWELVE

- CHAPTER THIRTEEN

- CHAPTER FOURTEEN

- CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Star Ship on Saddle
Mountain

Star Ship on Saddle
Mountain

BY ATLANTIS H A L LAM

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY • NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT, 1955, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

All rights reserved—no part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in magazine or newspaper.

First Printing

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Published simultaneously in Canada

To Howard Moorepark,
for his help in the launching of a
star ship.

CHAPTER ONE

The Alien Object

Charles Holt tried very hard to get rid of the jittery feeling he'd had all day, to brush it off and get an early start for the all-night fishing trip up river. He wanted to enjoy that, get all the fun out of it, along the Arizona banks of Lake Havasu on the Colorado River. But still he couldn't escape that strange feeling. There was something sinister in the air. Something that put him on his guard.

Charlie wasn't scared, for he had lived alone in the isolated ranch house, the Shack, as he and Uncle John had called it, ever since his uncle had died. No, it wasn't fear, Charlie was sure. But it was the strangest, creepiest feeling he had ever had and he couldn't shake it.

Tucking the old army shirt down into his levi's, Charlie buttoned up the tight pants as he walked across the room to

the large chunk of mirror leaned against the wall under the water cooler. Stretching one leg at a time, Charlie Holt smiled a little as he looked at himself. He was almost as big as Uncle John. The army shirt fit him pretty good, even if it used to fit Uncle John skin tight. And since it belonged to his last living relative, his father's youngest brother, it was good enough for him to wear now since Uncle John was gone.

"It's plenty good," Charlie said aloud. "Sure it is."

Running his fingers through his black and slightly curled hair, Charlie frowned suddenly as he noticed the needed haircut. But it could wait, for right now. He would go on down into Parker and get it later. Maybe tomorrow. The haircut could wait. And besides, the sun was already pretty far down, over there across the Colorado, on the California side of the river. Right now it was getting to be the best time of day for cat fishing, and he better get started, Charlie told himself. He paused a moment, picking up his uncle's old safety razor. You don't need it for fuzz, Charlie! He smiled a little as he remembered his uncle's words, and how he'd always tell him to take an old blade for practice, not a new one.

"I can use all the new ones now, I guess ..." he said aloud.

For a brief moment Charlie's face grew sad, as he thought of the family he had never known. That tight feeling inside his chest came on again, as he thought of the many past trips, hunting and fishing, with Uncle John. To keep from remembering more, Charlie turned off the day time fan in the water cooler pronto. But even as he quickly turned off the power that forced the hot, dry desert air into the house, cooling it

as it passed through the cold water running down the wire

screen in the cooler box, Charlie heard another screen being

knocked impatiently from the side window. Navajo's window.

"Nav!" Charlie shouted at the old horse. "Doggone you, Navajo."

But Charlie knew old Navajo would pay no attention to his shouts. He always tried to hurry him when they were going on a trip. And Navajo figured the best way to hurry him, Charlie knew from experience, was to knock that loose screen off the side window.

"Okay, Nav—okay," Charlie said. "Now you got the screen off and your old head poked inside the Shack, I hope you're satisfied, Nav."

For reply, the old Palomino whinnied joyfully, then shook his head vigorously as he looked back at Charlie. When Charlie just stood there, to tease Navajo, the horse stamped his foot, thumping the side boards of the house. Then he turned his head, when Charlie still didn't move, and with his white-spotted nose Navajo bounced the head harness and reins up and down where they hung on the hook by the window. Charlie laughed suddenly at Navajo's graphic suggestion.

"Nav—doggone your old hide," he said, putting his arms about Navajo's head. He pressed his face against the smooth and velvety jaws. "You old dogie," Charlie whispered, "you don't have to kick down the Shack, just because you're in a hurry to go up river. Do you?"

Navajo waited a moment, letting Charlie pet him, as he considered his words. Then once more he stamped insistently, slamming the side of the Shack and trampling some loose lumber under the window. Letting go of him quickly, Charlie tossed the reins back over Navajo's mane, even as Navajo pushed his nose forward into the head harness.

"You sure are trained, Nav," Charlie said, adjusting the harness as he continued to stroke Navajo.

Having known each other a long time, ever since Uncle John had brought Navajo as a young and gangling colt to their ranch, Charlie and his best friend understood each other well. They had grown up together. Navajo was a dozen years old now, and he'd always been around, about as far back as Charlie could remember clearly. Charlie stood almost head level with Navajo. His face had a strong desert tan from living a man's life in the hot days and fast-cooling nights of the open desert country, plus the many hunting and fishing trips up and down the Colorado and out in the hill country.

"Navajo—you old dogie!" Charlie said again, roughly hugging the horse to preserve the remaining loose boards under the window. "Those guys in town can have their souped-up hot rods and their drag races. I'll take you, Nav, any old day, when it comes to going up river. Sure will! I'd like to see them drive up in the hills, Nav, like the way we get around."

But Navajo was not to be stalled by sweet talk. Charlie crossed the big room and took down his Winchester from above the stone fireplace. He removed the oil-soaked rag that hung over the muzzle.

"Uncle John sure learned some good things in the army," Charlie went on talking, to keep Navajo from getting excited again. "He sure did, Nav."

Out on the screened-in back porch, Charlie dug down in the big flour sack, half-filling a paper bag with flour. Then from the corner of his mouth, he said in a loud, clear voice: "I been thinking. Maybe I better tote along a few of these big, juicy, delicious APPLES."

With the word "apples" fairly shouted toward the front room, Charlie got an immediate reaction from that direction, though he couldn't see the window with the screen knocked off. Navajo whinnied delightedly, rattling the harness and vigorously trampling the loose boards in a sudden clatter. Charlie ran back into the big main room, to try and calm down Navajo's joy over his favorite treat.

"And I'll take the cat, Nav! You can have your old apples, but one of those big, juicy black catfish with the silver belly spots for me! From 'way down deep in that icy river." Pausing, he frowned at Navajo. "If I catch any."

Navajo began another whinny, so Charlie bounced the sleeping bag and knapsack up and down on the table. It had the magic effect. Seeing what looked like action, Navajo paused, pulling his head halfway back out the window.

"But maybe I'll have to just settle for a nice fat bass, Nav, or maybe even worse. One of those doggone old carp, if he decides he wants to try catfish bait!"

Giving a final pat to the half-filled paper bag, Charlie pushed the flour down beside his own food supplies and Navajo's apples in the saddle pack. Feeling as though he were forgetting something, Charlie glanced uncertainly

about the big rambling room. But he could think of nothing. Even as he stood there in that short moment, that earlier uneasy feeling came over him strongly again. Pulling up fishing gear, rifle and the blanket roll, Charlie took the saddle pack and turned toward the door.

Pausing again, he glanced back at the big round oak dining table in the center of the room, cluttered with all sorts of things. Charlie smiled a little as his eyes caught sight of the black ballpoint pen with the gold-capped top. The last present from Uncle John, on graduation, he recalled. Shifting the bundle of fishline, he picked up the pen and clipped it onto the edge of the khaki shirt pocket.

"Nav, Uncle John would call us plain looney for taking a pen on a fishing trip. He sure would—okay, okay, I didn't forget your old apples! So you might as well quit stomping down the Shack!"

With his arms loaded down, Charlie kicked open the door, as he tried to get outside before Navajo could make it around from the side of the house. He was barely through the door and standing on the hard-packed sandy ground of the ranch house yard when Navajo came clop-clopping around the corner—and as he came, he was already turning sideways, so that Charlie would waste no further time adjusting the saddle and loading their packs.

"I got a good mind to just leave your old apples," Charlie said, but Navajo didn't get the suggestion. All that counted was that Charlie had mentioned the familiar word "apples" again. That was all the assurance Navajo required.

He stretched out his long neck low and straight and let out another joyous whinny.

Charlie tossed the blanket roll up over behind the saddle. The saddle pack, with the fishline atop it, hung from the pommel and the Winchester was shoved down in the saddle holster. Navajo was already on his way before Charlie could seat himself in the saddle after mounting. No need to try and stop old Navajo. He was going up river. And with apples too, well, Charlie knew he would have to hurry or just be left behind!

Whistling softly as he rode along, Charlie stood up in the stirrups as they topped a low-rolling hillock. In the distance he could see the broad silver of Lake Havasu and, further downstream where the lake ended and the Colorado River once more became its narrow, deep self, Charlie could see the white pillars of cement that monumented the foot of the lake, Parker Dam. The sun was already out of sight behind the sharp, craggy mountains on the California side. For a moment, Charlie casually surveyed the coppery peaks and all the surrounding familiar country he knew so well.

There was no house in sight. Only the soft-hued colors, rapidly changing with the day's heat and light, the brown tinted sand blending into broad sheets of whiteness, and the dusty green stubble of cactus stood out clearly. Big balls of tumble weed, like giant desert marbles, rolled on a little farther, propelled by the slight breath of wind. And still further off, Charlie saw the greener patches of grass and scrub brush, which grew along the river and the lake shores.

In the distance the high craggy chocolate mountains, rising straight up abruptly from the flat desert floor, caught his attention again. Glancing further north, to the distant snow-capped peaks high and far away, Charlie sighed a little as he remembered climbing those same giant golden spires with Uncle John. They looked like great caramel ice cream cones now.

The day's heat still radiating upward all about him, Charlie breathed in deeply of the occasional cool touch of air that came up the hill from the lake shore. It was already darkening down there, the darkness coming swiftly in the desert night. Great shadows everywhere were getting bolder now, snaking their way all over the desert in ever increasing numbers. With night racing across the desert floor bringing its sudden coldness, Charlie knew both he and Navajo would need those blankets he had brought along. The desert cooled quickly when the sun went down.

"Nav," Charlie said, "you're just showing off a little! Just because we're headin' downhill, that's no reason to make out like you're a young colt again. Or maybe, it's one of those apples you're hankering for!"

To Charlie's pat and the word "apples," Navajo tossed his head a little higher and increased his pace a bit. The magic of the word apples! Charlie grinned quickly as he reached forward and ran his fingers through the bouncing mane, for in spite of his words he was pleased and pleasantly surprised at Navajo's speed. But concerned about his old horse, Charlie slowed Navajo to an easy walk, and they went toward the lake shore at a more comfortable pace.

There was the bend ahead now, with the long smoke-punk reeds poking up out of the shallow water of the little bay.

"Plenty of action there," Charlie said aloud to Navajo, as he watched a loosely-formed squadron of dragon flies go into a jet dive, swooping along low over the smooth water. "With all those other insects, Nav, the bass out there ought to be jumpin' high."

As they neared the center of the inlet, a big splash sounded out toward the center of the lake, making Charlie glance that way.

"Noisy old carp," he said. "I'll get around to eating carp when all the cat's gone. And the bass, too."

Taking the saddle pack up from the pommel, Charlie tossed a booted foot up over Navajo's neck and dropped to the ground. As he walked along the shore the horse followed him. Charlie glanced about briefly, then crouched down and dipped his hand in the clear, icy water. He held a dripping finger over the flat rock, letting the drops fall on the parched stone, in front of the panting little chameleon that had come down to the shoreline for a drink.

"There . . ." Charlie said, repeating the process as the little lizard got the idea and gratefully tongued up the water. "That's a lot better than if you take chances. If you slipped off this rock, you'd end up making bait for some big fat bass. Or worse, some doggone old carp."

Several other large and loud splashes continued offshore, breaking the placid surface as Charlie stood up again. Opening the paper bag of flour, he scooped up several handfuls of the cold water, mixing it right in the bag. When it was lumpy

dough, Charlie took it out of the breaking bag, and gently shooing the little chameleon off his special flat rock, he then kneaded the dough into a solid big ball. Pausing abruptly, Charlie grinned as he watched Navajo nosing down into the knapsack, getting a free sniff of the sweet-smelling delicious apples.

"Okay—okay boy, just one! And remember, the rest is for later. For dinner, when you get tired of grazing."

Giving Navajo one more apple, Charlie returned to the dough mixing, removing the dry dough from his hands by locking his fingers and twisting his hands together. Unwinding the spool of strong black thread, he put a dough ball on several of the hooks and then expertly wound each ball with thread to hold it to the hook in the water.

"That ought to keep you cats from sneaking up on the bait and just nibbling it off the easy way," Charlie said, glancing at Navajo who was chewing the apple and watching the hook-baiting process. "If you won't strike like bass and put up a good fight, this'll fix your wagon, maybe."

He stood up again, watching Navajo nose disdainfully into a less tasty green grass patch. Slowly he looked about. Now Navajo's head was up too, as the old horse sniffed the chill air uncertainly. Charlie looked up and down the curving shores, letting his eyes sweep carefully over the surrounding hills, and the desert country in general. He wanted to believe he had shaken off that earlier feeling, the creepy sensation he had felt back at the Shack just before starting out. But he knew now he had not.

He knew that tension had never left him. It was in the air right now. It was here, stronger than ever.

Looking about again, Charlie had the uneasy feeling that eyes were upon him, watching him. He knew the feeling. He'd felt it before in the past, when hunting with Uncle John. It was the feeling the hunter had—when stalked by the hunted. And yet, if people were heading his way, he could usually see them long before they spotted him, and he could always tell their approach before they saw him, from long experience in the outdoors. But now he had the strange feeling of being stalked, and it was far stronger than ever before.

"Just—just a crazy idea," Charlie said aloud, though he knew it wasn't. There was Navajo, and from the horse's wide, alert eyes, and flaring nostrils held high as he sniffed the wind cautiously, Charlie knew better. "It sure is something . . ." and with his own uncertain words, Charlie got to his feet, still holding the baited line of hooks. He looked about carefully in every direction again. Of one thing he was very sure now. Somebody was around somewhere, and, whoever they were, one or more, they were watching him.

Putting two fingers in his mouth, Charlie made a low whistle in Navajo's direction. With an uncertain, partial whinny, the horse promptly trotted over to him. Charlie patted Navajo reassuringly.

"It's okay, Nav. There's nobody around but us. That's the boy."

But Navajo didn't saunter off to graze as before. He stood very close to Charlie, head high and alert, and Charlie knew

the old horse reflected his own uneasiness. Turning abruptly to the water again, Charlie was a little annoyed at himself as he wound up for the toss, swinging the coiled line above his head like a lariat. Then he let go. The heavy lead sinker shot through the air, carrying the dough-blobbed hooks far offshore, splashing down and sinking rapidly where the water was deep and cold. That's where the big catfish would be, deep down on the bottom.

Turning back, Charlie spread out the old army blanket on the grassy patch near his flat rock. Then he pulled off the high-heeled riding boot with the twinkling jingle of the star-wheeled spur as he got it off. Slapping it hard with his palm, Charlie got the last grains of sand out, which had been scooped up into the boot as he knelt by the dough- mixing flat rock. But even as he pounded the upturned boot his hand stopped in mid air.

With the sun long gone down, the deepening twilight was swiftly changing into black night. But there—off in the distance. Between the twin peaks—the peaks of Saddle Mountain, as Charlie had always known them. They were supposed to be— sure, they had to be right there, opposite the flat rock. Besides, that couldn't have been any light over there. Those two mountains were just jagged rock, copper- colored from the heavy iron ore deposits in them, just plain brown rock that stuck right up out of the flat surrounding desert. You could walk right up to where the chocolate-colored rock of the mountain came up out of the desert, and touch them. He had done it many times.

But this was the usual spot, he was sure, the regular spot by the lake. Here—right here was the same old flat rock he'd always used, where he mixed the catfish dough and cut up other bait a hundred times. Charlie frowned, puzzled more than ever as he looked about the surrounding countryside and lake shore for other identifying marks. It was all the same. But Saddle Mountain—the twin peaks? They couldn't have changed overnight? And yet, as he stared at them now, they were just one massive flat-topped mountain, level straight across. The "saddle" space, the scooped out curve between them, was gone! It was filled in. And even as he stared again at the straight, smooth line, the solid fill-in from peak to peak, Charlie thought he saw again that peculiar dull glint of light. It came from right on the fill-in of the mountain, still silhouetted against the fading western sky. But then ... he sure must be mistaken, Charlie thought. Just his eyes playing tricks. Something like a daytime mirage when the sun got you.

Pulling the boot back on, Charlie stood up, working his foot back down into it. Darkness was dimming even the craggy skyline now, on Saddle Mountain. Darkness was everywhere about him, great clouds of night that covered everything, chilling him with something more than just the river coolness. Night had fallen. The sharp, nervous chirping of the lakeshore insects, getting louder and louder, gave Charlie the jitters for the first time. Navajo stood very still, and close beside him.

As he looked back across the still lake waters, once again to the silent blackness that was Saddle Mountain, Charlie shivered inwardly. At every whispery crackle of the tall reeds spearing

up out of the water his blood pounded faster. He jumped suddenly—then breathed deeply in relief. The big splash near inshore had just been a big carp jumping clear of the water. But despite his momentary relaxing, Charlie couldn't escape the eery feeling of the mysterious eyes he felt sure were upon him now— watching.

Then something cool touched Charlie's neck from behind him. He whirled—his heart skipping a beat!

"Doggone, Nav! Don't you know any better than to sneak up on me like that?"

Charlie put an arm about Navajo's neck, lowering his voice after the first scared outburst. He didn't know why he had reacted to Navajo's touch like that. Many times before, Navajo had come up behind him, gently nudging him. Just an affectionate touch with his smooth nose. Poor old Nav, Charlie thought, he feels sort of scared, too. Then Charlie rubbed Navajo's side with long easy strokes, hoping to ease the horse's nervous tremblings.

For a long while Charlie sat holding the fishline, just staring across the lake at the black silhouette towering grimly against the night sky. Bright silver stars were shining now, like the silver all shined up for tourists, at the Reservation. It took Charlie only a little while to decide, finally, what he must do. Leaving his equipment and the fishline, Charlie quickly mounted Navajo.

Turning downstream, he headed for the Dam bridge at the foot of the lake, the short roadway that ran across the top of it to the California side of the Colorado River. The place where Saddle Mountain stood silently on the desert.

"There's something over there, Nav, that I can't figure. Maybe—" but Charlie stopped, letting the thought go without speaking it aloud. For even as he spoke, shivers edged up his back, running into his neck and making his scalp crawl. He glanced from side to side quickly, all about them, sure that someone was watching him.

It reminded him of a time once long ago, when he and Uncle John were hunting up in mountain country. It was the third night out on that trip, and up to then they had seen no game at all. Uncle John had sat up suddenly, then quickly got out of his sleeping bag when he saw how jittery Navajo had become. Then—they both saw it at once. Two big, burning yellow eyes, shining at them from just beyond the last glowing embers of their camp fire. It was a mountain lion. The big cat was stalking Navajo, but had hesitated when it saw Uncle John and Charlie nearby. It was then Uncle John had carefully picked up the already loaded rifle, his old army 30-30, and took careful aim. He fired—just as the big cat crouched low for the final spring at Navajo. One shot echoed in the silent night about them, reechoing throughout the hills. Navajo had whinnied wildly, prancing about. The big cat was dead.

But as he rode Navajo now, this feeling of being stalked was far greater than at that other time years ago. Besides, this was too near the camp at the Dam. Mountain lion kept clear of where people lived, mostly, and never came near towns. They wouldn't have to come this close to the Dam to get water from the lake or river. They'd stay much further upstream, in the hills.

"It's no big cat, Nav," Charlie said aloud to Navajo, as well as to reassure himself. "Whatever it is, it's something else around these parts. Something else . . ."

Charlie rode around the small slip upstream from the Dam, where the big barge and the fish and game warden's motorboat were kept. Sometime later he noticed the dim outline of the high steel frame tower, high atop a hill, on which the high tension powerlines were strung out across the desert, westward across California, carrying hydro-electric power to the City of Los Angeles. Charlie knew in a few moments he would turn the corner of the hill, traveling this dirt road at its base, and there out across the flat sands in the darkness, he would dimly see the mighty bulk that should be twins—the two craggy peaks of Saddle Mountain. The tension within him grew, rising steadily with Navajo's every step on the dusty roadway. He patted the old horse once again.

Then—Charlie reined in suddenly, stopping abruptly as he completed the bend in the narrow road. He was face to face with the giant called Saddle Mountain. A short exclamation died unspoken on his lips. He just stared, unable to understand what he saw.

CHAPTER TWO

Strange Pursuers

Everything inside him told Charlie to turn back—head for home. He braced himself hard against the silent darkness all about, and letting go the reins, he reached out to take the Winchester from the saddle holster. Charlie told himself he'd investigate, see just what made that great solid mass between the Saddle peaks. Whatever it was, it hadn't been there a few days back, the last time he remembered riding up river, and he knew now that whatever it was must be almost as large as either one of the mountains to fill in the space like that between them.

In the darkness, straining his eyes to see better, Charlie found it hard to make out just what the thing was. Unable to make out any part of it, he picked up the reins and, despite Navajo's nervous trembling, he headed the horse toward

Saddle Mountain. The towering mass grew more menacing with every passing minute, but Charlie rode on.

They had been moving toward Saddle Mountain no more than five minutes when it happened. The entire space between the high peaks was slowly illuminated in a rising, eery glow—a dark, greenish blue light—clearly outlining the "saddle" between the two peaks! It lasted only a moment. But in that very short time, Charlie also saw something else—or was it his imagination? He didn't know, he couldn't be sure. The light fading, dwindling away to black nothingness, left the night dark again, and terribly still.

But in Charlie's mind the vivid outline of what he had seen remained as bright as before. It was like a giant hotel, a—a saucer-shaped—that was the wording that came into his mind— a saucer type thing in there between the peaks! Charlie didn't want to believe this picture printed indelibly on his mind, but he had seen it. He told himself there just wasn't any such thing, but, with his own open eyes he had seen it. He had seen a space ship.

Before Charlie could recover from the numbness that was slowly creeping over him—wondering what, who, how— was in that ship, three short blasts pierced the silence. The blasts came clearly to him across the flat sands from the mountain—echoing clearly from where it was. The blasts, the most weird and terrible sound he had ever heard, sent shivers up Charlie's back and made goose bumps on his neck. He was sure where the sound had come from. And so was Navajo. The old horse reared up so unexpectedly that Charlie froze there in the saddle—and high on his hind legs,

Navajo let out a shrill whinny of fear. Caught off guard, Charlie was thrown to the hard-packed sand. He landed on his back with the wind knocked out of him. For several seconds he lay there unable to move, then slowly increased his breathing, forcing the cold air into his lungs again. He scrambled to his feet—but too late. Navajo was galloping hard, heading around the distant bend in the roadway. And even as Charlie called to him, he knew it had been his fault for forcing Navajo to come this far. But Charlie was momentarily glad that Navajo was heading down river toward the Dam, back to safety and the Shack.

"Poor Nav," he said aloud, forgetting for a moment his own predicament. Though he could not see it, Charlie slapped the dust off his back and the seat of his levis. "It was my fault for making you come here, Nav. I don't blame you for taking off like a bird. If I'd had as much sense as you, that's where I'd be. Home, or heading for home."

As Charlie turned to look at Saddle Mountain again, he suddenly froze. There at the base of the black bulk of mountain, where it joined the white sand, stood three tall figures. They were wearing black-hooded robes. The late moon hadn't yet risen, but already the sands were lightened by it, and with his eyes now accustomed to the dark, Charlie was sure. A creeping fear chilled him far more than the night air, forming beads of cold sweat on his forehead. Charlie wasn't afraid of ordinary men, or much scared of animals, even the big cats, unless he was un-armed and knew they were hungry. But—those hooded figures, those three gaunt black figures off there now across the sand—what were they, Charlie asked himself.

He was afraid to guess the answer. He just stood there staring in silence, without moving at all. They knew he was there. They could see him. They were coming straight toward him.

Charlie was suddenly aware that—but for these three approaching forms—he was out there alone, on the open desert far from anybody's ranch, far from everybody. Not even his Winchester, Charlie thought in sudden growing panic, and Navajo was gone. The rifle had been in the saddle holster. His panic mounting, Charlie looked toward the mountain again. A patch of moonlight broke through the clouds to the East, slanting its clean white shadow across the three black figures— making them clear as day against the white sand. They were not running, Charlie could see, and he couldn't even tell if they were walking—they just seemed to be moving like three black ghosts, floating across the sand, toward him.

Turning, Charlie ran hard for the roadway where Navajo had gone, the road back around the small hill and down toward the Dam and back home. Realizing it was his only chance to escape, Charlie ran harder, heading downriver along the west shore toward the Dam. If he could reach the Dam engineer's camp on the other side, down below at the foot of the Dam, they would help and he'd be safe. And just in case the three hooded figures had decided to run to catch up with him, Charlie used every bit of his scouting knowledge, keeping close to the lake shore and getting what little protection from view the scrub brush afforded him. He knew every path so it was easy to keep running as fast as he could.

After getting his second wind as he at last rounded the small inlet harbor where the big barge was kept, he desperately hoped to see the lighted boat of the government fish and game warden there. But it wasn't. Under the pale light of the moon, the empty barge harbor water shone black and smooth. Nobody was in sight.

Not slowing his pace as he rounded the end of the empty slip, Charlie kept running all the way to the rise in the ground at the California end of the Dam. Pausing there, he looked down the sloping hill grade, to the small camp far down the road past the Dam. He inhaled sharply, involuntarily, at the sight he saw. There on the roadway, winding down the hill, were the three black-robed figures. They were already halfway up the hill, not hurrying, but moving steadily toward him. They were between him and the camp. The little relaxation that had come over him on reaching the Dam now vanished completely. A chilling fear took its place. There could be no help from the camp. It was too far away, even if he shouted for help. Charlie turned abruptly, racing onto the short road that led across the Dam.

The roar of the water too, now far greater, only emphasized how useless it would have been to shout. Besides, most of the men at the engineer's camp would probably be off in town for the evening. But as he ran like the wind now, Charlie had a further sinking feeling, realizing that they could also travel very fast—possibly even catch up with him the minute they wanted to! While he had only gone down the roadway by the hill and along the shoreline, the hooded figures had not only crossed the sand from Saddle Mountain, but had passed the hill on the

far side, the longer way round, and had doubled back from far down the road near the camp site at the Dam. And he had been running, while they seemed to be just walking easily!

Sprinting harder on the Dam road, Charlie thought that this must have been his fastest crossing from California into Arizona, even with Navajo. But he didn't have time to think it funny as he reached the Arizona side of the Colorado River. He tried harder now to increase his speed on the hard-packed dirt road. Soon he knew he was around a bend, and out of sight of the road over the Dam.

As Charlie got what he felt sure was his third wind, he slowed to an Indian scout trot. He hoped desperately the hooded strangers would get lost in this Arizona country he knew so well, and never be able to follow him. At least, long enough for him to make it back to the Shack and get his Winchester—or better, Uncle John's loaded 30-30 army rifle. But most of all, to be safe inside the Shack. Running fast now and skipping the alternating walking and scout trot, Charlie at last reached the flat sandy earth this side of the ranch house. He glanced back. His eyes, though fully accustomed to the semi-darkness, were helped more by the spots of scattered moonlight, the pale beams that slanted down through the high and fast-moving clouds, over to the northeast across the high range country. There was no one in sight from the direction of the river. Charlie took in a deep breath, and continuing his easier walk, let it out slowly. He filled his lungs full of the clear, clean air of the cold desert

light. It felt good. It was only a few seconds before his breathing was easy and back to normal.

Charlie knew he had run well over a mile, and he continued now to glance back regularly just to make sure he had really lost those three black-hooded figures. Then he smiled for the first time, as he heard the glad welcoming whinny from Navajo. The old horse trotted out from the corral behind the Shack to meet him. Charlie put two fingers in his mouth and gave the short whistle and Navajo, assured it was he, broke into a gallop.

"Good old Nav!" he said. "See—it's only me, Nav . . . as if you didn't know it all the time!"

Patting Navajo, he walked toward the Shack, with Navajo clumping along beside him, playfully biting at Charlie's ear to show how glad he was to see him.

The brief and happy welcome home didn't make Charlie forget the dangers nearby. As he watched Navajo go back to the corral, fussing around awhile as he kicked one of the stagger-fence poles further out of his way, Charlie looked back to the direction of the river. Frowning as he scanned the broad field of sand, Charlie then went inside the Shack. Though he never locked the door ordinarily, he closed it now, shoving the heavy bar bolt home. Other times he had just closed it to keep out the cold. Few strangers ever came out in the ranch country and away from the main highways, and the local people around all knew each other. Local folks wouldn't bother you or break in your place. But tonight, Charlie didn't intend to take any chances. Not with what had happened at Saddle Mountain.

Not turning on the lights since the late moon was finally breaking through the high clouds, Charlie cautiously went over to the window, on the side of the Shack facing the fields toward the river. He saw nothing. The wind was rising a little, an uncertain, gusty wind, that suddenly rattled things around the Shack. The clear moon-bathed sand, eery-white, made every stump of broken cactus and crooked-armed Yucca plant look like a black-hooded figure. Charlie shuddered as he looked out in silence. And right before him, off a little way on the sand, was a big jagged spear of Yucca, like a very skinny black figure standing guard.

Even though his earlier fears were gone, Charlie realized he had to do something, tell somebody, about Saddle Mountain. If that thing out there was what it looked like, he should let the authorities know about it. He felt uneasy, as he thought about telling them he saw a flying saucer, and that it was parked right on top of Saddle Mountain. He knew how crazy it would sound. But he knew he should do it. He must tell somebody what was going on out there. He would call the sheriff down in Parker.

Picking up the phone, Charlie jangled the hook, trying to get the Parker operator. All he could get though was the steady buzzing, the crackling static, the electrical disturbances that were always fouling up the telephone lines when anybody wanted to call. The big powerlines at the Dam were too much for any ordinary telephones. Charlie tried again, after hanging up briefly, but it was just the same as always. Too much high tension nearby. He finally hung up, cutting off the blur of static.

"But—" he began aloud, then left the thought unspoken. Not removing his Levis or boots, Charlie went across the big room and lay down on his bed to think. He knew he should notify the authorities about the thing out there. Somebody ought to know.

He sat up suddenly. He looked down on the floor, staring silently at the beam of moonlight moving slowly across the ranch house floor. Still watching it closely, he moved further toward the foot of the bed as it came up the side, to his pillow. He didn't want the shaft of light to spotlight him. He didn't know exactly why he did that, for he had never even thought of doing such a thing at other times. But right now, he just didn't like the idea of having the moonlight on him, that was all. Perhaps . . . and just in case those black- robed figures were around—anywhere around the Shack.

Getting to his feet, Charlie brushed aside the thought in irritation. Striding across the room, he caught up the telephone receiver once more. The static was as strong as ever. He was totally cut off from Parker. From the rest of the world, he told himself, as he let the receiver drop back in the phone cradle.

"There's nothing to be scared of," he said aloud, more for the sake of hearing his own voice. "There's nobody around these parts."

Halfway across the room, Charlie stopped short.

There is nothing to be afraid of, nothing to fear.

Charlie stood there. He felt a slight twinge of pain, maybe a headache coming on, though that was unusual for him. Charlie shook his head hard. Maybe it would be better to just hit the

sack, he thought now, like Uncle John always used to say. Get some sleep. Staying up late like this and just worrying, that was no good. He stretched out on the bunk again, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly as he closed his eyes. He was tired, very tired.

A loud whinny from the corral startled him. Not the usual whinny when Navajo called, but a frightened one. Jumping to his feet, Charlie raced across the room to the corral side of the house. Forgetting his own fear as he looked out the window, he was now concerned for Navajo. The horse stood by the shed, head up and erect, sniffing the air. Recognizing his alertness, Charlie felt a bunch of tiny dots race up the back of his spine. Swiftly he looked over the corral and all about it, for a possible prowling mountain lion or—something else. It was the something else that Charlie was afraid of, the something that he didn't want to remember. He knew pretty surely that it wasn't a big cat down this close to the Dam and Parker. Mountain cat could find all the game they wanted up in the hills, in their own country.

Even as Charlie stood there watching Navajo for further signs of trouble, the swift shadow of a passing cloud blanked out the moon's light. Darkness fell heavily down, blanketing the corral and all the yard and fields about the Shack. Charlie felt the weight of the shadow as the cloud wiped out the last trace of light on the broad sands.

Turning from the darkened window—as though he expected to see someone in the room behind him—he went noiselessly, carefully, to the other side of the house. Charlie's nerves were taut from the prickly feeling of the hair on the back of his head as he cautiously approached the opposite window. He told himself that he didn't know what he expected to see when he looked out that window. But he did. He knew exactly what he might see, at that window—facing the gently rolling stretch of sand that went off down toward the river.

His eyes roved out across the spotted landscape with its quick-moving cloud shadows. Then a bright streak of moonlight, gliding swiftly, moved down the lonesome stretch of road toward the low, dark hills near the river. Charlie's eyes went with it as he held his breath. A small sound choked in his throat as the moonlight threw its ghastly light on the spot where the dirt road turned around the bend. He saw them.

The three black-hooded figures stood out clear and ominous against the stark whiteness of the sand. They were coming, slowly and steadily along the road, heading directly toward the Shack.

Fascinated like a coyote by a rattlesnake, Charlie stood there staring as they approached. Maybe they didn't even have feet like ordinary people, for they just seemed to be standing on the road—but moving closer all the time. Forcing himself to turn away from the window, Charlie ran to the big fireplace. He reached up, and this time he took down Uncle John's old army 30-30 rifle. The old Springfield had a kick that was almost as good as the one Navajo used on the side of the house. It was much more powerful than the Winchester which had not been made for battle.

Hurriedly opening the old cigar box of brass cartridges clips, he shoved one clip home, ramming it down into the open breech with his thumb. Then he shoved the bolt home and flicked up the safety-catch—to OFF. Charlie half-opened the bolt, just to make sure the first of the cartridge shells had been engaged and shoved into the rifle's chamber. Satisfied, he closed it again. With his finger in the trigger- guard, he walked over to the window.

At first, Charlie couldn't see them. Maybe they might have decided to go back. Then he put his face close to the window, and looked out toward the front of the house. There— standing a short distance from the Shack, Charlie saw the three tall black figures! He could make out now that they did have legs and, also, that their black robes seemed to join what looked like heavy black boots which came up to their knees. The dark hoods hid their heads completely. But Charlie could tell, even as he silently watched them now, they were just standing there. Waiting.

Navajo whinnied loudly, shrilly, stamping about out there in the corral. Charlie could hear him kicking the stagger poles of the fence. Good old Nav. He was trying to let him know that strangers were about. Charlie lowered the rifle from the port breast position. He held it down in a shoot-from-the-hip position now. He'd fire from the hip. Point blank range. Muzzle pointed toward the door, he took up the trigger slack.

"If any one of them busts in," Charlie breathed the words slowly, "he'll get it. The first one that comes through that door gets it."

CHAPTER THREE

Prisoner of the Silent Visitors

Only the pounding of his heart came to Charlie as he gripped the rifle steadily. Standing in the middle of the room, he faced the door, waiting. But as he stood there a shock of pain flashed through his head. It struck like lightning. Dropping the rifle, Charlie slapped both hands to the sides of his head, holding his temples tightly. He doubled over, reeling from the shock as it came again. Gasping for breath, Charlie cried out.

Slowly, cautiously, he straightened up again. But as he stood up fully, glad that the door was still safely barred and the black figures hadn't tried to break in just when he had that headache, he began to wonder a little about it. He never got headaches. Not much, anyway. Only that one time long ago, when he and Uncle John were out hunting and they had

gone without food for a day and a half. But that headache disappeared quickly, as soon as they got back home to the Shack and had a big feed.

Just as he began trying to figure out if those three strangers outside could have had anything to do with that sudden pain, he went toward the window again. Then he stopped dead in his tracks. He realized he was nearly across the room and hadn't picked up the rifle again! It was still there on the floor. Doggone fool! He wanted to kick himself for pulling a dumb one like that. But he didn't move. He heard that voice again. It wasn't from the outside. It was right in the room. Behind him.

Open the door and go outside.

"Like fun!" Charlie thought grimly.

Bracing himself, he knew he'd have to make it fast—when he turned to get it. In one desperate move Charlie whirled and flung himself down on the floor in the darkness, where he knew the rifle would be. It took him only a second to grab it. He laid there, very still, waiting for whoever it was to make the next move. Then he heard the voice again, and it seemed dim and far away.

Open the door and go outside.

His head pulsing from that first pained shock, Charlie glanced about the room carefully now. Seeing no one at all, he stood up. A quick check of the bedroom and the back porch and the other room showed that he was all alone in the house. There was no one there. His hands were shaky now, as he thought of that voice, positive that he had heard it right behind him. Then the same voice came to him again, distinctly, calmly, telling him to open the door and go out. But the voice—it had no sound.

It—it was just in his head.

"It's like a—"

Charlie stopped his spoken words abruptly. He felt chilled suddenly, all over. For the first time, he connected that headache with the voice that wasn't a voice. In his mind now, he could see, even feel, the three hooded figures who were standing outside. And he wasn't even near the window! Shuddering again, Charlie braced himself, even as the voice once more repeated the words in his mind. He fought it hard this time. But it was in vain. He heard it quite clearly, and he realized that there was no hiding, no escape from that voice.

"Yes—I'll go," Charlie heard himself saying aloud. "I'll go with you .. . whatever you say."

Suddenly he felt quiet and at ease all over. It was a good feeling, and he was no longer afraid. He walked toward the barred door. Pausing a moment, he leaned the rifle against the wall, under the turned-off water cooler. Turning to the door, he placed a hand on the knob, then with his other hand he slid back the heavy crossbar. With one push he shoved it all the way back. Now he opened the door wide. Aware of what he was doing, Charlie still couldn't make himself stop. He felt sure he must go out there to the three black- hooded figures, for he had to do it. He couldn't hold back.

Across the sandy, hard-packed yard and some distance from the Shack, the three tall figures were standing motionless, watching him. They made no move to come nearer.

"Wh—what do you want around here, strangers?"

The sound of his voice sounded shaky and alone in the still night. They did not reply to him. Fear rising abruptly within him, Charlie turned to go back inside the house. But as he did he felt a quick tinge of that headache again. He stopped, shaking his head to clear it.

Now come with us.

There had been no sound. Charlie stared at them, wondering how he knew what they wanted him to do and why he was powerless to understand their unspoken wishes. Whatever their strange power was, they were using it on him. But most of all, Charlie was surprised that he could get their thought impulses and understand them. It scared him. He was actually able to hear or feel their thoughts in his mind.

Starting across the yard toward them, Charlie felt that he was forced to go along, though he didn't like the idea. His mind was telling him to do it, to go with them, even though he knew he didn't want to go. But he couldn't make himself disobey their orders. He stopped for a moment, glancing back to the corral and Navajo. The old horse was watching him, and as he looked back, Navajo whinnied questioningly, as though to ask Charlie why he didn't take him along, too. The plaintive whinny made the three hooded figures stop, too, and turn around. They looked from Navajo back to Charlie, and he clearly got their mental impulse.

That over there—whatever it is, tell it to come with us.

There was something soothing now, something about the way the thought impulses came to him. Charlie didn't want to go with them, but the tumbling mental pictures that came to him made him not care or worry much, and he was even

feeling a little sleepy now. It was a groggy sort of feeling. Charlie didn't mind it much, as he raised his hand to his mouth.

Charlie gave a low whistle toward the corral. Navajo stamped about briefly, getting his head back through the stagger fence bars. Then he came trotting out to Charlie, with a pleased, low whinny.

"It's okay, Nav," Charlie said, patting the old horse. "It's okay, boy, we'll be all right."

Navajo tramped about nervously beside Charlie, tossing his head high as another thought impulse came from the three hooded figures nearby. Charlie realized now that Navajo, too, could also feel their telepathic words. He was also aware, as he took the head harness from the hook by the door, that the three strangers were trying to calm his feelings with their impulses, to ease his mind. Their every thought sent to him seemed to be toned down, sort of in a low key, like Miss Peters used to call it in Music Appreciation class. Their impulses were coming to him mildly and steadily. He felt very little of that first shock of pain now, and for that he was very grateful. He adjusted Navajo's head harness then turned to the strangers again.

Come with us now, their thoughts told him. Just follow us.

"You—you're aliens," Charlie said aloud, as he started after the three. "You're not from this part of the—the country? Not from any part of the country."

They did not reply. Charlie felt a tenseness as the swift and high speed thoughts were exchanged between the three. And he also realized that in that high frequency buzzing

beyond his comprehension, they were able to talk without his catching on to anything they were saying. But then they glanced back at him and Navajo again, and Charlie was once more aware that they were using the slower, and more calming technique on him and Navajo.

Charlie knew that, whoever they were, there was no mistaking where they were from. And he eliminated Parker, Arizona, and everywhere else he had ever heard of, on this world. They really were strangers, Charlie told himself. They were aliens, from somewhere very far away. They were from a place much farther away than he dared ask them about.

In spite of his predicament and whatever danger might be just ahead, Charlie couldn't help wondering just how he was able to understand the strange mental language, the telepathy they used. He knew very little about it, only what he had read in books at the library. He certainly had never read up on it because he thought he would ever have to use it. But here he was now, using that same telepathy, to talk to these three strangers who had not spoken a single word since he had first met them.

But whoever or whatever they were, he had been able to understand and receive their thought impulses, and also, to send back his own to them, though he had also spoken the words along with his thoughts. All their talk had been solely through the means of mind impulses.

"Where—where're you taking me?" Charlie asked, as they left the Dam road and started upriver in the opposite direction from the Engineer's camp. "Where are we going?"

They did not answer. Charlie felt sure they had heard and understood him. He tried another question.

"Is it all right if I ride my horse? Can I?"

One of the three turned his hooded head, his face still unseen by Charlie, and glanced back at him a moment.

You may ride the horse, came the impulse. But do not try to run from us. It would be useless. You cannot escape.

Charlie realized in a flash they knew all about his carefully guarded plan. "I—I'll stay with you," he stammered.

Patting Navajo as he turned to mount him, Charlie noticed that the three hooded figures hadn't even stopped. They were up ahead, just walking silently along as though he were right behind them. The fleeting thought barely touched his mind again—to make a run for it now. Perhaps they couldn't run fast enough to catch up with him.

We can, came the cool, sure impulse.

Charlie bit his lip, a little angry at their cleverness in reading his thoughts. Taking the reins, Charlie started off after the three who still hadn't looked back, even when they replied to that last thought of his. Charlie sniffed angrily again as he jogged along. The old horse wasn't in any mood to hurry after the three black figures up ahead, and neither was Charlie.

"Feel doggone sure of themselves, Nav," Charlie said in a low voice.

He had no further doubts as to where they were taking him when they turned by the hill and headed straight out across the white sand toward Saddle Mountain. And there was no doubt now in Charlie's mind about the thing that was in

there between the two peaks. Filling the tremendous basin formed by the peaks, the "saddle" between the twins, there was something that stood out clearly, glistening dully in the pale light. And though it was much wider than it was high, Charlie guessed that the strange ship must be at least as high as a five-story building. Forgetting his own fears, he gave a low whistle as he stared in admiration at the masterwork of a science far beyond anything known on Earth. Then, as a dim glow of lights went on somewhere far up in about the middle of the big ship, Charlie saw the special kind of window or view-port it had. It was a broad band of glass-like stuff, and it seemed to circle entirely around the great circular ship. Then as they got still closer, he could make out other bands, but these were not lighted. Counting them, from the smallest band about the narrower bottom bulge of the space ship, Charlie counted all the way up to the bulge, or dome, on top. There were eleven bands, or rows of windows! That would mean, Charlie figured, at least eleven decks.

Navajo became more jittery now than ever as the three figures led them under the giant space ship. Fearing the horse might bolt and make the aliens show their hand, Charlie began talking to Navajo and patting his neck, while he wondered just how far under the ship they would have to go before reaching some port or door, or whatever entrance the thing had. Then the three stopped abruptly just ahead of Charlie and Navajo.

"It's okay, Nav, it's okay. We'll be all right," Charlie said, still stroking the horse, "so don't you go worryin' none."

Charlie let his voice die away as he became aware of the great circle of lights all about them, slowly rising in glow, instead of going on suddenly. The lights about them were at least several hundred feet across, and now they seemed to be descending about them—or so it seemed! He had just noticed this, when he was aware of a tiny jarring motion, almost imperceptible. It was as though the desert floor beneath them had suddenly stopped. It had stopped! Charlie found this out as the lights glowed brilliantly now. The circle of light had not been a band of lights lowered about them. Rather, they themselves had been hoisted up smoothly on a great platform—the platform that was the bottom deck of the space ship! They had risen so smoothly on the great platform, that only now he knew it, when the lights were on full.

Chemical lighting, came the informative impulse, as Charlie momentarily wondered what type of power they used. It is unlike your primitive and somewhat dangerous electrical charges.

Startled back into concern about his own immediate danger, Charlie looked closely at the three tall figures, trying to understand which one had just spoken to him. It was hard to ask a direct question of all three. But he was puzzled, for there was no way he could tell one thought wave from another, or know whether or not all three were speaking to him each time.

There is, came the impulse, as they stared back at Charlie from under the masking hoods, but that will take time. You

are not yet familiar enough with the interplanetary tongue to note its finer delineations. But you shall learn them.

Not too concerned as to whether or not he would ever learn to distinguish between their mental impulses, Charlie strongly felt the need to get out, to get away from this strange space ship. He wondered just where he was on the ship.

This is the lower dome or base tier deck as your world might call it. Or perhaps you may term it, the lower deck.

"Your world," Charlie thought, and as he thought it, he realized they had unintentionally slipped, giving him the answer he was sure of, yet had wanted to get from them. They were from another world.

Now as he watched them, the three figures began to remove the mysterious black hoods, and the black coverall robes they had worn out on the desert. Charlie's thoughts tumbled crazily as he wondered just what kind of beings they would be—were they human—what would they look like?

Remembering they had read his earlier thoughts, he was suddenly paralyzed with fear, afraid they had read the terrible question, the uncertainty in his mind about them. They had.

To the prime thought now frozen in your impulse glands, came the impulse, you shall have the answer.

And as he waited, staring at them, they removed the hoods, letting the black robes to which they were attached fall away to the deck entirely. Charlie stood face to face with them—the three aliens from another world.

CHAPTER FOUR

Nightmare

As the black hooded garments fell to the deck, Charlie saw with a wave of relief that the aliens were human beings. Their long, angular faces reminded him of the nickname "horseface" back in school, except that the long faces of these alien men were fairly good-looking. But most of all, he noticed their large and very bright eyes, as they stared at him now. The great eyes of the men had very bright center pupils of flashing green, circled by a thin gold band around the eye ball that looked a little like flashing gold sparks. The outer part around the thin gold line was white like Earthmen, Charlie noted, and very clear. Charlie thought they looked a little like the eyes of green-eyed tigers.

Wondering just why they had put on the black-hooded robes and boots over their more comfortable and better

looking uniform, Charlie received an immediate answer.

These are 'protective clothing, necessary to protect us against the radiated surface of your world sun blasted by the Sun. We are not accustomed to the Sun's pure light and its continued effect upon us, therefore this protection against your gamma-rayed surface.

"Thank you," Charlie said, "for the information."

Aware that they were not particularly curious about him, he continued to watch them, noticing the way their hair grew straight up instead of down like his own. All of them had yellow, really gold-colored hair, and it was short-cut like a crew-cut but still it looked a lot different. It grew in a mild spiral, up toward the crowning back part of their head, just as many Earth people's hair spirals from the crown, but in a downward direction. Charlie finally decided that it didn't look too bad. He pulled up the carefully-weighed thought, just as he noticed one of the alien men smile a little. Charlie couldn't help wondering if all the people of their world had that same natural duck-butt style hair that grew up, curving away to the back of their heads. In a way, it sort of streamlined them, and it reminded Charlie of the pictures he had seen of Mercury.

Seeming to pay no attention to him at all, the aliens went about changing clothes, swiftly communicating among themselves. Charlie looked them over further, especially their unusual clothing. Under the black robes they wore short shoulder capes. Now that the hoods were off, they furled these capes back over their shoulders. The capes were a brilliant cobalt blue with square or blocked gold figures along

the broad band bordering them. The inside was a silver color. Under his cape each man wore a skin-tight type of shirt that looked like fish net, and through this showed very pale pink skin. As he was puzzling about the fish net shirt instead of solid cloth, Charlie got the impulse from one of the aliens who glanced at him a moment.

For circulatory stimulation of the surface tissue, so that the skin might breathe properly.

"Thanks, again," Charlie said.

He noticed they seemed fairly young, about as old as his uncle. They were not half as old as they appeared in those black robes which made them look like ancient monks. But all of them were at least a foot or more taller than Charlie, in spite of the fact that he was as tall as most Earthmen. Charlie wondered what kind of sports they had on their own world, for they all seemed pretty well built and they would be good at basketball or whatever contests their world had. He almost asked them about their sports—but checked himself. It might give them the idea that he wanted to stay with them—and that was the last thing Charlie wanted to happen.

They were paying him no attention at all, and Charlie had a sudden angry thought. He wondered if they were ignoring him now, telling him nothing of why they were holding him either, just because of his age.

No, Primitive, came the casual impulse response, we have no concern with your years. Nor are we concerned with the problems of your small culture on this world. Neither interests us.

Charlie didn't have time to open his mouth. They were already walking toward the center of the deck. Hardly had they reached the large cylinder-like pillar at the deck's center when a panel slid open silently. All three alien men entered without a backward glance at him. The panel closed.

He was still angry at their casual manner. He couldn't get his mind off the mystery of where they came from, who they were, and what they wanted.

Alone with Navajo, Charlie thought for a long time about the strange aliens, their tallness and well-formed bodies, and the familiar human qualities they had shown. • But in spite of his relief at not finding the aliens to be some unbelievable monster beings, he still couldn't forget the flashing green and gold of their eyes, and the tiger look it gave them.

"Nav, I don't think I'd want to come across those eyes in some dark place. So maybe it's a good thing they did wear those doggone protective hoods, when we first saw them."

Navajo gave a low, brief whinny in reply and bounced the head harness up and down as he showed his approval. Charlie knew he didn't understand all his words, but he grinned quickly and hugged the old horse about the neck. Whatever he said, old Navajo always thought it was right.

Charlie went to where they had piled up their protective clothing. It was made of something that looked like a type of plastic material, very fine and light as feathers, and even ! the heavy looking boots surprised Charlie with their lightness. But he still couldn't figure why they needed protective • clothing, in spite of what they said. And most of all', they certainly shouldn't need such clothes when the Sun had long

gone down. He wished he had asked them where they came from.

Trying to locate the paneling in the big circular pillar in the deck's center, he could find no crack at all or the slightest trace of where a door might have been. The metal was finely lined, grooved all over, and he was sure that one of those hairline grooves must be the door crack—but which one, he didn't know. Charlie pounded on it several times, but only the dull echo of the hollow sound came back to him on the empty deck. The aliens were now somewhere else in the great ship.

Going to the outer rim of the deck, Charlie circled the entire tier, with Navajo clippety-clopping along behind him, stopping when he did, as they both got nowhere. There was no possible opening. He could dimly see the rusty iron-red surface of Saddle Mountain outside, as he stared through the broad band of window that circled the entire deck without a break. As he peered out now the indirect lighting went out about the deck, its glow fading down to nothing. There, far down, he could see the desert's flat sandy floor, some fifty feet below the ship! He had no idea that the platform, the floor of the lower deck, had risen that high above the ground. There was no one in sight out there anywhere. No one he could signal to, and maybe get them to warn the authorities. Only blank desert, with the distant mountains across the lake to the East, far beyond his own land around the Shack. He and Navajo were completely alone.

He was aware suddenly that he was very tired from being up all night. He sat down on the smooth deck of the tier.

Perhaps, when morning came, someone passing far off there on the roadway along Lake Havasu might see the big ship. At any rate, he'd need what rest he could get right now, to make his get-away later. Besides, Navajo was already lying down, resting quietly, so there couldn't be any immediate danger from the aliens. Navajo would know. Telling himself everything was all right for the moment, Charlie stretched: out on the deck.

He was unable to sleep because of a soreness in his throat, so he sat up again a few minutes later. The night was almost gone, and the first gray light of morning was lighting the desert, over to the East on the ridges far across the lake. Rubbing his throat and wondering why it had to get so sore at a time like this, Charlie tried again to sleep. Then he felt it. A gentle probing— something prying into his mind, pushing aside his sleepy thoughts and trying to get his attention! His thoughts about sleep and the near morning were gone in a flash. Charlie knew now just what that probing was.

It was another mind, an alien's thoughts, reaching into his own mind! Startled, Charlie looked quickly about the great empty deck. Even in the semi-darkness he could see there was no one there. And as he continued to look about, Navajo pricked up his ears. The old horse had noticed the impulse, too.

"Who—who are you?" Charlie asked aloud, hearing the echo of his own words roll around the deck. "I want to get out of here—" and Charlie jumped to his feet. "Why are you keeping me in here?"

Charlie felt a little foolish, since he might have only been 1 dreaming, and only answering a thought in his own mind. He put out a hand to Navajo beside him, as he told himself he had heard something, he was sure. It was an impulse. Just like the ones from the aliens. Now, he got the same mild impulse again, clearer, more definite than before.

I am Dondee, said the tentative and somewhat uncertain thought wave. What is your name, Primitive?

Charlie puzzled over this first question, wondering which one of the three aliens was contacting him. His first fears gone, he felt a little bit annoyed at the mental picture of a wild man, a primitive. But he was sure that's what the impulse meant. About to shout back and tell the alien to let him alone, to let him go home, Charlie frowned as he reconsidered.

As he thought about it, Charlie realized that this particular impulse wasn't as strong or impersonal as the impulses from the three aliens earlier. Though he wasn't used to telepathy, he felt sure the other three aliens had a much stronger impulse, a different tone from this last impulse. In this one he thought he recognized a certain friendliness, a curiosity. Whoever this alien was, he was not one of the other three who had captured him.

"Can—can you hear me?" Charlie said aloud, "when I talk like this now?"

"No, Primitive, I cannot hear you. But I can read your impulses clearly, since you think what you speak aloud. I am in the central tier above you, so I must read your impulses, even as you speak them also. But that is all right. They still register on the mental lanes, Primitive."

For the first time, Charlie felt he was really talking to an alien, even though it was done by telepathic impulse, in answer to his own spoken words.

"They do?" Charlie replied finally, "You mean, my words, what I say, shows up on the mental lanes?"

Charlie realized that those other three aliens had heard his thoughts, even though he hadn't spoken, as when he was back inside the Shack.

"Primitive?"

"Yes?" Charlie replied, though he didn't much care for the name.

"I can also read the thoughts of your animal, since they register on the mental lanes, too."

"They do?" Charlie said, glancing at Navajo.

"Yes. The animal is now thinking of something called apples"

Charlie laughed a little bit in the darkness, as the old horse sighed lightly and continued on with his own personal thoughts.

"You mean, you're really using telepathy, to talk to me from another deck—and you're not around here somewhere, where I can't see you?"

"Yes, Primitive, if telepathy is what you term the mental interplanetary tongue. From my own understanding of your tongue, I believe you mean, when you say telepathy, what we call the Interplanetary language. Do you not?"

"Yes ... I guess so, uh—" and Charlie hesitated. "What did you say your name is?"

"Dondee," replied the impulse promptly. "Dondee Bin."

"Mine is Charlie. Charles Holt."

"How many periods are you, Prim—I mean, Charles?"

"Periods? I don't know—"

"Oh," came the flash impulse, "I meant your time, what you call your years of age?" "I'm going on fourteen, Dondee. I'm thirteen now." "That makes us about the same number of periods—I mean,

years," came the happy impulse from Dondee. "Only, I have the period of fourteen years already! I'm older than you, Charles." "Well, you don't have to rub it in," Charlie said under his breath. "That last thought, Charles," Dondee said, "wasn't clear to me." "I'm glad it wasn't," Charlie said, already sorry about it. "Just forget it, Dondee. It doesn't matter."

"We are about the same age, almost exactly, Charles."

"I'm glad of that," Charlie agreed. "A few months is nothing anyway. Or periods, as you say." Charlie felt much better now, glad that Dondee wasn't going to push the fact that he was a little bit older.

"Do you," he asked, "come from pretty far away?"

"Yes," came the immediate response, "from the Barrier

World. Or as your island calls ours, Charles, the Planet Saturn."

"Oh!" and Charlie gave a low whistle.

"Did you just laugh?" he asked. "I know it sounds crazy and all, to hear a laugh in your mind, but—well, I just got the feeling that you laughed, Dondee."

"Yes, Charles! I did laugh. When I caught your astonishment at how far away my home is. I thought it surprised, you!"

"It sure did! But I don't see how—" Charlie said, "just how I can understand your telepathy, since I never even tried to use it before."

"That is easy, Charles. All members of the human species are physically equipped with the mental gland. But some world islands have grown away from it, or stuck to their primitive forms of communication and never learned it. The gland, Charles, is the mental reserve cell in you, the cell that provides the extra-sensory power which activates your brain, especially the part of your brain which many races know very little about, such as your own world's race, Charles. But I am glad your cells in the gland are working fairly well. Otherwise we would not be able to talk like this now."

"I never knew about that gland. Maybe I'll have to quit talking soon. My throat—my tonsils, I guess, they're getting pretty sore."

"Tonsils?"

"Sure," Charlie said, "you know, the glands you got in—" he stopped abruptly, feeling his throat very carefully now, even as he thought of the word glands. "Dondee—just where are those mental reserve glands, the ones you use for telepathy?"

"Beneath the jaws, Charles. There is a gland in either side of your neck, right beneath your right and left jaw."

For some moments Charlie couldn't reply. All he could do was tenderly feel about his neck, and wonder at the

amazing thing he had just learned. He remembered Miss Tisdale, back in school, and how she once told science class that the tonsils, like the appendix, had long outgrown their use. They were parts of the body which appeared to have no use any longer, as far as medical science could tell. Good old Miss Tisdale, Charlie thought. I wish I could tell her this now! About this other world's science.

"Charles?"

"Oh—I'm still here," he replied. "You know, I was just thinking, Dondee. I wouldn't be able to talk to you now at all, if I'd had my tonsils out last year. That was when they swelled up a lot. But Uncle John said there was no use rushing to get an operation, and I didn't have to have them out right away. Only if they got worse. But then they got better."

"You mean, Charles," came the startled impulse, "some primitives actually have their glands cut out? Have them

removed?"

"They sure do. Because we always figured they were useless, anyhow."

Charlie got another amazed impulse from Dondee on the upper tier, and his wonder that anybody would ever consider having his finest speech organ removed from his body!

"I am glad," came the reply from Dondee finally, "that you still have yours, Charles. It would be terrible to be condemned to use only one third of your mind. Surely your world must have known of the use for the glands, Charles?" "No, Dondee. We don't. I didn't, till just now, when you l told me."

"But your world did once use the glands, Charles. We have it in our recordings of your past history, your past fifty thousand periods, or years rather, Charles."

"I don't much believe our folks on this world ever could use telepathy," Charlie said. "And specially not back in the early days when there were cave men, Dondee."

"Oh yes, Charles. And that is exactly the time they used it most, until they found it more effective to roar and shout, and make noises in competition with lower animals. If you think hard, Charles, I can prove it to you, maybe. Have you noticed on your world today, that the people usually most given to the mental language—the psychic use of it—are usually, or very often, without education, and even primitive?"

"Maybe you are right, Dondee. I sure don't know."

"Your tonsils—as you call them, Charles, they were commonly used and understood in ancient times, as the source of the mind reserve cell fluid, the hyper power of communication. According to our recordings of the past, some people of your world gave the Interplanetary language the term visions. When the use of the mental language was dying out, people would say back in those days, a vision came to me"

"We only have our history records," Charlie said, "as far back as about seven thousand years."

"That is regrettable, Charles. For it is a known fact, your world once used the Interplanetary language widely—or telepathy, as you term this science."

"Boy, if I could be back at school now—and tell everybody about tonsils."

"What did you say, Charles?"

"Oh, nothing, Dondee. I was just thinking out loud. To myself." “I thought you sent that thought to me."

"No. I guess I've still got to get used to talking in this Interplanetary language, Dondee. Talking with my mind, I mean."

"You are doing quite well, Charles. For a Primitive." "I'm not a primitive! Doggone, I wish you'd quit calling me that." For moment there was some confusion among Dondee's mental waves. Charlie received varying impulses, and then once more the impulse came clear to him.

"I am sorry, Charles. It was discourteous of me to send such an impulse, after having learned your proper name. Charles?"

"I heard you the first time."

"It was only because of the stage at which your civilization now stands, Charles. That is why I called you a primitive. It is the way my world island talks back home, Charles." "Forget it, Dondee. I didn't mean to get sore about it. I guess you didn't mean it the way it sounded. Hey—I get the feeling, the impulse, just as if you didn't call me Charlie. It's more like you say everything perfectly, the regular way, and use my proper name when you send the impulse?" "Yes, Charles. That is correct. In our world we do not use

sub-names, since in the Interplanetary tongue all thoughts are easily expressed. That is why I've had the picture you gave me, your correct name, as you first thought it to me. \ There is no slang as such, in the Interplanetary tongue, Charles, for when thought impulses are sent as slang, they are the result of intention and not due to carelessness. No matter how faltering a thought is given, the mental picture is always true and correct. The only difference comes later, in: the highly developed mental planes, when one mind at high speed is able to convey the finer rhythmic tones, and speak on this delicate and distinguished level, Charles. It is not something everybody can do, for I can't yet do it."

"One thing's for sure, Dondee, and that's whenever I use telepathy from here on out, I'll know I'll be right!"

"You will be, Charles. But what is most surprising to me, is that you are able at this early point, to distinguish and' understand that I am using your name correctly, Charles. That is truly amazing. Other world primitives—that is,, peoples of lower level civilizations, have great difficulty getting their glands to react and flow freely, and supply the hyper sensitive fluid needed by the second third of the brain. That is why your accomplishment is so amazing, Charles."

"People everywhere, you mean, have the Interplanetary language, and can use it, Dondee?"

"Yes, Charles. I believe I can prove it to you right now. You have used it often before with other primitives of your world."

Charlie laughed, intrigued by the challenge from the alien boy, and he didn't even mind being referred to as primitive.

"I'd like to know just when I ever used telepathy before."
"All right. Charles, have you ever had study periods?"
"You mean, at school?"
"Yes. I believe that is how you term it."
"I sure did. Up to last year, when I graduated. Just before

Uncle John died."

"Then," came Dondee's impulse, "do you recall sitting some distance from someone, thinking something, anything —about that person, while you looked straight at him?"

"Oh sure."

"Then," the alien boy went on, "have you ever had it happen, that without your making any sound at all, no movement other than your thought impulses, the other person stopped what he or she was doing—and looked up at you, as though you had called?"

"Yeah, sure, Dondee! Sure—that's happened. Many times. In school, and at home with Uncle John. And sometimes I've looked up from doing something, for no darn reason, and saw somebody looking my way."

"Then you've proved my contention, Charles. That is one of the early stages of Interplanetary speaking, the first perception, or way of sending thoughts, even though they're just stray thoughts of the mind working on its own, unconsciously and subconsciously, to some other person. All humans have this power to do that, Charles, and anyone can prove it."

"Boy—" Charlie exclaimed, "I could have used it all along and didn't even know it! I could have been practicing and might have been real good by now."

Since it is the most natural of languages, even superseding tone variations or music, which all peoples can easily enjoy, you can learn it very quickly. In fact, since it is in every human's basic cell structure, it's more a matter of just getting back into practice than learning it, Charles. And even now, your thought waves are very clear and direct."

"Why can't I see you, Dondee—do you think you could come on down to where I am?"

For a moment there was a disturbed uncertainty in the air, coming from the alien boy. Then a complete blank out.

"Dondee? Can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Come on down where I am. I'd like to meet you."

"I—I am not permitted to see you till after the Star Project is—"

A sudden angry jumble of impulses shattered Dondee's small, mild impulse. Charlie called to him again, a little worried now, and then waited. There was no reply. Only the jumbled, high-speed impulses being sent from several stronger and more powerful mind waves all at once. It could only be one thing, Charlie thought. The other aliens had heard Dondee and stopped his conversation. Maybe because of that thing he had just mentioned, the Star Project—whatever that was. He tried to make out what they were telling Dondee but he couldn't. The only thing he was sure of was that the others had silenced Dondee completely.

The impulses had been angry. And even though they had moved far too fast for Charlie's reception, he had the general idea, from Dondee's slower replies, slower and perhaps,

purposely so for his benefit. It concerned Dondee's talking too much, and his referring to something secret while talking to the Primitive. That was him, Charlie knew. But whatever it was, whatever the aliens were doing they wanted to keep it secret.

"Dondee—can you hear me, Dondee?" Charlie tried again now. "Dond—"

He left the alien boy's name unfinished, the one syllable fading out as its sound echoed off around the circular tier. The other aliens had silenced Dondee all right. And they would not answer him, either. Charlie's every spoken thought slammed up against a blank wall. The barrier was as solid as Saddle Mountain. Unable to stand the tense silence—the waiting— Charlie got up finally and walked over to the broad band of panoramic view. He stared out at the last traces of the retreating night shadows, vanishing under rocks, into cracks, before his eyes. It was a calm, beautiful day, the quiet of the mild and cool early morning desert that he knew so well. It was the clear light of morning before the sunbeams shot down.

Navajo whinnied and walked leisurely over to stand beside Charlie. He, too, looked out the view-port.

"It's okay, Nav. We'll figure out something yet. We sure will. Then we'll high tail it for home."

But Charlie was uneasy, despite the tranquility of the still morning. He ran his fingers over the cool, smooth surface of the transparent view band that circled the deck. It was velvety—like smooth, polished steel. But in spite of his first inspection, Charlie suddenly balled up his fist, then drew

back and punched hard at what seemed like thin glass. Staring down at the desert below, he rubbed his bruised knuckles.

There was no escape, he felt sure, or they wouldn't have left him alone here. That was the worst of it. If he did not escape the aliens, if he never returned home to the Shack again, no one would miss him. Uncle John was gone, and J there was no one else.

"Gosh, Nav, I—" but Charlie did not finish the words as he turned. Silently he put his arms about the neck of the old horse, pressing his face against its warmness, and breathing in the clean, horsey smell of Navajo's mane against his face, "You're all the folks I got now, Nav."

C H A PTER FIVE

The 7,000 Steps

Charlie straightened up suddenly. He remembered he had not slept at all last night. He was tired, just plain tired. But as he considered whether or not he might risk stretching out on the deck and taking a quick nap, Navajo decided for him. The old horse swished his tail from side to side in his easy, lazy fashion, and turned around several times on the unfamiliar deck. Then he peacefully got down on his haunches and stretched out his legs. Watching him, Charlie smiled as Navajo looked up at him, from out of one half-closed eye. Charlie dropped down in front of Navajo's forelegs, and stretching out too, he propped his head back against Navajo's neck.

The old horse didn't mind, for he was used to Charlie. This camping-out sleeping position was an old and familiar

one for both of them, specially when they bedded down in the canyons on a hunting trip. Navajo heaved another sigh and closed his eyes.

"So am I, Nav. Just plain tired. I guess we should have hit the hay long ago."

Charlie smiled to himself again, his eyes closing down fast as sleep came to him. Navajo was already snoring a little. It wasn't as scary as night, even with aliens running around somewhere else on the star ship, and the last thing Charlie had on his mind was that Navajo was the softest and warmest pillow in the world.

Charlie didn't know how long he slept. He awoke when Navajo lifted his head suddenly, and, remembering his imprisonment, Charlie jumped to his feet. Navajo got up, too, in a scramble of hoof beats on the smooth, rubbery deck surface.

"At least it's daytime, Nav. Maybe we can figure our way out of—"

He stopped abruptly. Navajo had heard it, too, and was sidling over to him, head alert and nostrils flaring, as they both looked about the deck.

"It's okay, Nav. It's okay," and Charlie patted the horse. "Just another one of those telepathic mind waves. I guess the aliens are out of bed, too. Or whatever they sleep in."

Charlie listened to several other impulses, then called out loudly: "Why are you keeping me in here—why can't I go on home?"

Just then, with no sound at all, he received a clear impulse.

"We do not wish to hold you, Primitive. But we cannot let you go free. You have discovered us, and we must keep you with us. We cannot free you."

Holding back a feeling of panic at their words, Charlie answered the alien's impulse, calling out to the unseen man somewhere else in the ship.

"Please—you've got to let me go, let us out. I won't tell anybody. We'll go straight back to the Shack—I mean, back home. And you'll never have to worry about us. Please let us

go."

"We repeat, we do not wish to hold you, Primitive. But now there is no alternative. As a member of a sub-race, a civilization not yet fully responsible for its actions, you cannot be freed. You shall accompany us to the island we came from. That is your future, Primitive. There is no retrograding."

"Then—" Charlie asked, "will I know, can I know what you will do with me?"

"Your fate and future, if any, shall be determined shortly. Very likely you shall return with us behind the Barrier, and there stand trial. Possibly, quite possibly, you might be considered adjustable to our world island's level of civilization."

"And if—if I become adjusted," Charlie pressed further, "will—"

"You would then become a member of our society, having been permitted to take the seven thousand year advancement into the history of our time. In brief, Primitive, you would

be living in the world of your own island here, only in the state of advancement that it will hold seven thousand years ; from this time."

"Oh," was all Charlie could say.

The interview was abruptly ended by his unseen informant. Charlie was stunned. He felt now as he had felt once long ago. It was the time when Uncle John had first brought him a young colt, and he had named him Navajo. It was ( the first time he had tried to ride that colt, and the air had been knocked out of him. It was like that now. Charlie stood very still, thinking. Saturn.

It was a planet in our Solar system all right, but it was millions of miles away. Mars was much closer to Earth, and even Mars at its nearest would be around thirty-five million miles away. As Charlie's mind raced over these facts he once j again felt thankful to Miss Tisdale back in school. It helped j now. Even if back there at school he had never given a hoot how far away Saturn was, it came in handy right now to know. And one thing Charlie was certain of, and that was, no matter how he figured it, Saturn was a doggone long way from Arizona. A terrible homesickness came down over him like a sudden desert thunderstorm.

Aware of his danger, he decided to make at least one more escape try and make it right now. With the aliens far up on some other deck, he might possibly be able to do it. It might work. But if it didn't, still the noise might reach out to the roadway far off by the river, and attract somebody passing. He'd give it a try, anyway.

"Nav—come on over, Nav. That's it," Charlie coaxed,

getting the horse to back around. "Attaboy—now you're going to get us out of here, Nav. The both of us." Patting Navajo as he backed him up to the thin, sheer glasslike band of window, Charlie held the reins to steady the horse.

"Now we do it, Nav. Then we get out on that rim and go around there—to where the mountain side is just a short jump down for the both of us. Remember, Nav—remember —the stagger fence poles, Nav! The corral fence poles, Nav!" Charlie repeated. "You never let them stop you from getting out—go on, Nav, kick—let 'em have it!"

With a brief whinny, Navajo showed he understood. Winding up as Charlie talked to him, Navajo pranced about a little, then lowered his neck—stretching it out low, for more balance. At that same moment he heaved his hind quarters up—clear of the deck. In those few seconds Navajo shot out both back legs—slamming a shattering double blow against the crystal surface of the panoramic view.

"Again, Nav—hit it again!"

Trampling about and once more establishing a sure footing, Navajo once more repeated the process. The awful clash of the iron horse shoes on the pane made Charlie blink his eyes. Twice more Navajo followed Charlie's orders, then Charlie stopped him. His sides heaving mightily, Navajo looked around as Charlie inspected the clear pane. There were only small scratches on the clear surface.

Charlie walked slowly around, in front of Navajo, patting him. The old horse had really tried. Navajo's nostrils were still flaring wide as he breathed heavily from the exertion.

"Thanks, Nav. It's okay. I know you tried real hard, Nav. You sure did."

Charlie took out his handkerchief and stroked off the sweat ( beads on Navajo's neck.

"That's so's you won't catch cold," he said, repeating the process on the other side. "That window's barely scratched, Nav. Just as if we hadn't even tried."

As he talked to the horse, Charlie heard the sound of running feet on the deck above—then the panel door opened in the cylinder and five aliens rushed out. Charlie could tell they were really angry about something, and he figured he and Navajo knew what it was. He could feel their confused thoughts directed at him, and their mounting anger.

They stopped abruptly before him. Now their thought impulses were slowing down, and Charlie began to understand them. One alien, seeming to hold more authority than the others, stood before him, his bright green eyes flashing. Charlie felt they were looking right through him now, reading his every thought. Then the alien sighed shortly, seeming to relax a little. His expression became less severe as he looked down at Charlie. Charlie got a fleeting thought, not directed at him, but seeming to be from this leader to the other aliens.

"What has been done is done, the past is prologue," the tall alien seemed to shrug his shoulders, as if to get it over with, and Charlie thought he'd heard that impulse somewhere before.

"You have," the alien replied briefly to his thought, then continued, "but since you are not yet fully grown, there is no use of further moralizing."

About to tell the man he had almost reached his full height, a good height for an Earthman, Charlie thought better of it and said nothing. Instead, he tried to understand them as they talked to each other, tossing impulses back and forth. And to his surprise, he was gaining speed, for he caught some of what they said. Then the leader turned to him again.

"We told you, Primitive, escape is not possible. To try further may only make it advisable for us to take the only course left. Any further interruption of our scheduled work, and you may possibly be destroyed."

"Yes, sir," Charlie said, nodding. "I—I only wanted to get o u t ... to go home."

"I understand," came the other's immediate impulse, "but that desire cannot be realized. You must accept the circumstance."

Charlie was silent. No matter what, he couldn't agree not to try and escape. He would try, every chance he got. He would never go to Saturn—if he could possibly help it—to their homeland in the Barrier World.

The aliens turned, rapidly exchanging thoughts between themselves, and Charlie once again found himself admiring them a little, and liking their strange and brilliant clothing. There were no mild tones of color. Their colors were all strong, clean-cut and bright. And as he watched them, Charlie felt for a fleeting moment, a mild friendliness for these fellow-humans, these strangers who had come from another world so far away. They were not monsters, and in

spite of some of the wild suppositions he had read about, there was no reason to believe that beings from some other world could not be quite similar to ourselves. Given the same < conditions, they should be. As they stood talking by the cylinder panel doorway, Charlie felt suddenly a little embarrassed, as he noticed one alien off to the side looking at him. The fellow smiled quickly and winked at Charlie, as they entered the panel compartment, and Charlie realized that one alien at least must have been listening to his thought impulses concerning them.

Charlie shrugged his shoulders as he turned back to Navajo. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to be at least halfway friendly toward them. It might even help him to escape. They hadn't been gone long when they returned. Charlie watched as they brought out several stacks of the black protective clothing and piled them on the deck. As the bright shafts of sunlight struck them now, he noticed, they wore a plastic-looking type of sandal-and-sock combination shoe, again reminding him of Mercury. But most of all, Charlie was dazzled by that shimmering blue cobalt cape that looked like the clearest sparkling blue-green ocean water he had ever seen. And with the gold border and its silver lining inside, Charlie thought the short cape was one part of their uniform he wouldn't mind having. And a pair of those track shorts, with the side cut. Then Charlie was aware that the alien leader was again repeating an impulse to him.

"It is not called a uniform, Primitive. We are four thousand steps beyond the military era. These garments you see are the standard of the world, our world, with some variations.

The blue predominant is the male dress. The female dress is the scarlet-bordered gold cloth, of this same type. You shall be furnished proper dress, whenever you—"

"I don't want any other clothes!" Charlie replied quickly, resisting the seeming finality that the change of clothes implied, the last fading hope for escape. "I—I like the ones I have."

The alien looked him over, as though for the first time, all the way from Uncle John's faded old khaki army shirt, down to the worn blue levis. The alien's eyes showed some interest as he looked closer at the star-wheeled silver spurs, with their turquoise mounting, on Charlie's battered riding boots. Charlie glanced down too, realizing how his tight, dusty levis must look to them in their bright, clean clothing. But he would not make further comparison.

"You have, Primitive, the typical tribal philosophy, the view of a world that is too small for itself. However, there is time," said the alien leader's impulse, "whenever you desire more practical garments."

Turning abruptly as Charlie glared at them, the aliens went across the deck to the panel door, their thoughts once more going into high gear. Charlie felt sore. Not only at the aliens, but at himself. For here and now, he was the only Earthman, the only one of his world, and these aliens had patronized him, treating him not only like a child but like a stupid one as well. Well, he'd show these aliens. Sure, maybe they were highly civilized and all that, but there were things on his world which were not on theirs. If there were not, they wouldn't have come here, Charlie reasoned to himself.

What were they on the Earth for, if they hadn't come for something—something they wanted awfully bad, to come all the way from Saturn.

"Tribal philosophy," Charlie said aloud. "Nav, I reckon maybe those aliens think we can't get out, huh. Well, let them think it, Nav. Just let them think we won't try again." |

C H AP T E R S I X

The Primate's Son

As Charlie stood there alone with Navajo on the vast empty tier, he heard a noise—over in the direction of the cylinder compartment, where the aliens had gone. Something had just fallen, making a noisy clatter on the stairway inside the cylinder. For some moments there was dead silence. Then he saw the panel open slowly. There, standing alone, was an alien.

His first doubts passed quickly as Charlie stared back at the slim figure in the doorway, an alien somewhat smaller than the others. This one was no bigger or taller than he was, Charlie quickly observed, and he seemed much younger than the others. But as Charlie looked at the young alien, wondering what he wanted, the fellow smiled a little. Then the mild impulse he had heard before came to Charlie.

"I am Dondee. I am the Primate's son," Charlie interpreted the mild-mannered mental impulse. The young alien walked toward him. "I talked with you, last night."

"I—I’m sure glad to meet you. Dondee—that's your name?"

"Yes," came the eager impulse, somewhat bolder now. "I remembered what you said about wanting to meet me. I wanted to see you too. What is your name?"

"I’m Charles Holt, Dondee. Just Charlie is okay. Slang for Charles! Everybody calls me that."

"If you recall, Charles, I cannot use slang in the Interplanetary tongue. At least, not in routine conversation. You of course can say it, since you make sound with your voice as well as send the impulse with your mental gland waves. You remember I told you I couldn't?"

"Sure," Charlie said with a quick grin, "I remember now."

"I like the proper name of Charles very much."

"Okay," Charlie said, "shake!"

The alien boy looked at his outstretched hand, frowning a little. Then he smiled happily. "Oh—it, it's one of your world's customs!" and Dondee took the offered hand and shook hands vigorously.

"Now we're friends officially!"

"In my world," said Dondee, "it is the polite custom to greet a stranger by holding his face between your hands for a little time, as you give your first thoughts of greeting." He demonstrated.

"It sure is different from our world, here," Charlie said, a little uncomfortably, "and sort of—well, more personal."

"Your world's shaking of hands, Charles, that is a fine custom."

"Can't you talk with your mouth, Dondee? I mean, make a sound when you send the wave impulse out?"

"Oh, some people can. But usually, we prefer the higher form of speech. Speaking in the more physical language is a thing most of our world has grown away from, Charles. You see, we can talk for days on the higher mental level, while those who would use the purely physical sound voice should tire very easily in a far shorter time."

"Did your world ever talk with mouths, Dondee?"

"Oh yes. It was our most ancient form of communication. But as we became more civilized, we also became lazy and took advantage of the higher and easier means of exchanging thought. You see, Charles, civilization has faults, too! But we did use the more primitive way of speaking, far back in our history."

"I don't see anything so primitive about talking with your mouth. Making sound and all. What's the matter with using just plain words?"

"They are too difficult to speak, Charles, to interchange among the many world islands, on which there are still dozens more variations among languages. That is why the Barrier World, my Saturn, does like most of the other more civilized worlds. It is not conformity for conformity's sake, Charles, but for reasons of convenient exchange of thought for broader knowledge, that we use the Interplanetary tongue."

"But I still like to hear myself, when I talk," Charlie said with a grin, "even if I can understand your telepathy. Besides, it's kind of hard to do."

"You only need practice, Charles," came the quick response. "Also, Charles, your own physical tongue could never possibly form the words in the high speed exchange that the mental language does."

"One thing I like about it, Dondee. You can laugh or just keep your mouth shut, and still talk fast! It makes it pretty easy. At least, it looks easy for you."

"It is easy, Charles. I shall be glad to teach you the Interplanetary tongue, give you some speed up, if you will tell me things about your world, Charles."

Charlie was smiling, then he laughed as Dondee's thoughts came to him. The alien boy frowned.

"Why do you feel amused?"

"I was just figuring, about your face, Dondee! It's kind of long. The shape of it, I mean. You remind me a little bit of my horse, Navajo—" and Charlie pointed to the old horse over at the panoramic view.

Charlie's face straightened and the smile faded away as he saw the angry flash, the sparks of gold in the alien boy's eyes. The big green pupils were very bright. Charlie also got the tumbling thought impulses. Then a second later the alien boy's arms were up swinging, and Charlie staggered back— taken by surprise. Then they were fighting hard, as Charlie got on his guard! In another minute Charlie landed on the deck of the empty tier, punching back as he fought off Dondee's wild attack. Swinging hard, he was able to regain his feet again. Then he caught Dondee off guard. The alien

boy staggered as he got up from the floor. Dondee stood there, dazed, as Charlie held back the intended punch. Feeling his jaw tenderly, Dondee looked again, his eyes very wide, as he stared at Charlie's clenched fist.

Apparently more curious than afraid, he looked at Charlie's face again, then pointed at his fist. Wide-eyed with surprise, Charlie too looked at his own fist as he lowered it. He then realized that the alien boy had not known about fighting with his fists closed, and using them to pound an opponent. He had fought Charlie with an open-handed, slashing blow, something like judo wrestlers used.

"Is—is that the way," Dondee's impulse came to Charlie as the alien boy breathed hard, "—the way your world fights?"

"It sure is!" Charlie replied, getting over his momentary surprise and once more on his guard. "If you think I can't—"

"No, Charles," came the somewhat analytical impulse from Dondee, "I am not concerned as to which of us can, through brute force, settle the point of order. Or, as your mind's picture sends it, beat up the other. In fact, Charles, I am quite sorry that I lost my control and acted in so primitive a manner."

Charlie was a little startled with the apology, or what seemed like it, for Dondee had by no means lost the fight. He was a tough character to come up against. Charlie quickly tagged his opponent. But he couldn't back down since Dondee had started the fight.

"Primitive—just what do you mean by that crack—"

"All temporary loss of reason is primitive, Charles. But it was because you said I looked like the animal—your horse."

Charlie grinned suddenly, understanding now for the first time why Dondee had attacked him.

"I get it, Dondee. You thought I meant it in a bad way. j But I didn't, Dondee. Honest."

"I realize that now, Charles. Again I am very sorry for my attack upon your person."

"I'm kind of sorry too," Charlie said. "I only said that about your face, because it is a little bit longer than mine. Besides, your face is good-looking, Dondee, or I wouldn't of said you looked a little bit like Navajo. Nav is my best friend, so that ought to prove that I don't think you're a bad guy."

Dondee looked again at Navajo, considering for a moment, then back to Charlie. He stretched out his hand.

"Charles," he said, "shake!"

Charlie shook hands gladly.

"See, Charles, I can do one thing of your world already— one of your customs."

"I guess we're friends again, Dondee ... if you want to be."

"I—" came the impulse, then Dondee paused, frowning. He glanced up at the ceiling of the tier as he tried to find the right words. Then he looked back quickly at Charlie, smiling happily.

"I sure do, Charles!"

"Doggone your hide—I almost felt as if that impulse meant I sure do, Dondee—the way I got it."

The alien boy nodded. "It did! But it is still difficult for me to use any of the higher mental level informal speech, and get it into clear thought, Charles. I am surprised that you were able to distinguish too, that I used your colloquialism."

"Thanks," Charlie said.

"Your mind is amazingly receptive for a prim—"

Dondee's face showed a momentary flush of embarrassment, then he grinned quickly at Charlie, and Charlie got the impulse, "Well, you know what I mean!"

"Oh go ahead," Charlie said, "Go on and say it! I don't mind. You were going to say primitive, weren't you?"

Dondee nodded slightly, and seeing that Charlie understood that it was hard for him to break the habit of using the word and was amused by his use of it, Dondee laughed suddenly.

"Your thought impulses are very clear, Charles, even though you speak at the same time."

"Thanks, Dondee. And I promise not to get sore about it, if you slip up any time and call me a primitive. I figure you're pretty much used to saying it on your world, so it's hard to stop doing it right off."

"Thanks, Charles. But I'll try not to forget."

The morning sped by, and the desert sun was high and brilliant everywhere outside the star ship. But inside, on the lower dome tier, Charlie and Dondee talked on, bringing each other up to date on things of each other's world and things they liked and disliked. They found that, no matter where humans come from, boys have about the same hopes

and ambitions for the future, and the same love for adventure. And as for Charlie, talking to Dondee did a lot to brush away the last traces of the fears and suspicions he had built up about the aliens, these men on a star ship from another planet. He no longer believed that at any moment they might destroy him. But to his most important question concerning his freedom, Dondee could give him no real answer.

"It will probably be whatever the commanding navigator has ordered, Charles. I am fairly sure that he will not do anything with you here, on your world. That will wait for the return journey to the Barrier World. The capture of you, Charles, after you discovered us, was necessary. I doubt if the navigator will permit you to leave the flagship again, before we return to the Capitol City."

For a fleeting moment, Charlie let his thoughts dwell on the bright sunshine outside, and the idea that the giant in between the Saddle Mountain peaks was sure to be spotted before the day was over. But Dondee caught the brief thought, beckoning Charlie to follow him over to the broad sweep of panoramic view. He did.

"See, Charles—this ship could not likely be detected."

As Charlie looked, he lost his last small hope of what he felt sure the ship's presence, shining brilliantly in the daytime, would do. The star ship's once-bright surface now had taken on the rust and crevice-line look—exactly like the surface of Saddle Mountain! It was as good a job of camouflage as any chameleon he had ever seen.

"Since they won't let me go, do you think they might let me go outside, just for a little while with Navajo, before we take off?"

"No, Charles. That wouldn't be possible now. The discus flagship—this ship we're in I mean, was sealed last night. The last job of the exploratory mission was completed this morning."

"It's all over?"

"Yes, Charles. The next free air you breathe will be on my own world, Charles, in the eternal mists of the Blue Mountain country where I live, under the Barrier that hides us from the beauty of the Sun."

Numbed by the full impact of Dondee's impulse, Charlie was also aware that the alien boy felt sorry for him. He felt sure, too, that if there were any way Dondee could help he would be glad to do it. Possibly even to helping him escape. At this thought, Dondee looked at him again, nodding his agreement.

"But I cannot help, Charles. I would like to, just as much as I would also like you to see my homeland as I have seen yours. But I can do nothing, Charles."

"It sort of looks like that, Dondee. I mean, it looks as if I'll be seeing your world as you saw mine. Whether I like the idea or not." '

Dondee put out his hand, for a brief moment resting it on Charlie's shoulder.

"That's all right, Dondee. I get the idea of how you feel. Thanks a lot."

"You have had no food," Dondee said, suddenly happy that he could change the subject. "Shall I bring you some,

-is

or do you wish to go with me to the sixth tier, where we can

eat?"

About to accept, Charlie turned and glanced at Navajo.

"Oh, I'll be sure to have some of the grain sent to him, from what we have aboard—we got it last night, when we got your supplies on the shore, Charles. And he will have some of the apples, too!"

"Okay, Dondee, swell. But tell them only one or two apples at the most. More might make Nav sick, though he'd eat them all if I let him."

With another glance back at Navajo, Charlie followed Dondee through the panel opening, then into a tall, glistening transparent cylinder, within the larger cylinder of the deck.

"It is an airlift," Dondee's impulse informed Charlie. Then he pushed a large, saucer-size plastic-looking button, barely touching it—and the airlift started smoothly up on its cushioned course. "We could have walked the spiral outside," and Dondee pointed to the circling stairway that spiraled about them as they ascended.

"It's sure smooth!" 'Charlie said. "Hey—look at the steps outside—they're moving around us! Like being on the inside of a giant barber pole!"

"It seems like that, but we are the only things in motion now," Dondee said. "I'm glad we took the airlift, for the sixth tier is a long climb up, about like going up four or five levels in the buildings of your world, Charles."

Dondee let go a very high speed thought concerning what Charlie meant by barber pole. Without realizing it, Charlie

reflected the impulse reply, without opening his mouth to speak at all. He only thought his answer.

"Charles! Do you realize what you just did? You actually replied to my question—and without sending a single sound wave! You didn't even open your mouth. I am sure, Charles, for I was watching you when I sent the high speed thought."

Charlie smiled, feeling proud of the new accomplishment in the Interplanetary language.

"I guess you know now that maybe our world here on Earth is not all made up of primitives! That's something you better remember, Dondee!"

Just then the airlift stopped at the indicated tier, and the concave panel slid around automatically. Charlie followed the alien boy out. Not empty like the lower dome tier, the sixth deck of the Saturnian star ship was a great lounge, and luxurious was the word that flashed through Charlie's mind as he glanced over the sea of comfortable, low-built scarlet lounge seats that were built into the deck. They were the most modernistic form-fitting chairs Charlie had ever seen.

This deck of the biggest tier of all, being the middle tier, was covered with something that felt like a soft padding of moss. It was springy to walk on, and reminded Charlie a little of the pine needles, up in the high country under the evergreens. Only, the sixth tier of the star ship didn't have that fine green smell of the pines. The big lounge smelled a little bit like an airplane, Charlie thought. Just what a space ship should smell like. It reminded him, too, of a new car showroom. The smell of shiny paint and new motors. It was a good smell.

"This is the main rotunda of the discus," Dondee told him. "Nearly all personnel of the ship come here, when they either want food, or just to rest awhile."

"It sure is a big place," Charlie said. "I bet it could hold at least a thousand people, all sitting around here at once." I

"Oh no, Charles. It can only seat four hundred on this I deck."

"Only four hundred!" and Charlie whistled softly. "Dondee, you should see some of the little jobs on my world. Even the biggest can only hold somewhere between a hundred and a hundred and fifty, and they'd have to sit pretty close together."

"Well, this is the largest tier, Charles—or deck, as you call it. In your world measurements I believe it is about two hundred yards across the center. Or, if you take the radius, it would be a hundred yards from spot center, out to any point along the panoramic view."

"Any way you figure, it's a doggone big space ship. Hey— when do we eat?"

"Oh, I almost forgot. Over here—" and as he pointed, Charlie saw several small rows of sparkling window circles. He copied Dondee, taking out several neatly wrapped packets in something that looked like cellophane. "You just push the button—yes, like that, at whatever other window you want to open." With an armful of the assorted packets, Charlie took one of the crystalline cylinders of a sparkling green liquid that Dondee enthusiastically recommended. Seating themselves over near the broad panoramic of the sixth tier, Charlie noticed for the first time the great height—he could

see for miles around the Saddle Mountain peaks. Dondee climbed over one lounge seat to take another facing the one Charlie had taken.

Charlie looked out a moment longer, his searching gaze taking in the distant railroad bridge far down the Colorado, past the non-existent town of Earp on the California side, and also the northern end of the lake in the opposite direction.

"Enjoy the recliner," came the easy impulse from Dondee. "We can explore the ship after. Most of all, I can show you the top control dome of the flagship. That is, if the Navigator is not in there."

"You mean, there are still more decks—tiers, up over this one? I thought I counted eleven last night, but figured they weren't all decks."

"Oh yes, Charles. Exactly eleven. We're only in six now, the middle tier. All the others graduate downward in size from this one, in either direction, to the domes. Sort of the north and south poles of the discus!"

"Sort o f " Charlie repeated. "Doggone, Dondee, your impulses sound more like Arizona impulses every minute!"

The alien boy grinned, pleased at the compliment.

"And," he said, "each dome is a number one tier. From either dome, we count only to the middle of the ship."

"I bet this top dome is about as high as Saddle Mountain."

"It is," agreed the alien boy. "The Navigator chose those two peaks right here, because it seemed the best place to balance the discus for later departure. It allows the gyroscopic rotables to turn freely. That is, so the rotables can get up enough revolutions before we leave the planet's surface,

and later adjust to the magno lanes out in the Timeless Sea."

As if realizing he should not have reminded Charlie of the coming departure, hurriedly Dondee began opening his food packets, then flipped over the side panel of the lounge seat. It formed a compact, sturdy table across the chair before him.

"Hey, that's pretty neat!" said Charlie, and he too, released the lounge arm button. "What's this stuff made of,

Dondee?"

"Oh—I guess in your world, oh I know—you'd call it berry juice. It's a product of the Barrier World."

Charlie opened the small folded top, then tasted the bright green liquid.

"You may not like it?"

"Mmmmm!" Charlie exclaimed, putting it back to his mouth again for a longer drink. "That's the best soda I ever tasted."

"Soda?" came the impulse from Dondee, as he didn't even pause in drinking from his tube of liquid. "What do you mean when you call it soda?"

Charlie explained briefly about carbonated drinks and drug store soda fountains, but he had to remove the liquid from his mouth when he talked.

They both noticed it at the same time and laughed.

"Dondee, that's the one good thing about your old Interplanetary language! I mean, you can get your mouth stuffed full right now with that frozen dessert—and you can still talk a stream!"

Dondee, chewing heartily, kept right on talking.

"Sure, but I notice in your old Earth language, you have to waste time whenever you want to talk!"

Charlie laughed and so did the alien boy. Just then Dondee leaned forward in his lounge chair, and looked down curiously at the high-heeled Western boots Charlie wore. He reached out, spinning one of the spur's star-wheels with his finger. He smiled happily at Charlie as he repeated the process. Seeing his interest, Charlie removed the boot promptly, and passed it over to him.

"They're called spurs," Charlie explained. "Sort of a giddyap deal, to make your horse go faster. Like this—"

Charlie quickly straddled the curved foot rest of the lounge, demonstrating for Dondee. The alien boy nodded eagerly, as he sent back the quick impulse that he understood about riding.

"That is how you make Navajo travel faster?"

"Oh no, Dondee. I'd never use them on Navajo. I only wear them because I got them from Uncle John, when we went out on the Indian Reservation once. Uncle John kind of figured I sure wanted them."

"That is a very beautiful stone," Dondee sent the admiring thought impulse. "It's turquoise. One in each spur, and they're two of the biggest and most perfect ones," Charlie bragged. "But the stars—" Dondee said, frowning, "the points on the stars are all worn down. How did that happen?" "I did it, Dondee. I filed them down off the star-wheels, the day I got them, so they'd be dull and short." "But why, Charles?"

"For old Nav. I didn't want to get excited and maybe forget sometime, and use them on him. I wouldn't do anything < in the world that would hurt old Nav, Dondee. He's the best horse I ever had."

"How many horses have you had, Charles?"

"Oh . . . just the one."

Dondee didn't say anything for a long time. Instead, he just kept spinning the small silver stars on the boots Charlie had passed to him.

"He's still the best horse in the whole world," Charlie repeated, watching as the alien boy continued to slowly spin the star-wheels.

"I wish," came the far-away impulse from Dondee finally, "that I had a horse, too. A horse like Navajo."

C H AP T E R SE VEN

The Timeless Sea

Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong!

Jumping from the lounge seat, Dondee tossed the boots to Charlie. He paused a moment as Charlie yanked them on and worked his feet down into them.

"What's up, Dondee?"

"That was the preparatory alarm sounding," came the return impulse. He beckoned for Charlie to follow him as he ran to a better position at the panoramic.

"There—" he pointed, "hold onto that grip-safety. You probably won't need it, but we are supposed to hold one. It is an alloy grip, to insure your footing, even though the centrifugal balance is perfect, no matter what the ship's position is."

"Are—are we going to—"

"Yes, Charles! That was the signal to all personnel aboard to check in at their stations. There are only the crew besides us, about one hundred and seventy all together."

Charlie, as he stared at Dondee, was mixed in his feelings. He was not much interested now, as to how many of the aliens were on board. There was something else of far greater importance to him. In fact, the only thing that mattered was that at any moment he would be leaving his own world. On his way to another world, over ninety-five times the mass volume of Earth. It was a place millions of miles away from Arizona. He stared unseeingly at Dondee, then turned his face slowly back to the glare of the desert, the bright afternoon sunlight, coming from his own desert, through the panoramic view. But now, he was hermetically sealed off from that Arizona country, perhaps forever. Charlie found it hard to get the full impact of what was happening.

"To your people, Charles, we shall seem like a brief flash in the pure Sun's light."

But in spite of the uncertainty, and due somewhat to the alien boy's happiness and excitement, Charlie gradually found himself becoming a little excited, too. He was at the point of going on the greatest adventure anyone from his world could possibly have. And that adventure was about to begin. He wanted to say something, do something, but all he could say as Dondee put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a friendly shake, was:

"Will—will we feel it much? When we leave the ground, Dondee?"

"Oh sure!"

"How—" and with Charlie's startled impulse as he spoke, Dondee saw his concern.

"Oh, I didn't mean that, Charles. There is actually no effect at all, except the excitement—that's what I meant. The rotables balance so perfectly, no matter what angle the discus turns off at, or how fast, the revolutions stabilize the gravitational pull beneath us. The magno lanes are the tracks for the rotables, the rotables which are the greatest engineering work of our world, Charles."

"What is outer space like, Dondee?"

Assured by Charlie's interest, the alien boy smiled happily.

"It is—well, it's like rocking on a giant sea. Even better, Charles. In fact, it is a sea. The people of the higher civilizations do not call it outer space. They know it only as the greatest and most honored of all seas. That's why it's called the Timeless Sea throughout our Solar System. It is on those magno lanes of that sea that we shall travel, Charles."

Catching still more of the feeling of enthusiasm held by Dondee, Charlie began to forget a little about leaving his own world, as he asked and Dondee answered the questions.

Lower dome, lower dome—coordinate rotables.

"That," explained Dondee, "was the commanding Navigator in the upper control dome. The rotables beneath us are already turning at over two thousand revolutions per minute. Your world time, Charles. They must coordinate with the upper ones, in the pre-flight prelude."

"The Navigator again," Dondee said with a nod.

Rotables coordinating, sir. All preparations made for lane contact.

"The second navigator in command," Dondee said. "He is down below, on the lower dome tier."

A short three-blast siren sounded, like the one Charlie had heard the night before.

"Watch now!"

Charlie looked from Dondee, out through the panoramic, at the great sprawling desert land, stretching out in all the distances his eyes could see. His gaze stopped on the distant chocolate-colored mountains to the East, mountains he knew so well. But as he stared at their jagged edges beyond the white-heated sands, Charlie's knuckles also showed white through his tanned skin. His grip was very tight on the grip-safety. Just then it happened!

Charlie froze there on the spot—staring out hard as the distant horizon tilted crazily. The great jagged chocolate mountains swung hard in an easy motion—standing up vertically on end, sideways. Then with a hardly noticeable sway beneath his feet, Charlie saw the distant mountains slide back down in a swift and graceful curve, to the horizon. Barely had they leveled out—when right before his eyes they slid up diagonally across the panoramic view! Then they were gone.

"Gosh—I hardly feel anything!" Charlie exclaimed.

Now he could see much further away—many miles south of Parker. It was a place he knew well, and he could see it clearly. It was Blythe, California. There was no doubt in

Charlie's mind now. He was heading out—far out, to another world in the Timeless Sea.

Atmosphere nil, Sir. We are beyond their local air sea.

"Charles," Dondee said, letting go of the grip-safety, "we are now officially at sea."

"I sort of figured that out," Charlie said slowly. "From the way things look down there."

Dondee laughed suddenly. "You sound so grim, Charles!"

"It is grim," Charlie said, "this far out—at sea."

Going over closer to the panoramic, Charlie pressed both hands hard against the clear crystal sheet, staring silently out into the vastness of his own world, which was rapidly changing before his eyes. As he watched, it grew smaller, dwindling away before him. The changing course of the great discus flagship, noticeable only by a gentle sway as it turned at incredible speeds, was now making the Sun's light sink swiftly down behind his world. Then it was gone. There was only a royal blue night.

In that unforgettable moment Charlie's eyes grew moist. His mind flashed back to Miss Tisdale's science class, and the globe in her classroom that looked like this great shining green ball out there now before him. He didn't cry, but something choked up inside his throat, and he turned his face momentarily away from Dondee. For on that mighty green ball Charlie could see two great continents, joined by an isthmus. It was the Isthmus of Panama, for that giant green ball was home. It was the planet Earth.

"It is a beautiful world, Charles. Your world. It is the only world island in our Solar System that is all a beautiful

green. A beautiful world ... in the Sun's pure light."

Charlie nodded his head slowly without speaking.

"I wish," said the alien boy, "my own homeland had such pure light."

Charlie suddenly realized, not only from what the alien boy had already told him about the Barrier World, but from his words now, that he had seldom seen sunshine at home. And then, only once a period—a year—at the Sun Festival. And he remembered Dondee had also told him that he had been nine years old before he got his first chance to see pure Sun's light. A growing understanding for what the alien boy had missed came to Charlie, as he thought of the lavish sunshine he had always known.

"I hope, Dondee, that some day your world will have pure sun light, too. Like mine."

"Look—Charles!" exclaimed Dondee, and Charlie followed his gaze, as once more with the course adjustment of the great ship his own world came brilliantly into full lighted view.

Charlie watched with Dondee, as the green ball grew very small, slowly disappearing from view. Then it was gone in the blackness of the space sea—almost invisible now. Turning his gaze out, into the far-flung bastions of eternal night, Charlie looked through the Timeless Sea, unmarred by dimming atmosphere.

Full propulsion—take positional course. Charlie wondered—he thought they had been going full speed! Then somewhere, far off it seemed, Dondee's impulse

came to him, telling him that was the commanding Navigator again, the astronaut in charge.

Full propulsion, Sir. Acceleration steady.

"We are well beyond your Earth's gravity now," Dondee informed him. "Can't you feel it—the great, free-rolling void about us!"

"Well beyond . . ." was all Charlie could say.

"Charles, whether we are just hovering, or traveling beyond the speed of light, beyond the Radiant Barrier, it will feel just the same."

"Nothing," Charlie said, "travels faster than light."

"Remember, Charles, your science teaches that. However, in free space, the open sea, there is no limitation on the speed an object may travel. For example, during the first third or possibly half of our journey, we shall steadily accelerate. About halfway to destination, we shall stabilize at standard speed for scheduled arrival. Then, in that speed well beyond that of light, we shall finally start the deceleration, before braking down to a speed suitable for entry into port."

"But," Charlie said, "wouldn't it be really something, to hit a moon or stray meteor at that speed? Then just where'd we be!"

"If that were possible, Charles, we would simply be vaporized. However, that cannot happen."

"Why—what's to stop it?"

"The magno lanes, Charles. They are not faulty man- made highways, but the safest, most natural roadways known in Time. And they were made as part of nature."

"Why are they safest?"

"It's a scientific fact, Charles, of my world's understanding of the cosmic laws. Those laws say no two objects can travel or adjust to any given magno lane, while traveling in the opposite direction. The lanes flow only one way, that is, any particular lane. If you recall a primitive rule governing electrical current, Charles, you will know that a current running along a conductor, from its source, spirals over to the right and under to the left, as it circles the conductor. It does this as it goes towards the direction of the conductor's extension, the direction of the current's flow, away from the source."

"Oh yeah, I've heard of that, in a manual I read once."

"As you may recall, Charles, the magno flux field about the wire, I believe, revolves about the wire in the same circular manner of the magno lanes throughout all the Timeless Sea. In fact, the circular manner of the Universe itself is the ultimate in design, just as the basic principle involved in the engineering of this discus ship is the highest known to Man."

"But one of the things my world believes, Dondee, is that in high speed out in space, there would be danger of maybe hitting something before your eyes could focus and see it coming."

"It is, in the more primitive forms of travel, since such travel is largely done contrary to any concern for adjusting to the magno lanes. I believe the primitive term for travel, Charles, is blast off, rather than to go along with the natural course provided by nature, the most perfect of all. Under those circumstances it would be possible to strike any debris

in a matter of direction. Anything could happen, and probably would!" "That same thing, the magno lanes, must keep the worlds in their own orbits."

"Yes, Charles, and around their own magno center, or sun, in the great system of star groups. All natural bodies in the Timeless Sea, such as stars and planets, are protected against such disasters. Their course is sure and delineable, as is our own at this moment. Even known comets have a preordained course, Charles. Halley's, for example."

"Doggone," Charlie said, "you sure know lots, Dondee."

"Actually very little, Charles. I've only begun to learn."

All guidons set on magno flux.

"That's the Navigator again," Charlie said, recognizing the command impulse. "I'd know his impulse anywhere!" "You are advanced far beyond what any of us expected, Charles. When you were discovered, I mean."

"And you, maybe, will learn a thing or two, Dondee. Before you're through with me, you'll be talking like an old Arizona ranch hand, if you stick around me!"

"I 'sure' will."

"That's what I mean, Dondee. You use that 'sure' and 'sure is' about as much as I do. Uncle John used to laugh about how I said it so much."

"Uncle John?" queried Dondee's impulse.

"Sure. Oh—he was my father's kid brother. He was the only one of my folk I ever knew, since Mom and Dad got killed in an auto accident. But that was when I was knee high to a coyote, so I never did know them."

"I'm sorry, Charles, sorry that you do not have any— folks. Folks-that is for family group, Charles?"

"Yes. That's sort of Western for how people say it. Do you have any folks, Dondee?"

"Oh yes, Charles."

"What are they like ... if you don't mind telling me?"

"There is Darda and Elstara, and they are my parents. Then there is my only duplicate, Biri Biri, Charles. I guess in your world you would call her my sister. She was born with me."

"Don't you call your parents something like Mom and Dad — something like that, instead of by their first names?"

"Sometimes, Charles. But it is customary for family groups to call each other by the one first name. They are just plain Darda and Elstara, or father and mother. Whichever Biri and I like to use."

"Biri Biri Bin," Charlie said, rolling out the words. "It's a pretty name, Dondee. Bin, that's your family name, huh?"

"My old duplicate is going to be happy to meet you, Charles!"

"Old duplicate?"

"Sure, Biri Biri Bin!" the alien boy said. "And last, Charles, I am Dondee Bin—in case you forgot!" •

"Gosh . . . that's sure a swell family, all those folks, I mean," Charlie said wistfully.

"Hey—" he exclaimed, as the thought struck him, "I hope that take-off didn't hurt Navajo."

"No, Charles," Dondee answered quickly. "I gave instructions while we were eating, in a brief high speed thought

that you did not even notice. An attendant took proper care of Navajo before we adjusted to the magno lanes. He was also fed. And," Dondee added, "he was given two of the apples."

"Thanks, Dondee. Thanks a lot. Just so Nav is all right."

"Oh, look—Charles! There, at the panoramic!"

Following after Dondee, Charlie gazed out, too, through the non-reflecting clear crystalline view. It seemed as though he were looking through a clear opening, with no window at all, out into the towering vastness of the night.

"There—see those great blue-white stars, Charles! Suns! Are they not something!"

Open-mouthed, Charlie stared silently out upon the mighty spectacle now glittering before him on the great velvety black wall of space. It almost seemed that he could put out a hand to that magnificence, and touch the very stars themselves. As Dondee pointed further, Charlie held his breath at the still greater beauty the alien boy was pointing out.

There, now, was a forward grouping of stars, great suns all clear-cut and brilliant before him. Some were a smoldering orange blaze and others a pale shimmering cobalt blue. Still others shone a fiery crimson, while some were a bright green or pale lemon. They seemed to Charlie as though they were on fire, burning with a deep beauty from within them. In silence he watched with Dondee the glittering cluster, the coloratura of suns splashed against the vast wall of space, like a handful of great jewels tossed out across the night by a giant hand of Eminence.

"It's like a star garden floating in time, Dondee."

"Yes ... an incredible garden."

"They're a lot like giant candy drops, too," Charlie added. "Say—Dondee, do you think there are other people, on some of those worlds, maybe?"

The alien boy looked at him a moment. Then his surprised look changed to a friendly smile, as he saw that Charlie had meant the question seriously.

"Yes, Charles, there are. We—your world and mine—are only two of the lesser planets—in size, planets on the outskirts of the great stream of civilizations. We would be very vain and foolish, Charles, were we to think the Universe revolves about our own small planets. There are numberless worlds besides our own, whose chemistry and general environs are about the same as the ones we live on. Therefore, even if my world did not already know some of these civilizations, we should be rather primitive were we to think our small cultures stood alone. There are many more such advanced civilizations along what your world calls the Milky Way, and what mine calls the Planetary Stream.

"And Charles, from what little my world knows of this, their greatness, in the matter of being civilized, is far beyond us. Theirs is a civilization from which the memories of war have long been gone and forgotten, a high level of the philosophies coupled with humanitarian workings beyond anything we know."

"In other words, Dondee, they can really say they're

civilized!" "Yes, Charles! But they, too, are people, so we can hope

to some day arrive at that same high degree they now hold. And if we do as they have done, Charles, we may some day stand there where they are standing. We may hold that same knowledge as our own, the most priceless thing of all. Never be afraid to learn, Charles, to look up. For only then is it possible, when you lift up your eyes, to see the shining stars that light all night."

"I can see now why your world calls us primitives," Charlie said. "Earth is not only a small world, but our people are always fighting and arguing about things, and never getting anywhere much. I wish my world was as fine and important—" and Charlie pointed through the clear panoramic, "as those worlds out there."

"Never say that, Charles. It is important," Dondee told him. "All peoples are important, no matter how small the world in which they live."

CHAPTER EIGHT

Heavy Water

As the alien boy talked about greater worlds, telling him things he had never even dreamed of, Charlie's mind wandered. Despite himself, he continually found his thoughts going back to that small world he called his own. He knew now that, in the great brilliance of all the galaxies along the starway, Earth was probably the least important world of all. As Dondee had told him, other worlds considered his Earth—Little Star as they called it—an outpost of civilization.

But to Charlie, even as the great star ship flashed toward that blue brilliant cobalt sun directly ahead of them now, it could never be so. Earth was the greatest star of all, and it would always be, for Earth was home.

Still, it was good to talk to Dondee. It helped to make him forget that he might never go home again. It was like remembering the fishing trips up river with Uncle John, and he tried hard not to think of home, not to remember. He was a captive, no matter how friendly Dondee was. He was a prisoner on board an alien star ship heading for a far-away world. His own world was now behind.

Having explored most of the middle tiers of the great ship with Dondee, Charlie at last found himself only a couple of decks below the top control dome.

"The Commanding Navigator is probably still up there," Charlie said, as they hesitated at the airlift. "Maybe we can go through the lower control dome again, Dondee?"

"No, Charles. I still want to show you the top tier and controls," came the alien boy's determined impulse. "I promised you I would, and besides, we can always go through the lower dome any time."

"Well, I sure would like to see it—that's if you're sure it'll be all right to go in there, Dondee?"

"We will go through it, Charles. I promised you."

Just then they came out from the inner recesses of what amounted to the galley of the discus flagship, where a certain amount of food was being prepared, in spite of the fact that most of the meals were already packeted and ready-to-eat when originally brought aboard on Dondee's world. And it was just then, as the alien boy stepped out from behind him into the brighter light of the main promenade of the tier, that Charlie noticed something. He stopped short as he glanced back. Then putting a hand to Dondee's shoulder, he turned him further to the bright wall lighting and looked

r

closely at the alien boy's left eye. As Dondee waited, not quite understanding Charlie's action, Charlie began to laugh.

"Why—what are you laughing for?" came the puzzled impulse from Dondee. "I don't understand—"

Holding back his laughter, Charlie pulled Dondee over to one of the bright mirror-like strips of metal that were on every tier.

"Look, Dondee—look in there at yourself!" Charlie pointed, and he was laughing again. "That's the biggest and best shiner I ever saw! Even back in school!"

Dondee looked closely into the mirrowed panel, tenderly feeling all around the perfectly blacked eye.

"The green in your eyes, Dondee, sure is a pretty color in that big black circle!"

The alien boy looked dimly at Charlie's grinning image in the panel. Then he laughed too.

"Charles—you called the coagulation a—a 'shiner.' Why, Charles? My eye doesn't shine."

Finding it hard to hold back further laughing at Dondee's serious face with its black eye, Charlie explained.

"It's the way folks talk in Arizona. That's what our people call a black eye. It's from when we had the fight, Dondee, that's how—"

"Oh, I know what it's from. Only, I never knew it was called a shiner. 'Shiner,' that's a fine name for it! Only it doesn't shine, Charles."

They both laughed again as they looked into another panel they passed.

"It's funny," Charlie said, "it must be a full day almost, since we had that fight. And only now your eye gets black."

"You mean, on your world the coags—I mean, the shiners come faster?"

"They sure do. Just as soon as the fight's over, a little while after you get hit in the eye."

Walking toward the airlift, they both glanced at another panel, and the beautiful little barrier that circled the green of Dondee's eye.

"My eye does look a little bit like my home world, Charles. I got that impulse that just passed through your mind about the dark rings around Saturn!"

Just as Dondee was about to push the button at the transparent cylinder to bring the airlift to their tier, he withdrew his hand. The bright clear crystal cage compartment was already coming down. Charlie nodded to the mild quick impulse from Dondee that said: the Commanding Navigator.

The alien captain of the ship, much larger and taller than the other men Charlie had seen, also saw them now. He put out a hand, bringing the lift back up to their tier. As the panel slid open smoothly he stepped out, a flashing twinkle in his large green eyes.

"The son of the Primate, Dondee," Charlie felt the Captain's impulse, "should not find it so easy to bump into corners on a cornerless discus star ship. The impossible, however, seems to have occurred."

Dondee's hand went to his eye as he understood the

captain's meaning.

"It's a 'shiner,' Sir! That's Arizona, for a coagulation."

"An Arizona shiner," mused the Commander, glancing again at Charlie, as he caught his guilty impulse. "I suppose you, young man, will no doubt find corners on our Barrier World, on which to secure what we term a coag."

"Yes sir!" Charlie said. As he replied, he couldn't help noticing that the Commander's features were much like Earthmen's. His and the other alien men too, for their faces, though somewhat longer, were also oval. But the flagship's Commander, as Charlie noticed now, had a face very much like a friend of Uncle John's, back in Parker. There wasn't so much difference, after all, in human features.

With the pleasant thought of the Commander's resemblance to his own people, Charlie let the thoughts in his mind flow freely to and fro, with Dondee, as they went into the top control dome.

"Dondee, that big glass deal there—the one like a giant round gold fish bowl. What is it?"

"Oh," came the alien boy's impulse reply, as they stopped. "That is the D2O reserve, Charles. For the journey."

"D2O?" Charlie repeated.

"Yes. As your world no doubt knows, it's one and one tenth heavier than the ordinary elements."

"It looks like," Charlie said, "well, like plain old water, Dondee."

"That is just what it is, Charles. It's the combination deuterium and oxygen, and what I believe your world people term 'heavy water.'"

"Oh—that," Charlie said. "I didn't know this flagship used fission power, Dondee. You said it ran on the Magno Lanes."

"It does. The D2O is only the emergency reserve, and for getting up the centrifugal force needed to nullify the gravitational force field, both for arrival or blast off from a solid surface. Such as for your world, Charles, or even my own."

Charlie placed his hands lightly on either side of the large crystalline ball, his nose pressed against its side, as he looked into the magnified distortions of the light beams slanting down through the fluid. For a moment, as he looked, his thoughts raced back a million miles and more to a small secret spot on a distant world. And in that moment, remembering the time he had stared down, into the cool clear sunlit depths of the icy Colorado, from a boulder at the curve in the shore, Charlie asked himself the hazy, unformed t h o u g h t . . . What am I doing here, this far from home?

But even on that mental journey, Charlie was not wholly alone, nor unaware of the nearness of his alien friend, whose smiling face even now looked at him through the globe from the other side—the great green eyes with their golden circled pupil coloring all the water. Charlie raised his face. For, even on this small personal journey into the past he had known, he had not been alone. And as he resented the thought, he realized that Dondee had felt his impulse, and the smile left his face as he realized he had not been wanted on that special momentary journey. But Charlie changed the subject, for he didn't want to hurt Dondee's feelings, his only alien friend.

"If only that Star Project is completed soon," replied the alien boy, not hearing Charlie's words, "then the Barrier World will have the secret too—" Dondee suddenly stopped,

and Charlie could see that he was very uncomfortable about

something.

"Just what is that Star Project, Dondee?"

From the paleness of the alien boy's face, he knew he was afraid to tell him, and that Dondee's mention of it had been a slip.

"It's a secret of your world—about your army and navy maybe? And that's why the mission was sent to my world?"

"We—we don't have any army or navy, Charles—but, anyway I can't tell you. I can't tell you anything."

"The Star Project," Charlie repeated aloud, still looking at the worried expression on Dondee's face. "Tell you what, Dondee. I'm going to find out about your old Star Project and—"

Charlie slapped the D2O globe determinedly as he spoke. But as he did, there was a trampling of feet, a scramble just outside the control room door. As he and Dondee glanced quickly toward the entrance, the Commanding Navigator and several other alien men rushed into the dome.

The angry thought impulses, almost too swift for Charlie, passed back and forth among the men, but they were all about Dondee and himself. The alien boy tried to explain, but all Charlie could get was that they were angry at his mention of the Star Project. As Charlie watched them, his hand still resting on the heavy water globe, the Commander noticed it and, with an angry sweep of his hand, knocked Charlie's hand off the D2O container.

"Cell them separately—" ordered the Commander, "as far from each other as there is space on this ship."

"Sir—" Dondee began, "Sir, you have no right to cell me like an animal, like a—"

"Silence!" came the abrupt impulse. "Aboard this ship, I am the Primate, young man. You'll have your first lesson in space discipline, regardless of your father's position. You've not only carelessly tampered—you and this Primitive—with the D2O reserve, but have let your thoughts dwell on the Star Project. You're being celled for this security breach."

"Yes sir."

"That is all."

Charlie glanced in Dondee's direction as they were separately escorted from the dome. From the disturbed thoughts and the expression on the alien boy's face, as well as the anger of the men, Charlie was more sure than ever now that he had happened onto an important secret of their world. Whatever the aliens had made that mission to Earth for, it was serious, terribly serious, and important enough to make them hold it top secret.

CHA P TE R NINE

The Great Barrier

Taken far down below, tier after tier, Charlie found himself ten decks below the top control dome. Dondee was far above, somewhere else. But there was one great consolation now for Charlie, because he was again with Navajo.

As he thought of it, patting the old horse gently, Navajo gave another low whinny, to show his pleasure at their reunion.

"It sure is, Nav! It sure is swell to get locked up with you, instead of by myself. At least, I know everything there is to know about you, and I can trust you, Nav. You don't have any old secrets about Star Projects that you can't let me in on."

Navajo shook his mane vigorously, nuzzling Charlie's left ear playfully.

"Nav—that tickles!" and as Charlie pulled away, his face suddenly sobered.

Navajo heard the impulses too, and he stretched out his neck, his nostrils flaring a little as he sniffed the air, as when he sensed some danger out on a mountain trip back home.

"Charles—Charles, can you recognize me, Charles?" Still a little bit sore at Dondee for not telling him the secret, Charlie wasn't going to answer.

"But I couldn't tell you, Charles," pleaded the sincere impulse. "I couldn't, Charles, or—or I'd have told you . . . Charles?"

Charlie reconsidered. After all, Dondee got bawled out too. Even though he did have strict orders not to mention the Star Project, he had mentioned it anyway, so he wasn't exactly trying to hide it from me, Charlie thought to himself. It's just that he had to do that.

"Charles?"

"Yeah, Dondee, I can hear you all right. I mean, your thought waves." "Fine! Are you with your animal?" "I sure am! Nav's right here beside me now." "I am glad of that, Charles. At least you're better off than I

am." "Why, Dondee?" "I'm up here, alone. On the central tier. They put me in a

food locker."

Charlie laughed a little.

"At least, you can eat all the grub you want!"

"That's what the Commander said, Charles. He said if I look around me in here, that I can find plenty to stuff in my big

mouth, till I learn to keep it shut."

Charlie laughed again.

"Oh, I heard that," Dondee said. "Your impulse showed it."

Then Dondee, too, began to laugh and Charlie was able to note the change in the impulse.

"Charles! I have a good excuse for getting out for a little while. I can say I want to get down to the chemical on your tier."

"Chemical?" Charlie repeated.

"Oh," came Dondee's quick response, "I forgot. It's what your world calls 'the bathroom.' I'll just say I want to go to the chemical, and since the food locker here doesn't have one, they'll have to let me out!"

"That's swell!" Charlie agreed.

Dondee had barely finished the impulse when Charlie caught the impulses Dondee was directing elsewhere. He was raising a rumpus now, and other impulses were replying to his, and telling him they'd let him out to go. Then it was only a matter of minutes later that Dondee came running out of the airlift, smiling proudly as he ran toward Charlie and Navajo.

"I just asked their permission to go to the chemical to get out! And besides, the Commander said I could stay with you since we're entering port soon, if I promised not to touch any of the instruments or get in anybody's way. I promised, Charles, for both of us."

Charlie heaved a sigh of relief, glad that they were both free again and were soon going to land.

"Hey—you never met Navajo? Go on, Dondee. Touch him, he won't mind. There—like that, just pat him on his neck—see!"

Dondee laughed a little, patting Navajo again, while Navajo turned his head around, calmly looking as Dondee petted him.

"Charles—he's thinking about me," Dondee said, "and his impulses just said that he knows I'm friendly and like him! I don't have a horse, Charles. But I think you will like my animal, when you see him. He's a crustaco."

"A what?"

"A crustaco. Oh, I know what your world calls them, crabs I think, Charles. That is what I remember from the animal records of your world, when we studied them in class."

"A crab—a crustaco, for a pet?"

"Oh sure," Dondee said with a quick grin. "And I even ride him—my Crustie, that's the name I gave him. He's a really fine crustaco, too."

"Boy, they must be pretty big crabs, if you can ride them on your world."

"He's about that high—" and Dondee held out his hand beneath Navajo's neck, indicating a few inches above knee-high. "But that's when he's crouched down. When he's crawling around, then he stands higher. About this high—" and Dondee showed Charlie again. "He's all smooth white shell, too."

"I never heard of any crab that big, till right now. Is Crustie a land crab, or can he swim in water too?"

"No, just land. They can go in water, but all crustacans that live in the water are the smaller green ones. They're too small to ride, though, Charles. But wait till you see Crustie— you'll see how nice he is to ride! He's a little bit like Navajo too. He's got ribs up on the high part of his smooth back, and he likes it very much when you run your fingers down it and make a noise like—like, well, sort of a tap tap tap sound."

"Oh," Charlie nodded, "I know—like running a stick along a picket fence, huh?"

"Sure, that's what I meant!" Dondee agreed, seeing Charlie's clear mental picture in his mind. "Just like a picket fence."

"Gosh, I'd sure like to see a big crab like Crustie. Oh—!" and with Charlie's exclamation, he ran over to the panoramic.

"It's the Barrier, Charles," explained Dondee following over, "and the moons of my world. The visible ones. See— there they are, Charles! That's my home, Charles!"

Directly before Charlie was a brilliant blue scene, an irredescent sun like a great ball of blazing blue glass—bluer than any blue sky Charlie had ever seen, even in Arizona.

"That's our Sun, Charles, the Sun of our galaxy. It looks different now, because of the great outer belt of blue ammonia haze about my world. But even as it is veiled from us, still it has beauty . .. the clear crystal blue reasoning of the philosophies."

"It sure has, Dondee," he agreed, though he didn't quite see the parallel Dondee had drawn.

Then he turned his eyes again to the tremendous giant, a little over to the right. It was the world of Saturn, surrounded by its magnificent bands that seemed to spin their great circles far out to the edge of Time itself. The great tableau was the Barrier World, the world that Dondee lived in. And staring in awe, Charlie watched the great shadowed bands as they seemed to tilt more diagonally. As Dondee jumped for joy, Charlie was silent, unable to find words to express his wonder at the mighty scene.

"Charles—we're home! My home and yours, too, Charles! Soon you'll see everything, and—and see my duplicate, Biri Biri Bin. And my 'folks,' as you say!"

"That's swell, Dondee. I'm glad you're happy. Even if it's not my own real home . . ."

Sensing Charlie's homesickness, Dondee turned closer to him, putting his arm about his shoulders.

"I'm truly sorry, Charles. I forgot you couldn't feel the same about my world. Maybe, after a little while, you might like it a little bit, Charles. I hope so."

"Maybe."

"Look, Charles!" Dondee pointed. "The moon Miralda . . . it's almost like a sun, it's so bright!"

"It sort of looks like a real planet, Dondee. Not a moon."

"It's our biggest one, and it has life of its own. As well as some colonists from our world of the Barrier."

"You have nine moons around Saturn, haven't you, Don-dee?"

"Nine?"

"Oh," Charlie corrected, "maybe I mean eleven. Is that right?"

"Charles," Dondee said, grinning, "I have news for you. There are nine major moons in the Barrier sea that are visible. Just for fun, how many do you think there are altogether?"

"Others? Oh, in the Barrier—ones that can't be seen from my world . . . oh."

"Yes, Charles, how many?"

"Okay, I'll guess—maybe four or five, even as much as ten more. Right, Dondee?"

He shook his head slowly from side to side, enjoying the suspense he was building up in Charlie now.

"Okay, I give up! How many?"

"Seventy-one. There are seventy-one moons, counting the major ones that are also seen beyond the Barrier."

"Isn't that kind of dangerous—I mean, when we go through the Barrier to land?"

"Oh no, Charles. We stay on the Magnos until we're well within the Barrier. Then when we're safely through to our local air sea, we switch to the anti-gravs and land in the easy balance of the force field. Incidentally, Charles, the gravity here on my world is not much stronger than on your own homeland. It's approximately the same, even though my world is over ninety times the mass volume of your Little Star, Charles."

"Look, Dondee—the Sun's coming through!" As they both watched, the Sun's light struck the Barrier, coming down like the beams of thousands of giant searchlights

slanting through an ocean to light its darkness. The great discus flagship, having steadily decelerated for many hours, was now moving at a crawl, or barely over twice the speed of sound. Now the great ship jerked slightly, adjusting more closely as it turned in the flux field dominated by the giant Saturn. But though the far-reaching rings of the Barrier were now engulfing them, Charlie realized that they must be still many thousands of miles away, in spite of the solid block in space that loomed ever greater before them—the Barrier World, mighty island in the spatial sea.

"Wow!"

"It is beautiful, Charles."

"Just like a million rainbows, Dondee—all changing, sort of like the colors rolling around in a giant juke box."

Too excited, as he watched the growing scene in another clearing of space between the Barrier rings, Dondee didn't think to inquire of Charlie just what the words juke box meant. Whatever it was, he got the intended idea, and grinned now as Navajo whinnied, also seeming to enjoy the vivid colors that changed continually.

"It will be only a moment now, Charles, before we enter the moon fields of the outer ammonia layer of the Barrier— then you'll get your first feel of riding the Hi Fi Winds."

"The Hi Fi . . . Winds?"

"Yes, Charles. They're the high fidelity strato streams that carry the hidden moons in their unusual gravity field. They never change speed or direction, but are constant with the various moon's gravities, and that's why we call them the Hi Fi Winds. This is nothing like your small atmosphere,

Charles, for the Barrier World's air sea extends several thousand miles beyond our surface, unlike the mere two hundred miles that your Little Star atmosphere blankets above your surface. And beyond the air belt is the outer ammonia band. That's why your world's people think our world uninhabitable."

"Stand by for stream contact—" came the command impulse from somewhere far above them in the dome. “Stand by—" "You can hold that grip-safety, Charles, though I hardly think you'll need it." As Charlie glanced concernedly at Navajo, Dondee understood. "Oh, he'll be quite all right, Charles. He has four legs to balance on!"

Then there was an increasing, rocking motion, a swaying back and forth as the discus flagship rolled easily on the strato streams. It wasn't too bad, Charlie thought, and Dondee explained the expert gyro balancing action in the navigation dome, which made it hardly necessary to hold onto the grip-safety. But as he released it now, Charlie's feelings went back again, millions of miles through space, to the life of that time before. Once again in his mind's eye, Charlie saw the high craggy chocolate mountains, the tilting majesty of the Arizona horizon 5 and he remembered. It was a place called home, the Shack, on the banks of the swift and icy Colorado.

"Charles . . . ?" The fleet memory was gone, blanked out by the curiously-voiced question of the alien boy, the unreal paleness of the

Barrier's mist, and the jolting swift turbulence of the great

flagship's progress out of the Hi Fi Winds.

"This, now, Charles, is like the mists of your homeland."

"My homeland's got no mist!"

"Oh ... but I thought," Dondee hesitated. "I thought there was a part of your homeland called England, and that it was renowned for its misty countryside? But then I guess it must be on some other world I studied."

"England. . ?" Charlie repeated, more to himself than to Dondee. "Yes," he said finally, "it is, Dondee. I never thought about it much before ... I mean, other countries of my world."

"You're all on the same space island, aren't you, Charles? You live and die together, you stand together—or alone. Whatever you make it, Charles, it's still your world, isn't it?"

"It sure is," Charlie said, almost fiercely, feeling a growing affinity for all the countries of his homeland. "It sure is my own world ... all of it."

Shuddering slightly, the discus flagship swung round in flux orbit, clearing for the last time before entering port, the ring through which it had just passed. The brilliant Sun's light shone on the silver trim of the broad panoramic view before them. Charlie was suddenly cheered by the Sun, and he smiled as he looked at Dondee. But Dondee was not looking at him, and he was not smiling.

The alien boy stared ahead, to the great looming shadow that came toward them, the real Barrier, where the mist- laden air closed down, deep and heavy, over his world. Then Dondee spoke, and in his voice and words, Charlie felt some

thing too of what the Barrier meant to the many millions of people who lived their life behind it.

"Take a last look, Charles—there at the Sun's pure light."

"At what, Dondee?"

"The Sun's light, Charles."

Squinting hard as he glanced directly into the gaudy blue brilliance, Charlie let the smile slowly fade from his face, even as the alien boy explained.

"You won't see pure Sun's light again, Charles, living behind the Great Barrier. Not for many periods. And possibly never again, in all your life."

CHAPTER TEN

Escape!

Charlie found that he could see much farther than he had expected, through the particles and mist of the Barrier, though it had seemed very dense at a distance. Occasionally, he saw the great globular outline of a moon looming nearby, its shadowy form following its lonely course through all eternity. And though he tried not to let the new circumstance of his surroundings take hold on his own mind, he could not help feeling some portent of the shadowed life that was the world of Dondee's existence. He turned now to the alien boy.

"Dondee," he said, "I think I feel a little bit now like you do about the Sun."

"Perhaps now, Charles, when you're living in my world, you might understand why the Star Project is so important to us all. It's the most important thing in all our lives."

"I wish you could let me in on it, Dondee—I wouldn't tell, honest."

Before Dondee could reply they were interrupted by the sudden entrance of several of the ship's officers. Angrily they took Charles by the shoulder, and, as he was taken off with them he saw Dondee being hurried off with two others. He caught their tense impulses directed at Dondee, telling him the Commander had warned him not to mention the Star Project again. The last he saw, Dondee was going up with them on the airlift, to another tier.

With the sudden flurry of last moment preparations for entering port, Charlie found himself alone with Navajo who had been brought along with him, just where he had started, on the lowest tier of the ship. He couldn't help but feel some of the excitement as the great flagship lowered, slicing easily, gracefully, like a great falling leaf, as it went down to surface. Then there were great billowing clouds of steam— momentarily obscuring the panoramics—as the counter- gravity power was thrown into action. He realized they were now using the D2O reserve.

It was only a few minutes later, when with the passing of a final command throughout the great ship, Charlie felt a slight and almost unnoticeable shiver. Then he knew! The sudden stillness, no vibration anywhere. And the last traces of steam caused by the down blast through the cool moist atmosphere now were rapidly disappearing. The ship was in port.

The many days aboard that passed all too swiftly, their passing through and beyond the Radiant Barrier, traveling

faster than the speed of light—all these things paraded swiftly through Charlie's mind. He looked out across the low, rolling countryside, searching for the city and its people, their houses and other evidence of advanced civilization. But there was nothing. Only the hard bowl-like cradles in the surface surrounding the flagship, another couple of star ships nearby, resting in bowls similar to the one his own ship had come down in. Outside of that, and the aliens aboard going about the ship, there was no sign of civilization. Then as he wondered, the broad panoramic view before him slid silently, smoothly, down into the outside bulkhead of the tier! Charlie breathed in, slowly at first then deeply, of the warm and mildly-misted air. The air was fresh and sweet, and it was far nicer to smell than Charlie had anticipated.

"The weather looks worse than it is, Nav," Charlie said aloud. "It's not so bad, even if it looks like it'll rain any minute. It sure smells good, Nav .. ."

Anxious not only to see what his future might possibly be, but to get Navajo outside and turn him loose on some of that fresh looking and dew-frosted greenness, Charlie turned to go—just as two aliens entered from the airlift.

Come with us, their impulses ordered.

As he followed the two aliens to the airlift tube, his curiosity got the best of him. He was no longer able to hold back the biggest question in his mind as the airlift began to lower.

"I don't see any buildings anywhere—"

"Chew that," the impulse told him, as one alien handed him a small ball of colored gum. "Chew and keep your

mouth open if possible, then you shall not be bothered by the first pressures."

He took the gum, and began chewing as both of them were now doing. He could already feel the pressure in his ears. All too soon he realized as he chewed harder, that the airlift had not just lowered to the ground outside then stopped. It had kept right on going, and at a higher rate of speed. The big discus ship had coupled with the bowl-like cradling ramp, and the ship had merely become the "cap" on an already- waiting elevator shaft, and it was down that great shaft now that Charlie found himself shooting fast, into the alien world of Saturn, rather than on it!

Chewing faster as the pressure made his ears pop again, Charlie felt a little worried now as he glanced at the two aliens standing near him.

"It won't be too long, Primitive," came the impulse from one of the aliens in answer to the question in his mind. "In a little while we shall reach the first tier, and get out on the main level of the Capitol City."

"You mean, sir, it's an underground city?" Charlie asked.

"Yes. It is one of many such cities of the Barrier World, all of which are beneath the surface, Primitive. You shall soon have your first sight of a city of tiers."

"City of tiers . . ." Charlie repeated the words aloud. He couldn't help but think how well the name fitted their world, as he spoke the words.

Then he was embarrassed, knowing the two alien men had listened to his thought. They were solemnly looking at him, but turned their faces away as he glanced at them. But in that

brief glance he had seen the expression on their faces, and once again he was keenly aware of their world's longing for clear light from the Sun they called their own.

Neither of the two aliens looked at him again as the airlift came swiftly to a swaying halt. Obeying their impulse, he followed them out onto a modernistic, broad paved street, a street on which there were hundreds of other aliens going in every direction. They were dressed in varying types of the net shirts, toga cloaks and the comfortable-looking shorts, and there was more color everywhere than he had ever seen before. It was a rainbow world of people, their clothes, their buildings, everything in the vast cavern that was the underground city. He could understand their liking for brightness and color, in a land where the Sun never shone.

Unable to keep down his growing curiosity, Charlie stared at the great towering stretches of underground space, the all-circular buildings everywhere that spiraled up from the broad floor of the city to the underground sky, a man-made ceiling. But it must have been at least a thousand feet high, for most of the buildings reached all the way up to the artificial sky, climbing tier after tier till they touched that ceiling. The buildings were like star ships stacked one on top of the other, Charlie thought, and the wide panoramic band of windows that circled each tier or floor of the houses was completely frosted. He could see into none.

"People can look out," came the informative impulse to Charlie's unspoken question. "But in regard for privacy and the laws concerning it, due to the proximity of the dwellings, no one can look into the tier of another's home.

However, from the inside, all people can see out clearly in all directions."

"Oh," Charlie said, "it's a one-way kind of glass—I know how that works. Thanks a lot, sir, for telling me."

As he looked about further, Charlie noticed there was no such thing as a sidewalk, and the buildings were built up out of the city's "floor," which smooth surface ran right up to the entrances of the buildings. He also noted that all the streets were a series of broad winding "S" roads that zig-zagged their wavery course outward and away from what seemed to be the center of the city, where they were right now.

In each bend of the S-shaped streets there was one of the high towers of tiers, all of which were anything from a half dozen stories high, up to around twenty for the taller houses that just about touched the inland sky. Nowhere did Charlie see a light bulb of any sort, but only the indirect glow of the chemical lighting, of which the nearest thing back on Earth was fluorescent light tubes. Chemistry had gone far in the world of Saturn, where electric power was known but thought dangerous, while great energy was easily accessible for everything through the long use of fissionables.

"There are some forty million dwellers," one guard replied to Charlie's thought, "in this, the Capitol City."

He thanked the man, still following after them. Just as he spoke, they paused before a small, squat building of only three very wide tiers. Indicating the open, circular entrance, the guards followed in after Charlie. Most of the furnishings, as he glanced around, were low, close to the floor, and all circular. He compared it to a cross between something out of

The Arabian Nights and a roomful of modern Japanese furniture, such as he once saw in a city store. Colorful cushions, low-back chairs and small tables were everywhere about the polished flooring. And again, he noticed that everything was brilliantly colored, like the clothes of the people outside.

"You are called here until the Council's decision can be reached concerning your future circumstances," one alien told Charlie.

As Charlie glanced toward the door, the aliens read his thought.

"We only cage animals in our world," said one of them. "Beings of reason and intelligence are not caged here, Primitive. You shall, however, consider your person confined to these premises until further ruling."

"Yes sir."

"To your thought," the other alien said as they paused at the entrance, "your animal will be cared for properly. After the decision is reached, then perhaps you may see the animal again."

About to protest, Charlie held back his anger at not being allowed to see Navajo right now. Just as the two left, he had a sudden thought and rushed to the doorway.

"Hey—I want to ask you something!"

The two aliens turned and started back, even as passersby stopped to stare at Charlie, looking him over curiously.

"Will—do you think the Council will let me go home again . . . maybe?"

The two of them looked at him for some moments before replying. Then finally, one sent the curt mental impulse:

"Your home is here, for however long the Council may decide to let you live. It is up to them, the governing body of this planet."

Turning their backs abruptly, the two strode off, soon being obscured by the many people on the broad curving streets. The lost feeling returned to Charlie stronger than ever now as he stood there, staring out unseeingly at the many people, the sudden moisture in his eyes blurring the colors before him. Then he became aware of the small crowd gathered, watching him. They were rapidly exchanging impulses, too fast for him to get, and as they talked they pointed at him and smiled.

They were taking him for a curiosity, as though he were an ape from Africa, here in a zoo—instead of another human being. Even if he were from another planet it wasn't fair, for he was just like them.

But in his sudden anger, Charlie couldn't help but notice that many of their impulses that he did catch were admiring ones, and at least one, in particular. They were admiring his tanned face and arms, and even in their subdued impulses Charlie could sense a feeling of awe and wonder, as they told each other he was actually "burned" like that, from living under pure Sun's light day and night. He realized how little they actually knew about general living conditions on his own Earth.

Charlie caught, too, their furtive references to Star Project and Little Star, and he tried very hard to catch every impulse, to get the importance of what it meant to them. But he could not. For even they, these aliens on the street, were well aware

of his origination, and the fact that he must not learn their world's secret. They abruptly cut off their thoughts on the subject, clamping down before his own probing impulses.

As they continued to stare and point at him, Charlie suddenly lost control of his temper and shouted at them.

"Why don't you go away—leave me alone! I'm no animal in a zoo!"

Though the words shouted at them were not at all understood still the angry impulses were quite clear to them. And with the angry expression on his face, the aliens began to leave, heading off quickly in all directions. A little surprised, since he had not expected them to do what he wanted, Charlie stared wide-eyed as he watched them go. Then he understood. In a world where people could read each other's thoughts, the aliens held a high regard for personal privacy.

From their scattered impulses as the people went their way, Charlie got the distinct impression from their disturbed feelings that he had scared them. They were actually afraid, not of him necessarily, but of what he'd said. His words had implied that they had invaded his personal privacy, which was apparently one of the worst things that could be done in their advanced philosophical society. From their furtive backward glances, Charlie was becoming aware of the importance a person's privacy held for them in this great civilization of the Barrier World. He began at that moment to like it a little bit.

Feeling happy over his new discovery, Charlie watched a little longer at the door. As other aliens went past, they seemed to make a point of paying no attention to him, and

acting as though he were not there, though he knew from their actions that they were very much aware of his presence. They did not stop.

Going back into the circular room now, open though it was, he felt as if he were behind a locked door. Seeing a broad lounge off to one side, he touched it first to test it, then lay down, stretching himself out, face down, on it. Heaving a deep sigh, he realized as he yawned again, that aside from very few and brief rest periods aboard the discus ship, he had not slept very much at all in the past days. He had slept very little since leaving Little Star—Earth, he reminded himself.

"I guess I’m even getting to think like an alien," he said aloud to himself. "Earth, Earth, Earth" he whispered, not wanting to forget anything that was connected with home.

As he lay in the stillness, he turned over, just as the cold lighting throughout the streets outside began to dim slowly. He watched, realizing that he didn't have any idea at all how to turn on the lights in this house, if he needed to, as he watched the people through the clear one-way window. Now the street lighting outside was at a steady, low dimness. It was night in the Capitol City.

He remembered how people marked the beginning of night and day, in their subterranean world, and how they knew when to go to bed, or, to take their rest period. Charlie had no idea how long he lay there, how many hours by Earth time he had actually slept. He awoke suddenly, sitting up, and wondered just what had made him jump. Looking outside, he could see that the streets were still dimly lit and deserted. Yes, he had been asleep.

Navajo wasn’t anywhere around, or kicking down any barn door to get out, for there wasn't any barn. It was just a dream ... a dream about Navajo.

In a sudden increasing concern Charlie jumped to his feet. He must do something—anything, to escape, to get away and find a way back home to Earth. He ran out onto the semi-dark and deserted street.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Trial

Seeing one lone alien far up the street, Charlie slowed his trot and was about to duck out of sight, when he got a casual greeting from the elderly man.

"You are the Primitive, young man? The Primitive from Little Star?"

Sensing the friendly tone in the old man's curiosity, and his apparent unawareness of Charlie's intended escape, Charlie was about to shout an answer when he realized the man was half a block away. He thought his answer, instead, and repeated his greeting as he approached the old man. Smiling, he asked what he was doing.

"Safety guard," said the fellow. "Somebody has to maintain order and keep the vacuums going."

"Oh, you're a—a sort of policeman?"

Though Charlie spoke the words, still the Interplanetary language stood him in good stead, for it was the language understandable to anybody who had a mind of his own and the intelligence to use it.

"Well, yes, young man. Also, the past day's dust and particles, such as these—" and he pointed about their feet. "These must be cleared from the avenues."

Charlie looked about again, wondering where his broom and trash cart were. The old alien smiled and showed him.

"Hey, boy, that sure is neat!" Charlie said as the public safety man pressed a large plate-size button set in the street near a building.

The disc, built in the city's floor, made a powerful cross- surface vacuum along the street to the other side, and as Charlie watched, the surface all around was whisked clean as the scraps and dust were sucked into the long, narrow slots bordering the street on either side. Charlie now noticed them for the first time, and saw that these replaced the traditional gutters of his own world.

"Do you carry a blast gun?" Charlie asked eagerly, "just in case there's a robbery somewhere—"

The old man was startled by the question, his eyes wide for a moment as he looked directly at Charlie. Then he relaxed again.

"No, son," he said finally. "I can understand now, personally, why your Little Star is called primitive. Blast guns, as you term them, are not necessary in our Barrier World. We long ago learned how to live with ourselves, son. They are a symbol of the barbarous past, something long outmoded in our life here.

I know, too, what you mean by the thought of robbery, but there is no need for us to steal from one another. Food, clothing, whatever we have, there is plenty, son. We treat others as we would have them treat us."

In a flash, Charlie was about to ask why they didn't send him back then, to his own world, but he withheld the thought. However, it seemed the old man anticipated him somewhat.

"You'll like our world, son. It is new to you, but you'll like it. The timeless healer will make you understand it some day."

About to retort hotly to that comment from the old alien, Charlie again refrained, as the man turned and started on his way. Charlie watched him press and start another automatic vac cleaner further down the street. He wanted to shout to him, to tell him they could let him go, could treat him as they would want to be treated on his world. But he thought then, how would Earth treat a stranger from somewhere out in space? Charlie well knew the answer. His own world, if they did not destroy that stranger on sight, would at least immediately make him a prisoner.

Taking a deep breath, Charlie let it out wearily, even as he now watched the old man turn out of sight around the S- curve in the street. Once more he started off, doggedly determined to find Navajo. To find him, and somehow, also find a way to escape. He didn't even want to consider now how he could, without detection, manage to leave the planet Saturn and make it back to his own world, and take Navajo, too. But he could try. No matter how, he must get back and warn Earth of the Star Project. . . tell them, then let them try and figure out what was so important to the aliens to make them send regular missions all the way to Earth.

Coming to a great plaza, a spacious circle of low-shrubbed park and flower beds laid out like a spoke-wheel, Charlie immediately noticed the yellow-green of the plants' leaves, and was reminded again of the need for the Sun's cosmic rays. The cold chemical lighting denied the chlorophyll needed by flora. He noticed, too, the smaller birds flying beneath the man-made sky in the great space above the park, and the larger dove-like birds—"pink pigeons" he thought they looked like—that were all about the plaza cooing busily as they enjoyed life in the only world they knew.

Hopelessly wandering about the plaza, Charlie was be- ginning to feel how aimless the search for Navajo was, how futile to hope to find the old horse in a city that held forty million people in its strangely beautiful underground honey- comb. Then he stopped short in his path. He stood very still. Now he called loudly, hopefully, his voice carrying clearly across the great empty and dim-lit plaza, as he repeated Navajo's name again and again in his mind. And then, on his mind's ear, he heard the sound, a far-off whinny from Navajo. Continuing his calling, Charlie turned, as he felt Navajo's voice to be somewhere off behind him.

Still concentrating all his mental power, hoping that Navajo could feel his impulses, he headed toward a large windowless building, apparently a storehouse of some sort near the plaza. Charlie started to run at the sound—a faint sound, but unmistakably a sound that was Navajo.

"Nav—Navajo!" Charlie called, fighting desperately to open the big, clumsy door. "Navajo!"

As he pounded, the old horse was doing what he had long ago learned from Charlie to do, when a door was in his way. Charlie yelled, even as the door swung wider.

"Okay, okay, Nav—you don't have to kick the whole building down! It's open now, Nav."

Joyfully whinnying again, Navajo pranced about as Charlie hugged him.

"Shhh, Nav, we gotta take it easy," and with his words, Navajo got the idea.

"We got to be quiet, Nav. Once we make it to the airlift elevators, then it's open country for us, where all their space ships are. And maybe if we're lucky, we can stow away on an empty tier, and just wait for the blast off."

With a low, short whinny, Navajo showed his approval, and it wasn't long before they were entering one of the big surface elevators. To make Navajo whinny and pop his ears for relief from the change of pressure, Charlie laughed and talked to him to get him excited, and the old horse soon realized the more he whinnied the better he felt. Reaching the surface, Charlie was happy to find the mist heavier than ever, and almost like a deep fog.

"Now they won't see us, Nav. Shh, you got to take it easy, boy! Even if you are glad to be out in open country!"

Up ahead Charlie noticed dim figures on the ramps, climbing in and out of the cradles that held a number of the flagships. He trailed Navajo behind him and, in a roundabout way, they at

last reached one ship being loaded. The ramp was down and when no one was near, Charlie quickly led Navajo aboard in the deep shadows of the mist. High mounds of material were everywhere about the tier, and Charlie could only hope that this flagship was scheduled to go to Arizona, or at least, somewhere on Earth. He and Navajo squeezed their way between the supplies and under one of the waterproof coverings that protected the supplies from the mist.

"We did it, Nav!" Charlie whispered. "We might go a little bit hungry on the trip, but we'll make it home again. All this stuff's for the lower storage deck, like on that other ship, Nav."

Charlie talked on in a low voice, keeping Navajo quiet. Alien men went on and off the ramp of the lowered tier, stacking more supplies in front of them and further sealing off their detection. "We sure are going to make it, Nav!"

Hardly had Charlie finished the excited whisper when a furtive probing came to him. It was Dondee. Charlie was not about to answer the impulse and maybe betray their plans for escape. He remained silent, listening, and jumbling his thoughts as much as possible so as not to let one get through to Dondee, even though he did want to talk to him. They were successful so far, and he couldn't take the chance of contacting Dondee.

"Charles—will you answer? I know you can hear me, Charles. It's very important, for there's something I must tell you."

Charlie bit his lip, stroking Navajo's neck all the while, for the old horse had felt the impulse, too, even though he couldn't understand it.

"Charles, since you will not answer, I'll tell you anyhow. It's no further use, Charles. Everybody on the Barrier World already knows the news. They know you're trying to escape. But it is futile, Charles. I just wanted to let you know . . . Charles?"

Even though Charlie realized from Dondee's word picture that his escape was known, he remained silent. There was still a chance, unless they searched every flagship that left. And besides, they'd have to move a lot of the cargo around him, since much had been loaded on after he and Navajo got aboard. No, he'd just wait and see.

"No, Charles. They'll move it," came Dondee's impulse to his most recent thought. "The officials are on their way to get you and the animal—you and Navajo, Charles. They know right where you are, even now. Just to prove they do, Charles, even I can tell where you are. You're on one of the star ships, almost in the center of the deck, among the supplies taken aboard for the Star Proj—" Dondee abruptly stopped the impulse. "I mean, Charles, you are there, on one of the dome lifters with Navajo. You're both under the equipment covering. Now do you believe me, Charles? I'm sorry . . ."

"Thanks . . . thanks for telling me, Dondee. I'm sorry too, Dondee. I would have talked to you, but I couldn't risk it first. I only wanted to get home. To my own world, Dondee."

Even as he talked with the alien boy, Charlie was aware of a commotion outside, and it was only seconds before the cargo was being moved and angry aliens pushed their way in between the stacks toward him. Then everything happened fast. Navajo was taken separately, and once again Charlie found himself "celled," but this time in a small room with no one-way panoramic view, and the door was really locked. Caged, Charlie thought, like an animal. No lock, no key, but a force field that kept the panel in place so tightly that he couldn't even make it budge a little. And the one brief impulse the guards had tossed back to him as they went out still burned in his mind.

"If you are given your life, you may spend it in caged display, like the savage you are, Primitive."

Charlie had tried to say something, but they had already gone.

There was no way he could tell how long he was kept in the small room in solitary confinement. He had been brought food several times, and from the dimness and brightness he noticed when the door was opened each time, he figured that he had been there at least a couple of days, since he had slept twice also. At last he was told the Council was convening in the Rotunda, and that he would be taken before them to stand trial. In spite of his worry about the situation he faced, Charlie made an attempt to look his best. He carefully combed his black curly hair with the broken piece of comb he always carried in the pocket of his levis. With his handkerchief he gathered some fine dust from a corner of the room and polished the silver star-wheel spurs and his boots.

"I guess I'm ready," Charlie told them, when the alien guards came at last for him. "Is my horse—"

"Your animal is being cared for," replied the guard's impulse to his half-asked question. "You need not concern yourself about it."

Resenting the last remark, Charlie, however, did not speak his thoughts. Silently he followed the guards out, and after a long walk, was surprised to find they were taking him on an airlift to the surface.

"It is a rule of this Barrier World, Primitive," the other guard spoke this time, "that no hearing on justice may be conducted in darkness, beneath the land. It must be, by ancient law, held in the open countryside."

"Thanks," Charlie said.

Some time later, after reaching again the cool, silver- flecked mists of the surface, Charlie was glad to see it looked so clear that it seemed the Sun might come out at any minute. A guard informed him then that the trials to be heard were always held at noon, the nearest time to clear, pure light. It took them some fifteen or more minutes to traverse the long tunnel and finally, Charlie found himself entering a great outdoor arena, larger than any football stadium he had ever seen on Earth. Only, this had a roof, a great domed canopy that seemed at least a thousand feet high to him. The great bowl of the roof was supported by a surrounding circle of giant columns that held it up. It was such a great space that small wispy clouds could be seen drifting across under its great ceiling.

Charlie held his breath a moment as he stood there with the guards at the entrance, staring up at the vastness of the open air court. Mighty was the only word that came into his mind to describe the vastness of the trial chamber.

"This is the Rotunda," a guard informed him.

Charlie looked about at the sea of colors, the packed circle upon circle of seats in the Rotunda, beginning with the center circle that surrounded a large platform in the pit and spreading out, one after the other from there, to the foot of the giant stone columns that looked like white marble. Like the ripple of a sea, Charlie could tell now that the great throng of aliens gathered here had noticed his arrival, for all were looking his way as far as he could see. For a moment he wanted to turn and run back down the long tunnel aisle, back through the corridor and out, anywhere, just to get away. But the closeness of the guards on either side of him told him it would be useless to try.

Momentarily, Charlie glanced up as a beautiful pink bird flew low, across the broad flat steps before him that led down to the center. Then it was gone. The broad, spacious steps reminded him of library steps back on Earth, the easiest steps in the world to climb. But as he was nudged again by the guards, Charlie went on. As he walked down the steps, Charlie could see the one great half-moon shaped white bench, marble like the columns, and with its high back. And as he looked at it, seven tall men walked slowly from the aisle just behind the bench, and came around and stood in front of it, watching him as the guards hurried him more now. Charlie realized in that moment that the tall alien men standing there were the Council, the supreme governing body of the Barrier World.

There was a sense of awed wonder coming over him as the two guards left him standing alone on a small dais before the bench. Charlie looked now at the seven members of the Council. The robes they wore were all the same, flowing togas of the blueness of the Sun, as it looked from above the Barrier World's atmosphere. It was a brilliant cobalt blue, that shone with its own natural pure light, so that the seven Council members stood out clearly above all other persons present. As he watched, a growing fear was welling up within him, and Charlie heard a small but unmistakable thought impulse, the familiar one that had come to him when he was escaping with Navajo. It was an impulse he would know anywhere.

"Charles," said the mild, restrained impulse, "they are the Council that will judge you. Don't be afraid, Charles. They will judge you fairly, and know whether the charges of savagery against you are right or wrong."

"Wh—where are you, Dondee?" Charlie sent the desperate impulse in his mind. And as he did, he glanced about quickly at the great sea of faces, far out to the towering columns.

"Oh, you'd never find me, Charles—I'm halfway up almost in front of you, but in the middle of the crowd. I'm with my duplicate, Biri, and Elstara, my mother. Biri said to tell you she hopes you win. Oh Charles—my father, Darda Bin, is the one in the center, the judge in the Primate's seat of the bench."

Charlie felt better, knowing that both Dondee and his sister were hoping he'd win. He looked at Dondee's father, realizing that he must have received the thoughts from Dondee, but then, possibly not. Dondee had repeated privacy, privacy, privacy, every few words or so, and according to their world's custom, no one would listen in on that conversation. Besides, it was impossible to "tune" in to the impulses of someone you did not know and who, in turn, did not know you.

A hushed silence—there was not even a movement—came down over the great gathering as the Primate rose now. Charlie realized that every last trace of the background maze of impulses had ceased. Primate Bin stepped forward a little, then stopped and looked down to the dais where Charlie was standing. But in spite of the gravity of his situation, Charlie's eyes kept admiring the clear and vivid brightness of the cobalt blue, shimmering before his eyes.

Charlie felt his knees getting a little wobbly, as the Chief of Council, the First Primate of the Planet, looked at him. He realized, as he stood there, that this was like standing before the President, back on his own world. And with the Primate holding the trial, Charlie was more sure than ever now that the charge and punishment was the most serious possible.

"You are the Primitive?" asked the tall alien in a mild voice.

Startled by the sound of the words, spoken in clear and perfect English, Charlie was unable to speak for a moment.

"I—yes sir," he stammered finally. "But I’m—I’m not a primitive, sir."

The tall Primate looked at him, as the other six judges behind him leaned forward, as though to see Charlie better.

"To answer the thought of your mind, I am one of the few linguists of our world, young man. In spite of progress in the philosophies, I have learned to speak the ancient physical tongue once used by us, and also, a prime language of your planet. I shall continue its use, for the duration of this trial, for your better understanding."

"Thank you, sir," Charlie said. "Thank you very much, sir."

"I may inform you, Charles Holt, that this is not a criminal court. The Prime Council of the Planet does not conduct such hearings. However, there remains a great preponderant against your person, in the nature of your attempted escape."

"Yes sir," Charlie acknowledged. "I guess I know it."

"The duty of this Council, then, Charles Holt, is to determine now, the charges pressed, regarding savagery. We shall simply determine whether or not you are civilized, and worthy of the status that goes with such civilization."

Feeling somewhat better now that the charges were a little clearer to him, and glad to hear that he had not broken any special law of their world, Charlie was also grateful that the Primate spoke words that he could hear and understand, instead of the impulses.

"It is generally regrettable, Charles Holt, but the circumstance must be faced by us. For the public safety, this Council must prove or disprove your right to civilized status. This is important. The very homeland you have come from, all your world, has not yet passed through the seven thousand

years of cultural progress deemed appropriate to the level of civilization as recognized currently on this Barrier World. Little Star remains a savage world."

"Sir," Charlie said, "my world is civilized, it's—"

Charlie paused, unable to find the words he wanted.

"Add to the standing charge," the Primate continued, when Charlie did not go on, "the suspicion, however understandable, concerning the Star Project, and your distrust of us, and you see we have cause to doubt your being civilized. The recorded history of your world, Charles Holt, is a terrifying one, and one in whose shadow we must judge you now. It is difficult because of all this, to accept you as a civilized equal."

"But—sir," Charlie said, "I only wanted to go home—to be back in my own world. I'm not asking for anything more, sir."

"Unfortunately, Charles Holt, that is a request that cannot be granted now, possibly never. Your discovery of us was unfortunate, and our only recourse was the action taken in your capture. You must remain, perhaps for all your life—"

The Primate paused in his words directed to Charlie, and glanced up, too, just as the other judges and the audience were doing. Charlie followed his gaze, and for the first time, saw the chase that was taking place, high up above them in the domed space of the Rotunda.

Open-mouthed, Charlie watched the flight of the fleeing pink bird, like those he had seen earlier, darting, turning, dashing frantically—seeking a place to escape the black hawklike pursuing bird. Then the big hawk raced closer,

gaining on the small, shrieking pink bird. They swooped down low over the heads of the Council, then the pink bird raced off— zooming high as it circled the pit of the trial chamber. As Charlie watched them, the pink bird made one last desperate effort to escape—plunging down straight in his direction!

Coming close, it swerved—then plummeted swiftly, right against his chest! Its spread wings fluttering for balance, Charlie stood very still in that split second as the pink bird, burrowing, dug into the folds of his open-collar shirt. Shivering against his bare skin, Charlie could feel the nervous trembling of the frightened bird and the hammering of its little heart against him.

Then he saw the pursuing hawk coming down—directly at him. It was diving, not afraid—hooked beak wide-open and talons pushed forward—right at his chest! In a fast motion Charlie lashed out, his balled fist crashing hard against the broad black breast of the hawk. The slashing swing bowled the hawk back, tumbling it over and stunning it. Flopping around, it finally took wing again, and with a loud screeching headed for open space out through the tall colonnades.

While the raucous screeches of the injured hawk still echoed back through the great Rotunda, the Council members looked silently at Charlie. He seemed not aware of them, as he took out the frightened bird and gently stroked its bright pink-feathered back. Then looking up, Charlie carefully put the bird back into his opened shirt front. It still didn't want to take chances, preferring not to fly off when offered its freedom by Charlie.

As Charlie looked at the seven judges, he realized a great silence had come over the crowd throughout the chamber. No one moved. Then, the Primate turned and, with the other six Council members, held a short conference. Charlie began to wonder what rule of the land he had broken by these actions. He shifted from one foot to the other, aware that every move he made was being watched intently by the crowd. Even the two guards off to the side stared at him in a strangely different way now.

Unable to understand the swiftly-passed impulses of the conferring Council, other than to realize those impulses concerned his future, Charlie felt a certain relief as all nodded to the Primate. He turned again, facing Charlie. But he did not speak to him. Instead, he looked about the great Rotunda, addressing the people.

"In the clear light of reason," he said, "intelligence must prevail. This Council, representing you, now wishes to change its first verdict, in regard to the alien, the Primitive Charles Holt, who stands before you. We were incorrect."

Charlie swallowed hard as the Primate spoke, trying to figure out just what their first verdict might have been, and if it was for or against him. He would soon find out.

"Standing before us, is the young alien whose status, by the authority granted us, we must now clarify—his fitness or lack of fitness—for civilized equality among us."

Charlie braced himself, for he could feel the tension throughout the crowded assembly. Whatever it was, the vast audience was apparently fully aware of the swift thoughts that had been exchanged, and the decision reached, by the

Council. They only waited now, leaning forward in their seats, to catch the Primate's every word. Charlie breathed in deeply.

"In a civilization such as our own, fashioned within the realm of compassion, we can be just, or by our actions, be forgotten in the dust of Time. As we judge this stranger to our world, so will the conscience of Time note and remember us."

Turning as he looked down, directly facing Charlie again, the Primate spoke, in a gentler tone.

"After your defense of the pink Safronette against the black Prator that pursued it, the Council has need for no further evidence. It is the opinion of this Council you have full right to every freedom on this planet. You are civilized."

CHAPTER TWELVE

Three Duplicates

Despite the resounding surge of impulses and general motion throughout the Rotunda that came with the Primate's unanimous Council decision, Charlie found words to express his feelings, even in the great excitement of the moment.

"Thank you—" Charlie almost shouted to be heard above the swelling waves of approval from the crowds, "thank you very much, Mr. Bin!"

The Primate smiled, nodding to Charlie. With a motion of his hand he added:

"You are free to go now, wherever you wish, as a fellow member of our society."

Then the Primate turned, and followed by the six other members of the Council, he entered the tunnel behind the high bench. As though this were a signal for the last release

of restraint, the great mass of people increased their first ovation for Charlie, and as he hurried up the long aisle, free, he held the pink safronette with both hands. As people on either side smiled and nodded to him, others reached out and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. Charlie felt fine, and mist or no mist, the Barrier World was a pretty nice place, and the aliens very fine people.

Hardly had he reached the outside end of the aisle tunnel, when he stopped, glancing back, as he got the impulse above the noise of the crowds. Then he saw Dondee waving both arms as he ran toward him. Then behind him came another Dondee, and a tall alien woman.

"Charles! Charles—I knew you'd win! Hey, I want you to meet my mother, Elstara Bin."

Charlie put out his hand to the tall and smiling stately woman who had just come up to them.

"And this is Biri Biri Bin," Dondee added. "My duplicate!"

As they shook hands, Charlie looked from Biri back to Dondee, then back again at the girl.

"She sure is your duplicate!" Charlie said. "She looks exactly like you."

Dondee quickly explained that the handshake was the way people made greetings in Arizona, as Biri and Elstara Bin took turns with their form of greeting, by placing a hand on either side of Charlie's neck, and greeting him.

"If you didn't dress a little bit different, I'd never have known you from Dondee," Charlie told her. "Biri Biri Bin ..." he repeated. "It's a name, a name like music!"

Biri, with the same prankish look on her face as Dondee, looked Charlie over curiously, without the slightest reserve, and asked all sorts of questions about his clothes, the star- wheel spurs, and his world.

"You must, of course, stay with us at our spiral, Charles," said the Primate's wife. Both Dondee and Biri insisted that their father and I offer you our home. We'd all like to have you, Charles, for as long as you wish."

"Thanks, ma'am," Charlie said, even as Biri jumped around between her mother and him. Seeing Dondee link his arm in Charlie's Biri did likewise, while to Charlie they both seemed more and more with every passing moment, to be duplicates of each other. They even thought alike a lot, in the questions they fired at him.

"I'd like staying at your house most of all," Charlie said, "since I already know Dondee, ma'am."

Charlie now forced himself not to think of the past, or the home that was forever fighting for prominence in his mind. He must not spoil this very fine day by worrying about Earth ... at least, not while he was around the Bins. They were trying very hard to make him welcome and, besides, Earth was something he could share with no one on this planet. No one, except Navajo. Good old Nav. He was from Arizona, too.

"Dondee," Elstara Bin asked, "where did you say Charles's animal was?"

"Oh," Dondee said airily, "he's just down the road a piece."

To Mrs. Bin's consternation, Biri quickly explained: "That's one of the things Charles taught him. From Arizona!"

"Yes, ma'am," Charlie admitted.

"Or if you really want to know, mother," Dondee's impulse elaborated, "Navajo is waiting for Charles. I had him brought from the animal yards and he's downstairs right now, on our bottom tier. Waiting for Charles! I sort of figured Charles might be coming to live with us."

Charlie was so glad of the news he suddenly wanted to do something nice for Dondee, to show his appreciation.

"Thanks, Dondee. Thanks a lot for looking out for Navajo. He's my best friend."

Charlie caught the brief but wistful impulse that passed back and forth between Dondee and Biri, as they both looked at him in silence.

"One of my three best friends!" Charlie corrected. "You and Biri are the other two."

Both of them smiled happily, holding Charlie's arms closer as they walked along.

"Ever since you were celled for trial, Charles, Dondee has been working with his father, with Biri's full backing, to sway his decision in your favor. Though death is an outmoded penalty in our world, still they weren't sure in your case, so they used every means they could dream up to influence their father. Both even promised never to slide down the spiral rail again, and never to fight each other, if you could be found to be at least partly civilized, and given your freedom," Elstara Bin told Charlie. "So, in spite of your natural compassion, which all our world now knows, these two duplicates were already decided in your favor long ago, Charles.”

Charlie, holding on to both Biri's and Dondee's arms, locked in his, felt that their friendship was the true kind, no matter how reserved he might still feel to all the grown up aliens. He could never feel that way with Biri and Dondee. It wasn't their fault he was here, anyhow. And now that he was, they were doing everything they knew how to make it right for him, to make him feel like he was their own brother . . . their duplicate.

As they all entered one of the great circular airlifts for the quick run into the Capitol City again, Charlie smiled happily at both Dondee and Biri. They had jostled their way, somewhat rudely, around several other people in the great airlift, so as to stand right up close beside him. No matter what the future might hold, even with the hope for escape that could never die, Charlie knew somehow that he could always count on Dondee and his duplicate. They were his friends.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The Lancer

Days passed swiftly for Charlie at first, for Dondee and Biri never gave him any time to brood, or to remember. And their great fondness for Navajo only made them all the closer to Charlie. They would talk to Navajo, watch his ears move alertly at their caressing impulses, and in the weeks that passed Charlie taught both of them how to ride. They learned to ride as well as Charlie—Indian style, bareback.

But like the everlasting mists that hung high in the heavens above their world, so the strange inland city life hung down over Charlie. Biri and Dondee, never having lived in clear, free, open sunshine, couldn't miss it. Charlie did. He was still a country boy, a boy of the open ranges, the broad flat desert, and the high craggy mountains.

r

He still longed to go back to country living, to living again on the surface . . . even a misty surface.

And in a roundabout way, though not even Dondee and Biri would talk much about it, Charlie found that all the people of the alien world hoped some day to live out on their own land surface. But—first, they were waiting, waiting for something to happen, something that would change their surface and give them the pure light from the Sun above them. And try as he could, Charlie could never quite get the whole story, and all he ever managed to find out was that, in some mysterious way, it was connected with the Star Project.

At first he had only suspected a connection between their moving out to live on the surface and the Star Project, but he was more and more sure of it as time passed. The Star Project concerned the missions to Little Star, his own Earth, while their surface change was a purely local affair of their world. There couldn't be a connection ... and yet?

Charlie felt they had the right to a secret in their own land, even from him, though he was now one of them. He felt that he didn't have the right to press the answer from Biri and Dondee, taking advantage of their close friendship. In time, if they ever wanted to, they would tell him.

When Charlie had just about reached the point where he felt he could no longer put off his own feelings about wanting to live on the surface, out in the open spaces, the big day came. He had been, along with Dondee and Biri, up on the surface with Navajo, teaching his friends to ride. The season of the Sun Festival had arrived. Charlie had heard about it

but had shown little interest in it. Then Dondee and Biri informed him that their Sun yacht, the Lancer, had arrived. It was to be their entry. They would race it, in the main event of the Sun Festival, the once-a-period event that was the great annual holiday.

The day of days had come, the day when all people on the great Barrier had a chance to make the trip and see the thing they most wanted to see. It was the day they saw the Sun.

In the past, few of their population had been lucky enough to make the trip, and only during the past year had hundreds more of the great space islands been put into orbit about their world. Since the Sun Festival ran for several days, and each person could spend only one day aloft, all the population would have a chance to see the Sun, this year for the first time in their history.

Far above the Hi Fi Winds, in the thin atmosphere beyond the first dense layer of the surrounding Barrier, the sky islands were stationed in permanent orbit. These space platforms were now ready and in place. And despite his own feelings for another far-off world, Charlie couldn't help but give in and forget for the moment his own homeland. He gladly accepted Dondee's and Biri's offer to share in skippering the Lancer.

"I never knew too much about boats, Dondee, but I'd sure like to go along." "Oh, you'll love it, Charles!" Biri threw in. "You can see the Sun every minute of the time!" "It's Biri's first time this year, Charles," Dondee informed

him. "She never went before, since only one member of a family could go, even the Primate's, and I was the lucky one."

"You mean," Charlie began, "you've never even—"

"No, Charles," Biri said, "I’ve never seen the Sun."

Charlie, feeling a great sympathy for Biri, always bright and happy, watched her now as she petted the pink safronette he had given her after the trial.

"She is a lucky young lady," the Primate sent the word from across the great living room of their tower sitting quarters. "Many people, through one circumstance or another, will never see our Sun. You see, Charles, this is the first period that we've been able to master the tremendous task of putting fully-equipped platforms into operation. As you may have heard, till recently we had to take turns for the Sun Festival."

"It is, Charles," added Elstara, from the lounge chair near the Primate, "the most celebrative time of the year. You must forgive us, if perhaps we seem to almost worship the Sun's pure light. It is our greatest luxury."

"I think I know how you feel," Charlie replied. "I really do, ma'am."

"Is it true, Charles, that the Arizona Sun—I mean, the light from our same Sun here, shines so hard that—that 'folks' have to keep covered? That it shines for every day of all the whole period long?"

"Sure, Biri. It shines so hard," he said, still smiling at her use of the word "folks," "that they all get burned—like me!"

Biri and Dondee, for the hundredth time, held Charlie's arms out, running their fingers lightly over his tanned skin, as though wishing some of the Sun's magic would rub off on them.

"Oh Charles—it's, it's so wonderful! To be really and truly burned by the Sun," Biri said.

"Dondee—" Biri sent the impulse across the room to her brother, "let's show Charles what we used to do—when we were small, long ago!"

Charlie then followed their glances to the other side of the room, where Primate and Mrs. Bin were quietly arguing over a new program now showing on the telecron screen.

"Darda, there is absolutely no comparison between the two— why, only last week the same thing happened on another program."

"I can't accept that," the Primate told his wife, "it's not a parallel case."

"Father," Dondee whispered to Charlie, "always says it's not a parallel case, when mother says something to prove her point!"

Seeing that their parents were well engrossed in the program, they both beckoned to Charlie to follow them out onto the center hallway of the tier. Biri ran her hand round and round over the smooth surface of the upper end of the balustrade. Then all three looked down the center pit with its occasional safety nets, way down through the eighteen tiers of the long, spiralling stairwell.

"But," said Biri, "didn't we promise we wouldn't, when we talked to father before the trial?"

"Oh no," Dondee said quickly. "All we did was try to bargain with him for Charles's freedom."

"Do you know what we are thinking?" Biri asked Charlie, still caressing the top of the stairway railing.

"I sure do!" he agreed. "Huh, you think I don't know how to do that. Just watch me!"

Almost immediately Charlie was straddling the smooth railing, and Biri and Dondee quickly joined him.

"Lean to the inside, Charles!" Dondee said. "That way you don't fall outward—besides you get more speed!"

"The faster you go," Biri added, "the more you better lean inward."

Charlie got a head start and was far in the lead, heading down the eighteen tiers. Biri was only a little ahead of Dondee, beating him by inches. Charlie shouted back to them, while several startled people came out on their respective tiers, and stared down after them.

"Those Bin children again," was one impulse Charlie caught, then another— "Those children of the Prime family are going to break their fool necks, or some part of their anatomy that not even the sciences can repair!"

Laughing to themselves, as they glanced up at the distant faces speedily revolving away from them, Charlie and his duplicates whirled down toward the bottom tier. Charlie made it first, slowing to a stop on the end of the railing. Still looking up as Biri and Dondee came barreling down, neither of them slowed up, and both—one after the other— piled into Charlie's chest, bowling him off the end. All three tumbled in a dazed heap on the polished block tile surface.

"I didn't break what those people up there thought I'd break," Dondee said, wincing, "but I sure bumped it plenty!"

They found Navajo comfortably relaxed, sprawled out on his side, and Crustie also asleep nearby. With his many legs pulled up close about him, Dondee's big pet Crustie was making a mild grating sound as he slept leisurely near Navajo's head.

"Hey," Charlie said, "I think Nav kinda likes Crustie's snore! Look at that relaxed look on his face!"

Just then Navajo opened his eyes, glanced up and seeing who it was, sniffed lightly and went back to his snooze. Charlie grinned, and patted him and after spreading out some more of the freshly-dried straw that had come from the fields near the Mist Forests, they left Crustie and Navajo to their dreams.

Charlie then went with Biri and Dondee to the upper surface out in the country, for a last check of the Lancer, before it would be taken up on one of the star ships to be moored at the race landing.

After rushing around all day to make last preparations for the holiday, they left with the Primate and Elstara Bin late that evening, to be up on the space islands well before the Barrier World turned completely on its axis. In this way, they would be on hand to see the first morning Sun burst, and the Sun Rise ceremony that heralded the celebrated day.

More and more Charlie found himself having the same feeling now, he had felt long ago back on Earth, on the night before Christmas. In the entire Capitol City, all the crowds were dancing about on the great Branzine Plaza.

All people throughout the vast planet were in a happy and festive mood. It was the greatest day of the year.

Morning finally came as Charlie, with Biri and Dondee and their parents, stood looking for the first great shafts of the Sun's light to shoot across their space island. And all about the great platform, other groups too stood waiting. And then it came! Charlie felt almost the same joy that Biri felt, but his joy was at the sight of the great shimmering blue cobalt ball, the blazing pale blue haze of the outer ammonia band, from which he felt sure all the blue skies in his world had been copied. It was a wonderful sight to see.

Above the Hi Fi Winds, they were on one of the chain of space islands that orbited in the "doldrums," the almost completely windless band of space circling the big world. Off in the distance, Charlie could see the vast shadows of the mighty rings that banded the planet.

It wasn't long after a quick breakfast, picnic style, that Charlie and his duplicates said goodbye to the Bin parents and, with their good luck wishes, they were beside their racer, the Lancer.

The Lancer was strangely beautiful to Charlie. Its great, slightly curved mirror-reflector sail glittered in the Sun's , blue glare, and he found it hard to believe the great sweep ! of metal could be held up by the slim and frail-looking hull beneath it. But Dondee soon explained that, with the lack of any gravity, and its accompanying lack of weight, it wasn't hard to hold up the big sail. Besides, the sail's metal was an alloy far lighter than any aluminum in Charles's own home world.

In every direction as far as Charlie could see, there were other space islands, all loaded with holiday people. The Sun Regatta would be watched by them all, while they ate from the special packeted foods they brought along, and listened to the musical groups playing their strange but somewhat familiar instruments, on each space island. Because Elstara Bin was one of the judges for the Regatta, the Primate was seated off behind the judge's stand, just like any other holiday seeker. Charlie noticed the Primate stretching his neck as he leaned out of the grandstand seat to watch them and the Lancer.

Several of the other Council members, however, were also in the judging stand out front, so for the moment, they held more importance than the Primate himself. Charlie decided their world was a pretty democratic sort of place. Like Arizona.

Though the Primate waved to them, Elstara didn't wave. She nodded with the reserve expected of a judge.

"Mother's got to watch the rules!" Dondee said. "Still, I hope she doesn't forget who's in this old Lancer here, even if she is a judge!"

"I know very well she's prejudiced," Biri said bluntly, "for us to win."

As Charlie watched Dondee's maneuvering of the thin light sheet that was to power them from the direct force of the Sun's beams striking it, he found himself again wondering just how the Sun's light could give it any push-power.

"Charles," Dondee explained, still eyeing the starter, "it's like the jet engines of your world. Only, we don't have too

much force at the start, and it has to build up speed, under the direct cosmic bombardment from the Sun."

The dozen or so other racers, similar to the Lancer, were also readying for the start.

"The Sun's reflection on the sail is already making a very small push, Charles—see, how it strains at the release catch on the mooring?"

Charlie nodded, still dubious about the force of light being strong enough to make the race exciting. He couldn't see how the Lancer or any other racer could get up much speed.

"It's all in the tack, Charles. The crew that gets the best and most direct push reflection on their sail will also get the most speed. It takes real skill, Charles, believe me!"

"Go!" the signal came from the official starter.

The releases were all thrown at once, and then . . .

"Hey—" Charlie said happily, "look at the platform! We're really moving away from it—we're moving! And I never thought we could!"

"We sure are moving!" Biri said, letting out play on the guidon to the sail that she was controlling.

Dondee adjusted his guidon line to the big glittering sail. Biri pointed, shooting an impulse to Charlie, and he quickly paid more attention to the playing out of his guidon. Watching the maneuvers of a nearby yacht, Charlie momentarily let their own Lancer lose the direct cosmic shots against the sail, when he didn't keep changing his lead line with the gradual turn of the craft.

Both Biri and Dondee nodded assuringly to him, when he

F

yanked in the guidon, rapidly adjusting so that the great trapezoidal reflector above them squarely faced the cosmic | rays. The race was well under way. It was every yacht for itself. Platform after platform swung past, like slowly revolving islands, first looming large then slowly revolving away behind them. They were steadily gathering speed on the great oval course of the Regatta.

Charlie was feeling more and more the thrill of it, the constant jockeying of the guidon lines for position, ever trying to keep the mirror sail at right angle to the Sun. Unlike the other crewmen and Dondee and Biri, Charlie didn't need the special tinted goggles, for being used to Sun's light he didn't have to do more than squint a little. He could see perfectly well in spite of the pale blue brilliance of the Sun's reflection in the sail.

They were getting better speed now, gaining slowly on the three yachts ahead of the Lancer, as Charlie got the knack of it. Without any direction other than his friends' enthusiastic impulses, Charlie knew he was doing all right as a sailor in the Sun Regatta. Crowds on each nearing space island seemed to be aware that the new citizen from Little Star was in the Lancer, and Charlie could feel their shower of impulses and see their waving as the slim black yacht approached their platform.

From the various concerts, one at least on each space island, Charlie heard the music as they passed nearby. But they were all playing the same song. At first, he was inclined to think they were copying each other, but then he remembered, from his earlier days among them, just how important and

beloved this particular serenade was to everyone. The happy serenade to the Sun was one that was quite familiar to Charlie. It was one they said they had taken from his own world, many years ago. It was an ancient folk song called by them the Sunlight Serenade, but on Charlie's world, it was called O Sole Mio.

As he was paying too much attention to the music for a moment, the sharp aft corner of the great sail brushed lightly across Charlie's sunburned forearm. He looked at it, and noted the frosty-colored scrape on his arm.

"Phew—boy!" he exclaimed. "That sail's as sharp as Uncle John's razor used to be!"

Dondee and Biri didn't know what Uncle John's razor was but they reminded Charlie to be careful, specially on the final and very sharp turn not too far ahead. They'd be making it soon, when they swung into the turn for the finish line.

They were third in place, and Charlie was as excited as his companions. All three were standing now. Dondee was eagerly juggling his guidon, playing out and taking in, to urge the last bit of speed out of their swiftly-moving craft. The fleet black Lancer edged up on the number two leader, and Biri leaned over to the far side to shift the angle for a more direct angle to the Sun. The sail was a blazing, shimmering blue fire, and Charlie felt sure now they were getting every last iota of cosmic power possible. It was working! The Lancer slowly passed number two—then eased into position alongside the lead yacht! It was nose-to-nose as they entered the final turn for the starting platform!

"We're doing it—we're going to win!" Biri's impulse came to Charlie, as she clapped her hands. Then she quickly grabbed her guidon line again.

"We sure are!" Charlie shouted at them. All three were standing—waving, as the Lancer curved over the finish line first.

Then it happened. The black Lancer was swung about by Charlie and Dondee, a length ahead of the nearest competitor, before the crowded platform, for the waving people. In that instant, Charlie felt Dondee's startled impulse and turned to look. Released from the constant force of the cosmic rays, the great silver reflector sail had swung idly about, and the sharp lower corner had caught Biri off-guard. It struck her in the neck.

As Charlie looked at her, Biri slumped to the deck, blood pumping from the vital arterial slash caused by the sail. Frantic, Dondee dropped down on his knees beside her, even as Charlie climbed over to them. It took only a moment as Dondee cried out for help, for Charlie to act. First pressing a finger to her throat beneath the pulsing wound that bubbled openly—he cut off the flow of blood that was filling her windpipe, choking her.

Thinking for a second Charlie grabbed the ball-point pen from his pocket, as Dondee watched wide-eyed. Charlie then bit off the gold cap, yanking out the pen's inside tubing with his teeth, leaving only the empty black plastic cylinder.

"Hold her, Dondee—hold her steady so she can't move, my finger's slipping." Charlie got a better grip on her small neck, his thumb pressed more firmly against the torn artery. The crowd on

the nearby platform stood frozen in stunned silence since all had been watching the winners and had seen the accident. Not an impulse stirred in those few tense moments as Charlie worked. He inserted the pen's hollow cylinder down into the wound, where the torn edge of Biri's throat was still bubbling from her weak breathing.

Dondee was already calling for a doctor as Charlie looked up.

"Tell them to hurry it, Dondee—I can't hold on much longer."

The terse, desperate impulse repeated, people were active now on the space island. Dondee got the impulses from Elstara and the Primate saying the doctors were coming and, with their impulses, they, too, climbed into the Lancer.

Biri spluttered, coughing a little, but she was breathing.

"Tell them to hurry, Dondee—"

But as Dondee was about to repeat the call, several tall elderly men arrived. With their advanced medical aid, seven thousand years of scientific progress beyond Earth's, the alien doctors soon filmed the torn tissues, after first slowing the heart beat so that the pumping blood pressure was down to almost nothing. After the final outer filming, the doctors soon had Biri standing, for though still weak, the immediate transfusion had replaced her lost blood.

Standing beside Biri, satisfied that she was now past the danger point, the chief doctor glanced curiously at the pen cylinder as he wiped it clean. He looked at it a long time. Then, turning his attention to Charlie, he said:

"The Primate's daughter owes her life to the Primitive science of your world, young man. And to you, for your knowledge of that strange science. We could never have reached her in time."

"Yes, Charles," said the Primate as he held Biri to him. "Your science seems to be not so primitive after all."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Special Gift

As they started home the Primate refused other help, carrying Biri himself to the airlift after the swift journey down to the surface. Though Elstara and Dondee were right there with him, all his attention was given to holding Biri, and to Charlie, whom he insisted stay close beside him.

And Elstara Bin, always cordial and graciously friendly, now not only walked close to him, but held him close to her, silent all the way home to the tier apartment. Dondee followed close behind Charlie, for with his parents on either side of him, that was the closest he could get to the friend who had saved his duplicate.

The quick healing medicines did their job well. It was only three days after the accident when the physician came to remove the last bandage and give Biri a final checkup.

But as the doctor was removing the thin, drug-impregnated healers from her throat, Biri's greatest worry was that a scar would still remain. Though the doctor assured her it would be very small, if any mark at all, still Biri dreaded the thought of it.

At last, as Dondee and Charlie held a disc-shaped mirror, smiling at her as they lifted it up before her, Biri frowned. She looked closely into it, despite their assurances, trying hard to find trace of a line. She could find no sign of the tear that had been in her throat three days before.

In great delight Biri clapped her hands happily—a joyous shout coming clearly from her mouth. Biri clapped her hand over her mouth suddenly—puzzled, as she and the others looked uncertainly at the smiling doctor.

"I thought perhaps that might happen," said the medical man. "Such injuries often change the un-used larynx structure. Biri, without the long training and exercises usually necessary, now has regained the bygone vocal power once used. She has regained her voice."

Hardly had the doctor gone when the Bin family began making plans to hold a big dinner, a celebration party for Charlie, the newest member of the family. Charlie was aware of what was going on, but was kept out of most of the details, in their effort to surprise him. A special gift was planned for him, something they would do to make him feel fully at home, part of the family, for now and always.

Charlie was grateful for all the attention, and not only for every special privilege they showed him, but also because Navajo was brought in for very special treatment, too.

The Primate and Elstara, as well as "your own two duplicates," as Biri and Dondee constantly reminded him, did little else but concentrate on doing things for Charlie. Other Council members, and people of the Capitol City, were invited. They all came to meet Charlie and help make him feel at home in his new world.

"Later," the Primate said, "you must go with me, Charles, to the Mist Forests, when I go next. And also, I’ll want you to come with me on other trips, such as to the six other cities of our world, so you can see how our world is conducted."

"You never wanted to take me," Dondee said with a grin, "when you went off on trips, father."

"Or me either," Biri put in, "except two times before."

"Not a parallel case," Darda Bin said impatiently. "Charles is a special child ... in fact, very likely to sit in Council some day."

"If Charles says we can, may we go too?" asked Dondee.

"In that event, we'll all make trips together," said the Primate.

The next day, before the first morning's lights were on in the streets outside, Dondee and Biri came out of their compartments, tiptoeing into the center compartment. They shook Charlie to waken him.

"Hey—it's still the middle of the night!"

"Today's the day—!" Dondee told him.

"Just get out of bed!" Biri threw at him, using her newly-acquired sound language. All together, they went down the airlift to the bottom tier

to get Navajo and Crustie their breakfast. Then back upstairs to find the Primate and Elstara already up and getting breakfast. As they came in Elstara Bin turned on the musicale, even though it was early morning, and smiling at Charles, she said: "This day is a special one, so it's not too early!" and she rumpled Charlie's black hair affectionately.

"Oh, I recognize that music," Charlie said. "It's another song from my home world, isn't it?"

"Yes, Charles. It's one we call the Civilization Waltz, the waltz of culture."

As Charlie sat down to listen with them, the dignified, soothing melody filled the big room. He couldn't think of the exact title, except to remember that he had heard it long ago, and it recalled a place of his homeland, a place called Luxemburg.

The whole family gave Charlie hardly a minute to himself all day. They did one thing after another, visiting several places in the Capitol City, back home, and then in the evening, the special festive supper that had every delicacy their world could offer. And Charlie found, in dressing for dinner, that his own special new clothes had just arrived. And on the short toga cape, there was the vivid blue cobalt stripe—the Sun stripe color of the Council, which could only be worn by members of the Primate's personal family. Somehow, as Charlie looked at it admiringly, that small shimmering band on the left shoulder was the final touch in making him feel at home. Like Dondee and Biri, he was officially part of the Primate's family; they were his folks now.

"By the stripe of your toga, Charles," said the Primate as he came from his room, "it will be another race now, between you and your duplicate Dondee, to see who can grow up and become the next Council Member!"

"This is a time," said Elstara, "that your father can say is indeed a parallel case. Charles and Dondee. Perhaps, both shall become members."

"Oh, I know they will!" Biri said, fairly shouting the words to show she could also use the sound language of Charlie. She glanced at Dondee, turning up her nose at him, then laughed.

Dondee grinned back good-naturedly, not envying the special preference shown his friend and new duplicate.

"Now if old Biri was a boy too, maybe she could become—"

A fiery impulse—then her remembered voice, shot quickly at Dondee, telling him, "Maybe some day they will have women on the Council!"

As the dinner proceeded, Primate Bin stood up to speak.

"For a gracious act, Charles," he said, "and a special service to the family beyond repayment, I wish to give you now, that wish you may want most. I have talked with the world Council Members, and I, through them, am authorized to grant to you now, my other son, whatever gift it is within our power to give."

As he paused and waited, Charlie looked about at all of them, noticing suddenly the very serious expression on all their faces—Elstara, Biri and Dondee. At first, not understanding, he then realized their solemn looks were caused by

what the Primate had just said. The full impact hit him squarely now. He could see the reason for their sorrowful looks. Whatever gift is within our power—sure, that would mean anything . . . going anywhere, the thought raced through Charlie's mind. And even as he thought it, he realized that they, too, clearly knew his great and excited thought —the thought for that distant home. And Charlie also realized now, that all along they knew this moment would come.

"Yes, Charles," the Primate repeated the sincere impulse, speaking the words softly, "even that can be granted. I shall honor your request. The departure shall be when you wish it."

"Yes, Charles," Elstara Bin added her impulse, her eyes brimmed with sudden tears. "Yes, you can, Charles."

"It's the best gift of all," Dondee said, "the one we figured you might want."

"Even if we're going to miss you forever and ever," Biri said, trying not to look at her mother and possibly break down too.

"Up to now, Charles," Dondee said, "we were the only family in our world that had a member with black eyes."

With Dondee's comment, Charlie laughed suddenly, then all of them were laughing, feeling better.

"We must feel the happiness of Charles," said the Primate, from his seat. "Whatever he wants, that is what we want too."

They all nodded. Once again the dinner party was gay as all tried to concentrate on the gala event for Charlie, and to make it something he would never forget . . . even back on his own

world. Charlie felt deeply grateful. Everything had changed for him now. All the alien world, even its silvery mist without pure Sun's light. Nothing could keep him from liking it now, from feeling he would at least miss it a little. Then Dondee stood up quickly, eagerly. "Biri has the best surprise of all for you, Charles," he said, smiling at Charlie. Then he added: "Well, anyway—the second best!"

Elstara and the Primate glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders, not knowing just what the surprise was that Biri and Dondee had concealed from them, as well as Charlie.

"Biri's going to do something," Dondee went on, "and it's something she could never do, if it hadn't been for Charles."

Glancing down at his sister, he added unceremoniously: "Go

on, Biri, get up on your feet and do it now."

Immune to Dondee's bluntness, Biri got up as though she had been given the finest of introductions. She turned a little to face Charlie better.

"It's something from your world, Charles," she said, speaking the words. " 'The Sunlight Serenade.' I learned all the words, Charles, so I could sing it for you."

High up in the Primate's tower in the Capitol City, Charlie listened, as Biri Biri Bin began the song they called the Sunlight Serenade, a song of Earth the Barrier World had taken for its own . . .

"How sweet is Sunshine, bright and laughing Sunshine

When skies are clearing, for our forthfaring

Through Sunny weather, let us go together

For oh how sweet is life when light is true ... Oh Sun of beauty,

Oh star of light In your eyes only> is my delight My Sun, my Sun

of beauty My star of light . . . My star of light."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Going Home

Charlie decided not to stay too long, for he found it made him sad to think of the departure. The last days for him on the Barrier World of Saturn passed swiftly—carefree days, free of all former misgivings, except for the shadow of parting. The idea that he would leave the Bin home and never see Dondee and Biri again saddened him most of all.

"I hope, son," said Darda Bin, "that no matter where you are, you might want to keep your new family name . . . remembering that we will always consider your home as being here."

"We'll always have a place here, Charles, for you," and as she spoke, Elstara placed her hand on her left side, over the heart. "Always."

"Charles Bin," Biri said, more to herself than the others, and just to see how the name sounded out loud as she said it.

Charlie smiled around at them. "I guess you know, I'm sure going to miss you, too. All of you."

"Oh—son," the Primate said now, "I must ask a favor of you, a promise. It's very important to our world . . . your other home."

"Yes, father?"

"Please, when you are back on your world, never mention the Star Project, will you?"

Charlie remained silent for some moments, his thoughts recalling now the great mystery he had almost forgotten, the secret that even now he did not know about their world.

"But—" he said, "I—I couldn't promise that. I don't even know that it isn't going to be—"

"No, son," Elstara put in, "it is no such thing. Our world would never, could never, attack your homeland. We are not savages."

"Nor any other world, son," the Primate added. "You see, it's been now approximately seven thousand years since our great cities were united, and since the armed forces of that time were abolished."

"Then why should it be a secret—whatever it is?" Charlie asked, more puzzled than ever.

"Pride!" Dondee said, suddenly angry. "That's all it is, foolish pride!"

"I suppose it is ..." said the Primate.

They were all silent for some time after Dondee's sudden outburst.

"It would be difficult to make you see it, Charles," the Primate went on.

"Why—why would it, sir—" Charlie asked quickly, "because maybe your world still thinks I'm a primitive?"

"Oh no," Elstara said, going over and putting her arm about him. "We could never think that again, son. Never."

"I shall tell you," Darda Bin said. "If you feel it proper, you can keep the confidence. If not, you may divulge it."

"I'll keep it," Charlie agreed, "just so long as it won't hurt anybody. Back home."

"It is this, then," the Primate began. "I hope, in the light of circumstance, you can understand a higher civilization's pride, son. For a long time, we never knew what your world's reaction might be, were we to tell them the secret of our search, the reasons for the Star Project. And, as a proud culture, we could not bring ourselves to ask, perhaps even beg, and then be refused the chance to find what we sought."

"But I still don't see what—"

"I'll tell you, Charles. We now have within our grasp, the solution to the one great problem of our land, the knowledge of how we might be able to break down the Barrier around this planet, just as the barrier once circling your Little Star was broken down. Not by Man, but through natural causes, millions of years ago."

"You mean, sir—father, that all you want to know is—is how to clear away the fog, the mist, and have straight sunshine?"

"Yes, Charles. We know now it can be done, chemically.

The studies made in your Arizona country have proven that. The shadows of our world can be lifted, must be lifted, just as even your world already knows how to make mists. It is what your land calls rain-making."

"Oh . . ." Charlie said.

"It was for that reason only, Charles, that we made regular missions to your Arizona country. Through the study and experiments under your atmospheric conditions, we have realized the greatest dream of all, as we now stand on the threshold. We shall be able now to brush away the mighty mists that veil us from the Sun we call our own."

Charlie looked at each one, then back at the Primate again.

"Sir, I promise that I'll never tell the secret. I sort of feel a little bit, well—like this is my own world now, too. I'll want to know you have the Sunlight too, so I'll keep the secret."

Charlie realized, just before the last day for take-off, that his life on the Barrier World had been pretty happy all around, almost like the happy days when Uncle John was still alive. Navajo had been sick the night before, but it was mostly from all the past strain of the trip between two planets, different water for drinking, and the general excitement he had been through. He was just tired, Charlie realized, and getting pretty old now. But the morning came, and Navajo, seeming to sense that he was going home, was up and eager when Charlie came to get him for the trip to the upper surface.

"Here, Dondee," he said, "you always liked them a lot— and one for you, Biri. This one's for you to keep."

Jumping up and down with joy, they both hugged Charlie, delighted with the silver star spur-wheel he had given each one of them. Neither one of them mentioned the fact that he now had only one spur, or that he'd probably never have any use for it in the city, much less find a horse to ride. That was beside the point. Both immediately got other heavier shoes—the boots worn on the surface—and Charlie helped them attach the spurs.

"We'll never take them off!" Biri promised, reflecting Dondee's impulse too. "We'll always wear them, Charles."

Again promising the Primate that no matter what, he would keep this homeland's secret, Charlie was held close by the Primate and Elstara, before they finally released him to go aboard.

"Please," Dondee begged again, as he and Biri had done all day, "can't we just go with Charles, to be sure he gets home again all right?"

Their parents agreed finally, when Charlie asked them, too.

"All right, you can go with your duplicate, the both of you. But remember, all of you—you too, Charles, be sure and obey the flagship's commander."

"And be careful," Elstara Bin added to her husband's comment.

"And when we get there—" Dondee pushed their victory further, "we don't have to just drop Charles and rush right back the same minute, do we, father?"

Primate Bin sighed wearily, smiling at Charles.

"No, I suppose you don't. But don't delay too long. It's hard enough for Charles to leave you now, without your making his going home all the more difficult."

The last goodbyes were said on the Barrier World. Only Elstara cried now, softly, gently, as Charles left. Charlie finally ran for the flagship's open waiting ramp. Dondee and Biri had already gone aboard and were waiting for him. There was no dragging of time on the return trip to Little Star, for none of the three really wanted the separation. With every passing day, their pleasure in being together became more clouded as they neared the Arizona country. But to Charlie it was far easier to take it since it was his own world to which he was returning, the world he had always known, and he wanted to be back in the security of the familiar Shack, just to be home again. He loved Dondee and Biri, the only brother and sister he had ever had, his duplicates, but this was something he must force himself to forget.

On the last day the commander began the deceleration. Charlie, Biri and Dondee watched silently as Charlie's brilliant green ball loomed in monumental splendor before them, its five great continents clearly defined. With the speed decrease, the ship was scheduled for alightment that evening—in the same old place Charlie remembered, the natural cradle ramp, formed by the twin peaks of Saddle Mountain. In this way, they would most likely be unseen, since the Commander didn't want to make it any more obvious than necessary that they had come down.

Biri was the most excited of all, since Dondee had seen Charlie's Arizona already, and she was extremely disappointed when the Commander informed them that the landing

would be made at night. She wanted to see Charlie's Sun, how it looked white instead of blue in Arizona, as Charlie had told her.

As the last rays of the Sun fell shimmering into the great Pacific Ocean to the westward, out of Biri's eager view, the mighty flagship plunged downward, slanting like a great and swiftly falling leaf. It navigated the last several hundred thousand feet, then hovered briefly as it swung into position over the familiar Saddle Peaks.

"That's them! That's it!" Charlie shouted, and all three danced happily, carelessly disregarding the signal to hold to the grip-safeties.

After the first excitement, and after the ramp had been lowered from the bottom tier, the three stood on the lower control dome's platform, finding themselves strangely without anything to say. Charlie was home. Charlie looked at them now, feeling inwardly guilty about leaving them, saying goodbye forever. Then suddenly Dondee pushed out his hand, trying hard to say the words lightly as he smiled.

"Shake, Charles!"

Charlie did. Then he shook Biri's hand, anxious to do anything to hide his feelings.

"And—and like on your world," Charlie said quickly, and he put his hands to both Biri's and Dondee's face in turn, as was their world's custom. "My duplicates."

Turning abruptly, Charlie ran for Navajo, jumping up onto his back Indian fashion. As he mounted, the old horse started eagerly off the ramp, whinnying happily at the familiar desert smell. Charlie glanced back at the dim glow of lights, and the

two small figures standing there close together on the great ramp. He waved, then turned away quickly, even as they waved back.

Charlie didn't look back or even wait to see their take-off into the night. He had seen that once before, and knew how it would be. It was better not to stop and think or let his feelings go. As he hurried Navajo down the hard dirt road toward the Dam, Charlie spurred the old horse gently with his spur-less boot heels, getting the already-excited Navajo into an easy gallop. But even now, the terrible loneliness from the past came back to him. He felt again that former emptiness, that he had felt ever since Uncle John died. Leaving Dondee and Biri now only added to the feeling, making it come back worse than ever.

He patted Navajo again as he released him near the old corral, then went inside. He stopped a moment to look at the same old hoof-marks where Navajo had regularly kicked in the side of the house under his special window. Carefully folding up the bright toga with the Primate cobalt stripe, Charlie sighed as he half-heartedly slapped some dust out of the old levis. Then he lay back on his same old bunk, kicking off the boots slowly, one by one.

He whistled once, as he often used to do, waiting to hear Nav's answering whinny from the corral. But it did not come. Frowning, he turned his head toward the window, and whistled again, louder this time. It was strange Nav didn't answer.

A sudden alarm overtaking him, Charlie hopped up from the bunk and ran through the door. As he hurried across the

clearing to the corral in his bare feet, he heard a low moan,
then a feeble whinny, as Navajo answered as best he could.
Running now, Charlie found Navajo lying on his side,
breathing hard as his nostrils flared, his eyes wide and
frightened.
Charlie dropped down beside him wiping away the small ball
of foamy white froth that was on his lips. As Charlie raised
his head gently onto his lap, Navajo quieted a little, some-
what soothed by Charlie's comforting talk and nearness.

The convulsions were mild, and he didn't suffer much. He died a few minutes later. For a long time after the last weary sigh came weakly from the old horse, Charlie held Navajo's head close against his lap. Charlie's own head dropped down against Navajo's cheek, there in the darkness. Poor old Nav . . . the trip had been too much for him. Charlie cried softly a long time. Nav was gone. His best friend, and now he was gone.

At last, Charlie went into the Shack again, trying hard not to think. He rummaged around through the back porch shed, finally locating the spade. Pausing as he started through the kitchen, Charlie dug down in the deep cooler box and took out the bag. The whole bag, since it was the last time.

He worked silently, steadily, digging in the soft sand of the corral yard. It wasn't long before he had the grave dug deep enough, down to the cool, moist sand. In the most careful way he could, Charlie eased Navajo's body over, sliding it down into the shallow pit. Then he covered Nav's head over with the piece of oilcloth he had brought out. And in beside it, he placed the bag, with all the remaining apples that had been in the cooler box.

Charlie didn't cry any more when the pit was finally all covered over and smoothed out. But by the time he reached the shed on the back porch to put away the spade, the tears in his eyes felt like hot desert rain. He sat down on the floor beside his bunk, after turning out the light, and leaned his face against the blanket.

The late moon was slowly rising, slanting beams across the floor. Charlie first noticed it as he turned and saw the beam of light moving up his ankle. He had no idea how long he'd been there, and he didn't much care. He didn't even look at the clock as he sat on the bunk, pulling on his boots. Then in a sudden mixture of loneliness and fear, Charlie ran to the phone across the room, trying hard to call anyone, in town. It hadn't changed. The powerlines were making as much static as ever. He got nothing but static.

Going to the door, Charlie breathed the cool air of the desert night into his lungs, to try and stop that deep down pain, though he knew it wouldn't help. He started walking toward the Colorado, silently watching the small shadows of clouds race across his path on the desert floor. There was no way of telling how long he walked, not caring whether it was up river or down river. He vaguely recalled crossing the Dam road, millions and millions of years ago ... it didn't matter.

Then he noticed a faint gray in the East, across the mountain ridges. It must be near to morning ... Dondee ... Biri, they should be far out in space by now. And Elstara ... and the Primate ... his folks.

"Charles Bin," Charlie whispered the words aloud. "My folks."

He shouldn't have said that out loud, for, more than ever now, he realized how lonely he really was. The feeling was worse than ever. His chest ached at the memory of Uncle John, Navajo ... his other family.

Not caring where he walked, Charlie headed around the turn in the road, the small hill up river from the Dam. Then he stopped suddenly. He stood very still. There—it came again just now—that familiar impulse, one he knew so well!

His mind was playing tricks on him, and he'd better run back to the Shack and get some sleep. But as he turned to go, he heard it again—stronger, clearer, unmistakable. Those two familiar impulses. They were as clear and sharp as the early morning desert air. Charlie felt crazy, but he stood there and tentatively answered with his own impulse—then he waited.

Charles—we are waiting, Charles ! We are waiting for you!

There was no denying it now, that joyous impulse, that gentler one mixed with it—he knew them well! Charlie started to run, that last stretch around the hill, to see the Saddle Peaks, Saddle Mountain. And as he did, the tightness in his chest was disappearing. It was going fast as he raced out into the clear open desert. Somehow, as he saw the great filled-in space of Saddle Mountain, just as he had left it, he knew the cure for that old pain deep down inside him. The pain was gone now, and he knew it would be gone forever.

Far in the distance, Charlie saw two tiny, arm-waving figures, running across the sands to meet him. They had

waited all night long for him, and he ran harder now, waving

too.

"Hi, duplicates!" Charlie said aloud, laughing happily.

The first brilliant rays of morning Sunlight shot out across the mountains. The golden Sun had struck the discus flagship with a giant shaft of light. The night was gone.

The great jagged chocolate mountains swung hard in an easy motion—standing up vertically on end, sideways. Then they settled back down, in a swift and graceful curve, to the horizon. From far above the sleeping desert, high above the icy Colorado, a great star ship thundered out silently, into the blackness of space. The lone passenger it had been waiting for, hoping for, was now aboard. Charles Bin was going home.