Price still, meeting her gaze. But his were like deer. How the super-scientific Vurna have his origin? It was a freak, a that wouldn't once in a years....
Linna was saying, "Take your plane. Obsolete in model as it was, it would machine shops to it. And your clothing. Your shirt is of fabric, and so is the dye. It was on machines. And these are new—not for a century."
Price managed to keep his voice level as he said, "So—"
"So," Linna said, "there is a big to keep the old of your people alive. A we've nothing about."
She him in triumph, as though she had a victory.
Price sat on the narrow bed. He had an to laugh, but he did not do that. Instead, he his away from Linna as though to his dismay, but actually he was with a realization.
She had just him his chance, if he his and played it right. In her mistaken, if natural, of his origin, she had him a for escape.
She his silence. "Further will not do you any good." Astonishingly, there was in her voice. "I see now what you intended. You to your community's knowledge with other tribes, to give them new in their against us. And now you still to keep your secret, so someone else may succeed where you failed. Believe me, Price, I understand—"
"Do you?" he said savagely.
"Yes," she said, her voice hardening. "And I than you what would have to your army if they had attacked, with little like yours and only more powerful rifles." She spoke to the outside, and then at Price, "Come, I want to you something."
She Price out the green-clad guards. They the of the cell-block, and into a that took them up a long way, and then into another and into a medium-sized room in shape, by a of screens. The screens gave a view of the of the Citadel itself. The upper screens a roving, ever-shifting view of the Belt, the and prairies, of wild grazing, deer with their white up, the waiting on their fields. Four men in of gold the screens and a series of recorders. Beneath each screen was a of studs.
"You see how much you would have of unseen? And do you see what would to an army? One man here, those studs, and the whole Belt would in like the the walls. Nothing would be left. Nothing."
In Linna's now there was the same for his that he had there before, when Arrin had talked to Sawyer in the square.
"And this is how you would help them—to their destruction."
If the had been what she it to be, that would have been the truth. Price allowed a to in his face. But he said,
"What about your starships? You wouldn't them."
"They can be on auto-pilot at a moment's notice, out of harm's way. Oh, for heaven's sake, Price, can't you see that I'm trying to help you? I don't want your people slaughtered. We, the Vurna, don't want them slaughtered. But if you in your heads—"
"All right, all right," he said crossly. "You've got the weight and weapons. Let's out of here. It makes me to think how we are."
They into the again. At its end there was a window, and Price by it, looking out. He to be in reflection, but his brain was furiously, trying to see all at once. He said,
"If I you where our is, you'll only it up. There's a there that isn't weapons, that help up a again. Why should I you?"
"To keep some other from trying to do what you have done. We won't anything that's useful, only it as to the production of weapons." She sighed, and added, "I to put it this way, Price, but if you don't me it will have to be another way, and I don't want that."
There was a ring of in her voice. Price around a bit, himself to be beaten.
"All right," he said at last. "I there's nothing for it. I'll you."
"Good. I'll for a flier—"
Her voice was out by a of all through the Citadel. For a moment no one moved. Linna's of all color. The stiffened, in a of wonder. The of the window to with a snap, and Price in that a and as of a hive.
"What is it?" he asked, his of to away almost he had had time to it.
Linna's voice was when she answered. "Possibly nothing. You must return to your now. We'll discuss the later."
The stopped.
The Price along urgently now, as though they had more to to. The Vurna were shifting from places to other places, but all in good order. Only their were and they did not talk to pass an order or ask for one. It was that there was an alarm, that the Citadel was taking up stations, and that was, if not afraid, at least uneasy. Price to be too. Nevertheless, he noted the symbol that the floor, and the life-controls as he was to the prison level again.
In perfect they from the and started the toward Price's cell. Then the again, but on a different note. Linna gave a little sigh. Without about it he put his arm around her.
"All clear?"
"Yes. What a relief. I'm a soldier, but I'm a is all it is. I—shh! Listen."
A clear voice had to speak over some that every of the Citadel. Linna away from him without to notice his familiarity, intently. The too, and so did three or four other Vurna visible in the corridor. Price nothing, that the word "Ei" times. The Vurna's bogeyman. He if the Vurna powers-that-were used it to their own people, too. It would Linna's sincerity, Arrin's annoyance, if they themselves in a called the Ei.
The window at the end of the had as the safety back. Through it, small and away, Price the landing of a starship, and it was and as a done with models for an old film.
Until he the of the Citadel, man-made of and iron, him with the shock-wave of that landing. Then he knew.
The voice stopped speaking. There was a moment of quiet, as though what the voice had said was more than the alarm. Linna's was again, and the looked and apprehensive. One of them spoke to Linna, and she her head, him a answer.
Price said irritably, "Can you tell me what's going on?"
"There was a skirmish," she said, "out there. That's what the was, to tell us there was going on, but of it was already over. There was only one Ei ship, a scout."
"Oh," said Price, and almost smiled. Scramble them once in a while, keep them on their toes. Remind them of the menace. It was a technique. Earthmen had it early.
People were talking now. He their voices the metal halls, excited, fearful. Several to the window to their necks at the starship. And then the voice to speak again, very and clipped.
"Maximum security," Linna said. "All cleared, all doors and safety locked. All off-duty in quarters. Go in, Price." She pointed to his door. "I have to hurry."
The was like magic. Price in the doorway. "What now?"
"They the scout. They're in two of the Ei—alive."
One of the him in, and the door on its magnetic lock.
Price on the bunk. So they had a scout, and they were in two Ei, alive. And in the Citadel was ordered locked doors. Handy. Very. He was to less toward at least some of the Vurna. They were not so hard-headed and as the Earthmen. They believed, and the was them here to man an when they would much return home.
He himself pleased that he had an to stop Linna.
He about the plan he had in mind until he to sleep.
It was difficult, in that and sound-proof place, to judge the passage of time. To Price it like centuries. He slept, and woke, and ate, and around, and and a that Linna had all about him. He slept again, and was from that sleep by the of the Citadel as a either or took off. He what it was like to one of those craft, he was a Vurna so he might have a to out, and of space and and worlds.
The Citadel again, and yet again, and Price came wide awake. He twenty-one, and there was no way of how many or take-offs had he woke, or too out in the Belt to be noticed here.
Certainly some large movement was underway. He took to again, in a of worry over what this meant, not to the Vurna, but to him.
After what an the door opened and Linna there, looking and grave. There were no with her. She was alone.
"The is waiting, Price," she said. "Let's go."
He joined her. And now he saw that the of the had changed. A had closed off part of it a of iron.
"What's that for?" he asked.
"Our—prisoners," said Linna, as though the word to her tongue. "Come on."
She in a great to away from that bulkhead. Price said, "What's the matter, aren't they human, or something?"
She gave him a look. "You still think it's all a great joke."
"I didn't say that."
"You it, though. You still the Ei are something we up to shift the from ourselves. Probably you we are this whole to you and your chief, so that you will go and your it is all true."
This was so close to what Price was that he said involuntarily, "You're too for such a girl."
"Sometimes I think," she said her teeth, "that there is no for you people, no at all."
Price toward the bulkhead. "The is enough, isn't it? Let me see them. Then I'll have to you."
"Simple enough," said Linna, his words. "Do you think you against them? We have them for generations, we have knowledge and experience, and for us, with all our safe-guards, it is difficult. Only a few, like Arrin, would attempt it, and I saw him this morning. He looks like a ghost."
"And that's why you've let any Earthmen see an Ei—because they're too dangerous."
"No. It's more than that. We have had none to show. These are the Ei we have for a century, at least in this of the galaxy. I have one, either. And I don't want to."
She off, away from the iron across the corridor. Price and her.
"Where are my friends?"
"They're here," she said, the of doors they were passing. "Quite safe—or as safe as any of us. They'll here until—" She hesitated, and Price for the time that she was deeply, afraid. "Until we see what happens," she finished.
"After that, what?"
"If they're still alive, and we're still alive, and there's still a world, they'll go free, and they'll be men than they are now."
She would not say any more.
The them up to the roof. It was late afternoon, hot, with storm-clouds banking in the west. The area almost deserted, and only one was visible. Linna him into it and in herself. She spoke to the pilot, and he took off immediately. There was no co-pilot. Only Price, and Linna, and one man. Price a of assurance, of power, like when you're a of luck and the can't any way but right. He sat quietly, looking out the port.
He saw almost at once that the were gone. The whole Vurna must have taken off, the Citadel with their leaving. Probably most of the men had gone with it. The of the Citadel, the of guards, the of a co-pilot, all pointed to a force. If we're still alive, and there's still a world, Linna had said. Battle, out in the of space? Perhaps. Or maneuvers, or a of with some game he would know about. It was not important. What was was the that for the present the of the Citadel were weaker, much weaker.
He sat looking out the port and the pilot's hands on the controls. Linna had some of a side-arm around her waist. Probably a shocker. The pilot had one, too. He the problem, and the and rolled underneath.
Linna spoke suddenly, out of a long and silence.
"This mission is more than now, Price, or I wouldn't have been allowed to one man from our defences. I you, for the of your own people, to play with me. If there's either help or in our rear, we must know it. The Ei—"
Now said something in Price's mind. He did not stop to question it. When you're a streak, let it ride. Never stop to question.
He rose and Linna on the point of her chin.
