Life was ended. Brion's mind nothing but and the pain of loss. If his brain had been the master of his he would have died there, for at that moment there was no will to live. Unaware of this, his to and the regular motion of his in the of the smoke-tainted air. With his on.
"What you do?" Telt asked, his natural by this. Brion only his as the penetrated. What he do? What possibly be done?
"Follow me," a voice said in Disan through the opening of a window. The was in the they turn. Aware now, Brion saw a native move away from the of the and turn to look in their direction. It was Ulv.
"Turn the car—that way!" He Telt's arm and pointed. "Do it slowly and don't any attention to us." For a moment there was hope, which he himself from considering. The was gone, and the people in it all dead. That had to be faced.
"What's going on?" Telt asked. "Who was that talked in the window?"
"A native—that one up ahead. He saved my life in the desert, and I think he is on our side. Even though he's a native Disan, he can that the can't. He what will to this planet." Brion was talking to his brain with so he wouldn't to have hope. There was no possible.
Ulv moved slowly and naturally through the streets, looking back. They followed, as as they dared, yet still him in sight. Fewer peo[Pg 124]ple were about here among the storehouses. Ulv into one of these; LIGHT METALS TRUST LTD., the read above the door. Telt the car.
"Don't stop here," Brion said. "Drive around the corner, and up."
Brion out of the car with an he did not feel. No one was in now, in either direction. Walking slowly to the corner, he the they had just left. Hot, and empty.
A appeared where the door of the had been, and the motion of a hand. Brion Telt to start, and jumped into the already moving car.
"Into that open door—quickly, anyone sees us!" The car a into the dark and the door them.
"Ulv! What is it? Where are you?" Brion called, in the interior. A appeared him.
"I am here."
"Did you—" There was no way to the sentence.
"I of the raid. The called together all of us they to help them explosive. I along. I not stop them, and there was no time to anyone in the building."
"Then they are all dead?"
"Yes," Ulv nodded. "All one. I I save one; I was not sure who. So I took the woman you were with in the desert—she is here now. She was hurt, but not badly, when I her out."
Guilty through Brion. He shouldn't exult, not with the death of in the Foundation still fresh in his mind. But at that he was happy.
"Let me see her," he said to Ulv. He was by the that there might be a mistake. Perhaps Ulv had saved a different woman.
Ulv the way across the empty bay. Brion closely, the temptation[Pg 125] to tell him to hurry. When he saw that Ulv was an office in the wall, he himself no longer and ran on ahead.
It was Lea, on a couch. Sweat her and she and without opening her eyes.
"I gave her sover, then her in cloth so no one would know," Ulv said.
Telt was close them, looking in through the open door.
"Sover is a they take from one of their plants," he said. "We got a of with it. A little makes a good knock-out drug, but it's in large doses. I got the in the car; wait and I'll it." He out.
Brion sat next to Lea and her clean of and perspiration. The dark under her were almost black now and her thinner. But she was alive—that was the thing.
Some of the away from Brion and he think again. There was still the job to do. After this last Lea should be in a hospital bed. But this was impossible. He would have to her to her and put her to work. The answer might still be found. Each second away another of the planet's life.
"Good as new in a minute," Telt said, the box. He as Ulv left the room. "Hys should know about this renegade. Might be useful as a spy, or for information—though of it's too late now to do anything, so the with it." He a pistol-shaped gun from the box and a number on the side. "Now, if you'll roll her up I'll her to life." He pressed the bell-shaped against her skin and the trigger. The gun briefly, its cycle with a loud click.
"Does it work fast?" Brion asked.
"Couple of minutes. Just let her be and she'll come to by herself."[Pg 126]
Ulv was in the doorway. "Killer!" he hissed. His was in his hand, to his mouth.
"He's been in the car—he's it!" Telt and for his gun.
Brion them, his hands. "Stop it! No more killing!" he in Disan. Then he his at Telt. "Fire that gun and I'll it your throat. I'll this." He to Ulv, who hadn't the any closer to his lips. This was a good sign—the Disan was still uncertain.
"You have the in the car, Ulv. So you must have that it is that of a magter. I killed him myself, I would kill one, or ten, or a hundred men than have on this destroyed. I killed him in a and now I am going to his body. There is something very and different about the magter, you know that yourself. If I can out what it is, we can make them stop this war, and not bomb Nyjord."
Ulv was still angry, but he the a little. "I wish there were no offworlders," he said. "I wish that none of you had come. Nothing was until you started coming. The were the strongest, and they killed; but they also helped. Now they want to a with your weapons, and for this you are going to kill my world. And you want me to help you!"
"Not me—yourself!" Brion said wearily. "There's no going back, that's the one thing we can't do. Maybe Dis would have been off without contact. Maybe not. In any case, you have to about that. You have now with the of the galaxy, for or for worse. You've got a problem to solve, and I'm here to help you solve it."
Seconds by as Ulv, unmoving, with questions that were to his life. Could killing stop death? Could he help his people by helping to and kill them? His world had and he didn't like it. He must make a to with it.[Pg 127]
Abruptly, he pushed the into a at his waist, and out.
"Too much for my nerves," Telt said, settling his gun in the holster. "You don't know how happy I'm be when this whole thing is over. Even if the goes bang, I don't care. I'm finished." He walked out to the car, a on the Disan against the wall.
Brion to Lea, were open, at the ceiling. He to her.
"Running," she said, and her voice had a that louder than any emotion. "They ran by the open door of my room and I see them when they killed Dr. Stine. Just him like an animal, him down. Then one came into the room and that's all I remember." She her slowly and looked at Brion. "What happened? Why am I here?"
"They're ... dead," he told her. "All of them. After the the Disans up the building. You're the only one that survived. That was Ulv who came into your room, the Disan we met in the desert. He you away and you here in the city."
"When do we leave?" she asked in the same empty tones, her to the wall. "When do we off this planet?"
"Today is the last day. The is midnight. Krafft will have a ship us up when we are ready. But we still have our job to do. I've got that body. You're going to have to it. We must out about the magter...."
"Nothing can be done now leave." Her voice was a monotone. "There is only so much that a person can do, and I've done it. Please have the ship come; I want to now."
Brion his lip in frustration. Nothing to the into which she had sunk. Too much shock, too much terror, in too a time. He took her in his hand and her to him. She didn't resist, but her were with tears; her cheeks.
"Take me home, Brion, take me home."[Pg 128]
He only her from her face, and himself to at her. The moments of time were out, and faster, and he no longer what to do. The had to be made—yet he couldn't her. He looked for the box and saw that Telt had taken it to the car. There might be something in it that help—a perhaps.
Telt had some of his open on the table and was a tape with a pocket when Brion entered. He jumped and put the tape his back, then when he saw who it was.
"I you were the out there, for a look," he whispered. "Maybe you trust him—but I can't to. Can't use the radio. I'm out of here now. I have to tell Hys!"
"Tell him what?" Brion asked sharply. "What is all the about?"
Telt him the and tape. "Look at that—recording tape from my counter. Red are five-minute intervals, the black line is the level. All this where the line goes up and down, that's when we were out to the attack. Varying level of the and ground."
"What's the big in the middle?"
"That with our visit to the house of horrors! When we through the in the of the tower!" He couldn't keep the out of his voice.
"Does it that...."
"I don't know. I'm not sure. I have to it with the other at base. It be the of the tower—some of these have got a high natural count. There maybe be a box of there with dials. Or it might be one of those they at us already. Some arms them a few."
"Or it be the bombs?"
"It be," Telt said, packing his swiftly. "A bomb, or an old one with a[Pg 129] in the skin, give a like that. Just a little out would do it."
"Why don't you call Hys on the radio and let him know?"
"I don't want Granddaddy Krafft's to about it. This is our job—if I'm right. And I have to check my old to make sure. But it's be a raid, I can that in my bones. Let's your corpse." He helped Brion with the clumsy, bundle, then into the driver's seat.
"Hold it," Brion said. "Do you have anything in the box I can use for Lea? She to have cracked. Not hysterical, but withdrawn. Won't to reason, won't do anything but there and ask to go home."
"Got the here," Telt said, the box. "Slaughter-syndrome is what our calls it. Hit a of our boys. Grow up all your life the idea of violence, and it goes when you have to start killing people. Guys up, down, go to pieces of different ways. The mixed up this stuff. Don't know how it works, and some of the drugs. But it off memories. Maybe for the last ten, twelve hours. You can't about what you don't remember." He out a sealed package. "Directions on the box. Good luck."
"Luck," Brion said, and the technician's hand. "Let me know if the are to be bombs." He the to make sure it was clear, then pressed the door button. The car out into the and was gone, the of its in the distance. Brion closed the door and to Lea. Ulv was still against the wall.
There was a one-shot in the box. Lea no when he the seal and pressed the against her arm. She and her closed again.
When he saw she was easily, he in the tarpaulin-wrapped of the magter. A work-[Pg 130]bench ran along one and he the up onto it. He the and the up into his.
Using his knife, Brion cut away the loose, blood-soaked clothing. Strapped under the clothes, around the man's waist, was the familiar of Disan artifacts. This have either way. Human or humanoid, the would still have to live on Dis. Brion it aside, along with the clothing. Nude, pierced, bloody, the him.
In every physical detail the man was human.
Brion's was more with each discovery. If the weren't alien, how he their complete of emotions? A of some kind? He didn't see how it was possible. There had to be something about the man him. The of a world rested on this hope. If Telt's lead to the proved to be false, there would be no left at all.
Lea was still when he looked at her again. There was no way of telling how long the would last. He would have to her out of it, but he didn't want to do it too early. It took an to his impatience, though he the needed time in which to work. He on at least a minimum of an hour he should try to her. That would be noon—twelve hours destruction.
One thing he should do was to in touch with Professor-Commander Krafft. Maybe it was being defeatist, but he had to make sure that they had a way off this if the mission failed. Krafft had a radio that would calls from his personal set. If this had been in the Foundation building, was broken. This had to be out it was too late. Brion on his radio and sent the call. The reply came instantly.
"This is communications. Will you keep this open? Commander Krafft is waiting for[Pg 131] this call and it is being put directly through to him now." Krafft's voice in while the was still talking.
"Who is making this call—is it anyone from the Foundation?" The old man's voice was with emotion.
"Brandd here. I have Lea Morees with me...."
"No more? Are there no other from the that your building?"
"That's it, other than us it's a ... complete loss. With the and all the gone, I have no way to our ship in orbit. Can you to us out of here if necessary?"
"Give me your location. A ship is now—"
"I don't need a ship now," Brion interrupted. "Don't send it until I call. If there is a way to stop your I'll it. So I'm staying—to the last minute if necessary."
Krafft was silent. There was only the of an open and the of breathing. "That is your decision," he said finally. "I'll have a ship by. But won't you let us take Miss Morees out now?"
"No. I need her here. We are still working, looking for—"
"What answer can you that possibly now?" His was and despair. Brion couldn't help him.
"If I succeed—you'll know. Otherwise, that will be the end of it. End of Transmission." He the radio off.
Lea was sleeping easily when he looked at her, and there was still a good part of the hour left he wake her. How he put it to use? She would need tools, to the corpse, and there were none here. Perhaps he some in the of the Foundation building. With this he had the to see the up close. There might be other survivors. He had to out. If he talk to the men he had there....
Ulv was still against the in the outer[Pg 132] room. He looked up when Brion came over, but said nothing.
"Will you help me again?" Brion asked. "Stay and watch the girl while I go out. I'll be at noon." Ulv didn't answer. "I am still looking for the way to save Dis," Brion added.
"Go—I'll watch the girl!" Ulv in fury. "I do not know what to do. You may be right. Go. She will be safe with me."
Brion out into the and, running, walking, his way the that had been the Cultural Relationships Foundation. He used a different from the one they had come by, the of the city. Once there, he and approach from the other side, so there would be no where he had come from. The might be and he didn't want to lead them to Lea and the body.
Turning a corner, he saw a car stopped in the ahead. There was something familiar about the lines of it. It be the one he and Telt had used, but he wasn't sure. He looked around, but the dusty, packed-dirt was white and empty, in under the sun. Staying close to the and carefully, Brion the car. When he came close it he was positive it was the one he had been in the night before. What was it doing here?
Silence and the street. Windows and doors were empty, and there was no motion in their shadows. Putting his on a wheel, he up and the metal of the open window. He himself up and at Telt's face.
Smiling in death. The to the teeth, the from the head, the and from the poison. A tiny, of in the on the of his neck.[Pg 133]
