Brion himself and in the and of the road. No him out; the empty still reigned. Telt's had come and gone. Moving quickly, using the of the car as a shield, he opened the door and inside.
They had done a job of destruction. All of the had been into uselessness, the was a of equipment, with of tape like intestines. A machine, like its driver.
It was easy to what had happened. The car had been when they entered the city—probably by some of the who had the Foundation building. They had not where it had gone, or Brion would surely be by now. But they must have it when Telt to the city—and stopped it in the most way possible, a through the open window into the driver's neck.
Telt dead! The impact of the man's death had all of its from Brion's mind. Now he to realize. Telt had sent word of his of the to the Nyjord army. He had been to use the radio, and had wanted to tell Hys in person, and to him the tape. Only now the tape was and mixed with all the others, the brain that have it dead.
Brion looked at the of the radio and for the door. Running and erratically, he from the car. His own and the possible of Dis on his not being near it. He must Hys and pass on[Pg 134] the information. Until he did that, he was the only on Dis who which tower might the world-destroying bombs.
Once out of of the car he more slowly, the from his face. He hadn't been the car, and he wasn't being followed. The here weren't familiar, but he his direction by the sun and walked at a fast the building. More of the native Disans were in the now. They all noticed him, some stopped and at him. With his he their anger and hatred. A of men death, and he put his hand on his gun as he passed them. Two of them had their ready, but didn't use them. By the time he had the next he was with perspiration.
Ahead was the of the building. Grounded next to it was the of a spacer's pinnace. Two men had come from the open lock and were at the of the area.
Brion's on the wreckage. The men him, raised. Both of them rifles. They when they saw his clothes.
"Bloody savages!" one of them growled. He was a heavy-planet man, a squashed-down of and gristle, Brion's chest. A pushed-back cap had the slide-rule symbol of ship's computer man.
"Can't them, I guess," the second man said. He purser's insignia. His were different, but with the same the two men were as physically as twins. Probably from the same home planet. "They're their whole world out from under them at midnight. Looks as if the in the what is happening. Hope we're in jump-space by then. I saw Estrada's World it, and I don't want to see that again, not twice in one lifetime!"
The computer man was looking closely at Brion, to see his face. "You need trans[Pg 135]portation offworld?" he asked. "We're the last ship at the port, and we're going to out of here as soon as the of our is aboard. We'll give you a if you need it."
Only by a at did Brion the that him when he looked at that wasteland, the of so many. "No," he said. "That won't be necessary. I'm in touch with the and they'll me up midnight."
"You from Nyjord?" the growled.
"No," Brion said, still only aware of the men. "But there is trouble with my own ship." He that they were looking at him, that he them some of explanation. "I I a way to stop the war. Now ... I'm not so sure." He hadn't to be so with the spacemen, but the had been in his and had out.
The computer man started to say something, but his him in the with his elbow. "We blast soon—and I don't like the way these Disans are looking at us. The captain said to out what the fire, then the back. So let's go."
"Don't miss your ship," the computer man said to Brion, and he started for the pinnace. Then he and turned. "Sure there's nothing we can do for you?"
Sorrow would nothing. Brion to the of from his mind and to think clearly. "You can help me," he said. "I use a or any other you might have." Lea would need those. Then he Telt's message. "Do you have a portable radio transceiver? I can pay you for it."
The computer man the and a minute later with a small package. "There's a and a in here—all I in the kit. Hope they'll do." He and out the metal case of a[Pg 136] self-contained transceiver. "Take this, it's got of range, on the longer frequencies."
He his hand at Brion's offer to pay. "My donation," he said. "If you can save this I'll give you the whole as well. We'll tell the captain we the radio in some trouble with the natives. Isn't that right, Moneybags?" He the in the with a that would have a through a man.
"I read you loud and clear," the said. "I'll make out an so stating, in the ship." They were in the then, and Brion had to move fast to clear of the blast.
A of obligation—the had it too. The of this Brion's a as he through the for anything useful. He part of a still as a of the laboratory. Poking through the ruins, he and a single, case that had missed destruction. Inside was the microscope, the right bent, its and obscured. The left still to be functioning. Brion put it in the case.
He looked at his watch. It was almost noon. These pieces of would have to do for the dissection. Watched by the Disans, he started to the warehouse. It was a long, walk, since he didn't give any to his destination. Only when he was positive he had not been or did he through the building's entrance, locking the door him.
Lea's met his when he into the office. "A here among the cannibals," she called. Her gave the to the of her words. "What has happened? Since I up, the great over there"—she pointed to Ulv—"has been telling me nothing."
"What's the last thing you can remember?" Brion asked carefully. He didn't want to tell her too much,[Pg 137] this on the again. Ulv had great presence of mind in not talking to her.
"If you must know," Lea said, "I a lot, Brion Brandd. I shan't go into details, since this of thing is best from the natives. For the record then, I can going to sleep after you left. And nothing since then. It's weird. I to sleep in that hospital and up on this couch, terrible. With him just there and at me. Won't you tell me what is going on?"
A truth was best, saving all of the that he for later. "The the Foundation building," he said. "They are angry at all now. You were still out by a sleeping drug, so Ulv helped you here. It's now—"
"Of the last day?" She horrified. "While I'm playing Sleeping Beauty the world is to an end! Was anyone in the attack? Or killed?"
"There were a number of casualties—and of trouble," Brion said. He had to her off the subject. Walking over to the corpse, he the from its face. "But this is more right now. It's one of the magter. I have a and some other here—will you perform an autopsy?"
Lea on the couch, her arms around herself, looking in of the of the day. "What to the people at the building?" she asked in a thin voice. The had her memories of the tragedy, but of the and still in her mind and body. "I so ... exhausted. Please tell me what happened. I have the you're something."
Brion sat next to her and took her hands in his, not to them cold. Looking into her eyes, he to give her some of his strength. "It wasn't very nice," he said. "You were up by it, I that's why you the way you do now. But—Lea, you'll have to take my word for this. Don't ask any more questions. There's nothing we can do now[Pg 138] about it. But we can still out about the magter. Will you the corpse?"
She started to ask something, then her mind. When she her Brion the thin that through her body. "There's something wrong," she said. "I know that. I I'll have to take your word that it's best not to ask questions. Help me up, will you, darling? My are liquid."
Leaning on him, with his arm around her supporting most of her weight, she slowly across to the corpse. She looked and shuddered. "Not what you would call a natural death," she said. Ulv as she took the out of its holder. "You don't have to look at this," she told him in Disan. "Not if you don't want to."
"I want to," he told her, not taking his from the body. "I have a before, or without covering, like an ordinary person." He to fixedly.
"Find me some water, will you, Brion?" Lea said. "And spread the under the body. These are messy."
After the water she stronger, and without onto the table with hands. Placing the of the just the magter's bone, she the long post-mortem to the symphysis. The great, body-length open like a red mouth. Across the table Ulv but didn't his eyes.
One by one she the organs. Once she looked up at Brion, then returned to work. The on and on until Brion had to it.
"Tell me, can't you? Have you out anything?"
His the thin of her strength, and she to the and onto it. Her hands over the side, making a terrible to the of her skin.
"I'm sorry, Brion," she said. "But there's nothing,[Pg 139] nothing at all. There are minor differences, I've before—his is tremendous, for one thing. But like this are the pattern of as to a different planet. He's a man. Changed, adapted, modified—but still just as as you or I."
"How can you be sure?" Brion in. "You haven't him completely, have you?" She her head. "Then go on. The other organs. His brain. A examination. Here!" he said, pushing the case her with hands.
She her onto her and sobbed. "Leave me alone, can't you! I'm and and up with this planet. Let them die. I don't care! Your is false, useless. Admit that! And let me wash the from my hands...." Sobbing out her words.
Brion over her and a breath. Was he wrong? He didn't think about that. He had to go on. Looking at the of her back, with the of her through the thin cloth, he an pity—a he couldn't to. This thin, helpless, woman was his only resource. She had to work. He had to make her work.
Ihjel had done it—used to his upon Brion. Now Brion must do it with Lea. He had had some sessions in the art, but not nearly to make him proficient. Nevertheless he had to try.
Strength was what Lea needed. Aloud he said simply, "You can do it. You have the will and the to finish." And his mind out the order to obey, to his power now that hers was and finished.
Only when she her and he saw the did he that he had succeeded. "You will go on?" he asked quietly.
Lea and rose to her feet. She like a along by invisible[Pg 140] strings. Her wasn't her own, and the him of that last event of the Twenties when he had the same of activity. She her hands on her and opened the case.
"The are all broken," she said.
"This will do," Brion told her, his through the partition. Shards and to the floor. He took some of the pieces and them to that would fit under the on the stage. Lea them without a word. Putting a of the magter's blood on the slide, she over the eyepiece.
Her hands when she to the focusing. Using low power, she the specimen, through the tube. Once she the sub-stage a to catch the light in the window. Brion her, clenched, his anxiety. "What do you see?" he out.
"Phagocytes, ... ... normal." Her voice was dull, exhausted, her with as she into the tube.
Anger at through Brion. Even with failure, he to accept it. He over her and the of until the was in position. "If you can't see anything—try the high power! It's there—I know it's there! I'll you a specimen." He to the cadaver.
His was and he did not see that of her shoulders, or the that her as they the focus. But he did the of that from her, directly on his sense. "What is it?" he called to her, as if she had spoken aloud.
"Something ... something here," she said, "in this leucocyte. It's not normal structure, but it's familiar. I've something like it before, but I just can't remember." She away from the microscope[Pg 141] and pressed her to her forehead. "I know I've it before."
Brion into the and out a shape in the center of the field. It out when he focused—the white, shape of a single-celled leucocyte. To his there was nothing about it. He couldn't know what was strange, when he had no idea of what was normal.
"Do you see those green together?" Lea asked. Before Brion answer she gasped, "I now!" Her was in her excitement. "Icerya purchasi, that was the name, something like that. It's a coccid, a little insect. It had those same together its cells."
"What do they mean? What is the with Dis?"
"I don't know," she said; "it's just that they look so similar. And I saw anything like this in a before. In the coccids, the green into a of that the insect. Not a parasite, but a symbiote...."
Her opened wide as she the of her own words. A symbiote—and Dis was the world where and had more and than on any other planet. Lea's around this and at the of the logic. Brion her and absorption. He did nothing to the mood. Her hands were clenched, her at the as her mind raced.
Brion and Ulv were quiet, her, waiting for her conclusions. The pieces were into shape at last.
Lea opened her hands and them on her skirt. She and to Brion. "Is there a tool box here?" she asked.
Her were so that Brion not answer for a moment. Before he say anything she spoke again.
"Not hand tools; that would take too long. Could[Pg 142] you anything like a power saw? That would be ideal." She to the microscope, and he didn't try to question her. Ulv was still looking at the of the and had nothing of what they had said.
Brion out into the bay. There was nothing he use on the ground floor, so he took the stairs to the above. A here passed by a number of rooms. All of the doors were locked, one with the TOOL ROOM on it. He at the metal door with his without it. As he to look for another way in, he at his watch.
Two o'clock! In ten hours the would on Dis.
The need for at him. Yet there be no noise—someone in the might it. He off his shirt and it in a roll around the of his gun, it in a in of the barrel. Holding the rolled cloth in his left hand, he the gun up tight against the door, the against the lock. The single was only a thud, of the building. Pieces of and the lock and the door open.
When he came Lea was by the body. He the small power saw with a blade. "Will this do?" he asked. "Runs on its own battery; almost too."
"Perfect," she answered. "You're going to have to help me." She into the Disan language. "Ulv, would you some place where you can watch the without being seen? Signal me when it is empty. I'm this saw is going to make a of noise."
Ulv and out into the bay, where he a of empty so he through the small set high in the wall. He looked in directions, then to her to go ahead.
"Stand to one and the cadaver's chin, Brion," she said. "Hold it so the doesn't[Pg 143] shake around when I cut. This is going to be a little gruesome. I'm sorry. But it'll be the way to cut the bone." The saw into the skull.
Once Ulv them into silence, and himself into the next to the window. They waited until he gave them the to continue again. Brion while the saw cut a circle around the skull.
"Finished," Lea said and the saw from her to the floor. She life into her hands she the job. Carefully and she the cap of from the magter's head, his brain to the of light from the window.
"You were right all the time, Brion," she said. "There is your alien."[Pg 144]
