One of the was and screaming. The him and him into silence. Seeing this, the other two men returned to work with hands. Even if all life on the surface of the was dead, this would have no on the magter. They would go ahead as planned, without or to their set course.
As the worked, their from to anger. Right and were forgotten. They had been killed—the death of must already be into the caves—but they also had the for vengeance. Swiftly they their work to completion, with a speed and they had before.
"What are those doing?" Ulv asked.
Brion from his of and looked across the floor. The men had a and were one of the onto it. They pushed it over to the of the jump-field.
"They are going to bomb Nyjord now, just as Nyjord Dis. That machine will the in a special way to the other planet."
"Will you stop them?" Ulv asked. He had his in his hand and his was an mask.
Brion almost at the of the situation. In of he had done to prevent it, Nyjord had the bombs. And this act alone may have their own planet. Brion had it his power now to stop the in the cavern. Should he? Should he save the of his killers? Or should he the blood-oath that had[Pg 163] and through the ages: An for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. It would be so simple. He had to do nothing. The score would be even, and his and the Disans' death avenged.
Did Ulv have his to kill Brion with, if he should try to stop the launchings? Or had he the Disan entirely?
"Will you stop them, Ulv?" he asked.
How large was mankind's of obligation? The had this for his mate, then for his family. It until men and died for the ideas of and nations, then for whole planets. Would the time come when men might that the should be to the largest and most of all—mankind? And that to life of all kinds.
Brion saw this idea, not in but as a reality. When he the question to himself in this way he that it its answer. He his gun out, and as he did he what Ulv's answer might be.
"Nyjord is medvirk," Ulv said, his and sending a across the cavern. It one of the technicians, who and to the floor.
Brion's into the board, and it, the to Nyjord for all time.
Medvirk, Ulv had said. A life that and other life forms. It may kill in self-defense, but it is not a or destroyer. Ulv had a lifetime of knowledge about the of life. He the of the idea and all the and confusions. He had killed the magter, who were his own people, they were umedvirk—against life. And he had saved his they were medvirk.
With this came the painful knowledge that the and the people that had produced this were dead.
In the the saw the of their plans, and the mouth from which the bul[Pg 164]lets had come. Silently they to kill their enemy—a of fury.
Brion and Ulv back. Even the knowledge that he was no what not Brion to death at the hands of the magter. To Ulv, the was much easier. He was killing umedvirk. A in life, he the anti-life.
They into the darkness, still firing. The had lights and rifles, and were right them. Knowing the than the men they chased, the circled. Brion saw lights ahead and Ulv to a stop.
"They know their way through these caves, and we don't," he said. "If we try to they'll just shoot us down. Let's a spot we can and settle into it."
"Back here"—Ulv gave a in the right direction—"there is a with only one entrance, and that is very narrow."
"Let's go!"
Running as as they in the darkness, they the without being seen. What noise they was in other that and through the caves. Once inside, they a and waited. The end was certain.
The ran into their cave, his light into all the places of concealment. The passed over the two men, and at the same Brion fired. The as the fell—a that would surely have been by the others.
Before anyone else came into the cave, Brion ran over and the still light. Propping it on the so it on the entrance, he to Ulv. They waited for the attack.
It was not long in coming. Two in, and died. More were outside, Brion knew, and he how long it would be they the and rolled one into their shelter.[Pg 165]
An outside, and explosions. In their place, Brion and Ulv low and why the attack didn't come. Then one of the came in the entrance, but Brion shooting.
The man had in, him as he came.
Ulv had no about killing, only his couldn't the magter's thick clothing. As the turned, Ulv's once and death the of the other man's hand. He into a heap.
"Don't shoot," a voice called from the cave, and a man through the and to in the from the light.
Brion at Ulv's arm, the from the Disan's mouth.
The man in the light a helmet, thick and a pouch-hung uniform.
He was a Nyjorder.
The was almost to accept. Brion had the fall. Yet the Nyjord soldier was here. The two couldn't be together.
"Would you keep a on his arm, sir, just in case," the soldier said, at Ulv's blowpipe. "I know what those can do." He a from one of his pockets and spoke into it.
More soldiers into the cave, and Professor-Commander Krafft came in them. He looked out of in the uniform. The gun was more in his blue-veined hand. After the pistol to the nearest soldier with an air of relief, he over to Brion and took his hand.
"It is a and to meet you in person," he said. "And your friend Ulv as well."
"Would you what is going on?" Brion said thickly. He was by the that none of this possibly be happening.
"We will always you as the man who[Pg 166] saved us from ourselves," Krafft said, once again the of the commander.
"What Brion wants are facts, Grandpa, not speeches," Hys said. The of the leader of the Nyjord army pushed through the of men until he next to Krafft. "Simply stated, Brion, your plan succeeded. Krafft your message to me—and as soon as I it I and met him on his ship. I'm sorry that Telt's dead—but he what we were looking for. I couldn't his report of traces. Your girl friend with the hacked-up at the same time I did, and we all took a long look at the green in its skull. Her of what it is sense. We were already out when we had your call about something having been in the tower. After that it was just a of tracks—and the you planted."
"But the at midnight?" Brion in. "I them!"
"You were to," Hys laughed. "Not only you, but the in this cave. We they would be and the defended. So at midnight we a large chemical at the entrance. Enough to kill the without the down. We also that the in would their or from the radiation. And they did. It like a charm. We came in and took them by surprise. Made a clean sweep—killed the ones we couldn't capture."
"One of the jump-space was still alive," Krafft said. "He told us about your stopping the at Nyjord, the two of you."
None of the Nyjorders there add anything to his words, not the Hys. But Brion their feelings, the of their and happiness. It was a he would forget.
"There is no more war," Brion for Ulv, that the Disan had nothing of[Pg 167] the explanation. As he said it, he that there was one error in the story.
"You couldn't have done it," Brion said. "You on this you had my message about the tower. That means you still the to be sending their to Nyjord—and you the in of this knowledge."
"Of course," Professor Krafft said, at Brion's of understanding. "What else we do? The are sick!"
Hys laughed at Brion's expression. "You have to Nyjord psychology," he said. "When it was a of and killing, my agree on an course. War is so to our that it couldn't be correctly. That's the trouble with being a vegetable in a of carnivores. You're easy for the one that lands on your back. Any other would have jumped on the with and the out of them. We it so long it almost got worlds killed. Your mind-parasite us from the brink."
"I don't understand," Brion said.
"A of definition. Before you came we had no way to with the here on Dis. They were to us. Nothing they did sense—and nothing we did to have the on them. But you that they were sick, and that's something we know how to handle. We're again; my army was into the of the Nyjord by agreement. Doctors and are on the way here now. Plans were put under way to what part of the population we until the were found. The is again, and hard."
"Because the are sick, by a life form?" Brion asked.
"Exactly so," Professor Krafft said. "We are civilized, after all. You can't us to a war[Pg 168]—and you surely can't us to the of neighbors?"
"No ... you surely can't," Brion said, heavily. He looked at Ulv, to the speech had been incomprehensible. Beyond him, Hys his most as he the of his people.
"Hys," Brion called out, "you all that into Disan and to Ulv. I wouldn't dare."[Pg 169]
