Ross, in the him, was not prepared for the and complete which out not only the action but the light in his own room as well.
"What—?" His voice in his ears, too loudly, for all had been out with the light. The of the system, of which he had not been aware until it had disappeared, was also missing. A of the same panic he had in the of the along his nerves. But this time he meet the unknown with action.
Ross slowly moved through the dark, his hands him to off with the wall. He was that somehow he would the door, from this dark cell....
There! His against a surface. He out his hand—and it passed over emptiness. Ross by touch. There was a door and now it was open. For a moment he hesitated, by a little that if he through he would be out on the with the wolves.
"That's stupid!" Again he spoke aloud. And, just he did uneasy, he moved. All the of the past hours up in him a to do something—anything—just so long as it was what he wanted to do and not at another's orders.
Nevertheless, Ross to move slowly, for the space that open door was as and dark a as the room he left. To along one wall, using an arm as a guide, was the best procedure, he decided.
A on, his from the surface and he into another open door. But there was the again, and he to it thankfully. Another door ... Ross paused, trying to catch some sound, the hint that he was not alone in this blindman's maze. But without air to it, the itself took on a thick which him as a jelly.
The ended. Ross his left hand on it, out with his right, and his across another surface. The space the two was than any doorway. Was it a cross-corridor? He was about to make a arm when he a sound. He was not alone.
Ross to the wall, himself against it, trying to the of his own in order to catch the of the other noise. He that of can the ear. He not identify those clicks, the of that might be air by the opening of another door.
Finally, he something moving at level. Someone or something must be creeping, not walking, toward him. Ross pushed around the corner. It to him to challenge that crawler. There was an of in this in the dark; it was not meant to be a meeting explorers.
The of was not steady. There were long pauses, and Ross that each was by as if the was progress a great and effort. He the picture that in his imagination—that of a along the blacked-out hall. Caution a quick retreat, but Ross's to him where he was, crouching, to see what toward him.
Suddenly there was a of light, and Ross's hands to his eyes. And he a despairing, from near to level. The same light that and room was again. Ross himself at the of two corridors—momentarily, he was pleased that he had that correctly—and the crawler—?
A man—at least the was a two-legged, two-armed in outline—was yards away. But the was so in and the so totally muffled, that it all identity. For that it was the more startling.
One of the hands moved slightly, the from the ground so it an or so. Before Ross move, a man came into the from the end. Murdock Major Kelgarries. He wet his as the major on his the on the floor.
"Hardy! Hardy!" That voice, which the of it was to Ross, was now human. "Hardy, man!" The major's hands were on the body, it, the and against his arm. "It's all right, Hardy. You're back—safe. This is the base, Hardy." He spoke slowly, soothingly, with the one would use to a child.
Those which had into the air onto the bandage-wreathed chest. "Back—safe—" The voice from the was a croak.
"Back, safe," the major him.
"Dark—dark all around again—" the croak.
"Just a power failure, man. Everything's all right now. We'll you into bed."
The again until it touched Kelgarries' arm; then it a little as if the hand under it was trying to grip.
"Safe—?"
"You you are!" The major's reassurance. Now Kelgarries looked up at Ross as if he the other had been there all the time.
"Murdock, to the end room. Call Dr. Farrell!"
"Yes, sir!" The "sir" came so that Ross had already the end room he he had used it.
Nobody to Ross Murdock. The Hardy was by the doctor and two and away, the major walking the stretcher, still one of the hands in his. Ross hesitated, sure he was not to follow, but not either to or return to his own room. The of Hardy, he might be, had Ross's of the project he had too to join.
That what they did here was important, Ross had doubted. That it was dangerous, he had early suspected. But his had been an of danger, not with such as Hardy through the dark. From the first, Ross had nursed plans for escape; now he he must out of this place he end up a for Hardy.
"Murdock?"
Having no from behind, Ross whirled, to use his fists, his only weapons. But he did not the major, or any of the other men he positions of authority. The newcomer's skin was against the of the walls. His and were only a darker; but the of color was by the of his eyes.
Expressionless, the dark quietly, his arms by his sides, studying Ross, as if the man was some problem he had been to solve. When he spoke, his voice was a any of feeling.
"I am Ashe." He himself baldly; he might have been saying "This is a table and that is a chair."
Ross's quick took from the other's indifference. "All right—so you're Ashe!" He to make a challenge of it. "And what is that to mean?"
But the other did not to the bait. He shrugged. "For the time being we have been partnered——"
"Partnered for what?" Ross, his temper.
"We work in here. The machine us ..." he answered and his watch. "Mess call soon."
Ashe had already away, and Ross not the other's of interest. While Murdock to ask questions of the major or any others on that of the fence, surely he some from a "volunteer."
"What is this place, anyway?" he asked.
The other over his shoulder. "Operation Retrograde."
Ross his anger. "Okay, but what do they do here? Listen, I just saw a who'd been up as if he'd been in a mixer, along this hall. What of work do they do here? And what do we have to do?"
To his Ashe smiled, at least his faintly. "Hardy got under your skin, eh? Well, we have our of failures. They are as as it's possible to make, and they give us every that can be out for us——"
"Failures at what?"
"Operation Retrograde."
Somewhere the a gave a whirr.
"That's call. And I'm hungry, if you're not." Ashe walked away as if Ross Murdock had to exist.
But Ross Murdock did exist, and to him that was an fact. As he along Ashe he that he was going to continue to exist, in one piece and unharmed, Operation Retrograde or no Operation Retrograde. And he was going to a out of somebody very soon.
To his he Ashe waiting for him at the door of a room from which came the of voices and a of and tableware.
"Not many in tonight," Ashe in a take-it-or-leave-it tone. "It's been a week."
The room was occupied. Five tables were empty, while the men at the two. Ross ten men, either already or from a with well-filled trays. All of them were in slacks, shirt, and like himself—the to be a of uniform—and six of them were ordinary in physical appearance. The other four so that Ross his amazement.
Since their them without comment, Ross at them as he waited Ashe for a tray. One pair were Oriental; they were small, men with thin of long black on either of their mouths. Yet he had a word or two of their conversation, and they spoke his own language with the of the native born. In to the mustaches, each a mark on the and others of the same design on the of their hands.
The second were more fantastic. The color of their was normal, but they it in long to across their powerful shoulders, a fashion any Ross had seen. Yet any of did not the at their features.
"Gordon!" One of the around from the table to Ashe as he came the with his tray. "When did you back? And where is Sanford?"
One of the Orientals the spoon with which he had been his coffee and asked with concern, "Another loss?"
Ashe his head. "Just reassignment. Sandy's Outpost Gog and doing well." He and his came to life with an of Ross would not have possible. "He'll end up with a or two if he doesn't watch out. He takes to as if he were with a in his fist."
The Oriental laughed and then at Ross. "Your new partner, Ashe?"
Some of the from Ashe's face; he was again. "Temporary assignment. This is Murdock." The was to Ross. "Hodaki, Feng," he the two Easterners with a as he put his tray. "Jansen, Van Wyke." That for the blonds.
"Ashe!" A man at the other table and came to theirs. Thin, with a dark, narrow and eyes, he was much than the others, and not so well controlled. He might answer questions if there was something in it for him, Ross decided, and the away.
"Well, Kurt?" Ashe's was as as it be, and Ross's of the man up a when the appeared to have no upon him.
"Did you about Hardy?"
Feng looked as if he were about to speak, and Van Wyke frowned. Ashe a of and he replied. "Naturally." His had to Hardy to a matter-of-fact from Kurt's melodrama.
"He's up ... kaput...." Kurt's accent, in the beginning, was thickening. "Tortured...."
Ashe him levelly. "You aren't on Hardy's run, are you?"
Still Kurt to be quashed. "Of course, I'm not! You know the I am in for. But that is not saying that such can not as well on my run, or yours, or yours!" He pointed a at Feng and then at the men.
"You can out of and your neck, too, if your number comes up that way," Jansen. "Go on Millaird's if it you that much. You were told the score at your briefing. You know why you were picked...."
Ross a at him by Ashe. He was still totally in the dark, but he would not try to any from this crowd. Maybe part of their was this hush-hush business. He would wait and see, until he Kurt and do a little pumping. Meanwhile he ate and to up his in the conversation.
"Then you are going to keep on saying 'Yes, sir,' 'No, sir,' to every order here——?"
Hodaki his hand on the table. "Why this foolishness, Kurt? You well know how and why we are for runs. Hardy had the against him through no fault of the project. That has before; it will again——"
"Which is what I have been saying! Do you wish it to to you? Pretty those on your play with their prisoners, do they not?"
"Oh, up!" Jansen got to his feet. Since he at least five above Kurt and have him in two over one knee, his order was one to be considered. "If you have any complaints, go make them to Millaird. And, little man"—he a into Kurt's chest—"wait until you make that of yours you off so loudly. No one is sent out without every of he can take. But we can't set up luck in advance, and Hardy was unlucky. That's that. We got him back, and that was lucky for him. He'd be the to tell you so." He stretched. "I'm for a game—Ashe? Hodaki?"
"Always so energetic," Ashe, but he as did the small Oriental.
Feng at Ross. "Always these three try to each other, and so all the are draws. But we ... yes, we have hopes...."
So Ross had no to speak to Kurt. Instead, he was into the of men who, having their meal, entered a small with a circle of seats at one and a space for at the other. What Ross as as the of the killing. This too was a fight, but not a physical struggle. All three were not only in body, but as Ross came to understand, they were also in their approach to any problem.
They seated themselves at the three points of a triangle. Then Ashe looked from the tall to the small Oriental. "Territory?" he asked crisply.
"Inland plains!" That came almost in chorus, and each man, looking at his opponent, to laugh.
Ashe himself chuckled. "Trying to be tonight, boys?" he inquired. "All right, it is."
He his hand on the him, and to Ross's the area around the players and the a of countryside. Grassy under the wind of a day.
"Red!"
"Blue!"
"Yellow!"
The came from the the players. And upon those orders points of the color came into being as small lights.
"Red—caravan!" Ross Jansen's boom.
"Blue—raiders!" Hodaki's choice was only an behind.
"Yellow—unknown factor."
Ross was sure that came from Jansen. "Is the unknown a natural phenomenon?"
"No—tribe on the march."
"Ah!" Hodaki was that. Ross picture his shrug.
The game began. Ross had of chess, of played with or ships, of on paper which from the players a quick and a memory. This game, however, was all those combined, and more. As his came to life the moving points of light were into the raiders, the merchants' caravan, the on the march. There was deployment, a battle, a retreat, a small victory here, to be by a there. The game might have gone on for hours. The men about him muttered, taking and in voices low not to out the moves called by the players. Ross was when the red a very ambush, and when the was to or the points. It was the most game he had seen, and he that the three men ordering those moves were all masters of strategy. Their each other so that an win was away.
Then Jansen laughed, and the red line of the in a tight knot. "Camped at a spring," he announced, "but with of out." Red that center core. "And they'll have to there for all of me. We keep this up till doomsday, and nobody would crack."
"No"—Hodaki him—"someday one of you will make a little mistake and then——"
"And then boys you're will us?" asked Jansen. "That'll be the day! Anyway, for now."
"Granted!"
The lights of the on and the into a dark, floor. "Any time you want a return it'll be with me," said Ashe, up.
Jansen grinned. "Put that off for a month or so, Gordon. We push into time tomorrow. Take of yourselves, you two. I don't want to have to in another set of players when I come back."
Ross, it difficult to shake off the which had him entranced, a touch on his and up. Kurt him, upon Jansen and Hodaki as they over some point of the game.
"See you tonight." The boy's moved, a Ross from his own past. Yes, he would see Kurt tonight, or he could. He was going to learn what it was this odd company to keep as their own private secret.
