Ross against the of his room, his toward the open door. A had him, and he was now as as a cat her spring. But he did not himself at the now the door open. He waited until the visitor was the he along the wall, the door and his against it.
"What's the pitch?" Ross in a whisper.
There was a breath, maybe two, then a little laugh out of the dark. "You are ready?" The visitor's left no as to his identity. Kurt was paying him the promised visit.
"Did you think that I wouldn't be?"
"No." The sat without on the of the bunk. "I would not be here otherwise, Murdock. You are ... have on the ball. You see, I have about you. Like me, you were into this game. Tell me, is it not true that you saw Hardy tonight."
"You a lot, don't you?" Ross was noncommittal.
"I hear, I see, I learn more than these big mouths, like the major with all his do's and don'ts. That I can tell you! You saw Hardy. Do you want to be a Hardy?"
"Is there any of that?"
"Danger!" Kurt snorted. "Danger—you have not yet the meaning of danger, little man. Not until now. I ask you again, do you want to end like Hardy? They have not yet you in with all their big talk. That is why I came here tonight. If you know what is good for you, Murdock, you will make a they tape you——"
"Tape me?"
Kurt's laugh was full of anger, not amusement. "Oh, yes. They have many here. They are big brains, eggheads, all of them with their gadgets. They put you through a machine to you registered on a tape. Then, my boy, you cannot the without all the alarms! Neat, eh? So if you want to make a break, you must try it they tape you."
Ross did not trust Kurt, but he was to him attentively. The other's to one of science him to be as of the whole as his had been of black magic. As all his generation, he was to that all of were possible and probable—usually to be produced in some future, but today.
"They must have you taped," Ross pointed out.
Kurt laughed again, but this time he was amused. "They that they have. Only they are not as as they believe, the major and the rest, Millaird! No, I have a to out of this place, only I cannot do it alone. That is why I have been waiting for them to in a new guy I to they had him for good. You are tough, Murdock. I saw your record, and I'm that you did not come here with the of staying. So—here is your to go along with one who the ropes. You will not have such a good one again."
The longer Kurt talked, the more he was. Ross a of his suspicions. It was true that he had come prepared to at the possible opportunity, and if Kurt had planned, so much the better. Of course, it was possible that Kurt was a pigeon, leading him on as a test. But that was a Ross would have to take.
"Look here, Murdock, maybe you think it's easy to out of here. Do you know where we are, boy? We're near to the North Pole as makes no difference! Are you going to leg it some hundreds of miles through thick ice and snow? A if you make it. I do not think that you can—not without plans and a partner who what he is about."
"And how do we go? Steal one of those atomjets? I'm no pilot—are you?"
"They have other a-j's here. This place is hush-hush. Even the a-j's do not set too often for they will be by radar. Where have you been, boy? Don't you know the Reds are around up here? These watch for Red activity, and the Reds watch them. They play it under the table on sides. We our by cats——"
"Cats?"
"Snow sleds, like tractors," the other answered impatiently. "Our is miles to the south, and the cats go once a month to it back. There's no to a cat, and they tear off the miles——"
"How many miles to the south?" Ross skeptically. Granted Kurt was speaking the truth, travel over an in a machine was risky, to say the least. Ross had only a very idea of the regions, but he was sure that they easily up the forever.
"Maybe only a hundred or so, boy. But I have more than one plan, and I'm to my neck. Do you think I to start out blind?"
There was that, of course. Ross had early sized up his visitor as one who was of all in his own welfare. He wouldn't his without a plan in mind.
"Well, what do you say, Murdock? Are you with me or not?"
"I'll take some time to it over——"
"Time is what you do not have, boy. Tomorrow they will tape you. Then—no over the for you."
"Suppose you tell me your for the tape," Ross countered.
"That I cannot do, as how it in the way my brain is put together. Do you think I can open my and hand you a piece of what is inside? No, you jump with me tonight or else I must wait to the next one who lands here."
Kurt up. His last were spoken matter-of-factly, and Ross he meant what he said. But Ross hesitated. He wanted to try for freedom, a by his of what was going on here. He neither liked Kurt, but he he him—better than he Ashe or the others. Also, with Kurt he was sure he his own; it would be the of he had before.
"Tonight...." he slowly.
"Yes, tonight!" There was new in Kurt's voice, for he that the other was wavering. "I have been preparing for a long time, but there must be two of us. We have to take the cat. There can be no until we are to the south. I tell you it will be easy. There are food along the for emergencies. I have a map marked to where they are. Are you coming?"
When Ross did not answer at once the other moved closer to him.
"Remember Hardy? He was not the first, and he will not be the last. They use us up fast here. That is why they you so quickly. I tell you, it is to take your with me than on a run."
"And what is a run?"
"So they have not yet you? Well, a is a little into history—not history such as you learned out of a book when you were a little kid. No, you are into some time history——"
"That's impossible!"
"Yes? You saw those two big boys tonight, did you not? Why do you they sport those braids? Because they are taking a little into the time when he-men braids, and big to a man open! And Hodaki and his partner.... Ever of the Tartars? Maybe you have not, but once they nearly most of Europe."
Ross swallowed. He now where he had pictured on warriors—the Vikings! And Tartars, yes, that movie about someone named Khan, Genghis Khan! But to return into the past was impossible.
Yet, he the picture he had today with the and the shaggy-haired man who skins. Neither of these was of his own world! Could Kurt be telling the truth? Ross's memory of the he had Kurt's more convincing.
"Suppose you sent to a time where they do not like strangers," Kurt continued. "Then you are in for it. That is what to Hardy. And it is not good—not good at all!"
"But why?"
Kurt snorted. "That they do not tell you until just you take your run. I do not want to know why. But I do know that I am not going to be sent into any where a may a through me just to prove something or other for Major John Kelgarries, or for Millaird either. I will try my plan first."
The in Kurt's Ross past the point. He, too, would try the cat. He was only familiar with this time and world; he had no to be sent into another one.
Once Ross had his decision, Kurt him into action. Kurt's knowledge of the at the proved excellent. Twice they were by locked doors, but only momentarily, for Kurt had a gadget, in the of his hand, which had only to be over a to open a door.
There was light in the to give them easy passage, but the rooms were dark, and twice Kurt had to lead Ross by the hand, or with the of one who had that same often. Murdock's opinion of his companion's ability that tour, and he to that he was in luck to have such a partner.
In the last room, Ross Kurt's orders to put on the Kurt passed to him. The fit was not exact, but he that Kurt had as well as possible. A final door opened, and they out into the night of winter. Kurt's hand Ross's, him along. Together, they pushed the door of a to at their vehicle.
The cat was a machine, but Ross was no time to study it. He was into the cockpit, a settled over them, them in, and the engine came to life under Kurt's urging. The cat must be traveling at its best pace, Ross thought. Yet the which took them away from the the than a man make afoot.
For a time Kurt away from the starting point, but Ross soon him slowly to himself as if he were something. At the count of twenty the cat to the right and a wide circle which was at the next count of twenty by a in the opposite direction. After this pattern had been for six turns, Ross it difficult to they had returned to their course. When Kurt stopped he asked, "Why the pattern?"
"Would you be in little pieces all over the landscape?" the other snapped. "The doesn't need two miles high to keep us in, or others out; they take other precautions. You should thank we got through that mine without blowing...."
Ross swallowed, but he to let Kurt know that he was rattled. "So it isn't as easy to away as you said?"
"Shut up!" Kurt again, and Ross had some cold moments in which to upon the of quick and wonder why he had not through he leaped.
Again they sketched a pattern in the snow, but this time the angles. Ross now and then at the man at the wheel. How had Kurt managed to this route? His to the must be a one.
Back and they crawled, only a yards in each of those to right or left.
"Good thing these cats are powered," Kurt one of the mine fields. "We'd out of fuel otherwise."
Ross the to move his away from any possible point with the engine. These must be safe to in, but the of was frightening. Luckily, Kurt was now to a track, with no more weaving.
"We are out!" Kurt said with exultation. But he added no more than just the of their escape.
The cat on. To Ross's there was no to follow, no guideposts, yet Kurt ahead with confidence. A little later he to a stop and said to Ross, "We have to drive turn and turn about—your turn."
Ross was dubious. "Well, I can drive a car—but this——"
"Is proof." Kurt him up. "The was through the mine fields, and we are out of that now. See here—" his hand a on the panel, "this will keep you straight. If you can a car, you can this. Watch!" He started up again and once more the cat to the left.
A light on the to at a which as they away from their original course.
"See? You keep that light steady, and you are on course. If it to blink, you about until it again. Simple for a baby. Take over and see."
It was hard to places in the sealed of the cat, but they were successful, and Ross took the wheel gingerly. Following Kurt's directions, he started ahead, his on the light than the white him. And after a minutes of he the of it. As Kurt had promised, it was very simple. After him for a while, his gave a of and settled for a nap.
Once the of the cat off, the operation to monotonous. Ross himself yawning, but he at his post with stubbornness. This had been Kurt's game all the way through—so far—and he was not going to his to that he be of use also. If there had only been some in the snow, some light or to be ahead, it would not have been so bad. Finally, every now and then, Ross had to off just so that the of light would him and keep him from asleep. He was that Kurt had one of those until the other spoke. "Your own private clock, Murdock? Okay, I do not with anyone who his head. But you had some shut-eye, or we will not keep rolling."
Ross was too to protest. They places, and he up as best he on his small of seat. Only now that he was free to sleep, he he no longer wanted to. Kurt must have Ross had asleep, for after two miles of along, he moved the wheel. Ross saw by the of light from the that his was into the of his to out a small object which he against the wheel of the cat with one hand, while with the other he out an rhythm.
To Ross the action no sense. But he did not miss the other's of as he his to once more, as if some difficult was now him. Shortly the cat ground to a stop, and Ross sat up, his eyes. "What's the matter? Engine trouble?"
Kurt had his arms across the wheel. "No. It is just that we are to wait here——"
"Wait? For what? Kelgarries to come along and us up?"
Kurt laughed. "The major? How I wish that he would arrive presently. What a he would receive! Not two little to be put into their cages, but the tiger cat, all and fangs!"
Ross sat up straighter. This now had the of a frame, a with himself planted right in the middle. He out the possibilities and came up with an answer which would Ross Murdock all over any map. If Kurt were waiting to meet friends out here, they only be of one brand.
For most of his life Ross had been in a private against the restrictions upon him by a set of legal to which something him would not conform. And he had, those same years with attacks, retreats, and maneuvering, a of by which to play his game. He had not murdered, and he would the path Kurt took. To one who was of restraint, the methods and of Kurt's were not only and illogical—they were to be to the last of any man's energy.
"Your friends late?" He to casual.
"Not yet, and if you now plan to play the hero, Murdock, think of it!" Kurt's the of an order—that note Ross had so much in the major's voice. "This is an operation which has been most planned and upon which a great depends. No one shall it for us now——"
"The Reds planted you on the project, eh?" Ross wanted to keep the other talking to give himself a to think. And this was one time he had to think, and with speed.
"There is no need for me to tell you the sad of my life, Murdock. And you would much of it boring. If you wish to continue to live—for a while, at least—you will and do as you are told."
Kurt must be armed, for he would not be so unless he had a he now turn on Ross. On the other hand, if what Ross were true, this was the time to play the hero—when there was only Kurt to handle. Better to be a hero than a live in the hands of Kurt's dear friends across the pole.
Without warning, Ross his to the left, to pin Kurt against the driver's of the cabin, his hands at the the other's hood, trying for a hold. Perhaps it was Kurt's over-confidence which him and left him open to a attack. He hard to up his arm, but his weight and Ross's him tight. Ross at his wrist, noticing a of metal.
They about, the of the them. Ross why the other had not sure of him earlier. As it was he with all his to keep Kurt immobile, to try and him out with a lucky blow.
In the end Kurt in his own defeat. When Ross somewhat, the other pushed against him, only to have Ross to one side. Kurt not stop himself, and his against the wheel of the cat. He limp.
Ross the most of the next moments. He his from under his parka, it around Kurt's with no gentleness. Then he about, places with the man.
He had no idea of where to go, but he was sure he was going to away—at the cat's top speed—from that point. And with that in mind and only a limited knowledge of how to manage the machine, Ross started up and in a wide circle until he was sure the cat was in the opposite direction.
The light which had them was still on. Would its take him to the base? Lost in the of the cold wilderness, he the only choice possible and the cat again.
