Ross to that hold, to turn his head, to the which upon him now. Unlike anything he had met in his lifetime, it only have come from some source. This was a of will against will! The same against authority which had his boyhood, which had pushed him into the of the project, him to meet this attack.
He was going to turn his head; he was going to see who there. He was! Inch by inch, Ross's came around, though his and flesh, and every was an effort. He a of the beach the rocks, and the of was empty. Overhead the were gone—as if they had existed. Or, as if they had been away by some fighter, who wanted no from the purpose at hand.
Having his head, Ross to turn his body. His left hand out, slowly, as if it moved some great weight. His on the and he that pain, for it through the of that was being used against him. Deliberately he ground his skin against the stone, on the in his hand as the up his arm. While he his attention on the physical pain, he the pressure against him weaken. Summoning all his strength, Ross around in a movement which was only a of his grace.
The beach was still empty, for the of driftwood, the rocks, and the other he had originally there. Yet he that something was waiting to pounce. Having that for him pain was a defense weapon, he had that one resource. If they took him, it would be after him in a fight.
Even as he this decision, Ross was of a of the upon him. It was as if his had been surprised, either at his of the past or at his determination. Ross upon that surprise, adding it to his stock of weapons.
He forward, still his hand against the as a influence, took up a length of wood, and its end into the fire. Having once used fire to save himself, he was and to do it again, although at the same time, another part of him from what he intended.
Holding his breast-high, Ross across it, the land for the of his enemies. In of the fire and the light he him, the him from too far. Behind him the crash of the have the noise of a army.
"Come and me!"
He his into life and then it into the among the dunes. He was for a second almost the of the had into the twisted, of a tree.
He tense, a second now in his hand. The of another's will which had him so a moment ago was easing, slowly as water might away. Yet he not that this small act of had so his as to make him give up the this easily. It was more likely the pause of a for a grip.
The in his hand—Ross's second line of defense—was a he was to use, but would use if he were to it. He his hand against the as a and a spur.
Fire and among the where the had lodged, providing a light yards from where he stood. He was for it in the of the storm. If they would only come to open the rain struck....
Ross his with his as spray, from the sea, his and his back. If it rained, he would what small the fire gave him, but then he would some other way to meet them. They would neither him take him, if he had to into the sea and swim out into the of the cold northern until he not move his any longer.
Once again that steel-edge will at Ross, his stubbornness, his mind. He the torch, the of the across the hand on the rock. Unable to his own of protest, he was not sure he had the to repeat such an act.
He had again! The pressure had away in a flick, almost as if some had been off. Through the red of his Ross a and disbelief. He was that in this he was using a power of will and a of he had he possessed. Because of his daring, he had his as no physical attack have them.
"Come and me!" He again at the where the fire ate at the and nothing stirred, yet something very much alive and hidden. This time there was more than challenge in Ross's demand—there was a note of triumph.
The by him, at his fire, at the he held. Let the sea water put out! He would another way of fighting. He was of that, and he that those out there it too and were troubled.
The fire was being by the wind along the lines of bone-white left high on the beach, a of him and the interior, not, however, an to there.
Again Ross against the rock, studying the length of beach. Had he been in that they were the range of his voice? The power they had used might over a distance.
"Yahhhh—" Instead of a demand, he now a cry, his defiance. Some wild had been to him by the winds, the sea, his own pain. Ready to the they send against him, he to that at them as they had with their will at him. No answer came to his challenge, no to counter-attack.
Moving away from the rock, Ross to walk toward the drift, his in his hand. "I am here!" he into the wind. "Come out—face me!"
It was then that he saw those who had him. Two tall thin figures, dark clothes, were him, their dark in the white of their faces.
Ross halted. Though they were by yards of and and a barrier, he the they wielded. The nature of that had changed, however. Once it had with a point; now it a of protection. Ross not through that shield, and they not it. A them in this battle, the like of which Ross's world had not before.
He those white faces, trying to some reply to the deadlock. There into his mind the that while he and moved, and they and moved, this struggle, this pursuit, would continue. For some they wanted to have him under their control, but that was going to if they all had to here on this of water-washed until they to death! Ross to drive that across to them.
"Murrrrdock!" That out of the sea by the wind might almost have come from the bill of a sea bird.
"Murrrrdock!"
Ross around. Visibility had been by the clouds and the spray, but he see a dark thing on the waves. The sub? A raft?
Sensing a movement him, Ross about as one of the the drift, of the flames, and ran light-footedly toward him in what only be an all-out attempt at capture. The man had a like the one that had Foscar. Ross himself at his in a dive, on him with a impact.
In Ross's the alien's was fragile, but he moved as Murdock to his on the hand and pin him to the sand. Ross was too upon his own part of the to the of a over his and a thin, cry. He his opponent's hand against a stone, and the white face, away from his own, with pain.
Fumbling for a hold, Ross was sent rolling. He came on his left hand with a which to his and stopped him just long for the other to his feet.
The blue-suited man to the of his where it by the drift. He his over the with more than Ross would have possible and the after him. Ross, on the sand, light and empty. The tie which had and him to the had been broken.
"Murdock!"
A in on the waves, two men it. Ross got up, at the of his with his right hand. He in what he saw now—the had not left, after all. The two men toward him through the were of his own kind.
"Murdock!"
It did not at all that Kelgarries him first. Ross, up in this dream, to the major for with the studs. If the from the ship did him by the suit, they were not going to the to the post and the project as they had the Reds.
"Got—to—get—this—off—" He the out one by one, at the studs. "They can this and us—"
Kelgarries needed no explanation. Ripping the fastenings, he the from Ross, sending him with pain as he the left the man's arm.
The wind and were ice on his as they him to the raft, him aboard. He did not at all their on the sub. He was in the of the ship when he opened his to see Kelgarries him intently. Ashe, a of about his and chest, on a bunk. McNeil a medical out supplies.
"He needs a shot," the was saying as Ross at the major.
"You left the suit—back there?" Ross demanded.
"We did. What's this about them you by it? Who was you?"
"Men from the space ship. That's the only way they have me the river." He was it difficult to talk, and the a in his direction, but somehow in of half-finished Ross got out his story—Foscar's death, his own from the chief's pyre, and the of on the beach. Even as he it out he how most of it must sound. Yet Kelgarries appeared to accept every word, and there was no of on Ashe's face.
"So that's how you got those burns," said the major slowly when Ross had his story. "Deliberately your hand in the fire to their hold—" He his against the of the and then, when Ross at the jar, he those to press Ross's with a warm and touch. "Put him to sleep," he ordered the medic. "He about a month of it, I should judge. I think he has us a slice of the than we had for...."
Ross the of the and then nothing more. Even when he was at the post and later when he was into his proper time, he did not awaken. He only approached a in which he ate and drowsed, not for the world his own bunk.
But there came a day when he did care, up to food with a great of his old self-assertion. The doctor looked him over, him to out of and try out his legs. They were at first, and Ross was he had to move only from his to a waiting chair.
"Visitors welcome?"
Ross looked up and then smiled, hesitatingly, at Ashe. The older man his arm in a but otherwise his self.
"Ashe, tell me what happened. Are we at the main base? What about the Reds? We weren't by the ship people, were we?"
Ashe laughed. "Did Doc just wind you up to let you spin, Ross? Yes, this is home, sweet home. As for the rest—well, it is a long story, and we are still up pieces of it here and there."
Ross pointed to the in invitation. "Can you tell me what is known?" He was still at a loss, his old of Ashe his of eagerness. Ross still one of those the other so well how to deliver to the bumptious. But Ashe did come in and down, none of his old now in evidence.
"You have been a package, Murdock." His had some of the ring of the old Ashe, but there was no the words. "Rather a lad, weren't you, after you were off into that river?"
Ross's reply was a grimace. "You all about that!" He had no time for his own adventures, already into a past which them and unimportant. "What to you—and to the project—and——"
"One thing at a time, and don't your fences." Ashe was him with an odd which Ross not understand. He to in his "instructor" voice. "We it the river—how, don't ask me. That was something of a 'project' in itself," he laughed. "The came piece by piece, and we most of the last of miles, I think. I'm none too clear on the details; you'll have to those out of McNeil, who was still among those present then. Other than that, we cannot with your adventures. We a fire and sat by it our for a days, until the came to us——"
"And took you off." Ross a return of that he had on the when the still-warm of the fire had told him the of his too-late arrival.
"And took us off. But Kelgarries to out our waiting period for another twenty-four hours, in case you did manage to that you took into the river. Then we your of on the beach, and the was easy."
"The ship people didn't us to post?"
"Not that we know of. Anyway, we've closed the post on that time level. You might be in a very our modern have up, over and under the iron curtain. A blast off in the Baltic region of this time, some clean off the map. The Reds have as to the nature of the and the exact place where it occurred."
"The them all the way up to this time!"—Ross rose from the chair—"But why? And why did they me?"
"That we can only guess. But I don't that they were moved by any private for the of their derelict. There is some more why they don't want us to or use anything from one of their cargoes——"
"But they were in power thousands of years ago. Maybe they and their worlds are gone now. Why should we do today to them?"
"Well, it matter, and in some very way. And we have to learn that reason."
"How?" Ross looked at his left hand, in a of under which he very to a finger. Maybe he should have been to welcome another meeting with the ship people, but if he were honest, he had to admit that he did not. He up, sure that Ashe had read all that and him for it. But there was no that his had been noticed.
"By doing some of our own," Ashe answered. "Those we are going to be a big help. More than one was located. We were right in our that the Reds the of one in Siberia, but it was in no condition to be explored. They already had the idea of the time traveler, so they it to the of other ships, with way stops to people like us off the scent. So they an ship, and also others. At least three are on this of the Atlantic where they couldn't at them very well. Those we can with now——"
"Won't the be waiting for us to try that?"
"As as we can they don't know where any of these ships crashed. Either there were no survivors, or and took off in while they were still in space. They might have of the Reds' if you hadn't that on the derelict."
Ross was to a small boy who needed an for some piece of mischief. "I didn't to." That so that he was into a laugh, only to see Ashe at him.
"Seeing as how your action also put a very in the opposition's wheel, you are forgiven. Anyway, you have also provided us with a good idea of what we may be up against with the aliens, and we'll be prepared for that next time."
"Then there will be a next time?"
"We are calling in all time agents, our in the right period. Yes, there will be a next time. We have to learn just what they are trying so hard to protect."
"What do you think it is?"
"Space!" Ashe spoke the word as if he the promise it held.
"Space?"
"That ship you was a from a fleet, but it was a ship and it used the of space flight. Do you now? In these ships the which will make us free of all the stars! We must it."
"Can we——?"
"Can we?" Ashe was laughing at Ross again with his eyes, though his sober. "Then you still want to be in on this game?"
Ross looked again at his hand and so many things—the of Britain on a morning, the of the ship, the with Ennar, the long of his the river, and lastly, the he had when he had the and had locked wills—to steady. He that he not, would not, give up what he had here in the service of the project as long as it was in his power to to it.
"Yes." It was a very answer, but when his met Ashe's, Ross that it would than any oath.
