In the there was nothing at all, and then were created, and the wonder of was very great. When men became, they at the and the about them, and their were with at the of in the air and on the earth and in the sea. For many centuries they were taking note of all the that were. They that there was such a condition as emptiness.
But there were six people in a who what to. Five of them were in a which was an and a mystery. One was in a small, object which out from Earth. This one's name was Nikolai. The of it not matter. He had been in a small village in the Urals, and as a little boy he played with and and and dogs and other little boys. As a he his with out of books, and some to him and marvelous, and some did not make much but were by everybody. And who was he to go against the wise who ran the government and protected the people from and and the of capitalists?
As a man he was promising. If he had been in such matters, he might have had a successful career in politics, as politics was in his nation. But he liked things. Real things.
When he was a student in the he a in his lodgings. He loved it very much. There was a girl, too, about he splendidly. But there was a need for teachers in Bessarabia, and she there to teach. She when she left him. After that Nikolai with something of desperation, trying to her he not have her.
He of such past events as he from Earth. He was the passenger, he was the of the space-probe his government had prepared to go out and from emptiness. He was a volunteer, of course. It was a great to be accepted, and for a while he'd almost the girl who was teaching in Bessarabia. But that was a long time ago, now. At he'd liked to the take-off, when brisk, matter-of-fact men him in his acceleration-chair and left him, and he in silence—save for the of an clock—until there was a to end all and a to anything of and bones, and then a terrible, of weight that on and on until he consciousness.
He all this, if he chose. He had a of to life, and of to send off the which would say that he had the take-off. There were which reported what was about the and belts of which the Earth. But Nikolai reported by voice, that was that he had passed through those places unharmed. And his on and on outward, away from the Earth and the sun.
He from Earth. Tinny voices him that his had gone well. His nation was proud of him. Enormous him on his return. Meanwhile—The voices him in what he was to say for them to record and to all the world in his honor.
He said it, with the Earth a small crescent-shaped of him. He on. The which was Earth smaller and smaller as days by. He took of the of his space-vehicle. He sure that the air properly. He of wastes. From time to time he reported, by voice, which had long since in detail and with accuracy.
And he more and more about the girl—teaching in Bessarabia—and his canary, which had died. Days by. He was that it was time for him to make with a fuel-rocket sent on him. He the which would point out where it was.
He it, and with small he which his vehicle to with it. The for took effect. Presently he off the drone, very, very and once more. The was than that on Earth, and he nothing for a long, long time. He was weak when he consciousness. He mentioned it in his reports. There was no on the in the he from Earth.
He to away from the sun. It to out Earth among the stars. The sun was smaller than he remembered. There was nothing to be but and more and the of the sun that used to and set but now stationary, shrinking.
So Nikolai came to know emptiness. There were points of light which were stars. They were away. In was emptiness. He had no of movement. Save that as days by the sun smaller, there was no in anything. All was emptiness. If his vehicle like this for ten thousand times ten thousand years, the would appear no nearer. If he got out and ran upon to to where he see Earth again, he would have to for centuries, and would die and nations he the least of that thin which was his home.
If he shouted, no man would hear, not sound. If he died, there was no earth into which his be lowered. If he lived, there was he and breathe clean air and his feet. He had a destination, to be sure, but he did not that he would it, did he he would return. Now he it from his thoughts.
He that he was feverish, and he mentioned it when the voices talked urgently to him. He guessed, without emotion, that he had not passed through the radiation-belts around Earth unburned. He had been that he would pass through them so that they would be harmless. Now he that this was a mistake. His him only sluggishly. He was of deep-seated burns. But he nothing.
Voices him to that he make with another fuel-drone. He himself as he commands. He was clumsy. He was feeble. But he managed a second refueling. And as he performed the operation with and hands, he of a in Bessarabia.
Before he the new fuel which would send him at what would be more than velocity, he almost humorously—yet humorlessly—reviewed his life. He that he might have no later opportunity to do so. There were three he had done which no man had done him. He had loved a small canary, and he it distinctly. He had loved a girl, and in his and he see her much more than the of the space-probe. And the third thing—
He had to about in his mind to what it was. His hand upon the rocket-firing key, he debated. Ah, yes! The third thing was that he had learned what was.
He pressed the firing-key. And the space-probe and on. Before the fuel was it had a so great that it would go on through space. It would toward the sun, not after thousands of years.
The knowledge of by the five in the was different. A totally empty room is intimidating. A house is depressing. The two-mile-long asteroid, with and and and rooms, was like a city. Those who had left it had it of personal possessions, but they'd left behind, to be and used. They'd left a device to call them. The device was proof that the had not been and might return. And the call through all the proved that it was returning.
There was in the that Earth had when it that non-human beings from space, and that for Burke reported no at the signals' source. The and its call meant more than the of aliens. It was proof that there were of space who needed to be fought. It proved the of ships of space; of in emptiness; of who the star to and to and destroy.
And such were coming.
Burke ground his teeth. Earth had and which them for on the scale. This was more powerful than all of Earth's put together. A which to attack it must itself still. What Earth do against a which attack this asteroid?
And what he and Holmes and Keller do against such a fleet, with the fortress, when they did not yet a single one of its weapons?
Burke himself to exhaustion, trying to the of the fortress' armament. There were which were, obviously, the long-range of the garrison. They were in a launching-tube at the of the compartment. But Keller not the method of their control. There was no in the fortress. None. A totally unknown language and an would prevent from being useful, ordinarily, but in there are to be diagrams. Burke that in the most meaningless of there would be which be puzzled out. But there was nothing. The of the have been illiterate, for all the of that they'd left.
Keller to labor valiantly. But there was no to the operation of anything but the transmitter. That was one where the message in, and where it came out for broadcast. With the one, one how it operated. But no one how were when he hadn't the least idea of what they did.
On the third night in the asteroid—the third night by ship-time, since there was neither day night in the great empty of the fortress—Burke his again. It was perfectly familiar, from the trees with their leaves, to the on the larger moon. He the he'd so often before. He the hand-weapon and that he was to anything for the person he for. He small him, and then he that someone ran the just ahead. He such and that his about to burst. He gave a great and to meet her—
He in the small ship in the entrance tunnel. All was silent. All was still. The lights in the control-compartment of the ship were to dim. There was no anywhere. The opened air-lock doors, and outer, let in a fan-shaped of which on the floor.
Burke quiet, still up by the of the dream.
He a in the below, by Sandy and Pam. Someone came very up the ladder-like stairway. Burke in the semi-darkness. He saw that it was Sandy. She the to the air-lock. Very quietly, she closed the door and then the inner. She them.
Burke said, up, "Why'd you do that, Sandy?"
She started violently, and turned.
"Pam can't sleep," she said in a low tone. "She says the is creepy. She that there's something in it, something and frightening. When you the air-lock open, she's afraid. So I closed it."
"Holmes and Keller are out," said Burke. "Keller's trying to power-leads from the instrument-room to power-source and lights everything. We can't lock him out."
Sandy opened the air-lock doors again. She toward the leading downward.
"Sandy," said Burke unhappily, "I know I'm acting like a fool."
"You're doing all right," said Sandy. She paused at the top of the ladder. "Finding this—" she her hand about her—"ought to put your name in the history books. Of you'll be much by people who to space travel themselves. But you're doing all right."
"I'm not of that," said Burke. "I'm of you. I was going to ask you to me. I didn't. If we live through this, will you?"
Sandy him in the light of the ship's interior, most of which came through the air-lock doors.
"There are some conditions," she said evenly. "I won't play second to an somebody a of dreamed-of leaves. I don't want to make conditions, Joe. But I couldn't your that maybe in marrying me you'd give up your of her—whatever or she is."
"But I wouldn't that way!" Burke.
"I'd you did," said Sandy. "And it would amount to the same thing. I think I a mistake in along in the ship, Joe. If I weren't along you might have missed me. You might even—" she grimaced—"you might have about me. But here I am. And I can't with somebody in a dream. I won't try. I—I can't marrying else, but if I do married I want to be the only girl my guy about!"
She again to the ladder. Then said abruptly, "You didn't ask why Pam creepy, or where. There's a place up on the second where there's a door that's still locked. Pam the when she goes by it. I don't. The whole place is creepy, to me."
She the ladder. Minutes later Holmes and Keller arrived.
Holmes said curtly, "The in the transmitter-room a change-point just now. Those red in that plastic plate started the in the place. When its calls were answered it the broadcast, adding a signal. Just we started out from Earth the red passed another place and the again. Now they've passed a third place. We were there when the all around on a from that thing which close to the red and them. The out at four or five times its original volume. There must have been a hundred thousand in it, at least. It looks serious. Whatever those red must be close."
Keller in agreement, frowning, then he and Holmes prepared to turn in. But Burke was upset. He he wouldn't be able to sleep.
"Pam the when she a locked door up on the second gallery. I noticed it, but I'm going to that door open. We got to look into every of this thing! There's to be something somewhere! Close the air-lock me so Pam can sleep."
He out. Behind him, Holmes looked at Keller.
"Funny!" he said drily. "We're all scared. I all the time, without why. But if he's as as I am, why doesn't he worry about going places alone?"
The same question to Burke. The of the was and secretive. A man alone in a empty would in with and other to be out of any window. But in this of and rooms out of solid stone, with millions of miles of pure without, the of was incredible. He that a dog would be a to have on such a as his.
He the long with doors on either side. Past the room with the metal ingots. Past the door through which one saw hundreds of ten-foot metal globes. Up a ramp. Past the rooms where something like must once have against the walls. A long way along this corridor. Emptiness, emptiness, emptiness. Innumerable of his on the stone.
Three times he stopped at doors that had shut, but none was closed. All readily. Then he came to the door Sandy had spoken about. He the repeatedly. It was shut. He the door and with a loud it open.
There were lights this room, as else they had explored. But it was nearly to see any distance. This was an long room, and it of metal which from to ceiling. Each was a series of metal troughs, and in each there was a of black metal cubes, very arranged. Each was about three square, and they were black, not at all. They the completely. There were narrow the of racks, through which Burke make his way easily enough, but which a more man might have inconvenient.
He at a trough, and was stunned. He up one of the cubes, and the object in his hand. It was a dull-black, like the one his uncle had from the Cro-Magnon in France. He that if he this object—found two hundred seventy miles from the other one—it would into thousands of tissue-thin, pieces.
He did it. Deliberately. And it into which like of on the floor.
For no reason, Burke that his crawled. He had to himself to in this room with so many thousands of the cubes. There had been a of this on Earth. The one he'd as a child had to a Cro-Magnon ten thousand, twenty thousand, how many years ago? And it only have come from this asteroid. Which meant—
Presently he his way to the spaceship. He one of the cubes, gingerly. He meant to it to Sandy. But the were startling.
Members of the of this fortress, thousands of years gone by, had visited Earth. One of them, doubtless, had that other cube. Why? When the the they left these behind. They left to call them back. They left and ten-foot which must be weapons. They left nothing that would be useful in the place to which they had removed. But they'd left these cubes, hundreds of thousands of them.
The cube, then, be anything. It be impersonal, like for the that would be elsewhere. The fortress' was designed to out death. Were the cubes? No. Burke had owned one without damage. When that into glistening, tissue-thin plates, no one was injured. To be sure, there was his dream. But the wasn't a weapon. Whatever else it might be, it was not dangerous.
He into the and for no locked air-lock doors. Holmes and Keller were asleep. There was no from the by Sandy and Pam.
Burke put the black object on the control-desk. The single on Earth had been meaningless. The which Cro-Magnon from his uncle had it as of no importance. It was fit only to be to an eleven-year-old boy. But a of such couldn't be without meaning!
He this with an almost of his will. It was a mystery. Yet there was no to have the a to answered its call to space. He that the were of some which needed to be met. The of the ship-lock was set to those who came in response to the call. But that those who came would know why they came.
Burke didn't. The thing must be simple, an not yet of. But there was to start to think about it! His dream? No. That was as as the rest.
Burke was very, very and depressed. He look for no help in the mystery. Earth was now past the point of with M-387, and moved nearly a miles a day along its orbit, with nearly of them away from the fortress. At the most estimate, it would be three months or later an space of of his own ship off from Earth for here.
And Burke was sure that the red would have the center of the in much less time than that. If it were in some fashion like a radar, making a map of the of the asteroid, the observer's place would be in the middle. In that event, the red would the more ships came out from Earth.
He sat with his on his chest, the of meeting a in which all might well be involved. His of space travel provided no of triumph, and the of the produced no elation. Not when a a non-existent to report for was so probable. Burke sat in the control-chair and no in any of his thoughts....
He a trumpet-call and was on his feet, familiar about him. There were other all around in this bunkroom, themselves. Some grumbled. There was a for the and he himself one of a line of which out the door and one of the high-ceilinged corridors. The he saw were and resentful. They moved, but out of habit, not choice. There were other lines of men in motion. Some in the same direction. Others ran into and were to sight. Up a ramp, with the of his ears with sound. Suddenly there were men him. Some had through a to the right. More vanished. He was at the of his line. He into the next beyond, and saw a and object there. He up its and seated himself. He a over his and saw empty space with millions of it. He waited. He was not Burke. He was someone else who to be the pointer, the aimer, of the he sat astride. This might be a drill, but it be action.
A voice spoke his helmet. The were strange, but he them. He the give of this and the response of that. He spoke crisply, militarily, in that somehow meant this—a word missing—was for action at its of fire.
Again he waited, his the he saw from his helmet. A star winked. He at a and it, sharp, bitten-off words. The voice in his said, "Flam!" He the firing-lever and all space was out for by light. Then the light and far, away among the something horribly, fire. It up.
Yet again he waited. He the stars, the Enemy had some way to prevent by regular instruments, and only the of one among light-specks the presence of an Enemy craft.
A long time later the voice in his spoke again, and he relaxed, and the helmet. He to the others of the of this weapon. Then a again, and he from the of the thing he'd fired, and he and his waited while long lines of men past the doorway. They were on the way to the bunk-rooms. They did not look well-fed. His turn came. His out into the corridor, now with men moving in a but fashion. He somebody say that it was an Enemy scout, trying some new device to close to the fortress. Eight had on it at the same instant, his among them. Whatever the new device was, the Enemy had it didn't work. But he that it needn't have been a Enemy, but just a drill. Nobody when action was real. There was much that there was no action. There was always the possibility of action, though. Of course. The Enemy had been the Enemy for thousands of years. A century or ten or a hundred of would not the Enemy had up....
Then Burke himself at the monitor-lights of his own ship's control-board. He was himself again. He opening his eyes. He'd dozed, and he'd dreamed, and now he was awake. And he with that what he'd came from the black he'd from the locked-up room. But there was a this and the one he'd had for so many years. He not name the difference, but he it. This was not an emotion-packed, which would him forever. This was an like the most of books. It was something he would remember, but he would need to think about it if he were to it fully.
He sat still, going over and over this new memory, until he someone moving about in the below.
"Sandy?"
"Yes," said Sandy downstairs. "What is it?"
"I opened the door that Pam," said Burke. Suddenly the of what had just to him. This was the he'd needed. Now he knew—many things. "I out what the is for. I I know what the were to do."
Silence for a moment. Then Sandy's voice. "I'm right up."
In minutes she the stairs.
"What is it, Joe?"
He his hand, with some grimness, at the small black object on the control-desk.
"I this and some thousands of others that door. I that it for the of and symbols. It information. I got it. You it by near one of these things. I did. I dreamed."
Sandy looked at him anxiously.
"No," he told her. "No or foliage. I I was a of the garrison. I through a drill. I know how to those big on the second level of the corridor, now. They're weapons. I know how to use them."
Sandy's visibly increased.
"These black are—lesson-givers. They're instructors. Pam is more to such than the of us. It didn't affect me until I dozed. Then I myself by going through an in the of a dream. These records of experiences. You have those experiences. You them. You learn."
Then he said abruptly, "I my now, I think. When I was eleven years old I had a like this. Don't ask me how it got into a Cro-Magnon cave! But I had it. One day it and into a of stuff. One got away under my bed, close up under my pillow. When I slept I about a place with two and trees and—all the rest."
Sandy said, groping, "Do you it was in some fashion, and when you slept you were by it so you something—predetermined?"
"Exactly," said Burke grimly. "The thing in this particular is the way to those Holmes said were weapons." Then he said more grimly, "I think we're going to have to accept the idea that this is an device to teach the without their having to learn to read or or think. They'd have only to dream."
Sandy looked from him to the small black cube.
"Then we can out—"
"I've it out," said Burke. "I before, but now I know. There is an Enemy this was to fight. There is a that's for thousands of years. The Enemy has and and is implacable. It has to be found. And the from space were calls to the of this to come and it. But there isn't any any more. We answered instead. The Enemy comes from hundreds or thousands of light-years away, and he to the of this and others, and when he succeeds there will be and and death to his victory. He's on the way now. And when he comes—" Burke's voice harsh. "When he comes he won't stop with trying to this place. The people of Earth are the Enemy's enemies, too. Because the was a of men!"