The was stew, which Jake prepared in a big pot on an old wood-burning range. They all ate around the table.
"There are of wild up here," Cal explained. "This used to be good range country, you know. The of the old are still in existence, the ones that have learned how to or the lions, that is."
Zen was Nedra and Ed. The little was every move she and was as close to her as possible. He on next to her at the table and he trying to touch her at every opportunity.
Zen silent. Inwardly, he was perturbed. Night was already over the mountains. What would after fell? Trying to keep such out of his mind, he himself if it would be possible for him to the bantam's with his hands. He he do this, and that he would like to do it, but that he would also like to alive afterward.
"Girls who go walking in the have to take what to them," he said.
Nedra him. Ed at him. Cal but without speaking. Jake ate as if he did not know what he was doing or where he was. Occasionally he looked toward the and his in that direction. Zen that in his mind Jake was of what he would do to the Asians. Remembering Marcia, Zen did not him.
Ed to the nurse toward the sofa in the room but she him and sat on an empty can, to the of the bantam. Two people not on the same can. Jake in the kitchen, and Asians. Cal a seat in the corner, a position from which he watch in the room. Off in the night an hooted.
Ed jumped at the sound, Nedra's hand, and to her toward a that to some of an attic. Cal rose to his and moved toward the door.
"Stop it!" Nedra said, to Ed.
"But, honey, you've got to out of here," Ed urged. The was at the of panic.
"Why?"
"Because that was a signal. The who are will take you away from me," Ed explained.
"Fine," Nedra said, her brightening. "There is in the world after all. The good Lord look after the girl." Her voice that she had to this.
"But you don't know who these are," Ed protested.
"I don't who they are. Satan himself would be welcome to me right now." The were to Ed but she was looking at Kurt Zen as she spoke. Zen did not attempt to answer her accusation.
"Damn it, I ain't going to let them take you away from me!" Ed shouted. Again he for the nurse's hand, to her toward the ladder. She him in the mouth.
In a fury, his clenched, the started toward her. She Zen.
"Lay off her, Ed," Cal ordered.
"But she to me!" Ed shouted. "You know I saw her first. You said so yourself!" The little man was himself with and fury.
"If the he wants her, you'll be the one dead," the man commented. Then he shrugged. "However, it's your funeral, not mine. Only you won't a funeral."
Again the sounded, just the house this time. Cal opened the door. A and four soldiers entered. Zen took one look at the dirty and the in dirty yellow and that these were Cuso's men. Coming into the room, the took command.
"Who is this?" he demanded, toward Zen. He had not as yet noticed Nedra, who was still Kurt.
"A who has the light of and has come over to our side," the man answered.
"Good. Cuso will be very to talk to him." The on the lieutenant's left no as to the meaning that of his words. Cuso's methods of from any person careless to into his hands were well known.
"It will be a to talk to the great leader of the Asian forces," Zen said. He to appear under arms. As soon as the had appeared, he had that Cal was a to Cuso.
"I'm sure Cuso will it so," the said. The from his as he a of Nedra the colonel. The in his hands came up. "Who is that?" he demanded.
"A nurse who has also joined us," Cal explained.
"What's she doing him?"
"Ed was her to go with him and she this man," Cal explained. A had appeared in the right of the man.
"Oh," the said. His reappeared. "Come out, plizz."
As Nedra to Zen's side, the lieutenant's widened. He in his breath. "Yess. Oh but yess. Cuso will want to talk to her. Of that I am very sure."
Ed, his as black as tar, started to protest. He took another look at the in the Asian's hand and his mind. The of his teeth was all over the room.
"Why do you make that noise?" the said, looking at him.
"It—it's cold in here," Ed stuttered.
As the spoke, Zen noticed that the temperature in the big room to have more than reasonable. Even the opening of the door, and the of the night air, was not to account for the in the room.
This cold was different from anything Zen had before. It to start at the center of the and work its way outward, the skin surface last of all, where it produced a prickling sensation.
"I wish to eat," the said.
"Of course," Cal agreed. "Jake! Food for the gentleman."
Jake, his murky, was in the door leading to the kitchen. The on his that he was about to himself at the Asians.
"Get into that kitchen!" Cal shouted.
"Oh, all right," Jake answered, moving out of sight. The of the and that his to have a sound.
"That one is not right in the head," the Asian officer said.
"He's just dumb," Cal said, defensively.
The his lips. "I to mention that I left some of my men outside."
"Bring them in," Cal said promptly. "They're hungry, too. And cold."
"I think I shall them where they are," the said, decisively. "I left them on guard. They have set up a machine gun at the of the street."
"I see," Cal said.
"The gun this house," the officer continued.
"Oh," Cal said. A passed through his body. He perfectly well what the had just told him.
It to Kurt Zen that the temperature of the room had another ten degrees. He was shivering, too, from the of that cold that to start at the of the and spread itself outward.
Of all those in the room, Nedra was the only one who did not to be from the of the chill. Her were and her had a warm glow. Zen her out of the of his eyes. Didn't she know that she had from Ed only to into the of Cuso's men?
"What has to you?" he to her.
Turned toward him, her had a that to come from some light that was them. The from to violet, then to ultra-violet. After that, Zen no longer see the glow, but he it had gone into higher still. What was more was the that she was no longer frightened. Confidence had come to her, out of nowhere.
"What do you think has to me?" Her voice had too. All had gone from it. The of had disappeared. She to be of the situation, and to know it.
Jake came from the kitchen. "I up vibrations," he announced, his voice shrill.
"Get into the kitchen," Cal ordered, as the his gun.
"But I'm only trying to tell you something."
"I'm telling you something, into that kitchen!" Cal ordered.
Jake's around the room but it was that he was more attention to some or than to the people present.
"Git," Cal shouted.
Jake from the doorway.
The the of the gun. He an order to the men with him, who themselves with their to the wall. The officer moved toward the fire, where he settled himself in a chair.
"You," he said. "Take off my boots!"
He was speaking to Zen. Kurt the to the lieutenant's jaw. Out of the of his eyes, he noted the positions of the Asian soldiers.
"Odds are too great," he thought. "Stay alive now. Maybe your turn will come."
As he started to kneel, he into Nedra, who was already on the the officer's boots.
"If you would do it, I would have you do it," the said, smirking.
"It is a privilege, sir," the girl said. She off the and to off the thick sock.
The that she had saved Kurt Zen's life was very great. He a of anger at his own helplessness.
The of cold at the of his was appearing again. It was now. He noticed that Cal's hands were trembling. The teeth of one of the soldiers against the were audibly. A second soldier looked as if he were about to go to sleep.
Zen as he that he was too. Along with the cold from his was a of that was very close to sleep. The lieutenant, directly in of him, was nodding.
Everybody was sleepy! Why? Had some subtle, been into the room? What gas? Who had it?
Crash!
The in the hands of the soldier out of his and the floor, as it hit. The a through the wall, a of the lieutenant's head.
The Asian officer was on his feet. He to the sound.
The soldier who had the on the and there, snoring.
As he saw what had happened, the of the settled into a mask. He pressed the of the he carried. The gun violently. The sleeping soldier as the into his body. A little of blood ran from his nose and in a small on the floor. The man died where he lay.
"Yen ke vos!" the snarled. Two of the soldiers left their position against the and the of their comrade. The third against the while they the man out.
"If you go to sleep on me!" the said, to the third soldier. His meaning was clear. The soldier his head. He what his officer meant. Terror was in him. But something else was in him too.
Zen the soldier this something else. Slowly, he let the of his to the floor. He had and left not to the weapon. He set it against the wall. Then he sat it.
He was making every possible to sleep, but in of he do, he was this fight. Slowly, a of an at a time, his forward. Finally it on his arms that were across his knees. He snoring.
The of the was that of a tiger from the of the Assam jungles. The of the gun to the sleeping soldier. A second passed which this Asian was on the of joining his ancestors.
Realizing that this man not be for his to awake, the his fire. He up his to around the room. His was that of a tiger who it has been in a but is not yet of the nature of the device it has been in. His came to focus on Cal.
"I—I swear—" The man's voice was a thick that did not much meaning. Cal was too!
"What have you done here?"
"I—nothing. I have done nothing—and I know nothing—I am as as you."
"You're a liar!"
"No. Telling truth—" Cal's had toward his and his voice was and more groggy. With an of will, he his up. "I—don't know. Something.... Yes! Never of anything like it before.... Hell, lieutenant, it's me too!"
Cal's on his chest. "So ... so ... take a nap...." His sagging, Cal on the floor. He his on one arm.
The spoke, but the that came from his was not a growl. Soon, he, too, was fast asleep.
Kurt and Nedra were the only two people who were able to awake. The nurse was making to this sleepiness. Swaying on her feet, she toward Zen. He her in his arms.
"What's happening?" She like a little girl.
"I don't know," Zen answered.
"Why is going to sleep? Is it bedtime?"
"It must be."
"Are you sleepy, too?" Her voice was a whisper.
"I was so in my life," Kurt answered.
"Then why don't we—just take a little nap?" Nedra murmured. The way she spoke, this was the most that had been offered. Sagging into his arms, she would have if he had not her. Gently, he her to the floor. Her rose and in a regular rhythm.
If there was one thing Kurt wanted to do it was to on the and go to sleep, too. Every organ in his body, every cell, every to out that sleep was needed. He his to sag, his to droop. It to him that all was going out of his body, that his no longer him erect.
"Stay awake!" someone at him. He was to it was his own voice that had spoken the words. He was more by the in the tones.
His to sag. In of he do to prevent it, his on its way to the floor. The in his long to have into rubber. He to his but himself on his hands.
The to continue the of the way to the was like a wave. Every in his mind was on the of sleep. How it would be to take a nap, to rest, to dream, to wake no more.
With a that was of desperation, he this impulse. A his body, a that to involve every brain and every nerve ending, and every group. Pain came up as muscle, as nerve nerve cell, as one part of the brain another part. He to his to to its again.
All he do was grunt.
"Stand up!" he at himself.
His and but did not move. He the to himself. The was to the conflict. And the pain. He had such agony. It rolled through him like a series of waves.
Click!
What took place so that it to of time.
