Mara’s deepened; she looked around them in the dimness, her taking in the and of the circuitry. It into the them; lines ran into the and floor.
“They their in the manner, didn’t they?” she said softly.
“I’ve of them before,” Rynason said. “This is a big one—no telling how much area the total takes up. One thing’s certain, though: it’s no ordinary computer of theirs. Not for plain math-work, for computations, like the one on Rigel II—that was used for astrogation, but it wasn’t the size of this. And stars, with the of drive they must have had, is no problem.”
“The Hirlaji think it’s a god,” she said.
“That another problem,” Rynason mused. “The Outsiders it, and must have left it here when they to they were going … if they left the planet. But the Hirlaji use it, and they with it verbally. The Hirlaji are for it protected since then. But why should the Hirlaji be able to use it?”
“Unless they’re the Outsiders after all?” said Mara.
Rynason frowned. “No, I’m still not of that. The to be that they with it—they must have been using it since they telepathy.”
“Couldn’t there have been direct the Hirlaji and the Outsiders when the Hirlaji were just out of the stage?”
“There must have been,” said Rynason. “The Temple are in an older of their language than most remembered—a proto-language that was alive only by the caste, the machine had been set to respond to that language.”
“But aren’t of simple, and concepts? How well they in such a language?”
“Not very well,” Rynason said. “Which would why the machine to make mistakes—clumsiness of language. So the Outsiders, maybe, left the machine when they out, but they set it to respond to the Hirlaji language our friends were to a of their own and the Outsiders they’d them some guidance….” He stopped for a moment, that with Horng, and Tebron’s memories. “The Hirlaji called them the Old Ones,” he said.
“And that order to Tebron … about the other that they would meet someday. That was on Outsiders observations.”
“I wonder when the Outsiders were on Earth,” Rynason said. “Sometime after we’d started our own rise, certainly. Maybe in Mesopotamia, or India. Or later, the Renaissance?”
“The time doesn’t matter, it?” Mara said. “They touched on Earth, took note of us, and left. Somehow they we were going to more than we did.”
“Probably the Dark Ages,” Rynason said. “Maybe they didn’t see that thousand-year coming….” He stopped, and up in the low among the circuitry. “So here we are, second-guessing the Outsiders. And outside, their have left by the Outsiders, and they’re just waiting for us to try to out.”
“Our new-found knowledge isn’t doing us much good, is it?” she said.
He his slowly. “When I was still on the secondary I met Rene Malhomme for the time. My father the spacers, so I don’t what this was on. But I the night I saw Rene—he was speaking from the top of a blue-lumber pile, about the that were moving in. He was all up about something, and people in the were at him; I stopped to watch. All of a six or seven men moved in from and him from where he was standing. There was a fight—people were all around. I till it was over.
“When the cleared, there was Rene. His were torn, but he wasn’t hurt. Every one of the men who had him had to be away; I think one of them was dead. Rene there laughing; then he saw me in the and he took me home. He told me that when he’d been he’d his way all the way in to Earth, and some of the there. He’d learned karate, which was an Japanese way of fighting.”
Rynason took a breath. “He said a person will be useful someday. And I him.”
“A parable,” Mara said. “We use him against the Hirlaji, though.”
Rynason was silent, thinking. If they only catch the off … but of they couldn’t, now. He let his along the them. Tell me, old Kor, what do we do now?
After a moment his narrowed; he up and a with his fingers, to the front, toward the altar. It directly to … the speaker!
The voice of Kor.
And if he that connection, put his own voice through the speaker, out through the altar….
“Mara, we’re going out. I’ve my own of for our friends out there.”
He helped her to her feet. She moved painfully, her left arm at her side, but she no protest.
“We’ve got to be fast,” he said. “I don’t know how well this will work—it on how much they trust their clay-footed god today.” Quickly, he his plan. Mara and nodded.
Then he set to work. It was guesswork, those connections, but Rynason had this part of such before. He the point at which the from the brain were into and through the speaker. He this, his on the linkages.
“Ready?”
Mara was just the narrow passage the altar. She quickly.
Rynason himself so that he speak directly into the of the speaker. He his voice to the thin, high of the Hirlaji language.
Remain motionless. Remain motionless. Remain motionless.
The out upon the room of the Temple, the silence. The Hirlaji in to the altar—and still.
Remain motionless. Remain motionless.
It was the phrase he had the machine use so often to Tebron, king leader of all Hirlaj. It had meant something else then, but the proto-language of the Hirlaji had no meanings; by itself, it to what it said.
“All right, let’s go out!” Rynason said, and the two of them from the altar. The Hirlaji still; of those that Rynason had with his had consciousness, but they no move either. Rynason and the girl ran right through the aliens; only a of them to look at them as they passed. They the in safety, and paused there.
“They may see through this in a minute,” Rynason said. “Don’t wait for me—get out of the city!”
“You’re not coming?”
“I won’t be too behind. Get going!”
She only a moment, then the of the Temple steps. Rynason her to the bottom, then and re-entered the room.
Rynason among them, taking their weapons. Most of them no to stop him, but a their on the and he had to those thick from the weapons, to himself. How long would they wait?
There were fourteen of the disintegrators. They were large and heavy; he couldn’t them all at once. He five of them the room and returned to the of the aliens. Sweat on his forehead, but he moved without hesitation.
Another of the Hirlaji his when Rynason to take the from him. He looked up, and saw the of Horng on him. The which those slightly, but otherwise he no movement. Rynason his from that and the away.
As he started to move on to the next, Horng his to one side. Rynason a go his back.
In a more minutes he had them all. He set the last three on the of the colonnade—and a movement in the his eye. It was on the south of the city; two men for a moment against the Flat, then into the shadows. In a moment, another man appeared, and he too the wall.
So Manning had already sent the men in. The was unleashed.
Rynason for a moment, then and into the room. Mara’s radio was there; he it by its and took it with him out to the colonnade.
He see the Earthmen moving through the now, from to in the of evening. In a time it would be full night—and Rynason that these men would like nothing than to attack in the dark.
He the radio and opened the transmitter.
“Manning, call off your dogs. I’ve the Hirlaji.”
The radio at him, and for he his hadn’t been up. But at last there was a reply:
“Then out of the Temple. It’s too late to stop this.”
“Manning!”
“I said clear. You’ve done all you can there.”
“Damn it, there’s no need for any fighting!”
Manning’s voice cold in the of the hand-radio. “That’s for me to decide. I’m this show, remember.”
“You’re a massacre!” Rynason shouted.
“Call it what you like. Mara says they weren’t so when you in.”
Rynason’s mind raced; he had to for time. If he Manning to stop those men until they down….
“Manning, there’s no need for this! Didn’t she tell you that the is just a computer? These people haven’t had anything to do with the Outsiders since they can remember!”
The radio the of Manning’s chuckle. “So now they’re people to you, Lee? Or are you one of them now?”
“What the are you talking about?”
“Lee, my boy, you’re like an old nursemaid. You minds with them, and you say you were a Hirlaji when you into that linkage. Well, I’m not so sure you came out of it. You’re still one of them!”
“Is that the only you can think of that I might have for wanting to prevent a massacre?” Rynason said icily.
“If they to once, they’ll try it again,” Manning said. “We’ll them now.”
“You think that will the Council? Slaughtering the only we’ve found?”
“I’m not playing to the Council!” Manning snapped. “I’ve got these men me, and I’ll to what they want!”
Rynason at the for a moment. “Are you sure you aren’t of your own mob?” he said.
“We’re in, Lee. Get out of there or we’ll cut you too.”
“Manning!”
“I’m off.”
“Not yet. There’s one more thing, and you’d this one!”
“Make it fast,” Manning said. His voice uninterested.
“If any of your boys try to come in, I’ll stop them myself. I’ve got the disintegrators, and I’ll use them.”
There was from the radio, save for the static. It for long seconds. Then:
“It’s your funeral.” There was a as Manning off.
Rynason at the for a moment, then left it at the top of the steps and inside. The Hirlaji in dimness; it took for Rynason’s to to it. He the that Mara had left and it up to Horng. The alien’s eyes, moving in their sockets, him as he the wires.
When was Rynason the interpreter’s mike. “The Earthmen are going to attack you,” he said. “I want to help you them off.”
There was no from the alien; only those on him like the of the entire past.
“Can you still that Kor is a god? That’s only a machine—I spoke through it myself, minutes ago! Don’t you that?”
After a moment Horng’s slowly closed and opened in acknowledgement. KOR WAS GOD KNOWLEDGE. THE OLD ONES DIED BEFORE TIME, AND PASSED INTO KOR. NOW KOR IS DEAD.
“And all of you will be too!” Rynason said.
The sat unmoving. His away from Rynason.
“You’ve got to them!” Rynason said.
But he see that it was useless. Horng had no reply, but Rynason what was in his now.
THERE IS NO PURPOSE.
