Lotus World
There was a of rose in the pearl of sky, at the meeting of sea and air in a of cloud. The lazy of the the same soft color, with where of drifted. A rose world in soft sunlight, only winds, peace, and—sloth.
Ross Murdock over the of the to at a beach of sand, pink with here and there a of a "shell"—or were those delicate, shells? Even the came in languidly. And the which his hair, about his sun-browned, half-bare body, it, did not on its way to the which the Terran called "trees" but which long of true branches.
Hawaika—named for the old Polynesian paradise—a world without the one of being too perfect, too welcoming, too wooing. Its long, uneventful, days forgetfulness, offered a life without effort. Except for the mystery....
Because this world was not the one pictured on the tape which had the Terran settlement team here. A map, a guide, a all in one, that was the tape. Ross himself had helped to a on an unknown for a of such tapes. Once they had been the space-navigation for a or who had the star ten thousand years in his own world's past, a which had long since again into the of its beginning.
Those returned to Terra after their discovery, were studied, probed, by the best of his time, out by already Terran powers, into the of space and old hatreds.
Such a tape had their ship on Hawaika, a world of and of true continents. The settlement team had had all the knowledge on that tape into them, only to that much they had learned from it was false!
Of course, none of them had to here still the cities, the the tape had as in that long-ago period. But no present they had visited those on the they had seen, and so they had not any that any beings had walked, built, lived, on these beautiful, atolls. So, what had to the Hawaika of the tape?
Ross's right hand across the which his left one, to be for the of his life as a mark of his meeting with the star in the past of his own world. He had his own to the they had asserted. Then the had gone to him. But from it he had another scar—the of that old terror when Ross Murdock, fighter, rebel, by the of his own era, Ross Murdock who himself an individual, that by the for Time Agent sorties, had come up against a power he did not understand, and feared.
Now he of the wind—the of the sea, the of the land growths, but pleasant. So easy to relax, to into the soft, of this world in which they had no fault, no danger, no irritant. Yet, once those others had been here—the blue-suited, ones he called "Baldies." And what had then ... or afterward?
A black head, shoulders, body, the of the waves. A the face, glitter-fire in the sun. Two hands a yet set, a mouth more for than sternness, wide dark eyes. Karara Trehern of the Alii, the one-time Hawaiian god-chieftain line, was an girl.
But Ross her aloofly, with a which on hostility, as she her into its pocket on top of the gill-pack. Below his she came to a halt, her in the sand, an to her as she called mockingly:
"Why not come in? The water's fine."
"Perfect, like all the of this." Some of his came out in the tone. "No luck, as usual?"
"As usual," Karara conceded. "If there was a here, it's been gone so long we'll any traces. Why don't you just out a good place to set up that time-probe and try it blind?"
Ross scowled. "Because"—his patience was to the point of insult—"we have only one peep-probe. Once it's set we can't tear it easily for transport else, so we want to be sure there's something to look at beyond."
She to the water out of her long hair. "Well, as as we've ... nothing. Come next time. Tino-rau and Taua aren't particular; they like company."
Putting two to her mouth, Karara whistled. Twin out of the water, the and her. Projecting noses, mouths with so they in a at the on the shore—the pair, had the sea, in such close of the girl's that they be an echo of her call. Years their species' had surprised, almost shocked, men. Experiments, training, co-operation, had a tie which gave the water-limited of new eyes, ears, minds, to see, evaluate, and report an in which the were not free.
Hand in hand with that co-operation had gone other experiments. Just as the of the early century had allowed man to into a new world, so had the frog-man him still in the sea. And now the gill-pack which the needed from the water that of obsolete. But there into which man not descend, were closed to him. There the operated, in a partnership of minds, equal minds—though that last had been difficult for man to accept.
Ross's irritation, as he it to be, did not on Tino-rau or Taua. He the hours when he on gill-pack and took to the sea with those two ten-foot, black-and-silver the action. But Karara ... Karara's presence was a different altogether.
The Agents' had always been masculine. Two men for an of and temperaments, going through together, two of a and whole. Before being recruited into the Project, Ross had been a loner—living on the of the law, an for the which had too ordered and "adjusted" to his kind. But in the Project he had others like himself—men out of time, too ruthless, too for their own age, but able to with in the paths of the Time Agents.
And when the time search for the ships had succeeded and the ship found, used, duplicated, the Agents had come from into the past to be for travel to the stars. First there had been Ross Murdock, criminal. Then there had been Ross Murdock and Gordon Ashe, Time Agents. Now there was still Ross and Gordon and a as as any they had known. Yet this time they had to upon Karara and the dolphins.
"Tomorrow"—Ross was still not out his thoughts, aware of the which upon him as a in the finger—"I will come."
"Good!" If she his for what it was, that did not her. Once more she to the dolphins, a with one hand, and up the beach toward the camp. Ross a more path over the cliff.
Suppose they did not what they near here? Yet the old map that this was the site upon it. Marking a city? A star port?
Ashe had for Hawaika, this job after the Topaz when the team of Apache had been sent out too soon to what might have been a Red settlement. Ross was still over the months when only Major Kelgarries and maybe, in a part, Ross had Gordon Ashe in the Project at all. That Topaz had been a failure was when the settlement ship did not return. And that had added to Ashe's of for having recruited and the team.
Among those over Ashe's had been Travis Fox who had with Ashe and Ross the in an age-old spaceship. Travis Fox—the Apache archaeologist—had he Topaz? Or would he and his team worlds? Did they set on a where some of native life or a Red settlement had them? The very of their to Ashe.
So he on out with the second settlement team, the of Samoan and Hawaiian descent, to on a yet more and exploration. Just as the Project had into the past of Terra, so would Ashe and Ross now attempt to what in the past of Hawaika, to see this world as it had been at the of the civilization, and so to learn what they about their fore-runners into space. And the they had into upon landing added to the for that or discoveries.
Their probe, if them, might a gate through time. The was a over these passage points they had devised. Technical had taken a after Terran and scientists had had to the of the empire. Adaptations and developed, so that a new technology came into use, from the knowledge and of two thousands of years in time.
If and when he or Ashe—or Karara and her dolphins—discovered the proper site, the two Agents set up their own equipment. Both Ross and Ashe had had in the process. All they needed was the of discovery; then they their wall. But they must some of the past, the smallest of upon which to center their peep-probe. And since landing here the long days had into with no such made.
Ross the of which a cocks-comb on the island's and to the village. As they had been trained, the Polynesian native to their own of and tools. It was necessary that they live off the land, for their transport ship had had space only for a limited number of and tools. After it took off to return home they would be on their own for years. Their ship, a ball, rested on a ledge, its pilot and having to learn the results of Ashe's search. Four days more and they would have to for home if the Agents still had only negative results to report.
That was Ashe, the way that six months his and over the Topaz had him. Karara's weight the longer Ross about it. With more hunting, there was just that much of up some clue. So the had not reported any native sea life or any the natural ones any always had at his under the waves.
There were gill-packs, and all of the were good swimmers. An ought to shake the Polynesians out of their present do-it-tomorrow attitude. As long as they had had work them—the of the ship, the of the village, all the labors to the of this base—they had energy and enthusiasm. It was only the last of that the which appeared part of the here had up on them, so that now they were to live at a slower and pace. Ross Ashe's the before, Hawaika to a Terran where the a existence, upon the of a native plant. Hawaika was fast a land for Terrans.
"Through here, then westward...." Ashe over the table in the mat-walled house. He did not look up as Ross entered. Karara's still was until those black locks, now to her skull, almost touched the man's close-cropped hair. They were studying a map as if they saw not lines on paper but the and which that represented.
"You are sure, Gordon, that this is the modern point to match the site on the tape?" The girl hair.
Ashe shrugged. There were tight about his mouth which had not been there six months ago. He moved jerkily, not with the of those old days when he had the of time travel with and a self-confidence to and support the Ross.
"The of these two for the on this—" He a second map, this on plastic, to fit over the first. The marked on the much larger of land did over the modern with a fit. The once large island, and broken, have produced the groups of and they now prospected.
"How long—" Karara aloud, "and why?"
Ashe shrugged. "Ten thousand years, five, two." He his head. "We have no idea. It's that there must have been some world-wide here to the of the land so much. We may have to wait on a return space to a 'copter or a to farther." His hand the of the map to the whole of Hawaika.
"A year, maybe two, we for that," Ross cut in. "Then we'll have to on the Council this enough." The which his Karara was present him say that without thinking. Then the of Ashe's lip home Ross's error. Gordon needed now, not a of the their mission be doomed.
"Look here!" Ross came to the table, his hand past Karara, as he used his for a pointer. "We know that what we want be easily overlooked, with the helping us to check. This whole area's too big. And you know that it is that might be there would be with sea growths. Suppose ten of us start out in a semi-circle from about here and go as as this point, inland. Video-cameras here and here ... the whole by if we have to. After all, we have of time and manpower."
Karara laughed softly. "Manpower—always manpower, Ross? But there is woman-power, too. And we have sight. But this is a good idea, Gordon. Let me see—" she to tell off names on her fingers, "PaKeeKee, Vaeoha, Hori, Liliha, Taema, Ui, Hono'ura—they are the best in the water. Me ... you, Gordon, Ross. That makes ten with to look, and always there are Tino-rau and Taua. We will take and here on this which looks so much like a to beckon. Yes, somehow that to me to promise fortune. Shall we plan it so?"
Some of the tight look was gone from Ashe's face, and Ross relaxed. This was what Gordon needed—not to be in here going over maps, reports, over and over their leads. Ashe had always been a man; and the settlement work had been stultifying, a for him.
When Karara had gone Ross on the against the wall.
"What did here, do you think?" Half was in the they had over and over since they had on a Hawaika which so from the maps; the other half, a to keep Ashe on a from worries. "An war?"
"Could be. There are old traces. But these had, I'm sure, atomics. Suppose, just suppose, they with the weather, with the of the planet's crust? We don't know the of their powers, how they would use them. They had a here once, or there would have been no tape. And that is all we are sure of."
"Suppose"—Ross rolled over on his stomach, his on his arms—"we some of that knowledge—"
The was at Ashe's lips. "That's the we have to now."
"Risk?"
"Would you give a child one of those hand we in the derelict?"
"Naturally not!" Ross and then saw the point. "You mean—we aren't to be trusted?"
The answer was plain to read in Ashe's expression.
"Then why this whole setup, this for what might trouble?"
"The old pinch, the one. What if the Reds something first? They some in the tape lottery, remember. It's a us—we here, they there. We have to keep up the or it. They must be their for a just as as we are."
"So, we go into the past to if we have to. Well, I think I do without such as the Baldies would know. But I will admit that I would like to know what did here—two, five, ten thousand years ago."
Ashe up and stretched. For the time he smiled. "Do you know, I like the idea of off Karara's finger. Maybe she's right about that our luck."
Ross his as he got up to prepare their meal.
