The Opening of the Great Door
It was not the of the long-closed passage which on Ross's nerves, Karara out and about the of the two men she walked between; it was a of age, of a of years so long, so heavy, as to make time itself into a which at their bodies, their as they after the Foanna. This of age, of a and past, was so that all three Terrans in gasps.
Karara's sobs. Yet she matched her to Ashe and Ross, going. Ross himself had little idea of their surroundings, but one small of his brain asked questions. The being: Why did the past in on him here? He had time, but had he been with the of and years.
"Going back—" That came from Ashe, and Ross he understood.
"A time gate!" He was to accept such an explanation. Time gates he understand, but that the Foanna used one....
"Not our kind," Ashe replied.
But his had Ross out of a spell which had been as about him. And he to with a not to be into what this place. In of Ross's efforts, his supply him with no of where they were. The had them out of the sea, but where they walked now, hand to hand, Ross not say. He see the of the Foanna; his he see his as shadows, but all that was dark.
"Ahhhh—" Karara's gave way to a which was moan. "This is a way of gods, old gods, gods who with men! It is not well to walk the road of the gods!"
Her to Ross. He that as he had so many different of all his life. Sure, he that pressure on him, not the pressure of past centuries now—but a power his ability to describe.
"Not our gods!" Ross put his into words, more as a against his own wavering. "No power where there is no belief!" From what half-forgotten of reading had he that knowledge? "No being without belief!" he repeated.
To his he Ashe laugh, though the on hysteria.
"No belief, no power," the older man replied. "You've the right fish, Ross! No gods of ours here, Karara, and god has no over us. Hold to that, girl, tight!"
"Ah, ye thousand gods,
Ye gods of sea, of sky, of woods,
Of mountains, of valleys,
Ye of gods,
Ye of the gods that are,
Ye gods that once were,
Ye that whisper. Ye that watch by night,
Ye that your eyes,
Come down, awake, stir,
Walk this road, walk this road!"
She was singing, and then more strongly, the liquid of her own in English as if what she to call she would with her companions. Now there was in her and Ross himself her, "Walk this road!" as a demand.
It was still there, all of it, the weight of the past, and that which that past, which had out for them, to or to alter. Only they were free of that now. And they see too! The was and there were normal about them. Ross put out his free hand and along stone.
Once more their were by a attack from the of space and time as the away and they came out into a wide space they not see. Here that which was strong, a weight to them down.
"Come down, awake, stir...." Karara's again to a whisper, her voice as if her mouth were dry, her by a tongue, from a throat.
Light in along the floor, making a pattern—patterns patterns, designs designs. Ross his away from those patterns. To study them was danger, he without being warned. Karara's into his and he that pain; it him alert, of what was Ross Murdock, him safely from something than he, but alien.
The designs and patterns were lines on a pavement. And now the three Foanna, as if to winds, to those patterns with small dancing steps. But the Terrans where they were, to one another for the their offered.
Back, forth, the Foanna danced—and once more their or were discarded, so their silver-bright advanced, retreated, a way from one to another. First about the and then in, by and circles. No light the on the floor, the of the Foanna moving and forth, in and out.
Then, suddenly, the three dancers halted, together in an open space the designs. And Ross was by the of confusion, doubt, almost from them to the Terrans. Back across the patterned they came, their hands as the Terrans together, and now they the three out of time.
"Too ... we are too few...." she who was the one of the said. "We can not open the Great Door."
"How many do you need?" Karara's voice was no longer parched, frightened. She might have through to a new serenity.
Why did he think that, Ross fleetingly. Was it he, too, had had the same release?
The Polynesian girl her on her companions' hands, taking a step closer to the Foanna.
"Three can be four—"
"Or five." Ashe moved up her. "If we your purpose."
Was Gordon Ashe crazy? Or had he to this place? Yet it was Ashe's voice, sane, serene, as Ross had always it. The Agent wet his lips; it was his turn to have a mouth. This was not his game; it not be. Yet he voice to add in turn:
"Six—"
When it came the Foanna answer was a warning:
"To us you must your shields, allow your to one with our forces. Having done so, it may be that you shall be as you are now but changed."
"Changed...."
The word echoed, not in the place where they stood, but in Ross's head. This was a such as he had taken before. His in the past had been of action where his own and were matched against the problem. Here, he would open a door to he and his should not meet—expose himself to such as did not on the plane where and of arm decide victory or defeat.
And this was not his at all. What did it to Terrans ten thousand years or so in the what to Hawaikans in this past? He was a fool; they were all to in this. The Baldies and their empire—if that had as the Terrans surmised—was long gone his entered space.
"If you this with our aid," said Ashe, "will you be able to the invaders?"
Again a moment of the Foanna replied:
"We can not tell. We only know that there is a up here, set gates in the past, upon which we may call for some effort. But this much we also know: The Evil of the Shadow out from here now, and where that men will no longer be men but in the of men who and as creatures. As yet this of the Shadow is a small one. But it will spread, for that is the nature of those who have it. They have upon and a thing we know. Such power upon the will to power. Having it to their bidding, they will not be able to using it, for it is so easy to do and the results the nature of those who it.
"You have said that you and those like you who travel the time to the past. Here the steps have been taken to the future, but unless we complete the defense it will be for all of us."
"And this is your only weapon?" Ashe asked once more.
"The only one to against that which is now unleashed."
In the the lines were and glowing. Even when Ross his eyes, parts of those designs were still visible against his eyelids.
"We don't know how." He a last on the of prudence. "We couldn't move as you did."
"Apart, no—together, yes."
The were once more swaying, the which was their about them. Karara's hands out, and the of one of the Foanna lifted, closed about firm, Terran flesh. Ashe was doing the same!
Ross he out, but he not be sure, as he Karara's to in with her Foanna partner, her black out from her to the of the alien's. Ashe was steps with the who also him along a line of fire.
In this last Ross the time for was past—there was no place left to go. His hands out, though he had to that in him there was a of this surrender. But he not let the others go without him.
The Foanna's touch was cool, and yet it that met his flesh, as normal as his met in that grasp. And when that was complete he gave a small gasp. For his was away; he in its place a of energy which be to use as a or a tool in and action. His so ... and then so.... Did those without from the Foanna's to his and then along his nerves to his brain? He only which was the proper next step, and the next, and the next, as they their way along the pattern lines, with their going adding a necessary to a design.
Forward four steps, one—in and out. Did Ross actually that sweet thrumming, to the speech of the Foanna, or was it a in his blood? In and out.... What had of the others he did not know; he was aware only of his own path, of the hand in his, of the shape at his to he was now as if one of the Rover them both.
The lines under his were smoking, and as the of the Foanna and twisted. And the clung, his body. They moved in a of smoke, and thicker, until Ross not see the Foanna who him, was only of her presence by the hand which his.
And a small part of him to the of that as an against what might come, a tie the world of and the place into which he was passing.
How did one to this? Ross with that part of him which Ross Murdock, Terran Time Agent. He that he did not see with his eyes, with his ears but used other his own did not acknowledge.
Space ... not a room ... a cave-anything by normal nature. Space which something.
Pure energy? His Terran mind to give name to that which was nameless. Perhaps it was that of memory and which gave him that of "Seeing." Was it a throne? And on it a figure? He was intently, measured, and—set aside.
There were questions or a question he not hear, and an answer he would be able to understand. Or had any of this at all?
Ross on a cold floor, his hanging, of energy, of all that of power and well-being he had had when they had their across the symbols. About him those designs still dully. When he looked at them too his ached. He almost understand, but the was so he at the effort.
"Gordon—?"
There was no on his hand; he was alone, alone two arabesques. That at him with the of a blow. His came up; he about him in search of his companions. "Gordon!" His and in one was answered:
"Ross?"
On his hands and knees, Ross used the of his to in that direction, stopping now and then to his with his hands, to through the his for some of Ashe.
There he was, quietly, his up as if he were listening, or to listen. His were sunken; he had the drained, look of a man to the limit of physical energy. Yet there was a peace in his face. Ross on, put out a hand to Ashe's arm as if only by the other he be sure he was not an illusion. And Ashe's came up to the man's in a as tight as the Foanna's had been.
"We did it; together we did it," Ashe said. "But where—why—?"
Those questions were not at him, Ross knew. And at that moment the man did not where they had been, what they had done. It was that his terrible was gone, that Ashe was here.
Still his on Ross, Ashe his and called into the of the symbol-glowing space about them, "Karara?"
She came to them, not crawling, not almost of and strength, but on her two feet. About her her dark and spun—or was it dark now? Along those there to be of light, a which was a echo of the Foanna's tresses. And was it only his and sight, Ross mused, or was her skin fairer?
Karara at them and out her hands, one to each. When they took them Ross again that of energy he had when he had the Foanna into the dance.
"Come! There is much to do."
He not be mistaken; her voice the of the Foanna. Somehow she had some to a paler, a lesser, but still a copy of the three aliens. Was this what they had meant when they of a which might come to those who them into the of this place?
Ross looked from the girl to Ashe with intensity. No, he see no in Gordon. And he none himself.
"Come!" Some of Karara's old returned as she at them, them to their and them with her. She appeared to know where they must go, and men her guidance.
Once more they came out of the and into the normal, for here were the of a passage up at an which so they were to along by in the walls.
"Where are we going?" Ashe asked.
"To cleanse." Karara's answer was ambiguous, and she along the handholds. "But hurry!"
They their climb and were in another where of came through a to their eyes. This was to the way which had the in Zahur's castle.
Ross looked out of the opening into a courtyard. But where Zahur's had the life of a castle, this was silent. Silent, but not deserted. There were men below, armed, helmed. He the of the Wrecker warriors, saw one or two who the of the Foanna servants. They in lines, unmoving, without speech among themselves, men who might have been into and so for some game in which they were the voiceless, will-less pieces.
And their was a thing to fear. Were they and still standing?
"Come!" Karara's voice had to a and her hand at the men.
"What—?" Ross.
Ashe his head. Those up as if in order to march, rows. They not be alive as the Terrans life!
Ross left his point, to Karara. But he not from his mind the picture of those lines, the terrible which their more unhuman, more than those of the Foanna.
