World in Doubt?
The day was as all days had been since they had this sulk-and-march into the territory. Ross not accept the idea that the Foanna might actually wind and wave, and sun, as the Hawaikans believed, but the weather had them so far. And now they had the last point they took the into the of the enemy country. About the way in which they were to make that plunge, Ross had his own plan. One he did not to with either Ashe or Karara. Though he had had to it to the one now waiting here with him.
"This is still your mind, brother?"
He did not turn his to look at the figure. "It is still my mind!" Ross be on that point.
The Terran out of the place from which he had been studying the the Baldy spaceship. Now he got to his and Ynlan, his own out in the wind to the Rover underneath.
"You can do it for me?" he asked in turn. During the past days the Foanna had that the the had and limited their "magic." Last night they had a ahead and to transport the whole party through that by was impossible.
"Yes, you alone. Then my would be for a space. But what can you do their hold, save be meat for their taking?"
"There can not be too many of them left there. That's a small ship. They five at the citadel, and the Rovers have three prisoners. No of the ship we know they have—so more of them must be gone in it. I won't be an army. And what they have in the way of may be by in the ship. A of done there. Or if the ship lifted—" He was not sure of what he do; this was a on at the last moment.
"You to send off the ship?"
"I don't know that is possible. No, I can only their attention, through the so the may attack."
Ross that he must attempt this action, that in order to the Ross Murdock he had always been, he must be an actor not a spectator.
The Foanna did not argue with him now. "Where—?" Her long as she to the canyon. Dull as the were overhead, there was light here—too much of it for his purpose as the ground about the ship was open. To appear there might be fatal.
Ross was by another and much more promising idea. The Foanna had them all to the of Torgul's after him to picture it for her mentally. And to all the Baldy ship them now was to the one which had taken him once on a across a long-vanished empire. Such a ship he knew!
"Can you put me in the ship?"
"If you have a good memory of it, yes. But how know you these ships?"
"I was in one once for many days. If these are alike, then I know it well!"
"And if this is unlike, to try such may your death."
He had to accept her warning. Yet this ship was a duplicate. And he had on the he had also a Wrecker on his own world thousands of years his own had evolved. There was one of ships which had been identical—save for size—and that part was the best for his purpose.
"Send me—here!"
With closed eyes, Ross produced a picture of the cabin. Those seats which were not seats but support banks of and levers; all the other he had watched, studied, until they were as to him as the plate of the in which he had slept. Very vivid, that memory. He the touch of the Foanna's on his forehead—then it was gone. He opened his eyes.
No more wind and gloom, he directly the pilot's web-sling, a vista-plate and of controls, just as he had so many times in the derelict. He had it! This was the of the spacer. And it was alive—the in the air, the play of lights on the boards.
Ross the of his Foanna up over his head. He had had days to himself to the of the robe, but still its were sometimes a than a help. Slowly he turned. There were no Baldies here, but the well door to the was open, and from it came small up the ladder. The ship was occupied.
Not for the time since he had started on this Ross for more complete information. Doubtless of those or him which be the to him now. But which and how he did not know. Once in just such a he had and, in a long installation, had called the attention of the Baldies to their ship, to the Terrans it. Only by the had the of the then on the Russian and not on his own people.
He than to touch anything the pilot's station, but the banks of to one were with the well-being of the ship—and they him. To go it was, however, more of a than he take. There was one for him.
From a very familiar case the pilot's seat Ross up a of disks, through them for one which a symbol on its covering. There was only one of those. Slapping the into their container, Ross pressed a on the board.
Again his paid off! Another was as a small back. Ross that out of the holder, put in its place the one he had found. Now, if his choice had been correct, the who took off in this ship, unless they their tape first, would themselves to another and not returning to base. Perhaps of fuel might ground them past of their home port again. Next to the ship, which he not do, this was the best thing to that any enemy Hawaika would not return with a second force.
Ross the he had taken out into a pocket on his belt, to be when he had the chance. Now he across the to look into the well and listen.
The with a light. From here the Terran count at least four under him, with another. The two ought to be and storage. Then the engine room, above, and next to the the quarters.
Through the of the ship, up his from the of his feet, he the of at work. One such must the which this canyon, the the turn against any assault.
Ross about, his Foanna in a wide swing. There was one which he knew. Yes, again the was the same as the one he was familiar with. His hand out and down, the from one measure point to the very end of the in which it moved. Then he planted himself with his to the wall. Whoever came up the well the for the failure would be the other way. Ross a little, pushing the well on his to free his arms. There was a in his just as a cat might wait of its prey.
What he was a below, the of foot-gear on the of the level ladder. Ross's in a which was also feline. He that would do it! Spacemen were ultra-sensitive to any failure in air flow.
White head, of any hair, thin a little under the blue-green-lavender of the Baldies' uniforms.... Head now so that the see the necessary switch. An from the and—
But the Baldy had a to complete that turn, look him. Ross and with the of his hand. The forward. His hands already in the other's armpits, the Terran the up and over onto the of the cabin. It was only when he was about to his that Ross the Baldy was dead. A calculated to the had been too severe. Breathing a little faster, the Terran rolled the and it into the navigator's swing-seat, it with the take-off belts. One down—how many left?
He had little time to wonder, for he the well once again there was a call from below—sharp and demanding. The Terran his victim, but the Baldy was unarmed.
Again a shout. Then silence—too complete a silence. How they have trouble so quickly. Unless, unless the Baldies' had been at work ... they might now know their was dead.
But not how he died. Ross was prepared to the Baldies super-Terran abilities, but he did not see how they know what had here. They only danger, not know the it had taken. And sooner or later one of them must come to the switch. This be a of patience.
Ross at the of the well, trying to make his ears supply him with of what might be below. Had there been an in the of vibration? He set his to the deck, to the truth. But he not be sure. That there had been some he was certain.
They not wait much longer without making an attempt to reopen the air-supply regulator, or they? Again Ross was by of information. Perhaps the Baldies did not need the same amount of his own upon. And if that were true, Ross be the to in playing a waiting game. Well, air was not the only thing he cut off from here, though it had been the and most to his mind. Ross hesitated. Two-edged cut in directions. But he had to a from them. He another switch. The cabin, the whole of the ship, was into darkness.
No from this time. Ross pictured the of the ships he had known. Two to the engine room. Could he undetected? There was only one way to test that—try it.
He the Foanna about him, was on the when the in the came on. An switch? With a scramble, Ross into one of the corridors. The sliding-door panels along it were all closed; he no them. But the in the ship's had returned to its beat.
Now the Terran the of his move. He was more here than he had been in the cabin. There was only one way out, up or the ladder, and the enemy have that under from below. All they would need to do was to use a or a such as the one he had over to Ashe days ago.
Ross along to the stairwell. A of movement, a of from the ladder. Someone on the way up. Could they him, know him for an by the of his thoughts? The Baldies had a respect for the Foanna and might to take one alive. He the about him, used it to his as the true did.
But the up from to was no Baldy. The Hawaikan arms, the thin Hawaikan face, of feature, blank of expression—Loketh—under the same spell as had the in the courtyard. Could the be using this Hawaikan as a defense shield, moving up him?
Loketh's turned, those blank Ross. And their were troubled, of a returning. The Hawaikan up one hand in a and then to his in the corridor.
"Great One! Great One!" The came from his in a as he groveled. Then his flaccid, and he down, his leg up as if he would but not.
"Foanna!" The one word came out of the themselves, or so it seemed.
"Foanna—the wise learn what them when they walk alone in the dark." The Hawaikan speech was stilted, accented, but understandable.
Ross motionless. Had they somehow him through Loketh's eyes? Or had they been by the Hawaikan's call? They he was one of the Foanna. Well, he would play that role.
"Foanna!" Sharper this time, demanding. "You in our hand. Let us the and you shall be naught."
Out of the Karara had in the Foanna temple came to Ross—not in her Polynesian but in the English she had repeated. And his voice to his best of the Foanna Ross sang:
"Ye thousand gods,
Ye gods of sea, of sky—of stars," he improvised.
"Ye of the gods that are,
Ye gods that once were,
Ye that whisper, yet that watch by night,
Ye that your eyes."
"Foanna!" The was on the of patience. "Your will not move our mountains!"
"Ye gods of mountains," Ross returned, "of valleys, of Shades and not the Shadow," he in the of this world, too. "Walk now this world, the stars!" His was growing. And there was no use in in this corridor. He would have to that they were not prepared to kill one of the Foanna.
Ross to the well, the slowly, his about him. Here at the next level there was a space about the opening, and three door panels. Behind one must be those he sought. He was up by a in himself, almost as if this did give him in part the power to the Foanna.
He his hand on the door to his right and sent it into its frame, as if he entered here by right.
There were three Baldies. To his Terran they were all alike, but the one seated on a had a cold in his expression, a which Ross him squarely. The Terran for one of the Foanna and the ability to use it. To that energy about this might the Baldy to nothing. But now two of the were on him.
"You have come to us, Foanna, what have you to offer?" the commander, if that was his rank.
"Offer?" For the time Ross spoke. "There is no for the Foanna to make any offer, of and children. You have come from the to take, but that not we choose to give."
He it now, that pulling, in his mind, the which was their more weapon. Once they had almost him with that then he had their livery, a taken from the freighter. Now he did not have that in his defense. And all that and to be himself alone the with a fire.
"We offer life to you, Foanna, of the stars. These other are nothing to you, why take you in their cause? You are not of the same race."
"Nor are you!" Ross's hands moved under the of the robe, the two which it. That bank of which the sat—to that would trouble. And he upon Ynlan. The Rovers should now be at either end of the waiting for the to fail and let them in.
Ross himself, for action. "We have something for you, star men—" he to their attention with words, "have you not of the power of the Foanna—that they can wind and wave? That they can be where they were not in a single movement of the eyelid? And this is so—behold!"
It was the in the world, on any planet. But it was so old maybe it had been by the aliens. For, as Ross pointed, those did turn for an instant.
He was in the air, the in his arms wide spread as wings. And then they in a which them all against the controls. Ross to them in the robe, using the pressure of his to them all on the and of the board. Whether that would his purpose, he not tell. But that he had only these out of time to try, he knew, and to use them as best he could.
One of the Baldies had to the and another was at him. But the third had free to up a paralyzer. Ross around, the he across his just as the other fired. But though the and in Ross's hold, the Terran's own right arm to his side, his upper was numb, and his as if one of the Rover's had it. Ross and fell, his left hand the as he went. Then he on the and saw the of the above him, a at his middle.
To breathe was an Ross to endure. The red in his all the world. Pain—he to the pain but was in it. And always the pressure on him that steady.
"Let ... be...." He wanted to that. Perhaps he had, but the pressure continued. Then he his open. Ashe—Ashe and one of the Foanna over him, Ashe's hands on his chest, pressing, relaxing, pressing again.
"It is good—" He Ynvalda's voice. Her hand rested on his and from that touch Ross again the of and he had on the dancing floor.
"How—?" He and then to—"Where—?" For this was not the engine room of the spacer. He in the open, with sweet, rain-wet wind his now without Ashe's aid.
"It is over," Ashe told him, "all over—for now."
But not until the sun the hours later and they sat in council, did Ross learn all the tale. Just as he had his own plan for the spacer, so had Ashe, Karara, and the on a attempt. The river in those had provided a road for the and they its surface an entrance past the barrier.
"The Baldies were so sure of their on this world they set no save that field," Ashe explained. "We through five to the ship. And then the down, thanks to you."
"So I did help—that much." Ross wryly. What had he proven by his sortie? Nothing much. But he was not sorry he had it. For the very he had done it on his own had in part that small which was in him now when he looked at Ashe and how it had once been. Ashe might be—always would be—his friend, but the old tight-locking of the Project was them, like the time gate.
"And what will you do with them?" Ross toward the captives, the three from the ship, two more taken from the small which had to their for them.
"We wait," Ynvalda said, "for those on the Rover ship to be hither. By our laws they death."
The Rovers at that vigorously, all save Torgul and Jazia. The Rover woman spoke first.
"They the Curse of Phutka on them. To live under such a is than a clean, quick dying. Listen, it has come upon me that this not only eat them up but be by them to those who sent them—"
Together the Foanna nodded. "There has been of killing," said Ynlan. "No, warriors, we do not say this we from deaths. But Jazia speaks the truth in this matter. Let these depart. Perhaps they will that with them which will their that this is not a world they may in their hands as one a to eat its seeds. You in your cursing, Rovers, then let the fruit of it be plain the stars!"
Was this the time to speak of the tapes, Ross wondered. No, he did not that the Rover or their of the would, either one, the star leaders. But, if the did not return to their base, their might also work to keep another from Hawaikan skies. Leave it to chance, a curse, and time....
So it was decided.
"Have we won?" Ross asked Ashe later.
"Do you mean, have we the future? Who can answer that? They may return in force, this may have been a step which was taken before. Those may still in the above a sea and island. We shall know."
That was also their own truth. For them also there had been a of by Fate, and this was now their Hawaika. Ross Murdock, Gordon Ashe, Karara Trehern, Tino-rau, Taua—five Terrans in time—in the past with a future. Would this be the barren, world, or another now? Yes, no—either. They had their key to the out of time, but they not turn it, and there was no key to the gate which had to exist. Grasp tight the present. Ross looked about him. Yes, the present, which might be very satisfying after all....
