“Here they are, Father! Saved! Now, get off the ground before the Estoryans change their minds.”
“We’re going back,” replied Green, looking in vain for the others and then deciding that the boy had outstripped them in his haste to report. He shoved the lever forward and the ship – he was beginning to think of the island as a ship – soared toward the cone of the spacecraft, which he could see glittering in the sun inside its wall near the palace. When Amra and the girls ran into the chamber and wished to throw their arms around him, he told them he’d be very glad to give each a big warm kiss later on. Right now he had work to do.
Amra’s smile was replaced by a frown.
“Do you mean you’re still thinking of leaving on the demon’s ship?” she said harshly.
“That depends on certain factors about which I don’t have enough information as yet to act on,” he replied, somewhat stiffly.
The Earthman limped in. He was a tall, broad-shouldered but emaciated man. His bushy beard made his long, lean, big-eared, hawk-nosed face resemble Lincoln’s.
“Captain Walzer of the Terrestrial Interstellar Fleet, Intelligence,” he said, weakly.
“Alan Green, marine food specialist. I’ve a long story to tell and no time to tell it. I would like to know if you can pilot that spacer and if it’s in operating condition. Otherwise we might as well forget it and go elsewhere.”
“Yes, I’m the pilot. Hassan was the navigator and communications officer. Poor devil, he died in agony! Those beasts…!”
“I know how you feel, but we’ve no time to go into that. Is the ship ready to take off?”
Walzer sat down and leaned his head wearily to one side. Grizquetr offered him wine, and he took two long swallows and smacked his lips before replying.
“Ah, that’s the first drink I’ve had for two years! Yes, the bird’s ready to take off on a moment’s notice. We’d been on a mission whose purpose I can’t tell you. Security, you know. We were returning when we encountered this system. Since it’s part of our duty to report any T-type planet if we’ve time, we decided to stop off and stretch our legs. We’d been in space so long we were beginning to suffer from claustrophobia and were ready to fly at each other’s throats. You know how it is if you’ve made any very long voyages. And those scouts have especially cramped quarters. They’re not made for long trips, but the nature of our mission required the use of one … well, we won’t go into that.
“Anyway, we were wild to breathe fresh air again, to see a horizon, to feel grass beneath our bare feet, to go swimming, to eat freshly killed meat and freshly picked fruit. We rationalized ourselves into the idea that it was our duty to land. We decided on this city because it was so conspicuous, stuck out here in the middle of this incredible plain. And, of course, when we got close enough to see that it seemed to be surrounded by a ring of spaceships we had to enter the city itself and inquire about this phenomenon. We were greeted friendly enough, lulled into being off guard, then attacked. The rest of the story you know.”
Green nodded and said, “Here we are. Just above the ship.”
He rose from the chair and faced the group. “But before we take any further steps I think we ought to thrash out something right now that has been bothering Amra and me. Tell me, Walzer, is there enough room for Amra, Paxi, Soon, Grizquetr and myself? And perhaps for Inzax, if she wished to come along?”
Walzer’s eyes widened. “No, man, absolutely not! There’s barely space for you, let alone anybody else.”
Green held out his hands to Amra. “You see? I was afraid of this all the time. I’ll have to go without you.”
He paused, swallowed, then said, “But I’ll return! I swear I will! I’ll get the Interstellar Archaeology Bureau interested in this planet. When I tell them of the Xurdimur, of the rocket-shaped towers, of the islands with their anti-gravity machines, they’ll not hesitate a moment in organizing an expedition. The chance of solving the mystery of how man spread all over the Galaxy in prehistoric times will be too strong for them.