Tiger in the Stars

«He thinks of it as that, not I,» she said. «Now, I believe it would be wise if you listen and let me talk.» She smiled and waited for comment. Plank shifted in the soft seat and looked at her. In his mind was a conflict. He kept seeing, in her beautiful face, the death's skull she had shown them. «You have reason for pride, for you have come a long way. There is reason, also, for humbleness, because you are, after all, only an accident. When we left your galaxy your ancestry was eating vegetation on a thousand planets.» «Sorry,» Plank said, «I don't buy that.» «You yourself ran tests on the planet you call Plank's World. You noted the amazing—that's the way you expressed it—similarity between your cells and the cells of the slugs.» «May I ask how you know all this?» Plank asked. She laughed. «You made it rather difficult,» she said. «We had to search through the remains of…» Once again there was that ear-twisting name. «…'s planet. Fortunately the data banks were rather well protected and were still intact. You will see just how fortunate that was for you later.» «Yes,» Plank said, «the cellular construction was similar.» «But still you doubt that you evolved from our food creatures.» «There's a body of pretty firm evidence on Earth that life was spontaneous on our planet. You mentioned the giant reptiles. Were they evolved from your creation?» «Life arises in many ways in the universe. However, advancement to intelligence is quite rare. Without a head start your rapid rise would have been impossible.» «Is that crucial to our discussion?» Plank asked. «Not really. Actually, we are very impressed by you. Only one other race we know of has shown such development.» «Yours,» Plank said. «Ours. There are vague similarities. We are very old and no race can trace itself to the beginning, but when your planet was the home of the giant reptiles we had achieved the ultimate state of development and were in the process of changing. We had, then, been in deep space for a million years.» «Why were you so slow?» Plank asked. For the first time an unpleasant expression marred the beauty of the woman's face. «Please do not try to antagonize me. You are, at best, an annoyance. We are being generous to give you our time to explain to you. There is a question to be resolved. First let me confirm one of your

suspicions. The Eater, as you call him, is of us, but he is, how can I say it,

to use your term, retarded. He is a great rarity. Of all the people, he alone was incapable of development. He was not at home with us. It was best for him, and for us, to give him a place of his own. We looked and found your galaxy. It, as you may know, was largely unpopulated. There were a few signs of developing life, but so primitive that he would live out his life span—since he is what you think of as mortal—» «Where you are not?» Hara asked. «Our existence is not limited. His is. He would, we reasoned, die before he could endanger the developing forms of life on the scattered planets. We established him, gave him ways to amuse himself. To give him every opportunity, in case we were wrong and the centuries would effect a change in him, we left him the necessary history of our people to guide his development, if any.» «And you fenced him in with the barrier around the galaxy,» Heath said. «You anticipate,» she said. «But yes, we fenced him in. We provided him with his food creatures, things out of our primitive history. We gave him the basic tools to build. He loved toys.» «A retarded child with a galaxy all his own,» Plank said. «How did you happen to come back just at the time you did?» Hara asked. «He was capable of self-destruction,» she said. «We were notified of the destruction of his planet.» She looked at them with a smile. «You must understand that he is not bad. He is merely afflicted.» «Depopulating a planet in a game not even necessary to his survival is not bad?» Plank asked. «No,» she said, «you judge him too harshly.» «What is the question to be decided?» Plank asked. «We simply must decide whether to leave the galaxy to him or to you,» she said, with a delicate little movement of her shoulders. Plank smoldered for a moment. «All right, what do we have to say about it?» «Whatever you please,» she said. «I am here to evaluate our knowledge of you. We know that you have developed a rather primitive technology. We know that you now understand the principle of the drive aboard the ship you call Pride and, although that drive is still primitive and mechanical, it is a rather sophisticated work. To know that you could so easily understand it is surprising. That, more than anything else, is the reason why you are here to speak for yourselves.» «You know, then, that we developed the blink drive independently,» Heath said. «There was insufficient data on the tapes, but there was evidence that the trips were based on the buildup of power during a turnaround from your ships, which use hydrogen power. Please don't try to impress me. You know and I know that it is quite impossible for you to create a device as sophisticated as the drive.» «No,» Plank said, looking warningly at Heath, «Let's not try to lie to her.» But there was an unanswered question. With all her mental powers, couldn't she read their minds? He sent, with his thoughts, insulting things, rude things. She smiled, looking at Heath. «He is right,» she said. «Your advancements are worthy, without lying about them. Knowledge of our drive will be cleared from your mind before you leave here.» «We are to be allowed to leave, then?» Plank asked. «You would be out of place here,» she said. «More retarded children?» Plank asked. «You bore me, man. But yes, and worse, for you have seen the abilities of what you call the Eater. Can you match even one of them? You are worse than a retarded child; let me assure you that your continued existence depends entirely on what I decide here.» Plank made a low bow. «I ask your forgiveness.» «Now that you are more calm, perhaps you would like to tell me of your race. Your goals, your aspirations.» «We aspire, more than anything else, to perfection,» Hara said. «Rather noble,» the woman said. «Perfection by whose standards?» «Our own, the only standards we've known,» Hara said. «John Plank went into space for money,» the woman said. «But even as he went into space for money,» Hara said, «he was trying

to be the best ship captain, the best trader, the best navigator. He tried to make his ship the best one of its type.» «I see, in your activities, something that reminds me of…» the ear-twisting name…'s games. And his games were for nothing. Is money a way of keeping score in your game?» «We also seek security and comforts,» Hara said. «Money buys us security and comforts.» «And the search for money is a game to be won by the most able,» the woman said. «I suggest that you are a grossly competitive creature, competing with your fellows since you have no one else with whom to compete. I suggest that your entire life is a game and that your one object is to win.» «Why do you have weapons on your ships?» Plank asked. «Ah, that is a good question,» she said laughing, showing her pink tongue. «Perhaps this will not be so boring after all. You show an animal shrewdness. First, the ships were primitive toys of a retarded child. However, the toys, in their time, did come equipped with weapons, for we went through a period of competition. We had our wars among ourselves.» «That sounds very human to me,» Plank said. He lifted a hand to stop her reply. «Yes, we are competitive. We are competitive with our fellow men and with ourselves. We compete with nature, and with the universe. Although we take care of our own retarded children, those less able to compete, we still reward the ablest with the most riches, the most comforts, the most security. In the jungles of the young Earth, the fittest survived to sire more survivors. This continuing process of evolution goes on still. We can document a change in our race in a short period of time. We are taller, stronger, more resistant to disease. Our life span has increased from approximately 70 years to three times 70.» «Let me ask you this,» said the beautiful woman. «If you could, if you had it within your power to provide the ideal existence for your Earth, what would that existence be?» «Freedom of choice,» Hara said. «A meaningful life for each man,» Heath said. «Health, wealth, love and time to enjoy it,» Plank said. «Three answers.» «If there were three million men here you'd get three million answers,» Plank said, «all leading toward the same thing, perhaps, but expressed in different ways. One man would think the ideal existence would be to have a plot of ground on Earth and the time to till it. Another would want a ship like the Pride to rove the stars. Another would want a dozen women at his command.» «You are stating a concept we have been studying,» the woman said. «Each of you is individual.» «And your race operates with one mind?» Plank asked. «Many minds attuned.» «Can you make the water in that brook reverse its flow and run uphill?» Plank asked. «Easily.» She demonstrated. «But you can't read my thoughts,» Plank said. «Another good point, but not conclusive. Neither can I enter the mind of the small birds that you saw outside.» «You mentioned games,» Plank said. «Let me tell you about Earth games. On Sundays, during the colder months, young men don armor and

do battle in an arena. The object is to take a small object, called a football, from one end of the arena to the other. Men devote their lives to this game and those who excel at it are heroes to our people. A man begins to prepare himself for football when he is very young and works to develop

his abilities and his body until he is too old for the game and his reflexes slow. Other men and women spend their lives developing skills. A girl will begin to skate on ice on two thin blades when she is six years old. She may spend many hours every day of her life in an effort to win a gold medal in a series of games that has the attention of our entire world. This is what Hara called the search for perfection. Each individual wants to be the best

at what he or she does and is willing to make great sacrifices. Many strive, but there can be only one winner. We exalt that winner and so we create the desire, in other young people, to emulate the winner. You may call this a useless game, but we on Earth feel that man is at his most magnificent when he is forcing his body to do something it was not designed by nature to do; when he is stretching his abilities to the ultimate to achieve that one moment of triumph which has been attained by no man before him. If you gave a man the garden of Eden…» He paused. «I understand the concept. I've acquainted myself with your culture.» «Give a man everything. Put him into an idyllic situation where he does not have to work for food, where he has eternal shelter and wants for

nothing, and he'll start counting the fruit on the trees or trying to arrange the garden in a way that comes closer to pleasing his own senses. Man is a doer, a striver. Give him the universe, and he'll want to find out where it ends and why it began.» «By your information, how long has man been on Earth?» she asked. «It depends on when you begin to think of our primitive forgoers as man,» Plank said. «We can, although I don't think it worthwhile to do the calculations, tell you exactly when we first fashioned your original primitive ancestor,» the woman said testily. «We return to a basic difference in opinion,» Plank said. «My point is this. You've been on Earth a few million of your years.

While this is not, by our standards, a long period of time, in our history we showed faster development. Our period of warfare was very brief. We began to develop beyond aggressiveness. You have killed your fellows from the beginning.» «Our last war was 75 years ago,» Heath said. The woman laughed. «That is but a moment.» «Without meaning too much more malice than the question implies,» Plank asked, «who gives you the right to judge us?» Another laugh. «Who is there to deny us that right?» «A good point,» Plank said wryly. «But let's get back for a moment to what you think of as man's games. It comes to my mind that there may be a very good reason for man's competition with himself and with his fellow man. You say your life span is unlimited. Even your retarded child has enjoyed what is to us a tremendous and almost immortal life and still has time to live. I assume, then, that you've never been faced with death, guaranteed death, death that comes in a certain span of time regardless of what you do.» «That is true.» «How would your race have developed if, in its youth, each individual had a life span of, say, 30 years? When our people began making technical advances, looking upward to the stars through primitive instruments, we were faced with that problem.» «I see,» she said, nodding. «You show an interest in what we think to be the ideal existence,» Plank said. «Perhaps we could learn by asking you the same question.» «You would not understand,» she said. «Try us,» Hara said. «You lack the capacity.» «It seems to me that you, as we do, like comforts and luxuries,» Plank

said. «This place. It is beautiful, but different only in degree from the same sort of home on our planet.» «A moment,» she said. Each of them felt a slight alteration; suddenly they were standing atop a wooded hill. Around them the woodland was dense, heavily brushed, the ground littered with the debris of fallen limbs. «Do you think I needed a building? A home?» The woman was looking at them with a tiny smile. «Did you think the flowers were for me?» «What are you then?» Plank asked. «Even that you would not understand,» she said. «Can you show us?» Plank asked. «No.» «The Eater's basic form was functional,» Plank said. The woman-form began to fade. In its place was something, a

disturbance, not visible so much as felt, a twisting, a distortion of an area of space in front of them. And then they were seated again in the luxurious room, the beautiful woman before them. «I have one question,» Plank said. «It's been demonstrated that you have control over physical things, but how much is real and how much is in our minds?» «I could, if I chose, leave the area, here, as it was. In time the natural growth would creep back, but the other, the flowers from a far planet, the building itself, they would remain.» «What do you do?» Plank said. «What is your purpose?» «I told you that you lacked the ability to understand. Greatly simplified, we blend.» «With what?» Plank persisted. «With ourselves, with the universe.» «Is the universe limited?» Plank asked. «You would not understand.» Plank snorted. «Let me say, then, that it is not my function to educate you beyond your abilities,» the woman said. «And now I think we have reached the conclusion of our discussion.» «No,» Plank said, standing quickly. «You have merely talked with three humans. You can't possibly have an overall view of the race from such limited contact. You should, before making your decision, talk to our philosophers, our men of science and religion, our artists and writers, our physicians.» «That will not be necessary,» she said. «You deserve your chance.» Plank sat down, sighing. «And now you have a choice,» the beautiful woman continued. «I will return you either to your planet or your base on the satellite of your planet.» «As we are?» Plank asked. «I told you that you were most fortunate that your missiles did not destroy the data banks when you fired upon…» She said the name that could not be pronounced, the name of the Eater. «…'s planet. He was well trained in scientific methods, even if he did not have the patience or the

intelligence to use the material he gathered. He very carefully recorded the basic patterns—you think of them, I believe, as the dna chains, which form each of your individual cells. Had he cared to, he could have duplicated millions of you, but he was too shortsighted for that. However, you will be made as you were.» She laughed. «This should remove any lingering doubts that you are, for a fact, merely a more advanced form of food creature.» «And the others?» Hara asked. «Matt Webb? All the men who were taken from their ships between Earth and the Centauri systems?» «We could recreate their bodies,» the woman said. «They were measured before they were, ah, enjoyed. But apparently the human brain is a tasty morsel.» She smiled and Plank saw, or imagined he saw, a hint of the death's head she had shown them. «He described the taste so well it raised an atavistic appetite. He saved only the brains, and thus the personalities, of just three. You three.» Hara suppressed a shudder. Plank started to speak, angered, but there was a blackness. He was aboard the Pride. He knew it, could remember how he had been a part of it, but he was no longer. Once he had flowed in that ship, had known each intricate system. Now, as he looked at it from the interior, from the lounge, he was blocked out. His mind could not extend beyond the smoothness of the panels that hid the workings of the ship. He pinched the flesh of his arm between thumb and forefinger, twisting until he felt pain. Beside him Hara looked up, her eyes wet. A glow of life was in her cheeks. Heath stood as if dazed, hands hanging at his side. The voice was in their minds and in their ears. «Here is your final instruction. Remember it well. Do your best to impress it upon your

leaders. See to it that it is recorded well. You have your place. We leave it to you. Stay in your place. It is large, large enough to accommodate even your animal-breeding habits. Do not ever expect more. We give you your galaxy, and we will not hinder your development in any way. We will not intrude upon your privacy as long as you remain in your place. It is your nature, however, to want more than you have. You will never need more,

but you will want it. Admittedly, this warning is academic, for you lack the capacity to threaten us in any way, but we have had enough of you. We

will not interfere with your actions inside your place, but we will be here,

on the far side of the barrier, in the unlikely event that you develop to the point of threatening our privacy.» The Pride was moving, up and out, positioning itself for the first blink. «When you arrive near your satellite, you will be given time to leave this

ship. Do so at the first opportunity. Do not try to take it to the surface. I will be monitoring until the ship is empty.» «I've grown rather fond of it,» Plank said. «I'd like to keep it.» «I have already explained,» the voice said. «We will not contribute. Some of us were opposed to allowing a continuation of what is obviously

an artificial species. Feel fortunate that we allow you to exist in your own state.» Plank felt the generator building, felt the jump. It must have one heck of a jump, he was thinking, as he looked out the viewers and saw the familiar landmarks of the Orion Arm spread across the space before them. Walker Heath was rumbling around the ship. As the ship prepared for another blink, he returned to the lounge. «I don't know what makes this baby go,» he said, «but it must be something very much like our blink generator.» «She wiped it out of my mind,» Plank said. «I knew this ship.» «Yes, I remember,» Heath said. «She couldn't believe that we had developed the same principle.» He grinned excitedly. «Yes. It will work now. There's no one to stop us, no one to interfere. The blink drive will

work. It's all here.» He tapped his forehead. «She didn't touch it. She didn't believe it was there.» «So they are not all powerful; they are not infallible,» Plank said. «Plank, we have the galaxy. She left us with it. Let's not start wanting more right now,» Hara said. «No,» Plank said. «She did not leave us with the galaxy. It was ours, more so than it was the creature's. It was introduced into it. We are a product of it.» «Are you sure?» she asked. «Somewhere, someplace, back in the dawn of time, an apelike animal stood on his hind legs and pounded his chest,» Plank said. «That was my ancestry. She is not infallible. She depended upon the Eater's information to form her opinion of us. That was false data, for the Eater, himself, thought we were merely more advanced food creatures. But we are man. We grew in this galaxy. We grew from simple one-celled animals, which had formed from the soup of life on a young planet. And, by God, no animated force field is going to make me believe anything different.» As the Pride entered the Orion Arm, blinks became shorter. Out of boredom, Plank tried the manual controls he had once rigged. They had no effect. The tools from the old Pride were no longer in the cargo hold. They had no choice but to be mere passengers during the ship's huge leaps toward home. Plank had one consolation. He was alive, a man, and with him was the woman he loved. There was time for talk, for planning. They would be married immediately. With Hara in his arms, John Plank was happy. He would not have changed places with anyone in the universe, not even a being who could manipulate the whole works at will. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN When the Pride blinked out into normal space in close orbit around the moon, she registered on scanners. Hastily prepared defenses went into effect. A general alarm sent the moon's population into action. When the ship's contours proved to be those of an alien, two patrolling ships made course for her and, without preliminary, ten atomic warheads were launched from pads on the moon. Earth had found her external enemy

and all her warlike feelings told her to strike first and strike hard. She had seen one alien. Aboard the Pride, having no access to the ship's systems, Plank's first knowledge of the attack was the blossoming of ten small stars in the space surrounding the ship. Viewports darkened to protect their human eyes. Plank had been engaged in donning his lsg, because, denied access to the ship's communications, the radio in his suit offered the only chance to contact the moon. «You can't really blame them,» he said, as two ships closed in on the Pride, rockets making misty trails across empty space as the ships fired. «They saw the Eater.» He began to place his call in a steady voice, identifying himself. The attacking rockets exploded prematurely, detonated by the ship's systems or by an overseeing presence. Plank didn't know which and he didn't care. He just wanted out of the ship. He had work to do. The two attacking Earth ships were joined by a third, and the three were hard to convince. The attack continued while Plank patiently called. After shooting up an area of space around the Pride and nothing more, the ships withdrew a distance, orbiting the stationary Pride. Now both Heath and Hara were using the radio in Plank's lsg, adding their own identification to Plank's. Finally, a reply. «We order you to surrender,» the call came. «Yes,» Plank said. «We surrender.» «Stand by for boarding.» «I don't think that's possible,» Plank replied. «Open a lock and stand by for boarding, or we'll blast you out of space,» the voice said. It was tense. Plank pictured a young captain on one of the nearby ships. «You've tried that,» Plank said. «Look, we're Earthmen. We've given you

our identification numbers. We are not in control of this ship. That will all be explained.» «Stand by for boarding,» the voice said. One of the ships blasted, moving closer. «Go easy,» Plank yelled. The ship smashed into the field surrounding the Pride. Only the fact that it was just getting underway saved it from total destruction. As it was, it was damaged, its hull ruptured. One by one figures in lsg left the damaged ship and were picked up by a second ship. During that period, Plank's calls went unanswered. When radio contact was made again, the voice was different. «Again, we ask you, if your intentions are not hostile, to surrender.» Plank muttered an oath. «That's what we want to do.» «Then allow us to board you.» «We have no control over the ship's defenses. We are merely passengers. We are being delivered home. We want to come home.» «Then exit the ship one at a time and you will be picked up,» the voice ordered. It was an older sounding voice, perhaps, Plank thought, a senior commander. «And be blasted in space?» «Not if you surrender.» «We surrender,» Plank yelled, rolling his eyes at Hara and Heath. «Come out one at a time.» «There are three of us and we have only one lsg,» Plank said. «I will come out. Then I'll have to borrow two lsgs and bring them back over.» «If you will allow us to board you we will bring LSGS.» «I have no control over the ship's defense. It will not allow boarding.» «Hold one,» the voice said. When the radio sputtered again, the message was, «All right. One at a time. Come out.» «They're nervous,» Heath said. «I don't know if I want to go out or not.» «We have to go out sometime,» Plank said. He went into the cargo hold. As he expected, the lock operated itself. When the outside port opened and the air was exhausted, he stuck his head out cautiously. The second ship was near, and he could see missile launchers pointed his way. «I'm coming out,» he said. He attached a line and pushed himself away. The line allowed him to travel about three meters before jerking him to a stop. He

saw the missiles fire and they detonated on the ship's field in front of him. He pulled himself back and the lock accepted, allowed him entry to the ship. That had been a big question in his mind, whether or not, once he had left the ship, he would be allowed reentry to bring lsgs to Hara and Heath. He rejoined them in the lounge and peeled out of lsg. «I think we're just going to have to wait for a while, until they cool down a bit.» «Let me use the radio,» Hara said. She activated the instrument and said, «This is Commander Sahara.» She gave her serial number. «I want to speak with Secretary Maxwell Seagle.» «That is not possible,» the tense voice informed them. «It is possible,» Hara said. «First you patch through to Moon Control, and then you ask them to patch you through to Earth and the secretary's office.» «Hold one,» the voice said. A moment later, it returned, «Your request is impossible.» «All right, then,» Hara said. «We'll wait until it is possible.» Another attack was tried. A huge laser cruiser almost burned itself while blasting away at the Pride's shield from close range. Plank was having a cup of coffee from the galley. He was beginning to be slightly put out. He did not begrudge them their caution, but he was fed up with their

stupidity. In irritation, following the laser attack, he turned on the radio

and, affecting a weird accent, he said, «All right, this has gone far enough. Now you will connect me with your leader.» There was a long pause. «Identify yourself,» the voice on the radio said. «I am the Creature Who Ate Central Africa,» Plank said. «I will eat you unless you take me to your leader.» He looked at Hara and grinned. «It's no joking matter,» she hissed at him. «Which leader?» the voice asked. Hara took the switch. «Space Secretary Maxwell Seagle,» she said. «Hold one.» She recognized Seagle's voice. He sounded tired. «This is Secretary Seagle,» he said. «Why did you ask to speak with me specifically?» «Because you should remember me,» Hara said. «I came aboard your ship to ask that Commander Heath be allowed to use the last blink test vehicle.» «Yes, I remember the visit,» Seagle said. «But you're not sure that I'm the same woman who paid that visit?» Hara asked. «We have reason for caution,» Seagle said. «Yes, of course,» Hara agreed. «But, sir, we want to come out. We'll come out one at a time. Then we can explain everything.» «Try to explain it now,» Seagle said. So she talked. There were many questions. In the end, Plank was in lsg again and standing in the lock. But he, himself, insisted on precautions. Between him and the nearest ship were men in lsg. They were directly in line of the ship's fire. He used his steering jets to push his lsg toward them, joined them, used their lines to draw himself into the ship. There he was seized, his lsg peeled off him. He did not resist. A doctor examined him. «He's a man, all right,» the doctor said. «Now give me two extra suits and let me get the others,» he said. «Not a chance, buddy,» said a stern senior commander. «One of my boys will go.» «He won't be able to get in,» Plank said. «The port is still open.» «It won't admit him.» «We'll see.» The man couldn't even get past the shield. «Look,» Plank argued, «You're worried about the ship, not about three people in lsg. The ship has proven itself to be impregnable. Get the other two off, get them here, safe, and the ship's defenses go down. They're geared to protect life. Remove the life and you can blast her or board her as you please.» «I think you're lying,» the senior commander said. «Get me Secretary Seagle,» Plank requested wearily. «Not a chance,» the commander said. «I'm authorized to make field decisions.» «All right, then,» said Plank, «it's your funeral.» «What do you mean by that?» the commander asked nervously. «Our only radio is in the lsg,» Plank said. «My friends are now out of communication.» «Or they don't choose to communicate,» the commander said. «We don't want to have to do it, but we arranged before I came out to send a missile down to the base if you held me.» The commander's head jerked. «Send word. Tell them immediate evacuation.» «All you have to do is let me go over, with two lsgs for the others. Then it's over.» «I'd like a mind scan,» the doctor who had examined Plank said. «Perhaps he's telling the truth.» «No mind scan,» Plank said. «I've had enough of people fooling around in my mind.» It was stalemate, a stalemate broken only when Maxwell Seagle boarded and talked personally with Plank, asking many of the same questions, going over and over the story until Plank's temper was worn thin. Then and only then was Plank allowed to return. Hara and Heath donned lsg, and finally the three of them were aboard the cruiser, closely guarded, facing Seagle, the doctor, the ship's commander. «You said we could board after you were off,» the commander said. «I said it, but it's not true. The ship won't allow you to board,» Plank said. «We can try,» the commander said. A cry of alarm came over the communications system. The commander ran for the control room. When he returned, his face was grim.

«Sir,» he said to Seagle, «it broke up. It turned all colors, disintegrated, and disappeared.» «Now it is over,» Hara said. «No,» Plank said, «it's just beginning.» And it was. He had something different in mind when he said it was just beginning. What began were the mind scans and the questioning and the endless repetitions. They were separated. For days Plank did not see Hara. For days he submitted to their examinations and their questions; the three were a closely guarded secret, kept hidden away at moon base. The moon and Earth were on full alert. As the days passed, the tenseness died. When he was allowed to see her she looked haggard. She came into his arms with a little cry of gladness, and he kissed her. Within a week, they were Earthbound. They were married in a quiet ceremony and rented a suite in a hotel in the Amazon Natural Forest. After two weeks there, they visited Plank's mother and Hara's parents. Then they reported in to work. Plank requested transfer from free enterprise back to service to be allowed to work with Walker Heath. When they arrived on the moon, Heath was already in construction. Using an existing hull, he was installing surplus parts left over from the blink experiments. On the day of the first test, a battery of Earth dignitaries clustered in the control room. The test vehicle blinked out a few thousand kilometers and blinked back. It blinked out a light-year and blinked back. Heath insisted on riding the third test. He returned safely. Some months later, Commander Sahara led her ship into a dense starfield toward the core of the galaxy. A diligent search produced not a single scrap of the tinker-toy planet. The search was made more interesting by the persistent attentions of her first officer, one Commander John Plank. EPILOGUE On his ninety-fifth birthday, John Sahara Plank III walked through an early-morning fog to stand atop a hill looking down on the campus. It was May, and the Virginia hills were dressed in spring togs; the temperature indicated a warm day that, at that sunrise hour, was invigorating. Plank had chosen to wear uniform. The choice seemed to be in keeping with the

day. He was alone on the hill. Below him, as the fog began to shred and lift

in the first heat of the early sun, he could see a few students beginning to move in the plaza, some of them walking toward the cafeteria for breakfast, some just strolling to enjoy the beautiful morning. The university filled the small valley, climbed the hill on the far side

toward the towers of the blink-stat station. To the left, the parking lot was packed and, as he watched, two atmoflyers came in, bearing, perhaps, off-campus students, workers or visitors. In an hour the campus would be a hive of activity. To John Sahara Plank III, the perfect morning seemed to be a good omen. With the sun over his shoulder, he walked down the trail, a tall, well-built man in his prime, his ash blond hair medium long, his eyes alert beneath bushy blond eyebrows. By the time he reached the plaza it was filling with students hurrying to class. Many of them recognized him, nodded, spoke to him by name. He walked with his hands behind his back, his head lowered, giving the impression that he was deep in thought. He was a familiar figure on the campus. He still had time before meeting his morning class, a seminar of graduate students in engineering, so he bypassed the classic lines of the Walker Heath Building and walked through the arboretum. He cast only a casual glance on the exotics from the populated planets of the galaxy. Emerging into sunlight again, he turned left, pressed his palm on the identifier at the door of his laboratory and entered. Musing, he stood in the main lab, hands still clasped behind him. The lab was empty, the work done. The equipment would be preserved. Unless he were wrong, it would be there when he came back. His desk at the end of the lab was neat, straightened and emptied the previous day. He walked to it, sat down, threw his long legs up and leaned back. Unbidden, the equations began to march through his mind and he let them flow, feeling the satisfaction of a job well done. Right or wrong the work would be a milestone in physics. Already it was paying dividends. Applied to gravitational field equations it had increased the comfort of every ship going out from Earth, every ship that blinked its way through the galaxy between Earth's far-flung settlements. A mining company out beyond Antares was using the equations, applying them to a gas giant mining drone, to allow the drone to dive deeply into the tremendous pressures of a gas giant's atmosphere. Royalties went, of course, to the university. Plank had no need for more money. John Sahara Plank III was a product of the free enterprise system, an extremely wealthy man. He did not scorn money. It was Plank family money that paid for the lab and the fantastically expensive equipment. He enjoyed money and the freedom it gave him. He used it wisely, bought himself all the comforts he wanted and felt no guilt. There were those who thought his long service as a mere teacher at the university founded by his grandfather and grandmother was, somehow, a show of guilt, a penance for possessing one of the galaxy's great fortunes. Those who knew him best, and they were few, knew better. Old John Plank's grandson was a solitary man, still single although well past the age for marriage. Not that he was a woman hater. At social functions he chose to attend, he always escorted one of the most beautiful women—the chief of his research team, Ellen Walters, a woman of dark-haired beauty who caused heads to turn when she walked across the campus. It was rumored that more than work was between them, but then Plank was a favorite subject for talk. It was well known that his brother, Matt Plank, scorned John's scholarly career and often spoke in public about the black sheep of the Plank family, the one who retreated from life and holed up in a quiet university, neglecting his responsibility. Plank Enterprises reached outward from the Earth and secondary headquarters on Plank's World to put a web of commerce and scientific development around the galaxy. And Matt needed help. He had Frank, the second brother, but Frank was only good as a front man, a glad-hander with no

real abilities. Matt wanted the organizational abilities of his brother John in Plank Enterprises and John's refusal to take an interest puzzled Matt. At that moment on Plank's World, Matt was puzzled anew by his brother John. Matt had received a blinkstat that stated, without explanation, that John would be landing on Plank's World in a matter of weeks. «I will not,» Matt Plank told his secretary, «give the professor the satisfaction of being asked why he's chosen this time to visit us.» But he was curious, and he put out an order to the Earth office to send a man to nose around Plank University to see what old John was up to. John, by that time, was on the top floor of the Heath Building in room 1040, seated comfortably in the informal atmosphere of a seminar room waiting for the last of his six advanced students to arrive. When the tardy student hurried in, John leaned back in his chair, smiled at his students, and said, «This will be my last meeting with you.» There was a stir and a mutter of dismay. «The seminar will be carried to conclusion by various members of the department as individual time requirements allow. You will be in good hands. Your work is going well and your programs are nearing completion. You will have no problems.» «May we ask why, Professor?» «Not at this time.» «You will be missed,» one of the female students dared to say. «You assume, then, that I am leaving the university,» Plank said. «You are right.» He held up a hand. «Now, instead of talking about me, let's review the findings of our program to date. I want to be sure that you're on a firm footing for the completion of your program.» After the two-hour class meeting it was time for lunch. He could have used one of the private rooms in the cafeteria, but he was not the sort to demand special treatment. He found an empty table, placed his tray upon it, and was beginning to eat with a healthy appetite when he saw Ellen Walters weaving her way through the tables toward him, tray in hand. He watched her, not without appreciation of her trim form. She smiled, engendering a smile in return. «The big day,» she said. «The big day.» He took a bite of good Texas steak and chewed thoughtfully. «Will you be at the ceremony?» «Of course.» «You're all ready, then?» «I've been ready for weeks,» she said. «Would you pass the salt, please.» He reached and his hand knocked the salt container off the table. It fell, obeying the laws of physics, until it was within five centimeters of the floor, then it halted and began to rise of its own accord. Leaning over, Plank put out his hand and plucked it from the air. «Show off,» he said.

«If you've got it, flaunt it,» Ellen replied. «And since I'm reminded of it, you know Sparks, of the Parapsychology Department, has enrolled another receiver.» «Astounding, isn't it? Man goes along his merry way for millions of years accepting evolution only in part and then, suddenly, we're living a change.» «I wish I were a receiver too,» Ellen sighed. «There are times when I'd like to know what's going on up there in your head.» «As I look at you, my dear, I can tell you I have some very interesting things going on,» Plank said, grinning at her. «By the way, tell Sparks to warn his new receiver that he… male or female?» «Female. The ratio still holds true. Females two to one.» «… that she will, no doubt, be getting an offer from my brother. Tell him to give her the standard lecture about continuing her education before going off into the galaxy to make her fortune.» «I'm sure it's been done,» Ellen said. «I'm glad you're not a receiver,» Plank said. «I always feel uncomfortable. I've never sure they're living up to their oath. I have to guard my thoughts even around our Susan.» «I think she's very conscientious,» Ellen said. «She says it is extremely embarrassing to look into someone who is unaware. I think it's actually unpleasant at times.» «I'm sure it would be,» Plank said, finishing his meal. «See you.» He still had the formal call to make on the university's president, his afternoon seminar to meet, and then the ceremony. He had been against

it, but he felt that it was his obligation to attend. If his fellows valued him, he would be insulting them to refuse their honors. He spent a quiet hour in the privacy of his apartment, dressed in formal wear, and walked the short distance to the assembly hall of the School of Physics. He was early. He sat on the stage talking with the president and the various deans until the hall was filled and the appointed hour had come. Then he sat, rather

uncomfortably, listening to various speakers tell of his long years of service to the university and of his achievements. When he rose, a sincere roar of applause followed. He stood, waiting it out, saying, «Thank you, thank you.» He went through the formal opening, addressing the various elements of the gathering; then he stood, hands behind his back, and looked out to the sea of student faces. «We are fortunate,» he began, «to live in what is, perhaps, the most exciting era in the history of man. We have seen the galaxy opened. We have watched the ships blink out from home by the thousands, the millions, carrying Earth's surplus to the far stars. By picking up the telephone in our homes we can cross parsecs of space in an instant via

blinkstat to send greetings to friends and relatives who are colonizing. For breakfast we may have fruit from one of the planets of a star that, 100 years ago, had only been a number in an astronomical catalog. We live in an age of plenty. No man goes without the basic needs. No man need be idle. And each man has his opportunity, in our rapidly expanding society,

to fulfill his own potential. There is opportunity for all. There is challenge

for all. And if the race survives for a million years there will still be, in our vast galaxy, challenge and opportunity.» He paused. The last echoes of his voice faded away. «In every scientific field we are advancing. Here at the university the work being done in micro-metallurgy has advanced the art immeasurably in two decades. Our work with elemental particles has opened the door to what was once thought to be an occult science. If we needed gold beyond the natural supply now available from a million planets, we could make it. When the natural food supply is low, we synthesize foods. And we advance steadily in other fields. We are, we men, in the midst of a vast change in our race. Something is happening in the basic structure of our brains. Our youth show astounding abilities. Not all of them, but a small percentage of them are developing abilities that were unbelievable when they were predicted by the esoteric science fiction writers of our past. We are able, through these new abilities, to know ourselves better. The science of medicine has been advanced immeasurably by the application of para abilities to medical problems. There are mental healers among us. Healers who can use the power of the mind to overcome the age-old ills of mankind. In one generation, the lifespan of the average man has been lengthened by five decades. Evolution is at work. Man has come a long way. I choose to believe that our advance is more than a matter of chance, more than the accidental results of existence. I believe that man has a destiny.» «As you know, para abilities are being applied to the studies of all the sciences. Para anthropologists have come up with convincing proof that life evolved on this planet with a richness of variety unknown elsewhere in the galaxy. I believe that man is the end result of billions of years of evolution under the guidance of an unknown hand. I believe that man is his own creature, a product of this Earth, a master of his own fate.» «In Central Africa there is a monument. It is a reminder. It was erected on the spot where an alien came to our planet to show his complete lack of

regard for an intelligent species. I, for one, will never forget that once man was considered to be nothing more than a food creature. Not by some dumb animal, some beast of the jungle of man's past, but by a being with superior abilities and dangerous talents. My grandfather and grandmother received a warning. Since I was a small child that warning has been engraved on my mind, always with me, always in my thoughts. We were told to stay in our place. We were told not to aspire beyond our abilities. We were, with some show of generosity, given our own galaxy.» «It is my belief that the knowledge that we are not alone in this universe, that somewhere out there is a being who could manipulate us at will, can be nothing but inhibiting to man's future development. I think each of us should, at some time during our lives, visit the Central African monument and remember the Eater, I will never forget.» He smiled. «Nor will I forget our university and my association with thousands of young people who are doing so much to make man more than he has ever been before. Thank you.» «I think,» John Sahara Plank III said, seated beside Ellen Walters in his personal atmoflyer as it arrowed south on autopilot, «that we'll be married aboard the Pride.» For a moment her eyes narrowed in surprise. «All right,» she said. «I think it would be fitting,» he said. «We'll be spending a lot of time there.» He took her hand and smiled at her. «We don't want to shock our young crew by living in sin.» «You are,» she said, «the very soul of romance.» «You could say no,» he said gently. «You're not a receiver, but you should be able to read my mind better than that.» «I'm sorry. I just took it for granted, I suppose, that when the time came we'd be married. Would you like for me to start all over and propose properly?» «I think I'd like for you to kiss me,» she said. After minutes during which his attention was occupied, the beeper told them of contact with Canaveral Control. Plank disengaged and sighed. «As first officer and captain we'll have to be on good behavior. No unseemly passionate displays before the crew.» «Just so you haven't arranged separate cabins,» she said. «Not a chance,» he grinned. Control landed them in the private sector of the base. There, the Sahara Pride VII rested on her pad, large as ships went, almost globular, gleaming with the blue and red of Plank University. Ellen laughed at the display of the school colors. «Will you also laugh when I tell you that the library contains films of all of last year's games?» Plank asked. «You're kidding.» «I'm going to analyze them, find out where we went wrong.» «Oh, the coach is going to love you.» «He's not my type,» Plank said, leading her toward the entrance port of the Pride. The port was opened by First Engineer Joker Osbourne, red-haired,

muscular, blunt. Osbourne, a product of the university, had Plank's gift, as it was called. He came closer to becoming a part of his equipment than any man since John Plank. Susan Lite, receiver and navigator, was in the lounge to greet them, along with Tom and Martha Peters, electronics and parakinetics. Martha Peters made Ellen's small abilities seem like the work of a minor magician. All had been carefully selected, hand-picked by Plank himself. All had worked with Plank in the lab back at the university. All had participated in the building of the Pride. Within an hour of the arrival of Plank and Ellen, the Pride lifted. An extra passenger was aboard, a civil servant who performed a simple ceremony as the ship positioned itself for the initial blink. The civil servant was picked off by a lighter, and the Pride departed from Earth. The ship received V.I.P. treatment on Plank's World. Both Mark and Frank Plank were present when the Pride lowered to the surface. The party at the home of the president of Plank Enterprises was gala. When it was over, two of the brothers sat in Mark Plank's study over brandy. «Each paired off, like Noah's ark,» Mark was saying, speaking of John's crew. «We'll be gone a long time,» John said. «Where?» «Around.» «You wouldn't care to do a little work while you're star hopping, would you?» Mark asked. «I can use you.» «Sorry, Mark. I have my own thing going.» «Yes, I know.» «Spying again?» «Keeping my knowledge up to date,» Mark said, smiling. «You are constantly amazing me with some new gadget from that lab of yours. I have to spy on you to stay ahead of you. Otherwise you'll spring some development on me, and I won't have a use in mind for it.» «How much do you know about the Pride?» John asked, reaching for a decanter to refill his glass. «Not as much as I'd like to know. I know there's a pile of electronics on her. I know you have triple the power of the most advanced ship. And you have some things that I can't even guess about. Wanta fill me in?» «There's a mental amplifier.» «A what?» «'I'll tell you about it after we test it completely.» «What does it amplify?» «Power.» «We have an infinite power source in the blink generator. Power to fill all our needs. Why an amplifier?» John shrugged. «For more power.» «For what?» «For things that require more power.» Mark laughed. «All right. I'm sure that when you're ready you'll hand it over to the firm, and I'm sure I'll find a money-making use for it. Where do you go from here?» «Out,» John said, waving a hand. «We need open space.» «The clouds?» «Not that far. At least not in that direction.» «John, you do need to file a flight plan, you know. In case of trouble we must know where to look.» «No flight plan,» John said. «Do you have all you need? Anything I can get for you?» «Yes, as a matter of fact. I'd like six cases of this brandy.» «Done,» Mark said. He filled his glass. «John. I hope you're not going to do what I'm afraid you're going to do.» «And that is?» «You're going to the barrier.» «Does anyone else suspect that?» «No.» «I would appreciate it if—» «You don't have to say it. Look, you know and I know that if the word got out that you were testing the barrier there'd be one helluva hue and cry.» «How did you guess?» «I know you. brother. I remember when you were small you showed a great deal of interest in the barrier. When grandfather was alive you used

to bug him to tell you about it, over and over. It still bothers you, doesn't it?» «Yes. Very much.» «Can't stand prosperity, huh? We have a galaxy. We're making do nicely with it, thank you. If we continue to breed at the present expansion rate

and double our population every few years, there's still enough for the race for a million years. Why the barrier? Are we ready?» «Because it's there, I suppose,» Plank said. «And the hell of it is,» Matt said, «100 credits to ten you'll break the thing, if that's your goal.» «Just a preliminary study.» «Promise me one thing?» «Perhaps.» «Promise me you won't go through, even if you can, until you talk with me. Until we can make plans. John, I don't think we are ready. There's something pretty hairy on the other side of that force field or whatever it is. Before we go out there to, as they told our grandparents, invade their privacy, we'd better be damned sure we're ready.» «If we can break the barrier we're ready.» Matt frowned. «Why not give the race a bit more time to develop? I know you have your mentalists. But from remembering grandfather's tales, your mind people are amateurs compared to those people out there. They wouldn't even be able to hold their own with the Eater, and he was retarded.» «Grandfather used to say that they were not infallible.» «He used to say a lot of things. He talked a lot about tigers.» John smiled. «When a tiger is eating members of the community, a man picks up his spear and goes tiger hunting.» «Right now the tiger is sleeping,» Matt said. «I'd feel a lot better if we sort of tippytoed around him and let him sleep.» «Do you remember one of the things that impressed grandfather most about that being he spoke with? She was explaining why she could not rebuild Matt Webb, for whom you were named by the way, and she said it was because the Eater didn't have enough willpower to give up the tastiest morsel of a human body, the brain. The description of the delight of the

Eater when he was enjoying a brain was so vivid, she said, that it raised an atavistic appetite in her.» «No,» Matt said, «I won't buy that rationale. You're not going out there to protect us from some future threat. Those people are not going to bust into the galaxy and start eating humans. No. You're going out there for

the same reason that old John spent the second half of his life establishing a university and engaging in pure research. All of your work to date points to that. Grandfather spent a lifetime and vast amounts of money to better the race, to make it more powerful in its technology. He even became interested in parapsychology and was the first to apply psychic power to

the search for man's ancestry. He was afraid, just as you're afraid, that the beautiful woman and the Eater were right, that we are evolved from the artificially created food creatures. You think that by proving that man is, at least, the equal of those people out there that you can disprove the theory of our artificial origin once and for all.» «I'd be lying if I said you're 100 percent wrong,» John said. «But you're not 100 percent right, either.» «Think it over carefully, John. I won't try to stop you, although I have the power to stop you if I wanted to. But I respect you too much to try to impose my will on you.» «You're becoming truly civilized.» «Just don't come home with the tiger chasing you, nipping at your tail.» «I am rather attached to my tail,» John laughed. When the stars thinned, they advanced carefully. The Pride functioned smoothly. Susan Lite, prior to each jump, blended her mind with a new detection system and searched the space ahead. Not many ships had been

all the way to the barrier. In the early days of blink travel, the existence of the barrier had been confirmed, and after that, there was no reason to venture out beyond the galaxy into the deepness of true emptiness. Among spacers the barrier was rarely mentioned. Plank's grandfather had seen a ship crunch to ruin against the barrier, so the general area was approached very cautiously. No one was sure that even the mental abilities of Susan and Martha would be able to detect it. To ram it would be disaster. To blink into it would produce an unknown

result, but to be effective, the barrier had to be able to halt a blinking ship, because the Eater had possessed blink technology and the barrier was, after all, first installed to imprison the Eater within the galaxy. Within a few million miles, plus or minus, of the barrier, the Pride ceased blinking and began to move carefully forward at sublight speeds. Plank was reasonably sure that electronics alone would be useless in detecting the barrier. Electronics in combination with the mental tricks of Susan and Martha might, just might, detect it, but he did not leave it to chance. On the front of the Pride a small cannon fired a non-explosive projectile containing a tracking device; fired it at a speed that sent it ahead of the Pride at regular intervals. Light and radiation and radio waves passed the barrier at will. A solid object would be stopped. In a blink, parsecs disappeared instantly. At sublight speeds a man could appreciate the vastness of space. The ship crawled. Time passed. A comfortable relationship was being established aboard ship, all members compatible. Automatic systems made round-the-clock watches unnecessary, so there was time for socializing, for bridge, for long bull sessions, for lovely nights in his cabin with his wife. Plank came to know why, up to the very end, his grandfather and grandmother loved space, why, at the drop of a suggestion, they would board one version or the other of a Pride and be off. There was a grandeur about it that made a person stand taller. There was an indescribable

feeling of comfort and safety inside a good ship, with all that was hostile to life outside, cold, airless, empty. As weeks became months, however, Plank grew restless. The barrier was farther out than he had calculated. He was tempted to do some jumping, but he didn't dare. Sooner or later it would be encountered. After almost a year of cruising at sublight, firing projectiles into the space ahead, the barrier was found. And it was not found by mental detection, but by the rebounding of a projectile from an unseen screen. Plank halted the Pride at 10,000 kilometers and began to run a series of tests. Physical instruments showed only the emptiness of space. The light of distant galaxies came to them as if there was nothing between the ship and the far pinpoints of light. Neither Martha nor Susan could detect the force of the barrier. It was going to be tougher than he thought. But he had come a long way. Once again he moved the ship and, easing her forward on steering jets at less than two kilometers an hour, felt the solid impact. The Pride bumped to a halt. The barrier was just outside, centimeters away from the forward viewers. Plank suited up and went outside to feel the barrier for himself. Using the advanced propulsion unit of an lsg, he skimmed along the barrier for a kilometer or so and then returned to the ship. Martha and Susan had been using the mind amplifier. They could detect nothing. For years Plank had been theorizing about the barrier. To sustain the barrier would require energy. In intergalactic space the only source of energy would be the radiation from the galaxies. There were scattered particles of matter of course, since nothing is truly empty, but they were so few that he doubted the possibility of using them in any way to create enough power to build a field around something as vast as a galaxy. When the initial investigations produced nothing, Plank set out on a task that would take, even at blink speeds, two years. First, it was necessary to determine the contour of the barrier. This was a laborious process, accomplished by short blinks. After several months he had what he thought was a pattern. Holding his breath, he made a long blink; the ship stayed outside the first scattering of stars and came out within projectile distance of the barrier. The remaining months of the two-year mapping period were easier. The barrier could be figured to be at a uniform distance from the nearest star of the galaxy, and it bulged out to take in the satellite clouds of stars. After two years Plank had built a model of the galaxy and the clouds; and around that model a film to indicate the barrier. It was all encompassing. The work of two years—it did not require the attentions of all of the crew to complete the mapping—produced no clue as to the nature of the barrier. Having returned to a point near their initial encounter with the barrier, they settled down to some hard work. Plank was convinced that the barrier was formed from something physical. He could not swallow the concept of pure mental force. The others disputed him. He pointed out that although mental force is in existence, as witness both Ellen and Martha's abilities to move physical objects with the power of the mind, that mental force is undetectable. To be evinced, it must act on something physical. While the mentalists concentrated on using the mental amplifier at different frequencies—this was not an accurate term, but rather than take time to invent a new word they used it—Plank reviewed his work in elemental particles. He could not escape the idea that the barrier was something physical. He remembered the Eater's ability to flow particles at the atomic level and below. He was in an area where man had not, as yet, equaled the ability of the Eater, but there were solid advances. In the end, the solution was surprisingly simple. It was merely a matter of knowing how to look and where to look, and in the looking Plank recorded entire new families of subatomic particles. It was possible, then, to tune the mental amplifier. «Yes,» Martha Peters said. «I can see it now.» Susan Lite, the receiver, felt the power that held the field together. She tried to put it into words. «The particles are mesmerized,» she said. «They make contact with other particles coming into contact with them and, in effect, pass on the mesmerization. The effect is an order—thou shalt not pass.» And, two days later, after sleepless, frantic hours of study, Susan said. «All right.» She sank back limply in her seat. «You can now counter the force?» Plank asked. «I think so,» Susan said. «Selectively?» «Yes.» «A small test, then,» Plank said. «Do I hear any objections?» «Will it alert them?» Ellen asked. «I don't know.» «I don't think passing an object a few millimeters in diameter will cause much of a disturbance,» Susan said. «They would have to be watching very closely.» «I feel that we can count on the very element that helped my grandfather, arrogance. The Eater was so sure of himself that he left grandfather and the others to their own devices. From what John Plank said and wrote, I'm sure that the parent race feels the same sort of smug arrogance toward us. They told him that it was quite unlikely that we'd

ever be able to break the barrier, that it was unlikely that we could develop a way around the old Einsteinian laws.» He let his gaze take in each one of them. «It is a serious step. I will abide by majority rule.» «Do you vote yes?» Ellen asked. «Of course,» Plank said, smiling. «That's why we're here.» «Then it's two aye votes,» Ellen said. «Three,» Joker Osbourne said. «Carried,» said Martha and Tom Peters together. The object that passed through the barrier was the size of the tip of Ellen's little finger. It went through and continued to move, unhindered, toward the far corners of the expanding universe. It was a time of celebration. The old brandy supplied by Matt Plank was broken out. When the short period of congratulating themselves was over, work began. All the data was compiled and organized into a form that could be easily followed by Matt's technicians. When all was ready, Plank beamed a message toward the nearest blinkstat relay and sent the Pride after it. They made rendezvous with a ship from Plank's World. Matt himself was aboard. The data was handed over. «You're going back now?» Matt asked. «Yes.» «Give us some time, John. A year.» «That's not too much to ask.» «We'll be able to accomplish a lot in a year. With what you've given us we can duplicate their techniques. Of course, I'd have two or three if you gave me a choice.» John shook his head. «All right. A year, then. I'm not going to spread the word, not yet. But when you're ready to go through, contact me. We owe it to others to at least warn them. Meantime, I'm going to be working. We'll have a few things ready just in case.» «Good.» He spent the year refining his findings. His results were sent back into the receivers of Matt's organization. Word from Plank's World spoke of glowing successes in atomic flow technique. Force-field-equipped ships were cruising the periphery, some of them in contact with the Pride. On the eve of decision, Plank gathered his crew in the lounge over the finest vintage produced on a million worlds. «You all have a choice, you know.» «I'm going with you,» Ellen said. «Life would be too dull back at the university,» Joker Osbourne said. «I'm going, but I'm not sure why,» Susan Lite said. «I won't tell you I'm not scared out of my wits.» «I'm not sure it's time,» Tom Peters said. «We have a galaxy,» Martha said. «Isn't that enough?» Many others before them had said the same. «We have no territorial ambitions,» John Sahara Plank in said. «We seek only knowledge.» He looked at Tom and Martha. «We can call in one of Matt's cruisers and off-load you.» «No,» Martha said, looking at her husband. «We would only wonder.» The Sahara Plank nosed up to the barrier. From her, certain forces were transmitted. She moved through slowly, on steering jet power, inching her way. Inside the ship, the passage created a prickling sensation on the napes of the crew's necks and, almost unheard, there was a low, grating roar. There was no time to think again. No way to reverse their decision. Free in space, the Pride was checked. She was intact. Tapes were studied. The passage was analyzed in every way. Behind them, the barrier was intact. Everything had gone as planned. The only abnormality was the low roar that each of them had heard. They replayed it on the ship's sound system, measured its frequency, subjected it to all the tests of science. «It shouldn't have happened,» Plank said. «A resonance of some sort,» Tom Peters suggested. «All right, tell me why,» Plank said, as Tom went back to work. Hours later, they still had no answer. «We can be on the fringe of the nearest galaxy in one blink,» Plank said. «Perhaps we will still have the element of surprise in our favor.» «Perhaps,» Susan said. «We can turn back.» «And never know?» Susan asked. «We'll sleep on it,» Plank said. Alone in their cabin, he replayed the sound of the barrier. It was Ellen who said it, although he, himself, had been thinking it. «Remember when we visited the zoological park?» she asked. «Yes,» he said absently, deep in thought. «Run the tape again and close your eyes. Place yourself back there in the park. Remember the sounds.» He punched the button. The low roar began. He closed his eyes. «Tiger, tiger burning bright,» Ellen said. The sound became the low, snarling, threatening call of a great jungle cat. «I think,» Plank said, «we've attracted their attention.» «Then there's no turning back,» Martha Peters said, with a sigh. «Afraid not,» Plank said. «Full alert, everybody. We want to do our best to go in on our own power.» «It would save time and searching if we just let them bring us in,» Joker said. «When my grandfather and grandmother were out here, they were jerked in without any choice,» Plank said. «I think it would be psychologically beneficial if we could resist just enough to do it on our own.» «Here we go,» Susan Lite said. She was in contact with the mental amplifier. Her voice was tense. Quickly Martha and Ellen linked hands with Susan. Plank, a bit tense himself, watched the ship's instruments. They were undisturbed, but something was in the air, an intangible force. The hair on the back of his neck seemed to stand on end. He felt a charged tension. There was total silence as the struggle continued. Susan, the main force in the mental resistance, began to show the strain. Plank went to her, put his hand atop Ellen's as it clasped Susan's hand, closed his eyes and, although he had not been able to develop any of the para abilities, willed his mind to help in any way it could. The ship's lights dimmed, became black. In the total darkness of space the struggle continued. Plank could hear someone breathing in quick, hard pants. Sweat began to bead his forehead, and then the lights flickered and were full, and the hum of

life was back in the Pride. Susan, breath fast and shallow, was failing from the seat; he caught her and leaned her back and used his handkerchief to wipe the moisture from her face. She was crying. «Pure force,» Susan panted. «They'll try again,» Plank said. «I can't—» Susan began. Suddenly she stiffened and the air of the cabin was charged with fire. It rolled around and past them and the sound in Plank's ears was Susan screaming. But the fire stopped, and once again there was that frozen, frightening moment of absolute silence, save for Susan's labored breathing. When it was over, the stars were the same. The Pride was still stationary in space just inside the barrier. Tom Peters ran from the cabin and reappeared with a glass in his hand. Susan accepted the brandy gratefully, but weakly.

«And all of you can do it,» she said. «It's all here.» She indicated an area

behind her right ear. «You feel it and just will a wall against it. Look at me, Martha.» Martha looked into Susan's eyes, and a glazed look came over her. In a moment she sighed. «Yes,» she said. And then, more excitedly, «Yes!» «Now you, Ellen,» Susan said, but she had no time. The ship lurched. Quickly Susan went back into the trancelike state of resistance to the powerful mental forces that were trying to jerk the Pride out of its place in space. And this time Martha helped and it was over quickly. «I learned,» Susan said, excitement in her eyes. «They couldn't have

guessed, but the force, the feel of it, was as if I were being opened up. And each time I seemed to be stronger.» «It's as if some new area of the brain has been suddenly activated,» Martha Peters said. «It's so simple,» Susan said. «Anyone can do it. It's just a matter of knowing…» She paused. «This is not a good analogy, but it's like knowing which key to turn. I can show all of you.» «They were trying to move the ship,» Plank asked, «no doubt?» «No doubt,» Susan said. «Now, quickly, before they come again.» Ellen felt the force as Susan looked into her eyes and entered her mind.

Joker, already gifted with some para abilities, felt it. Tom Peters tried and

failed. Plank felt nothing. As Susan looked deeply into his eyes and tried to reach him, Martha and Ellen were playing games. «I'm sorry,» Plank said, after a moment. «I just can't seem to concentrate with those two flying about the cabin.» For Ellen and Martha were moving about, as if in free-fall, floating and darting against the artificial gravity of the ship's system. «Look, I'm superwoman,» Ellen laughed, soaring to the cabin's ceiling and, at the same time, lifting with her mental force a seat that was normally bolted to the deck, twirling it dizzily in midair. The voice was in their minds. «Very well, you may come.» Plank mused. Ellen and Martha floated to the deck and the chair took its place, firmly bolted. «We accept your invitation,» Plank said aloud. He waited. «We accept your invitation,» Susan said, when nothing happened. They all heard the laugh. It was delightfully feminine. «Good,» the voice said. Blink coordinates were given. Plank wrote them down and punched them into the computer. The ship gathered power and leaped. The planet was on the fringe of a galaxy, the stars thin around its parent sun. It was a blue planet, a water planet. Close-up viewers showed a tailored beauty. Plank looked knowingly at Ellen. «The same,» she said. «The planet John and Sahara Plank visited.» «Yes,» Plank said. «Will you accept our transport to the surface?» the voice asked. «Gladly,» Plank said. They stood below a vertical cliff. Above them the house perched high and stately, all crystals and glowing angles. «Brace yourselves,» Susan said. «We're going to try something.» And

they lifted. All six of them, rising effortlessly on the mental force of the combined minds of the women. The balcony was the same. The room was as John Plank and Sahara had described it. The woman was the same, entering the room in her graceful flow of motion, all beauty. She gestured to the sunken conversation area. The six Earth people seated themselves. «You continue to surprise us,» the woman said. «We come in goodwill,» Plank said. «With a certain amount of belligerent pride,» the woman said, smiling. «Admitted,» Plank said. «And an unlimited quantity of curiosity,» the woman said. «That, too, I admit,» Plank said. «One galaxy was just too small for you.» «Wouldn't it be for you?» A slight frown crossed the woman's face. It faded rapidly. «This is the quality in you that we feared.» Plank looked at her, eyebrows raised. «It is a strong word,» she said, laughing. «But don't be deceived. We

feared it not for us, but for you. At least most of us felt that way. In all honesty there were those who, when you appeared once more, wanted to

destroy you. There were a minority of votes to reduce all of your worlds, to return you to primitivism. Those who voted thus said you broke the barrier too quickly. That, of course, is true, but the majority saw the amusing side: for how could one small race from one small galaxy threaten

the serenity of a coalition of thousands of races from billions of planets in a sweep of the universe beyond your wildest imagination?» «I have said we come in peace,» Plank said. «We ask only—» She waved him into silence. «You have earned the right to enter our community. You have passed the tests.» There was something in her voice that caused a flash of anger in Plank. «Tests?» he asked. «The barrier?» «The barrier.» «The Eater?» For the first time Plank saw what could have been uncertainty in the beautiful face. «That was unfortunate.» «Unfortunate?» She opened her mouth to speak. Plank went on, overcoming her objection. «The Eater destroyed thousands. Wasn't that a rather severe

test? What kind of people are you to allow a thing like the Eater to prey on other life forms?» «Your status then was not the same. We were, and I admit it, unaware of the facts.» «You were very human,» Plank said. The woman looked at him questioningly. «You were not infallible.» «You may express it that way.» «I think my grandfather asked you this same question,» Plank said. «Who are you to judge us?» «You ask the question with even more right than your grandfather,» she replied. A wall misted, shimmered. The room darkened. Images began to appear in the shimmering space: worlds of cities marched by and worlds without cities and worlds with objects that defied description; varied life forms, some manlike, some so alien as to cause shudders, some so beautiful that Plank would feel a pain of admiration in his throat. It

continued for a timeless period, a capsule look at a universe so diverse, so fantastic that he was numbed. When it ended the woman smiled. «You have much to learn, man from Earth. Will you join us?» «That is for our governments to decide,» Plank said. «Of course,» the woman said, smiling. «I'm sure that your leaders will decide that you have much to gain.» «I believe they will,» Plank said. «Our discussion is ended, then,» the woman said. «Now may I offer you the hospitality of our coalition?» Over food and wine they talked of many things, the tone friendly, the mood one of cautious optimism. As evening came to the landscaped and tailored world, the beautiful woman, feeling mellow, looked at Plank and said, «We look forward to your becoming a part of our little community.» A wave of her hand showed that she was being facetious in referring to the vast stretch of the peopled universe as small. «You won't, will you, come out here and take over immediately?» She smiled. «Not for at least 100 or so years,» Plank said, laughing; but in his mind he heard a roar, a familiar roar, beginning low and rising into the gutty, coughing call of a jungle beast. He looked swiftly at Ellen. There was a

pixie gleam in her eyes as the tiger's roar in Plank's mind trailed off into a small and mewling whine.