in thedesert or among the remotely towering mountain ranges. One thing hehad learned from the binder was that McAllen had told the truth insaying no one could contact him from Earth before the full period ofhis exile was over. The reason had seemed appalling enough in itself.This world had moved to a point in its orbit where the radiance of itsdistant sun was thickening between it and Earth, growing too intenseto be penetrated by the forces of the McAllen Tube. Another four yearswould pass before the planet and the valley emerged gradually frombehind that barrier again.
* * * * *
He walked, rested, walked again. Now and then he was troubled by aburst of violent sweating, followed by shivering fits until hisclothes began to dry again. The big moon edged presently over theridge above him, and in the first flood of its light the oppositeslope of the valley took on the appearance of a fanciful sub-oceanicreef. The activity of the animal life about Barney increased promptly.It was no darker now than an evening hour on Earth, and his fellowoccupants of the Ecological Base seemed well-adjusted to the strangeshifts of day and night to which they had been consigned.
He pushed through a final thicket of shrubbery, and found himself atthe edge of the lake. Beyond the almost circular body of water, atowering wall of cliffs sealed the upper end of the valley. He hadcome almost a mile, and while a mile--a city mile, at least--wouldn'thave meant much to Barney Chard at one time, he felt quite exhaustednow. He sat down at the edge of the water, and, after a minute or two,bent forward and drank from it. It had the same cold, clear flavor asthe water in the cabin.
The surface of the water was unquiet. Soft-flying large insects ofsome kind were swarming about, stippling the nearby stretch of thelake with their touch, and there were frequent swift swirls as fishrose from beneath to take down the flyers. Presently one of them brokeclear into the air--a big fish, thick-bodied and shining, looking aslong as Barney's arm in the moonlight--and dropped back with a splash.Barney grinned twistedly. The NOTES indicated Dr. McAllen had takensome part in stocking the valley, and one could trust McAllen to seeto it that the presence of his beloved game fish wasn't overlookedeven in so outlandish a project.
He shifted position, became aware of the revolver in his pocket andbrought it out. A wave of dull anger surged slowly through him again.What they did with trees and animals was their own business. But whatthey had done to a human being....
He scrambled suddenly to his feet, drew his arm back, and sent the gunflying far out over the lake. It spun through the moonlight, dipped,struck the surface with less of a splash than the fish had made, andwas gone.
Now why, Barney asked himself in amazement, did I do that? Heconsidered it a moment, and then, for the first time in over a year,felt a brief touch of something not far from elation.
He wasn't going to die here. No matter how politely the variousinvitations to do himself in had been extended by McAllen or theassociation, he was going to embarrass them by being alive and healthywhen they came back to the valley four years from now. They wouldn'tkill him then; they'd already shown they didn't have the guts tocommit murder directly. They would have to take him back to Earth.
And once he was there, it was going to be too bad for them. It didn'tmatter how closely they watched him; in the end he would find or makethe opportunity to expose them, pull down the whole lousy, conceitedcrew, see them buried under the shambles an outraged world would makeof the secret association....