CHAPTER V
What the Graves Revealed
Hargraves carried the shovel. He and Noble were armed, and very muchalert.
"When you ask me if it is chemically possible for a man--or ananimal--to freeze, die, be buried, then rise again and live, I cannotanswer," Noble said. "So far as I know, it is not possible. The physicalact of freezing will involve tremendous and seemingly irreversiblechanges in the body cells. Thawing will produce almost immediatebacterial action, which also seems irreversible. All I can say is, ifHal Sarkoff is alive, we have seen a miracle that contradicts chemicallaws as we know them."
"And if he is not alive, we face a miracle of duplication. Whatever itis that is sleeping back in the ship, it looks, talks, acts, like HalSarkoff, even to memory. Can you suggest any method by which flesh andbone could be so speedily moulded into a living image of a man whom weknow died?"
"No," said Noble bluntly. "Jed, do you realize all the possibleimplications of this situation?"
"Probably not," Hargraves answered. "Some that I do recognize, I excludefrom my thoughts."
His tone was so harsh that Noble said nothing more.
Dawn was already breaking over this Vegan world. The sky in the east wasthe color of pearl. In the trees over them, creatures that sounded likebirds were beginning to chirp.
They reached the place where they had buried Hal Sarkoff and his twocompanions.
The graves were empty.
No effort had been made to conceal the fact that the graves had beenopened. The dirt had been shoveled out again and had not been shoveledback.
There were marks in the dirt, the tracks of sandaled feet. "Thulon, thethree who were with him, wore sandals!" Hargraves rasped. "They cameback here. They opened these graves."
"But what happened after that? Are you suggesting those primitivegray-beards resurrected Hal Sarkoff?"
"I'm not suggesting anything because I don't know anything," Hargravesanswered. "I am just remembering that Thulon and the three who were withhim _looked human too_! I am also remembering that the sphere whichattacked us seemingly was without a crew. Our beams blasted it wideopen. It was seemingly filled with machinery. Nothing else. If therewere any intelligent creatures in it, they were in no form that werecognize. Come on!" Hargraves started running toward the ship.
The ship, badly damaged as it was, represented their sole hope ofsurvival. Without it, they would be helpless.
Hal Sarkoff was with the ship. Or the thing that was masquerading asSarkoff. Thulon had looked human too. Possibly Sarkoff and his two deadcomrades had been removed from their graves in order to make possible aperfect duplication of their bodies, the probing of cell structure, bothbody and brain. Perhaps the things that lurked here on this world couldread memories from dead minds. That might be the explanation ofSarkoff's memory.
The important fact was that Sarkoff's body was not in its grave. Whereso much was unknown, this was one indisputable fact. The thing that wason the ship must be placed not only under heavy guard but in a cage fromwhich escape was impossible. Then an examination could begin.
There was evil on this world. The trees, the vegetation, the groundunder his racing feet, was evil. In his calmer moments Jed Hargraveswould have said that evil was another word for danger. He wasn't calmnow. The panic he had been rigidly excluding from his mind had burst thedam he had built before it. He could feel danger in the air. It was inthe dawn, in the light of the sky. It was everywhere. He and hiscompanions were aliens on this world, and the planet was striking atthem, striving to eliminate them, contriving to destroy them.
He heard it before he saw it.
Something was grunting in the air. Above the tops of the trees somethingwas grunting. He needed seconds to recognize the sound. Then herecognized it. And jerked himself to a halt, his eyes wildly probingupward.
He saw it.
* * * * *
The ship. The grunting roar had come from the Kruchek drivers fightingthe gravity of the planet.
The ship had taken off without them.
Had Nielson gone mad? Had he seen danger approaching and jumped the shipinto the sky to escape it?
"Wait! Nielson! Pick us up!"
The ship flew on. Gaining speed, it passed over their heads. They caughtanother glimpse of it as it passed over an opening in the branches ofthe trees. Then it was gone, the throb of the drivers dying quicklyaway.
"Nielson will come back for us." Noble's voice, usually poised andassured, was garbled. "He'll return and pick us up. He won't leave ushere."
"He had some reason for taking off," Hargraves heard himself saying."He'll come back. He has to." Subconsciously he knew that this, at thevery best, was wishful thinking.
The ship had no more than vanished until another sound came to theirears, that of men shouting. A group came into sight among the trees,following along the ground the course the ship had taken through theair.
"They're our fellows!" Hargraves heard Noble gasp.
"What happened?" the captain demanded, as the group approached.
Nielson was in the lead. There was a bruise on his cheek and his righteye was already beginning to turn black. "I'll tell you what happened!"he said savagely. "Sarkoff and Ron Val took over the ship, that's whathappened!"
"Ron Val!"
"That's what I said. Ron Val was helping him. They pulled guns. Beforewe knew what was happening, they had herded us together and were shovingus outside. I tried to stop it and Sarkoff took a poke at me."
"It wasn't really Sarkoff, then?" Noble whispered.
"Any damned fool would have known that!" Nielson answered. He spoke tothe bio-chemist but his eyes were on Hargraves. "I'm going to repeatthat, so there won't be any misunderstanding of my meaning. Any damnedfool would have known that a dead man doesn't get up out of his graveand come to life again. Except you, Hargraves. You always were a suckerfor fairy stories."
Jed Hargraves winced with every word that was spoken. They kept oncoming.
"You ought to have known that thing wasn't Hal Sarkoff. Any man in hisright senses would have known it instantly. Any man fit to command wouldhave taken measures to meet the situation, either by destroying thatthing, or locking it up. But you were running things, Hargraves. Youwere in charge. And you had to sit back and think before you would act.You had to make sure you were right, before you went ahead. Yournegligence, Hargraves, cost us our only chance of ever returning home."
Nielson's voice was harsh with anger. And--Hargraves recognized thebitter truth--every word Nielson uttered was correct. Whatever the thingwas that had come to the ship, he should have recognized it as a sourceof danger. He had so recognized it. But he had not acted.
"I--"
"Shut up!" Nielson snapped. "According to our agreement, any time youare shown to be unfit to command, you may be removed by a vote of themajority. There is no question but that you have shown yourself unfit tobe in charge of this expedition."
* * * * *
No time was wasted in reaching a decision. To Nielson's question as towhether Hargraves should be removed from command, there was a chorus of"Ayes."
"No," said one voice. It was Usher, the archeologist.
"State your objection," Nielson rasped.
"The old one about changing horses in mid-stream," the archeologistanswered. "Also the old one about not jumping to conclusions before allthe evidence is in."
"What evidence isn't in?"
"We don't know why Ron Val joined Sarkoff," the archeologist answered.
"What difference does that make? We don't even know that Ron Val wasstill himself. The thing that looked like Ron Val might have beenanother monstrosity like Sarkoff."
"So it might," the archeologist shrugged. "Anyhow my vote is notimportant. I'm just putting it in for the sake of the record, if thereever is a record. I would also like to mention that if ever we neededdiscipline and unity, now is the time."
"We will have discipline, I pro
mise you," Nielson said. "Hargraves, youare removed from command, understand?"
"Yes," said Hargraves steadily.
Only one ballot was needed to put Nielson in charge.
"All right," said Ushur to the new captain. "You're the boss now. We'reall behind you. What are you going to do?"
"Do? I--" Nielson looked startled. He glanced at Hargraves.
The former captain sighed. It was easy enough to elect a new leader.Vehemently he wished that all problems could be solved so easily.
"I suggest," he said, "--and this is only a suggestion--that we attemptto find the ship, and if possible, to regain possession of her. She isthe only tool we have to work with."
"That is exactly what I was going to say," Nielson said emphatically."Find the ship."
To give him credit, he set about the job in a workmanlike manner,sending two scouts ahead of the main group, throwing out a scout on eachflank. The only way they could hope to find the ship was by followingthe course it had taken through the air. Since Sarkoff, in taking overthe vessel, had not disarmed them, each possessed a vibration pistol. Ina fight against ordinary enemies they would be able to give a goodaccount of themselves. But would any enemy they met likely be ordinary?
Hargraves drew Usher aside. "I would like to talk to you," he said."What actually happened when the ship was taken?"
"I don't know, Jed," the archeologist ruefully answered. "I was in mycabin. The first thing I knew I heard a hell of a hullabaloo going on upin the control room. I dashed up there to see what was going on."
"What was happening?"
"Nielson, Rodney, Turner, and a couple of others were there. Sowere--well, they looked like Sarkoff and Ron Val. Nielson was getting upoff the floor. Sarkoff and Ron Val had both drawn their guns and werecovering the group. When I came charging in, Sarkoff covered me. BeforeI could recover from my surprise, he and Ron Val had kicked every one ofus out of the ship. Then they took off." The archeologist shook hisshaggy head.
"Ron Val was helping?"
"No question about it. Which means, of course, that he was either undersome subtle form of hypnosis, or _it_ wasn't Ron Val. I would bet mylife on his loyalty."
* * * * *
"So would I," said Hargraves. And the memory came back of how thrilledRon Val had been at the prospect of landing on this, world. "It wouldmean a lot to find people here. We could exchange experiences, learn alot," Ron Val had said, his face glowing at the thought. All the othershad felt the same way. The Third Interstellar Expedition had no militaryambitions. It was not bent on conquest. The solar system had outgrownmilitary expeditions, war, and the thought of war, and cruisers went outfrom it not to fight but to learn. Knowledge was the thing they sought,all knowledge, so the human race could determine its place in thecosmos, could know the history of all things past, could possiblyforecast the shape of things to come.
The landing of the Third Interstellar Expedition on this Vegan world hadbeen a part of a vast evolution, a march that, starting on earth so longago that all history of it was forever lost, was now reaching out acrossthe cosmos. A new evolution! Ron Val had always been talking about thisnew evolution. It was one of his favorite subjects.
"What do you make of this world?" Hargraves asked abruptly. "The onlysign of civilization we have seen is this vast grove. No cities, noindustrial plants, no evidence of progress. Yet the spherical ship thatattacked us certainly indicates a highly mechanical civilization. Ofcourse there may be cities here that we haven't seen, but as we landedwe saw a large land area. No roads were visible, no canals, not even anycultivated fields. What does all this mean to you, as an archeologist?"
"Nothing," Usher answered promptly. "I would say this country is awilderness. But the trees planted in regular rows disprove this. Onearth, at least, centuries would be required for trees as large as theseto grow. Forestry, planned centuries in advance, can only come from ahigh and stable culture. However, as you say, all other signs of thishigh culture are absent, no cities, no transportation facilities,apparently damned few inhabitants--we have seen only four. Allcivilizations with which we are familiar move through recognized stages,first the nomadic stage, which involves tending flocks and herds. Thencomes the tilling of the soil, in which farming is the principaloccupation of most of the people. After that, with industrialization, wehave cities developing. If there is another stage we have not reached iton earth."
"Do you think they might have reached the final stage here?" Hargravesquestioned.
"I don't know what the final stage may be," the archeologist answered."Also, and this is more important, I can't begin to guess at the realnature of the inhabitants of this world. Until I do know their realnature, what they look like, what they eat, where they sleep, what theythink, I can't even guess intelligently about them. However," Usherbroke off with a wry grin, "all these philosophical observations are ofno importance while our own necks are threatened with the ax."
Vega was straight overhead when they found the ship. One of the advancescouts came hurrying back with the information.
"She is lying in a little meadow beside the lake," the scout reported."They're doing something to her. I can't tell what. But the trees extendto within fifty yards of her. We can approach that near without beingseen."
CHAPTER VI
The Capture of the Ship
Nielson made his dispositions with care. The ship lay in a little meadowwhere the trees bent inward from the blue water of the lake to form acove. Her nose was pointed toward the water and her tail was almost inthe trees. Nielson sent three men on a wide circuit. They were to attackfrom the farther side. It was to be a feint. While the three men drewattention to them, the main body was to charge.
"We have every chance of succeeding," Nielson said. "And if we do gainthe ship again, this time we won't stay here. Vega has at least twoplanets. The ship will fly to the other one without repairs. You shouldhave thought of that, Hargraves."
"There are a lot of things I should have thought of and didn't,"Hargraves answered. There was no animosity in his tone. "What I wouldlike to know is what they are doing there beside the ship?"
Thulon and his three companions were visible beside the vessel. Theywere busily engaged in setting up a device of some kind. Others of theirspecies had joined them until there were possibly thirty or fortypresent. Through the the gaping hole in the hull, still others could beseen peering out. What they were doing Hargraves could not discern.
"Odd," said Usher beside him.
"What is?"
"It's odd that they should still seem to be human in form," thearcheologist answered. "Ah. Perhaps there is the reason."
Both locks were open. The thing that looked like Hal Sarkoff had justemerged from the nearest one. He went directly to the main group. Theywere erecting something that looked like a tripod. Several were carryingpieces of metal from the ship which they were fastening together to formthe legs of the tripod. At the apex of the tripod something that lookedlike a box was coming into existence.
"They are completely unarmed," Hargraves heard Nielson say. "There isn'ta weapon in the whole damned bunch. We'll blast them senseless beforethey even know they're being attacked."
"If they don't succeed in manning the negatron," Usher pointed out.
"They don't know how to operate the negatron."
"Don't they? I might mention that they seem to know everything thatSarkoff knew. And Hal certainly knew how that negatron operated. Hecould take it apart and put it back together blind-folded."
"That's so," Nielson admitted. For a second unease showed on his leanface. "Well, that only means we will have to lick them before they canget that negatron into operation. One thing is certain--we have to havethe ship."
"You're right on that score," Usher grimly said.
Seconds ticked away into minutes. The group busy about the ship had nointimation they were about to be attacked. They were careless to thepoint of foolhardiness. No sentries had been posted, no effort had
beenmade to hide the vessel.
"What are they, really?" Hargraves thought. He wondered if they weresome strange form of water-dwelling life that lived in the lakes of thisplanet. Perhaps that was what they were! Perhaps the transition from thefish to the mammal had never been made on this planet, the fish-formdeveloping keen intelligence. Certainly there was intelligence on thisworld. But it seemed to be an intelligence humans could not comprehend.
* * * * *
The signal for the attack sounded. Fierce shouts came from the otherside of the ship. The shouters were hidden, but there was no mistakingthe sounds. They came from human throats.
"Give 'em hell, boys!"
"Tear 'em to pieces!"
The harsh throbbing of vibration pistols split the quiet air.
"Steady!" Nielson said. "Wait until they go to see what's happening."
The group busy around the ship raised startled faces from their task.They seemed to listen. Then they turned and ran around the bow of thevessel.
"Come on!" cried Nielson, leaping from concealment.
There wasn't a person left in sight to oppose them. Fifty yards tocross. Fifty yards to the ship! Fifty yards to a fighting chance forlife!
Under their racing feet the soft turf was soundless.
Twenty-five yards to go now. Ten yards. Ten feet to the open lock.
Thulon appeared in the lock. He looked in surprise at the charging men.
Except for the rough staff that he carried he was weaponless.
Nielson didn't give the command to fire, didn't need to give it. Everyvibration pistol had been drawn long before the men leaped from cover.Every pistol came up at the same instant, every index finger squeezed atrigger.
Only Thulon stood between them and a fighting chance for life. They cameof warrior races, these men. No bugles urged them on. They needed nobugles.
A howling vortex of radiation smashed at the figure in the lock.
One vibration pistol would destroy a man, smash him to bloody bits. Morethan a dozen pistols were centered on the figure standing before them.
Thulon stood unharmed.
Staff in front of him he stood facing the fingers of hell reaching forhim. The flaming fingers grasped, and did not touch him.
The shooting stopped as abruptly as it began. The charge stopped.Hargraves saw Nielson staring dazedly from the figure in the lock to thepistol in his hand as if the two were irreconcilable. The pistol oughtto have destroyed Thulon. It hadn't destroyed him. For a mad moment,Hargraves felt sorry for the new captain. He, too, had run headlong intoa logical impossibility.
All sounds were suddenly stilled, all shouting stopped, all noises diedaway.
Around the bow of the ship Hal Sarkoff came running. He saw the groupand looked bewildered. "Hey! How did you guys get here?"
"Blast him!" Nielson said, centering his pistol on this new target.
From the staff in Thulon's hand came a soft tinkle, a bell-like sound.Nothing seemed to happen but Nielson staggered as if he had been hit asharp blow. The pistol flew out of his hand and landed twenty feet away.
* * * * *
"Listen, you apes," Sarkoff shouted at the top of his voice. "I'm HalSarkoff. I've always been Hal Sarkoff. I'll never be anybody else butHal Sarkoff. Do you get it?"
They didn't get it.
"If you--" Nielson whispered. "If you are really Sarkoff, thenwho--what--is he?" He pointed toward Thulon still standing in the lock.
"Him?" The grin on the craggy face belonged to Hal Sarkoff and to no oneelse. "Meet a god," he said.
"A god?" That was Usher speaking now, his voice a tense whisper.
Sarkoff continued grinning. "Well, he resurrected me when I was deaderthan hell. I guess that makes him a god."
"You--you know you were dead?"
"Yep. At least I guess I know it. The last thing I remember is trying toget back to the control panel when we got that hole knocked in the ship,so I could cut the drivers back in. After that everything gets kind ofhazy. The next thing I remember is my pal here," he gestured towardThulon, "and a lot of his buddies chirping like sparrows while theyworked over me. And believe me, they were working me over plenty. I feltlike I had been turned inside out, wrung out, hung out to dry, thenstuffed all over again."
"But when you came back to the ship," Hargraves spoke, "you said youremembered everything that had happened, the crash of the ship, ourhiding her. If you were dead, how did you learn these things?"
"He told me," Sarkoff answered, nodding toward Thulon. "He filled out mymemory for me with dope he had taken from your mind while you weretalking. Reading minds is one of that old boy's minor accomplishments."
"Then why didn't you tell us the truth?" Hargraves exploded. "You saidyou had been sent out scouting. Why didn't you tell us what had reallyhappened?" Mentally he added, "If it happened!"
"Because you apes wouldn't have believed me!" Sarkoff answered. "To yourknowledge--mine, too, until it happened--dead men don't get up out oftheir graves and walk. If I had told you the truth, you wouldn't havebelieved a word of it. If I told you something you knew wasn't true,that you had sent me out on a scouting trip, you would know I was lying,you would figure it was a trick of some kind, and you would wait aroundand try to discover the trick. While you were waiting around trying tocatch me, I could get in some missionary work on Ron Val. I knew I couldconvert him, if I had a chance to talk to him. With him on my side, wecould convince the rest of you. It would have worked too. All it neededwas a little time for you boys to get used to the idea of a dead mancoming back to life." He looked at Nielson. "Remind me to black thatother eye of yours one of these days."
"What?" said Hargraves. "What's this?"
"Our pal Nielson," Sarkoff said. "If _you_ think before you act, _he_acts before he thinks. You had no sooner gone chasing off to see if Iwas really where you had buried me, which was what I thought you woulddo, until Nielson comes poking into where Ron Val and I were holding aconference. Nielson had a gun. He had it out ready to use. He figuredthe only safe thing to do was to shoot me. So," Sarkoff shrugged, "I hadto smack him. He had forced my hand."
Fists lashed out, weapons appeared, and cries of furyrent the air]
There was a slight stir among the group. This was news to all of them.
"Is this true?" Hargraves said.
"Yes," said Nielson defiantly. "And I was right. I should have killedhim. He isn't Hal Sarkoff. He isn't telling the truth about coming backto life. Sarkoff is dead."
* * * * *
Sarkoff glanced up at Thulon who was still standing in the lock lookingdown at the men before him. There was a ghost of a smile on his face.
"See!" said Sarkoff, addressing Thulon. "I told you we couldn't tellthese boys anything. They have to see, they have to feel, they have tobe shown."
"Well," the thought came from Thulon to everyone. "Why don't you showthem?"
"Okay," Sarkoff answered. "Nevins!" he shouted. "Reese! Come out of thatship."
Nevins and Reese were the two engineers who had died with Sarkoff.
Thulon moved a little to one side. Nevins and Reese came out of theship. They were grinning.
"Feel us!" Sarkoff shouted. "Pinch us. Cut off a slice of skin andexamine it under a microscope. Make blood tests. Use X-rays. Do whateveryou damned please." He shoved a brawny arm under Nielson's nose. "Here.Pinch this and see if you think it's real."
Nielson shrank away.
Nevins and Reese passed among the men, offering themselves in evidence.Startled voices called softly in answer to other startled voices."They're real."
"This is no lie. This is the truth."
"I've known this man for years. This is Eddie Nevins."
"And this is Sam Reese."
Hargraves heard the voices, saw the conclusion they were reaching.
"One moment," he said.
The voices went into silence. Eyes turned questioningly to him.
r />
"Even if these men are really Hal Sarkoff and Eddie Nevins and SamReese, if they are the companions we knew as dead who have miraculouslybeen returned to us, there are still facts that do not fit into alogical pattern. Even here on this world the laws of logic must holdtrue."
Silence fell. Men looked at him and at each other. Where there had beenwonder on their faces, new doubts were appearing.
"What facts, Jed?" Sarkoff questioned.
"The sphere that attacked us, that attempted to destroy us, withoutwarning. This is a fact that does not fit."
"The sphere?" Uncertainty showed on Sarkoff's face. Then he grinnedagain and turned to Thulon. "You tell him about that sphere."
"Gladly," Thulon's thoughts came. "As you know, Vega has two planets.Long ago we were at war with the inhabitants of this other planet. Partof our defenses around our own planet were floating fortresses. The waris done but we have left guards in the sky to protect us if we areattacked. The sphere that attacked you was one of our automatic fortswhich we had left in the sky."
"Ah!" said Hargraves. The cold logic of his mind sought a pattern thatwould include fortresses in the sky. Presuming war between two planets,such fortresses were logical. But--
"The construction of such a sphere indicates vast technical knowledge,tremendous workshops. I have seen no laboratories and no industrialcenters that could produce such a fortress. I have, moreover, seen nocivilization that will serve as a background for such construction."
* * * * *
He waited for an answer. Usher, the archeologist, looked suddenly athim, then looked at Thulon.
"The fortresses were built long ago," Thulon said. "In those pastmilleniums we had industrial centers. We no longer need them and we nolonger have them."
"Then there _is_ another stage!" the archeologist gasped. "You are pastthe city stage in your evolutionary process. You are beyond the metalage. What--" Usher eagerly asked. "What comes after that?"
"We are beyond the age of cities," Thulon answered. "The next butpossibly not final stage is a return to nature. We live in the grovesand the fields, beside the lakes, under the trees. We need no protectionfrom the elements because we are in unison with them. There are noenemies on this world, no dangers, almost no death. In your thinking youcan only describe us as gods. Our activities are almost entirely mental.Our only concession of materialism is this." He lifted the staff. "Whenyou fired at me, this staff canceled your beams. It would have canceledthem if they had been a thousand times stronger. When one of youattempted to destroy Sarkoff, force went out from this staff, knockingthe weapon from his hand. There are certain powers leashed within thisstaff, certain arrangements of crystals that are very nearly ultimatematter. Through this staff my will is worked. Some day," he smiled, "wewill even be able to discard the staff. That is the goal of ourevolution."
The thoughts went into soft silence and Thulon looked down at them."Does that satisfy you?" His eyes went among the group, came to rest onHargraves. "No, I see it does not. There is still one fact that youcannot fit into your pattern."
"Yes," said Hargraves. "If all that you have told us is true, why wasthe ship stolen?"
"Everything has to fit for you?" Sarkoff answered. "Well, that's why youare our leader. I can answer this question. I took the ship so I couldhave it repaired. Then, when I brought it back to you, fit to fly again,all of us would have evidence that we could not deny. You might doubt myidentity, you might doubt me, but you would not doubt a ship that hadbeen repaired. Thulon," Sarkoff ended, "will you do your stuff?"
* * * * *
Standing a little apart from the rest Hargraves watched. Thulon and hiscomrades brought metal from the vessel. How they used the tripod hecould not see but in some way they seemed to use it to melt the metal.This was magna steel. They worked it as if it were pure tin. It didn'tseem to be hot but they spread sheets of it over the gaping hole in thehull. They closed the hole. He knew the ship had been repaired but stillhe did not move. On the ground before him was something that looked likean ant hill. He watched this, his mind reaching out and grasping abigger problem. The ants, he could see, were swarming.
Nielson detached himself from the group at the ship and came to him.
"Jed," he said hesitatingly.
"What?"
"Jed, what Hal said about me attacking him was right. I thought--Ithought he wasn't Sarkoff. I thought I was doing what was right."
"I don't doubt you," Hargraves answered. His mind was not on whatNielson was saying.
"Jed."
"Uh?"
"Jed. I--"
"What is it?"
"Jed, will you take over command again?" The words came fast. "I--"
"Huh? Take over command? Don't you like the job?"
Nielson shivered. "No. I'm not ready for it yet. Jed, will you take itover, please?"
"Huh? Oh, sure, if that is what the fellows want."
"They want it. So do I."
"Okay then." Hargraves was scarcely aware that Nielson had left. Nor didhe notice Ron Val approaching.
"Jed."
"Huh?"
"Jed, I've been talking to Thulon." The astro-navigator's voice wastrembling with excitement. "Jed, do you know that Thulon and his people_belong to our race_?"
"What?" the startled captain gasped. "Oh, damn it, Ron Val, you'redreaming again."
* * * * *
It would be a wonderful dream come true, Hargraves knew, if it was true.The human race had kin folks in the universe! Man did not stand alone.There was something breath-taking in the very thought of it.
"Thulon says the tests he ran on Hal Sarkoff proved it. He says hispeople sent out exploring expeditions long ago, just like we are doing,only the groups they sent out were more colonists than explorers. Hesays one of these groups landed on earth and that we are the descendantsof that group, sons of colonists come back to the mother world afteruncounted centuries of absence--"
Ron Val was babbling, the words were tumbling over each other on hislips.
"Oh, hell, Ron Val, it doesn't fit," Jed Hargraves said. "We can traceour evolutionary chain back to the fish in the seas--"
"Sure," Ron Val interrupted. "But we don't know that those fish camefrom the seas of earth!"
"Huh?" Hargraves gasped. "Well, I'll be damned! I never thought of thatpossibility." He looked at the lakes dancing in the Vegan sunshine. Fromthese lakes, from these seas, had come the original fish-like creaturethat eventually became human in form! The thought was startling.
"The colonists landed on earth thousands of years ago," Ron Val said."Maybe they smashed their ship in landing, had to learn to live off thecountry. Maybe they forgot who they were, in time. Jed, we have legendsthat we are the children of God. Maybe--Oh, Jed, Thulon says it's true."
Hargraves hesitated, torn between doubt and longing. He looked down. Onthe ground in front of him the ants were still swarming. Hundreds ofthem were coming from the ant hill and were flying off. There werethousands of them. Eventually, in the recesses of this vast grove, therewould be new colonies, which would swarm in their turn. He watched themflying away. The air was bright with the glint of their wings.
He looked up. Thulon was coming toward them. Thulon was smiling."Welcome home," his voice whispered in their minds. "Welcome home."
Hargraves began to smile.
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