The Crystal Seas

Unfortunately, he didn't seem to have much choice. A look along the beach showed no signs of food or fresh water anywhere in sight. Besides, the line of weeds and shellfish on the rocks showed him that even a few more hours might be too long to stay here. The high-tide mark was a good eight feet above his head. As the tide came in, the cove would turn into a boiling cauldron. He would be tossed around like an onion in a stew until he drowned or crashed against the rocks.

But there was that reef extending out to sea. Blade shaded his eyes against the glare of the sun and examined the reef more closely. The spray broke impressively enough over it, but it looked as though the far end was out in deep water. Out there he would find fewer rocks jutting up to crash against. Blade stretched again to test his muscles. He walked to the base of the reef, then started out along it.

He moved slowly and carefully, picking his footing one step at a time. The rocks were crumbling and wet, and many were also slick with weeds or encrusted with shellfish. He knew he would be finished if he slipped and broke or twisted an ankle or split one leg open to the bone. He had to be able to swim out of here before the tide came in.

Step by step, rock by rock, Blade made his way out along the reef. Twice the only practical course lay close to the water's edge, where the breakers were crashing onto the rocks with explosive roars and churning tons of water. Once, he was able to scramble through the dangerous area during the moment between two waves. The second time he miscalculated. The incoming breaker loomed above him like a wall of blue-green crystal crowned with white foam. The moment before it struck, he braced himself as best he could and wrapped his arms around the largest and heaviest rock he could find. Then he took a deep breath and held it. The wave roared down and over him, flattening him against the rocks like a giant hand. Blade held on, although the strain seemed about to pull his arms out of their sockets. He held on until his lungs seemed to be filled with white-hot gas instead of air, and the blue-gree

It began to seem that he had always been stumbling over crumbling, slimy gray stones, not falling headlong only by a series of desperate muscle-wrenching efforts. The spray from the breakers dried on his skin, stinging painfully in his cuts and leaving an itching crust of salt all over him. Once, a rock sheared in two under his weight, and a sharp edge slashed along his left leg. The cut ran almost from knee to anklebone, but by a miracle it was not deep. It soon stopped bleeding, and then Blade was no longer aware of it. He scrambled on, sweat now ru

Almost before he realized it, he was near the far end of the reef. He found a perch on the highest rock he could reach and looked around. He gri

Blade looked out along the shore across the water, looking for a landing place. As he did, he noticed something so intriguing that he completely forgot about the landing place. The sea was incredibly clear and transparent, like crystal. Beyond the white fringe of foam, Blade could see the rocks of the reef falling away to an amazing depth. Far down in the pale blue-green crystal, he saw sparks of color moving and silver flashes as schools of fish passed by. Even farther down, he could see purplish darkness begi

Reluctantly, Blade lifted his eyes from the water and stared across the waves at the distant shore. To his left the cliffs ran away out of sight, without offering any visible way up through them and inland. Heading that way would be a badly conceived gamble.

But far off to the right was something that looked like the yellow sand of a beach backed by green trees. Blade couldn't be as sure as he would have liked to be, for the beach was a good six miles away. If visibility hadn't been nearly perfect, he wouldn't have seen it at all. But there it was. Even if it wasn't a route inland, it would be a better place to spend the night than a cove certain to be submerged twenty feet deep by the incoming tide.

Six miles. A good stiff swim even for Blade, in his present shape. He considered the prospect, then examined his situation to see if there was any alternative. He did this not out of any reluctance to face the swim, but out of an ingrained habit of assessing a situation and considering alternative strategies. His experience as a secret agent in Home Dimension had done that ingraining. It wasn't a habit one could use in tight spots where all that mattered was fast action. But a little care in advance could prevent a lot of those tight spots. Otherwise one was likely to go blundering into unexpected situations, be surprised, and not live very long.

A minute was enough to satisfy Blade that the six-mile swim was the best choice. So there was nothing to do now except slip into the water and start swimming, preferably as soon as possible. Blade had no intention of being caught offshore by darkness in these lovely but strange waters. Approaching an unknown shore by night was something even full-sized ships seldom risked. And he knew that Home Dimension sharks were at their most dangerous after dark. He didn't want to risk these crystal seas being the home of something as large and hungry and with the same habits.

Blade slipped down off his perch and began to make his way over the last few yards of rock. The only problem he could see was that long range of water-rounded black boulders near the outer end of the reef. It looked high and slippery, with no hand- or footholds. But it sprawled squarely across his path. His progress toward it was accompanied by the usual clatter of falling stones.

He was less than ten feet away from the boulders when they gave out a long roaring hiss and began to move.

Blade let out an explosively short hiss as he sucked in his breath and froze where he was. The creature continued to move, writhing its way around in a semicircle over the rocks. A long neck rose, and a small head with a very large tooth-filled mouth rose on the end of it. The head turned toward Blade, and he gasped at a putrid blast of long-dead fish as the mouth opened. Its foot-long teeth stained yellow by age and decay clacked together. Blade continued to stand frozen, but not out of fear. With a head that small, the creature's brain could only be tiny, and its vision might well be dim. If he stood motionless, it might overlook him entirely, or not recognize him as prey, or see him and then forget about him almost at once. The head wove back and forth, and small yellowish eyes under heavy bony ridges flickered open and shut.

Then suddenly the head was driving at Blade with the speed and force of a battering ram. The mouth opened wide, showing a steamy red gullet. Blade sprang up onto the rock behind him and down the other side with split seconds to spare. The living battering ram crashed into the rock, jarring it halfway loose. If Blade had been in its path, he would have been crushed to a pulp and dined on at the creature's leisure.