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"We sent scouts. Many were dikta men in their second year, come recently from rejection by the Boys. They were too young to be wise, of course, but they could shave their groins and faces and pass as Boys. Some were brought back with their memories gone. I think the others would have returned if they could. Some women tried to scout for us during the long night. None of them came back."
The rain drummed out the hum of the motor. Corbell asked, "Did you ever think of escaping by sea?"
"Of course, but how could we hide a sea vessel from the Boys? Corbell, you've been across the sea. Is there land? Does life grow there, or is it too hot?"
"There's life, but it doesn't grow as thick as it does here, and it's different life. I know you can eat some of it, because Mirelly-Lyra fed me a fair variety. It was hot there, but not killing-hot. And, listen, I've seen sea vessels big enough to hold all of Dikta City. Whether they still float is something else."
"Where?"
"On what used to be the seabed, a short day's march from where the sea is now."
Gording mulled it over. "Three problems. Getting the sea vessel to the sea. The risk we take if the Boys catch us at it. Third and worst, what will we tell our men when they are grown? That we stole them from immortality? If we find the dikta immortality, Corbel, we can make the dikta flee across the sea."
"It itches at me. I had it all figured out. Brilliantly! Everything pointed to the cat-tails... Listen, are you willing to be bitten again? Maybe it's only the male cat-tails, or only the females, or only the gray striped. Whatever the Boys didn't take along to the Dikta Place."
"Flay me alive if you must. The stakes are high. You'd be dead long since if you didn't guess right sometimes."
Corbell settled further into the spongy material. The drumming rain was a comfortable, homey, safe sound. Presently he fell asleep.
In his dream he was ru
III
Something threw him violently forward. Something soft exploded in his face and threw him back. Now pressure pi
Nightmare! Ru
But his scream blew air through... through the stuff across his face. He gasped, and some air leaked through, slowly. Porous stuff across his face. Right, and the hospital was a long time ago.
The spi
Let's see, he'd been with Gording... in a car... The pressure was easing up. He thrust forward with his hands. The stuff gave like a balloon. He worked an arm sideways, found the door, then the handle. Wrestled it open. He squirmed against the porous balloon, edged sideways, and finally dropped out on his head.
The car was upside down in wet, scraggy wheat. It had torn a clear path in its rolling fall. Gording was around in back looking at a broken spear haft that had been jammed under the edge of a close-fitting hood.
"I knew there were safety devices," he said cheerfully.
Relief made Corbell babble. "Too many Great Escapes lately. I'm getting them mixed up. Lord, what a nightmare! For a time there I thought I was back ru
Gording looked at him. "She really frightens you, the old dikt."
"She really does. Worse than the Boys. There were some very hairy moments. The city was full of prilatsil, see, and you never knew where she'd be, or where I'd be. The best I could do was find a prilatsil and dial at random, over and over, and even then some of them didn't work. And all the time she was tracking my pressure-suit helmet! She's probably still got it. At least... I hope she does."
"Why does it matter?"
"I'll tell you as we go." Corbell paused. "For a moment there..."
"Something?"
"Something co
Gording carefully retrieved Skatholtz's broken spear. He found the rock with the thread tied to it, found another rock and rebuilt his weapon. The tchiple's safety balloons had nearly deflated. Gording felt around inside until he had located the plastic disk.
The sun was a fiery flying saucer settling on clouds. They set out into the wet wheat, and Corbell began the tale of how the Girls had lost a moon.
Toward morning they found a stream.
Jupiter had lighted their way in horizontal orange beams that made the land look brighter than it was. Corbell walked into the water before he knew it was there. The stream was shallow and sluggish. Marsh grass was growing in it, possibly a mutant form of wheat or rice.
Corbell knelt to drink. He rubbed his calves to wash away dried blood. When he looked up Gording held a flopping fish in his hands.
"Gording, you're quick!"
"Di
"Do we dare build a fire?"
"No, we must not be seen. We're just the wrong number. We can't pass as Boys at any distance. We'll eat the fish raw."
"No, thanks."
"As you like."
The unwinking point of light had grown no brighter. Odd, that it could have come so fast. But Uranus had been nearing Jupiter in the random orbit the Girls had left it in, when Don Juan arrived in Sol system. He said as much to Gording.
Gording nodded his pale head. "I have not added the numbers, but I think the paths of Jupiter and Uranus must cross forever if it was left free after the Girls dropped Ganymede... But why would they let it free? They would have been trying to turn it, to correct their mistake."
"Maybe they heard there was a war. They took their ships home to bomb the Boys from orbit. They never came back."
Gording had eaten everything but the bones of the fish. He said, "It is unlikely that the Girls waited their revenge for your return. It is unlikely that Uranus, falling free, crosses the world's path just after your return. I think your explanation is right, Corbell. We must go to Four City and find the old dikt who has your pressure-suit helmet. Otherwise we will see the end of all life."
"I was afraid you'd say that. All right. There's a working tchiple in Sarash-Zillish. It took me there from Cape Horn. I wish I knew the code for getting back... but I don't."
"Dial at random?"
"Maybe. I'd like to check the subway system first. There are maps in the subway building." He stood. "Let's go."
Dawn came with a marrow-freezing roar. It whipped Corbell's head around. He faced a dwarf lion, twenty yards away on a rise of ground, roaring challenge.
Skatholtz's broken spear slapped against his palm. "Attack!" cried Gording, and he charged the Great-Dane-sized beast.
Corbell pelted after him. The lion seemed taken aback... but he decided. He charged Gording. Somehow Gording danced aside. The lion turned, broadside to Corbell. Corbell threw all his weight behind the spear, leaned into it as it punched into the lion behind the ribs. The lion screamed, turned and slashed, and missed, because one of its forelegs was unaccountably missing. Gording did his trick again and both the lion's forelegs were gone.
"Now run!" Gording cried.
They ran toward Sarash-Zillish. In the clear air they could see the bluish line where trees began. "Male lion... drives the prey .