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Updated: June 11, 2025
A handful of warriors in the water can risk the gate, but not a ship." Ashe broke in, "How many gill-packs do we have?" Ross counted hurriedly. "I left one cached ashore. But there's mine and Karara's and Loketh's also two more " "To pass the gates," that was the Foanna, "we ourselves shall not need your underwater aids." "You," Ross said to Ashe, "and I with Karara's pack " "For Karara!"
Karara's still damp head was bowed until those black locks, now sleeked to her round skull, almost touched the man's close-cropped brown hair. They were both studying a map as if they saw not lines on paper but the actual inlets and lagoons which that drawing represented. "You are sure, Gordon, that this is the modern point to match the site on the tape?" The girl brushed back straying hair.
That disappointment was driving Ashe, the way that six months earlier his outrage and guilt feelings over the Topaz affair had driven him. Karara's suggestion carried weight the longer Ross thought about it. With more swimmers hunting, there was just that much increased chance of turning up some clue.
Well, I think I could do without answers such as the Baldies would know. But I will admit that I would like to know what did happen here two, five, ten thousand years ago." Ashe stood up and stretched. For the first time he smiled. "Do you know, I rather like the idea of fishing off Karara's beckoning finger. Maybe she's right about that changing our luck."
He had been so sure of the other's identity that he blinked in complete bewilderment as his eyes met Karara's and she half stumbled, half reeled against him. His arms about her shoulders steadied her, and her shivering body was close to his as she leaned her full weight upon him. Her hands made a feeble movement to her mask, and he pulled it off.
All the human beings worked with practiced ease, even while masked and submerged, to set the probe in place, aiming it landward at the check point of the Finger's protruding nail of rock. After Ashe made the final adjustments, tested each and every part of the assembly, he gestured them in. Karara's swift hand movement asked a question, and Ashe's sonic code-clicked in reply: "At twilight."
There was a yell of astonishment and fear from the stranger as the Terran jerked him from his perch to the ledge. Ross had his opponent flattened under him before he realized that the other had offered no struggle, but lay still. "What is it?" Karara's torch beam caught them both. Ross looked down into a thin brown face not too different from his own.
He could see the glimmer of the Foanna; turning his head he could see his companions as shadows, but all beyond that was utter dark. "Ahhhh " Karara's sobs gave way to a whisper which was half moan. "This is a way of gods, old gods, gods who never dealt with men! It is not well to walk the road of the gods!" Her fear lapped to Ross.
"Come down, awake, stir...." Karara's pleading sank again to a whisper, her voice sounded hoarse as if her mouth were dry, her words formed by a shrunken tongue, issued from a parched throat. Light spreading in channels along the floor, making a fiery pattern patterns within patterns, intricate designs within designs. Ross jerked his eyes away from those patterns.
Ross's sonic pricked a warning against his body. Through that he took a jolt which sent him back, away from the bay entrance. "On the reef." Karara's tapped code drew him on a new course. Moments later they were both out of the water, though the wash of waves over their flippered feet was constant.
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