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Raf cut speed and cautiously lost altitude, determined that he was not going to be rushed into any move for which he did not know the reason. The globe was hovering over a small island set a little apart from the others. A moment later Soriki's excited voice drew Raf's attention from his controls to what was going on below. "There's, people down there! Look at them run!"
Now that Soriki mentioned it, Raf remembered that the alien party who had gone into the city had huddled together, and that several of the black-and-white warriors had fanned out ahead as scouts might in enemy territory. "They didn't go any farther than that building to the west either." That Raf had not noticed, but he was willing to accept Soriki's observation.
"They're just shuttling around up there. What do we do now?" Lablet turned his head. He was smiling faintly. "We wait," he told the com-tech. "I should imagine it takes time to climb twenty flights of stairs if they have stairs " Soriki's attention fell from the flyer hovering over their heads to the surface of the roof. Raf had already looked that over without seeing any opening.
But to leave now, just when we are on the verge of new discoveries That anti-gravity unit alone is worth our whole trip! Imagine being able to return to earth with the principle of that!" "Imagine being able to return to earth with our skins on our backs," was Soriki's whispered contribution.
It was almost, but Raf shied away from that wild idea, it was almost as if he were hearing a voiceless cry for aid, as if his mind was one of Soriki's coms tuned in on an unknown wave length. He was angrily impatient with himself for that fantastic supposition.
In the light of the portable lamp by Soriki's com, Lablet settled down, plugged the scanner tubes in his ears, absently accepting a ration bar the captain handed him to chew on while he listened to the playback of the record the com-tech had made that afternoon. Hobart turned to Raf. "You went off with that officer. What did he have to show you?"
Soriki his broad face with its flat cheekbones, its wide cheerful mouth, its heavy-lidded eyes. And having fixed Soriki's face, he tried to believe that he was now confronting the com-tech, speaking directly to him. "Come come and get me south seashore Soriki come and get me!" The words formed a kind of chant, a chant aimed at that familiar face in its familiar surroundings.
What if something like Pax ruled here? They had no way of knowing for sure. Raf's eyes met Soriki's, and the com-tech's hand dropped to hook fingers in his belt within touching distance of his side arm. The flitter pilot nodded. "Kurbi!" Hobart's impatient call sent him on his way.
"I'll be glad to see these bandaged boys on the ground waving good-bye as we head away from them fast " "Those weren't animals they killed back on that island." Raf brought out what was at the heart of his trouble. "They wore fur instead of clothing." Soriki's reply was delivered in a colorless, even voice. "We have apes on Terra, but they are not men."
But in the dead city no light showed, and he was sure that no aliens camped there tonight. He was sleeping when Soriki's grasp on his shoulder brought him to that instant alertness he had learned on field maneuvers half the Galaxy away. "Business," the com-tech's voice was not above a whisper as he leaned over the pilot. "I think they are on the move." The light was the pale gray of pre-dawn.
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