u?
Look at his chin--he never shaved with a sharpened stone! Something is
wrong here."

In his hand a rod of pale fire flashed. "The City is gone, and with it
at least half the Leiter Council. It is very strange, a flash, then
heat, and a wind. But it was not fission. I am puzzled. All at once the
City has vanished. Nothing is left but a depression in the sand."

"We'll take them in," the other Leiter said. "Soldiers, surround them.
Make certain that--"

"Run!" Erick cried. He struck out, knocking the rod from the Senior
Leiter's hand. They were all running, soldiers shouting, flashing their
lights, stumbling against each other in the darkness. Erick dropped to
his knees, groping frantically in the bushes. His fingers closed over
the handle of the case and he leaped up. In Terran he shouted to Mara
and Jan.

"Hurry! To the car! Run!" He set off, down the slope, stumbling through
the darkness. He could hear soldiers behind him, soldiers running and
falling. A body collided against him and he struck out. Someplace behind
him there was a hiss, and a section of the slope went up in flames. The
Leiter's rod--

"Erick," Mara cried from the darkness. He ran toward her. Suddenly he
slipped, falling on a stone. Confusion and firing. The sound of excited
voices.

"Erick, is that you?" Jan caught hold of him, helping him up. "The car.
It's over here. Where's Mara?"

"I'm here," Mara's voice came. "Over here, by the car."

A light flashed. A tree went up in a puff of fire, and Erick felt the
singe of the heat against his face. He and Jan made their way toward the
girl. Mara's hand caught his in the darkness.

"Now the car," Erick said. "If they haven't got to it." He slid down the
slope into the ravine, fumbling in the darkness, reaching and holding
onto the handle of the case. Reaching, reaching--

He touched something cold and smooth. Metal, a metal door handle. Relief
flooded through him. "I've found it! Jan, get inside. Mara, come on." He
pushed Jan past him, into the car. Mara slipped in after Jan, her small
agile body crowding in beside him.

"Stop!" a voice shouted from above. "There's no use hiding in that
ravine. We'll get you! Come up and--"

The sound of voices was drowned out by the roar of the car's motor. A
moment later they shot into the darkness, the car rising into the air.
Treetops broke and cracked under them as Erick turned the car from side
to side, avoiding the groping shafts of pale light from