they were in power thousands of years ago. Maybe they and their
worlds are gone now. Why should things we do today matter to them?"

"Well, it does matter, and in some very important way. And we have to
learn that reason."

"How?" Ross looked down at his left hand, encased in a mitten of bandage
under which he very gingerly tried to stretch a finger. Maybe he should
have been eager to welcome another meeting with the ship people, but if
he were truly honest, he had to admit that he did not. He glanced up,
sure that Ashe had read all that hesitation and scorned him for it. But
there was no sign that his discomfiture had been noticed.

"By doing some looting of our own," Ashe answered. "Those tapes we
brought back are going to be a big help. More than one derelict was
located. We were right in our surmise that the Reds first discovered the
remains of one in Siberia, but it was in no condition to be explored.
They already had the basic idea of the time traveler, so they applied it
to the hunting down of other ships, with several way stops to throw
people like us off the scent. So they found an intact ship, and also
several others. At least three are on _this_ side of the Atlantic where
they couldn't get at them very well. Those we can deal with now----"

"Won't the aliens be waiting for us to try that?"

"As far as we can discover they don't know where any of these ships
crashed. Either there were no survivors, or passengers and crew took off
in lifeboats while they were still in space. They might never have known
of the Reds' activities if you hadn't triggered that communicator on the
derelict."

Ross was reduced to a small boy who badly needed an alibi for some piece
of juvenile mischief. "I didn't mean to." That excuse sounded so feeble
that he was surprised into a laugh, only to see Ashe grinning back at
him.

"Seeing as how your action also put a very effective spike in the
opposition's wheel, you are freely forgiven. Anyway, you have also
provided us with a pretty good idea of what we may be up against with
the aliens, and we'll be prepared for that next time."

"Then there will be a next time?"

"We are calling in all time agents, concentrating our forces in the
right period. Yes, there will be a next time. We have to learn just what
they are trying so hard to protect."

"What do you think it is?"

"Space!" Ashe spoke the word softly as if he relished the promise it
held.

"Space?"

"That ship you