his own crew cursing
him for taking the chance! No one had ever crossed between galaxies--and
remember, they were using the Ancient Math!"

He paused, and Bart said through a catch of breath. "Quite an
achievement." His badge still looked reassuringly yellow.

"You young people have no sense of wonder," Vorongil said. "Not that I
blame you. You can't realize what it was like in those days. Oh, we'd
had star-travel for centuries, we were beginning to stagnate. And now
look at us! Oh, they derided Rhazon--said that even if he did find
anyone, any other race, they'd be monsters with whom we could never
communicate. But here we have a whole new galaxy for peaceful trade, a
new mathematics that takes all the hazard out of space travel, our
Mentorian friends and allies." He smiled. "Don't tell the High Council
on me, but I think they deserve a lot more credit than most Lhari care
to give them. Between ourselves, I think the next Panarch may see it
that way."

Vorongil paused. "Here's the monument."

It lay between the crystal columns, tall, of pale blue sandstone, with
letters in deep shadow of such contrast that the Lhari could read them:
a high, sheer, imposing stele. Vorongil read the words slowly aloud in
the musical Lhari language:

"'Here, with thanks to Those who Watch the Great Night, I, Rhazon of
Nedrun, raise a stone of memory. Here we first do touch the new worlds.
Let us never again fear to face the unknown, trusting that the Mind of
All Knowledge still has many surprises in store for all the living.'

"I think I admire courage more than anything there is, Bartol. Who else
could have dared it? Doesn't it make you proud to be a Lhari?"

Bart had felt profoundly moved; now he snapped back to awareness of who
he was and what he was doing. So only the Lhari had courage? _Life has
surprises, all right, Captain_, he thought grimly.

He glanced down at the badge strip of plastic on his arm. It began to
tinge faint orange as he looked, and a chill of fear went over him. He
had to get away somehow--get to cover!

He looked round and his fear was almost driven from his mind. "Captain,
the rocks! They're moving!"

Vorongil said, unruffled, "Why, so they are. They do, you know; they
have intelligence of a sort. Though I've never actually _seen_ them move
before, I know they shift places overnight. I wonder what's going on?"
They were edging back, the path widening and changing. "Oh, well, maybe
they're going to d