your time. But I am
a reasonable man. You can have Maya. You can have the ship. You can have
the prisoners--the few that are left. I will trade all these for Wolden's
secret."

"Greed has you in its hand, Grim Hagen. I know nothing of my father's
secret. I do not even know if he succeeded--"

"Then summon him and let him decide for himself. You are young, but
two-thirds of my life is gone now--"

"Your calculation is wrong," Gunnar shouted. "You life is nearly all gone,
Grim Hagen."

"The dwarf still lives," Grim Hagen answered with a curse. "But so does
Maya, my slave. I had to beat her the other day. My boots were not polished
very well--"

"Talk on, Grim Hagen," Odin growled. "I am here. And I intend to kill
you--Just as I promised."

"Like most of your race, you talk too loud, Odin. Well, Ato, Gunnar, and
Odin, I am going now. Please don't get in my way or I will hatchet the
flesh from your bones."

Another click and the loudspeaker was silent.

* * * * *

They had landed on the giant, worn planet very early in the day. Now, as
time went on, they watched Grim Hagen's ship and tried to make plans.

Gunnar was in favor of hazarding an attack on the barrier and then going
on to the city.

Ato and Odin voted in favor of waiting, although they admitted that they
could think of no better plan. Ato was sure that The Nebula could plunge
through any curtain, but he wanted to try that as a last resort.

Meanwhile, a steady stream of tractors and men was going back and forth
from the Old Ship to the city. Odin watched them on the screen. They were
mostly the white-skinned people of Aldebaran. The Brons who had gone out
into space with Grim Hagen had dwindled away. Odin saw a few white-headed
ones. And once he saw a captain stop to lash a worn, gray-haired Bron who
must have been one of the original prisoners. The poor fellow looked so old
and frazzled that Odin could not recognize him. His heart grew heavy as he
thought of those prisoners. They had done no harm. Their lives had been
wasted away because of their loyalty to Maya. And the words of an old poet
came to his mind: "Think of man's inhumanity to man and write your poem if
you can."

The day passed wearily by.

Odin felt that it was one of the worst days of his life. They had spanned
thousands of light-years and time had slid by like a stream of quicksilver
while they hunted through space. And now, at the last, they were