transparent front of the nearest coffin case. There was
no change in the eyes of the alien who stood within, no indication that
if the Apaches could see him, he would be able to return their interest.
The five stares which had bemused the visitors at first, did not break
to follow their movements.

But Travis knew! Whether it was some message on the tape which the sight
of the sleepers made clear, or whether some residue of the driving
purpose which had set them there now reached his mind, was immaterial.
He knew the purpose of this room and its contents, why it had been made
and the reason its six guardians had been left as prisoners--and what
they wanted from anyone coming after them.

"They sleep," he said softly.

"Sleep?" Buck caught him up.

"They sleep in something like deep freeze."

"Do you mean they can be brought to life again!" Jil-Lee cried.

"Maybe not now--it must be too long--but they were meant to wait out a
period and be restored."

"How do you know that?" Buck asked.

"I don't know for certain, but I think I understand a little. Something
happened a long time ago. Maybe it was a war, a war between whole star
systems, bigger and worse than anything we can imagine. I think this
planet was an outpost, and when the supply ships didn't come any more,
when they knew they might be cut off for some length of time, they
closed down. Stacked their supplies and machines here and then went to
sleep to wait for their rescuers...."

"For rescuers who never came," Jil-Lee said softly. "And there is a
chance they could be revived even now?"

Travis shivered. "Not one I would want to take."

"No," Buck's tone was somber, "that I agree to, younger brother. These
are not men as we know them, and I do not think they would be good
_dalaanbiyat'i_--allies. They had _go'ndi_ in plenty, these star men,
but it is not the power of the People. No one but a madman or a fool
would try to disturb this sleep of theirs."

"The truth you speak," Jil-Lee agreed. "But where in this," he turned
his shoulder to the sleeping star men and looked back at the filled
chamber--"do we find anything which will serve us here and now?"

Again Travis had only the scrappiest information to draw upon. "Spread
out," he told them. "Look for the marking of a circle surrounding four
dots set in a diamond pattern."

They went, but Travis lingered for a moment to look once more into the
bleak and bitter eyes of the star men. How many plan