up above the eye pits in a way to suggest ample brain room. Had the
thing been intelligent? Karara put that into words:

"Rule One?" She went over to survey the carcass.

Ross resented her half question, whether it was addressed to him or mere
thinking aloud on her part.

Rule One: Conserve native life to the fullest extent. Humanoid form may
not be the only evidence of intelligence.

There were the dolphins to prove that point right on Terra. But did Rule
One mean that you had to let a monster nibble at you because it might
just be a high type of alien intelligence? Let Karara spout Rule One
while backed into a crevice under water with that horn stabbing at her
mid-section!

"Rule One does not mean to forego self-defense," Ashe commented mildly.
"This thing is a hunter, and you can't stop to apply recognition
techniques when you are being regarded as legitimate prey. If you are
the stronger, or an equal, yes--stop and think before becoming
aggressive. But in a situation like this--take no chances."

"Anyway, from now on," Karara pointed out, "it could be possible to
shock instead of kill."

"Gordon"--PaKeeKee swung around--"what have we found here--besides this
thing?"

"I can't even guess. Except that those depressions were made for a
purpose and have been there for a long time. Whether they were
originally in the water, or the land sank, that we don't know either.
But now we have a site to set up the peep-probe."

"We do that right away?" Ross wanted to know. Impatience bit at him. But
Ashe still had a trace of frown. He shook his head.

"Have to make sure of our site, very sure. I don't want to start any
chain reaction on the other side of the time wall."

And he was right, Ross was forced to admit, remembering what had
happened when the galactics had discovered the Red time gates and traced
them forward to their twentieth-century source, ruthlessly destroying
each station. The original colonists of Hawaika had been as giants to
Terran pygmies when it came to technical knowledge. To use even a
peep-probe indiscreetly near one of their outposts might bring swift and
terrible retribution.

3

The Ancient Mariners

Another map spread out and this time pinned down with small stones on
beach gravel.

"Here, here, and here--" Ashe's finger indicated the points marked in a
pattern which flared out from three sides of Finger Island. Each marked
a set of three undersea depressions in perfect alli