n of the place resulted from less than an
hour's abandonment. But somehow it was impossible to call out loudly
for Jill. Lockley was appalled by the feeling of emptiness in such
bright sunshine. It was shocking. Men hadn't moved out of the camp.
They'd simply left it, with every article of use dropped and
abandoned; nothing at all had been removed. And there was no sign of
Jill. It occurred to Lockley that she'd have waited for Vale at the
camp, because assuredly his first thought should have been for her
safety. Yes. She'd have waited for Vale to rescue her. But Vale was
either dead or a captive of the creatures that had been in the object
from the sky. He wouldn't be looking after Jill.

Lockley found himself straining his eyes at the mountain from whose
flank Vale had been prepared to measure the base line between his post
and Lockley's. That vantage point could not be seen from here, but
Lockley looked for a small figure that might be Jill, climbing
valiantly to warn Vale of the events he'd known before anybody else.

Then Lockley heard a very small sound. It was faint, with an irregular
rhythm in it. It had the cadence of speech. His pulse leaped suddenly.
There was the mast for the short wave set by which the camp had kept
in touch with the outer world. Lockley sprinted for the building under
it. His footsteps sounded loudly in the silent camp, and they drowned
out the sound he was heading for.

He stopped at the open door. He heard Jill's voice saying anxiously,
"But I'm sure he'd have come to make certain I was safe!" A pause.
"There's no one else left, and I want...." Another pause. "But he was
up on the mountainside! At least a helicopter could--"

Lockley called, "Jill!"

He heard a gasp. Then she said unsteadily, "Someone just called. Wait
a moment."

She came to the door. At sight of Lockley her face fell.

"I came to make sure you were all right," he said awkwardly. "Are you
talking to outside?"

"Yes. Do you know anything about--"

"I'm afraid I do," said Lockley. "Right now the important thing is to
get you out of here. I'll tell them we're starting. All right?"

She stood aside. He went up to the short wave set which looked much
like an ordinary telephone, but was connected to a box with dials and
switches. There was a miniature pocket radio--a transistor radio--on
top of the short wave cabinet. Lockley picked up the short wave
microphone. He identified himself. He said he'd come to make sur