m-filled unconsciousness was not what
he needed, and he blinked in the dawn with eyes which felt as if they
were filled with hot sand. In the first gray light a covey of winged
things, which might or might not have been birds, arose from some
roosting place within the city, wheeled three times over the building,
and then vanished out over the countryside.

Raf pulled himself out of his roll, made a sketchy toilet with the
preparations in a belt kit, and looked about with little favor for
either the scene or his part in it. The globe, sealed as if ready for
a take-off, was some distance away, but installed about halfway
between it and the flitter were two of the alien warriors. Perhaps
they had changed watches during the night. If they had not, they could
go without sleep to an amazing degree, for as Raf walked in a circle
about the flyer to limber up, they watched him closely, nor did their
grips on their odd weapons loosen. And he had a very clear idea that
if he stepped over some invisible boundary he would be in for trouble.

When he came back to the flitter, Soriki was awake and stretching.

"Another day," the com-tech drawled. "And I could do with something
besides field rations." He made a face at the small tin of
concentrates he had dug out of the supply compartment.

"We'd do well to be headed west," Raf ventured.

"Now you can come in with that on the com again!" Soriki answered with
unwonted emphasis. "The sooner I see the old girl standing on her pins
in the middle distance, the better I'll feel. You know"--he looked up
from his preoccupation with the ration package and gazed out over the
city--"this place gives me the shivers. That other town was bad
enough. But at least there were people living there. Here's nothing at
all--at least nothing I want to see."

"What about all the wonders they've promised to show us?" countered
Raf.

Soriki grinned. "And how much do we understand of their mouth-and-hand
talk? Maybe they were promising us wonders, maybe they were offering to
take us to where we could have our throats cut more conveniently--for them!
I tell you, if I go for a walk with any of these painted faces, I'm going
to have at least three of my fingers resting on the grip of my stun gun.
And I'd advise you to do the same--if I didn't know that you were already
watching these blast-happy harpies out of the corner of your eye.
Ha--company. Oh, it's the captain--"

The hatch of the globe had opened,