obeyance of their commander. They loomed over
his bent figure, most of them twice as tall as he, but there was no
hesitation in jumping when he commanded. They were the body of the
Nyjord striking force--he was the brains.

A square-cut, compact man rolled up to Hys and saluted with a
leisurely flick of his hand. He was weighted and slung about with
packs and electronic instruments. His pockets bulged with small
tools and spare parts.

"This is Telt," Hys said to Brion. "He'll take care of you. Telt's
my personal technical squad. He goes along on all my operations with
his meters to test the interiors of the Disan forts. So far he's
found no trace of a jump-space generator, or excess radioactivity
that might indicate a bomb. Since he's useless and you're useless,
you both take care of each other. Use the car we came in."

Telt's wide face split in a froglike grin; his voice was hoarse and
throaty. "Wait. Just wait! Someday those needles gonna flicker and
all our troubles be over. What you want me to do with the stranger?"

"Supply him with a corpse--one of the magter," Hys said. "Take it
wherever he wants and then report back here." Hys scowled at Telt.
"Someday your needles will flicker! Poor fool--this is the last
day." He turned away and waved the men into their sand cars.

"He likes me," Telt said, attaching a final piece of equipment.
"You can tell because he calls me names like that. He's a great man,
Hys is, but they never found out until it was too late. Hand me that
meter, will you?"

Brion followed the technician out to the car and helped him load his
equipment aboard. When the larger cars appeared out of the darkness,
Telt swung around after them. They snaked forward in a single line
through the rocks, until they came to the desert of rolling sand
dunes. Then they spread out in line abreast and rushed towards their
goal.

Telt hummed to himself hoarsely as he drove. He broke off suddenly
and looked at Brion. "What you want the dead Dis for?"

"A theory," Brion answered sluggishly. He had been half napping in
the chair, taking the opportunity for some rest before the attack.
"I'm still looking for a way to avert the end."

"You and Hys," Telt said with satisfaction. "Couple of idealists.
Trying to stop a war you didn't start. They never would listen to
Hys. He told them in the beginning exactly what would happen, and
he was right. They always thought his ideas were crooked, like him.
Growing up al