't help
him.

"If I succeed--you'll know. Otherwise, that will be the end of it.
End of Transmission." He switched the radio off.

Lea was sleeping easily when he looked at her, and there was still
a good part of the hour left before he could wake her. How could
he put it to use? She would need tools, instruments to examine the
corpse, and there were certainly none here. Perhaps he could find
some in the ruins of the Foundation building. With this thought
he had the sudden desire to see the wreckage up close. There might
be other survivors. He had to find out. If he could talk to the men
he had seen working there....

Ulv was still crouched against the wall in the outer room.
He looked up angrily when Brion came over, but said nothing.

"Will you help me again?" Brion asked. "Stay and watch the girl
while I go out. I'll be back at noon." Ulv didn't answer. "I am
still looking for the way to save Dis," Brion added.

"Go--I'll watch the girl!" Ulv spat words in impotent fury. "I do
not know what to do. You may be right. Go. She will be safe with me."

Brion slipped out into the deserted street and, half running, half
walking, made his way towards the rubble that had been the Cultural
Relationships Foundation. He used a different course from the one
they had come by, striking first towards the outer edge of the city.
Once there, he could swing and approach from the other side, so
there would be no indication where he had come from. The magter
might be watching and he didn't want to lead them to Lea and the
stolen body.

Turning a corner, he saw a sand car stopped in the street ahead.
There was something familiar about the lines of it. It could be the
one he and Telt had used, but he wasn't sure. He looked around, but
the dusty, packed-dirt street was white and empty, shimmering in
silence under the sun. Staying close to the wall and watching
carefully, Brion slipped towards the car. When he came close behind
it he was positive it was the one he had been in the night before.
What was it doing here?

Silence and heat filled the street. Windows and doors were empty,
and there was no motion in their shadows. Putting his foot on a
bogey wheel, he reached up and grabbed the searing metal rim of the
open window. He pulled himself up and stared at Telt's smiling face.

Smiling in death. The lips pulled back to reveal the grinning teeth,
the eyes bursting from the head, the features swollen and contorted
from the deadl