io above his head and sent it crashing into
the rock floor. Then he was running back to Ulv, trying to run away
from the realization that he too had tried and failed. The people
on the surface of Dis had less than two minutes left to live.

"They didn't get my message," Brion said to Ulv. "The radio won't
work this far underground."

"Then the bombs will fall?" Ulv asked, looking searchingly at
Brion's face in the dim reflected light from the cavern.

"Unless something happens that we know nothing about, the bombs
will fall."

They said nothing after that--they simply waited. The three
technicians in the cavern were also aware of the time. They were
calling to each other and trying to talk to the magter. The
emotionless, parasite-ridden brains of the magter saw no reason to
stop work, and they attempted to beat the men back to their tasks.
In spite of the blows, they didn't go; they only gaped in horror as
the clock hands moved remorselessly towards twelve. Even the magter
dimly felt some of the significance of the occasion. They stopped
too and waited.

The hour hand touched twelve on Brion's watch, then the minute hand.
The second hand closed the gap and for a tenth of a second the three
hands were one. Then the second hand moved on.

Brion's immediate sensation of relief was washed away by the
chilling realization that he was deep underground. Sound and seismic
waves were slow, and the flare of atomic explosions couldn't be seen
here. If the bombs had been dropped at twelve they wouldn't know it
at once.

A distant rumble filled the air. A moment later the ground heaved
under them and the lights in the cavern flickered. Fine dust drifted
down from the roof above.

Ulv turned to him, but Brion looked away. He could not face the
accusation in the Disan's eyes.

XVIII

One of the technicians was running and screaming. The magter knocked
him down and beat him into silence. Seeing this, the other two men
returned to work with shaking hands. Even if all life on the surface
of the planet was dead, this would have no effect on the magter.
They would go ahead as planned, without emotion or imagination
enough to alter their set course.

As the technicians worked, their attitude changed from shocked
numbness to anger. Right and wrong were forgotten. They had been
killed--the invisible death of radiation must already be penetrating
into the caves--but they also had the chance for vengeance. Swiftly
they