"
"Then there will be a next time?"
"We are calling in all time agents, concentrating our forces in the
right period. Yes, there will be a next time. We have to learn just what
they are trying so hard to protect."
"What do you think it is?"
"Space!" Ashe spoke the word softly as if he relished the promise it
held.
"Space?"
"That ship you explored was a derelict from a galactic fleet, but it was
a ship and it used the principle of space flight. Do you understand now?
In these lost ships lies the secret which will make us free of all the
stars! We must claim it."
"Can we----?"
"Can _we_?" Ashe was laughing at Ross again with his eyes, though his
face remained sober. "Then _you_ still want to be counted in on this
game?"
Ross looked down again at his bandaged hand and remembered swiftly so
many things--the coast of Britain on a misty morning, the excitement of
prowling the alien ship, the fight with Ennar, even the long nightmare
of his flight down the river, and lastly, the exultation he had tasted
when he had faced the alien and had locked wills--to hold steady.
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