ain motionless. Remain motionless. Remain motionless._

The command burst out upon the altar room of the Temple, shattering the
silence. The Hirlaji turned in surprise to the altar--and stood still.

_Remain motionless. Remain motionless._

It was the phrase he had heard the machine use so often to Tebron, king
priest leader of all Hirlaj. It had meant something else then, but the
proto-language of the Hirlaji had no precise meanings; given by itself,
it seemed to mean precisely what it said.

"All right, let's go out!" Rynason said, and the two of them broke from
behind the altar. The Hirlaji stood completely still; several of those
that Rynason had dropped with his stunner had recovered consciousness,
but they made no move either. Rynason and the girl ran right through the
quiet aliens; only a few of them turned shadowed eyes to look at them as
they passed. They made the outside colonnade in safety, and paused
there.

"They may see through this in a minute," Rynason said. "Don't wait for
me--get out of the city!"

"You're not coming?"

"I won't be too far behind. Get going!"

She hesitated only a moment, then hurried down the broad levels of the
Temple steps. Rynason watched her to the bottom, then turned and
re-entered the altar room.

Rynason went quickly among them, taking their weapons. Most of them made
no effort to stop him, but a few tightened their grips on the
disintegrators and he had to pry those thick fingers from the weapons,
cursing to himself. How long would they wait?

There were fourteen of the disintegrators. They were large and heavy; he
couldn't hold them all at once. He dumped five of them outside the altar
room and returned to disarm the rest of the aliens. Sweat formed beads
on his forehead, but he moved without hesitation.

Another of the Hirlaji tightened his grip when Rynason began to take the
weapon from him. He looked up, and saw the quiet eyes of Horng resting
on him. The leathery grey wrinkles which surrounded those eyes quivered
slightly, but otherwise he made no movement. Rynason dropped his gaze
from that contact and wrested the weapon away.

As he started to move on to the next, Horng silently dipped his massive
head to one side. Rynason felt a chill go down his back.

In a few more minutes he had disarmed them all. He set the last three
disintegrators on the stone floor of the colonnade--and a movement in
the distance caught his eye. It was on the south wall of the cit