ey got
away. Maybe they didn't. But the others would catch us for sure if they
got near us."

Run. It was all they could do, now. Run to other hills and leave the
aircar and hide, and live as Lisa had lived, as others of their kind had
lived.

"We've got to think of ourselves, Lisa. It's all we can do, now."

Down through the foothills, toward the open valley, and the future, the
long blind race to other mountains, and no choice left, no alternative,
and the books lost and the starship left behind, forever....

Lisa cried, and her fingers bit into his arm. Ahead of him, too close to
flee or deceive, was another line of aircars, flying in from the valley,
their formation breaking as they veered toward him.

"Land, Eric. Land and run!"

"We can't, Lisa. There's not enough time."

Everything was lost now--even the hills.

Unless ... one chance. The only chance, and it was nearly hopeless.

"Get in the back, Lisa," he said. "Climb over the seat and hide in that
storage compartment. And stay there."

The two nearest cars had swung about now and paralleled his course,
flanking him, drifting in nearer and nearer.

"Why?" Lisa clung to him. "What are you going to do?"

"They don't know you're with me. They probably don't even know I went
back to the canyon. They think I'll land at the museum, not suspecting
anything's wrong. So I'll do just what they expect me to. Go back, and
pretend I don't know a thing."

"You're mad."

"It's our only chance, Lisa. If only they don't lock me up tonight...."

She clung to him for still another minute and then she climbed over the
seat and he heard the luggage compartment panel slide open and, a moment
later, shut.

The nearest aircar drifted still closer to him, escorting him west-ward,
toward the museum. Behind him, other cars closed in.

* * * * *

Walden and Prior were waiting for him at the entrance of the main
building, just as they had waited so often before. He greeted them
casually, trying to act exactly as he usually did, but their greetings
to him were far from casual. They stared at him oddly, Prior even
drawing back a little as he approached. Walden looked at him for a long
moment, very seriously, as if trying to tell him something, but what it
was Eric didn't know. Both men were worried, their anxiety showing in
their manner, and Eric wondered if he himself showed the fear that
gripped him.

They must know what had happened.