ormless heaps
resembling the dunes. A few outlines of smoothed blocks and shattered
lintels huddled the ground, half hidden by the encroaching sand. Details
had vanished eons ago, but something still remained to tantalize
imagination. The few buildings that still stood, and the soaring,
fragile towers evidenced an engineering civilization of staggering
proportions. Surface dimensions were still tremendous, and the city
itself must have been of first importance, covering hundreds of square
miles.

"Our city," said Songeen.

Newlin glanced quickly behind. Still distant, but moving very rapidly
was the string of dark objects that could only be sandsleds of the
pursuit. One tiny figure, scarcely visible, was far in advance of the
others. The robot tracker.

He gestured. "They're covering three miles to our one," he told her
grimly. "We'll try to reach the city before they catch up with us.
Perhaps we can hide out among the ruins, and--with luck, booby-trap the
tracker. If there's water, we can hold out for quite a while."

Songeen nodded crisply. Her voice was strained with emotion and fatigue.
"As fugitives my people abandoned this city. Now, as a fugitive, I
return."

Then she was off, running awkwardly, the cumbersome suiting of her
protection armor giving her bounding strides the laughable appearance of
a lumbering teddy-bear.

Descent into the hollow was riding a series of miniature sand
avalanches. Each step buried the foot deep, but the sand gave way and
slipped in loose spills. His boots struck hard on rough, bare rock. He
grunted, fought for balance, then sprawled heavily. She helped him up,
then took off again. Newlin followed.

Over the wind-carved rock, they made good time. Ascent of the long,
jagged slopes to the city was heart-killing work, delicate and
treacherous. The surface was like sponge-glass, brittle and deadly with
knife-edges when broken.

Sheltering from wind-driven sand under the cover of a great monolith,
Newlin and Songeen watched the racing figures of pursuit top the crest
of the opposite ridge and start down. Man and girl were too winded and
weak even to get up. They dared rest only a moment, then plunged on into
the maze of tumbled ruins. Ultimate exertion had taken toll of their
energies and rapidly burned up air reserves. Both were cruelly thirsty.
The heat, even inside their insulated suits, was stifling.

There was no time to take stock of manifold discomforts.

The race was