both hands, twisted. The man
screamed and fell and then they were rolling over and over, striking
each other with fists, knees, elbows, gouging, butting, cursing.
Temple found the Russian's throat, closed his hands around it,
applied pressure. Fists pounded his face, nails raked him, but slowly
he succeeded in throttling the Russian. When Temple got to his feet,
trembling, the Russian stared blankly at the ceiling. He would go on
staring that way until someone shut his eyes.

Not questioning the incomprehensible, Temple knew he had done what he
must. Hardly seeking for the motive he could not find he lifted the
unconscious Sophia off the table, slung her long form across his
shoulder, plodded with her from the room. Arkalion had said haste. He
would hurry.

He next was aware of a spaceship. Remembering no time lag, he simply
stood in the ship with Arkalion. And Sophia.

* * * * *

He knew it was a spaceship because he had been in one before and
although the sensation of weightlessness was not present, they were in
deep space. Stars you never see through an obscuring atmosphere hung
suspended in the viewports. Cold-bright, not flickering against the
plush blackness of deep space, phalanxes and legions of stars without
numbers, in such wild profusion that space actually seemed three
dimensional.

"This is a different sort of dream," said Sophia in English. "I
remember. I remember everything. Kit--"

"Hello." He felt strangely shy, became mildly angry when Arkalion
hardly tried to suppress a slight snicker. "Well, that second dream
wasn't our idea," Temple protested. "Once there, we acted ... and--"

"And...." said Sophia.

"And nothing," Arkalion told them. "You haven't time. This is a
spaceship, not like the slow, blumbling craft your people use to reach
Mars or Jupiter."

"Our people?" Temple demanded. "Not yours?"

"Will you let me finish? Light is a laggard crawler by comparison with
the drive propelling this ship. Temple, Sophia, we are leaving your
Galaxy altogether."

"Is that a fact?" said Sophia, her Jupiter-found knowledge telling her
they were traveling an unthinkable distance. "For some final contest
between us, no doubt, to decide whether the U. S. S. R. or the U. S.
represents Earth? Kit, I l-love you, but...."

"But Russia is more important, huh?"

"No. I didn't say that. All my training has been along those lines,
though, and even if I'm aware it is indoctr