hore; he was getting to his
feet and--and they killed him!"

Ross's hold tightened; he stared into her face with fierce demand.

"Was it Gordon?"

She blinked, brought her hand up to her mouth, and wiped it back and
forth across her chin. There was a small red trickle growing between her
fingers, dripping down her arm.

"Gordon?" She repeated it as if she had never heard the name before.

"Yes, did they kill Gordon?"

In his grasp she was swaying back and forth. Then, realizing he was
shaking her, Ross got himself under control.

But a measure of understanding had come into her eyes. "No, not Gordon.
Where is Gordon?"

"You haven't seen him?" Ross persisted, knowing it was useless.

"Not since we were at the gate." Her words were less slurred. "Weren't
you with him?"

"No. I was alone."

"Ross, where are we?"

"Better say--when are we," he replied. "We're through the gate and back
in time. And we have to find Gordon!" He did not want to think of what
might have happened out on the shore.

5

Time Wrecked

"Can we go back?" Karara was herself again, her voice crisp.

"I don't know." Ross gave her the truth. The force which had drawn them
through the gate was beyond his experience. As far as he knew, there had
never been such an involuntary passage by time gate, and what their trip
might mean he did not know.

The main concern was that Ashe must have come through, too, and that he
was missing. Just let the storm abate, and, with the dolphins' aid,
Ross's chance for finding the missing agent was immeasurably better. He
said so now, and Karara nodded.

"Do you suppose there is a war going on here?" She hugged her arms
across her breast, her shoulders heaving in the torch light with
shudders she could not control. The damp chill was biting, and Ross
realized that was also danger.

"Could be." He got to his feet, switched the light from the girl to the
walls. That seaweed, could it make them some form of protective
covering?

"Hold this--aim it there!" He thrust the torch into her hands and went
for one of the loops of kelp.

Ross reeled in lines of the stuff. It was rank-smelling but only
slightly damp, and he piled it on the ledge in a kind of nest. At least
in the hollow of that mound they would be sheltered after a fashion.

Karara crawled into the center of the mass, and Ross followed her. The
smell of the stuff filled his nose, was almost like a visible cloud, but
he had been right