se which were free
enough from radiation to explore. But he had never seen anything like
these chilling scars. In long strips the very stone which provided
foundation for the tiered city had been churned and boiled, had run in
rivulets of lava down to the sea, enclosing narrow tongues of still
untouched structures. The fire whip the globe had used, magnified to
some infinitely greater extent--? It could be.

The alien at his side pressed tightly against the windshield gazing
down at the ruins. And now he mouthed a gabble of words which was
echoed by his fellow sitting with Soriki. Their excitement must mean
that this was their goal. Raf slacked speed, waiting for the globe to
point a way to a landing.

But to his surprise the alien ship shot forward inland. The long day
was almost over as they came to a second city with a river knotting a
ribbon through its middle. Here were no traces of the fury which had
laded the seaport with havoc. This collection of buildings seemed
whole and perfect.

There was, oddly enough, no landing strip within the city. The globe
coasted over the rough oval and came down in open fields to the west.
It was a maneuver which Raf copied, though he first dropped a flare as
a precaution and brought the flier down in its red glare, with the
warrior expressing shrill disapproval.

"I don't think they like fireworks," Soriki remarked.

Raf snorted. "So they don't like fireworks! Well, I don't like
crack-ups, and I'm the pilot!" But he didn't believe that the com-tech
was really protesting. Soriki had been very quiet since they had
witnessed the attack on the island.

"Grim-looking place," was his second comment as they touched ground.

Since Raf privately had held that opinion of all the alien settlements
he had so far seen, he agreed. Their two alien passengers were out of
the flitter as soon as he opened the bubble shield. And as they stood
by the Terran flyer, they held their weapons ready, facing out into
the dusk as if they half expected trouble. After the earlier episode
that day, Raf did not wonder at their preparedness. Terror begets
terror, and ruthlessness arouses retaliation in kind.

"Kurbi! Soriki!" Hobart's voice sounded out of the shadows. "Stay
where you are for the present."

Soriki settled deeper in his seat. "He doesn't have to tell me to
brake jets," he muttered. "I like it here--"

Raf did not need to echo that. He had a strong surmise that had he
been tempted to roa