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  The second morning out, the professor broke in on Alex and Dana, muttering excitedly. Any interruption of their endless games of tic-tac-toe was welcome, and they made space for him on the control room floor.

  “I’ve got it!” Carberry exclaimed with some pride.

  “Got what?” Dana asked.

  “I’ve discovered how to operate the drive. We can go anywhere we want!”

  “You mean back to Earth,” Alex corrected.

  The professor gave him a concerned look and repeated himself. “I said anywhere we want. The unit’s incredible. A complete library of coordinates in a chip the size of your thumb. I’ve set a course for Croatan.”

  Alex sat up. “It had a listing for Croatan?”

  “That’s right,” Carberry replied. “A star system with four significant planetary bodies; two gas giants, two that could be Earthlike. That’s all we’ll know until we get there sometime tomorrow night.”

  Alex looked at Dana with a new light in his eye and new animation in his face. Sitting by her side on the steel cabin floor, he reached out and hugged her to his side. The professor looked on approvingly as he quietly let himself out of the cabin.

  Alex murmured, “I love you, Dana; I think I have from the start.” She whispered back, “Me too.” Leaning forward, Alex offered her a kiss. Then they scrambled for their seats at the control board.

  “We should be approaching the Croatan system now,” Carberry observed, returning with Poppy. Three faces and the robot’s orbs strained to catch sight of their destination in the deep black beyond the viewport.

  “There it is!” Dana exclaimed as a bright jewel of a sun swung into view. She reached out and grasped Alex’s hand in her excitement.

  Quickly the sun grew in size; automatically a polarized visor slid over the port. With the glare reduced, Alex was able to spy the first of the gas giants. No life there, he thought to himself. At least no Earth-type life.

  With incredible speed they swung wide through the alien system. Calculating their trajectory, the professor determined that their goal was the second planet. It was still invisible to the naked eye, but the ship’s instruments registered its presence. The other gas giant passed into view, and at that moment, almost imperceptibly the ship shuddered as the drive was extinguished. Conventional piloting would deliver them to their destination.

  Alex took the controls. He planned to place the ship in orbit around the second planet and search for a likely landing area. As he began maneuvering, a warning siren filled the control room. Alex searched the board but nothing seemed amiss. It was Dana who located the source of their trouble. Over the keening siren she yelled to Alex, “Interceptors!” Through the port, Alex caught sight of the ugly, needle-nosed missiles straining in their direction.

  They could only have been launched from the second planet, he realized.

  “Dana, grab the controls!” In a moment he was across the control room, grappling a heavy protective cover off a small control panel. He flicked a switch and the panel glowed with brilliant light. Their ship was armed!

  Gritting his teeth, Alex maneuvered the joystick until he caught the missiles on his scope. Wincing once, he got off a burst of laser fire. Over his shoulder he called back to Dana, “Hold steady until I give the order, then dive straight into them!”

  As he pressed off bursts of light energy, Alex’s feet beat a staccato rhythm on the ship’s steel flooring. One, then two of the approaching missiles exploded violently, without a sound, in space. Two of the others were thrown off course and reeled away toward the sun. Four to go, Alex thought grimly.

  “Now!”

  Braced as he was, the sudden change in direction was still violent. Alex hung in a sweat from his harness, intent on the astro-sights. The missiles were close now, very close. He squeezed off a volley that should catch them just beyond the ship’s safety perimeter. If any should get through…

  The thought remained unfinished as space erupted into a volcanic nuclear fury. Dana managed to skirt the fireball, but the tiny craft was battered and tossed like a matchstick in the shock waves.

  In her last moment of consciousness, Dana slapped the ship on course for the second planet. Alex watched the last of the missiles consume itself, then he too succumbed to the darkness. They were headed into their enemy’s backyard, whether they liked it or not!

  Waking was brutal. Worse, Alex thought, than the battle itself. With dismay, he realized that the throbbing hum of the engines was silenced. The steady purr of the ship’s respiratory system was gone. Either their craft was derelict, or…

  He jumped to the port and gazed out incredulously over a vast arena, crowded with people and other beings. Dana woke and stood beside him, dazed. In the bowels of the ship he could hear the ‘bot reviving the professor. Steeling himself, and gripping Dana’s hand for support, Alex turned from the port and went to greet the new arrivals.

  The airlock was cycling.

  Whatever he was expecting, it wasn’t what walked through the lock. Beside him, Dana clung to his shoulder in astonishment.

  All three were humanoid, but none ran to Earth norm. One had no face—simply a sticky-looking flap of skin where its features should be. Alex guessed it obtained nourishment by some sort of parasitic osmosis, but how did it see, hear, or smell?

  Another was less revolting, but no less inhuman. It looked feline, but that may have been its shocking pink coloration. Its features were in the right order, but they had a strangely modeled look, as though they were sculpted on.

  The third was horsy, with a long equine face and slimy buck teeth. None wore any clothing. It was the “horse” that spoke first.

  “Commander Harrison?”

  So they could talk. Good. Alex began by denying the title.

  “But you are in command?” The horse sounded puzzled. When Alex replied, “Sort of…” the horse continued with more assurance.

  “Welcome to the Council of the Thousand Species. You have been spared to join others of your species, now on trial, in the Arena.”

  “On trial!” the two humans gasped.

  “Assuredly. Now, if your companions are ready, we will proceed.” The horse sounded most urbane as he gestured to the open portal behind him. Carberry and the ‘bot had emerged to hear the end of the alien’s edict. The professor’s jaw hung open.

  The horse stamped its lower left extremity. A half-dozen smaller versions of his species rushed inside and made short work of hustling the humans out. The robot was something of a puzzle, but the three aliens conferred privately for a moment and included him in the roundup.

  The airlock cycled behind them. They were on the surface of Croatan.

  They were ushered out of the arena and into a compound fitted out for humans. Abandoned there, they stood in a tight huddle until Dana observed a large structure in one corner of the paddock. Alex observed wryly that on Croatan, humans and livestock seemed to have switched places. It was a humbling thought.

  Slowly the foursome made their way across the compound. As they neared the structure, the sounds of humans were unmistakable. With quickened stride, they nearly fell over one another trying to reach the door and get inside.

  Inside, the babble was tremendous. Rows of crude tables filled with food accommodated the motleyest crew of human beings any of them had ever seen. Still, these were humans and something in all their hearts lifted as they watched the commotion.

  From a far corner a voice cried, “Alex! Alex Harrison?” In a moment the three humans and their robot companion were ushered to a table and surrounded by excited friends and acquaintances from Pluto. The colonists seemed eager to tell their stories.

  “Rounded up like cattle,” one said. Another complained, “No warning, no explanation, just shoved through that damned teleportal.”

  A woman interrupted, “Perhaps it would be better if we told our story from the beginning.”

  Hearing no objections, she began: “It was during night shift that we were attacked. We were ga
ssed, most of us in our sleep. By the time we began coming to, half of us had already been teleported here. The other half stood by helplessly while we watched the base destroyed. It was a grisly sight, believe me. I overheard our captors mention Croatan. It was the only clue I could leave. I concealed a laser pistol and burned a message into the rock where the base had stood. After that, we were all delivered here. This Council has access to a time machine of some sort, and humans are gathered in this room from periods all through history. Virginia Dare of the Roanoke colony, the crew of the Marie Celeste, pilots missing from the so-called Devil’s Triangle, the crew of an ancient Greek trading vessel, a hundred others. But no one, you understand, from a time or place in our future. We seem to be the end of the line, for some reason.”

  “Why are we here?” asked Dana.

  “This Council, evidently the ruling body of our galaxy, fears us. Our progress has been too swift. Humanity is on trial here today. Your father, Alex, and a few others are now pleading mankind’s case.”

  “My father!” Alex cried. “He’s alive?”

  “Oh! I’m sorry, you couldn’t have known, could you? Yes, your father was delivered here by that Admiral Haigg—a kind of interstellar infiltrator. He’s a member of an alien species that bears enough resemblance to humans to pass. Though I understand you had your doubts,” she reflected.

  “In any case, that’s the story in a nutshell. On your father’s persuasiveness, humanity lives or dies tomorrow! For the moment, all of us guinea pigs here have chosen to eat, drink, and be merry.”

  The woman’s words stirred in Alex an incredible complexity of emotion. Mankind might die tomorrow, but his relief at hearing that his father was alive today was unbounded. He inquired quickly how he could get to see his dad.

  “Can’t be done,” the woman replied. “Not until the whole thing’s over.”

  Dana, clinging to Alex’s shoulder, could feel his heart beating. The gleam in his eye had prepared her when he turned his mouth to her ear and whispered, “Get the others together somewhere outside. And quietly.”

  Without a word, Dana complied. She’d learned to trust in Alex’s judgment. A few minutes later the little group was assembled in a far corner of the yard. Alex issued his instructions clearly and calmly. “Poppy,” he started, “we need one more teleportation from you. That’s all I’m asking. Professor, I’m going to need your cooperation. We’re going to beam right into the council chamber. Before we leave, Poppy will drop you over the wall. I want you to make your way back to our ship and get her warmed up. We’re going to break out of here and take as many of these people as possible. But first I have to get my father. Dana is coming with me.”

  The professor nodded and looked pleased to be able to help. In a few moments, Poppy and Alex had worked out the council chamber’s coordinates from what he had learned from the woman. With a last searching look into both their eyes, Alex saw that the professor and Dana were ready. Carberry shook hands with Alex and clasped Dana briefly to his narrow chest. Then he stepped back and grasped the robot tightly. In a few moments the two were airborne and over the wall. A few short seconds later, the ‘bot was back. It reported that the professor was on his way.

  Poppy began whirring noisily. Lurching, it managed to call, “Hang on tight,” and was off. The universe dropped away, and Alex and Dana fell through the sky.

  And through the ceiling.

  As they pulled themselves together on the floor of the council chamber, Dana couldn’t help but shed a few tears. Between the two of them, the plucky robot who had wanted to be called Poppy lay in a shattered heap. The last jump had been too much for it.

  Alex pulled Dana to her feet and placed his arm around her. Together they faced the three aliens from the ship. Without the robot’s help, Alex thought desperately, the rest was impossible.

  “Ah.” The horse, as urbane as ever, made a sweeping gesture of welcome. “A most opportune visitation. We have a treat in store. We are about to view the disciplining of your little planet. Is that the gist of it, Dr. Harrison?”

  “I’m afraid so,” a tired voice replied from the back of the room. Alex wheeled around in time to see his father brutally shoved forward. Propelling him from behind was the traitorous Admiral Haigg.

  “Dad!” he cried.

  “Alex?” was the bewildered reply. “What are you doing here?” It hurt Alex to look at his father. The proud scientist was now a broken man. His eyes were cloudy, his voice dull and listless. Ill treatment or strain had done what Alex would never have believed possible—robbed the man of his dignity and mantle of competence.

  Hot tears started in his eyes. “Dad, are you all right?” He started across the room.

  “Does it matter now?” the horse creature interrupted sardonically. “Your execution and that of all your kind is imminent. Your species has been tried and found guilty.”

  “Guilty!” Dr. Harrison cried out. A little of the old energy crept into his voice as he threw his captor’s words back in contempt. “Guilty for living, you mean. And tried by a culture so decadent and so old that it doesn’t remember what life is! A kangaroo court and a horse for a jailer. You revolt me.”

  “Tried and found guilty,” the horse repeated. “We’ve assembled a thousand representatives of your species here, from the inception of your kind to the present. You’ve been tried by the only meaningful criterion—your usefulness to us—and you’ve been found to be useless. When a species is too stubborn or vicious to train, it is exterminated! You will be exterminated.” The creature turned its attention to a large viewscreen set into the wall of the chamber. Beckoning to Haigg, it continued, “If you will do the honors, Hrlock?” The name was alien and guttural in Alex’s ears.

  The creature that was Haigg reached into his jersey and pulled out a small control device that caused the screen to glow with a bright green light. As the screen slowly resolved into focus, Alex could see that the light was cast by a pleasingly verdant planet as seen from space. He could just make out the continents… Earth!

  Haigg spoke up now. “As you see, your home planet! And I can destroy it all by pressing this little button. As a poet of yours so aptly observed, ‘Some say the world will end in fire.’ An amusing conceit.” His finger poised over the device. “And now for the fireworks…”

  With a roar of rage, Dr. Harrison launched himself at Haigg. The tackle threw them both to the floor. Dropping the control device, Haigg went for his lasergun. With a savage motion he broke the doctor’s hold and squeezed off a burst at point-blank range.

  The room seemed to explode with a brilliant blue-white light. Haigg fell back, stunned, and Alex’s father lay caught in a terrible, searing tableau at his feet. Alex rushed to his father in an agony of emotion while Dana swung a roundhouse blow at the partially blinded admiral. The blow connected, and the imposter groped at his face, the gun dropping from his hand. Dana snatched the weapon and fired off a quick flurry of shots. Haigg sank slowly to his knees and then collapsed to the floor. Sticky-face and Pinky were caught in mid-retreat and joined him in the eerily lit tableau. Overhead, the screen pulsed with a final glow and darkened.

  On the floor, Alex was cradling his father’s head in his lap. When the final light from the screen faded, the dying man’s eyes seemed to hold the glow a few moments longer. He said, “Don’t give up, son…” Then he was gone.

  As emotionless and immobile as before, the horse-being surveyed the scene. Over him stood Dana with a smoking lasergun in her hand.

  “Alex?” Her voice was full of sympathy, but her words were insistent. “We’ve got to get moving. We still have all those people in the compound to look after. You…” She prodded Horsy in the side. “Which way is our ship?”

  “You’ll never make it, you know.”

  “I know you’ll be lying here dead if you don’t come up with some answers fast! Alex, come on!”

  Slowly he rested his father’s head on the floor and stood up. One last, lingering look, and he turned awa
y. Don’t give up, his father had said. Well, he wouldn’t. Dana would never let him. He joined her, and together they marched Horsy out of the room. With a hostage, they might have a chance of getting back to the ship.

  Their journey back was uneventful. Twice they were stopped at checkpoints, but a tickle in his side reminded Horsy to be helpful. Once they mounted a public conveyance, a sort of taxi on rails, where, in the privacy of a cabin, Alex wept for the first time since the horrible scene in the council chamber. Earth and all her billions were gone forever, but the loss was too immense to register. Alex wept for his father. Dana wept for them both, and for Poppy.

  They boarded the ship without a hitch. Carberry was overjoyed to see them, but when neither Alex nor Dana mentioned the ‘bot or Alex’s father, his face fell. Like them, he took the news of Earth’s destruction calmly. There were no emotions adequate to the task.

  Carberry scurried down to the engine room. Alex and Dana fastened their prisoner securely to an acceleration seat and set about lifting off.

  With a familiar wrench they were airborne. Alex turned the controls over to Dana, and fastened himself into the weapons console. Dana built up speed and began circling the alien city. At its center was the arena and the human compound. But first they planned to cause as much confusion and destruction as possible.

  As Dana was making her sweeps, Alex was riding his joystick. Ranks of buildings suddenly burst into flame below them. Alex was aiming for anything, as long as the targets held out. The city was plump and easy. Never had he taken such a fierce joy in destroying. Those weren’t people down there, or even aliens, but simply his father’s murderers.

  A hot wind fanned the conflagration. Firestorm! Everywhere Dana looked, the city was exploding in flames. Whole buildings went up without the assistance of Alex’s laser fire. The heat in the streets must be terrible, she thought. It was now or never, if they were going to rescue the colonists.

  Wheeling the spaceship around, Dana headed for the center of the city and the human compound. Behind her she heard a final blast from the lasergun, then Alex was at her side.