Key Out of Time | Page 4

of the village, all the
labors incidental to the establishing of this base--they had shown
energy and enthusiasm. It was only during the last couple of weeks that
the languor which appeared part of the atmosphere here had crept up on
them, so that now they were content to live at a slower and lazier pace.
Ross remembered Ashe's comparison made the evening before,
likening Hawaika to a legendary Terran island where the inhabitants
lived a drugged existence, feeding upon the seeds of a native plant.
Hawaika was fast becoming a lotus land for Terrans.
"Through here, then westward...." Ashe hunched over the crate table in
the mat-walled house. He did not look up as Ross entered. Karara's still
damp head was bowed until those black locks, now sleeked to her
round skull, almost touched the man's close-cropped brown hair. They
were both studying a map as if they saw not lines on paper but the
actual inlets and lagoons which that drawing represented.
"You are sure, Gordon, that this is the modern point to match the site
on the tape?" The girl brushed back straying hair.
Ashe shrugged. There were tight brackets about his mouth which had

not been there six months ago. He moved jerkily, not with the fluid
grace of those old days when he had faced the vast distance of time
travel with unruffled calm and a self-confidence to steady and support
the novice Ross.
"The general outline of these two islands could stand for the capes on
this--" He pulled a second map, this on transparent plastic, to fit over
the first. The capes marked on the much larger body of land did slip
over the modern islands with a surprising fit. The once large island,
shattered and broken, could have produced the groups of atolls and
islets they now prospected.
"How long--" Karara mused aloud, "and why?"
Ashe shrugged. "Ten thousand years, five, two." He shook his head.
"We have no idea. It's apparent that there must have been some
world-wide cataclysm here to change the contours of the land masses
so much. We may have to wait on a return space flight to bring a
'copter or a hydroplane to explore farther." His hand swept beyond the
boundaries of the map to indicate the whole of Hawaika.
"A year, maybe two, before we could hope for that," Ross cut in. "Then
we'll have to depend on whether the Council believes this important
enough." The contrariness which spiked his tongue whenever Karara
was present made him say that without thinking. Then the twitch of
Ashe's lip brought home Ross's error. Gordon needed reassurance now,
not a recitation of the various ways their mission could be doomed.
"Look here!" Ross came to the table, his hand sweeping past Karara, as
he used his forefinger for a pointer. "We know that what we want could
be easily overlooked, even with the dolphins helping us to check. This
whole area's too big. And you know that it is certain that whatever
might be down there would be hidden with sea growths. Suppose ten of
us start out in a semi-circle from about here and go as far as this point,
heading inland. Video-cameras here and here ... comb the whole sector
inch by inch if we have to. After all, we have plenty of time and
manpower."

Karara laughed softly. "Manpower--always manpower, Ross? But there
is woman-power, too. And we have perhaps even sharper sight. But this
is a good idea, Gordon. Let me see--" she began to tell off names on her
fingers, "PaKeeKee, Vaeoha, Hori, Liliha, Taema, Ui, Hono'ura--they
are the best in the water. Me ... you, Gordon, Ross. That makes ten with
keen eyes to look, and always there are Tino-rau and Taua. We will
take supplies and camp here on this island which looks so much like a
finger crooked to beckon. Yes, somehow that beckoning finger seems
to me to promise better fortune. Shall we plan it so?"
Some of the tight look was gone from Ashe's face, and Ross relaxed.
This was what Gordon needed--not to be sitting in here going over
maps, reports, reworking over and over their scant leads. Ashe had
always been a field man; and the settlement work had been stultifying,
a laborious chore for him.
When Karara had gone Ross dropped down on the bunk against the
side wall.
"What did happen here, do you think?" Half was real interest in the
mystery they had mulled over and over since they had landed on a
Hawaika which diverged so greatly from the maps; the other half, a
desire to keep Ashe thinking on a subject removed from immediate
worries. "An atomic war?"
"Could be. There are old radiation traces. But these aliens had, I'm sure,
progressed beyond