Key Out of Time | Page 9

that head, the
fangs set in the powerful jaws, the horn on the snout. But PaKeeKee's
comment drew his attention to the fact that the scale-covered skull did
dome up above the eye pits in a way to suggest ample brain room. Had
the thing been intelligent? Karara put that into words:
"Rule One?" She went over to survey the carcass.

Ross resented her half question, whether it was addressed to him or
mere thinking aloud on her part.
Rule One: Conserve native life to the fullest extent. Humanoid form
may not be the only evidence of intelligence.
There were the dolphins to prove that point right on Terra. But did Rule
One mean that you had to let a monster nibble at you because it might
just be a high type of alien intelligence? Let Karara spout Rule One
while backed into a crevice under water with that horn stabbing at her
mid-section!
"Rule One does not mean to forego self-defense," Ashe commented
mildly. "This thing is a hunter, and you can't stop to apply recognition
techniques when you are being regarded as legitimate prey. If you are
the stronger, or an equal, yes--stop and think before becoming
aggressive. But in a situation like this--take no chances."
"Anyway, from now on," Karara pointed out, "it could be possible to
shock instead of kill."
"Gordon"--PaKeeKee swung around--"what have we found
here--besides this thing?"
"I can't even guess. Except that those depressions were made for a
purpose and have been there for a long time. Whether they were
originally in the water, or the land sank, that we don't know either. But
now we have a site to set up the peep-probe."
"We do that right away?" Ross wanted to know. Impatience bit at him.
But Ashe still had a trace of frown. He shook his head.
"Have to make sure of our site, very sure. I don't want to start any chain
reaction on the other side of the time wall."
And he was right, Ross was forced to admit, remembering what had
happened when the galactics had discovered the Red time gates and
traced them forward to their twentieth-century source, ruthlessly

destroying each station. The original colonists of Hawaika had been as
giants to Terran pygmies when it came to technical knowledge. To use
even a peep-probe indiscreetly near one of their outposts might bring
swift and terrible retribution.

3
The Ancient Mariners
Another map spread out and this time pinned down with small stones
on beach gravel.
"Here, here, and here--" Ashe's finger indicated the points marked in a
pattern which flared out from three sides of Finger Island. Each marked
a set of three undersea depressions in perfect alliance with the land
which, according to the galactic map, had once been a cape on a much
larger land mass. Though the Terrans had found the ruins, if those
saucers in the sea could be so termed, the remains had no meaning for
the explorers.
"Do we set up here?" Ross asked. "If we could just get a report to send
back...." That might mean the difference between awakening the
co-operation of the Project policy makers so that a flood of supplies
and personnel would begin to head their way.
"We set up here," Ashe decided.
He had selected a point between two of the lines where a reef would
provide them with a secure base. And once that decision was made, the
Terrans went into action.
Two days to go, to install the peep-probe and take some shots before
the ship had to clear with or without their evidence. Together Ross and
Ashe floated the installation out to the reef, Ui and Karara helping to
tow the equipment and parts, the dolphins lending pushing noses on
occasion. The aquatic mammals were as interested as the human beings
they aided. And in water their help was invaluable. Had dolphins

developed hands, Ross wondered fleetingly, would they have long ago
wrested control of their native world--or at least of its seas--from the
human kind?
All the human beings worked with practiced ease, even while masked
and submerged, to set the probe in place, aiming it landward at the
check point of the Finger's protruding nail of rock. After Ashe made the
final adjustments, tested each and every part of the assembly, he
gestured them in.
Karara's swift hand movement asked a question, and Ashe's sonic
code-clicked in reply: "At twilight."
Yes, dusk was the proper time for using a peep-probe. To see without
risk of being sighted in return was their safeguard. Here Ashe had no
historical data to guide him. Their search for the former inhabitants
might be a long drawn-out process skipping across centuries as the
machine was adjusted to Terran time eras.
"When were they here?" Back on