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problem had come up. They looked enough alike to be brother and sister,
although evidently they were not related. Both were short, well-muscled,
blondhaired and young; and they even acted alike-being, as far as their Guild
duties and the circle-walking allowed, always in each other's company. "Well,
they did it." Amid touched a stud on the desk repeater and it chimed as its
screen lit up to show a bulging mass of cliff-face. A second later Missy's
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face blocked out most of the view of the rock. "Yes, Amid?" her voice said.
"There's no sign of soldiers yet. I I
Amid moved aside to let Hal look into the screen and be seen above. "I just
wanted Friend to see you'd made the connection." "Right. Good morning, Friend.
I hope you slept well." "Very well," answered Hal. There was nothing to be
done with Exotic manners but live with them. A polite inquiry about his last
night's sleep was as out of place in her situation and his in the present
moment as a tea party in the midst of an earthquake. "I had five hours. How
much did you two have?" "Hadnah's taking a small nap now," said Missy. "After
that he can keep watch for a while and I'll take one. Thank you for asking.
We're not tired at all, really." "I'm glad to hear that," said Hal. They two
must have climbed the better part of a kilometer, vertically, during the
night. "Focus your scope on the end of the road for me, now, will you?"
"Right." Missy vanished from the screen, and the view of the overswelling rock
face above her was replaced by a view from what appeared to be only a dozen
meters above the point where the road gave way to a trail. "Pull back your
focus," Hal said. "I want to see that spot in relation to the ground around
it." "Right. Say when," replied the voice of the now invisible Missy. The
scene on the screen seemed to move away from Hal and Amid, taking in more and
more ground area as it went, until
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Gordon R. Dickson
it showed not only the connection of road-end and trailbeginning but an area
of a size that could have been occupied by four city blocks on a side. "Stop,"
said Hal.
The withdrawal of focus halted. "Let it sit with that view," said Hal. "I'm
going out to the edge of the ledge now and I'll be keying my belt scope into
the circuit from your repeater down here. You've got up to half a day before
any soldiers show up. Take another nap, yourself. If we
really need you, we can call you with the chime on your scope." "I'm really
quite all right," said Missy, still invisible. "You may not be five days from
now, up there," said Hal. "Rest while you can. We'll call you if we need you."
"All right, Friend. Thank you." "Don't thank me," said Hal. "I'm just
protecting myself against having two overtired observers sometime later on."
"Right."
The last word was followed by silence from the scope on the table surface. Hal
looked at Amid. "Where's Calas?" he asked. "I can have him found," said Amid.
"Do that. Have him come and join me out at the edge of the ledge," said Hal.
"Send out Old Man, too." "But Old Man never was a soldier," said Amid,
frowning. "I didn't suppose so," said Hal. "But he's a very insightful sort.
Tell him I'd like him to join me, if he would."
11011, he'll be glad to, I'm sure," said Amid. "I will. And you're right. He's
a very insightful individual." "And get some rest yourself, when you can,"
said Hal. "Remember what I just told Missy. This could last five days or
more; and we may need to be in the best possible shape at the very end of it.
"
He went out, and followed the closest corridor of trees to as close to the lip
of the ledge as he could get and still be hidden by tree branches overhead.
There, he seated himself in the tree's shade, unfolded his scope and keyed it
into the view he had asked Missy to set up from above. The end of the road-and
as
far down as he could see it before it vanished under the foliage of the
treetops that intervened because of the angle of the view -lay alien,
intrusive and empty in the jungle, beneath the
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rapidly warming rays of the brilliant, white pinpoint of sun
rising ever higher in the sky overhead.
He looked away from the scope and at the scene as his unaided vision saw it.
It would be some time yet, as he had reminded Missy and Amid. He decided to
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follow Cletus's advice and let his conscious mind run freely over the terrain
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