A wall section behind which two Lemurians were hiding was pulverized outright by the interval beam's five-dimensional impact front, blasting it into a rapidly expanding cloud of dust. As the dust dissipated and was carried away by a sluggish night breeze, two more corpses lay on the ground.

  Tolot didn't hesitate any longer.

  He deactivated the deflector field, switched on his energy shield, shoved his beamer in its holster, and ran towards the Beast. It did not see him coming, concentrating as it was on the Lemurians who were putting up a desperate resistance and still had no chance against the four-armed giant. As he ran, Tolot once more hardened his molecular structure until it had the density of solid steel.

  Suddenly he felt a wild, feverish joy, an archaic exhilaration, a pure lust for battle. It was as though all the violence and murder had awakened a dark side within him that had always been there and had only been sleeping.

  You must be careful, the overbrain said, cutting through the upwelling of atavistic feeling. If you slip into an Urge Purge phase, you could become a danger to the Lemurians yourself.

  In the next moment he slammed into the continuously firing Beast from behind. The two energy shields touched. A storm of lightning flared up in the night. The overloaded fields collapsed in a rain of sparks and Tolot's molecularly hardened body struck the completely unprepared Beast. The interval gun was knocked out of its powerful hands, disappearing among the piles of debris. The Beast hurtled through the air, somersaulted, and was stopped by a building wall that shuddered from the force of the impact and grindingly gave way.

  The Beast screamed in rage and got back on its feet. It whirled around wildly, looking for the opponent that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and saw Tolot. Surprise shone in the Beast's red eyes. Utterly astonished, it stared at the Halutian. At the periphery of his vision, Tolot saw that the Lemurians had ceased fire from their positions behind the heaps of rubble. They seemed just as surprised by the unexpected turn of events as the four-armed monster.

  "I don't know you," the Beast growled. "Who are you?"

  "Death," Tolot thundered.

  The Beast narrowed its eyes and threw itself to one side, where its interval gun lay between chunks of the wall. Tolot tore his beamer out of its holster and fired. The impulse beam struck the Beast's left thigh, burning through the black protective suit, and boring a hole in the flesh. A fraction of a second later, it reacted and hardened its molecular structure so the beam no longer had any effect.

  Limping slightly, the Beast sprang back to its feet and went on the counterattack. The muscles of its pillar-like legs tensed and catapulted the massive body through the air. With a press of his finger, Tolot switched his beamer from impulse to interval fire, and the interval beam struck the Beast in the middle of its leap.

  It was as though it slammed into a wall.

  The interval beam slashed and shredded the Beast's protective suit, but its molecularly hardened body structure stood up to the devastating energy discharge. The Beast fell to the ground as the five-dimensional impact front again hammered against its body. It crawled with jerking movements to its own weapon lying in the dust, roaring with anger and confusion.

  The Lemurians saw their chance and concentrated their impulse fire on the Beast. Energy beams danced along its massive body and burned blistering furrows in its hardened flesh, but these injuries were only superficial and not fatal. The Beast crawled unhindered onwards and extended one of its huge hands towards its gun.

  Tolot wrenched his beamer around and fired at the interval gun. It exploded in a thundering, lividly bright detonation. The Beast was caught by the shockwave and thrown several meters against a burned-out glider wreck. It continued to roar in helpless rage and flinched under the unceasing impulse fire that struck it. But not even the concentrated fire from half a dozen weapons was enough to kill it.

  Bellowing, it got back on its feet and stormed towards Tolot.

  The Halutian pressed his lips together and squeezed the trigger of his gun. The interval beam slammed the Beast backwards against a jagged piece of a wall, which splintered under the force of the impact. Its roaring grew lower as the Lemurians' impulse fire continued to scorch away at its molecularly hardened flesh and drilled ever deeper holes in its tissue. Its three red eyes glared at Tolot. All-consuming hatred burned in them. In one last burst of strength it rose up and threatened him with a balled fist.

  "Traitor!" it gasped. "How dare you oppose your own people?"

  "I have nothing in common with you and your kind," Tolot rumbled.

  He fired again, and this time the hardened bodily structure could no longer stand up to the interval beam. The Beast's upper body burst apart into a thousand pieces like a brittle porcelain vase . The hardened chunks fell rattling and clattering to the ground.

  Tolot lowered his beamer and breathed deeply. He smelled the smoke that hung in the air, burned flesh, and the sweetness of spilled blood. After a last look at the remains of the dead Beast, he turned back to the Lemurians, who were still taking cover in the ruins of the destroyed building.

  "I come in peace," he called loudly in Lemurian, his voice echoing a long way. "I am not like the Beasts. I am a friend."

  For a moment, everything remained still, and nothing moved. Tolot wondered what was going through the Lemurians' minds. A Beast that opposed another Beast ... it was no surprise that they were confused. Something like this had never happened in the entire long history of the Lemurian-Halutian War. He waited impatiently and heard desperate screams in the distance, small explosions, and the rumbling laughter of another Beast.

  "I come in peace," he called again. "I am here to help you!"

  The answer consisted of an impulse beam that burned right by his right ear. Muttering a curse, he reactivated his energy shield, turned, and ran in the direction from which the screams had come. If his words wouldn't convince the Lemurians, then his actions must.

  You should not expect too much, the overbrain warned him. The Lemurians' trauma is too deep. They probably see in your inexplicable behavior merely a trick of the Beasts. A trap.

  The overbrain was most likely correct. But he still wouldn't give up, and would continue trying. Perhaps he could convince them that he stood on their side if he eliminated all the Beasts that had landed in the city. When the battles were over, they might be more approachable.

  That "might" is not sufficient in your situation, the overbrain replied. As before, I urge you to destroy the time teleporter so it does not fall into the Beasts' hands.

  No, Tolot thought grimly back. Destroying the time teleporter can only be the last resort. As long as the Beasts have not discovered it, there is no reason for such a drastic measure.

  The overbrain didn't answer, but he still sensed its skepticism. With a suppressed curse he concentrated again on his surroundings. He found himself on a street that connected two major thoroughfares with each other. The condition of the buildings that rose high over him on each side confirmed the conclusion he had already drawn from a distance—empty window openings, peeling plaster, cracks in the facades. No necessary repairs seemed to have been made here for a long time. No one lived in these buildings any more. The city was decaying. And the Beasts' attack was accelerating the process of destruction even more.

  As Tolot reached the end of the street and turned onto the main avenue, he encountered a large group of Lemurians. From their appearance, they were refugees like those hiding in the time teleporter complex: emaciated, shabby-looking figures, many with bloody bandages. When they saw him, they froze where they stood and screamed in utter panic. Their shrieks echoed shrilly in his ears and made his heart ache. Some sank to their knees and raised their hands as though begging, while others fled seeking cover into the entrances of the run-down buildings on both sides of the street. Still others opened fire at him with their beam pistols as they retreated step by step, terror and deathly fear in their eyes.

  The beams struck his energy shield without even making it flicker.

  "I come in peace!" he called once more in Lemurian. "Do not be afraid. I am your friend."

  The panicked cries of the Lemurians and the weapons fire continued. It was useless. He was not getting through to them.

  At the end of the boulevard, a gigantic, four-armed figure appeared and raised an interval gun. The Beast shot at the Lemurians, whose shrieks increased as they realized they were in a trap, caught between two Beasts. A woman was struck by the interval beam and torn to shreds. The beam swept onwards and pounded jagged holes in a building facade.

  Tolot charged.

  As he ran he drew his beamer and shot at the Beast, switching rapidly back and forth between impulse and interval fire. He noted in satisfaction how the seething of the Beast's energy shield grew weaker under the beamfire. He kept firing as he raced towards the Beast. The ancient Halutian was so confused that it lowered its gun for a moment and merely stared at Tolot, as though it could not understand that it was being attacked by one of its own kind.

  Then Tolot reached it.

  Their shields touched, flickered brightly, licked all over by blinding energy discharges, and as before collapsed in a shower of sparks. The Beast recovered from its paralysis and aimed its interval gun at Tolot, but he swept the weapon out of its hand with a powerful blow from his right fist. At the same time, he solidified the tissue of his head to the consistency of steel and rammed his hemispherical skull into his enemy's chest.

  The Beast was knocked backwards and fell on the ground. Tolot noticed that the armed Lemurians were approaching, determined to fight even though they had no chance against the four-armed giants. Once more he admired their courage, their heroic readiness to sacrifice themselves. Then he attacked the Beast, forced it to the ground with his entire weight, and pounded it with three hands while he used the fourth to press his beamer against its forehead.

  The Beast roared. It glared at him, its eyes filled with hate, and bared its teeth which were those of a predatory animal. A shiver ran along its black, leathery skin and he knew that it was hardening its molecular structure.

  He squeezed the trigger.

  The interval beam smashed the Beast's skull before it could complete the molecular transformation. Its rage-filled cry broke off, its limbs went limp. One more enemy had been eliminated. Tolot freed himself from his dead opponent, appropriated its Interval beamer for himself, then stood up to his full height and turned to the Lemurians.

  "I am a friend!" he exclaimed again in Lemurian. "Have no fear. I am on your side."

  His thundering words made the Lemurians flinch. They looked at him with eyes wide with terror, as though paralyzed by confusion and fear. Then they whirled and fled down the street, their cries echoing in the night. Tolot swore in disappointment. Still, they had not attacked him. That was some small progress.

  The trauma is too strong, the overbrain declared with its usual logic. You will not convince them. Leave the city and destroy the time teleporter before it is too late.

  But to destroy the time teleporter, he had to abandon the Lemurians in the city to their fate. He would have to eliminate the underground complex's guards, which meant the deaths of many innocent beings. Moreover, he would wipe out any chance of returning to his present or reaching that time period in which Levian Paronn built the star arks. Either way, he didn't dare make any rash decisions. As yet, nothing indicated that the Beasts had discovered the time teleporter.

  You are taking a very large risk, the overbrain warned.

  Tolot laughed humorlessly as he ran on through the dark city towards the fires burning in the distance. This whole adventure is one big risk, he thought back. Just like life.

  The overbrain refrained from replying and Tolot was grateful for the silence that ensued in his mind. A few moments later, he reached a large plaza in the center of the decayed city. The refugees had set up tents there, but they were torn down and shredded, and everywhere lay bodies with smashed and twisted limbs. Men, women, and children, slaughtered by the Beasts.

  Tolot groaned. He felt deep shame. The Beasts were his ancestors, his own kind even though more than fifty millennia of development separated them. Without the Psychogenic Regenerator that the Lemurians had used in the end phase of the war to alter the Beasts' mentality and transform them into peaceful beings, he probably would have been just as cruel and brutal. A pathological murderer like his barbarian forefathers.

  And that dark inheritance still lived within him.

  During the Urge Purge phase that all Halutians experienced periodically over the course of their lives, that inheritance awoke and drove them away from Halute. They would journey out into the Galaxy in search of adventures and battles in which they could prove themselves ...

  The overbrain spoke up again. Your feelings of guilt are uncalled for. The Halutians can look back on 50,000 years of peace and rationality. The Urge Purge phase is not at all comparable with the rampaging of the Beasts.

  But he felt guilty nonetheless. Responsible for the slaughter that his savage ancestors had caused. Filled with grim anger, he sped onwards, crossed the plaza that had become the grave of so many innocent beings. He ran ever faster, a giant roaring through the night like a storm wind. The smell of smoke grew stronger. At length he reached the edge of the city and followed a road that led to the spaceport. Flames rose high in the black sky and sparks hung like a huge swarm of fireflies on the dark horizon. His highly sensitive ears perceived the muffled rumble of explosions, and his protective suit's detectors reported the intense energy signatures of beam weapons.

  Halfway between the city and the spaceport he came upon a dome-shaped building with the characteristic antenna constructions of a radio transmitting station. Light streamed into the night from a small window. Tolot slowed his steps and approached the closed entrance while the explosions continued in the distance. With a powerful thrust of his right fist, he smashed the steel door out of its frame. It landed with a clatter on the plastic floor of a small entrance hall, but the noise was lost in the thunder of another explosion.

  Tolot passed through an entrance hall and into a short corridor. At the end of it was a half-open sliding door. He heard voices and made an effort to walk with a less heavy tread. As softly as he could, he approached the door and looked through the opening.

  It was a communications room with control panels and rows of monitors. Two Lemurians sat at the consoles, their backs to him and their eyes trained on a vidscreen where the face of a man with black, combed-back hair, gray eyes, and bushy brows appeared. Tolot gave a start. He felt he knew that face but couldn't place it.

  " ... with four small craft on the way," the man on the monitor was saying. "We will intervene in the battles. Hold out!"

  As Tolot was still trying to remember where he had seen that man before, one of the Lemurians turned his head and discovered him. Nameless horror distorted the man's face into a grimace. He gasped. The other man also whirled around and cried out when he saw the presumed Beast. A moment later, his companion joined in the panicked, terror-filled screaming.

  "Do not be afraid," Tolot said. "I will not do anything to you."

  The two men leaped up from their chairs and reached for their weapons.

  "I am a friend!" Tolot exclaimed, filled with desperation and hopelessness. He didn't want to fight against these men. He had to find a way once and for all to communicate with the Lemurians. "The Beasts are also my enemies."

  He took a step closer. The panic in the men's eyes changed into the gleam of insanity. One of them reached behind himself and pressed a button on the control console. Before Tolot could say anything more, before he could react and disarm the two Lemurians, they pointed their beamers at each other and fired. The stench of burnt flesh fouled the air. The men crumpled to the floor, dead.

  Shaken, Tolot stared at the two corpses. The Lemurians had preferred to kill themselves rather than fall into the hands of what they thought was a Beast. How great their fear must have been ... ! He raised his head and for a moment the Halutian's eyes met those of the man on the vidscreen. Then the monitor went blank.

  A red-glowing display flickered rhythmically on one of the control consoles. Tolot needed a moment to translate the Lemurian lettering. Then fear shot through him.

  Self-destruction activated.

  With a loud curse, he spun around and stormed through the door. A siren howled warningly and drove him to even greater speed. He passed through the corridor, reached the entrance hall, and leaped with a powerful spring through the exitway.

  In the same moment, the communications station exploded.

  He heard a colossal, ear-numbing blast, saw harsh, blinding brightness, and felt scorching heat. Then he was struck by the invisible fist of a shockwave and thrown through the air. Everything happened too fast for him to be able to change his molecular structure. The impact was so hard that he lost consciousness.

  Darkness blotted out all thought.

  11

  With howling turbojets, the egg-shaped scout craft plunged into the planet Torbutan's atmosphere. Accompanying it were three other small craft, each with a six-man crew on board. The heated, ionized air outside the protective energy field glowed like a beautiful aura. The roaring of the compressed gas masses picked up by the exterior microphones sounded like a hurricane in the cramped cabin of the KOLOSCH-I. Levian Paronn sat next to the pilot, who was concentrating completely on the atmospheric entry maneuver. He stared at the communications console monitor on which he had just been seen the Beast in the red battlesuit.

 

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