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Margo and Hunter, each wrapped in a blanket, occupied the bowl-shaped lookout post, which McHeath and Doddsy had scooped and wiped dry of rainwater Above them stars twinkled to the west amid scattered clouds, but the top and eastern half of the sky were still solidly ht shone on the locked sedans and along the road toward the Valley Since Doddsy had several battery-changes for his big flashlight, Doc had the notion of setting it on top of the boulder-block "It&039;ll help whoever&039;s on guard to see anyone sneaking in from the Valley," he&039;d said "They&039;ll be apt to investigate the light, and if they&039;re friendly they&039;ll probably yoohoo But don&039;t shoot &039;e quiet Cover &039;em and order &039;em to stand first And don&039;t wake the whole caet a visitor But wake , which flawed the perfection of Doc&039;s ambush - but not too seriously, they&039;d decided The little orange glow as Margo inhaled lighted her hollow-cheeked face and gold hair co

"You look like a Valkyrie, Margo," Hunter said softly in a deep voice

She drew the gray pistol froh on her chest, so that it glealow "I feel like one," she whispered happily "I didn&039;t like it when the others had this gun, though it was interesting the things Doddsy noticed"

During his and McHeath&039;s sentry-go, the Little Man had exaht-power pocket side the violet charge-gage "It was ht than ours," he had deduced He had also discovered soo had never noticed: a tiny, recessed lever on top of the grip - the lever pointed its narrow end at the muzzleward extreuess about the function of this lever, and it was decided not to experiment with it

"I wonder on how o whispered now

"Yes," Hunter said, "you look like a vestal Valkyrie guarding the sacred flame of the weapon" He hitched a little closer to her She smelled the musk of his sweat

"Shh - did you hear so then?" she breathed very rapidly They stubbed out their cigarettes and waited tensely, their eyes scanning Hunter softly crawled to the ridge crest by a route he&039;d h the other side of the ridge fell away quite precipitously for thirty feet

The bus-and-truck cah the whispering wind made them think of the toed theain

"You know, Margo," Hunter went on where he&039;d left off, "I think killing those ht you to life It awakened you, maybe for the first time A primal experience does that to a person"

She nodded intently with an inward-directed s&039;s twice as real now," she whispered "As if reality were built of solider stuff, and yet I could see and feel more around and into it, especially people&039;s bodies It&039;s wonderful"

"It&039;shis hand on the inside of her wrist "More beautiful Beautiful Valkyrie vestal"

"Why, Ross," she whispered sole tohis hand a little on her wrist

"You have a wife and two boys in Oregon," she whispered, pulling away, but not quite hard enough to get free

"They don&039;t h I&039; from day to day now, froo, let me kiss you"

"I only met you yesterday, Ross You&039;re years older than I ao, the old rules and shibboleths don&039;t count Like Rudy said, it&039;s para-reality"

At that h above them tore the clouds, and they saw the Wanderer in its irdle around it The wonder of that gold-notched violet sphere gripped them, but after a few seconds Ross Hunter put his other aro and pulled her toward hi man up there," she said "He was stationed on thatthat diaot away; maybe he&039;s on the Wanderer now"

"I know," Hunter said, looking only at her face, which now in the Wanderer-light needed no cigarette glow to show it "I even read about your roly snooty and srabbed by life and manhandled"

"By you, you mean? And then there&039;s Paul," she went on rapidly, "snatched up in a saucer and now God knohere He&039;s crazy aboutto him noill free hietting up on his knees beside her and holding her by the shoulders "I have no ethical quale of the ier ets you first wins Besides, I know you better than they do, I know the awakened gold-haired Valkyrie, and I&039; counts now but you andup fro his hands down off her arlad you&039;re crazy about me, but I don&039;t need you, I don&039;t need the you-and-h; it&039;s all the excite all of me Understand?"

After a couple of hard breaths he aduess I have to" Then: "We&039;d better have a careful scan around with all this new light You take the western half Let your eyes get used to it"

After a an to talk quietly without looking around "Granting that you&039;re all absorbed with yourself now, I doubt if you were really ever in love Paul you bullied and exploited - that was obvious I iedas it? - oh yes, Don - by flattering his omen amount to reater danger, because he&039;s a father figure: a sinisterly beautiful ician who - I bet you drea to carry our young Valkyrie away to his griher Mathematics Incest with Einsteinian overtones"

"Very interesting," she colow to the east Maybe it&039;s the highway"

Five , with: "Christ, it&039;s cold It&039;d help if we bundled together, the old Puritan style - "

"Nuh-uh, soldier," she interposed "Loveuard duty don&039;t mix"

"Au contraire, they combine beautifully You beco"

"Nuh-uh, Ross, I said"

"I wasn&039;t trying a new approach," he protested, "just being practical I&039;ht," she suggested "I don&039;t need any heater" She sht this minute I&039;m hot as fire from my neck down to my toes And vibrantly alive All by htfully

"Yes, I aoing on a little scout, first down the road fifty yards beyond the sedans I&039;ll carry the rifle You stay here with the big gun andcover me"

"Bitch," he repeated bitterly as she stole crosswise down the slope

A cloud was shrouding the Wanderer when they waked Doc for sentry change He groaned guardedly a couple of tirew more chipper

"Have to renew the flash batteries," he noted "Got &039;em here in my pocket Should have turned one of the sedans around and used its headlights Can&039;t do it now, though - it&039;d wake people"

By the tio had taken over Raain, showing the Jaws Ann ake Ever since the afternoon&039;s horror, the little girl who "loved everything" had been very thoughtful Now Margo wondered uneasily what she was thinking when those wide eyes looked at her, a screao away?" was all Ann asked, rather fretfully

Margo explained about guard duty

"I think Mo with Mr Brecht," Ann coested "See, theShe&039;s broken her cocoon and is spreading her wings"

"Yes, it&039;s lovely, isn&039;t it?" Ann said, a dreaolden seasHello, Ragnarok"

In the bus Mrs Hixon leaned forward from the seat behind the driver&039;s and whispered in Mr Hixon&039;s ear: "Bill, what if these people find out we&039;re not really married?"

He whispered back: "Babe, I don&039;t think it&039;d hed "Still, it&039;s a kind of distinction being the only normal married couple in the bunch"

Paul woke up as alone in black space as a hobo angel, it seeh above Earth that the stars glittered more thickly above the scythe-curve of the black horizon than he&039;d ever seen the and refreshed, and the transition froradual, that he experienced no fear at alL Besides that, there was an invisible warlassy surface he could touch It shut off all the harshness of space froave hiht at least one hundredwest, for he could see all of Southern California and the northwest corner of Mexico, including the neck of the peninsula of Baja California, and beyond the that pattern

He could see the lights of San Diego - at least soo should be - and he realized he was voicelessly thanking God for that, very tritely, but sincerely

There were no clouds The Wanderer was hanging in the west in its bull&039;s-head face, girdled by the shattered ht sparkled in a ake across the Pacific straight toward hiled the northern end of the Gulf of California, so that all coasts were sharply defined

The land areas reflected only a diffuse yellowish glow, likesea

But then he saith a feeling of di horror, that the Gulf of California extended at least a hundred ue that narrowed at first but then widened Nothat one departure from pattern, either

Either because of the earthquakes or the high tides or both, the salt waters of the Gulf had burst through and filled the land below sea level in and around the I Salton Sea, and stretched on toward Pals He re one, had been called Brawley, and another, Volcano -

Space turned to a pink wall in front of his nose, and a neutral voice called: " &039;Morning,his right foot in its invisible fetter Tigerishka was floating bent by the control panel, as if she were sitting in an invisible swing Miaow clung to her lap and was industriously grooue

Paul sed and then lifted his fingers wonderingly to his lips The gag was gone

Tigerishka smiled at him "You sleep seven hours," she volunteered "Feel better?"