Ramsey looked at her steadily. "Points which vary with the orbits of the three thousand humanoid worlds, Margot," he said slowly. He watched her for a reaction, knowing that strange fact about hyper-s.p.a.ce--perfectly true and never understood--dovetailed with her father's letter about proto-man, an unknown pre-human ancestor of all the humanoid races in the galaxy, who had discovered hyper-s.p.a.ce, bred variations to colonize all the inhabitable worlds, found or created the three thousand crossover points in s.p.a.ce, and used them.

Margot showed no response, but then, Ramsey told himself, she was a tri-di actress. She could feign an emotion--or hide one. She merely asked: "Is it true that there's no such thing as time in hyper-s.p.a.ce?"

"That's right. That's why you can travel scores or hundreds or thousands of light years through hyper-s.p.a.ce in hours. Hyper-s.p.a.ce is a continuum of only three dimensions. There is no fourth dimension, no dimension of duration."

"Then why aren't trips through hyper-s.p.a.ce instantaneous? They take several hours, don't they?"

"Sure, but the way scientists have it figured, that's subjective time.

No objective time pa.s.ses at all. It can't. There isn't any--in hyper-s.p.a.ce."

"Then you mean--"

Ramsey shook his head. "0134:02," he said. "It's almost time."

The seconds ticked away. Even Margot did not seem relaxed now. She stared nervously at the chronometer, or watched Ramsey's lips as he silently read away the seconds. A place where time did not exist, an under-stratum of extension sans duration. An idea suddenly entered her mind, and she was afraid.

If proto-man had colonized the galactic worlds between one and four or five million years ago, but if time did not exist for proto-man, then wasn't the super-race which had engendered all mankind still waiting in its timeless home, waiting perhaps grimly amused to see which of their progeny first discovered their secret? Or must proto-man, like humans everywhere, fall victim to subjective time if objective time did not matter for him?

Ramsey was saying softly: "Fifty-three, fifty-four, fifty-five, fifty-six ... blastoff!"

His hand slammed down on the activating key.

An instant later, having felt no sensation of acceleration, they were floating weightlessly in the cabin of the little _Enterprise_.

"The qualities of radar," Garr Symm said, "exist in their totality in a universe of extension. Time, actually is a drawback to radar, necessitating a duration-lag between sending and receiving. Therefore, Ramar Chind, radar behaves perfectly in hyper-s.p.a.ce, as you see."

"Yes," Ramar Chind said, floating near the radar screen aboard the _Dog Star_. At its precise center was a bright little pip of light.

_The Enterprise_....

"But don't we do anything except follow them?" Ramar Chind said after a long silence.

Garr Symm smiled. "Does it really matter? You see, Chind, time actually stands still for us here. Duration is purely subjective, so what's your hurry?"

Ramar Chind licked his lips nervously and stared fascinated at the little pip of bright light.

Which suddenly dipped and swung erratically.

"What is it?" Margot asked. "What's the matter?"

"Take it easy," Ramsey told her.

"But the ship's swooping. I can feel it. I thought you weren't supposed to feel movement in hyper-s.p.a.ce!"

"Relax, will you? There are eddies in hyper-s.p.a.ce, that's all. If you want an a.n.a.logy in terms of our own universe, think of shoals in an ocean--unmarked by buoys or lights."

"You mean they have to be avoided?"

"Yes."

"But this particular shoal--it's midway between Irwadi and Earth?"

"There isn't any 'midway,' Margot. That's the paradox of hyper-s.p.a.ce."

"I--I don't understand."

"Look. In the normal universe, extension is measured by time. That is, it takes a certain amount of time to get from point A to point B.

Conversely, time is measured by extension in s.p.a.ce. On Earth, a day of time pa.s.ses when Earth moves through s.p.a.ce on an arc one three-hundred-sixty-fifth of its...o...b..t around the sun in length. Since there isn't any time to measure extension with in hyper-s.p.a.ce, since time doesn't exist here, you can't speak of mid-points."

"But this--shoal. It's always encountered in hyper-s.p.a.ce between Earth and Irwadi?"

Ramsey nodded. "Yes, that is right."

Margot smiled.

The smile suddenly froze on her face.

The _Enterprise_ lurched as if an unseen giant hand had slapped it.

At that moment Ramsey leaned forward over the controls, battling to bring the _Enterprise_ back on course.

And let down his mental guard.

_... precise place in hyper-s.p.a.ce her father must have meant ... home of proto-man ... thinks I'm going to stop there, she's crazy ... heck, I'm no mystic, but there are things not meant to be meddled with ..._

The ship swooped again. Ramsey went forward against the control panel head-first and fell dazed from the pilot chair. His head whirled, his arms and legs were suddenly weak and rubbery. He tried to stand up and make his way back to the controls again, but collapsed and went down to his knees. He crouched there, trying to shake the fog from his brain.

With a cry of triumph, Margot Dennison leaped at him and bore him down to the floor with her weight. He was still too dazed from the blow on his head to offer any resistance when her strong hands tugged at his belt and withdrew the m.g. gun. She got up with it, backing away from him quickly toward the rear bulkhead as the ship seemed to go into a smooth glide which could be felt within it. Vardin stood alongside Ramsey, a hand to her mouth in horror. Ramsey got up slowly.

"Stay where you are!" Margot cried, pointing the m.g. gun at him. "I'll kill you if I have to. I'll kill you, Ramsey, I mean it."

Ramsey did not move.

"So you knew about my father," Margot challenged him.

"Yeah. So what?"

"And this shoal in hyper-s.p.a.ce is a world, isn't it?"

Ramsey nodded. "I think so."