Bill was taken by surprise. 'What did you say?'

'Jessie. I was wondering if you wanted her to go back down there?'

'Jessie,' Bill whispered. His shoulders sagged, and as they did so, his aura of confidence and strength faltered. The transformation was as startling as it was sudden. Jim took a step back up the ladder.

'Bill?' he asked.

'She's been a great woman,' he said softly. 'I remember the day I met her. It seems like only yesterday. I was at the campus library, studying for a test. She sat across from me at the table and smiled. She said, "Hey, don't I know you?"' Bill stopped and ma.s.saged his temples, as if he were getting a headache. He shuddered.' "Don't I know you."'

Jim began to relax. 'We'll keep her away from that place.'

But Jim's relaxation did not last. The mirrors in the carnival funhouse always had two sides. Bill abruptly turned his back on Jim and repeated stiffly, 'If time permits, everyone will be given an opportunity to go down there.'

It seems like only yesterday.

Jim knew the feeling. 'We'll be back before it gets dark,' he said. He left the control room.

They floated in Hummingbird above a huge snow-veiled crater.

'Looks like a meteor hit here,' Lauren said. 'Are you sure this is the place?'

'There's no doubt in my mind, Doc,' Gary said. 'The lander was sitting at the edge of this cliff. Right, Jim?'

'Yes, this is the spot,' Jim said. 'But take us down, Gary. It's making me dizzy floating above this crater. Land on the east side. We can enjoy the scenery, and watch the sun go down. There are a few things I want to discuss.'

'Out here?' Gary asked. 'Don't you just want to photograph the area and head back? We could talk more comfortably in the Hawk. I'm still exhausted.'

Lauren yawned. 'Me, too. I've got a splitting headache. I keep wanting to melt some of this snow and have a nice long drink. I wish it wasn't just frozen carbon dioxide.'

'We have to talk,' Jim said. 'About this hole, and other things. Please?'

'Well, sure, Jim,' Gary said. 'You know what made this crater?'

'I think so,' Jim said. 'But take us down first. There's a story I want to tell you both.'

A few minutes later, they sat on three separate red boulders, their backs to Olympus Mons, the evening sun shining pleasantly in their faces. Harsh beauty spread out beneath their feet. A mile-deep chasm sliced the side of the mountain, interrupting an otherwise smooth fifty-mile plunge to the Martian plains. It revealed a geologist's treasure map of changing ages, and had Jim been relaxed, he would have spent hours studying it. But he worried that another age might come to an end if they returned home to Earth the way things were. The age of Man.

'I wish Jenny was here,' Lauren said. 'She always loved beautiful landscapes. Whenever we drove somewhere new and pretty, she would sit by the window, entranced.'

'You miss her a lot?' Jim asked.

'Yeah, I sure do,' Lauren said. 'I miss her more than the Earth itself. But I also feel she's always with me. Terry told me she wanted to stay at the forest by his cabin, because that's the place I love best. Jenny said that I would think of there when I got homesick, and that's been happening. I see her in the woods in my mind, walking in the trees with the sun shining in her long hair.' Lauren paused and frowned. 'But that can't be. It's snowing in Wyoming right now. I'm glad she's there, though. But I would like to hear her voice. Even if only on a tape.'

Jim thought of their severed communications. 'Has Jenny ever spoken to Terry about the ring I gave her?' he asked.

'Yes,' Lauren said. 'She told him to tell you she wears it always.'

Anything else?' Jim asked.

'Not that I know of,' Lauren said. 'Why? I always meant to ask you about that ring.'

'I always meant to tell you about it,' Jim said. 'In fact, the story I referred to is about that ring. It's a rather long tale, but we have time. Would you two like to hear it?'

Gary and Lauren were agreeable. Jim closed his eyes for a moment and let the delightful memory wash clean his mind.

'At the beginning of last June, I took a ten-day leave from our training schedule and traveled to India,' he said. 'Like all of us at the time, I was very excited about going to Mars, but the work was seemingly endless, and I wanted to get away. I'm not sure why I chose India. I've always been fascinated by the country, and I've been there several times, of course, but only in the south. In India, though, wherever you are, the Hindus speak of the Himalayas in the north with superst.i.tious awe. I'd heard so many stories about the great yogis who lived there, who could read minds and levitate, that I figured I just had to have a look.

'I flew into Delhi. The first night I stayed with an old friend of mine - Peter Davidson. He's originally from California, but he had married an Indian woman, and had long been living in her country. He has two sons, Panda and George. I told Peter of my desire to visit the Himalayas, and he was enthusiastic. Unfortunately, he couldn't get away from his cla.s.ses. He teaches astronomy at the University of Delhi. But Panda and George - one's twenty, the other's nineteen - were out of school. They said they'd love to be my guides. It seems they had gone on a number of religious pilgrimages to the temples in the Himalayas.

'Five days later found us in Gangotri, a tiny village about two miles above sea level. It's way back in the mountains. By then I'd seen many a temple and met many a sannyasi -the saffron-clad monks who inhabit all of India. I was having a wonderful time. I love to travel, and the people I had spoken to about the Himalayas had been right about the special feeling you find in those mountains. I was not having religious experiences by any stretch of the imagination, but I felt like a kid again. I wanted to see and do everything. I wanted to stay. Still, I hadn't met any yogis who had impressed me as enlightened or possessing supernatural powers. In that respect, I was somewhat disappointed, but I hadn't given up hope.

'I was up early one morning, strolling down the cobblestoned street of Gangotri, when I met a sweet old man. He looked over a hundred. He had been educated in England, at Oxford, and we sat together and talked for hours. He didn't have a tooth in his head, but he did have a habit of breaking into fits of laughter that would last five minutes at a stretch. He was wonderful company.

'He told me about a valley I should visit near the Gaumukh Glacier. The glacier lay only twelve miles northeast of where we were seated, and the valley beneath it was supposed to be filled with flowers of a hundred different varieties. He spoke of it as an enchanted valley, and said many ills could be cured just by walking through it. By the way, the idea of the therapeutic nature of smells was not new to me. In Ayurveda - that's ancient Indian medicine - there are whole sections of text devoted to aromatic cures. The old man told me he had gone for a walk through the valley on his eighty-fifth birthday, when he was about to die, and that had been ten years ago and he was feeling great. He called the valley Devashan - the dream of the G.o.ds.

'I was sold. I dashed back to my room at the ashram and told Panda and George about the valley. They shared my enthusiasm for the trip. Within an hour, toting our camping equipment, we were on our way.

'We made excellent time that day. I told you this was June, and the bridle path we followed was free of snow. My companions were experienced mountaineers. But the sun began to set before we could reach the glacier. We camped that night in a rock hollow just off the path. I remember falling asleep that night with a million stars in the sky. I felt at peace, and I slept deeply.

'The next day we reached Devashan. The old man had been right - it was one uninterrupted sheet of flowers. It stretched for several miles, half a mile below the lip of the glacier. I know it may sound odd, so many blooming flowers so near a bank of icy snow, but the glacier does in fact melt several feet in the summer. Although it was sunny, the valley was still cool.

'I cannot describe the smell of Devashan to you. It saturated the air, but I would be doing a disservice to the place to say I felt smothered in aromas. The air was wonderfully stimulating. I bounded forth into the valley, with Panda and George at my heels. But we might have been too hasty. George stepped on a stone and twisted his ankle. It was not a bad sprain, and there was a nearby stream where he was able to soak it in the cold waters. He did not feel like walking any more that day, though, and his brother wanted to stay behind with him. I told them I would walk just a few miles into the valley and then return. I figured we could camp by the stream where George was soaking his foot. I believed a night's rest was all he needed to recover.

'There was hardly a cloud in the sky as I climbed down into the valley. But after I had been walking less than an hour, the sky suddenly clouded over. Summer storms know a special kind of sorcery in the mountains. When I say suddenly, I mean it. Thunder roared, lightning cracked. I was soaked in seconds. I turned around and started back. Then things started to get interesting.

'Devashan normally had a strong smell. I have already made that point. I can't say the rain actually increased the strength of the odor. It may even have decreased it. However, when the water mixed with the many flowers, it sent different smells into the air. Indeed, I found myself taking in lungfuls of intoxicating aromas. But I use the word intoxicating reluctantly. I didn't feel stoned. In fact, I felt more awake. The sky was a dreary gray, but now the flowers appeared to be glowing. Everything was beautiful, illuminated. I know what you must be thinking. That I had fallen under the influence of a hallucinogenic. I can't argue the point, except to say that it was a hallucinogenic unlike any I have ever read about. It seemed to have no side effects. But now I'm going to totally contradict myself. I couldn't find my way back to Panda and George.'

'Why not?' Lauren asked.

'I don't know,' Jim said.

'Were you walking in circles?' Gary asked.

'No,' Jim said. 'I headed straight back the way I came. The only problem was, when I got to the stream it was gone. So were the guys. The glacier covered the whole area.'

Gary snorted inside his helmet. 'You were stoned.'

Jim smiled. 'If you think that now, wait until I finish my story.' He paused to clear his throat. 'I began to walk south along the glacier. I did not know what to think. By the position of the sun I knew I had not walked to the other end of the valley by mistake. I could pinpoint it as the clouds began to clear and the rain stopped. Then I really began to wonder what was going on. Devashan is a valley beside a glacier in the Himalayas. Yet it is not surrounded by towering peaks as you might imagine. The region stays between the elevations of nine thousand to eleven thousand feet. That's high, of course, but not for the Himalayas. As the clouds blew away, however, I found myself surrounded by peaks of staggering grandeur. There were literally a dozen of them. What was even more surprising was that I didn't recognize any of them from the maps I had studied. Yes, I know, I was hallucinating, but they were there nevertheless.

'I finally decided to climb a nearby peak to get my bearings. There was a low one not a half mile across the glacier from the valley. I trudged across the ice worrying about Panda and George. I knew they would think I had fallen and injured myself.

'As I worked my way up the side of the peak, I noticed that my watch had stopped. It was a good watch - the rain shouldn't have affected it. Then I saw that it was getting dark. That threw me completely off balance. It had been eleven in the morning when I had left Panda and George and walked into the valley. At worst I figured it must be three or four in the afternoon. But you can't argue with the sun. I spotted a cave and went inside, planning to spend the night there. Once again, I was not worried about myself. I have been lost many times in my travels, and have always managed to find my way home. The soil on the floor of the cave was soft. The temperature inside was pleasant. I regularly suffer from insomnia, but I curled up inside that cave and fell asleep in seconds.

'When I awoke it was morning. The sun shone directly into the mouth of the cave. I stood and stretched, and it was then I noticed someone sitting further back in the cave. I hesitated to disturb him. I figured he was a yogi. He was sitting in the lotus position with his spine held perfectly erect. I had been warned in Gangotri never to interrupt a yogi when he was meditating. However, I didn't want to just leave. I was completely lost. I had my canteen, but no food. I was hungry. I took a few steps toward the man.

'He must have heard me coming. I heard a soft intake of breath and saw his eyelashes blink. He glanced over at me. He was far enough back in the cave that the shadows were outdoing the morning sun, but I could see right away how handsome he was. He had long black hair and a long black beard. He appeared to be about twenty-five. Unlike most Indians, he was tall and well-muscled. His skin was also remarkably fair. In fact, I wondered if he was from India at all. Yet I was convinced he was a yogi, although I hadn't spoken a word to him. The feeling that surrounded him was enchanting in its gentleness. He smiled at me and I felt welcome.

'I told him my name and apologized for disturbing his silence. His smile broadened at my words. He answered in a language I did not recognize. That was not a major surprise. India has so many different dialects, a man could go crazy trying to learn them all. I had spoken to him in Hindi, the most common language spoken in the Himalayas, and now I switched to Tamil. Again he answered me in the same peculiar tongue. I puzzled over the melodious nature of his speech. I know a great deal about languages, and his was unlike any I had ever heard before. It was almost as if he were singing a song to me.

'He sat and watched me for a bit, smiling faintly. He wore a dark blue robe. It was wrapped tight at his waist, but hung loose over his shoulders. His feet were bare and heavily callused. His eyes were as black as s.p.a.ce. I must tell you again how beautiful he was. Although I could not understand him, I still felt very much at home with him.

'Finally he rose to his feet. He pointed deeper into the cave, indicating we were to go that way. By chance I had a small flashlight in my back pocket. I took it out and showed him how it worked. He seemed amused. He stepped to a corner of the cave and emerged with two thick wooden sticks that were wrapped at the top with oily cloth. They were obviously torches, but as we walked deeper into the cave, he made no move to light them, relying instead upon my flashlight. You might ask why I started to follow him in the first place. I don't know, I had no other place to go.

'The pa.s.sage narrowed. It wound sharply and led us downward at a steep angle. The walls were covered with a fine dust. When I sc.r.a.ped it away I found a yellowish marble underneath. Several times we came to spots where we had to duck our heads to get by. Yet on the whole the way was comfortable. The yogi walked on my left, slightly before me. His stride was graceful, and he hardly seemed to breathe. He could have still been in meditation. I know, it's strange - he was leading me far underground. Yet I trusted him. He was so peaceful, and his smile was so warm.

'We walked for over an hour, when I began to notice two things. First, my flashlight was slowly dying. Once more I was puzzled. I knew the batteries were fresh. Also, the temperature was increasing. I removed my jacket and tied the arms around my waist. Even though the yogi spoke to me from time to time, I made no progress in deciphering his language.

'I was in good shape at the time, preparing for this trip to Mars. Perhaps that was the reason why the further we walked and deeper we went, the fresher I felt.

'The flashlight continued to dim. I found myself b.u.mping the walls. Finally the yogi stopped and held up his two torches. In one swift move he smashed the heads together. Immediately they caught fire and burned with a white light. Because of the color of the light, at first I suspected the torch heads were coated with a magnesium powder. I figured the chemical would soon burn away and leave us with ordinary orange flames. Such was not the case. The torches continued to burn white and bright. I was dumbfounded.

'He handed me a torch, and we continued to walk deeper. We could have walked for maybe two hours. The yogi maintained a brisk pace. More and more I began to sense an energy radiating from him. That is a poor choice of words, but it gives you an idea of how vibrant it felt to be in his presence. I also believe the place we were exploring had something to do with how I felt. The silence was uncanny. When we had traveled better than six miles, a quarter of that in the vertical direction, the air underwent a sharp rise in humidity. It got thicker, more satisfying. I smelled a very faint fragrance. It reminded me of camphor. Yes, camphor - the stuff parents rub on the chests of children when they have chest colds. It may very well have been camphor, for all I know.

'Abruptly the wall on our left vanished. One moment it was there, the next it was gone. A few feet later, the ceiling of the cave also disappeared. The yogi now took care that I stayed near the right wall. He didn't want me falling off the edge. I was excited. We had obviously entered a vast underground s.p.a.ce. Our torches continued to burn bright, but their light showed nothing beyond the edge of the path.

'My amazement continued to grow. We walked downward for a long time before a floor appeared. To your average geologist, such a large cavern would be considered almost an impossibility. I brushed aside the film of dust on the right wall and discovered the same marble-like substance, only now it was laced with streaks of clear quartz crystal. The marble material was hard. I tried scratching it with a pocket knife I carried and failed.

'Finally our path leveled as we stepped onto a flat plain. I knelt and examined the ground. It was like a carpet of compressed blue gra.s.s, soft and springy.

'We headed away from the path, out over the plain. I must say something about how my perception of the yogi was changing. He still looked the same, naturally, but when I first met him, it was his gentleness that had impressed me. That quality remained, yet it was now overshadowed by a sense of high lineage. What I mean is, now he seemed like a king. Indeed, I felt as if he were taking me on a tour of his kingdom. I could tell he thought of the place as his own.

'After some time we came to a barrier of water. I couldn't tell whether it was a lake or not. I don't think it was a stream; it wasn't flowing in either direction. With the yogi's permission, I stopped and took a long drink. The water tasted faintly of the camphor I mentioned a moment ago. It was not unpleasant. The yogi indicated that we were to swim across. He removed his robe and I stripped down to my shorts. Standing tall in nothing but a loincloth, the yogi looked like a young Greek G.o.d. He took my torch as well as his own and waded into the water, holding the fires safely above the surface. He swam using the power of his legs alone, which you know is hard to do. I followed as best I could. The water was warm and clear, although I could not see the bottom.

Soon I felt ground underneath my feet. We climbed onto a silent sh.o.r.e. The yogi handed me my torch and we continued forward. At first the terrain was the same as before - perfectly flat. Then I began to notice shapes in the dark. They appeared to be nothing more than huge boulders. However, as I looked closer, I believed I saw subtle shapes. You might ask, did I see carvings or not? I tell you, I'm not sure. Being an archaeologist, I was tempted to think I had been led to the ruins of an ancient civilization. But the boulders might just have been boulders. I know that's not a satisfactory answer, but it's an honest one. Everywhere I found the same marble-like material I had seen in the cave, only now it was free of dust and it was whiter, and laced with greater amounts of quartz crystal. Yet, once again, I could not conclusively say I was examining anything that had been fashioned by human hand.

'Eventually we came to an oval pool of water. It was large and symmetrical. I forgot to mention earlier that while we were undressing to swim across the water, my companion indicated that I should bring my canteen. Standing at the edge of the oval pool, he took the canteen from me and emptied its contents on the ground. He submerged it in the pool until the canteen was full. Then he replaced the cap and handed it back to me. I made a move to drink from the pool, for I was thirsty again, but he stopped me and shook his head. I was surprised. I gathered from his gestures that I wasn't to drink the water in my canteen, either.

'When he shook his head, it was the first specific gesture that showed he knew anything of modern culture. But upon reflection, I think he had learned the gesture in our short acquaintance. I had the impression he understood everything I said to him, but that he didn't have the means to answer me. I guess it was the way he smiled at me.

'We walked around the pool. I was curious to know its depth, but when I reached down to feel for the bottom, he gently restrained me. I got the idea that the pool was sacred. I found the whole place fascinating, but my biggest surprise was yet to come.

'On the far side of the pool was a block of marble. It was flawlessly white and literally a perfect cube. Resting on top of it was a single silver ring. The yogi indicated I should pick it up.

'The ring's appearance was remarkably ordinary. True, it was exquisitely polished, but its design was plain - a simple silver band. I placed it on my finger, half expecting something extraordinary to happen. We've all read fantasy stories about magical rings and the wonderful powers they give to those who possess them. I guess being where I was, I believed those stories could come true. Of course I felt no different with the ring on.

'But new understanding did come to me then. Constantly, while examining the strangely shaped stones, I looked for evidence of an ancient civilization. Now that I held the ring, I had such proof, although it was far from conclusive. The yogi could simply have put it on top of the marble block. He could have shaped the block for that matter. But in either case, I began to see the cavern in a new light, not as being incredibly old, but as being incredibly young, not yet born. Does that sound strange? I know it must. But in the square block I began to imagine a sculptured table, as if in the future it would be that way. I could see the boulders that lined the pool as being pillars in a grand palace. The springy turf we had been walking over would be blooming gra.s.s, even bushes and trees. I got quite carried away with myself.

'The yogi indicated that I should keep the ring. Then he pointed to the torches, which had finally begun to dim. He gestured in the direction we had come. I protested. I wanted to look further. But then I imagined what it would be like to explore the cavern without light. I agreed we should go back.

'There is little to say about our return journey. We retraced our steps at a good pace. At what I estimated to be sea level, my flashlight began to work again. I imagined that in the place I had just visited, twenty-first-century technology didn't operate. To this day I think of the cavern as belonging to a separate time, a different reality, with its own laws of nature.

"The sun was high in the sky when we arrived at the mouth of the cave. I had walked far, but felt little fatigue. In fact, I wasn't even hungry anymore. The yogi pointed toward the valley of flowers. He indicated I should walk the length of it to get back to where I was supposed to be. He was such wonderful company - I did not want to leave. I asked if I could come back and visit him again. He shook his head and pointed at the sky. I know the gesture could have been interpreted in a number of ways, but at the time I had no doubt that he understood I was going to Mars. He hugged me, touching me briefly between the eyebrows, and then walked back into the cave. I never saw him again.

'In a dream I walked the length of the valley of flowers. It rained on me again, the storm coming out of nowhere. Eventually the scenery began to make sense and I found the stream where I had left Panda and George. But I did not find them, not until I reached Gangotri a couple of days later. They were much relieved to see I was all right. They said they had searched for me, and when they didn't find me, they thought our paths had crossed and that I had returned to Gangotri ahead of them. They wanted to know where I had been all this time, but for some reason I didn't tell them. I just said I had gotten lost. I did try to find the old sannyasi who had told me about Devashan, however. I thought I might tell him of my adventure. But he must have left town. Sannyasis are always wandering from one place to another.

'Panda and George had to return to their family and I let them go. Despite what the yogi had said about my not seeing him again, I wanted to go back. I pored over maps in Gangotri. A lot of good it did me. I couldn't find any of the peaks I had seen near the yogi's cave. Still, I returned to Devashan and hiked up and down the valley three times looking for signs of the place. I looked and looked. If it had not been for the ring in my pocket, I might have believed I had imagined the whole episode. I guess it goes without saying that I didn't find the cave. What was I to do? My vacation was almost up. I was going to Mars soon. I returned to the States, excited about what I had discovered, but also frustrated that its mystery had been left unsolved.

'Back in Houston I performed a number of tests on the ring. I tried to scratch it with a diamond and failed. I subjected it to an electron scan and found it to be a perfect circle, and I mean perfect. I dipped the ring in concentrated acids and got no reaction. By this time I knew it wasn't silver or gold. Finally I put it under the laser they have at the University. I was scared to do it, but I also had a peculiar faith in the magic of the ring. I set the laser at full power and pushed the b.u.t.ton. It didn't do a thing to it. Let me impress upon you how extraordinary a fact that is. Nothing known to man could have withstood such a concentration of energy.

'I've already commented on the ring's shine. That shine never fades. I've never had to polish it. Occasionally the ring even appears to shine in the dark. But that may be merely my imagination.'

Jim paused once more. The sun was setting. The canyon beneath them was falling into long shadows. It was difficult for Jim to watch the sun going down and convince himself that it was the same sun that set on Earth.

'Well, that's my story,' he said finally. 'I've talked for a while. You've been good listeners. I suppose now you must have questions. I a.s.sure you, I won't be offended if you don't believe a thing I've said. Sometimes I wonder myself if it wasn't just a dream. But then, you've seen the ring too, Lauren.'

'Why did you give the ring to Jenny?' Lauren asked.

'I did it on the spur of the moment,' Jim said. 'I've always adored your sister. I thought she would like to have it.'

'How many people have you told about this?' Gary asked.

'Only you two.'

'Are you sure the laser was on high power?' Gary asked.

'Yes. Full power. It didn't even heat the ring.'

'That's impossible,' Gary said. 'What could it have been made of?'

Jim shook his head. 'Nothing known to man.'

'What did you do with the canteen of water?' Gary asked.

'I took it home to the States in a sealed bottle. It's in a box at my apartment in Houston. I never drank any of it.'

Lauren peered at him closely. 'Why did you tell us this story?' she asked. 'Why did you tell us now?'

'To prepare you,' Jim said.

'For what?' Lauren asked.

Jim hesitated, unsure of how to explain himself. The reasons were unclear in his own mind. He wanted to give Lauren and Gary a sense for the supernormal, and open their minds to things they never considered. He knew they respected him; they seemed to believe his story, and had certainly been moved by it. But he knew he had to be careful about speaking directly. Gary was easily suggestible. Jim had watched him reading his books. Gary would be genuinely scared at the tense parts, would laugh at the humorous spots, and would grow angry at the villains. He was remarkably innocent given his heavy responsibilities. He was also impulsive, and extremely protective of Lauren. Jim knew Gary would blow Bill's head off if he told him everything he was thinking.

Lauren was different. She was the most intuitive woman Jim had ever met, sensitive to feelings in others few would have noticed. Her intelligence and resourcefulness were obvious to everyone. Yet she had a hard-headed side that categorized everything as either black or white. To say what he wanted, he needed to move through a sea of gray. He didn't know how she would react.

'Did you know that we've lost contact with the Nova?' Jim asked.

's.h.i.t,' Gary said. 'Is it the generators?'

'I don't think so,' Jim said.

'What then?' Lauren asked.

'I'm not positive,' Jim said, 'but I have theories. That is why I told you my story, to make my theories more acceptable to you two. Where should I begin? You asked about this hole where the Russian ship is supposed to be. What do you think caused it, Gary?'

'There must have been an explosion of some kind. But then there should be signs of wreckage, even with the snow here. It confuses me. Even if all their fuel exploded at once, it couldn't have made this size hole. But I know that ship landed here. I'm sure of it.'

'Do you have any theories, Lauren?' Jim said.