diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-23 01:02:39 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-23 01:02:39 -0800 |
| commit | 0c58e0fc6004ef2e3d6cebc3079a90630f947213 (patch) | |
| tree | 7876a7432ec71974a70ed66a5050d2c96fab5fcb | |
| parent | 3ed91975070e8e98eb1f44d7d6f390930812cf33 (diff) | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65394-0.txt | 3786 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65394-0.zip | bin | 58157 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65394-h.zip | bin | 1543880 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65394-h/65394-h.htm | 3971 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65394-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 1016700 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65394-h/images/illus.jpg | bin | 178845 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65394-h/images/illusc.jpg | bin | 291289 -> 0 bytes |
10 files changed, 17 insertions, 7757 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6d5804 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #65394 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65394) diff --git a/old/65394-0.txt b/old/65394-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ed6211f..0000000 --- a/old/65394-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3786 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Battle Out of Time, by Dwight V. Swain - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Battle Out of Time - -Author: Dwight V. Swain - -Release Date: May 20, 2021 [eBook #65394] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BATTLE OUT OF TIME *** - - - - - Battle Out Of Time - - By Dwight V. Swain - - Burke knew of the ancient Bronze Age and - its legend of the dread Minotaur. But he didn't - know he was about to become a vital part of it! - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy - August 1957 - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -An utter dark lay upon the hills outside the palace now, moonless and -with clouds drawn heavy all across the Cretan sky. - -Wind, too, had come with the night, rising till Burke found himself -fearing for the shutters. The lamps flared on their stands with each -new gust and draft. Light flickered orange and yellow on Ariadne's -lovely face, eddying through the shadows so that the tentacles of the -frescoed octopi on the walls seemed to writhe and twist and turn.... - -Burke laughed without mirth. It was that mad a moment. - -And that dangerous. - -For while he might find temporary cover here with Ariadne, in these -private quarters beyond the Queen's Megaron, death yet bayed at his -heels. - -Already, bearded King Minos himself no doubt paced some other palace -hall--thirsting for Burke blood; raging in jealous fury that any -outlander should dare aspire to his lovely daughter. - -That slavering Greek lecher, Theseus, too--it was lucky he lay dead -drunk there in the corner. Sober, and confronted with a rival, he'd -kill just to salve his wounded ego. - -And then, as if that were not enough of peril, there was ... the other. - -Involuntarily, Burke shuddered. - -What chance did a mere human have, pitted against the dark craft of the -alien? Where could he hope to find the strength and skill and insight -to win over the strange horror from beyond the void? - -Yet with Ariadne's life at stake, Earth's whole future in the balance, -how could he turn back? - -No; he had no choice but to press on; seek out and challenge the might -of that nightmare monster men called the Minotaur. - -He couldn't help find it surprising, though, that in the face of such -he still had it in him to notice the play of light on decorative -motifs. Truly, the strange twist of mind that seemed to pervade this -weird Mediterranean realm had claimed him for its own! - -But to dare the Labyrinth, the Minotaur.... - -Almost without thinking, Burke rested a hand on the worn Smith & Wesson -in his belt; then, bleakly, laughed again. - -Ariadne moved uneasily beside him. Her words came halting and -uncertain: "You--you are amused, my lord Dionysus...?" - -Irritation boiled up in Burke--quick anger that he should have let -himself forget even for a moment the desperate urgency of his task. -How could he play the fool so--here, now, at a time when every breath, -every second, brought inevitable disaster closer? - -It added up to tension that had to find an outlet. Savagely, he lashed -out at Ariadne: "For the hundredth time, girl: I'm not Dionysus, not a -god. I'm Dion Burke, that's all. A man, like any other--" - -Hurt came to the great dark eyes. A tear-mist veil blurred the glow of -awe and adoration. The soft lips quivered. - -But only for a moment. Then, contritely, the girl bowed her head. -Jet ringlets glistened in the lamplight. Bringing up slim hands, she -crossed them upon the firm young breasts that she wore bared in the -traditional Minoan style. "Your pardon, my lord...." - -Burke breathed in sharply. As swiftly as it had come, his anger died. -Of a sudden he wanted nothing so much as to take the girl in his -arms and draw her to him ... solace her, soothe her, hold her with a -thousand tender caresses through the endless hours of this long, black -night. - -Why was it always so between him and Ariadne? What was there about -this slim Minoan princess that the very sight of her should make his -firmest resolves melt? The women he'd known in his own world--they'd -been wiser, wittier; more beautiful, even, perhaps, by an objective -standard. Yet not even the one who'd hurt him most and helped to -precipitate him onto this fool's mission had stirred him a tenth as -much as Ariadne. - -With a curse, he reached out, pulled her to him. - -She came willingly, nestling against him, her lithe body soft and warm. - -For a long moment, Burke held her close. - -Only then, over in the corner, brawny, bull-necked Theseus stirred and -shifted. A noisy, wine-sodden snore broke from his open mouth. - -Burke stiffened. - -Like an echo, Ariadne's lovely oval face lifted from his shoulder. "My -lord! You do not still feel anger--?" - - * * * * * - -Burke shook his head. "Forget it, princess. It's just I'm all on edge. -There's not much time--" - -He broke off; brought up his wrist and strained to read the watch-face. - -And that was good for another wry, twisted shadow of smile: a watch, -here in Bronze Age Crete ... product of the United States of America, -vintage 1954 A. D., wrenched 5,000 miles and 3300 years out of its -place and time. An anachronism to end all anachronisms. - -Or no, that wasn't quite true. - -For surely he himself was a greater anachronism than the watch, even. - -The bare facts alone would drive an obituary writer crazy: "Dion Burke, -archaeologist extraordinary without portfolio; born, Erie, Pa., August -9, 1929; disappeared April 14, 1957; died at Knossos, in the Great -Palace of Minos, mightiest sea-king of Crete, on some vague, early -spring date in the vicinity of 1400 B. C." - -Only no obituary writer would ever hear those facts. The watch, the -gun, the lighter--they'd all have sifted away to rusty dust long before -Sir Arthur Evans and his fellow-scholars came this way. - -Not that that mattered. Not now; not while he still had a job to do. - -He moved his wrist closer to the nearest of the flickering lamps, and -strained again to read the watch. - -Almost 10:30. Little more than an hour-and-a-half till midnight and the -moment of Knossos' doom. - -Sometime between now and then, he had to meet the Minotaur. - -For a moment he held the slim girl in his arms even closer than before. -Then, ever so gently, he moved her back away a fraction; lifted her -small, satin-smooth chin. "Ariadne...." - -"Yes, my lord?" - -"There's a thing I must do now, Ariadne. An important thing, for both -of us." A pause. "I need your help to do it." - -"My help--?" The dark eyes widened. "My lord knows he has only to -command. What must I do?" - -Carefully, Burke picked his words; strove to hold the tension from his -voice: "Among the people of this palace, there's one called Daedalus. -You know him?" - -"Daedalus the Smith, you mean?" The jet ringlets danced as the -girl laughed. "Of course I know him. He's chief of all my father's -craftsmen. What is it you seek of him?" - -Again, Burke weighed his words. "Some talk, that's all. A chance to ask -a few questions." - -"Talk--at this hour?" Ariadne stared. - -"I have no choice," Burke shrugged. "To see him by daylight would be -as much as my life is worth." - -"Oh." - -"Yes." Time for a smile now, Burke decided. His most engaging smile. -"You see, there are things the man knows, things his skill's taught -him--" - -Ariadne stiffened in the same instant. "Things Daedalus knows--?" For -the first time, her voice held an edge, dark shadows of suspicion. "How -could a smith know anything that means so much? What might he say that -my lord Dion had not already heard a thousand times?" - -"What--?" Burke felt his smile go stiff. "Why--why, many things--his -skills, his artifices--" He groped and fumbled. - -"No!" In a flash all Ariadne's humility of manner vanished. She thrust -Burke's restraining arm aside, defiance in the gesture. "Do you think -me a fool, my lord Dion? Daedalus the Smith holds but one secret that -such as you might seek to learn. One only!" - -Burke stood ever so still. - -Ariadne spat like a cat. "You seek the secret of the Labyrinth, my -lord! You would stalk the Minotaur in his very lair! Waste no breath -trying to lull me with denials!" - -Burke sighed. A weary sigh, heavy with the knowledge of all the things -he could not change. - -And, from Ariadne: "What makes you think you're destined to succeed, -where each year fourteen others fail? How dare you hope to live, when -the monster that is the Minotaur has slain the mightiest warriors of -all Athens?" - -How, indeed? Of a sudden, Burke wanted no more of such questions. - -He cut in flat and hard: "Shut up, wench!" - -The girl stopped as short as if he'd slapped her. Her face paled with -anger. - -Only then, as she stared up at Burke, that too passed, and a mask of -sudden fear came to replace the fury. Her naked breasts lifted with a -quick, indrawn breath. She fell back an uncertain step ... another ... -another.... "My lord--Dionysus--" - -Burke laughed harshly. "All right. Call me that if you want to." And -then, tight-lipped: "Because make up your mind to it, you're going to -do what I say as if I were your whole damn' pantheon!" - -He closed in. - - * * * * * - -The girl pressed back against the wall now--white to the lips, dark -eyes distended. "Dion--Dion Burke--" - -Burke gripped her wrist. "Is it agreed, then? You'll do what I tell -you?" - -His lovely captive winced as he twisted. "But--my lord--the -Minotaur--Dion, it will slay you!" - -"Maybe. And then again, maybe not." Burke brushed a hand against the -revolver in his waistband. "You see, I won't be on quite the same -spot as those others who died, Ariadne. I've reserved a couple of -special Dionysan thunderbolts to try out on your monster, patent of two -subsidiary gods named Smith & Wesson." - -"But Daedalus--he's my father's man, Lord Dion, chief of all the palace -craftsmen. He'd never help you, even if you could reach him." - -"I'll reach him. And he'll help me." - -"But why, my lord? Why risk it?" A sudden taut, eager note crept into -Ariadne's voice. With her free hand, she smoothed the fabric of Burke's -shirt. "Don't you see? There's no need--not when you've the power to -come here as you have tonight, in spite of all my father's guards! -Under his very sword, we can be lovers--" - -Burke smiled bleakly. "I'm sorry, princess. I wish it were that simple." - -"But it is!" Now Ariadne's lithe young body once more was tight against -his. "I want you to come, my lord Dion! I welcome you--" - -"I know. And ... I love you too." For the fraction of a second Burke -let his arms tighten around her. - -Then, abruptly, he pushed back; gripped her shoulders. "You see, I -can't just come and go at will, the way you seem to think I can. And -even if I could, it wouldn't help." - -"It would not--?" Blank bafflement spread across Ariadne's lovely face. - -"Not after tonight." - -Puzzled eyes. A wordless question. - -Burke said tightly, "By tomorrow there won't be any Knossos. The Great -Palace here, the shrines, the other buildings--as of midnight tonight, -less than an hour-and-a-half from now, they'll all be destroyed." - -Tension, spiraling higher with each passing second. - -Burke said, "Now you know why I came tonight, Ariadne: because this is -the last chance I'll ever have. I've got to get you out of here, now or -never. That's why I have to see Daedalus, and go into the Labyrinth, -and meet the Minotaur and kill it." - -Still the silence echoed. - -A numb despair seeped through Burke. Bleakly, he wondered how he ever -had been fool enough to think his words might spark response in a -Bronze Age mind, or that any such mad enterprise as this could possibly -end otherwise than in disaster. - -Only then, while he watched, once more Ariadne bowed her head and -crossed her hands upon her breasts. Her words came low, submissive: -"The quarters of Daedalus the Smith lie close at hand, my lord." - -She turned as she spoke. - -Heart pounding, Burke walked with her towards the doorway.... - - - - -CHAPTER II - - -There was a guard in the corridor beyond the Queen's Megaron. - -Wordless, Burke flicked a glance at Ariadne. - -Her dark eyes flashed a daredevil acceptance of the challenge. Sliding -past him, she swung the heavy door back so it hid him, then leaned -against it, body arched in practiced coquetry. - -The spearman outside straightened just a fraction. His chest swelled -and his belly drew in. - -Slowly, Ariadne's full lips curved in a smile that was all invitation. -Her hand came up to smooth her hair as she turned, twisting and -preening. Then, still unspeaking, and with one last lingering glance -over her shoulder, she drew back into her own apartment. - -The guard's head swiveled as his eyes followed her. - -Ariadne laughed softly from the shadows. Her long skirt swirled and -rustled. - -The guard's breath rasped in the stillness. For an instant he -hesitated, peering down the hall in both directions. Then, eagerly, he -crossed the threshold and moved with swift steps towards the princess. - -Burke waited till the man was clear of the door. Then, savagely, the -Smith & Wesson flat on the palm of his hand, he stepped forth from his -hiding place and smashed a blow to the back of the other's neck. - -The guard's knees hinged. He spilled to the floor. - -Burke snapped, "Quick! Cords! A gag!" - -The shrill, nerve-jangling squeal of cloth tearing echoed. Deftly, -Ariadne thrust strips from a drape into his hands. - -Burke bound and gagged the guard, then straightened and strode across -the room to where bull-necked, snoring Theseus lay, the stench of sour -wine still thick about him. - -Ariadne came close. "More cloth, my lord?" - -Burke prodded the Greek ungently with his toe, without response; then -once more glanced at his watch. - -Ten forty-five now. - -And that left only an hour-and-a-quarter more, at best. - -The back of Burke's neck prickled. "Forget it," he clipped. "The Hero -of Athens is too drunk to turn over, even, let alone give us trouble." - -"This way, then," the girl said. Her voice all at once was not too -steady, and the hand that gripped Burke's showed a tendency to tremble. - -Together, they made their way from the apartment, down the corridor -past a row of great painted jars and, finally, out onto the long -ascending ramp that led to the palace's central court. - -Now Ariadne turned right, keeping to the shadows of the colonnaded -buildings past which they moved. - -Close behind her, gun in hand, Burke tried to watch all ways at -once. Every rattling stone, every wind-tossed branch against the -cloud-blocked sky, became for him a trigger for new tension. Once, when -the shadows behind him flickered, he almost persuaded himself that -Theseus must be on their heels. Or perhaps, somehow, they'd caught the -attention of another of old Minos' guards.... - -Again Ariadne veered right. A door creaked as she put her shoulder to -it. - -This corridor was so black Burke had to grip the girl's hand to keep -contact with her. - -More doors. More halls. More rooms. The place was like a maze--the very -Labyrinth itself. - -Yet not once did Ariadne hesitate. Swift, sure, she led Burke on and on -through one murky chamber after another. - -Then, as they rounded a final corner, a block of greyness came to mark -the end of a passage. In seconds, they were once more out into the open -and the night. - -Ariadne paused and pointed. "That's the place," she whispered. - -"Daedalus' quarters?" - -"Yes." - -Narrow-eyed, Burke studied the looming bulk a moment. Then, -tight-lipped, he strode towards the geometric shadows that marked the -entrance. - -But now Ariadne caught his arm. "Please, my lord Dion--let me be the -one to talk to Daedalus." - -"Let you--?" Burke stared. "But why?" - -"You wish him to speak, do you not--to tell you the things you seek to -learn?" - -"Do I want him to talk--?" Burke spoke between clenched teeth. "Believe -me, it's more than that, Princess. He's got to!" - -The girl laughed softly in the darkness; and somehow there was a ring -of steel beneath the velvet. "That's why I must be the one to face him, -Lord Dion!" - - * * * * * - -Without waiting for further word from Burke, she stepped forward and -knocked upon the door. - -No answer. After a moment, she knocked again. - -This time, a faint stir of sound rose from within. Then, abruptly, the -door opened, framing a brawny, bearded man who glowered out at Burke -and the girl from below a sputtering, hand-held lamp. - -Uncowed, without hesitation, Ariadne stepped forward. "Come, Daedalus!" -she chided smoothly. "Would you leave your master's daughter standing -here wind-whipped on your threshold in the night?" - -The belligerence vanished from Daedalus' face, replaced by an -impassive, noncommittal mask. For an instant his eyes flicked to -Burke. Then he stepped back heavily; opened the door wider. "Enter, -my princess. What brings you to my poor quarters at this hour of the -night?" - -Uninvited, ignoring the hostility that gleamed in their host's deep-set -eyes, Burke followed Ariadne in and closed the door behind them. - -Simultaneously, the girl said, "It was a terrible thing for you to do, -Daedalus! Did my father know it, he'd have you flayed alive!" - -Even Burke rocked back on his heels: the words were that much of a -shock, that unexpected ... cool, conversational, without preliminary. - -As for the smith, he stood very still. The deep-set eyes seemed to -retreat yet further into the broad, high-domed skull. - -"And what is this terrible thing of which you speak, Princess Ariadne?" -he asked finally. - -"What is it--?" Ariadne's eyes distended, then narrowed. Her voice -took on a taut, dangerous note. "Do you think to mock me, artisan? Me, -daughter of Minos, favored beyond all women of this realm?" - -Daedalus' hairy chest rose and fell in heavy, almost deliberate rhythm. -Turning, he crossed with short, clumping steps to the nearest stand and -set down his lamp, then made a small business of straightening the wick. - -"What black slander is this, princess?" he asked coldly, eyes still on -the flame. "What are you trying to say I've done?" - -"Would you deny it, then?" Like a sleek cat stalking, Ariadne moved -round him in a long, slow arc. "Or do you seek perhaps to saddle poor -Icarus with the blame?" - -"Icarus--!" The smith's head lifted sharply. "Whatever this deed is -that you speak of, my son had nothing to do with it!" - -"Do you count it nothing for a youth to enter secretly into my -apartment, then assault a guard when he's surprised?" Ariadne's lovely -face fixed into a mask of scorn. "Ambition ill becomes you, Daedalus. -For a man who'd plot such a thing, risk his own son's life to gain -power over me, you show little courage and less sense." - -Before Burke's eyes, sweat came to the smith's broad forehead. A tremor -ran through the heavy hands. "May the gods bear witness, Ariadne, you -know I've done no such, and so does your father!" - -"And of course he'll take your word over his own daughter's." Ariadne -laughed without mirth. "Tell me, smith, are you such a fool as to think -your fiend's work with my mother, Pasiphae, is so soon forgotten?" And -then: "Besides, you know all the secrets of the palace--a dangerous -knowledge. My father will leap at an excuse to slay you!" - -Daedalus rubbed at his beard with thick, scarred knuckles. His lips had -a dry, parched look, and his breathing was ragged and uneven. - -Coolly, Ariadne turned and walked away from him, to Burke. "Come, my -lord Dion! Let us waste no more time on this numb-skull." - -Daedalus' head seemed to sink down between his great shoulders. Through -clenched teeth, he said, "All right, curse you! What is it you want?" - -"What do you mean, smith?" The girl stayed remote as some slim statue. -"Are your wits slipping? You know I've asked for nothing." - -Head high, a picture of poise, she moved towards the door. Stiffly, -Burke fell in behind her. - -For a moment, Daedalus stood flat-footed, rigid. - -Then, abruptly, he too was moving towards the door. For the first -time, his voice held a raw, uncertain edge, as if touched with panic. -"Princess--most favored of Minos--please--" - -Ariadne paused. Her dark eyes glinted soaring triumph in the instant -that they touched Burke's. "Please indeed, Daedalus! After all, I came -here tonight but to satisfy a whim. This outlander,"--a gesture to -Burke--"vows there's no access to the Labyrinth, the Minotaur, save by -the Shrine of Oracles. - -"For my part, I argued that you, who laid out that whole area of the -palace, could enter any chamber, no matter how well the doors were -guarded." A shrug. "All the talk--it ended in a wager. So, now, I count -on you to prove me right, show some secret way by which, if necessary, -a determined man could invade even the Minotaur's most secret precinct -undetected." - -The beads of sweat on the smith's broad forehead began to merge into -rills and trickle down into his eye-brows. "Princess, were I to tell -this outlander such a secret--believe me, you ask me to gamble with my -life!" - -"Yet if you do not tell," Ariadne retorted calmly, "what will happen -will involve no gamble!" - - * * * * * - -Seconds ticked by while the heavy-thewed chief of craftsmen stared at -her. Then, bleakly, he said, "Very well, princess." - -Another long pause, with Daedalus frowning and tugging at his lower lip. - -At last: "The only unguarded way to the Minotaur leads through the -drainage system, the great sewer-pipes that lie beneath the palace." - -Burke frowned. "You mean, you'd drop through a manhole here--anywhere -on the grounds--and then come up again inside the Labyrinth?" - -"Exactly," the smith nodded. - -"But how would you know when you reached the right exit?" - -"Only one connects with the Labyrinth. A cage of bars cuts off the -pipe at that point, so no workman may by accident come up within the -Labyrinth and thus meet his doom." - -Narrow-eyed, Burke brooded on the things the smith had told him. - -But now Ariadne broke in; and all the poise she'd shown brief moments -earlier had vanished: "Dion--you mustn't! Don't you see? This is a -trap. Even though you were to slay the Minotaur, you'd never find your -way back to safety through all that maze of pitch-black tunnels!" - -"On the contrary, princess." Burke smiled thinly. "This is one -advantage of coming here from another time. It tells me in advance so -many of the things that are scheduled to happen." - -Ignoring her obvious blank bafflement, he again spoke to the smith: -"Daedalus, do you have cord here--light, strong line such as you use in -laying out the walls of each new building?" - -"Yes." - -"Then get some for me." - -The brawny craftsman crossed to a chest against the wall; brought out a -thick skein of twine. "Will this do?" - -"Is it long enough to guide me to the Labyrinth?" - -"Yes." - -"Then that's all I need from you." Burke turned to go. - -"Wait!" This from Ariadne. Her dark eyes pinned their host's deep-set -orbs. "Daedalus, I've a promise to make you." - -"A promise--?" - -"A vow, if you will." Never had Ariadne looked more beautiful--or more -deadly. Her smile held the shadow of impending doom. "For if there's -any trick to this, smith, or if word should reach my father of what's -happened here tonight, I swear an hour will come when you'll pray for -death to end your agonies!" - -Then she and Burke were out in the night again, silent as shadows, -feeling their way back through the murky maze of alleyways and -corridors and buildings to the central court. - -Burke pulled the girl to a halt there, in the narrow slot between two -pillars. "Where are we going?" He held his voice low; spoke with his -mouth close to her ear to compensate for the buffeting of the wind. "We -can't chance your rooms, you know. That guard's snapped out of it by -now." - -"Of course. I've a place in mind across the court, closer to the -shrine." - -"All right, then." - -But again, as before, tension rose within Burke. A guard's shouted -challenge somewhere far off started him sweating. When the low, mingled -laughter of a man and a woman drifted from a nearby window, he froze in -his tracks. - -The role of hero, he decided, ill became him. He thought too much of -consequence and peril; found it too difficult to lose himself in an -emotional haze of recklessness. - -Yet here, now, he had no choice--not feeling the way he did about -Ariadne; not knowing the things he knew from that brief session before -the inverter's scanning screen. - -And the time remaining was so short ... less than an hour, as of this -moment. - -"This way, my lord Dion." - -Wordless, once more Burke fell in behind the girl. - -Their destination proved to be an ornate suite where Burke stumbled -over furniture in the darkness. - -Ariadne squeezed his hand. "No one will disturb us here--those who -occupy this apartment are visiting at Phaestos." And then, changing -position: "I've a lamp. Give me fire." - -Burke fumbled out his lighter; flicked the wheel. - -The flame showed his companion close beside him. In seconds, the lamp -she held was sputtering to life. - -The girl turned quickly. "There's a manhole back here, in the ante-room -to the bath." - -She led Burke to it as she spoke; held the lamp low so he could see the -cover-slab. - -Dropping to his knees, he heaved the heavy stone aside. - -Instantly, new air-currents swirled about him. A mustiness assailed his -nostrils. - -Somewhere, along that black tube below or another like it, the -Minotaur was waiting. - - * * * * * - -A knot drew tight in the pit of Burke's stomach. Rising, he tossed -Daedalus' thick skein of cord down by the base of the nearest -lamp-stand, then faced Ariadne. - -"Thank you for your help, my princess," he said gently. "Now, though, -it's time for you to go." - -"To go--?" She stared at him, dark eyes suddenly wide. "What byplay is -this, my lord Dion? Surely you'd not ask me to leave you now, in the -hour when your worst danger is upon you?" - -Burke forced a wry smile. "Do you remember what happened the other time -when you refused to carry out my orders?" - -"You mean--when you hit me?" Gingerly, the girl's fingers moved along -her bruised jaw as she spoke. - -"Precisely." - -"But my lord Dion--" - -Burke stopped smiling. "I'm sorry, Ariadne. You're not going with me. -That's final. If you try, if you won't promise to go back to your own -apartment, I'll knock you out and tie you up. Is that clear?" - -He started forward as he finished--face set, fist doubled. - -But the girl gave not an inch before him. Stepping in, instead, she -stood very close, face upturned to his. - -"My lord Dion," she said softly, "I tell you now: you're the bravest -man I've ever seen." - -It threw Burke off balance. He could find no words with which to answer. - -The girl said, "I promise you, you needn't worry for me; a warrior -should not have to think of women, or fear for them. I'll await you at -my own apartment." - -Burke groped. "Ariadne--" - -It was as if he hadn't spoken: "Remember, you have my promise. -But if anything should go wrong, if I'm missing when you reach my -quarters--Lord Dion, do you know the River of Amnissus?" - -"Yes, of course." - -"To its left, where it meets the sea, a headland rises. So, if fate -decrees that I must flee from Knossos, you can expect to find me there." - -Her slim, soft arms were round his neck, then; her lips on his for a -long, pulsing moment. - -When it ended, she was sobbing, her cheeks tear-streaked. - -"Dion ..." she choked. "Please my Lord Dion, come back to me! Without -you--" - -She broke off; whirled and fled. - -For a long, long moment, Burke stared after her, straining his eyes -against the black encroachment of the night. - -Then, abruptly, he dropped to one knee and set to looping one end -of Daedalus' cord around the lamp-stand--tying it tight; tugging and -testing it. - -Sound stirred behind him, a faint whisper. - -Burke bit down hard. "Damn you, Ariadne!" - -No answer. - -Another fragment of sound. A footstep. - -A footstep far too heavy to be Ariadne's. - -Burke went rigid; started to turn. - -Only before he could even bring his eyes up, something clouted him a -terrific blow to the side of the head, so hard it knocked him clear off -his feet and against the wall beside him. - -Desperately, he tried to roll clear, get his gun out. - -But his eyes blurred. His head rang. A sandaled foot kicked the Smith & -Wesson out of his fumbling fingers before the weapon had hardly cleared -his waistband. - -And now, a tremendous weight crashed down upon him. Blows rained -to his face, his rib-cage, his belly. A knee drove for his groin. -Cable-muscled fingers clutched his windpipe. - -Burke choked on his own tongue. The fingers cut off his breath. His -head spun. His chest heaved--lungs aflame, convulsing in agony. - -Then spidery tendrils of blackness seeped into his brain. His will -to fight ebbed. He felt himself drifting away, as on a swift-flowing -stream that plunged into a cave's dark, swirling shadows. - -Cautiously, the fingers relaxed on his windpipe. - -Burke fought for breath in short, tremulous gasps. He didn't have the -strength in him even to fill his lungs fully, let alone try to renew -the battle. - -The fingers left his throat and fumbled at his wrists; then his ankles. - -Burke began to get better control of his breathing. Forcing himself to -ignore his aching head and battered body, he pried his eyes open. - -Bull-necked Theseus squatted by his side, leering down at him. The -Greek gripped the Smith & Wesson in one hand, and every line of his -face and stance mirrored gloating triumph. - -Cold with rage--or was it partly panic?--Burke stared up at his captor. -But when he tried to move his arms to lift himself, he found that they -were bound together. - -Beside him, the Athenian chuckled unpleasantly. "That Minos is smart, -isn't he?" - -Burke stared. "Minos--?" - -"Sure. He told me I'd catch you if I just played drunk long enough." -The other's smirk broadened. "That's how much he hates you, see? He -said he'd let me and the others go, forget all that crazy stuff with -the Minotaur. All I had to do was grab you before you could sneak away -someplace with Ariadne." - -It was all Burke could do to keep from groaning. - -If Theseus noticed, he ignored it. "Me, I've got a better idea. -Something really clever. You'll love it." - -A small chill ran through Burke. He still didn't speak. - -Theseus said, "You want to get at the Minotaur so rotten much--well, -I'm just the boy to help you do it, now you've worked all the details -out with that Daedalus and Ariadne." A leer. "We'll handle it just the -way you planned it: drop into the sewer-tunnel here, then hunt till we -find the manhole into the Labyrinth." - -The burly Greek got up as he finished. "All right. On your feet!" - -By way of emphasis, he kicked Burke in the stomach. - -Retching, Burke lurched over to a face-down position and tried to rise. - - * * * * * - -Stumbling erect proved difficult enough. Then, on his feet at last, he -discovered that his captor had hobbled his ankles also, so he could -move only in short, awkward steps. - -Now the Athenian gestured to the open manhole that led into the sewer. -"Hurry it up! Get down there!" - -Awkwardly, Burke shuffled towards the opening. - -Apparently he moved too slowly for his captor's tastes, for a sandaled -foot took a leg from under him and he spilled to the floor and -half-fell through the hole. - -Then he was down in the cool, drafty blackness of the great drain. A -moment later, Theseus joined him, a lamp in one hand, Daedalus' cord -in the other. The revolver he'd taken from Burke was thrust into his -loin-band. - -Together, with Burke pushed into the lead, they moved along the tunnel. - -It was a nightmare, after that--a nightmare of slime and smells, sudden -winds and water. Snakes slithered across Burke's feet. Cobwebs brushed -his face. The lamp's gleam was a pinprick in an infinity of darkness. -A dozen times they struck dead ends; retraced their steps out of blind -alleys. And each time Theseus raged with greater fury, till Burke's -back and hips were numb with blows and kicks and buffets. - -And then, suddenly, they came to a place where a cage of bars blocked -off the passage. - -Burke's heart leaped. A tight band seemed to constrict his chest. - -But before he could even speak, Theseus elbowed him aside with new -blows and curses. The Hero of Athens was breathing hard; even by the -lamp's feeble light, his eyes showed distended. - -Looping the heavy skein of twine over his shoulder, the Greek now -gripped the nearest bar in a brawny hand and shook it. - -It didn't even quiver. - -Snarling, Theseus stepped back and, lifting the lamp, scrutinized the -terra cotta of the tunnel wall till he found a crack-formed ledge wide -enough to hold the light. Then, returning to the bars, he seized one in -both hands and heaved on it while he braced a foot against another. - -Still nothing happened. - -Again the Athenian heaved, and this time every muscle along his back -and arms and legs swelled. His belly drew into heavy ridges. Veins -stood out at throat and temple. - -For the instant, even Burke couldn't help but watch fascinated at the -picture of sheer physical strength displayed. - -And now, ever so slowly, one of the bars began to bend ... the merest -fraction ... an inch ... a hand's breadth.... - -Then, suddenly, with a dull metallic twang, the piece tore loose from -its fitting. - -The sound broke Burke's spell. Convulsively, he strained at the bonds -that held his own wrists. - -They only cut deeper into the flesh. - -And there was so little time.... - -Warily, Burke cast a sidewise glance at the revolver, still hanging at -the other's waist. Then, as casually as he could manage it, he started -moving closer. - -Now, panting with exertion, Theseus turned his attention to a second -bar. - -This time, he had more room to maneuver. Almost from the first moment, -the metal showed signs of twisting. - -Burke took yet another sidling step--a step that brought him within -arm's reach of the Smith & Wesson. Clumsily, he poised, readying -himself to spear out for the butt with both hands as one. - -A groan escaped Theseus as he wrenched at the reluctant bar with all -his might. Little by little, the heavy metal bent. - -Burke snatched for the gun. - -Only as he did so, incredibly, the weapon wasn't there. His hands -slapped Theseus' sweat-greased side instead. - -Simultaneously, a fist like a maul smashed him full in the face: The -Athenian's harsh laughter rang in his ears. He crashed back against -the sewer-pipe's wall like a doll flung aside by an angry child. Words -hammered at him; Theseus' words: "I wondered when you'd try that, you -outlander dog!" - -It was all Burke could do to keep his feet, let alone answer. - - * * * * * - -The Greek snarled, "Now's a good time to tell you the rest of it, too, -rack you!" - -Burke tried to blink away the haze between them. "The rest of it--?" he -mumbled. - -"That's right; the rest." His captor gloated openly now. "You didn't -think I dragged you through this hell-hole just for entertainment, did -you, when all I needed to do to get rid of you was hand you over to -Minos?" - -Burke didn't answer. - -Theseus scowled, spoke almost as if to himself; "That slut -Ariadne--I'll teach her to scorn me for an outlander! Once I've shoved -you up through this manhole into the Labyrinth, where there's no chance -for anyone but the Minotaur to find you, alive or dead, I'm going to go -explain to Minos all about how you took me unawares and almost killed -me, back there in Ariadne's quarters. He'll believe me, because it fits -right in with what that guard you tricked will tell him. - -"Then, while Minos has everyone out hunting for you, I'll take Ariadne -down to where my ship lies anchored at the mouth of the Amnissus. -By the time Minos realizes what's happened, I'll be gone, with his -daughter with me; and she'll be good for nothing but to be queen of -Athens, so he'll have no choice but to make peace with my father, no -matter how it galls him." - -The hair along the back of Burke's neck prickled. Of a sudden he saw -how he'd vastly underestimated Theseus. Because the man looked like a -handsome, stupid, dissipated block of beef, Twentieth Century intellect -had sneered at him. - -Only Theseus had a schemer's brain, as well as a Greek God's face and -physique. And what looked like stupidity came out as an almost oriental -taste for the un-prettier types of vengeance. - -All of which added up to nothing less than disaster. - -Keeping his voice level with an effort, Burke said, "Theseus, you hate -me, and I don't blame you for it. For that matter, I hate you too. - -"But right now, there's no time for either of us to indulge his -feelings. This is too big for that. Knossos falls tonight. It's going -to be destroyed--soon now, within the hour. - -"Unless we kill the Minotaur, Ariadne dies too. There'll even be other -Minotaurs, not just here but all over the world. That's why I wanted to -get into the Labyrinth--" - -Laughter exploded in Burke's face. - -It was a better answer than words. Tight-lipped, Burke groped -frantically for some new plan, some trick, some lingering straw of hope -to cling to. - -Theseus said, "Don't worry, outlander. You'll get your chance at the -Minotaur." - -He stalked forward as he spoke; poised a doubled fist close by Burke's -jaw. "Just remember, though: while you're taking care of the monster, -I'll be taking care of Ariadne!" - -The poised fist lashed out. When Burke tried to jerk his head aside, -Theseus' other hand came up in a casual, almost lazy arc and slapped it -back into place. - -Fist and jaw met. Burke's brain exploded inside his skull. The -flickering lamp seemed to burst into a blaze of dazzling, kaleidoscopic -stars. - -Then, one by one, they faded. Blackness closed in.... - - - - -CHAPTER III - - -The feeling, Burke decided, basically was one of frustration--a -moiling, roiling, boiling tension that crept higher and higher as his -own helplessness became the more apparent. - -Well, what else could he expect, in a situation sprung from -monomania's loins? From the beginning, everything about this business -had had the spell of madness on it. Success, when the cards were down, -had always been too much to hope for. - -Now, thinking of it, Burke could only sigh bleakly and shake his head. - -Only that wasn't quite true, either. For his head wouldn't shake, and -his sigh held neither sound nor breath. - -How had it all come about, this nightmare? Where had it started, really? - -With the Research Professor? - -With The Girl? - -With The Director? - -But no. In his heart Burke knew that none of them held the answer. - -Because the beginning lay farther back ... so much, much farther.... - -... All the way back to the old, dormer-windowed house amid the elms, -and his childhood, and the Bowl of Minos. - -The bowl.... - -He could still remember the first time he saw it, lying in a -litter-heaped trunk up in the attic. - -Fascinated, he'd picked it up and run stubby fingers over the stylized -Minoan octopus that stood out in bold relief upon its surface, till it -seemed he could almost feel the twining tentacles' pressure. - -It brought a queer sense of excitement to him ... a sort of paradox of -feeling that made him thrill to the bowl's beauty even while he stared -at the creature that served as its decoration with a strange, shuddery -sensation close akin to horror. - -Then his mother saw what he was doing, and took the pottery vessel from -him, explaining the while about the footloose, adventuring uncle who'd -brought it here all the way from Crete. - -A lump formed in Burke's throat as he recalled her patience ... how -when she'd found him returning again and again to the attic and -the trunk, she'd brought the bowl down and given it a place on the -livingroom table, where he could examine it all at will. - -Someone even told him about Minos and Theseus and Pasiphae and Ariadne -and the Minotaur, and all the rest of the legendry that went with -Bronze Age Crete. - -Yet the legends were never quite enough. They raised too many -questions; left too much unsaid. - -The fragments of fact he picked up proved even less satisfactory. - -How had a civilization rich and powerful and advanced as that of the -Minoans ever risen on a sea-isolated island such as Crete? - -Where had the Minoans learned their skills, their arts? - -Above all, why had their culture vanished? What brought about Great -Knossos' fall? - -Questions without answers, all of them. Mysteries like the Cretan's -strange, undeciphered writing, and the final fate of lovely Princess -Ariadne, Minos' daughter, and how Theseus, bare-handed, could have -slain the mighty Minotaur. - -It was all enough to drive a seven-eight-nine-ten-year-old boy to -distraction! - -Then a careless visitor's elbow knocked the bowl to the floor. It -shattered into shards. - -At ten, a boy's too old to cry--before company, at least. So he'd -clenched his fists behind his back, and blinked back the tears, and -held his mouth to a stiff white line till he could be alone, face -pillow-muffled, behind the closed door of his room. - -And from that moment he'd known that sometime, somehow, he himself -would find his way to Crete. - -School became a place where he greedily snatched up crumbs of mythology -and history between dreary hours spent battling his way through all the -other subjects his teachers demanded that he learn. - -High school brought a broader view. He began to see the -interrelatedness of learning. Literature, chemistry, physics, -Latin--of a sudden he found he loved them all. - -Yet always, always, there ahead lay Knossos, beckoning. - -How old had he been when, avidly, he plowed his way through Sir Arthur -Evans' "Palace of Minos", groping his way by context past all the -unfamiliar words? Thirteen? Fourteen? - -By high school commencement time, he no longer cared that his parents -couldn't understand his passion for things Cretan. - -College, then. Major in anthropology, minor in classics. Greek now, -as well as Latin. Linguistics, too. Comparative cultures, technical -photography, ethnological methods, archaeological methods, museum -methods. Year after year, course after course. - -And always, the same goal. Let others weigh and choose between -Yucatan and Oceania, Murdering Beach and the Valley of the Kings. For -him--ever; always--there was only Minos and Knossos and Bronze Age -Crete. - -Dion Burke, B.A., now, Dion Burke, M.A. - - * * * * * - -Then, the last step; the final goal: the onward, upward march to Doctor -of Philosophy, Ph.D. - -Or rather, not quite: not quite Ph.D. - -And that was where The Director came in. - -Burke cursed the day he'd met him. - -A kindly soul, The Director, by his own statement, in spite of his -scowl and beetling brows and jutting, heavy-boned, prognathous jaw. So -fascinated by all things Minoan. So happy such a brilliant student had -selected this most benign of all universities as the one at which to -work for his doctorate. - -It was only a step from there to casual acquaintance with The Research -Professor. - -The Professor was the first universally-acknowledged-as-authentic -genius Burke had even known. Even the man's colleagues on the staff -of the university's Science Institute agreed that he knew more about -certain aspects of electronics than anyone alive. - -The Professor, it developed, wanted Burke's collaboration on a -project--a device he termed a "computational translator" which he felt -might solve the riddle of the mysterious Minoan language, if only its -hieroglyphics could somehow be reduced to sound. - -That was when Burke brought out his own idea, his madman's dream for -the ultimate archaeological tool. - -An inverter, he called it; a time inverter, designed to carry -researchers back bodily into the past. - -The Professor scoffed openly when Burke first told him about it. - -The second time, he frowned and tugged at his pointed chin. - -The third found him already at work. - -The computational translator, and the time inverter. Two lunatic -concepts, born of monomania and genius. - -Two concepts that, it appeared increasingly, just might work. - -Time out for Korea ... Chinese communists in quilted coats ... blood -and iron and freezing death. - -Well, at least it would pay for the rest of the doctorate, under the GI -Bill. - -If he lived through it. - -The notice of the car crash reached him at Heartbreak Ridge. - -No mother now, no father. Just an inheritance. - -More courses, more digging, more Professor's letters, pulsing -excitement and jubilation for all their veiled language. - -Home again. Back to the university. The shock of seeing at first -hand just how far The Professor had gone; how short a distance there -remained to go. - -And then, at last, The Girl, and the old line about passes and glasses -turning out not always to be true after all. - -More courses, more digging, more months slipping by. The discussions, -increasingly acerbic, as it developed that The Director was a -stiff-necked, belligerent bigot who classed Sir Arthur Evans and God in -that order when it came to authority on matters Minoan. - -The Girl, encouraging, all intellect and well-bred adoration. The -Professor, designing a new-type radiation detector to help search out -the truth about Knossos' fall, just in case they never did get the time -inverter to work properly. - -The Director, adamant. - -The inverter, failing again and and again. - -The faint, nagging disappointment of discovering that The Girl could -discuss the courtship customs of Papua and Parthia and Patagonia in -detail, yet still hold a man at arm's length here on the campus. - -But still, there was his dissertation to sustain him, his long-planned -trip to Crete to cling to. Even if it took every penny of his -inheritance, even if The Girl wouldn't marry him and go along because -he still lacked his degree, the journey couldn't help but prove -worthwhile. - -By air, to London. Then to Athens and the British School, to complete -contacts. - -Finally, down across the Aegean to Crete itself. - -He had to shove his hands deep into his pockets to hide their trembling -when first he stepped from the car at Knossos. Even seeing the -reconstructed palace with his own eyes shook him that much. - -The British, polite and helpful as they tried to hide their amusement -at the use of the detector. The Cretan workmen, exchanging glances that -said openly that he was surely mad. - -And then, the needle, going crazy--trying to bounce clear off the dial. -The headphones, buzzing till his ears hurt. - -Endless hours of aching to talk to someone, yet not daring. Long days -when the right words for the dissertation just wouldn't come. - -And the words had to be right, exactly. He couldn't content himself -with anything less. The whole dissertation--every page, every sentence, -must be logic-grounded, solidly-documented, overwhelming evidence to -prove his hypothesized explanation of the fall of Knossos. - -He finished it, finally ... came home again ... turned in the first -draft.... - -Then came that day in The Director's office. That ugly day, the last -Burke was to spend in his own time and place. - -The argument; the tempers, rising. - -The Director--face flushed, jaw outthrust: "You young whelp, how dare -you contradict Sir Arthur Evans? Would you set yourself up on a level -with Hogarth? Pendlebury? Wace?" And then, the final knife-thrust: -"Very well; have it your way. But so far as I'm concerned, I'll not -accept this dissertation, now or ever. And so long as I'm here, you'll -receive no doctorate, let alone a recommendation of any sort!" - -Exit The Director. Forever. - -Then, The Girl: "But Dion! Why did you have to be so stubborn? You -could at least have kept your opinions to yourself till later. -Now--well, how much of a field is there for an archaeologist with only -an M. A. degree? You might as well forget Crete right now. And for my -part, I must admit the idea of being the wife of an instructor in some -second-rate college, at four thousand a year hardly appeals to me." - -Exit The Girl. Forever. - -The Research Professor, finally: "Damn it, Burke, I just don't dare to -back you on it! Old Ape-Jaw's got the president's ear. If I even let it -be known I designed that detector, I'll be operating this laboratory on -a negative budget next biennium." - -Exit The Professor. Forever. - -In spirit, at least. - -In body, though, he still might have his uses. - - * * * * * - -Burke held his voice carefully level. "In other words, then, you won't -even let me use your name as supporting authority for my statement -that the ruins at Knossos still show radiation traces?" - -The Professor: "I'm sorry, Dion." - -"But the time inverter--" - -"Are you completely insane, boy? I built that thing with university -funds. If anyone should find out about it, and that I didn't have -proper authorization for it--well, all I've got to say is that I'm -going to junk it first thing in the morning, before The Director has a -chance to snoop around." - -What happens to a man when he plunges into that deep a pit? How many -blows can he take before he cracks? - -Burke didn't even recognize that it was raining when he stepped out -into the street. - -Dully, he tramped through the gathering dusk. Block after block, mile -after mile, hardly aware that his clothes clung to his body, soaked, or -that water sloshed in and out of his shoes with every step. - -Slowly, then, his thoughts began to sort themselves into some sort of -order. A little at a time, conclusions took form and gave strength. - -When it came right down to it, he didn't give a hang whether he ever -achieved a Ph. D. degree or not. - -So to hell with The Director! - -As for security, a job, he'd lived through Heartbreak Ridge; and after -that, any more economic peril came out as strictly anticlimax. - -Losing The Girl--well, he had no choice but to admit it bruised his -ego. Yet, on the other hand, it relieved him of all the gnawing inner -doubts, the secret hesitations at her coolness. - -The Professor? Another disappointment. But the mere fact that an idol's -feet turned out to be of clay hardly rated as a unique discovery. - -At any rate, he'd survive it. - -So, what did that leave of his losses? - -He cringed. - -That was the way with dreams. They were so hard to give up. - -And he'd worked towards this one for so long. - -Now, there was nothing left to do but face the facts: he'd never have a -chance at Crete; never really know for sure why Knossos fell. - -Unless-- - -Burke stopped short. - -What had The Professor said? That he'd destroy the time inverter first -thing tomorrow morning? - -Which still left tonight, didn't it? - -It was a thought to appall any man in his right mind. For while The -Professor admitted to small progress with the machine, he also said -frankly that he was completely stymied in the most vital area: while -he had succeeded in transporting objects from present to past on an -experimental basis, he couldn't move them even an instant into the -future. - -Carrying this a step further, anything sent into the past stayed there. -It couldn't be returned to the present. - -And that meant that if anyone named Dion Burke should prove so mad as -to send himself back to Bronze Age Crete, there he'd stay, with no -chance ever of return to Twentieth Century United States. - -It was a thought to numb a man. - -Yet, was it really so insane? - -After all, what was more important to him than that he learn the truth -about the fall of ancient Knossos? What else could satisfy him, after -all these years? - -Even if he died, it wouldn't matter too much. His parents were already -gone, his friends mostly on the casual side. - -For the first time, now, it dawned on Burke that rain was splattering -in his face. It felt good. His clothes and shoes--he didn't even care -that they were ruined. - -Pivoting, he started the long tramp back to his apartment. - -There, for comfort, he took a hot shower; then put on a clean, dry -outfit. - -It seemed like a good idea, also, to check his watch, fill his -cigarette lighter, and stow the old five-shot Smith & Wesson -thirty-eight he'd inherited from his father in the waistband of his -trousers. - -By the time he'd completed all such arrangements, the rain had stopped. -Here and there, stars shone amid the thin clouds overhead. - - * * * * * - -Head up, shoulders back, Burke strolled along the wet, glistening walk -towards the campus. He felt somehow detached, apart from the world -about him, and it was a good feeling, even though he also enjoyed the -smell of the rain-soaked earth, and the way leaves had piled up in -little dams along the gutter, and the hissing, whispering sound of -tires on wet pavement every time a car went by. Once he even caught -himself smiling a little, a small, quiet, secret smile, over the way -The Director and The Girl and The Professor each in turn had looked as -they took their stands and walked out of his life. - -The main door of the Science Institute was still unlocked, so Burke -went on in, pausing only to nod pleasantly to a campus policeman who -happened to pass by at the moment. - -The laboratory had a glass-paned door. Without hesitation, Burke rapped -a hole in it with the butt of his revolver, reached in long enough -to turn back the bolt, then stepped inside and locked the door again -behind him. - -Now he turned to the inner room where The Professor dealt with his most -private matters. - -The first thing he noted upon entering was a cluttered desk, on one -corner of which lay a flat box perhaps five by eight by two inches in -size. - -That pleased him, for by its grilled front he recognized the thing as -the incredible, transistor-packed device The Professor described as a -"computational translator." Experiments with assorted foreign students -and American Indians of various tribes indicated that it would enable a -man to conduct a successful two-way conversation in any language. - -Strapping the box in place flat against his belly, Burke moved on past -the desk. - -Beyond it, around a corner, loomed the time inverter. - -It was a cumbersome-looking thing, a cramped platform suspended amid -grids of wire. Each grid, in turn, fitted within a larger framework -appropriately equipped with calibrated spindles, so that the grids' -relative position to each other and to the inner platform could be -adjusted at will. - -To one side, a neat control-board occupied a wall-space. A larger area -was given over to a screen somewhat like that of a television set. - -Warily, Burke picked his way over to the screen. Now that he was here, -his stomach showed a strong tendency to quiver. Despite all the long -nights he'd spent in this room with The Professor, he found himself -doubting his own ability to operate the inverter. As for the theory of -the thing, that was completely beyond him. - -But it was no time for doubt. Switching on the power, Burke carefully -set about adjusting the control dials. - -Latitude and longitude came first, down to minutes and then seconds. -A moment's tuning, and Crete and then the Great Palace of Knossos lay -before him on the scanner screen. - -Falling back a step, Burke rubbed the nape of his neck where it ached -from strain. - -Time adjustment, now. A new set of dials. - -The screen changed before his eyes. The work of excavation and -reconstruction vanished. Off to one side, olive groves appeared. Then a -building with unmistakably Byzantine architecture flashed on. - -Again Burke twisted the dial. Again. - -Now whole towns came and went. One moment, the screen showed neat huts -and cultivated fields; the next, ruins or no buildings at all. - -But never a trace of people. People moved too quickly for even the -finest settings of the time-spindles to show them. - -Farther back ... farther ... farther.... - -And now there was only a great, dark ring on the hillside to mark the -palace. Wall-blocks and pillars lay strewn like scorched blocks in all -directions. It was as if lightning had blasted the very earth. The few -huts to be seen stood far off, as if the site of Knossos were a place -accursed, to be avoided under pain of death. - -A chill touched Burke; and though he'd seen this sight a dozen times -before, his fingers trembled. - -Back farther ... farther.... - -As swiftly as it had darkened, the screen came bright. The palace rose -again, white gypsum walls and columns aglisten in the sunlight. - -Skillfully, Burke adjusted the detail dial, working forward again to -the moment when the palace had crumbled. - - * * * * * - -The disaster came at night; that was plain to see. And so fast that the -screen could not record the instant when it happened. One second, the -buildings were there, solid as only rock could make them. - -The next, there were only dark, blighted ruins. - -Of course, the destruction could conceivably have taken hours, yet -still show as instantaneous on the scanner. - -But if a man were to go back to a time, say, twelve hours before the -cataclysm.... - -He'd need to choose the right place, too ... somewhere out of the line -of palace traffic--that apartment off the Queen's Megaron, for instance. - -Not too steadily, Burke set the dials; then straightened. - -The realization of his own folly flooded through him in the same -instant. - -How could anyone be so mad as to sacrifice his life on the altar of -sheer intellectual curiosity? What did it matter if he never knew why -Knossos fell? To go through with this because he'd been intrigued by an -octopus-decorated Minoan bowl as a child of seven--it was absurd. His -place was here--in his own time, his own land. To think otherwise could -only be evidence of gross imbalance. - -He started to reach for the main switch; to turn off the inverter. - -Simultaneously, a hand rattled the knob of the laboratory's outer door. - -Burke froze. - -Now a key clicked in the lock. A voice--the voice of the campus -policeman--called, "All right, you! Come on out! We know you're there!" - -And then, not quite so plainly, the voice of The Professor: "Be -careful, officer. He's been acting queerly--thinks I've some kind of -strange machine in there. What he needs is a psychiatrist. But till we -can get him to one, he may be dangerous." - -The Professor, coppering his bets ... taking no chances on trouble over -having misused university funds to finance a private project. - -Not even if it involved proclaiming a friend insane. - -The final straw, piled on the camel's back. - -And only one way out. - -Savagely, Burke whipped the Smith & Wesson from his belt; then, -tight-lipped, flicked a quick glance along the dials. - -The inverter was as ready as it ever would be. - -Breathing hard, Burke slid between the wire grids; stepped up onto the -cramped central platform. - -From the outer room: "Come out, now, Burke! You'll have a chance to -prove you're sane--just a few tests, a month or two of observation--" - -Burke gripped the activating switch, the lever that would throw full -power into the grids. - -Again, then, he hesitated. - -The campus policeman's head appeared around the corner, peering. To -one side, The Professor cried out. "The inverter--! Stop him!" - -It was like a wire snapping in Burke's brain. He fired a single shot, -high, and simultaneously threw the activating switch in one swift, -coordinated flow of motion. - -The grid-wires glowed. A tingle of energy pulsed through Burke's body. - -The laboratory disappeared.... - - - - -CHAPTER IV - - -Burke heard the voices first--strange voices, speaking in a strange -language. - -The room came clear a moment later, cool and shadowy. Burke recognized -it by its shape, and by the distinctive relief in painted stucco on one -wall. - -So his calculations had been correct. He'd landed in the apartment off -the Queen's Megaron. - -Cat-like, he moved towards the room's doorway, the voices. - -The speakers were man and woman, apparently. And when Burke flicked the -switch of the computational translator strapped tight to his belly, he -found he could understand them almost as well as if they'd been talking -English. - -"... and you're a pretty thing, you know," the man was saying. "As a -matter of fact...." - -His voice trailed off, the last words lost in a rising feminine giggle. -"Master Theseus! You're here to see my mistress, not me--" - -Warily, Burke peered through the grating of a sort of grilled divider -that helped to separate room from room. - -The chamber beyond was larger than the one in which he stood. Brighter, -too--a typical Minoan light-well spilled noonday sun clear along one -side. The furnishings and the octopus frescoes on the wall showed an -opulence that spoke of nothing less than royalty. - -As for the man and the woman, they were alone in the room, and playing -a game as old as time. That is, the man was trying to catch the -woman--girl, really--while she strove to stay out of his reach. - -Burke decided he could have taken her efforts more seriously if she -hadn't kept giggling--not to mention slowing whenever the man gave any -sign of pausing in his pursuit. - -Then, abruptly, the man leaped across a low table, cutting her off. - -The girl promptly tripped, and fell into his arms. - -The embrace that followed was a trifle too prolonged for Burke's -tastes. When it ended, the girl sighed, starry-eyed, and ran long, -supple fingers through her companion's short black hair. "How can a -warrior such as you, a hero, even look at a serving-wench like me, -Master Theseus?" she murmured. - -The man straightened and swelled out his chest; and now Burke saw that -he was not only a good six feet tall and powerfully built, but handsome -in a somewhat coarse, heavy-featured way. - -"I'll deny no wench my favors just because she's of a lower station," -he proclaimed pompously. "I've no doubt you'll keep a man as warm as -this Princess Ariadne who's your mistress." - -The girl giggled. "You mustn't say such things, Master Theseus! -Ariadne's the loveliest woman in all Knossos." - -"What--?" Theseus' broad brow furrowed, and he stood with mouth half -open, looking more than a little stupid. "Are you trying to confuse me, -wench? If this Ariadne's such a beauty, why must she send secretly for -prisoners from her father's dungeon in order to find lovers?" - -An uneasy shadow seemed to fall across the maid's pretty face. She -moved restlessly. "It--it's the curse of Pasiphae, Master Theseus." - -"The curse of Pasiphae--?" Theseus looked blank. "What's that, wench? -Tell me of it." - -"Of the curse?" The girl's smile grew suddenly stiff, and her hands -moved in a small, nervous gesture. - -Then, quickly, she came close to her barrel-chested companion and -slipped her arms about him. "No wonder you're the pride of Athens, -Master Theseus! Close to you this way, I feel your strength. It brings -a woman all sorts of thoughts--" - -Belligerently, Theseus scowled and pushed her back. "None of that, -wench! This curse--tell me about it!" - -The girl drew a deep, unhappy breath, "If you must, then--" And, after -a moment's pause: "You know, of course, that Pasiphae is King Minos' -wife; Ariadne's mother?" - -"Yes." - -"And also that she lusted after the sacred bull of Zeus--" - -"--and so gave birth to the monster in the Labyrinth, the Minotaur? Of -course. Who hasn't heard it?" - -The maid looked round almost fearfully. "Do you not see, then, Master -Theseus? There's the curse! Ariadne's daughter of a woman who's defied -all the laws of gods and men. Who knows what evil may befall the child? -So, no youth dares even look at Ariadne, no matter how great her -beauty." - -Theseus' jaw sagged for a moment. Then he bristled. "It's not because -of my fame, then, my prowess as a lover, that she sent you to bring me -here in secret?" - -The maid bowed her head. But from his vantage-point, Burke could see -her hidden smile--quick, minx-like. "She seeks only to escape her -destiny, Master Theseus. In you, hero that you are, she sees one who -might slay the Minotaur and take her away from Crete and the scorn and -loneliness that so long have been her lot here." - -"So!" grunted Theseus. "She'd use me, would she! Me, hero of Athens!" - - * * * * * - -His scowl grew even blacker. Then, abruptly, it faded. Sweeping the -girl up bodily in his arms, he bore her to the nearest couch. "Enough -of this empty talk, wench! We've wasted too much time already on your -precious mistress!" - -The couch groaned with their joint weight. Throwing the maid back, -tilting her face up, Theseus strove to kiss her. - -But now the girl drew away, struggling in obvious earnest. "No, Master -Theseus, no! We dare not! Ariadne may come at any moment--" - -"Let her come!" Athenian pinned maid with hands and body. "Let her see -for herself who I prefer--" - -Across the room, a door opened. A slim young girl, proud-faced and -beautiful and poised, stood framed within the entry. - -On the couch, the maid gave a little shriek. "Princess Ariadne!" -Frantically, she tried to writhe free of Theseus. - -He clutched at her as she spun erect. Cloth ripped as her whole skirt -tore away, leaving her standing well-nigh naked. - -The maid's face flamed. Whirling, she darted for the grill-masked -doorway where Burke stood hiding. - -It took him off balance; it was that unexpected. Before he could even -get clear, jump back, she dodged behind the grating; crashed into him -full-tilt. - -Burke reeled back against the door-frame. - -The maid screamed. - -Like an echo, Theseus tore away the screening grillwork. - -After that, for Burke, there was no choice. Instinctively, he knew that -no matter what the cost, he must gain command of the situation. - -Snatching the Smith & Wesson from his waistband, he leveled it at -Theseus. "Stand back, you!" - -Apparently the computational translator put words and tone into -language the bull-necked Athenian could understand. He stopped short. - -Catching the maid by the shoulder, Burke shoved her, stumbling, over to -join her playmate. - -Next, Ariadne, still standing frozen beside the far door: - -"You, princess!" Burke clipped tightly. "Over here, on the double!" - -The slim girl didn't move a muscle. - -Burke snapped, "Come here, I said! Now! Do you hear me?" - -Coldly, the great dark eyes took in Burke and his so-different -garments. Then, in a voice edged with scorn, the princess asked, "And -who are you, to command the daughter of Minos in her own chambers?" - -Sweat slicked Burke's palms, his forehead. "That doesn't matter. It's -enough that I hold the power of the thunderbolt in my hand here." He -gestured with the Smith & Wesson. - -"Indeed?" Now, coolly, Ariadne strolled in his direction. "Perhaps, -then, you're a god; is that it?" - -Burke groped. "Perhaps." - -"Or more likely, you're just a thief from some far country." The girl -stood very erect before Burke, oval face even lovelier for her anger. -"What brought you to my chambers, dog? Or must I have you flayed alive -to get an answer?" - -The trouble with taking command of a situation, Burke decided, was that -you had to be willing to go all out. And he wasn't. - -At least, not with this slim young beauty. - -Desperately, he tried a final gambit. "You, Theseus! Seize her!" - -But now the Athenian's eyes had narrowed. His head came forward, just -a fraction. It had the effect of making his body loom even larger than -before. He looked belligerent and dangerous. - -Burke tried again. "Theseus--" - -"No." - -Without volition, Burke found his finger tightening on the Smith & -Wesson's trigger. - -Beside Theseus, the maid whimpered. "Master Theseus--the thunderbolts--" - -The Athenian snorted. "He's no god; he's a man. But if he reaches Minos -with a tale of having found me in the Princess Ariadne's quarters, I'll -be a long time dying." He licked thick lips. "No. Better that _he_ -should die. Here. Now." - -He lunged at Burke. - -Leaping aside, Burke thrust a foot between his charging adversary's -legs. - -The Athenian lurched wildly, clawing at the air. - -Gun high for a quick blow, Burke leaped in close behind him. - -Only then, incredibly, the other was whirling on one foot, with all the -grace and skill of a ballet dancer. - -Simultaneously, the other foot whipped up, kicking for Burke's groin. - -With a desperate effort, Burke caught the blow on his forearms. - -But now it was he who'd been feinted off balance. Before he could -recover, a left-handed blow sent him tottering backwards. - -Then he hit a couch. His knees hinged. He sprawled belly-up exposed and -helpless. - - * * * * * - -Like lightning, Theseus seized a great stone jar, a pithoi. Muscles -bulging, with unbelievable strength he swung it high above his head, -poised to dash down on Burke. - -Burke jerked his revolver up and fired in one spasmodic movement, -straight at the pithoi. - -Gun-thunder echoed through the chamber. The great jar shattered, -cascading slack-jawed Theseus with shards and oil. - -Burke rolled from the couch and stumbled to a new defense-point against -the nearest wall. - -But one shot had been enough for the Hero of Athens. He still stood -blank-eyed, looking more stupid than ever as he stared in a sort of -numb fascination at the shattered stoneware about his feet. - -As for the maid, she'd fainted. And the expression lovely Ariadne now -wore was beyond Burke's power to read. - -But already, feet were pounding in the corridor outside. Guards poured -into the room, half-a-dozen of them--great, strapping blacks with -spears and swords and shields. - -Six guards ... and only three shots left in the revolver. - -Now the Cretan who seemed to be in command of the Negroes looked about -uncertainly. "What happened, princess?" he asked. "Who are these men, -these strangers?" - -For a moment, Burke thought, a smile almost flickered at the corners of -Ariadne's mouth. - -Then, coolly, she said, "They're strangers to me, too, warrior. I only -know that when I came in, this one"--a gesture to Burke--"was tearing -the clothes from my maid. Then, he swore he'd possess me, also, and -would have, had it not been that this other,"--the gesture was to -Theseus this time--"fought to save me." - -The Cretan's nostrils flared. He spat an order to the guards: "This dog -is yours. Slay him!" - -Burke's stomach churned. It was all he could do to breathe. - -Was this the way his dream must end--here, now, before he'd even -learned the secret he'd come after? - -Only then, as the blacks started forward, Ariadne spoke again: "No, -guards! Don't kill him!" And slowly, calculatingly, dark eyes strangely -brooding: "For this man says he's a god, and for such a blasphemer a -quick death is too good. - -"So, let him live--to face my father, Minos!" - - - - -CHAPTER V - - -The place was called the Shrine of Oracles, Burke gathered. It -featured distinctively Minoan pillars--of cypress, and so tapered as to -be smaller at the base than at the top. - -Also, it stank with a peculiar, acrid odor. - -But beyond that, to Burke, it seemed disappointingly ordinary ... -hardly colorful enough to rate the trial of a man accused of playing -god. - -That is, so it appeared until his captors dragged him into a central -room ... and there, black-browed and haughty, sat bearded Minos on his -throne. - -A chill ran through Burke. Never had he seen such malevolence staring -out of human eyes. - -For his own part, it would be the supreme test of his skill and daring -if he even left this room alive. With all his heart, he wished he had -the Smith & Wesson back. - -Lacking it, he'd have to rely upon his wits and play the scene by ear. - -And that brought up another nagging question: why had Ariadne insisted -on possessing herself of the weapon? And why did she take such pains -to stay well separated from him, with others of his captors always in -between? - -Studying her now, it once again came home to Burke that she was indeed -a strange, a tragic figure, for all her loveliness. For even here, in -the presence of the mighty sea-king who was her father, her isolation -showed up all too clearly. The guards, the priests, the nobles--as one, -they walked wide around her, as if some mark of shame and menace were -blazoned on her forehead. - -Perhaps-- - -But now Minos leaned forward upon his carved gypsum throne. "Well, -blasphemer? How do you choose to die?" - -The monarch's voice echoed the black hatred of all mankind that gleamed -with such intensity in his eyes. - -Burke forced himself to boldness. "Who says I blaspheme?" he demanded. - -"Do you deny it, then, dog?" King Minos came up from his throne in -blazing fury. "Do you dare to say that the Princess Ariadne, my own -daughter, lies?" - -"When she says I claim to be a god? No." Burke laughed harshly. And -then, with sudden inspiration: "It's only the blasphemy I deny; not the -godhood." - -"Not the godhood--?" Now Minos' eyes distended. A note of uncertainty -crept into his voice. "You mean, you stand before me claiming kinship -to the mighty ones, the lords of earth and sea and sky who rule men's -destinies?" - -"Do you doubt it?" - -"Then name yourself, mocker! Who is it you claim to be?" - -With a strange sort of detachment, Burke found himself mentally -flicking through the pantheon for some name that would fit well with -his own. - -"Well, blasphemer?" - -Burke twisted his mouth into a thin, wry smile. "Would you disown -mighty Dionysus?" he queried coolly. "Would you drive from your midst -the giver of grapes and wine and joy?" - -"Dionysus--!" In awed whispers, the name ran round the crowded room. - -For the fraction of a second, Minos' gaze flickered. - -Only then, a new storm of belligerence seemed to shake him. He strode -forward, shaking his fist. "We'll see, dog! We'll see! The oracle shall -decide!" - -The whole throne-room quivered with sudden hushed fear. - -"Make way!" roared Minos. "Make way to the shrine, that the oracle -himself may judge this mocker!" - -Then, to Burke: "--And if he declares you false, you dog, you'll wish -I'd thrown you to the Minotaur before you die!" - -He pivoted; stalked down an aisle formed by the onlookers. - -Roughly, Burke's guards shoved him along behind. A stone-walled well -loomed, with broad steps leading down. - ---The lustral area! The sacred place of purification that Sir Arthur -Evans first had assumed to be a bath! - -Only now, it was turning out in reality to be for revelation, -not purification; a holy of holies where Man could receive the -pronouncements of the gods. - -The guards let go of Burke when he reached the steps. Apparently they -had no intention of following him down into the pit itself. - -Of a sudden he felt strangely nervous. His knees showed a tendency to -shake. - -But he couldn't let that happen, and he knew it. Not if he wanted ever -to leave this weird place alive. So he straightened his shoulders and -clenched his teeth and strode boldly after King Minos. - - * * * * * - -With every step, the biting, acrid smell grew stronger. Burke almost -choked on it. He found himself wondering if perhaps the oracle spoke in -trances induced by vapors; if maybe this pit were outlet for a pocket -of some sort of natural gas. - -Not even a whisper rose from the watchers in the throne-room. The only -sound was the scrape of his own shoes upon the stone. - -Then, at last, he and Minos reached the bottom of the stair. -Dramatically, the sea-king threw wide his arms. "Mighty oracle of Zeus, -it is your chosen one who calls!" he thundered. "Speak to me! Tell -me--tell all of us--if this creature here beside me is a god!" - -Silence. - -"Speak, oracle! Give us your answer! Is this truly Dionysus? Or is it -but a man, a blasphemer we should slay?" - -More silence. - -Burke choked on a sudden impulse to laugh. To think of it--a twentieth -century man and a Bronze Age sea-king, together in this dank, smelly -hole, calling on the gods for a revelation! - -And what if the oracle's secret really turned out to be gas? Might it -prove his own salvation--or at least give him a quick and easy death? - -For instance, suppose he were to flick the wheel of his pocket -lighter--would the all-pervasive smell explode or burn? - -"Oracle, I am your chosen one, King Minos! I command you--" - -Quietly, Burke palmed the lighter. - -"Speak, oracle; speak!" - -A sudden recklessness surged through Burke. He opened his mouth to -laugh. - -And stopped stone cold. - -Because suddenly, out of nowhere, another mind was probing in his brain! - -Instinctively, he strove to force out the invader. - -The very effort gave him new insight. For now, as he fought, he knew -that the mind which he had joined in combat was not human, but alien. -Its whole quality and mode of thought were of another order, another -realm. - -Feeling that mind, fighting it, Burke all at once understood the -malevolence he'd seen in Minos' eyes. - -In the sea-king, he faced a man possessed. - -Now, the alien thing sought to possess him, too. - -Savagely, Burke met its probings. Sweating, straining, he fought it, -hate for hate, and turned it back, and drove it from his brain. - -Then, as quickly as it had come, the pressure was gone. - -But in the same instant, Minos cried out, "This is no god! This is but -a man!" - -And from the crowd above, a thunderous echo: "Yes, yes! He's but a man!" - -The bearded king turned on Burke. His sword-point scraped the grillwork -of the translator case still strapped flat against Burke's belly -beneath the clothes. "Up, dog! Up from this holy shrine and meet your -doom!" - -Bleak, dry-lipped, Burke started up the stair. - -At the top, directly ahead of him and in the front row of those -waiting, stood Ariadne. - -As he climbed, now, her eyes caught his and, burning, held them for -a moment. Then her hands moved in a quick, restricted gesture that -momentarily pulled her stylized apron to one side. - -The Smith & Wesson hung beneath it. - -Burke drew a shallow, unsteady breath. - -Six steps more and he'd be at floor level. That left no time to -question motives. - -Casually, he flipped back his lighter's lid. - -Three steps more, now. - -Another quick, shallow breath. Then, spinning the lighter's wheel with -his right thumb, he knocked Minos' sword from his back with his left -forearm and thrust flame straight at the sea-king's eyes. - -The monarch gave a choked, incoherent yell and jerked back. A shove, -and he was crashing down the stair. - -Whirling, Burke charged like a battering-ram straight into the crowd at -the head of the steps. - -Screams, scrambling, panic. Burke dived across two fallen priests, at -Ariadne. - -The next instant he had the revolver, and his free arm was locked about -her waist. When a thick-shouldered noble started towards him, swinging -a great double-axe, he fired by sheer reflex. - -The axeman stopped short, a shocked expression on his face and a hole -in his chest. When he fell, the whole throne-room sounded with the -hiss of breaths sharply indrawn. - -Burke rapped, "I'm leaving. Your princess goes with me. Try to stop me -and she dies!" - -Out the door, then. Down a corridor. - -Ariadne whispered, "Quick, my lord Dionysus! Up this stair, here!" - -More halls, more stairways. Big rooms and little. - -Finally, a tiny, windowless cubicle opening off a light-well. - - * * * * * - -Burke turned to Ariadne. "All right, princess. We'll hide here till -dark, then get you out of Knossos." - -A look of strain came to the girl's face. "My lord, it--it cannot be." - -"It can't?" - -"No, my lord. We--I--I dare not leave the palace. My father's -men--they'd run me down within a finger's-breadth of time." - -"Oh?" Burke studied her. "Tell me, princess, what makes you so sure?" - -"It--it is the Minotaur, my brother." Ariadne's face took on a -heightened color. "You see, Lord Dionysus, at my father's will the -monster holds me here within the palace. No matter how I try to hide or -run away, always he tracks me down." - -Burke stood very still. "He--tracks you down--?" - -"Yes, my lord." The girl raised a restless hand to smooth her jet-black -hair. "His mind--it follows mine, you see. So when I would flee, he -sends pursuers to drag me back." And then: "Lord Dion, I confess: at -first I sought to save you so that you, a god, would slay the Minotaur -and carry me away." - -"I see." - -"But now--I'm not so sure that you're a god." - -"So?" - -"So ... so...." The girl's voice broke. She hid her face. "My lord, I -know only that I bear a curse. So, you must go quickly, and forget me. -Because if you should die on my account, I--I--" - -Her words faded into sobs. - -A sudden tenderness rose in Burke. He held the shaking girl close. - -And then, all at once, the things he felt were beyond tenderness. - -It gave his problem a new dimension; added another element to -complicate his road. - -"Could it be that the Minotaur and the oracle really are one?" he asked -abruptly. - -Ariadne lifted a tear-stained face. "How did you guess, my lord?" - -"This mind-track business--do you have any idea how it works?" - -The girl's cheeks flamed. "Don't shame me, Lord Dionysus! You know -he's only--half--my brother." - -"And on account of that wild story about the sacred bull and your -mother, Pasiphae, you think he's got powers beyond the human?" Burke -snorted. "Believe me, princess, it isn't true. Either that creature's -not half a bull, or else he's not half your brother. A thing called -science says it can't be." He grinned suddenly. "My own bet's that he's -neither bull nor human. And maybe the best way to check on that is to -ask your mother a few questions." - -"Then I'll come with you!" This eagerly, from Ariadne. - -Burke shook his head. "No. We'll not risk your pretty neck on the kind -of thing I need to do." - -"To walk with a god can bring no risk, my lord." - -"That's just the trouble, princess," Burke acknowledged ruefully. "You -see, you were right. I'm a man, not a god." - -"Then all the more reason for me to stay with you." - -"There's no use arguing. It's settled." - -A small foot, stamping. "Lord Dion, I shall go!" - -"Sorry, princess." Burke smiled bleakly. "I'll see you at your quarters -later. Meanwhile...." - -He struck quick and hard, straight to her jaw, then gently stretched -her limp form on the floor.... - - - - -CHAPTER VI - - -It was a jigsaw puzzle with too many pieces, Burke decided. No matter -how he tried to analyze it, he always came out with a vital fragment or -two left over. - -Take the Minotaur. Did such a creature actually exist? Or was the thing -simply a figment of imagination? - -Assuming its existence, what about the strange mental powers with which -it had tried to probe his brain? - -Alien powers. - -Yet if it were alien, what was King Minos' relation to it? Why would a -human join hands with anything that radiated such malevolence and hate? - -Or, for that matter, what was the relation between the sea-king and -his own daughter, Ariadne? Freudians would have a field day with that -business of the mind-thing's holding her within the palace at her -father's behest. - -Finally, staying on the personal level, where did Pasiphae fit in? What -lay behind the legend of her having bribed Daedalus the Smith to build -her a wooden cow so that she could be joined with the sacred bull? -Could she actually have given birth to the Minotaur, or was that tale -merely symbolic? - -Then, looking at the larger elements, the questions that had brought -him here to start with, what was the origin of the radiation traces on -the site of Knossos? And how had the city so mysteriously fallen in a -single night? - -Questions without answers, so far. All of them. - -Further--Burke checked his watch--it was past four now, and that meant -he had only eight hours more before the palace met its doom. - -Yet he couldn't take Ariadne out till he'd somehow immobilized the -Minotaur. - -Cursing under his breath, he wondered what had become of Pasiphae; why -she wasn't where she belonged, in the Queen's Megaron. - -Now two maids appeared, an older woman between them. Hastily, Burke -flattened himself on the high ledge where he was hiding and waited to -see what would happen. - -Leading the woman to one of the low benches along the wall, the maids -spread a tapestry-like cloth for their charge to sit upon, then -withdrew. The door closed behind them. - -Burke frowned. There was a strangeness about the whole procedure that -puzzled him. Not a word had been spoken. And, once seated, the woman -hadn't moved. - -Warily, he moved a fraction closer to the edge of his ledge, so that -he could see the woman better. - -She was richly dressed, with skirts that fell in bright folds -ornamented with lotus-blossom designs. Her bodice was the most ornate -that Burke had seen. - -Yet it was her face, rather than her garments, that held the largest -part of Burke's attention. That this was Pasiphae, he could have no -doubt. The resemblance between her and Ariadne was that marked. - -The points of difference puzzled him, though. He tried to analyze them. - -And then, all at once, he knew. - -For where Ariadne's face was alive and expressive and animated, this -woman's features sagged passive and loose. Her greying hair had the -neatness of the maids' attention, but none of the flair that bespoke -personal interest. Her eyes stared out vacuous and blank upon the room. - -Burke's frown deepened. Carefully, he checked every detail again and -again. - -And then, in the position of her hands, he found the key. - -For the fingers of the left were turned up and twisted at an awkward -angle ... yet still they stayed there, minute after minute after minute. - -Burke sucked in air. "Catatonic!" he exclaimed aloud. - -The woman gave no indication that she'd heard him. - -Dropping from the ledge, he came close to her: passed his hand before -her eyes. - -Still she gave no sign of awareness. - -Burke shivered. "Pasiphae ..." he whispered. "Pasiphae!" - -No answer. - -Burke tried again: "Pasiphae, tell me about your son, the Minotaur." - -Nothing. - -"About Minos, Pasiphae. About Ariadne." - -Blank, staring eyes. - -Burke paused, considered. Then, leaning close, he whispered, "The -thing, Pasiphae; the mind-thing. The creature that comes into your -brain--" - -Without warning, Pasiphae screamed. Then, before Burke could stop -her, she was on her feet and darting past him--fleeing like a woman -possessed down a long corridor. - -Burke raced after her. - -Then, just when he thought that he would catch her, she came up short; -whirled on him, eyes suddenly wild and wide. "You! Are you one of them?" - -"One of them--?" - -"No, you're not! You don't make my head hurt like they did! They always -hurt. Always ... always...." - - * * * * * - -She sagged back against the wall. Once again, her eyes began to glaze. - -Burke said, "Minos, your husband ... is Minos one of them?" - -Startlement. "Don't take him! Don't take my baby! I won't let them have -him! I'll get him back! I will--" - -The woman struck out at Burke, then ran. - -Sickness in him, he followed. - -Only this time, she turned sharply; plunged down a narrow flight of -stairs. - -Cursing, Burke half-fell down the steps. - -It was dark at the bottom. He could see nothing of Pasiphae. But her -footsteps still sounded so, groping, he tried to follow. - -The next instant he stepped off into hip-deep water. Floundering, he -fought for balance. - -Something clutched at his legs. - -Burke bellowed aloud from sheer shock. Desperately, he tried to -scramble out of the pool. - -The thing holding him let go. Shaking, Burke dragged himself onto the -footwalk, flicked on his lighter, and stared down into the water. - -An octopus with a head nearly double the size of his own met his gaze -coldly. - -Shivering, Burke closed the lighter and felt his way, an uneasy step at -a time, along the edge of the tank. - -Then at last he met a blank wall ... found another flight of -stairs ... groped his way down them. - -Close at hand, Pasiphae screamed shrilly and ran on again. - -Abruptly, then, light, as a distant door opened. Burke sprinted towards -it. - -Beyond, when he reached the entry, lay the strangest room he'd ever -seen. - -For this was no half-barbaric Bronze Age chamber. Instead, it shimmered -with the cold fire of a blue-white metal the like of which Burke had -never seen before. Light pulsed from it--all of it, till he felt as if -he were walking in some sort of tremendous lamp. - -And there ahead, at the far end of the room, was Pasiphae. - -Again, Burke sprinted. - -Laughing wildly, the woman stepped into a cubicle. - -Like magic, she vanished. - -For an instant Burke hesitated, then entered the box-like area himself. - -This time, the room through which he'd come vanished. - -Almost instantly, then, another chamber appeared--one so vast Burke -couldn't be sure where it ended. - -A thing like a flattened cone stood in the chamber's center, looming -like a miniature mountain. - -Or perhaps one not so miniature. - -It, too, was of the shimmering, blue-white metal. Not a sign of an -opening marred its shining surface. - -And yet, Burke realized numbly, there must be ports of some sort. - -Because the thing was beyond all doubt a space-ship, a vessel designed -for interplanetary--maybe even interstellar--travel. - -It came to Burke in that moment, with grim humor, that he'd found the -answer to his questions; most of them, at any rate. - -The radiation; Knossos' downfall; the mind-thing that was the Minotaur, -or vice versa--all such came clear now. - -This was an alien colony, set down on Crete. Which meant that anything -which might befall the native population would, in the eyes of the -invaders, be seen as no great issue. - -So, this was a good place to be away from; and the quicker, the better. - -Bleakly, he looked around for Pasiphae. - -She stood cowering a dozen yards away, eyes fixed blankly on the -gigantic alien craft. - -Slowly, carefully, Burke approached her. The best idea he could think -of was to take her hand; he'd read somewhere that leading was the best -procedure in dealing with any mental case. - -Gently, he reached out. - -But when his fingers touched hers, it was as if an electric shock had -leaped between them. Screaming as before, Pasiphae ran from him. - -From him, and straight towards the space-ship. - -In frantic haste, Burke started to follow. - -Only then, all at once, there was a blinding flash that centered on the -woman. Tendrils of smoke curled up from a charred, crumbling husk. - - * * * * * - -Sick with horror, Burke stared for one brief moment. Then, at the -double, he hurried back to the cubicle from which he'd stepped. - -Now he noted that a duplicate stood beside it. Which, he assumed, meant -that this was a two-way transportation system, leading from the ship -to Knossos. How far apart the two were, he couldn't even guess at. -Miles, probably. The very fact that transportation was called for would -indicate that. - -He stepped into the second cubicle; then, a moment later, out again in -the room beneath the palace. - -It bothered him a little that he still hadn't seen any of the aliens. -He liked the idea of knowing what he was fighting. - -But that couldn't be helped. The important thing now was to act -quickly; to meet and defeat the Minotaur so that he could get Ariadne -out of the palace before it was destroyed. - -He checked his watch: nearly eight already. It was incredible how fast -time slipped away. - -Back up the stairs and through the tank-room to the Queen's Megaron. -Then out the light-well by which he'd entered, and through the -gathering dark to the Shrine of Oracles. - -Because that was where he'd have to start; he knew that from the things -he'd heard as prisoner. The entrance to the Labyrinth, the way to the -Minotaur, was through some passage in the shrine. - -Only there was a guard on the first entrance he tried, and on the -second also. - -In ten minutes he knew the truth: a mouse couldn't creep into the -shrine tonight without being run through by a Sudani spearman. - -So, he had no choice but to try a different route, the route of legend. - -First, he'd have to locate Ariadne, even though it demanded another -hair-raising human fly act, clambering down a pitch-black light-well. - -Then, through her, he'd reach Daedalus, demand a thread, plunge into -the Labyrinth. - -Only that wasn't right. The legend said Theseus did that. - -Yet Theseus was drunk, dead drunk, back there in Ariadne's quarters. - -Or was he? - -It dawned on Burke, then, that nothing but delirium could account for -such confusion. How else could he be flying and falling at once? What -other explanation would take in such a strange, shifting mixture of -past and present? - -Then, suddenly, he became aware of the cold stone beneath his back. In -a flash, he remembered how Theseus had trapped him ... forced him into -the sewer ... dragged him to the Labyrinth's one secret entrance ... -struck him down.... - - - - -CHAPTER VII - - -Consciousness returned to Burke with dragging steps. - -Perhaps that was because the place in which he now lay was so dark. It -stayed that way even when his bruised jaw and aching head told him for -certain that this was reality, not delusion. No matter how he strained -his eyes, he could see absolutely nothing. - -Not that it mattered. Because he knew where he was, beyond mistaking. -His nose told him, picking up the acrid scent that had been so -all-pervasive in the Shrine of Oracles. - -Only here, it was worse. Here, it rose sharp and biting as the very -smell of death. - -And that meant he could be nowhere but in the Labyrinth itself! - -The thought knotted Burke's stomach. Yet when he strove to move, his -bonds held him, unyielding. - -Theseus had done this job well, Burke decided. With no trouble at all, -it could spell doom for him. - -Which brought up another question: what time was it? - -By the very fact that he remained alive, he assumed it still wasn't -midnight; that Knossos hadn't been destroyed. - -But even if he'd blacked out only for two or three minutes, the fatal -moment couldn't be far off ... not more than half an hour, at most. - -It was the kind of thought to put a man upon his mettle. Floundering, -Burke tried to break his bonds. - -It was useless. The cords wouldn't give a fraction. - -That meant he had to find some other way out. - -Twisting, he made an effort to check his pockets' contents. - -Small change, a comb, two keys, his lighter. - -_His lighter--!_ - -Involuntarily, Burke breathed faster. Squirming, writhing, he strained -to bring his bound hands to where one could reach into the proper -pocket, instead of just feeling what was there through fabric. - -Now tingling fingers told him the cords had cut off circulation. Let -his hands get too numb, and he wouldn't even be able to hold the -lighter. - -A final effort. One thumb slipped into the pocket. Burke hooked it into -the opening and heaved. - -A seam ripped, noisy in the stillness. The pocket's contents rattled on -the stone floor. - -Rolling over again, Burke groped till his trembling fingers found the -lighter. Flicking back the lid, he spun the wheel. - -Flame licked at the palm of his other hand. For a moment it was all he -could do to keep from crying out, dropping the lighter. - -But he gritted his teeth instead and, sweat streaming down his face, -forced himself to lower the lighter carefully so that it stood upright -on the floor. - -Now, once again, speed became the issue. It went without saying that -the lighter's fluid must be almost exhausted. - -If it burned out too soon--! - -Burke bit down harder. Heedless of the pain and sweat and knotting -muscles, he forced himself to thrust his wrists down so the flame could -play upon the cords. - -In seconds, the stench of searing flesh and burned cloth blotted out -the chamber's odor. Eyes squeezed tight shut as if to shut out the -agony, cursing beneath his breath, Burke strained to keep his bonds -taut and in the right position. - -Then, when it seemed that he could stand the pain no longer, a cord -snapped like a clipped wire. Another followed. - -The next instant, Burke's wrists were free. - -Sobbing soundlessly, he batted out the lighter, to save what fuel -remained. - -After that, the job became routine--a matter of stripping loose ends -of cord from his wrists; working his fingers till circulation was -restored; untying his ankles. - -The burns still hurt; and, he knew the pain would be even worse later -on. What to do about it, though--that was something else again. - -In any case, he needed light. - -Rising, once more he flicked on the lighter. - -Mostly, it revealed emptiness and shadow. But there was a lamp-stand -over to one side, so Burke made his way to it and lighted the lamp. - -Now, for the first time, he checked his watch. - -Eleven thirty five. Less than half an hour till Knossos met its doom. - -It raised a new problem: what was his own best course now? To stay -here? To go seek out the Minotaur as first planned? Or to drop back -through the open manhole he now spotted over in one corner, and put his -trust in flight? - -That last idea--it had much to commend it. For one thing, almost any -manhole where he might come up, save only this one, would put him in a -position to keep a whole skin and escape the palace, even without the -thread of Daedalus to guide him. - -For another, any attempt on his part now to slay the Minotaur was -doomed to failure in advance. Obviously. Theseus had made off with the -Smith & Wesson. Without it, or equivalent, no one could hope to meet -the monster and live. - - * * * * * - -Lamp in hand, Burke went over to the manhole and sat down on the edge, -legs dangling, in preparation for the drop into the drainage tunnel -below. - -Only then, as he momentarily hesitated there, bracing himself, his mind -turned to the one subject he most wished to avoid. - -Ariadne. - -It had to come, of course. He'd known it all along. You couldn't ignore -a woman in a moment of crisis such as this one--not when she meant as -much to you as Ariadne did to him. - -So, what would happen to her, if he dropped down through this manhole -into the sewer? - -Answer: she'd die. In less than half an hour she'd die, without note, -in the destruction of this strange, gleaming palace men called Knossos. - -And nothing he, Dion Burke, or anyone else, could do would save her, -so long as the Minotaur lived. - -Now the question became, did he care about escaping, living, if he had -to do it alone, without his lovely Ariadne? - -Burke forced himself to hesitate on that one. He didn't want to react -to it hastily, or casually, or emotionally, or without due thought and -consideration. - -The only difficulty was, a man's feelings weren't something he could -put on or take off at will, like a suit of clothes. They were part of -him, incorporated into every cell of meat and blood and bone and tissue. - -And there was the answer to his basic question: win or lose, live or -die, he'd leave Knossos only with Ariadne at his side. - -Beside, hadn't the legends said that Theseus slew the Minotaur with his -bare fists? Maybe a proxy could do likewise! - -Swinging his legs up out of the manhole, Burke scrambled to his feet, -somewhat heavily. The burns on his wrists were hurting worse now, and -he hardly felt in the best of shape to do battle with a monster. - -But it seemed he had little choice. So, lamp in hand, he moved along -the wall looking for an exit. - -It wasn't till he'd worked his way through half-a-dozen pitch-black -chambers that two things dawned on him: - -First, the solution to the problem of his scorched, seared wrists was -oil; and such was available in the jars that flanked almost every -lamp-stand. - -Second, the quickest way to the Minotaur was to follow his nose. Once -he'd located the source of the strange, acrid smell, odds were he'd -also have found the monster. - -Doused liberally with oil, Burke's wrists felt better. And it was no -feat at all to choose his path by odor. - -Yet time still seeped away ... he had a bare fifteen minutes left now, -if his watch and calculations proved right. - -How big could this cursed maze be? - -Too big, apparently. - -Then, just when despair was about to overtake him, a thin line of light -gleamed far ahead. - -A sheen of cold sweat came to Burke's palms. He moved forward more -warily, more silently, than ever. - -The light, it developed, shone from the crack beneath a door. - -Like a shadow, Burke crept close; laid his ear against the panel, -listening. - -No sound. - -Ever so gently, he laid the fingers of his left hand against the -portal; pressed slowly. - -New light appeared, washing through the crack along the jamb. - -A moment of taut waiting. Then Burke put his eye to the opening and -peered through, into a large, sumptuously-furnished room. The room of a -noble, perhaps, or even a king. - -The only thing strange about it that Burke could see was that what -appeared to be a large tank occupied the center of the room ... a tank -of shimmering, blue-white metal, utterly unlike the bronze of the -Minoans; precisely the same as the material of which the great ship in -the cave was made. - -The hair along the back of Burke's neck prickled. Moving first to one -side and then the other, he checked as large a portion of the room -beyond the door as possible. - -No occupants, so far as he could see. - -With a quick push, he sent the door all the way back, swinging wide, -while he poised rigid in the shadows. - -Still no reaction. - -Silently, Burke crossed the threshold. - -Here the acrid smell was almost overpowering; and though the room -itself was unoccupied, a strange, pulsating aura of evil seemed to flow -through it in great waves. - -Burke tip-toed to the shining, blue-white tank; peered down into it. - -It held clear liquid only. But the stink of the stuff made Burke choke -and gasp. His eyes burned. He stumbled backward, fighting for breath. - -In the same instant, cloth rustled behind him. - -Burke whirled. - - * * * * * - -A tapestry had been flung back, revealing a previously-hidden door. -Framed in it, well over seven feet tall, stood a creature Burke -couldn't believe even now, as he stared at it. - -The thing was a man, at first glance--a giant of a man, mightily -muscled. He wore nothing save the traditional Minoan loin-band. - -But it was the creature's head that held Burke; froze him. - -For instead of a human head, to match a human body, this monster had -the head of a gigantic bull, with monstrous horns and great glaring -eyes and nostrils that flared and quivered. - -Burke's hand shook so his lamp almost slopped over. A slow step at a -time, he tried to back away. - -But now, with a great bull-roar, the monster's head came down. It -lunged at him. - -Burke hurled the lamp at it. - -Incredibly fast, the thing dodged. The lamp struck the wall. Flame -leaped along the tapestry. - -But the Minotaur paid the fire no heed. Again it lunged at Burke, -spearing in at him with one of the great bull horns. - -Barely in time, Burke dived aside. Desperately, he scrambled past the -central tank, searching vainly for some weapon. When he stumbled over -a low stool, he snatched it up, glad for anything that he could use to -strike a blow. - -Another bellow. The monster launched a new charge. - -Burke swung the stool. - -But even as the blow descended, the Minotaur brought up huge hands to -stop it. Catching the stool by the legs, the creature jerked it up, -trying to wrestle it away from Burke. - -For an instant, then, they struggled, toe to toe, fighting for -possession of the stool. - -But only for an instant, for Burke knew without question what the -outcome would be; must be. No ordinary man could stand against this -hideous freak of nature. It simply was too much to hope for. - -Yet unless he won, what would happen to Ariadne? - -Fiercely, he threw all his weight onto the stool, swinging by it, -completely clear of the floor. - -Then, savagely, he slashed a foot down, so that the edge of his shoe -raked his opponent's shin from knee to ankle before it hit the instep -with smashing force. - -The Minotaur half doubled over. A hoarse gust of pain burst from its -throat. - -Burke let go the stool. With all his might, he struck straight upward, -between the monster's outstretched arms to the great bull-jaw. - -New sounds of anguish--almost human, this time. The creature lurched -forward flat-footed, off balance. - -Burke leaped back. Catching the huge horns, he gave them a tremendous -wrench, with all his weight behind it, the way he'd seen bull-doggers -handle steers at rodeos. - -Something cracked, so loud Burke could hear it even through the tumult. -He wrenched again, harder. - -A tearing sound, this time. - -The next instant, Burke tumbled to the floor. - -And that didn't make sense, because he still gripped the Minotaur's -great horns. - -Spasmodically, he threw himself to one side and over. - -Across the room, the whole length of the tapestry was in flames now, -blazing and crackling. Eddies of fire danced along the cypress beam -above it, and the door-frame. - -In front of it stood the Minotaur. - -Only now, the Minotaur had no head. - -At least, not the great bull's head. That was gone, torn away, left -to lie like a hideous mask on the floor midway between Burke and the -creature. - -Where the bull's head had been, atop the monster's mighty shoulders -was now, instead, a human head ... the tiny, distorted skull of a -microcephalic imbecile. - -And on top of that head--eyes glittering balefully; tentacles hugging -it tight to its host's skull--squatted what appeared to be a jet-black -octopus slightly less than the size of a bowling ball. - -Yet it was no octopus sprung from Earth's own waters. Burke knew -that the instant he saw it; knew it by the way the creature's eyes -fixed on him; knew it in the chill that shook him as the thing's evil -intelligence lanced forth to lock in mortal combat with him in his own -brain. - -And in a way, all that was good. At least, it relieved him of -uncertainty; demonstrated once and for all that he'd been right when -he refused to believe offspring could come from the mating of bull and -woman. - -No, that was only fable; a Bronze Age fantasy. - -The fact, quite probably, was that Pasiphae had given birth to an -imbecile who also happened by some strange quirk to be a physical giant. - -What better host for an alien telepath, a creature not adapted to -Earth as a planet or to dry-land living? - -Then, to conceal the truth, hide alien and microcephalic skull alike -beneath a great bull's head mask, and build a labyrinthine domicile -where only its victims would ever meet it face to face. - -All of which was interesting as conjecture, but hardly of practical use -to a man faced with an alien-guided, seven-foot giant as of this very -moment. - -Such thoughts--! In spite of his plight, Burke couldn't help but smile -wryly. With a strong effort of will, he forced the alien's probing -tentacles of thought out of his brain; rose slowly, warily, holding the -octopod's glittering eyes with his own. - - * * * * * - -He was on his feet now; and, once up, he became distinctly, -unpleasantly aware of the room's heat ... the billows of smoke, the -roaring of the flames that leaped along the roof-beams. - -It was time for him to leave. Definitely. - -For the fraction of a second, he let his eyes flicker towards the door. - -Like a flash, his giant foe lunged for him. Before he could duck or -dodge, he was jammed back against the wall. Great hands shoved at his -chest, pinning him. - -Desperately, Burke tried to strike back. - -His reach was too short. He couldn't land a blow. - -Now a vacuous smirk wreathed the microcephalic's loose-lipped face. The -tiny eyes shone with delight. - -There was no change in the octopod's baleful glare. - -Now the giant pushed harder ... harder.... - -Burke felt his ribs begin to give. He swung his arms wildly, clutching -in a frenzy for something--anything-- - -His hand touched an oil-jar. He clawed it to him. - -But the Minotaur merely shifted, blocking him so he couldn't strike a -blow. - -Death was very close now. Burke knew it. Another moment, and his ribs -would snap and pierce his heart, his lungs. - -A convulsive tremor shook him. Oil spilled from the jar. - -Oil--! - -With his last ounce of strength, he brought the jar up sharply, knowing -even as he did it that his foe would block the blow. - -But the oil would keep on going, maybe.... - -It hit the alien full in the face. - -Burke could feel the thing lose control of its host. Even in his own -brain, it was as if a crushing weight had suddenly been lifted. - -Simultaneously, the human giant's arms dropped. - -Burke ducked and threw himself bodily at the other's knees. - -The imbecile fell. - -And now, alien abandoned host, racing across the floor on its tentacles -towards the shimmering, blue-white tank. - -Burke snatched up a second oil-jar; hurled its contents. - -The oil slapped over the creature in a wave. Fire leaped from the -flaming tapestry to meet it. - -The next instant the alien itself was a threshing, blazing ball. - -Then a ceiling timber crashed down on it in a shower of sparks. - -The threshing stopped. - -Burke ran for the nearest door.... - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - - -She wasn't there. Even when he ran back through her rooms, calling her -name aloud, she wasn't there. - -Numbly, Burke stumbled forth again, out onto the long ascending ramp -that led to the central court. - -Over on the far side, at the Shrine of Oracles, orange-yellow flames -leaped high into the black night sky. Whipped by the buffeting south -wind, they jumped to another building while Burke watched; then on to -still another. Silhouetted figures ran this way and that--gesturing, -shouting. - -Once again, Burke checked his watch. - -Eleven fifty-five now. Only five brief minutes till the moment all -Knossos was to be destroyed, according to the time inverter's scanner -screen. - -Still Burke hesitated, straining his eyes against the night as he -strove for some glimpse of Ariadne. In taut concentration, he listened -for the distant echo of her voice. - -Without avail. - -Then, while he yet lingered, a man called out to him hoarsely. He -wheeled just as one of Minos' huge Sudani guards came hurrying in his -direction. - -It was a stimulus Burke couldn't ignore. Another moment and the man -might recognize him. Whirling, he sprinted up the nearest stairway, -then across the flat roof of the back of the building. - -A quick drop to the ground again. A daredevil slide down the steep East -Bastion. A stumbling, headlong run along the bank of the river called -Kairatos to the cover of a clump of cypress trees. - -But now that he had started running, it seemed the best idea not to -stop. On he fled, and on, clambering over boulders, careening into -ditches. - -Then, at last, he found himself in a crown of brush atop a little -knoll, a good half-mile or better from the palace. Panting, unable to -go further, Burke flung himself down in the blackest of the shadows and -lay there, staring back at the strange, stark majesty that was Knossos. - -The flames of the fire he'd started in the Labyrinth still were -spreading. Sparks swirled in the wind, carried high by blaze-stoked -updrafts; then dispersed, floating farther and farther from the central -core of heat, till at last they fell again, to ignite new buildings. - -Tearing his attention from the distant holocaust, Burke peered at his -watch once more. - -Twelve ten. - -So the zero hour had come and gone, with nothing happening save the -continued spread of the fire. - -Burke felt a little sick. Had all his efforts, his anguish, gone for -nothing? Was he to live out his life in Bronze Age Crete to no purpose -save to prove correct that part of Pendlebury's theory that said that -Knossos, dying, had been swept by fire? - -Burke cursed beneath his breath. He still couldn't, wouldn't, believe -it. It left too many loopholes. After all, what about the business of -the radiation traces he'd detected; the blighted circle that showed on -the scanner screen? Why, for so many hundred years, had Cretans shunned -the site of their ancient glory? - -Then, too there were his own personal experiences of the past few hours -to think of. Pasiphae's monstrous imbecile son; the octopodal alien -telepath--what roles did they play? - -Not to mention the great, shimmering, blue-white ship hidden deep -within the earth. - -Certainly Pendlebury's theory offered little save the detail of the -fire to commend it. The invasion part, the idea that outsiders had -swept down on the palace with torch and sword--that simply wasn't true. - -Not unless he, Dion Burke, might be said to constitute a whole task -force in himself, just because by accident he'd set the Labyrinth -ablaze. - -As for his hopes, his dreams, the way he felt towards Ariadne-- - -A wave of sheer frustration came with the thought. Savagely, Burke -hammered the dirt with a clenched fist. Then, breathing hard, he -scrambled to his feet. - -Only in that same moment, a sound pulsed in upon him ... a high, thin, -wailing sound that rose in sudden sharp crescendo. - -Burke spun round. - -But before he could even place the noise, the earth beneath his feet -began to shake. A roar, louder and deeper than the bellow of a thousand -angry bulls, thundered up to counterpoint the wail. - -Simultaneously, light flared, so blinding bright Burke had to throw up -his arms to shield his eyes. - -The glare seemed to come from the southeast, off in the direction where -Mount Lasithi's rocky pinnacles rose. - -Mount Lasithi, whose towering, cliff-girt bastions shielded the sacred -Cave of Zeus.... - -While Burke cringed, the radiance seemed to fade a little. The -earth-shaking roar diminished also. The shrill wail struck a slightly -less ear-piercing note. - -Another moment, and Burke dared to squint skyward once more. - -What he saw made the hair stand up along the back of his neck. - -For off there, to the southeast, a great spray of light radiated out -from Mount Lasithi. Before his very eyes, the whole crest seemed to -split asunder. Rocky buttresses crumbled. Great crags and ledges split -away. - -Up from among them rose a huge, flattened, metallic cone--the -blue-white ship at which Burke had stared in awe brief hours before. - - * * * * * - -Light pulsed from it now, as if it were a miniature sun. Rock fell away -from the craft in avalanches as it broke free of the mountain. - -Now the light drew into a single, broad, fan-shaped shaft that thrust -down from the ship's base to the rugged terrain of the shattered -mountain below. The thing began to climb, faster and faster. - -Then, as it gained altitude, it swung round in a tremendous, wheeling -circle ... swung round, and then straightened, and lanced earthward -once more, straight for the flaming tumult that was Knossos. - -Burke threw himself flat in the dirt. - -It was wasted caution. He might as well not have been there. The alien -ship went wide of him by miles. - -Another moment, and it was hovering over Knossos; leveling off till its -base was parallel to the ground below. - -Slowly, slowly, then it descended, riding down on its fan-shaped shaft -of light till it hung bare feet above the tops of the buildings. For an -instant, Burke thought it must surely be going to land. - -But no. For suddenly, the light-shaft pulsed brighter by a dozen, a -hundred, a thousand times. The ship spun in a low, flat circle that -carried it over the entire area of the palace and surrounding grounds -in seconds. - -Then the wailing sound went shrill again--so shrill Burke clapped his -hands over his ears. The ship peeled away from the palace and lanced -into the sky like an electron-streak. In a flash, it was gone--gone -from Knossos, from Crete, from Earth itself ... a dim and distant -pinpoint, sparkling as it faded away, incredibly fast, into the night. - -Numbly, Burke turned once more to the palace. - -So far as he could see from this vantage-point, no sign of life -remained. It was as if a giant hammer had smashed down on it; reduced -it to a heap of tumbled stone. Even the fires were dead. - -And Ariadne--? - -Burke couldn't let himself think about her. Better to marvel at the -alien ship, with its pulsing power that shattered mountains and wiped -out cities. Better to grope for some bitter tendril of satisfaction -that at last he'd learned the truth about the palace's destruction. - -As if that would do him any good now. - -Because always, always, fight as he might against it, Ariadne was in -his mind and heart alike. - -Yet perhaps she'd survived. After all, he'd not been able to find her -in her quarters. And she'd promised to meet him--where was it?--on the -headland to the left of the mouth of the River of Amnissus. - -At least, hunting for her would give him something to do; something to -occupy his muscles and maybe, even, a small part of his brain. - -So, now, he rose; turned towards the sea. - -It was nearly dawn before he found his way to the headland. By then, -the wind had died, and the sky in the east lay grey as the whispering, -slate-colored waves. - -A spark of tension came to life within Burke. Suddenly eager, heedless -of fatigue, he clawed his way to the headland's highest point and -scanned the whole area. - -No sign of Ariadne. - -The spark flickered; died. Dully, Burke stared out across the shadowy -sea. - -His life from now on would be like that: grey; all grey. - -It didn't even matter that now he could see the hidden pattern behind -the rise of Bronze Age Crete. - -The alien ship's presence was, of course, the key. - -Obviously, that ship had brought the biggest part of so-called Minoan -culture with it. That was why Cretan civilization had flowered so -incredibly fast. Perhaps even the Minoans themselves had arrived on -Earth aboard the craft, as dry-land slaves in the service of masters -better adapted to a liquid environment. - -Why had the aliens come? That was a question harder to answer. -But whether because of external foes or internal problems, the -creatures had been looking for a new world to colonize. And since -the Mediterranean teemed with octopi, Cephalopoda, no doubt Crete -had offered advantages. Maybe there'd been experiments--attempts -to cross-breed the superior, telepathic aliens with the -less-highly-developed native octopi. Or perhaps the intruders had -merely sought to adapt themselves to life in water, rather than the -smelly stuff in the Labyrinth tank. - -In any case, they'd held Crete for a long, long time--the way they'd -buried their ship in the heart of Mount Lasithi proved that. - -Minos, in turn, had played the role of a Quisling, power-hungry -intermediary between his own race and the aliens. To hold his kingship, -he'd had Daedalus build the Labyrinth, to serve as quarters for the -alien overseer who, in the guise of oracle, held final power in -Knossos. And when a human host for this octopodal commandant had been -demanded--a man to serve as transportation for the creature--Minos had -blackened his wife's name and dedicated his imbecile son to the duty. - -Or perhaps he hadn't. Perhaps he'd done the things he'd done -reluctantly, and only in order to save his people from alien wrath such -as had struck tonight. - -In any case, the death of the alien in the Labyrinth had served -as trigger for the disaster. One of their number slain, the -extraterrestrials no doubt had concluded Earth unsafe, and so had fled -back to the outer space from which they'd come. - -Which meant that the alien's slayer was also responsible for Knossos' -fall ... the death that had struck down all the hundreds trapped in the -now-blighted palace area tonight. - -Burke shivered. - -Only there was another side to that, too. - -For instance, suppose he'd stayed in his own time; never come to Crete, -nor slain the Minotaur? - -Where would that leave Earth? As an alien outpost, overrun with -telepathic octopodal horrors, while Man survived as mere serfs to carry -out the bidding of the master race? - -Again, questions without answers. - -Burke's shoulders shook. - -But then, while he still stood brooding--fatigue-worn, lame, -half-sick--the first pale fingers of the sun began to touch the horizon -with rose. - - * * * * * - -Turning, Burke stared down at the river and the tiny port village near -its mouth. - -As if his move had been a signal, there was a sudden stir of activity. -Men hurried to and fro along the water's edge. A Greek long ship pushed -out from shore. - -Now those aboard the craft hoisted its sail. - -A black sail. - -Involuntarily, Burke stiffened. - -Because the black sail made it Theseus' ship. - -And legend said Theseus left Crete with Ariadne. - -Burke ran for the point closest to the water; stared tight-lipped at -the long, slim vessel. - -Scarlet caught his eye--the scarlet of a woman's bright-striped cloak. - -The same cloak Ariadne had swirled for him so prettily, perhaps--? - -Burke dived from his point, straight down into the river. With all his -strength, he swam to intercept the slowly-drifting long ship. - -Now those aboard had glimpsed him. Men pointed. Women's voices rose, -thin on the morning breeze. - -Burke plowed the water closer ... closer.... - -And now a brawny, familiar figure came striding to the bow: Theseus, -Hero of Athens. - -Burke swam the harder. Just a dozen strokes more-- - -Almost, it seemed as if he could reach out and touch Theseus. - -The Athenian leaned forward--face stiff, teeth bared, eyes bright with -malice. Then his arm came up and back, and Burke saw he gripped a spear. - -Theseus hurled the weapon in the same instant. - -Desperately, Burke tried to throw himself aside. - -But the waves, the water, slowed his movements. The spear struck home, -deep in his shoulder. - -In spite of himself, Burke cried out. - -And now Theseus caught up another spear and poised to throw it. - -Burke drove the air from his lungs in a gust. He sank like a rock, -turning over and over, as the rush of the Amnissus into the sea carried -him along. - -But at least there were no more spears; and after a long moment when -it seemed his lungs must surely burst, he fought his way back to the -surface, and drank in air, and then floated till he could grit his -teeth and tear Theseus' javelin from his shoulder. - -After that, there was the long swim back to shore--a swim against -the current, this time. By the time Burke made it, Theseus' ship was -toy-size in the distance. - -For his own part, and what with fatigue and pain and loss of blood, -Burke wasn't at all sure that he cared whether he lived or died. -Stumbling up from the water onto a narrow strip of beach, he crumpled -face-down before he'd gone ten steps. - -Half in delirium, thinking of Ariadne, he almost sobbed aloud. - -The delirium grew. He knew it did, because now he could even hear her -calling to him dimly, as from afar. - -Only then the voice came closer: "Dion, Dion! Please, my lord Dion, -speak to me!" - -Hands lifted his head; cradled it in soft arms. Tender fingers smoothed -his hair and brushed the sand from his face. - -With a tremendous effort, Burke opened his eyes. - -And there was Ariadne. - -It took him a full minute to know he wasn't dreaming, or in that dark -half-world between reality and hallucination. - -Then, at last, incredibly, it was true, and she was with him, her salt -tears spattering his face faster than she could wipe them away. "Oh, my -lord Dion ..." she whispered, again and again, "My Dion, my Dion!" - -Burke said hoarsely, "Ariadne, what happened? I thought--How'd you get -here?" - -"How indeed, my lord Dion!" Of a sudden the slim princess was laughing -through her tears. "I walked, as you did, though it took me longer, for -I wanted to be sure we were free of that dog Theseus before I joined -you." - -"Free of Theseus--?" - -"Of course. When he came seeking me at my quarters in the night I fled, -then followed him, till I knew for certain he was aboard his ship." - -And that brought up another matter: "But--the cloak--the woman--" - -"The woman?" Never had Ariadne looked more a picture of wide-eyed -innocence. "I do not understand, my lord." - -Burke gave her back stare for stare, holding his tongue; and after a -moment, with a sound suspiciously like a giggle, she murmured, "It -could not be my maid you mean, could it, my lord?" - -"Your maid--?" - -"Yes, the peasant girl who found such favor with Theseus." Ariadne's -dark eyes held more than a hint of laughter. "I thought it only fitting -that he be rewarded for his efforts, Lord Dion. So I wrapped the wench -in my cloak and told her that if she kept her face hidden and played -the role of Princess Ariadne long enough and well enough, she might end -up as Theseus' queen." - -The picture was perfect. Burke laughed till he feared he'd open his -wound again. - - * * * * * - -Ariadne laughed with him for a moment, then sobered. "I meant what -I told her, Lord Dion. She's a clever girl, and Theseus can see no -farther than the nearest bed. By the time he reaches Athens, she may -have him so in her toils as not to be able to bear the thought of -parting from her." - -Burke smiled wryly; shook his head. "I'm sorry, Ariadne. It won't work. -Theseus isn't going to like being tricked. So when he puts in at Naxos, -he'll leave your maid behind." - -Ariadne's great eyes widened. "And--Theseus himself--?" - -"When he reaches Athens, he'll find his father dead." - -"I see." The slim, lovely princess nodded slowly. "And then, you'll go -to Athens, and you'll kill him. And after that, if my father, Minos, -still lives, you'll kill him, too. And then--" - -Burke said, "No, princess." - -"No--?" she stared. "What do you mean?" - -"I mean, I'm all through killing." - -Burke shifted, trying to ease his wound. "You see, Ariadne, I don't -need to kill anyone. Because Theseus isn't stupid, really, and after -all this trouble here, he's going to settle down and make Athens a good -king. - -"As for your father, he's alive. But we don't need to worry any more -about him. All he's thinking of is avenging himself on Daedalus for -helping us. Only Daedalus is going to get away to the court of King -Cocalus, in Sicily, and Cocalus' daughter will kill Minos." - -It was a long speech. When he'd finished, Ariadne brought up her hands -and crossed them on her firm, bared breasts. "It is good to know what -the future holds, my lord Dionysus. I thank you." - -Quick irritation touched Burke. "Damn it, girl, I'm not--" - -He stopped short. - -That line he'd half spoken--the one about him not being Dionysus, not a -god; just plain Dion Burke? - -Was it true, really? - -After all, in a world as primitive as this, what was a god but a man -who knew spectacularly more than his fellows? - -So, wasn't Ariadne maybe right? Wasn't the Dionysus of legend maybe -just plain Dion Burke, twentieth century man, set down in Bronze Age -Crete with his name corrupted to fit the language and the era? - -And in that case-- - -Ariadne squirmed a little and began to smooth his hair again. Her hand -trembled, ever so slightly. Her voice, too. She whispered, "My lord, -this talk of days to come--would you tell me about--about--" - -"About you, you mean? About your own future?" - -Ariadne hid her face. Her words came tremulous and muffled. "Yes, yes, -my lord!" - -Burke couldn't help but smile a little. It was a good thing he -practically knew his classical mythology by heart. - -And there was nothing quite like time travel to make a man's -predictions work out. - -Shifting, he brought his good arm up so he could hold Ariadne. Then, -very gently, he began: "You needn't fear, my princess. You and -I--we'll go to Lemnos, make our home there. Then, we'll have four -children--Thoas, Staphylus, Oenopion, Peparthus...." - -It was a good story, even if somewhat foreshortened by the fact that -Ariadne stopped it with her lips. - -Then, abruptly, she halted the new activity, too, saying, "My lord -Dionysus, Lemnos is a far place. We'd better try to find a ship before -the sun climbs higher into the sky." - -Together, they got up, then, and moved slowly down the beach towards -the tiny harbor town. - -As for the sun, Burke decided it had never shone on a finer day. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BATTLE OUT OF TIME *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where - you are located before using this eBook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that: - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/65394-0.zip b/old/65394-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 06c4238..0000000 --- a/old/65394-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65394-h.zip b/old/65394-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index fd0fcaf..0000000 --- a/old/65394-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65394-h/65394-h.htm b/old/65394-h/65394-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 55acaae..0000000 --- a/old/65394-h/65394-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3971 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Battle Out of Time, by Dwight V. Swain. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -x-ebookmaker-drop {display: none;} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - -<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Battle Out of Time, by Dwight V. Swain</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Battle Out of Time</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Dwight V. Swain</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: May 20, 2021 [eBook #65394]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BATTLE OUT OF TIME ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter x-ebookmaker-drop"> - <img src="images/illusc.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>Battle Out Of Time</h1> - -<h2>By Dwight V. Swain</h2> - -<p>Burke knew of the ancient Bronze Age and<br /> -its legend of the dread Minotaur. But he didn't<br /> -know he was about to become a vital part of it!</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy<br /> -August 1957<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>An utter dark lay upon the hills outside the palace now, moonless and -with clouds drawn heavy all across the Cretan sky.</p> - -<p>Wind, too, had come with the night, rising till Burke found himself -fearing for the shutters. The lamps flared on their stands with each -new gust and draft. Light flickered orange and yellow on Ariadne's -lovely face, eddying through the shadows so that the tentacles of the -frescoed octopi on the walls seemed to writhe and twist and turn....</p> - -<p>Burke laughed without mirth. It was that mad a moment.</p> - -<p>And that dangerous.</p> - -<p>For while he might find temporary cover here with Ariadne, in these -private quarters beyond the Queen's Megaron, death yet bayed at his -heels.</p> - -<p>Already, bearded King Minos himself no doubt paced some other palace -hall—thirsting for Burke blood; raging in jealous fury that any -outlander should dare aspire to his lovely daughter.</p> - -<p>That slavering Greek lecher, Theseus, too—it was lucky he lay dead -drunk there in the corner. Sober, and confronted with a rival, he'd -kill just to salve his wounded ego.</p> - -<p>And then, as if that were not enough of peril, there was ... the other.</p> - -<p>Involuntarily, Burke shuddered.</p> - -<p>What chance did a mere human have, pitted against the dark craft of the -alien? Where could he hope to find the strength and skill and insight -to win over the strange horror from beyond the void?</p> - -<p>Yet with Ariadne's life at stake, Earth's whole future in the balance, -how could he turn back?</p> - -<p>No; he had no choice but to press on; seek out and challenge the might -of that nightmare monster men called the Minotaur.</p> - -<p>He couldn't help find it surprising, though, that in the face of such -he still had it in him to notice the play of light on decorative -motifs. Truly, the strange twist of mind that seemed to pervade this -weird Mediterranean realm had claimed him for its own!</p> - -<p>But to dare the Labyrinth, the Minotaur....</p> - -<p>Almost without thinking, Burke rested a hand on the worn Smith & Wesson -in his belt; then, bleakly, laughed again.</p> - -<p>Ariadne moved uneasily beside him. Her words came halting and -uncertain: "You—you are amused, my lord Dionysus...?"</p> - -<p>Irritation boiled up in Burke—quick anger that he should have let -himself forget even for a moment the desperate urgency of his task. -How could he play the fool so—here, now, at a time when every breath, -every second, brought inevitable disaster closer?</p> - -<p>It added up to tension that had to find an outlet. Savagely, he lashed -out at Ariadne: "For the hundredth time, girl: I'm not Dionysus, not a -god. I'm Dion Burke, that's all. A man, like any other—"</p> - -<p>Hurt came to the great dark eyes. A tear-mist veil blurred the glow of -awe and adoration. The soft lips quivered.</p> - -<p>But only for a moment. Then, contritely, the girl bowed her head. -Jet ringlets glistened in the lamplight. Bringing up slim hands, she -crossed them upon the firm young breasts that she wore bared in the -traditional Minoan style. "Your pardon, my lord...."</p> - -<p>Burke breathed in sharply. As swiftly as it had come, his anger died. -Of a sudden he wanted nothing so much as to take the girl in his -arms and draw her to him ... solace her, soothe her, hold her with a -thousand tender caresses through the endless hours of this long, black -night.</p> - -<p>Why was it always so between him and Ariadne? What was there about -this slim Minoan princess that the very sight of her should make his -firmest resolves melt? The women he'd known in his own world—they'd -been wiser, wittier; more beautiful, even, perhaps, by an objective -standard. Yet not even the one who'd hurt him most and helped to -precipitate him onto this fool's mission had stirred him a tenth as -much as Ariadne.</p> - -<p>With a curse, he reached out, pulled her to him.</p> - -<p>She came willingly, nestling against him, her lithe body soft and warm.</p> - -<p>For a long moment, Burke held her close.</p> - -<p>Only then, over in the corner, brawny, bull-necked Theseus stirred and -shifted. A noisy, wine-sodden snore broke from his open mouth.</p> - -<p>Burke stiffened.</p> - -<p>Like an echo, Ariadne's lovely oval face lifted from his shoulder. "My -lord! You do not still feel anger—?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Burke shook his head. "Forget it, princess. It's just I'm all on edge. -There's not much time—"</p> - -<p>He broke off; brought up his wrist and strained to read the watch-face.</p> - -<p>And that was good for another wry, twisted shadow of smile: a watch, -here in Bronze Age Crete ... product of the United States of America, -vintage 1954 A. D., wrenched 5,000 miles and 3300 years out of its -place and time. An anachronism to end all anachronisms.</p> - -<p>Or no, that wasn't quite true.</p> - -<p>For surely he himself was a greater anachronism than the watch, even.</p> - -<p>The bare facts alone would drive an obituary writer crazy: "Dion Burke, -archaeologist extraordinary without portfolio; born, Erie, Pa., August -9, 1929; disappeared April 14, 1957; died at Knossos, in the Great -Palace of Minos, mightiest sea-king of Crete, on some vague, early -spring date in the vicinity of 1400 B. C."</p> - -<p>Only no obituary writer would ever hear those facts. The watch, the -gun, the lighter—they'd all have sifted away to rusty dust long before -Sir Arthur Evans and his fellow-scholars came this way.</p> - -<p>Not that that mattered. Not now; not while he still had a job to do.</p> - -<p>He moved his wrist closer to the nearest of the flickering lamps, and -strained again to read the watch.</p> - -<p>Almost 10:30. Little more than an hour-and-a-half till midnight and the -moment of Knossos' doom.</p> - -<p>Sometime between now and then, he had to meet the Minotaur.</p> - -<p>For a moment he held the slim girl in his arms even closer than before. -Then, ever so gently, he moved her back away a fraction; lifted her -small, satin-smooth chin. "Ariadne...."</p> - -<p>"Yes, my lord?"</p> - -<p>"There's a thing I must do now, Ariadne. An important thing, for both -of us." A pause. "I need your help to do it."</p> - -<p>"My help—?" The dark eyes widened. "My lord knows he has only to -command. What must I do?"</p> - -<p>Carefully, Burke picked his words; strove to hold the tension from his -voice: "Among the people of this palace, there's one called Daedalus. -You know him?"</p> - -<p>"Daedalus the Smith, you mean?" The jet ringlets danced as the -girl laughed. "Of course I know him. He's chief of all my father's -craftsmen. What is it you seek of him?"</p> - -<p>Again, Burke weighed his words. "Some talk, that's all. A chance to ask -a few questions."</p> - -<p>"Talk—at this hour?" Ariadne stared.</p> - -<p>"I have no choice," Burke shrugged. "To see him by daylight would be -as much as my life is worth."</p> - -<p>"Oh."</p> - -<p>"Yes." Time for a smile now, Burke decided. His most engaging smile. -"You see, there are things the man knows, things his skill's taught -him—"</p> - -<p>Ariadne stiffened in the same instant. "Things Daedalus knows—?" For -the first time, her voice held an edge, dark shadows of suspicion. "How -could a smith know anything that means so much? What might he say that -my lord Dion had not already heard a thousand times?"</p> - -<p>"What—?" Burke felt his smile go stiff. "Why—why, many things—his -skills, his artifices—" He groped and fumbled.</p> - -<p>"No!" In a flash all Ariadne's humility of manner vanished. She thrust -Burke's restraining arm aside, defiance in the gesture. "Do you think -me a fool, my lord Dion? Daedalus the Smith holds but one secret that -such as you might seek to learn. One only!"</p> - -<p>Burke stood ever so still.</p> - -<p>Ariadne spat like a cat. "You seek the secret of the Labyrinth, my -lord! You would stalk the Minotaur in his very lair! Waste no breath -trying to lull me with denials!"</p> - -<p>Burke sighed. A weary sigh, heavy with the knowledge of all the things -he could not change.</p> - -<p>And, from Ariadne: "What makes you think you're destined to succeed, -where each year fourteen others fail? How dare you hope to live, when -the monster that is the Minotaur has slain the mightiest warriors of -all Athens?"</p> - -<p>How, indeed? Of a sudden, Burke wanted no more of such questions.</p> - -<p>He cut in flat and hard: "Shut up, wench!"</p> - -<p>The girl stopped as short as if he'd slapped her. Her face paled with -anger.</p> - -<p>Only then, as she stared up at Burke, that too passed, and a mask of -sudden fear came to replace the fury. Her naked breasts lifted with a -quick, indrawn breath. She fell back an uncertain step ... another ... -another.... "My lord—Dionysus—"</p> - -<p>Burke laughed harshly. "All right. Call me that if you want to." And -then, tight-lipped: "Because make up your mind to it, you're going to -do what I say as if I were your whole damn' pantheon!"</p> - -<p>He closed in.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The girl pressed back against the wall now—white to the lips, dark -eyes distended. "Dion—Dion Burke—"</p> - -<p>Burke gripped her wrist. "Is it agreed, then? You'll do what I tell -you?"</p> - -<p>His lovely captive winced as he twisted. "But—my lord—the -Minotaur—Dion, it will slay you!"</p> - -<p>"Maybe. And then again, maybe not." Burke brushed a hand against the -revolver in his waistband. "You see, I won't be on quite the same -spot as those others who died, Ariadne. I've reserved a couple of -special Dionysan thunderbolts to try out on your monster, patent of two -subsidiary gods named Smith & Wesson."</p> - -<p>"But Daedalus—he's my father's man, Lord Dion, chief of all the palace -craftsmen. He'd never help you, even if you could reach him."</p> - -<p>"I'll reach him. And he'll help me."</p> - -<p>"But why, my lord? Why risk it?" A sudden taut, eager note crept into -Ariadne's voice. With her free hand, she smoothed the fabric of Burke's -shirt. "Don't you see? There's no need—not when you've the power to -come here as you have tonight, in spite of all my father's guards! -Under his very sword, we can be lovers—"</p> - -<p>Burke smiled bleakly. "I'm sorry, princess. I wish it were that simple."</p> - -<p>"But it is!" Now Ariadne's lithe young body once more was tight against -his. "I want you to come, my lord Dion! I welcome you—"</p> - -<p>"I know. And ... I love you too." For the fraction of a second Burke -let his arms tighten around her.</p> - -<p>Then, abruptly, he pushed back; gripped her shoulders. "You see, I -can't just come and go at will, the way you seem to think I can. And -even if I could, it wouldn't help."</p> - -<p>"It would not—?" Blank bafflement spread across Ariadne's lovely face.</p> - -<p>"Not after tonight."</p> - -<p>Puzzled eyes. A wordless question.</p> - -<p>Burke said tightly, "By tomorrow there won't be any Knossos. The Great -Palace here, the shrines, the other buildings—as of midnight tonight, -less than an hour-and-a-half from now, they'll all be destroyed."</p> - -<p>Tension, spiraling higher with each passing second.</p> - -<p>Burke said, "Now you know why I came tonight, Ariadne: because this is -the last chance I'll ever have. I've got to get you out of here, now or -never. That's why I have to see Daedalus, and go into the Labyrinth, -and meet the Minotaur and kill it."</p> - -<p>Still the silence echoed.</p> - -<p>A numb despair seeped through Burke. Bleakly, he wondered how he ever -had been fool enough to think his words might spark response in a -Bronze Age mind, or that any such mad enterprise as this could possibly -end otherwise than in disaster.</p> - -<p>Only then, while he watched, once more Ariadne bowed her head and -crossed her hands upon her breasts. Her words came low, submissive: -"The quarters of Daedalus the Smith lie close at hand, my lord."</p> - -<p>She turned as she spoke.</p> - -<p>Heart pounding, Burke walked with her towards the doorway....</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> - - -<p>There was a guard in the corridor beyond the Queen's Megaron.</p> - -<p>Wordless, Burke flicked a glance at Ariadne.</p> - -<p>Her dark eyes flashed a daredevil acceptance of the challenge. Sliding -past him, she swung the heavy door back so it hid him, then leaned -against it, body arched in practiced coquetry.</p> - -<p>The spearman outside straightened just a fraction. His chest swelled -and his belly drew in.</p> - -<p>Slowly, Ariadne's full lips curved in a smile that was all invitation. -Her hand came up to smooth her hair as she turned, twisting and -preening. Then, still unspeaking, and with one last lingering glance -over her shoulder, she drew back into her own apartment.</p> - -<p>The guard's head swiveled as his eyes followed her.</p> - -<p>Ariadne laughed softly from the shadows. Her long skirt swirled and -rustled.</p> - -<p>The guard's breath rasped in the stillness. For an instant he -hesitated, peering down the hall in both directions. Then, eagerly, he -crossed the threshold and moved with swift steps towards the princess.</p> - -<p>Burke waited till the man was clear of the door. Then, savagely, the -Smith & Wesson flat on the palm of his hand, he stepped forth from his -hiding place and smashed a blow to the back of the other's neck.</p> - -<p>The guard's knees hinged. He spilled to the floor.</p> - -<p>Burke snapped, "Quick! Cords! A gag!"</p> - -<p>The shrill, nerve-jangling squeal of cloth tearing echoed. Deftly, -Ariadne thrust strips from a drape into his hands.</p> - -<p>Burke bound and gagged the guard, then straightened and strode across -the room to where bull-necked, snoring Theseus lay, the stench of sour -wine still thick about him.</p> - -<p>Ariadne came close. "More cloth, my lord?"</p> - -<p>Burke prodded the Greek ungently with his toe, without response; then -once more glanced at his watch.</p> - -<p>Ten forty-five now.</p> - -<p>And that left only an hour-and-a-quarter more, at best.</p> - -<p>The back of Burke's neck prickled. "Forget it," he clipped. "The Hero -of Athens is too drunk to turn over, even, let alone give us trouble."</p> - -<p>"This way, then," the girl said. Her voice all at once was not too -steady, and the hand that gripped Burke's showed a tendency to tremble.</p> - -<p>Together, they made their way from the apartment, down the corridor -past a row of great painted jars and, finally, out onto the long -ascending ramp that led to the palace's central court.</p> - -<p>Now Ariadne turned right, keeping to the shadows of the colonnaded -buildings past which they moved.</p> - -<p>Close behind her, gun in hand, Burke tried to watch all ways at -once. Every rattling stone, every wind-tossed branch against the -cloud-blocked sky, became for him a trigger for new tension. Once, when -the shadows behind him flickered, he almost persuaded himself that -Theseus must be on their heels. Or perhaps, somehow, they'd caught the -attention of another of old Minos' guards....</p> - -<p>Again Ariadne veered right. A door creaked as she put her shoulder to -it.</p> - -<p>This corridor was so black Burke had to grip the girl's hand to keep -contact with her.</p> - -<p>More doors. More halls. More rooms. The place was like a maze—the very -Labyrinth itself.</p> - -<p>Yet not once did Ariadne hesitate. Swift, sure, she led Burke on and on -through one murky chamber after another.</p> - -<p>Then, as they rounded a final corner, a block of greyness came to mark -the end of a passage. In seconds, they were once more out into the open -and the night.</p> - -<p>Ariadne paused and pointed. "That's the place," she whispered.</p> - -<p>"Daedalus' quarters?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>Narrow-eyed, Burke studied the looming bulk a moment. Then, -tight-lipped, he strode towards the geometric shadows that marked the -entrance.</p> - -<p>But now Ariadne caught his arm. "Please, my lord Dion—let me be the -one to talk to Daedalus."</p> - -<p>"Let you—?" Burke stared. "But why?"</p> - -<p>"You wish him to speak, do you not—to tell you the things you seek to -learn?"</p> - -<p>"Do I want him to talk—?" Burke spoke between clenched teeth. "Believe -me, it's more than that, Princess. He's got to!"</p> - -<p>The girl laughed softly in the darkness; and somehow there was a ring -of steel beneath the velvet. "That's why I must be the one to face him, -Lord Dion!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Without waiting for further word from Burke, she stepped forward and -knocked upon the door.</p> - -<p>No answer. After a moment, she knocked again.</p> - -<p>This time, a faint stir of sound rose from within. Then, abruptly, the -door opened, framing a brawny, bearded man who glowered out at Burke -and the girl from below a sputtering, hand-held lamp.</p> - -<p>Uncowed, without hesitation, Ariadne stepped forward. "Come, Daedalus!" -she chided smoothly. "Would you leave your master's daughter standing -here wind-whipped on your threshold in the night?"</p> - -<p>The belligerence vanished from Daedalus' face, replaced by an -impassive, noncommittal mask. For an instant his eyes flicked to -Burke. Then he stepped back heavily; opened the door wider. "Enter, -my princess. What brings you to my poor quarters at this hour of the -night?"</p> - -<p>Uninvited, ignoring the hostility that gleamed in their host's deep-set -eyes, Burke followed Ariadne in and closed the door behind them.</p> - -<p>Simultaneously, the girl said, "It was a terrible thing for you to do, -Daedalus! Did my father know it, he'd have you flayed alive!"</p> - -<p>Even Burke rocked back on his heels: the words were that much of a -shock, that unexpected ... cool, conversational, without preliminary.</p> - -<p>As for the smith, he stood very still. The deep-set eyes seemed to -retreat yet further into the broad, high-domed skull.</p> - -<p>"And what is this terrible thing of which you speak, Princess Ariadne?" -he asked finally.</p> - -<p>"What is it—?" Ariadne's eyes distended, then narrowed. Her voice -took on a taut, dangerous note. "Do you think to mock me, artisan? Me, -daughter of Minos, favored beyond all women of this realm?"</p> - -<p>Daedalus' hairy chest rose and fell in heavy, almost deliberate rhythm. -Turning, he crossed with short, clumping steps to the nearest stand and -set down his lamp, then made a small business of straightening the wick.</p> - -<p>"What black slander is this, princess?" he asked coldly, eyes still on -the flame. "What are you trying to say I've done?"</p> - -<p>"Would you deny it, then?" Like a sleek cat stalking, Ariadne moved -round him in a long, slow arc. "Or do you seek perhaps to saddle poor -Icarus with the blame?"</p> - -<p>"Icarus—!" The smith's head lifted sharply. "Whatever this deed is -that you speak of, my son had nothing to do with it!"</p> - -<p>"Do you count it nothing for a youth to enter secretly into my -apartment, then assault a guard when he's surprised?" Ariadne's lovely -face fixed into a mask of scorn. "Ambition ill becomes you, Daedalus. -For a man who'd plot such a thing, risk his own son's life to gain -power over me, you show little courage and less sense."</p> - -<p>Before Burke's eyes, sweat came to the smith's broad forehead. A tremor -ran through the heavy hands. "May the gods bear witness, Ariadne, you -know I've done no such, and so does your father!"</p> - -<p>"And of course he'll take your word over his own daughter's." Ariadne -laughed without mirth. "Tell me, smith, are you such a fool as to think -your fiend's work with my mother, Pasiphae, is so soon forgotten?" And -then: "Besides, you know all the secrets of the palace—a dangerous -knowledge. My father will leap at an excuse to slay you!"</p> - -<p>Daedalus rubbed at his beard with thick, scarred knuckles. His lips had -a dry, parched look, and his breathing was ragged and uneven.</p> - -<p>Coolly, Ariadne turned and walked away from him, to Burke. "Come, my -lord Dion! Let us waste no more time on this numb-skull."</p> - -<p>Daedalus' head seemed to sink down between his great shoulders. Through -clenched teeth, he said, "All right, curse you! What is it you want?"</p> - -<p>"What do you mean, smith?" The girl stayed remote as some slim statue. -"Are your wits slipping? You know I've asked for nothing."</p> - -<p>Head high, a picture of poise, she moved towards the door. Stiffly, -Burke fell in behind her.</p> - -<p>For a moment, Daedalus stood flat-footed, rigid.</p> - -<p>Then, abruptly, he too was moving towards the door. For the first -time, his voice held a raw, uncertain edge, as if touched with panic. -"Princess—most favored of Minos—please—"</p> - -<p>Ariadne paused. Her dark eyes glinted soaring triumph in the instant -that they touched Burke's. "Please indeed, Daedalus! After all, I came -here tonight but to satisfy a whim. This outlander,"—a gesture to -Burke—"vows there's no access to the Labyrinth, the Minotaur, save by -the Shrine of Oracles.</p> - -<p>"For my part, I argued that you, who laid out that whole area of the -palace, could enter any chamber, no matter how well the doors were -guarded." A shrug. "All the talk—it ended in a wager. So, now, I count -on you to prove me right, show some secret way by which, if necessary, -a determined man could invade even the Minotaur's most secret precinct -undetected."</p> - -<p>The beads of sweat on the smith's broad forehead began to merge into -rills and trickle down into his eye-brows. "Princess, were I to tell -this outlander such a secret—believe me, you ask me to gamble with my -life!"</p> - -<p>"Yet if you do not tell," Ariadne retorted calmly, "what will happen -will involve no gamble!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Seconds ticked by while the heavy-thewed chief of craftsmen stared at -her. Then, bleakly, he said, "Very well, princess."</p> - -<p>Another long pause, with Daedalus frowning and tugging at his lower lip.</p> - -<p>At last: "The only unguarded way to the Minotaur leads through the -drainage system, the great sewer-pipes that lie beneath the palace."</p> - -<p>Burke frowned. "You mean, you'd drop through a manhole here—anywhere -on the grounds—and then come up again inside the Labyrinth?"</p> - -<p>"Exactly," the smith nodded.</p> - -<p>"But how would you know when you reached the right exit?"</p> - -<p>"Only one connects with the Labyrinth. A cage of bars cuts off the -pipe at that point, so no workman may by accident come up within the -Labyrinth and thus meet his doom."</p> - -<p>Narrow-eyed, Burke brooded on the things the smith had told him.</p> - -<p>But now Ariadne broke in; and all the poise she'd shown brief moments -earlier had vanished: "Dion—you mustn't! Don't you see? This is a -trap. Even though you were to slay the Minotaur, you'd never find your -way back to safety through all that maze of pitch-black tunnels!"</p> - -<p>"On the contrary, princess." Burke smiled thinly. "This is one -advantage of coming here from another time. It tells me in advance so -many of the things that are scheduled to happen."</p> - -<p>Ignoring her obvious blank bafflement, he again spoke to the smith: -"Daedalus, do you have cord here—light, strong line such as you use in -laying out the walls of each new building?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"Then get some for me."</p> - -<p>The brawny craftsman crossed to a chest against the wall; brought out a -thick skein of twine. "Will this do?"</p> - -<p>"Is it long enough to guide me to the Labyrinth?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"Then that's all I need from you." Burke turned to go.</p> - -<p>"Wait!" This from Ariadne. Her dark eyes pinned their host's deep-set -orbs. "Daedalus, I've a promise to make you."</p> - -<p>"A promise—?"</p> - -<p>"A vow, if you will." Never had Ariadne looked more beautiful—or more -deadly. Her smile held the shadow of impending doom. "For if there's -any trick to this, smith, or if word should reach my father of what's -happened here tonight, I swear an hour will come when you'll pray for -death to end your agonies!"</p> - -<p>Then she and Burke were out in the night again, silent as shadows, -feeling their way back through the murky maze of alleyways and -corridors and buildings to the central court.</p> - -<p>Burke pulled the girl to a halt there, in the narrow slot between two -pillars. "Where are we going?" He held his voice low; spoke with his -mouth close to her ear to compensate for the buffeting of the wind. "We -can't chance your rooms, you know. That guard's snapped out of it by -now."</p> - -<p>"Of course. I've a place in mind across the court, closer to the -shrine."</p> - -<p>"All right, then."</p> - -<p>But again, as before, tension rose within Burke. A guard's shouted -challenge somewhere far off started him sweating. When the low, mingled -laughter of a man and a woman drifted from a nearby window, he froze in -his tracks.</p> - -<p>The role of hero, he decided, ill became him. He thought too much of -consequence and peril; found it too difficult to lose himself in an -emotional haze of recklessness.</p> - -<p>Yet here, now, he had no choice—not feeling the way he did about -Ariadne; not knowing the things he knew from that brief session before -the inverter's scanning screen.</p> - -<p>And the time remaining was so short ... less than an hour, as of this -moment.</p> - -<p>"This way, my lord Dion."</p> - -<p>Wordless, once more Burke fell in behind the girl.</p> - -<p>Their destination proved to be an ornate suite where Burke stumbled -over furniture in the darkness.</p> - -<p>Ariadne squeezed his hand. "No one will disturb us here—those who -occupy this apartment are visiting at Phaestos." And then, changing -position: "I've a lamp. Give me fire."</p> - -<p>Burke fumbled out his lighter; flicked the wheel.</p> - -<p>The flame showed his companion close beside him. In seconds, the lamp -she held was sputtering to life.</p> - -<p>The girl turned quickly. "There's a manhole back here, in the ante-room -to the bath."</p> - -<p>She led Burke to it as she spoke; held the lamp low so he could see the -cover-slab.</p> - -<p>Dropping to his knees, he heaved the heavy stone aside.</p> - -<p>Instantly, new air-currents swirled about him. A mustiness assailed his -nostrils.</p> - -<p>Somewhere, along that black tube below or another like it, the -Minotaur was waiting.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A knot drew tight in the pit of Burke's stomach. Rising, he tossed -Daedalus' thick skein of cord down by the base of the nearest -lamp-stand, then faced Ariadne.</p> - -<p>"Thank you for your help, my princess," he said gently. "Now, though, -it's time for you to go."</p> - -<p>"To go—?" She stared at him, dark eyes suddenly wide. "What byplay is -this, my lord Dion? Surely you'd not ask me to leave you now, in the -hour when your worst danger is upon you?"</p> - -<p>Burke forced a wry smile. "Do you remember what happened the other time -when you refused to carry out my orders?"</p> - -<p>"You mean—when you hit me?" Gingerly, the girl's fingers moved along -her bruised jaw as she spoke.</p> - -<p>"Precisely."</p> - -<p>"But my lord Dion—"</p> - -<p>Burke stopped smiling. "I'm sorry, Ariadne. You're not going with me. -That's final. If you try, if you won't promise to go back to your own -apartment, I'll knock you out and tie you up. Is that clear?"</p> - -<p>He started forward as he finished—face set, fist doubled.</p> - -<p>But the girl gave not an inch before him. Stepping in, instead, she -stood very close, face upturned to his.</p> - -<p>"My lord Dion," she said softly, "I tell you now: you're the bravest -man I've ever seen."</p> - -<p>It threw Burke off balance. He could find no words with which to answer.</p> - -<p>The girl said, "I promise you, you needn't worry for me; a warrior -should not have to think of women, or fear for them. I'll await you at -my own apartment."</p> - -<p>Burke groped. "Ariadne—"</p> - -<p>It was as if he hadn't spoken: "Remember, you have my promise. -But if anything should go wrong, if I'm missing when you reach my -quarters—Lord Dion, do you know the River of Amnissus?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, of course."</p> - -<p>"To its left, where it meets the sea, a headland rises. So, if fate -decrees that I must flee from Knossos, you can expect to find me there."</p> - -<p>Her slim, soft arms were round his neck, then; her lips on his for a -long, pulsing moment.</p> - -<p>When it ended, she was sobbing, her cheeks tear-streaked.</p> - -<p>"Dion ..." she choked. "Please my Lord Dion, come back to me! Without -you—"</p> - -<p>She broke off; whirled and fled.</p> - -<p>For a long, long moment, Burke stared after her, straining his eyes -against the black encroachment of the night.</p> - -<p>Then, abruptly, he dropped to one knee and set to looping one end -of Daedalus' cord around the lamp-stand—tying it tight; tugging and -testing it.</p> - -<p>Sound stirred behind him, a faint whisper.</p> - -<p>Burke bit down hard. "Damn you, Ariadne!"</p> - -<p>No answer.</p> - -<p>Another fragment of sound. A footstep.</p> - -<p>A footstep far too heavy to be Ariadne's.</p> - -<p>Burke went rigid; started to turn.</p> - -<p>Only before he could even bring his eyes up, something clouted him a -terrific blow to the side of the head, so hard it knocked him clear off -his feet and against the wall beside him.</p> - -<p>Desperately, he tried to roll clear, get his gun out.</p> - -<p>But his eyes blurred. His head rang. A sandaled foot kicked the Smith & -Wesson out of his fumbling fingers before the weapon had hardly cleared -his waistband.</p> - -<p>And now, a tremendous weight crashed down upon him. Blows rained -to his face, his rib-cage, his belly. A knee drove for his groin. -Cable-muscled fingers clutched his windpipe.</p> - -<p>Burke choked on his own tongue. The fingers cut off his breath. His -head spun. His chest heaved—lungs aflame, convulsing in agony.</p> - -<p>Then spidery tendrils of blackness seeped into his brain. His will -to fight ebbed. He felt himself drifting away, as on a swift-flowing -stream that plunged into a cave's dark, swirling shadows.</p> - -<p>Cautiously, the fingers relaxed on his windpipe.</p> - -<p>Burke fought for breath in short, tremulous gasps. He didn't have the -strength in him even to fill his lungs fully, let alone try to renew -the battle.</p> - -<p>The fingers left his throat and fumbled at his wrists; then his ankles.</p> - -<p>Burke began to get better control of his breathing. Forcing himself to -ignore his aching head and battered body, he pried his eyes open.</p> - -<p>Bull-necked Theseus squatted by his side, leering down at him. The -Greek gripped the Smith & Wesson in one hand, and every line of his -face and stance mirrored gloating triumph.</p> - -<p>Cold with rage—or was it partly panic?—Burke stared up at his captor. -But when he tried to move his arms to lift himself, he found that they -were bound together.</p> - -<p>Beside him, the Athenian chuckled unpleasantly. "That Minos is smart, -isn't he?"</p> - -<p>Burke stared. "Minos—?"</p> - -<p>"Sure. He told me I'd catch you if I just played drunk long enough." -The other's smirk broadened. "That's how much he hates you, see? He -said he'd let me and the others go, forget all that crazy stuff with -the Minotaur. All I had to do was grab you before you could sneak away -someplace with Ariadne."</p> - -<p>It was all Burke could do to keep from groaning.</p> - -<p>If Theseus noticed, he ignored it. "Me, I've got a better idea. -Something really clever. You'll love it."</p> - -<p>A small chill ran through Burke. He still didn't speak.</p> - -<p>Theseus said, "You want to get at the Minotaur so rotten much—well, -I'm just the boy to help you do it, now you've worked all the details -out with that Daedalus and Ariadne." A leer. "We'll handle it just the -way you planned it: drop into the sewer-tunnel here, then hunt till we -find the manhole into the Labyrinth."</p> - -<p>The burly Greek got up as he finished. "All right. On your feet!"</p> - -<p>By way of emphasis, he kicked Burke in the stomach.</p> - -<p>Retching, Burke lurched over to a face-down position and tried to rise.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Stumbling erect proved difficult enough. Then, on his feet at last, he -discovered that his captor had hobbled his ankles also, so he could -move only in short, awkward steps.</p> - -<p>Now the Athenian gestured to the open manhole that led into the sewer. -"Hurry it up! Get down there!"</p> - -<p>Awkwardly, Burke shuffled towards the opening.</p> - -<p>Apparently he moved too slowly for his captor's tastes, for a sandaled -foot took a leg from under him and he spilled to the floor and -half-fell through the hole.</p> - -<p>Then he was down in the cool, drafty blackness of the great drain. A -moment later, Theseus joined him, a lamp in one hand, Daedalus' cord -in the other. The revolver he'd taken from Burke was thrust into his -loin-band.</p> - -<p>Together, with Burke pushed into the lead, they moved along the tunnel.</p> - -<p>It was a nightmare, after that—a nightmare of slime and smells, sudden -winds and water. Snakes slithered across Burke's feet. Cobwebs brushed -his face. The lamp's gleam was a pinprick in an infinity of darkness. -A dozen times they struck dead ends; retraced their steps out of blind -alleys. And each time Theseus raged with greater fury, till Burke's -back and hips were numb with blows and kicks and buffets.</p> - -<p>And then, suddenly, they came to a place where a cage of bars blocked -off the passage.</p> - -<p>Burke's heart leaped. A tight band seemed to constrict his chest.</p> - -<p>But before he could even speak, Theseus elbowed him aside with new -blows and curses. The Hero of Athens was breathing hard; even by the -lamp's feeble light, his eyes showed distended.</p> - -<p>Looping the heavy skein of twine over his shoulder, the Greek now -gripped the nearest bar in a brawny hand and shook it.</p> - -<p>It didn't even quiver.</p> - -<p>Snarling, Theseus stepped back and, lifting the lamp, scrutinized the -terra cotta of the tunnel wall till he found a crack-formed ledge wide -enough to hold the light. Then, returning to the bars, he seized one in -both hands and heaved on it while he braced a foot against another.</p> - -<p>Still nothing happened.</p> - -<p>Again the Athenian heaved, and this time every muscle along his back -and arms and legs swelled. His belly drew into heavy ridges. Veins -stood out at throat and temple.</p> - -<p>For the instant, even Burke couldn't help but watch fascinated at the -picture of sheer physical strength displayed.</p> - -<p>And now, ever so slowly, one of the bars began to bend ... the merest -fraction ... an inch ... a hand's breadth....</p> - -<p>Then, suddenly, with a dull metallic twang, the piece tore loose from -its fitting.</p> - -<p>The sound broke Burke's spell. Convulsively, he strained at the bonds -that held his own wrists.</p> - -<p>They only cut deeper into the flesh.</p> - -<p>And there was so little time....</p> - -<p>Warily, Burke cast a sidewise glance at the revolver, still hanging at -the other's waist. Then, as casually as he could manage it, he started -moving closer.</p> - -<p>Now, panting with exertion, Theseus turned his attention to a second -bar.</p> - -<p>This time, he had more room to maneuver. Almost from the first moment, -the metal showed signs of twisting.</p> - -<p>Burke took yet another sidling step—a step that brought him within -arm's reach of the Smith & Wesson. Clumsily, he poised, readying -himself to spear out for the butt with both hands as one.</p> - -<p>A groan escaped Theseus as he wrenched at the reluctant bar with all -his might. Little by little, the heavy metal bent.</p> - -<p>Burke snatched for the gun.</p> - -<p>Only as he did so, incredibly, the weapon wasn't there. His hands -slapped Theseus' sweat-greased side instead.</p> - -<p>Simultaneously, a fist like a maul smashed him full in the face: The -Athenian's harsh laughter rang in his ears. He crashed back against -the sewer-pipe's wall like a doll flung aside by an angry child. Words -hammered at him; Theseus' words: "I wondered when you'd try that, you -outlander dog!"</p> - -<p>It was all Burke could do to keep his feet, let alone answer.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The Greek snarled, "Now's a good time to tell you the rest of it, too, -rack you!"</p> - -<p>Burke tried to blink away the haze between them. "The rest of it—?" he -mumbled.</p> - -<p>"That's right; the rest." His captor gloated openly now. "You didn't -think I dragged you through this hell-hole just for entertainment, did -you, when all I needed to do to get rid of you was hand you over to -Minos?"</p> - -<p>Burke didn't answer.</p> - -<p>Theseus scowled, spoke almost as if to himself; "That slut -Ariadne—I'll teach her to scorn me for an outlander! Once I've shoved -you up through this manhole into the Labyrinth, where there's no chance -for anyone but the Minotaur to find you, alive or dead, I'm going to go -explain to Minos all about how you took me unawares and almost killed -me, back there in Ariadne's quarters. He'll believe me, because it fits -right in with what that guard you tricked will tell him.</p> - -<p>"Then, while Minos has everyone out hunting for you, I'll take Ariadne -down to where my ship lies anchored at the mouth of the Amnissus. -By the time Minos realizes what's happened, I'll be gone, with his -daughter with me; and she'll be good for nothing but to be queen of -Athens, so he'll have no choice but to make peace with my father, no -matter how it galls him."</p> - -<p>The hair along the back of Burke's neck prickled. Of a sudden he saw -how he'd vastly underestimated Theseus. Because the man looked like a -handsome, stupid, dissipated block of beef, Twentieth Century intellect -had sneered at him.</p> - -<p>Only Theseus had a schemer's brain, as well as a Greek God's face and -physique. And what looked like stupidity came out as an almost oriental -taste for the un-prettier types of vengeance.</p> - -<p>All of which added up to nothing less than disaster.</p> - -<p>Keeping his voice level with an effort, Burke said, "Theseus, you hate -me, and I don't blame you for it. For that matter, I hate you too.</p> - -<p>"But right now, there's no time for either of us to indulge his -feelings. This is too big for that. Knossos falls tonight. It's going -to be destroyed—soon now, within the hour.</p> - -<p>"Unless we kill the Minotaur, Ariadne dies too. There'll even be other -Minotaurs, not just here but all over the world. That's why I wanted to -get into the Labyrinth—"</p> - -<p>Laughter exploded in Burke's face.</p> - -<p>It was a better answer than words. Tight-lipped, Burke groped -frantically for some new plan, some trick, some lingering straw of hope -to cling to.</p> - -<p>Theseus said, "Don't worry, outlander. You'll get your chance at the -Minotaur."</p> - -<p>He stalked forward as he spoke; poised a doubled fist close by Burke's -jaw. "Just remember, though: while you're taking care of the monster, -I'll be taking care of Ariadne!"</p> - -<p>The poised fist lashed out. When Burke tried to jerk his head aside, -Theseus' other hand came up in a casual, almost lazy arc and slapped it -back into place.</p> - -<p>Fist and jaw met. Burke's brain exploded inside his skull. The -flickering lamp seemed to burst into a blaze of dazzling, kaleidoscopic -stars.</p> - -<p>Then, one by one, they faded. Blackness closed in....</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> - - -<p>The feeling, Burke decided, basically was one of frustration—a -moiling, roiling, boiling tension that crept higher and higher as his -own helplessness became the more apparent.</p> - -<p>Well, what else could he expect, in a situation sprung from -monomania's loins? From the beginning, everything about this business -had had the spell of madness on it. Success, when the cards were down, -had always been too much to hope for.</p> - -<p>Now, thinking of it, Burke could only sigh bleakly and shake his head.</p> - -<p>Only that wasn't quite true, either. For his head wouldn't shake, and -his sigh held neither sound nor breath.</p> - -<p>How had it all come about, this nightmare? Where had it started, really?</p> - -<p>With the Research Professor?</p> - -<p>With The Girl?</p> - -<p>With The Director?</p> - -<p>But no. In his heart Burke knew that none of them held the answer.</p> - -<p>Because the beginning lay farther back ... so much, much farther....</p> - -<p>... All the way back to the old, dormer-windowed house amid the elms, -and his childhood, and the Bowl of Minos.</p> - -<p>The bowl....</p> - -<p>He could still remember the first time he saw it, lying in a -litter-heaped trunk up in the attic.</p> - -<p>Fascinated, he'd picked it up and run stubby fingers over the stylized -Minoan octopus that stood out in bold relief upon its surface, till it -seemed he could almost feel the twining tentacles' pressure.</p> - -<p>It brought a queer sense of excitement to him ... a sort of paradox of -feeling that made him thrill to the bowl's beauty even while he stared -at the creature that served as its decoration with a strange, shuddery -sensation close akin to horror.</p> - -<p>Then his mother saw what he was doing, and took the pottery vessel from -him, explaining the while about the footloose, adventuring uncle who'd -brought it here all the way from Crete.</p> - -<p>A lump formed in Burke's throat as he recalled her patience ... how -when she'd found him returning again and again to the attic and -the trunk, she'd brought the bowl down and given it a place on the -livingroom table, where he could examine it all at will.</p> - -<p>Someone even told him about Minos and Theseus and Pasiphae and Ariadne -and the Minotaur, and all the rest of the legendry that went with -Bronze Age Crete.</p> - -<p>Yet the legends were never quite enough. They raised too many -questions; left too much unsaid.</p> - -<p>The fragments of fact he picked up proved even less satisfactory.</p> - -<p>How had a civilization rich and powerful and advanced as that of the -Minoans ever risen on a sea-isolated island such as Crete?</p> - -<p>Where had the Minoans learned their skills, their arts?</p> - -<p>Above all, why had their culture vanished? What brought about Great -Knossos' fall?</p> - -<p>Questions without answers, all of them. Mysteries like the Cretan's -strange, undeciphered writing, and the final fate of lovely Princess -Ariadne, Minos' daughter, and how Theseus, bare-handed, could have -slain the mighty Minotaur.</p> - -<p>It was all enough to drive a seven-eight-nine-ten-year-old boy to -distraction!</p> - -<p>Then a careless visitor's elbow knocked the bowl to the floor. It -shattered into shards.</p> - -<p>At ten, a boy's too old to cry—before company, at least. So he'd -clenched his fists behind his back, and blinked back the tears, and -held his mouth to a stiff white line till he could be alone, face -pillow-muffled, behind the closed door of his room.</p> - -<p>And from that moment he'd known that sometime, somehow, he himself -would find his way to Crete.</p> - -<p>School became a place where he greedily snatched up crumbs of mythology -and history between dreary hours spent battling his way through all the -other subjects his teachers demanded that he learn.</p> - -<p>High school brought a broader view. He began to see the -interrelatedness of learning. Literature, chemistry, physics, -Latin—of a sudden he found he loved them all.</p> - -<p>Yet always, always, there ahead lay Knossos, beckoning.</p> - -<p>How old had he been when, avidly, he plowed his way through Sir Arthur -Evans' "Palace of Minos", groping his way by context past all the -unfamiliar words? Thirteen? Fourteen?</p> - -<p>By high school commencement time, he no longer cared that his parents -couldn't understand his passion for things Cretan.</p> - -<p>College, then. Major in anthropology, minor in classics. Greek now, -as well as Latin. Linguistics, too. Comparative cultures, technical -photography, ethnological methods, archaeological methods, museum -methods. Year after year, course after course.</p> - -<p>And always, the same goal. Let others weigh and choose between -Yucatan and Oceania, Murdering Beach and the Valley of the Kings. For -him—ever; always—there was only Minos and Knossos and Bronze Age -Crete.</p> - -<p>Dion Burke, B.A., now, Dion Burke, M.A.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Then, the last step; the final goal: the onward, upward march to Doctor -of Philosophy, Ph.D.</p> - -<p>Or rather, not quite: not quite Ph.D.</p> - -<p>And that was where The Director came in.</p> - -<p>Burke cursed the day he'd met him.</p> - -<p>A kindly soul, The Director, by his own statement, in spite of his -scowl and beetling brows and jutting, heavy-boned, prognathous jaw. So -fascinated by all things Minoan. So happy such a brilliant student had -selected this most benign of all universities as the one at which to -work for his doctorate.</p> - -<p>It was only a step from there to casual acquaintance with The Research -Professor.</p> - -<p>The Professor was the first universally-acknowledged-as-authentic -genius Burke had even known. Even the man's colleagues on the staff -of the university's Science Institute agreed that he knew more about -certain aspects of electronics than anyone alive.</p> - -<p>The Professor, it developed, wanted Burke's collaboration on a -project—a device he termed a "computational translator" which he felt -might solve the riddle of the mysterious Minoan language, if only its -hieroglyphics could somehow be reduced to sound.</p> - -<p>That was when Burke brought out his own idea, his madman's dream for -the ultimate archaeological tool.</p> - -<p>An inverter, he called it; a time inverter, designed to carry -researchers back bodily into the past.</p> - -<p>The Professor scoffed openly when Burke first told him about it.</p> - -<p>The second time, he frowned and tugged at his pointed chin.</p> - -<p>The third found him already at work.</p> - -<p>The computational translator, and the time inverter. Two lunatic -concepts, born of monomania and genius.</p> - -<p>Two concepts that, it appeared increasingly, just might work.</p> - -<p>Time out for Korea ... Chinese communists in quilted coats ... blood -and iron and freezing death.</p> - -<p>Well, at least it would pay for the rest of the doctorate, under the GI -Bill.</p> - -<p>If he lived through it.</p> - -<p>The notice of the car crash reached him at Heartbreak Ridge.</p> - -<p>No mother now, no father. Just an inheritance.</p> - -<p>More courses, more digging, more Professor's letters, pulsing -excitement and jubilation for all their veiled language.</p> - -<p>Home again. Back to the university. The shock of seeing at first -hand just how far The Professor had gone; how short a distance there -remained to go.</p> - -<p>And then, at last, The Girl, and the old line about passes and glasses -turning out not always to be true after all.</p> - -<p>More courses, more digging, more months slipping by. The discussions, -increasingly acerbic, as it developed that The Director was a -stiff-necked, belligerent bigot who classed Sir Arthur Evans and God in -that order when it came to authority on matters Minoan.</p> - -<p>The Girl, encouraging, all intellect and well-bred adoration. The -Professor, designing a new-type radiation detector to help search out -the truth about Knossos' fall, just in case they never did get the time -inverter to work properly.</p> - -<p>The Director, adamant.</p> - -<p>The inverter, failing again and and again.</p> - -<p>The faint, nagging disappointment of discovering that The Girl could -discuss the courtship customs of Papua and Parthia and Patagonia in -detail, yet still hold a man at arm's length here on the campus.</p> - -<p>But still, there was his dissertation to sustain him, his long-planned -trip to Crete to cling to. Even if it took every penny of his -inheritance, even if The Girl wouldn't marry him and go along because -he still lacked his degree, the journey couldn't help but prove -worthwhile.</p> - -<p>By air, to London. Then to Athens and the British School, to complete -contacts.</p> - -<p>Finally, down across the Aegean to Crete itself.</p> - -<p>He had to shove his hands deep into his pockets to hide their trembling -when first he stepped from the car at Knossos. Even seeing the -reconstructed palace with his own eyes shook him that much.</p> - -<p>The British, polite and helpful as they tried to hide their amusement -at the use of the detector. The Cretan workmen, exchanging glances that -said openly that he was surely mad.</p> - -<p>And then, the needle, going crazy—trying to bounce clear off the dial. -The headphones, buzzing till his ears hurt.</p> - -<p>Endless hours of aching to talk to someone, yet not daring. Long days -when the right words for the dissertation just wouldn't come.</p> - -<p>And the words had to be right, exactly. He couldn't content himself -with anything less. The whole dissertation—every page, every sentence, -must be logic-grounded, solidly-documented, overwhelming evidence to -prove his hypothesized explanation of the fall of Knossos.</p> - -<p>He finished it, finally ... came home again ... turned in the first -draft....</p> - -<p>Then came that day in The Director's office. That ugly day, the last -Burke was to spend in his own time and place.</p> - -<p>The argument; the tempers, rising.</p> - -<p>The Director—face flushed, jaw outthrust: "You young whelp, how dare -you contradict Sir Arthur Evans? Would you set yourself up on a level -with Hogarth? Pendlebury? Wace?" And then, the final knife-thrust: -"Very well; have it your way. But so far as I'm concerned, I'll not -accept this dissertation, now or ever. And so long as I'm here, you'll -receive no doctorate, let alone a recommendation of any sort!"</p> - -<p>Exit The Director. Forever.</p> - -<p>Then, The Girl: "But Dion! Why did you have to be so stubborn? You -could at least have kept your opinions to yourself till later. -Now—well, how much of a field is there for an archaeologist with only -an M. A. degree? You might as well forget Crete right now. And for my -part, I must admit the idea of being the wife of an instructor in some -second-rate college, at four thousand a year hardly appeals to me."</p> - -<p>Exit The Girl. Forever.</p> - -<p>The Research Professor, finally: "Damn it, Burke, I just don't dare to -back you on it! Old Ape-Jaw's got the president's ear. If I even let it -be known I designed that detector, I'll be operating this laboratory on -a negative budget next biennium."</p> - -<p>Exit The Professor. Forever.</p> - -<p>In spirit, at least.</p> - -<p>In body, though, he still might have his uses.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Burke held his voice carefully level. "In other words, then, you won't -even let me use your name as supporting authority for my statement -that the ruins at Knossos still show radiation traces?"</p> - -<p>The Professor: "I'm sorry, Dion."</p> - -<p>"But the time inverter—"</p> - -<p>"Are you completely insane, boy? I built that thing with university -funds. If anyone should find out about it, and that I didn't have -proper authorization for it—well, all I've got to say is that I'm -going to junk it first thing in the morning, before The Director has a -chance to snoop around."</p> - -<p>What happens to a man when he plunges into that deep a pit? How many -blows can he take before he cracks?</p> - -<p>Burke didn't even recognize that it was raining when he stepped out -into the street.</p> - -<p>Dully, he tramped through the gathering dusk. Block after block, mile -after mile, hardly aware that his clothes clung to his body, soaked, or -that water sloshed in and out of his shoes with every step.</p> - -<p>Slowly, then, his thoughts began to sort themselves into some sort of -order. A little at a time, conclusions took form and gave strength.</p> - -<p>When it came right down to it, he didn't give a hang whether he ever -achieved a Ph. D. degree or not.</p> - -<p>So to hell with The Director!</p> - -<p>As for security, a job, he'd lived through Heartbreak Ridge; and after -that, any more economic peril came out as strictly anticlimax.</p> - -<p>Losing The Girl—well, he had no choice but to admit it bruised his -ego. Yet, on the other hand, it relieved him of all the gnawing inner -doubts, the secret hesitations at her coolness.</p> - -<p>The Professor? Another disappointment. But the mere fact that an idol's -feet turned out to be of clay hardly rated as a unique discovery.</p> - -<p>At any rate, he'd survive it.</p> - -<p>So, what did that leave of his losses?</p> - -<p>He cringed.</p> - -<p>That was the way with dreams. They were so hard to give up.</p> - -<p>And he'd worked towards this one for so long.</p> - -<p>Now, there was nothing left to do but face the facts: he'd never have a -chance at Crete; never really know for sure why Knossos fell.</p> - -<p>Unless—</p> - -<p>Burke stopped short.</p> - -<p>What had The Professor said? That he'd destroy the time inverter first -thing tomorrow morning?</p> - -<p>Which still left tonight, didn't it?</p> - -<p>It was a thought to appall any man in his right mind. For while The -Professor admitted to small progress with the machine, he also said -frankly that he was completely stymied in the most vital area: while -he had succeeded in transporting objects from present to past on an -experimental basis, he couldn't move them even an instant into the -future.</p> - -<p>Carrying this a step further, anything sent into the past stayed there. -It couldn't be returned to the present.</p> - -<p>And that meant that if anyone named Dion Burke should prove so mad as -to send himself back to Bronze Age Crete, there he'd stay, with no -chance ever of return to Twentieth Century United States.</p> - -<p>It was a thought to numb a man.</p> - -<p>Yet, was it really so insane?</p> - -<p>After all, what was more important to him than that he learn the truth -about the fall of ancient Knossos? What else could satisfy him, after -all these years?</p> - -<p>Even if he died, it wouldn't matter too much. His parents were already -gone, his friends mostly on the casual side.</p> - -<p>For the first time, now, it dawned on Burke that rain was splattering -in his face. It felt good. His clothes and shoes—he didn't even care -that they were ruined.</p> - -<p>Pivoting, he started the long tramp back to his apartment.</p> - -<p>There, for comfort, he took a hot shower; then put on a clean, dry -outfit.</p> - -<p>It seemed like a good idea, also, to check his watch, fill his -cigarette lighter, and stow the old five-shot Smith & Wesson -thirty-eight he'd inherited from his father in the waistband of his -trousers.</p> - -<p>By the time he'd completed all such arrangements, the rain had stopped. -Here and there, stars shone amid the thin clouds overhead.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Head up, shoulders back, Burke strolled along the wet, glistening walk -towards the campus. He felt somehow detached, apart from the world -about him, and it was a good feeling, even though he also enjoyed the -smell of the rain-soaked earth, and the way leaves had piled up in -little dams along the gutter, and the hissing, whispering sound of -tires on wet pavement every time a car went by. Once he even caught -himself smiling a little, a small, quiet, secret smile, over the way -The Director and The Girl and The Professor each in turn had looked as -they took their stands and walked out of his life.</p> - -<p>The main door of the Science Institute was still unlocked, so Burke -went on in, pausing only to nod pleasantly to a campus policeman who -happened to pass by at the moment.</p> - -<p>The laboratory had a glass-paned door. Without hesitation, Burke rapped -a hole in it with the butt of his revolver, reached in long enough -to turn back the bolt, then stepped inside and locked the door again -behind him.</p> - -<p>Now he turned to the inner room where The Professor dealt with his most -private matters.</p> - -<p>The first thing he noted upon entering was a cluttered desk, on one -corner of which lay a flat box perhaps five by eight by two inches in -size.</p> - -<p>That pleased him, for by its grilled front he recognized the thing as -the incredible, transistor-packed device The Professor described as a -"computational translator." Experiments with assorted foreign students -and American Indians of various tribes indicated that it would enable a -man to conduct a successful two-way conversation in any language.</p> - -<p>Strapping the box in place flat against his belly, Burke moved on past -the desk.</p> - -<p>Beyond it, around a corner, loomed the time inverter.</p> - -<p>It was a cumbersome-looking thing, a cramped platform suspended amid -grids of wire. Each grid, in turn, fitted within a larger framework -appropriately equipped with calibrated spindles, so that the grids' -relative position to each other and to the inner platform could be -adjusted at will.</p> - -<p>To one side, a neat control-board occupied a wall-space. A larger area -was given over to a screen somewhat like that of a television set.</p> - -<p>Warily, Burke picked his way over to the screen. Now that he was here, -his stomach showed a strong tendency to quiver. Despite all the long -nights he'd spent in this room with The Professor, he found himself -doubting his own ability to operate the inverter. As for the theory of -the thing, that was completely beyond him.</p> - -<p>But it was no time for doubt. Switching on the power, Burke carefully -set about adjusting the control dials.</p> - -<p>Latitude and longitude came first, down to minutes and then seconds. -A moment's tuning, and Crete and then the Great Palace of Knossos lay -before him on the scanner screen.</p> - -<p>Falling back a step, Burke rubbed the nape of his neck where it ached -from strain.</p> - -<p>Time adjustment, now. A new set of dials.</p> - -<p>The screen changed before his eyes. The work of excavation and -reconstruction vanished. Off to one side, olive groves appeared. Then a -building with unmistakably Byzantine architecture flashed on.</p> - -<p>Again Burke twisted the dial. Again.</p> - -<p>Now whole towns came and went. One moment, the screen showed neat huts -and cultivated fields; the next, ruins or no buildings at all.</p> - -<p>But never a trace of people. People moved too quickly for even the -finest settings of the time-spindles to show them.</p> - -<p>Farther back ... farther ... farther....</p> - -<p>And now there was only a great, dark ring on the hillside to mark the -palace. Wall-blocks and pillars lay strewn like scorched blocks in all -directions. It was as if lightning had blasted the very earth. The few -huts to be seen stood far off, as if the site of Knossos were a place -accursed, to be avoided under pain of death.</p> - -<p>A chill touched Burke; and though he'd seen this sight a dozen times -before, his fingers trembled.</p> - -<p>Back farther ... farther....</p> - -<p>As swiftly as it had darkened, the screen came bright. The palace rose -again, white gypsum walls and columns aglisten in the sunlight.</p> - -<p>Skillfully, Burke adjusted the detail dial, working forward again to -the moment when the palace had crumbled.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The disaster came at night; that was plain to see. And so fast that the -screen could not record the instant when it happened. One second, the -buildings were there, solid as only rock could make them.</p> - -<p>The next, there were only dark, blighted ruins.</p> - -<p>Of course, the destruction could conceivably have taken hours, yet -still show as instantaneous on the scanner.</p> - -<p>But if a man were to go back to a time, say, twelve hours before the -cataclysm....</p> - -<p>He'd need to choose the right place, too ... somewhere out of the line -of palace traffic—that apartment off the Queen's Megaron, for instance.</p> - -<p>Not too steadily, Burke set the dials; then straightened.</p> - -<p>The realization of his own folly flooded through him in the same -instant.</p> - -<p>How could anyone be so mad as to sacrifice his life on the altar of -sheer intellectual curiosity? What did it matter if he never knew why -Knossos fell? To go through with this because he'd been intrigued by an -octopus-decorated Minoan bowl as a child of seven—it was absurd. His -place was here—in his own time, his own land. To think otherwise could -only be evidence of gross imbalance.</p> - -<p>He started to reach for the main switch; to turn off the inverter.</p> - -<p>Simultaneously, a hand rattled the knob of the laboratory's outer door.</p> - -<p>Burke froze.</p> - -<p>Now a key clicked in the lock. A voice—the voice of the campus -policeman—called, "All right, you! Come on out! We know you're there!"</p> - -<p>And then, not quite so plainly, the voice of The Professor: "Be -careful, officer. He's been acting queerly—thinks I've some kind of -strange machine in there. What he needs is a psychiatrist. But till we -can get him to one, he may be dangerous."</p> - -<p>The Professor, coppering his bets ... taking no chances on trouble over -having misused university funds to finance a private project.</p> - -<p>Not even if it involved proclaiming a friend insane.</p> - -<p>The final straw, piled on the camel's back.</p> - -<p>And only one way out.</p> - -<p>Savagely, Burke whipped the Smith & Wesson from his belt; then, -tight-lipped, flicked a quick glance along the dials.</p> - -<p>The inverter was as ready as it ever would be.</p> - -<p>Breathing hard, Burke slid between the wire grids; stepped up onto the -cramped central platform.</p> - -<p>From the outer room: "Come out, now, Burke! You'll have a chance to -prove you're sane—just a few tests, a month or two of observation—"</p> - -<p>Burke gripped the activating switch, the lever that would throw full -power into the grids.</p> - -<p>Again, then, he hesitated.</p> - -<p>The campus policeman's head appeared around the corner, peering. To -one side, The Professor cried out. "The inverter—! Stop him!"</p> - -<p>It was like a wire snapping in Burke's brain. He fired a single shot, -high, and simultaneously threw the activating switch in one swift, -coordinated flow of motion.</p> - -<p>The grid-wires glowed. A tingle of energy pulsed through Burke's body.</p> - -<p>The laboratory disappeared....</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> - - -<p>Burke heard the voices first—strange voices, speaking in a strange -language.</p> - -<p>The room came clear a moment later, cool and shadowy. Burke recognized -it by its shape, and by the distinctive relief in painted stucco on one -wall.</p> - -<p>So his calculations had been correct. He'd landed in the apartment off -the Queen's Megaron.</p> - -<p>Cat-like, he moved towards the room's doorway, the voices.</p> - -<p>The speakers were man and woman, apparently. And when Burke flicked the -switch of the computational translator strapped tight to his belly, he -found he could understand them almost as well as if they'd been talking -English.</p> - -<p>"... and you're a pretty thing, you know," the man was saying. "As a -matter of fact...."</p> - -<p>His voice trailed off, the last words lost in a rising feminine giggle. -"Master Theseus! You're here to see my mistress, not me—"</p> - -<p>Warily, Burke peered through the grating of a sort of grilled divider -that helped to separate room from room.</p> - -<p>The chamber beyond was larger than the one in which he stood. Brighter, -too—a typical Minoan light-well spilled noonday sun clear along one -side. The furnishings and the octopus frescoes on the wall showed an -opulence that spoke of nothing less than royalty.</p> - -<p>As for the man and the woman, they were alone in the room, and playing -a game as old as time. That is, the man was trying to catch the -woman—girl, really—while she strove to stay out of his reach.</p> - -<p>Burke decided he could have taken her efforts more seriously if she -hadn't kept giggling—not to mention slowing whenever the man gave any -sign of pausing in his pursuit.</p> - -<p>Then, abruptly, the man leaped across a low table, cutting her off.</p> - -<p>The girl promptly tripped, and fell into his arms.</p> - -<p>The embrace that followed was a trifle too prolonged for Burke's -tastes. When it ended, the girl sighed, starry-eyed, and ran long, -supple fingers through her companion's short black hair. "How can a -warrior such as you, a hero, even look at a serving-wench like me, -Master Theseus?" she murmured.</p> - -<p>The man straightened and swelled out his chest; and now Burke saw that -he was not only a good six feet tall and powerfully built, but handsome -in a somewhat coarse, heavy-featured way.</p> - -<p>"I'll deny no wench my favors just because she's of a lower station," -he proclaimed pompously. "I've no doubt you'll keep a man as warm as -this Princess Ariadne who's your mistress."</p> - -<p>The girl giggled. "You mustn't say such things, Master Theseus! -Ariadne's the loveliest woman in all Knossos."</p> - -<p>"What—?" Theseus' broad brow furrowed, and he stood with mouth half -open, looking more than a little stupid. "Are you trying to confuse me, -wench? If this Ariadne's such a beauty, why must she send secretly for -prisoners from her father's dungeon in order to find lovers?"</p> - -<p>An uneasy shadow seemed to fall across the maid's pretty face. She -moved restlessly. "It—it's the curse of Pasiphae, Master Theseus."</p> - -<p>"The curse of Pasiphae—?" Theseus looked blank. "What's that, wench? -Tell me of it."</p> - -<p>"Of the curse?" The girl's smile grew suddenly stiff, and her hands -moved in a small, nervous gesture.</p> - -<p>Then, quickly, she came close to her barrel-chested companion and -slipped her arms about him. "No wonder you're the pride of Athens, -Master Theseus! Close to you this way, I feel your strength. It brings -a woman all sorts of thoughts—"</p> - -<p>Belligerently, Theseus scowled and pushed her back. "None of that, -wench! This curse—tell me about it!"</p> - -<p>The girl drew a deep, unhappy breath, "If you must, then—" And, after -a moment's pause: "You know, of course, that Pasiphae is King Minos' -wife; Ariadne's mother?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"And also that she lusted after the sacred bull of Zeus—"</p> - -<p>"—and so gave birth to the monster in the Labyrinth, the Minotaur? Of -course. Who hasn't heard it?"</p> - -<p>The maid looked round almost fearfully. "Do you not see, then, Master -Theseus? There's the curse! Ariadne's daughter of a woman who's defied -all the laws of gods and men. Who knows what evil may befall the child? -So, no youth dares even look at Ariadne, no matter how great her -beauty."</p> - -<p>Theseus' jaw sagged for a moment. Then he bristled. "It's not because -of my fame, then, my prowess as a lover, that she sent you to bring me -here in secret?"</p> - -<p>The maid bowed her head. But from his vantage-point, Burke could see -her hidden smile—quick, minx-like. "She seeks only to escape her -destiny, Master Theseus. In you, hero that you are, she sees one who -might slay the Minotaur and take her away from Crete and the scorn and -loneliness that so long have been her lot here."</p> - -<p>"So!" grunted Theseus. "She'd use me, would she! Me, hero of Athens!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>His scowl grew even blacker. Then, abruptly, it faded. Sweeping the -girl up bodily in his arms, he bore her to the nearest couch. "Enough -of this empty talk, wench! We've wasted too much time already on your -precious mistress!"</p> - -<p>The couch groaned with their joint weight. Throwing the maid back, -tilting her face up, Theseus strove to kiss her.</p> - -<p>But now the girl drew away, struggling in obvious earnest. "No, Master -Theseus, no! We dare not! Ariadne may come at any moment—"</p> - -<p>"Let her come!" Athenian pinned maid with hands and body. "Let her see -for herself who I prefer—"</p> - -<p>Across the room, a door opened. A slim young girl, proud-faced and -beautiful and poised, stood framed within the entry.</p> - -<p>On the couch, the maid gave a little shriek. "Princess Ariadne!" -Frantically, she tried to writhe free of Theseus.</p> - -<p>He clutched at her as she spun erect. Cloth ripped as her whole skirt -tore away, leaving her standing well-nigh naked.</p> - -<p>The maid's face flamed. Whirling, she darted for the grill-masked -doorway where Burke stood hiding.</p> - -<p>It took him off balance; it was that unexpected. Before he could even -get clear, jump back, she dodged behind the grating; crashed into him -full-tilt.</p> - -<p>Burke reeled back against the door-frame.</p> - -<p>The maid screamed.</p> - -<p>Like an echo, Theseus tore away the screening grillwork.</p> - -<p>After that, for Burke, there was no choice. Instinctively, he knew that -no matter what the cost, he must gain command of the situation.</p> - -<p>Snatching the Smith & Wesson from his waistband, he leveled it at -Theseus. "Stand back, you!"</p> - -<p>Apparently the computational translator put words and tone into -language the bull-necked Athenian could understand. He stopped short.</p> - -<p>Catching the maid by the shoulder, Burke shoved her, stumbling, over to -join her playmate.</p> - -<p>Next, Ariadne, still standing frozen beside the far door:</p> - -<p>"You, princess!" Burke clipped tightly. "Over here, on the double!"</p> - -<p>The slim girl didn't move a muscle.</p> - -<p>Burke snapped, "Come here, I said! Now! Do you hear me?"</p> - -<p>Coldly, the great dark eyes took in Burke and his so-different -garments. Then, in a voice edged with scorn, the princess asked, "And -who are you, to command the daughter of Minos in her own chambers?"</p> - -<p>Sweat slicked Burke's palms, his forehead. "That doesn't matter. It's -enough that I hold the power of the thunderbolt in my hand here." He -gestured with the Smith & Wesson.</p> - -<p>"Indeed?" Now, coolly, Ariadne strolled in his direction. "Perhaps, -then, you're a god; is that it?"</p> - -<p>Burke groped. "Perhaps."</p> - -<p>"Or more likely, you're just a thief from some far country." The girl -stood very erect before Burke, oval face even lovelier for her anger. -"What brought you to my chambers, dog? Or must I have you flayed alive -to get an answer?"</p> - -<p>The trouble with taking command of a situation, Burke decided, was that -you had to be willing to go all out. And he wasn't.</p> - -<p>At least, not with this slim young beauty.</p> - -<p>Desperately, he tried a final gambit. "You, Theseus! Seize her!"</p> - -<p>But now the Athenian's eyes had narrowed. His head came forward, just -a fraction. It had the effect of making his body loom even larger than -before. He looked belligerent and dangerous.</p> - -<p>Burke tried again. "Theseus—"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>Without volition, Burke found his finger tightening on the Smith & -Wesson's trigger.</p> - -<p>Beside Theseus, the maid whimpered. "Master Theseus—the thunderbolts—"</p> - -<p>The Athenian snorted. "He's no god; he's a man. But if he reaches Minos -with a tale of having found me in the Princess Ariadne's quarters, I'll -be a long time dying." He licked thick lips. "No. Better that <i>he</i> -should die. Here. Now."</p> - -<p>He lunged at Burke.</p> - -<p>Leaping aside, Burke thrust a foot between his charging adversary's -legs.</p> - -<p>The Athenian lurched wildly, clawing at the air.</p> - -<p>Gun high for a quick blow, Burke leaped in close behind him.</p> - -<p>Only then, incredibly, the other was whirling on one foot, with all the -grace and skill of a ballet dancer.</p> - -<p>Simultaneously, the other foot whipped up, kicking for Burke's groin.</p> - -<p>With a desperate effort, Burke caught the blow on his forearms.</p> - -<p>But now it was he who'd been feinted off balance. Before he could -recover, a left-handed blow sent him tottering backwards.</p> - -<p>Then he hit a couch. His knees hinged. He sprawled belly-up exposed and -helpless.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Like lightning, Theseus seized a great stone jar, a pithoi. Muscles -bulging, with unbelievable strength he swung it high above his head, -poised to dash down on Burke.</p> - -<p>Burke jerked his revolver up and fired in one spasmodic movement, -straight at the pithoi.</p> - -<p>Gun-thunder echoed through the chamber. The great jar shattered, -cascading slack-jawed Theseus with shards and oil.</p> - -<p>Burke rolled from the couch and stumbled to a new defense-point against -the nearest wall.</p> - -<p>But one shot had been enough for the Hero of Athens. He still stood -blank-eyed, looking more stupid than ever as he stared in a sort of -numb fascination at the shattered stoneware about his feet.</p> - -<p>As for the maid, she'd fainted. And the expression lovely Ariadne now -wore was beyond Burke's power to read.</p> - -<p>But already, feet were pounding in the corridor outside. Guards poured -into the room, half-a-dozen of them—great, strapping blacks with -spears and swords and shields.</p> - -<p>Six guards ... and only three shots left in the revolver.</p> - -<p>Now the Cretan who seemed to be in command of the Negroes looked about -uncertainly. "What happened, princess?" he asked. "Who are these men, -these strangers?"</p> - -<p>For a moment, Burke thought, a smile almost flickered at the corners of -Ariadne's mouth.</p> - -<p>Then, coolly, she said, "They're strangers to me, too, warrior. I only -know that when I came in, this one"—a gesture to Burke—"was tearing -the clothes from my maid. Then, he swore he'd possess me, also, and -would have, had it not been that this other,"—the gesture was to -Theseus this time—"fought to save me."</p> - -<p>The Cretan's nostrils flared. He spat an order to the guards: "This dog -is yours. Slay him!"</p> - -<p>Burke's stomach churned. It was all he could do to breathe.</p> - -<p>Was this the way his dream must end—here, now, before he'd even -learned the secret he'd come after?</p> - -<p>Only then, as the blacks started forward, Ariadne spoke again: "No, -guards! Don't kill him!" And slowly, calculatingly, dark eyes strangely -brooding: "For this man says he's a god, and for such a blasphemer a -quick death is too good.</p> - -<p>"So, let him live—to face my father, Minos!"</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> - - -<p>The place was called the Shrine of Oracles, Burke gathered. It -featured distinctively Minoan pillars—of cypress, and so tapered as to -be smaller at the base than at the top.</p> - -<p>Also, it stank with a peculiar, acrid odor.</p> - -<p>But beyond that, to Burke, it seemed disappointingly ordinary ... -hardly colorful enough to rate the trial of a man accused of playing -god.</p> - -<p>That is, so it appeared until his captors dragged him into a central -room ... and there, black-browed and haughty, sat bearded Minos on his -throne.</p> - -<p>A chill ran through Burke. Never had he seen such malevolence staring -out of human eyes.</p> - -<p>For his own part, it would be the supreme test of his skill and daring -if he even left this room alive. With all his heart, he wished he had -the Smith & Wesson back.</p> - -<p>Lacking it, he'd have to rely upon his wits and play the scene by ear.</p> - -<p>And that brought up another nagging question: why had Ariadne insisted -on possessing herself of the weapon? And why did she take such pains -to stay well separated from him, with others of his captors always in -between?</p> - -<p>Studying her now, it once again came home to Burke that she was indeed -a strange, a tragic figure, for all her loveliness. For even here, in -the presence of the mighty sea-king who was her father, her isolation -showed up all too clearly. The guards, the priests, the nobles—as one, -they walked wide around her, as if some mark of shame and menace were -blazoned on her forehead.</p> - -<p>Perhaps—</p> - -<p>But now Minos leaned forward upon his carved gypsum throne. "Well, -blasphemer? How do you choose to die?"</p> - -<p>The monarch's voice echoed the black hatred of all mankind that gleamed -with such intensity in his eyes.</p> - -<p>Burke forced himself to boldness. "Who says I blaspheme?" he demanded.</p> - -<p>"Do you deny it, then, dog?" King Minos came up from his throne in -blazing fury. "Do you dare to say that the Princess Ariadne, my own -daughter, lies?"</p> - -<p>"When she says I claim to be a god? No." Burke laughed harshly. And -then, with sudden inspiration: "It's only the blasphemy I deny; not the -godhood."</p> - -<p>"Not the godhood—?" Now Minos' eyes distended. A note of uncertainty -crept into his voice. "You mean, you stand before me claiming kinship -to the mighty ones, the lords of earth and sea and sky who rule men's -destinies?"</p> - -<p>"Do you doubt it?"</p> - -<p>"Then name yourself, mocker! Who is it you claim to be?"</p> - -<p>With a strange sort of detachment, Burke found himself mentally -flicking through the pantheon for some name that would fit well with -his own.</p> - -<p>"Well, blasphemer?"</p> - -<p>Burke twisted his mouth into a thin, wry smile. "Would you disown -mighty Dionysus?" he queried coolly. "Would you drive from your midst -the giver of grapes and wine and joy?"</p> - -<p>"Dionysus—!" In awed whispers, the name ran round the crowded room.</p> - -<p>For the fraction of a second, Minos' gaze flickered.</p> - -<p>Only then, a new storm of belligerence seemed to shake him. He strode -forward, shaking his fist. "We'll see, dog! We'll see! The oracle shall -decide!"</p> - -<p>The whole throne-room quivered with sudden hushed fear.</p> - -<p>"Make way!" roared Minos. "Make way to the shrine, that the oracle -himself may judge this mocker!"</p> - -<p>Then, to Burke: "—And if he declares you false, you dog, you'll wish -I'd thrown you to the Minotaur before you die!"</p> - -<p>He pivoted; stalked down an aisle formed by the onlookers.</p> - -<p>Roughly, Burke's guards shoved him along behind. A stone-walled well -loomed, with broad steps leading down.</p> - -<p>—The lustral area! The sacred place of purification that Sir Arthur -Evans first had assumed to be a bath!</p> - -<p>Only now, it was turning out in reality to be for revelation, -not purification; a holy of holies where Man could receive the -pronouncements of the gods.</p> - -<p>The guards let go of Burke when he reached the steps. Apparently they -had no intention of following him down into the pit itself.</p> - -<p>Of a sudden he felt strangely nervous. His knees showed a tendency to -shake.</p> - -<p>But he couldn't let that happen, and he knew it. Not if he wanted ever -to leave this weird place alive. So he straightened his shoulders and -clenched his teeth and strode boldly after King Minos.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>With every step, the biting, acrid smell grew stronger. Burke almost -choked on it. He found himself wondering if perhaps the oracle spoke in -trances induced by vapors; if maybe this pit were outlet for a pocket -of some sort of natural gas.</p> - -<p>Not even a whisper rose from the watchers in the throne-room. The only -sound was the scrape of his own shoes upon the stone.</p> - -<p>Then, at last, he and Minos reached the bottom of the stair. -Dramatically, the sea-king threw wide his arms. "Mighty oracle of Zeus, -it is your chosen one who calls!" he thundered. "Speak to me! Tell -me—tell all of us—if this creature here beside me is a god!"</p> - -<p>Silence.</p> - -<p>"Speak, oracle! Give us your answer! Is this truly Dionysus? Or is it -but a man, a blasphemer we should slay?"</p> - -<p>More silence.</p> - -<p>Burke choked on a sudden impulse to laugh. To think of it—a twentieth -century man and a Bronze Age sea-king, together in this dank, smelly -hole, calling on the gods for a revelation!</p> - -<p>And what if the oracle's secret really turned out to be gas? Might it -prove his own salvation—or at least give him a quick and easy death?</p> - -<p>For instance, suppose he were to flick the wheel of his pocket -lighter—would the all-pervasive smell explode or burn?</p> - -<p>"Oracle, I am your chosen one, King Minos! I command you—"</p> - -<p>Quietly, Burke palmed the lighter.</p> - -<p>"Speak, oracle; speak!"</p> - -<p>A sudden recklessness surged through Burke. He opened his mouth to -laugh.</p> - -<p>And stopped stone cold.</p> - -<p>Because suddenly, out of nowhere, another mind was probing in his brain!</p> - -<p>Instinctively, he strove to force out the invader.</p> - -<p>The very effort gave him new insight. For now, as he fought, he knew -that the mind which he had joined in combat was not human, but alien. -Its whole quality and mode of thought were of another order, another -realm.</p> - -<p>Feeling that mind, fighting it, Burke all at once understood the -malevolence he'd seen in Minos' eyes.</p> - -<p>In the sea-king, he faced a man possessed.</p> - -<p>Now, the alien thing sought to possess him, too.</p> - -<p>Savagely, Burke met its probings. Sweating, straining, he fought it, -hate for hate, and turned it back, and drove it from his brain.</p> - -<p>Then, as quickly as it had come, the pressure was gone.</p> - -<p>But in the same instant, Minos cried out, "This is no god! This is but -a man!"</p> - -<p>And from the crowd above, a thunderous echo: "Yes, yes! He's but a man!"</p> - -<p>The bearded king turned on Burke. His sword-point scraped the grillwork -of the translator case still strapped flat against Burke's belly -beneath the clothes. "Up, dog! Up from this holy shrine and meet your -doom!"</p> - -<p>Bleak, dry-lipped, Burke started up the stair.</p> - -<p>At the top, directly ahead of him and in the front row of those -waiting, stood Ariadne.</p> - -<p>As he climbed, now, her eyes caught his and, burning, held them for -a moment. Then her hands moved in a quick, restricted gesture that -momentarily pulled her stylized apron to one side.</p> - -<p>The Smith & Wesson hung beneath it.</p> - -<p>Burke drew a shallow, unsteady breath.</p> - -<p>Six steps more and he'd be at floor level. That left no time to -question motives.</p> - -<p>Casually, he flipped back his lighter's lid.</p> - -<p>Three steps more, now.</p> - -<p>Another quick, shallow breath. Then, spinning the lighter's wheel with -his right thumb, he knocked Minos' sword from his back with his left -forearm and thrust flame straight at the sea-king's eyes.</p> - -<p>The monarch gave a choked, incoherent yell and jerked back. A shove, -and he was crashing down the stair.</p> - -<p>Whirling, Burke charged like a battering-ram straight into the crowd at -the head of the steps.</p> - -<p>Screams, scrambling, panic. Burke dived across two fallen priests, at -Ariadne.</p> - -<p>The next instant he had the revolver, and his free arm was locked about -her waist. When a thick-shouldered noble started towards him, swinging -a great double-axe, he fired by sheer reflex.</p> - -<p>The axeman stopped short, a shocked expression on his face and a hole -in his chest. When he fell, the whole throne-room sounded with the -hiss of breaths sharply indrawn.</p> - -<p>Burke rapped, "I'm leaving. Your princess goes with me. Try to stop me -and she dies!"</p> - -<p>Out the door, then. Down a corridor.</p> - -<p>Ariadne whispered, "Quick, my lord Dionysus! Up this stair, here!"</p> - -<p>More halls, more stairways. Big rooms and little.</p> - -<p>Finally, a tiny, windowless cubicle opening off a light-well.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Burke turned to Ariadne. "All right, princess. We'll hide here till -dark, then get you out of Knossos."</p> - -<p>A look of strain came to the girl's face. "My lord, it—it cannot be."</p> - -<p>"It can't?"</p> - -<p>"No, my lord. We—I—I dare not leave the palace. My father's -men—they'd run me down within a finger's-breadth of time."</p> - -<p>"Oh?" Burke studied her. "Tell me, princess, what makes you so sure?"</p> - -<p>"It—it is the Minotaur, my brother." Ariadne's face took on a -heightened color. "You see, Lord Dionysus, at my father's will the -monster holds me here within the palace. No matter how I try to hide or -run away, always he tracks me down."</p> - -<p>Burke stood very still. "He—tracks you down—?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, my lord." The girl raised a restless hand to smooth her jet-black -hair. "His mind—it follows mine, you see. So when I would flee, he -sends pursuers to drag me back." And then: "Lord Dion, I confess: at -first I sought to save you so that you, a god, would slay the Minotaur -and carry me away."</p> - -<p>"I see."</p> - -<p>"But now—I'm not so sure that you're a god."</p> - -<p>"So?"</p> - -<p>"So ... so...." The girl's voice broke. She hid her face. "My lord, I -know only that I bear a curse. So, you must go quickly, and forget me. -Because if you should die on my account, I—I—"</p> - -<p>Her words faded into sobs.</p> - -<p>A sudden tenderness rose in Burke. He held the shaking girl close.</p> - -<p>And then, all at once, the things he felt were beyond tenderness.</p> - -<p>It gave his problem a new dimension; added another element to -complicate his road.</p> - -<p>"Could it be that the Minotaur and the oracle really are one?" he asked -abruptly.</p> - -<p>Ariadne lifted a tear-stained face. "How did you guess, my lord?"</p> - -<p>"This mind-track business—do you have any idea how it works?"</p> - -<p>The girl's cheeks flamed. "Don't shame me, Lord Dionysus! You know -he's only—half—my brother."</p> - -<p>"And on account of that wild story about the sacred bull and your -mother, Pasiphae, you think he's got powers beyond the human?" Burke -snorted. "Believe me, princess, it isn't true. Either that creature's -not half a bull, or else he's not half your brother. A thing called -science says it can't be." He grinned suddenly. "My own bet's that he's -neither bull nor human. And maybe the best way to check on that is to -ask your mother a few questions."</p> - -<p>"Then I'll come with you!" This eagerly, from Ariadne.</p> - -<p>Burke shook his head. "No. We'll not risk your pretty neck on the kind -of thing I need to do."</p> - -<p>"To walk with a god can bring no risk, my lord."</p> - -<p>"That's just the trouble, princess," Burke acknowledged ruefully. "You -see, you were right. I'm a man, not a god."</p> - -<p>"Then all the more reason for me to stay with you."</p> - -<p>"There's no use arguing. It's settled."</p> - -<p>A small foot, stamping. "Lord Dion, I shall go!"</p> - -<p>"Sorry, princess." Burke smiled bleakly. "I'll see you at your quarters -later. Meanwhile...."</p> - -<p>He struck quick and hard, straight to her jaw, then gently stretched -her limp form on the floor....</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> - - -<p>It was a jigsaw puzzle with too many pieces, Burke decided. No matter -how he tried to analyze it, he always came out with a vital fragment or -two left over.</p> - -<p>Take the Minotaur. Did such a creature actually exist? Or was the thing -simply a figment of imagination?</p> - -<p>Assuming its existence, what about the strange mental powers with which -it had tried to probe his brain?</p> - -<p>Alien powers.</p> - -<p>Yet if it were alien, what was King Minos' relation to it? Why would a -human join hands with anything that radiated such malevolence and hate?</p> - -<p>Or, for that matter, what was the relation between the sea-king and -his own daughter, Ariadne? Freudians would have a field day with that -business of the mind-thing's holding her within the palace at her -father's behest.</p> - -<p>Finally, staying on the personal level, where did Pasiphae fit in? What -lay behind the legend of her having bribed Daedalus the Smith to build -her a wooden cow so that she could be joined with the sacred bull? -Could she actually have given birth to the Minotaur, or was that tale -merely symbolic?</p> - -<p>Then, looking at the larger elements, the questions that had brought -him here to start with, what was the origin of the radiation traces on -the site of Knossos? And how had the city so mysteriously fallen in a -single night?</p> - -<p>Questions without answers, so far. All of them.</p> - -<p>Further—Burke checked his watch—it was past four now, and that meant -he had only eight hours more before the palace met its doom.</p> - -<p>Yet he couldn't take Ariadne out till he'd somehow immobilized the -Minotaur.</p> - -<p>Cursing under his breath, he wondered what had become of Pasiphae; why -she wasn't where she belonged, in the Queen's Megaron.</p> - -<p>Now two maids appeared, an older woman between them. Hastily, Burke -flattened himself on the high ledge where he was hiding and waited to -see what would happen.</p> - -<p>Leading the woman to one of the low benches along the wall, the maids -spread a tapestry-like cloth for their charge to sit upon, then -withdrew. The door closed behind them.</p> - -<p>Burke frowned. There was a strangeness about the whole procedure that -puzzled him. Not a word had been spoken. And, once seated, the woman -hadn't moved.</p> - -<p>Warily, he moved a fraction closer to the edge of his ledge, so that -he could see the woman better.</p> - -<p>She was richly dressed, with skirts that fell in bright folds -ornamented with lotus-blossom designs. Her bodice was the most ornate -that Burke had seen.</p> - -<p>Yet it was her face, rather than her garments, that held the largest -part of Burke's attention. That this was Pasiphae, he could have no -doubt. The resemblance between her and Ariadne was that marked.</p> - -<p>The points of difference puzzled him, though. He tried to analyze them.</p> - -<p>And then, all at once, he knew.</p> - -<p>For where Ariadne's face was alive and expressive and animated, this -woman's features sagged passive and loose. Her greying hair had the -neatness of the maids' attention, but none of the flair that bespoke -personal interest. Her eyes stared out vacuous and blank upon the room.</p> - -<p>Burke's frown deepened. Carefully, he checked every detail again and -again.</p> - -<p>And then, in the position of her hands, he found the key.</p> - -<p>For the fingers of the left were turned up and twisted at an awkward -angle ... yet still they stayed there, minute after minute after minute.</p> - -<p>Burke sucked in air. "Catatonic!" he exclaimed aloud.</p> - -<p>The woman gave no indication that she'd heard him.</p> - -<p>Dropping from the ledge, he came close to her: passed his hand before -her eyes.</p> - -<p>Still she gave no sign of awareness.</p> - -<p>Burke shivered. "Pasiphae ..." he whispered. "Pasiphae!"</p> - -<p>No answer.</p> - -<p>Burke tried again: "Pasiphae, tell me about your son, the Minotaur."</p> - -<p>Nothing.</p> - -<p>"About Minos, Pasiphae. About Ariadne."</p> - -<p>Blank, staring eyes.</p> - -<p>Burke paused, considered. Then, leaning close, he whispered, "The -thing, Pasiphae; the mind-thing. The creature that comes into your -brain—"</p> - -<p>Without warning, Pasiphae screamed. Then, before Burke could stop -her, she was on her feet and darting past him—fleeing like a woman -possessed down a long corridor.</p> - -<p>Burke raced after her.</p> - -<p>Then, just when he thought that he would catch her, she came up short; -whirled on him, eyes suddenly wild and wide. "You! Are you one of them?"</p> - -<p>"One of them—?"</p> - -<p>"No, you're not! You don't make my head hurt like they did! They always -hurt. Always ... always...."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>She sagged back against the wall. Once again, her eyes began to glaze.</p> - -<p>Burke said, "Minos, your husband ... is Minos one of them?"</p> - -<p>Startlement. "Don't take him! Don't take my baby! I won't let them have -him! I'll get him back! I will—"</p> - -<p>The woman struck out at Burke, then ran.</p> - -<p>Sickness in him, he followed.</p> - -<p>Only this time, she turned sharply; plunged down a narrow flight of -stairs.</p> - -<p>Cursing, Burke half-fell down the steps.</p> - -<p>It was dark at the bottom. He could see nothing of Pasiphae. But her -footsteps still sounded so, groping, he tried to follow.</p> - -<p>The next instant he stepped off into hip-deep water. Floundering, he -fought for balance.</p> - -<p>Something clutched at his legs.</p> - -<p>Burke bellowed aloud from sheer shock. Desperately, he tried to -scramble out of the pool.</p> - -<p>The thing holding him let go. Shaking, Burke dragged himself onto the -footwalk, flicked on his lighter, and stared down into the water.</p> - -<p>An octopus with a head nearly double the size of his own met his gaze -coldly.</p> - -<p>Shivering, Burke closed the lighter and felt his way, an uneasy step at -a time, along the edge of the tank.</p> - -<p>Then at last he met a blank wall ... found another flight of -stairs ... groped his way down them.</p> - -<p>Close at hand, Pasiphae screamed shrilly and ran on again.</p> - -<p>Abruptly, then, light, as a distant door opened. Burke sprinted towards -it.</p> - -<p>Beyond, when he reached the entry, lay the strangest room he'd ever -seen.</p> - -<p>For this was no half-barbaric Bronze Age chamber. Instead, it shimmered -with the cold fire of a blue-white metal the like of which Burke had -never seen before. Light pulsed from it—all of it, till he felt as if -he were walking in some sort of tremendous lamp.</p> - -<p>And there ahead, at the far end of the room, was Pasiphae.</p> - -<p>Again, Burke sprinted.</p> - -<p>Laughing wildly, the woman stepped into a cubicle.</p> - -<p>Like magic, she vanished.</p> - -<p>For an instant Burke hesitated, then entered the box-like area himself.</p> - -<p>This time, the room through which he'd come vanished.</p> - -<p>Almost instantly, then, another chamber appeared—one so vast Burke -couldn't be sure where it ended.</p> - -<p>A thing like a flattened cone stood in the chamber's center, looming -like a miniature mountain.</p> - -<p>Or perhaps one not so miniature.</p> - -<p>It, too, was of the shimmering, blue-white metal. Not a sign of an -opening marred its shining surface.</p> - -<p>And yet, Burke realized numbly, there must be ports of some sort.</p> - -<p>Because the thing was beyond all doubt a space-ship, a vessel designed -for interplanetary—maybe even interstellar—travel.</p> - -<p>It came to Burke in that moment, with grim humor, that he'd found the -answer to his questions; most of them, at any rate.</p> - -<p>The radiation; Knossos' downfall; the mind-thing that was the Minotaur, -or vice versa—all such came clear now.</p> - -<p>This was an alien colony, set down on Crete. Which meant that anything -which might befall the native population would, in the eyes of the -invaders, be seen as no great issue.</p> - -<p>So, this was a good place to be away from; and the quicker, the better.</p> - -<p>Bleakly, he looked around for Pasiphae.</p> - -<p>She stood cowering a dozen yards away, eyes fixed blankly on the -gigantic alien craft.</p> - -<p>Slowly, carefully, Burke approached her. The best idea he could think -of was to take her hand; he'd read somewhere that leading was the best -procedure in dealing with any mental case.</p> - -<p>Gently, he reached out.</p> - -<p>But when his fingers touched hers, it was as if an electric shock had -leaped between them. Screaming as before, Pasiphae ran from him.</p> - -<p>From him, and straight towards the space-ship.</p> - -<p>In frantic haste, Burke started to follow.</p> - -<p>Only then, all at once, there was a blinding flash that centered on the -woman. Tendrils of smoke curled up from a charred, crumbling husk.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Sick with horror, Burke stared for one brief moment. Then, at the -double, he hurried back to the cubicle from which he'd stepped.</p> - -<p>Now he noted that a duplicate stood beside it. Which, he assumed, meant -that this was a two-way transportation system, leading from the ship -to Knossos. How far apart the two were, he couldn't even guess at. -Miles, probably. The very fact that transportation was called for would -indicate that.</p> - -<p>He stepped into the second cubicle; then, a moment later, out again in -the room beneath the palace.</p> - -<p>It bothered him a little that he still hadn't seen any of the aliens. -He liked the idea of knowing what he was fighting.</p> - -<p>But that couldn't be helped. The important thing now was to act -quickly; to meet and defeat the Minotaur so that he could get Ariadne -out of the palace before it was destroyed.</p> - -<p>He checked his watch: nearly eight already. It was incredible how fast -time slipped away.</p> - -<p>Back up the stairs and through the tank-room to the Queen's Megaron. -Then out the light-well by which he'd entered, and through the -gathering dark to the Shrine of Oracles.</p> - -<p>Because that was where he'd have to start; he knew that from the things -he'd heard as prisoner. The entrance to the Labyrinth, the way to the -Minotaur, was through some passage in the shrine.</p> - -<p>Only there was a guard on the first entrance he tried, and on the -second also.</p> - -<p>In ten minutes he knew the truth: a mouse couldn't creep into the -shrine tonight without being run through by a Sudani spearman.</p> - -<p>So, he had no choice but to try a different route, the route of legend.</p> - -<p>First, he'd have to locate Ariadne, even though it demanded another -hair-raising human fly act, clambering down a pitch-black light-well.</p> - -<p>Then, through her, he'd reach Daedalus, demand a thread, plunge into -the Labyrinth.</p> - -<p>Only that wasn't right. The legend said Theseus did that.</p> - -<p>Yet Theseus was drunk, dead drunk, back there in Ariadne's quarters.</p> - -<p>Or was he?</p> - -<p>It dawned on Burke, then, that nothing but delirium could account for -such confusion. How else could he be flying and falling at once? What -other explanation would take in such a strange, shifting mixture of -past and present?</p> - -<p>Then, suddenly, he became aware of the cold stone beneath his back. In -a flash, he remembered how Theseus had trapped him ... forced him into -the sewer ... dragged him to the Labyrinth's one secret entrance ... -struck him down....</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> - - -<p>Consciousness returned to Burke with dragging steps.</p> - -<p>Perhaps that was because the place in which he now lay was so dark. It -stayed that way even when his bruised jaw and aching head told him for -certain that this was reality, not delusion. No matter how he strained -his eyes, he could see absolutely nothing.</p> - -<p>Not that it mattered. Because he knew where he was, beyond mistaking. -His nose told him, picking up the acrid scent that had been so -all-pervasive in the Shrine of Oracles.</p> - -<p>Only here, it was worse. Here, it rose sharp and biting as the very -smell of death.</p> - -<p>And that meant he could be nowhere but in the Labyrinth itself!</p> - -<p>The thought knotted Burke's stomach. Yet when he strove to move, his -bonds held him, unyielding.</p> - -<p>Theseus had done this job well, Burke decided. With no trouble at all, -it could spell doom for him.</p> - -<p>Which brought up another question: what time was it?</p> - -<p>By the very fact that he remained alive, he assumed it still wasn't -midnight; that Knossos hadn't been destroyed.</p> - -<p>But even if he'd blacked out only for two or three minutes, the fatal -moment couldn't be far off ... not more than half an hour, at most.</p> - -<p>It was the kind of thought to put a man upon his mettle. Floundering, -Burke tried to break his bonds.</p> - -<p>It was useless. The cords wouldn't give a fraction.</p> - -<p>That meant he had to find some other way out.</p> - -<p>Twisting, he made an effort to check his pockets' contents.</p> - -<p>Small change, a comb, two keys, his lighter.</p> - -<p><i>His lighter—!</i></p> - -<p>Involuntarily, Burke breathed faster. Squirming, writhing, he strained -to bring his bound hands to where one could reach into the proper -pocket, instead of just feeling what was there through fabric.</p> - -<p>Now tingling fingers told him the cords had cut off circulation. Let -his hands get too numb, and he wouldn't even be able to hold the -lighter.</p> - -<p>A final effort. One thumb slipped into the pocket. Burke hooked it into -the opening and heaved.</p> - -<p>A seam ripped, noisy in the stillness. The pocket's contents rattled on -the stone floor.</p> - -<p>Rolling over again, Burke groped till his trembling fingers found the -lighter. Flicking back the lid, he spun the wheel.</p> - -<p>Flame licked at the palm of his other hand. For a moment it was all he -could do to keep from crying out, dropping the lighter.</p> - -<p>But he gritted his teeth instead and, sweat streaming down his face, -forced himself to lower the lighter carefully so that it stood upright -on the floor.</p> - -<p>Now, once again, speed became the issue. It went without saying that -the lighter's fluid must be almost exhausted.</p> - -<p>If it burned out too soon—!</p> - -<p>Burke bit down harder. Heedless of the pain and sweat and knotting -muscles, he forced himself to thrust his wrists down so the flame could -play upon the cords.</p> - -<p>In seconds, the stench of searing flesh and burned cloth blotted out -the chamber's odor. Eyes squeezed tight shut as if to shut out the -agony, cursing beneath his breath, Burke strained to keep his bonds -taut and in the right position.</p> - -<p>Then, when it seemed that he could stand the pain no longer, a cord -snapped like a clipped wire. Another followed.</p> - -<p>The next instant, Burke's wrists were free.</p> - -<p>Sobbing soundlessly, he batted out the lighter, to save what fuel -remained.</p> - -<p>After that, the job became routine—a matter of stripping loose ends -of cord from his wrists; working his fingers till circulation was -restored; untying his ankles.</p> - -<p>The burns still hurt; and, he knew the pain would be even worse later -on. What to do about it, though—that was something else again.</p> - -<p>In any case, he needed light.</p> - -<p>Rising, once more he flicked on the lighter.</p> - -<p>Mostly, it revealed emptiness and shadow. But there was a lamp-stand -over to one side, so Burke made his way to it and lighted the lamp.</p> - -<p>Now, for the first time, he checked his watch.</p> - -<p>Eleven thirty five. Less than half an hour till Knossos met its doom.</p> - -<p>It raised a new problem: what was his own best course now? To stay -here? To go seek out the Minotaur as first planned? Or to drop back -through the open manhole he now spotted over in one corner, and put his -trust in flight?</p> - -<p>That last idea—it had much to commend it. For one thing, almost any -manhole where he might come up, save only this one, would put him in a -position to keep a whole skin and escape the palace, even without the -thread of Daedalus to guide him.</p> - -<p>For another, any attempt on his part now to slay the Minotaur was -doomed to failure in advance. Obviously. Theseus had made off with the -Smith & Wesson. Without it, or equivalent, no one could hope to meet -the monster and live.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Lamp in hand, Burke went over to the manhole and sat down on the edge, -legs dangling, in preparation for the drop into the drainage tunnel -below.</p> - -<p>Only then, as he momentarily hesitated there, bracing himself, his mind -turned to the one subject he most wished to avoid.</p> - -<p>Ariadne.</p> - -<p>It had to come, of course. He'd known it all along. You couldn't ignore -a woman in a moment of crisis such as this one—not when she meant as -much to you as Ariadne did to him.</p> - -<p>So, what would happen to her, if he dropped down through this manhole -into the sewer?</p> - -<p>Answer: she'd die. In less than half an hour she'd die, without note, -in the destruction of this strange, gleaming palace men called Knossos.</p> - -<p>And nothing he, Dion Burke, or anyone else, could do would save her, -so long as the Minotaur lived.</p> - -<p>Now the question became, did he care about escaping, living, if he had -to do it alone, without his lovely Ariadne?</p> - -<p>Burke forced himself to hesitate on that one. He didn't want to react -to it hastily, or casually, or emotionally, or without due thought and -consideration.</p> - -<p>The only difficulty was, a man's feelings weren't something he could -put on or take off at will, like a suit of clothes. They were part of -him, incorporated into every cell of meat and blood and bone and tissue.</p> - -<p>And there was the answer to his basic question: win or lose, live or -die, he'd leave Knossos only with Ariadne at his side.</p> - -<p>Beside, hadn't the legends said that Theseus slew the Minotaur with his -bare fists? Maybe a proxy could do likewise!</p> - -<p>Swinging his legs up out of the manhole, Burke scrambled to his feet, -somewhat heavily. The burns on his wrists were hurting worse now, and -he hardly felt in the best of shape to do battle with a monster.</p> - -<p>But it seemed he had little choice. So, lamp in hand, he moved along -the wall looking for an exit.</p> - -<p>It wasn't till he'd worked his way through half-a-dozen pitch-black -chambers that two things dawned on him:</p> - -<p>First, the solution to the problem of his scorched, seared wrists was -oil; and such was available in the jars that flanked almost every -lamp-stand.</p> - -<p>Second, the quickest way to the Minotaur was to follow his nose. Once -he'd located the source of the strange, acrid smell, odds were he'd -also have found the monster.</p> - -<p>Doused liberally with oil, Burke's wrists felt better. And it was no -feat at all to choose his path by odor.</p> - -<p>Yet time still seeped away ... he had a bare fifteen minutes left now, -if his watch and calculations proved right.</p> - -<p>How big could this cursed maze be?</p> - -<p>Too big, apparently.</p> - -<p>Then, just when despair was about to overtake him, a thin line of light -gleamed far ahead.</p> - -<p>A sheen of cold sweat came to Burke's palms. He moved forward more -warily, more silently, than ever.</p> - -<p>The light, it developed, shone from the crack beneath a door.</p> - -<p>Like a shadow, Burke crept close; laid his ear against the panel, -listening.</p> - -<p>No sound.</p> - -<p>Ever so gently, he laid the fingers of his left hand against the -portal; pressed slowly.</p> - -<p>New light appeared, washing through the crack along the jamb.</p> - -<p>A moment of taut waiting. Then Burke put his eye to the opening and -peered through, into a large, sumptuously-furnished room. The room of a -noble, perhaps, or even a king.</p> - -<p>The only thing strange about it that Burke could see was that what -appeared to be a large tank occupied the center of the room ... a tank -of shimmering, blue-white metal, utterly unlike the bronze of the -Minoans; precisely the same as the material of which the great ship in -the cave was made.</p> - -<p>The hair along the back of Burke's neck prickled. Moving first to one -side and then the other, he checked as large a portion of the room -beyond the door as possible.</p> - -<p>No occupants, so far as he could see.</p> - -<p>With a quick push, he sent the door all the way back, swinging wide, -while he poised rigid in the shadows.</p> - -<p>Still no reaction.</p> - -<p>Silently, Burke crossed the threshold.</p> - -<p>Here the acrid smell was almost overpowering; and though the room -itself was unoccupied, a strange, pulsating aura of evil seemed to flow -through it in great waves.</p> - -<p>Burke tip-toed to the shining, blue-white tank; peered down into it.</p> - -<p>It held clear liquid only. But the stink of the stuff made Burke choke -and gasp. His eyes burned. He stumbled backward, fighting for breath.</p> - -<p>In the same instant, cloth rustled behind him.</p> - -<p>Burke whirled.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A tapestry had been flung back, revealing a previously-hidden door. -Framed in it, well over seven feet tall, stood a creature Burke -couldn't believe even now, as he stared at it.</p> - -<p>The thing was a man, at first glance—a giant of a man, mightily -muscled. He wore nothing save the traditional Minoan loin-band.</p> - -<p>But it was the creature's head that held Burke; froze him.</p> - -<p>For instead of a human head, to match a human body, this monster had -the head of a gigantic bull, with monstrous horns and great glaring -eyes and nostrils that flared and quivered.</p> - -<p>Burke's hand shook so his lamp almost slopped over. A slow step at a -time, he tried to back away.</p> - -<p>But now, with a great bull-roar, the monster's head came down. It -lunged at him.</p> - -<p>Burke hurled the lamp at it.</p> - -<p>Incredibly fast, the thing dodged. The lamp struck the wall. Flame -leaped along the tapestry.</p> - -<p>But the Minotaur paid the fire no heed. Again it lunged at Burke, -spearing in at him with one of the great bull horns.</p> - -<p>Barely in time, Burke dived aside. Desperately, he scrambled past the -central tank, searching vainly for some weapon. When he stumbled over -a low stool, he snatched it up, glad for anything that he could use to -strike a blow.</p> - -<p>Another bellow. The monster launched a new charge.</p> - -<p>Burke swung the stool.</p> - -<p>But even as the blow descended, the Minotaur brought up huge hands to -stop it. Catching the stool by the legs, the creature jerked it up, -trying to wrestle it away from Burke.</p> - -<p>For an instant, then, they struggled, toe to toe, fighting for -possession of the stool.</p> - -<p>But only for an instant, for Burke knew without question what the -outcome would be; must be. No ordinary man could stand against this -hideous freak of nature. It simply was too much to hope for.</p> - -<p>Yet unless he won, what would happen to Ariadne?</p> - -<p>Fiercely, he threw all his weight onto the stool, swinging by it, -completely clear of the floor.</p> - -<p>Then, savagely, he slashed a foot down, so that the edge of his shoe -raked his opponent's shin from knee to ankle before it hit the instep -with smashing force.</p> - -<p>The Minotaur half doubled over. A hoarse gust of pain burst from its -throat.</p> - -<p>Burke let go the stool. With all his might, he struck straight upward, -between the monster's outstretched arms to the great bull-jaw.</p> - -<p>New sounds of anguish—almost human, this time. The creature lurched -forward flat-footed, off balance.</p> - -<p>Burke leaped back. Catching the huge horns, he gave them a tremendous -wrench, with all his weight behind it, the way he'd seen bull-doggers -handle steers at rodeos.</p> - -<p>Something cracked, so loud Burke could hear it even through the tumult. -He wrenched again, harder.</p> - -<p>A tearing sound, this time.</p> - -<p>The next instant, Burke tumbled to the floor.</p> - -<p>And that didn't make sense, because he still gripped the Minotaur's -great horns.</p> - -<p>Spasmodically, he threw himself to one side and over.</p> - -<p>Across the room, the whole length of the tapestry was in flames now, -blazing and crackling. Eddies of fire danced along the cypress beam -above it, and the door-frame.</p> - -<p>In front of it stood the Minotaur.</p> - -<p>Only now, the Minotaur had no head.</p> - -<p>At least, not the great bull's head. That was gone, torn away, left -to lie like a hideous mask on the floor midway between Burke and the -creature.</p> - -<p>Where the bull's head had been, atop the monster's mighty shoulders -was now, instead, a human head ... the tiny, distorted skull of a -microcephalic imbecile.</p> - -<p>And on top of that head—eyes glittering balefully; tentacles hugging -it tight to its host's skull—squatted what appeared to be a jet-black -octopus slightly less than the size of a bowling ball.</p> - -<p>Yet it was no octopus sprung from Earth's own waters. Burke knew -that the instant he saw it; knew it by the way the creature's eyes -fixed on him; knew it in the chill that shook him as the thing's evil -intelligence lanced forth to lock in mortal combat with him in his own -brain.</p> - -<p>And in a way, all that was good. At least, it relieved him of -uncertainty; demonstrated once and for all that he'd been right when -he refused to believe offspring could come from the mating of bull and -woman.</p> - -<p>No, that was only fable; a Bronze Age fantasy.</p> - -<p>The fact, quite probably, was that Pasiphae had given birth to an -imbecile who also happened by some strange quirk to be a physical giant.</p> - -<p>What better host for an alien telepath, a creature not adapted to -Earth as a planet or to dry-land living?</p> - -<p>Then, to conceal the truth, hide alien and microcephalic skull alike -beneath a great bull's head mask, and build a labyrinthine domicile -where only its victims would ever meet it face to face.</p> - -<p>All of which was interesting as conjecture, but hardly of practical use -to a man faced with an alien-guided, seven-foot giant as of this very -moment.</p> - -<p>Such thoughts—! In spite of his plight, Burke couldn't help but smile -wryly. With a strong effort of will, he forced the alien's probing -tentacles of thought out of his brain; rose slowly, warily, holding the -octopod's glittering eyes with his own.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He was on his feet now; and, once up, he became distinctly, -unpleasantly aware of the room's heat ... the billows of smoke, the -roaring of the flames that leaped along the roof-beams.</p> - -<p>It was time for him to leave. Definitely.</p> - -<p>For the fraction of a second, he let his eyes flicker towards the door.</p> - -<p>Like a flash, his giant foe lunged for him. Before he could duck or -dodge, he was jammed back against the wall. Great hands shoved at his -chest, pinning him.</p> - -<p>Desperately, Burke tried to strike back.</p> - -<p>His reach was too short. He couldn't land a blow.</p> - -<p>Now a vacuous smirk wreathed the microcephalic's loose-lipped face. The -tiny eyes shone with delight.</p> - -<p>There was no change in the octopod's baleful glare.</p> - -<p>Now the giant pushed harder ... harder....</p> - -<p>Burke felt his ribs begin to give. He swung his arms wildly, clutching -in a frenzy for something—anything—</p> - -<p>His hand touched an oil-jar. He clawed it to him.</p> - -<p>But the Minotaur merely shifted, blocking him so he couldn't strike a -blow.</p> - -<p>Death was very close now. Burke knew it. Another moment, and his ribs -would snap and pierce his heart, his lungs.</p> - -<p>A convulsive tremor shook him. Oil spilled from the jar.</p> - -<p>Oil—!</p> - -<p>With his last ounce of strength, he brought the jar up sharply, knowing -even as he did it that his foe would block the blow.</p> - -<p>But the oil would keep on going, maybe....</p> - -<p>It hit the alien full in the face.</p> - -<p>Burke could feel the thing lose control of its host. Even in his own -brain, it was as if a crushing weight had suddenly been lifted.</p> - -<p>Simultaneously, the human giant's arms dropped.</p> - -<p>Burke ducked and threw himself bodily at the other's knees.</p> - -<p>The imbecile fell.</p> - -<p>And now, alien abandoned host, racing across the floor on its tentacles -towards the shimmering, blue-white tank.</p> - -<p>Burke snatched up a second oil-jar; hurled its contents.</p> - -<p>The oil slapped over the creature in a wave. Fire leaped from the -flaming tapestry to meet it.</p> - -<p>The next instant the alien itself was a threshing, blazing ball.</p> - -<p>Then a ceiling timber crashed down on it in a shower of sparks.</p> - -<p>The threshing stopped.</p> - -<p>Burke ran for the nearest door....</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> - - -<p>She wasn't there. Even when he ran back through her rooms, calling her -name aloud, she wasn't there.</p> - -<p>Numbly, Burke stumbled forth again, out onto the long ascending ramp -that led to the central court.</p> - -<p>Over on the far side, at the Shrine of Oracles, orange-yellow flames -leaped high into the black night sky. Whipped by the buffeting south -wind, they jumped to another building while Burke watched; then on to -still another. Silhouetted figures ran this way and that—gesturing, -shouting.</p> - -<p>Once again, Burke checked his watch.</p> - -<p>Eleven fifty-five now. Only five brief minutes till the moment all -Knossos was to be destroyed, according to the time inverter's scanner -screen.</p> - -<p>Still Burke hesitated, straining his eyes against the night as he -strove for some glimpse of Ariadne. In taut concentration, he listened -for the distant echo of her voice.</p> - -<p>Without avail.</p> - -<p>Then, while he yet lingered, a man called out to him hoarsely. He -wheeled just as one of Minos' huge Sudani guards came hurrying in his -direction.</p> - -<p>It was a stimulus Burke couldn't ignore. Another moment and the man -might recognize him. Whirling, he sprinted up the nearest stairway, -then across the flat roof of the back of the building.</p> - -<p>A quick drop to the ground again. A daredevil slide down the steep East -Bastion. A stumbling, headlong run along the bank of the river called -Kairatos to the cover of a clump of cypress trees.</p> - -<p>But now that he had started running, it seemed the best idea not to -stop. On he fled, and on, clambering over boulders, careening into -ditches.</p> - -<p>Then, at last, he found himself in a crown of brush atop a little -knoll, a good half-mile or better from the palace. Panting, unable to -go further, Burke flung himself down in the blackest of the shadows and -lay there, staring back at the strange, stark majesty that was Knossos.</p> - -<p>The flames of the fire he'd started in the Labyrinth still were -spreading. Sparks swirled in the wind, carried high by blaze-stoked -updrafts; then dispersed, floating farther and farther from the central -core of heat, till at last they fell again, to ignite new buildings.</p> - -<p>Tearing his attention from the distant holocaust, Burke peered at his -watch once more.</p> - -<p>Twelve ten.</p> - -<p>So the zero hour had come and gone, with nothing happening save the -continued spread of the fire.</p> - -<p>Burke felt a little sick. Had all his efforts, his anguish, gone for -nothing? Was he to live out his life in Bronze Age Crete to no purpose -save to prove correct that part of Pendlebury's theory that said that -Knossos, dying, had been swept by fire?</p> - -<p>Burke cursed beneath his breath. He still couldn't, wouldn't, believe -it. It left too many loopholes. After all, what about the business of -the radiation traces he'd detected; the blighted circle that showed on -the scanner screen? Why, for so many hundred years, had Cretans shunned -the site of their ancient glory?</p> - -<p>Then, too there were his own personal experiences of the past few hours -to think of. Pasiphae's monstrous imbecile son; the octopodal alien -telepath—what roles did they play?</p> - -<p>Not to mention the great, shimmering, blue-white ship hidden deep -within the earth.</p> - -<p>Certainly Pendlebury's theory offered little save the detail of the -fire to commend it. The invasion part, the idea that outsiders had -swept down on the palace with torch and sword—that simply wasn't true.</p> - -<p>Not unless he, Dion Burke, might be said to constitute a whole task -force in himself, just because by accident he'd set the Labyrinth -ablaze.</p> - -<p>As for his hopes, his dreams, the way he felt towards Ariadne—</p> - -<p>A wave of sheer frustration came with the thought. Savagely, Burke -hammered the dirt with a clenched fist. Then, breathing hard, he -scrambled to his feet.</p> - -<p>Only in that same moment, a sound pulsed in upon him ... a high, thin, -wailing sound that rose in sudden sharp crescendo.</p> - -<p>Burke spun round.</p> - -<p>But before he could even place the noise, the earth beneath his feet -began to shake. A roar, louder and deeper than the bellow of a thousand -angry bulls, thundered up to counterpoint the wail.</p> - -<p>Simultaneously, light flared, so blinding bright Burke had to throw up -his arms to shield his eyes.</p> - -<p>The glare seemed to come from the southeast, off in the direction where -Mount Lasithi's rocky pinnacles rose.</p> - -<p>Mount Lasithi, whose towering, cliff-girt bastions shielded the sacred -Cave of Zeus....</p> - -<p>While Burke cringed, the radiance seemed to fade a little. The -earth-shaking roar diminished also. The shrill wail struck a slightly -less ear-piercing note.</p> - -<p>Another moment, and Burke dared to squint skyward once more.</p> - -<p>What he saw made the hair stand up along the back of his neck.</p> - -<p>For off there, to the southeast, a great spray of light radiated out -from Mount Lasithi. Before his very eyes, the whole crest seemed to -split asunder. Rocky buttresses crumbled. Great crags and ledges split -away.</p> - -<p>Up from among them rose a huge, flattened, metallic cone—the -blue-white ship at which Burke had stared in awe brief hours before.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Light pulsed from it now, as if it were a miniature sun. Rock fell away -from the craft in avalanches as it broke free of the mountain.</p> - -<p>Now the light drew into a single, broad, fan-shaped shaft that thrust -down from the ship's base to the rugged terrain of the shattered -mountain below. The thing began to climb, faster and faster.</p> - -<p>Then, as it gained altitude, it swung round in a tremendous, wheeling -circle ... swung round, and then straightened, and lanced earthward -once more, straight for the flaming tumult that was Knossos.</p> - -<p>Burke threw himself flat in the dirt.</p> - -<p>It was wasted caution. He might as well not have been there. The alien -ship went wide of him by miles.</p> - -<p>Another moment, and it was hovering over Knossos; leveling off till its -base was parallel to the ground below.</p> - -<p>Slowly, slowly, then it descended, riding down on its fan-shaped shaft -of light till it hung bare feet above the tops of the buildings. For an -instant, Burke thought it must surely be going to land.</p> - -<p>But no. For suddenly, the light-shaft pulsed brighter by a dozen, a -hundred, a thousand times. The ship spun in a low, flat circle that -carried it over the entire area of the palace and surrounding grounds -in seconds.</p> - -<p>Then the wailing sound went shrill again—so shrill Burke clapped his -hands over his ears. The ship peeled away from the palace and lanced -into the sky like an electron-streak. In a flash, it was gone—gone -from Knossos, from Crete, from Earth itself ... a dim and distant -pinpoint, sparkling as it faded away, incredibly fast, into the night.</p> - -<p>Numbly, Burke turned once more to the palace.</p> - -<p>So far as he could see from this vantage-point, no sign of life -remained. It was as if a giant hammer had smashed down on it; reduced -it to a heap of tumbled stone. Even the fires were dead.</p> - -<p>And Ariadne—?</p> - -<p>Burke couldn't let himself think about her. Better to marvel at the -alien ship, with its pulsing power that shattered mountains and wiped -out cities. Better to grope for some bitter tendril of satisfaction -that at last he'd learned the truth about the palace's destruction.</p> - -<p>As if that would do him any good now.</p> - -<p>Because always, always, fight as he might against it, Ariadne was in -his mind and heart alike.</p> - -<p>Yet perhaps she'd survived. After all, he'd not been able to find her -in her quarters. And she'd promised to meet him—where was it?—on the -headland to the left of the mouth of the River of Amnissus.</p> - -<p>At least, hunting for her would give him something to do; something to -occupy his muscles and maybe, even, a small part of his brain.</p> - -<p>So, now, he rose; turned towards the sea.</p> - -<p>It was nearly dawn before he found his way to the headland. By then, -the wind had died, and the sky in the east lay grey as the whispering, -slate-colored waves.</p> - -<p>A spark of tension came to life within Burke. Suddenly eager, heedless -of fatigue, he clawed his way to the headland's highest point and -scanned the whole area.</p> - -<p>No sign of Ariadne.</p> - -<p>The spark flickered; died. Dully, Burke stared out across the shadowy -sea.</p> - -<p>His life from now on would be like that: grey; all grey.</p> - -<p>It didn't even matter that now he could see the hidden pattern behind -the rise of Bronze Age Crete.</p> - -<p>The alien ship's presence was, of course, the key.</p> - -<p>Obviously, that ship had brought the biggest part of so-called Minoan -culture with it. That was why Cretan civilization had flowered so -incredibly fast. Perhaps even the Minoans themselves had arrived on -Earth aboard the craft, as dry-land slaves in the service of masters -better adapted to a liquid environment.</p> - -<p>Why had the aliens come? That was a question harder to answer. -But whether because of external foes or internal problems, the -creatures had been looking for a new world to colonize. And since -the Mediterranean teemed with octopi, Cephalopoda, no doubt Crete -had offered advantages. Maybe there'd been experiments—attempts -to cross-breed the superior, telepathic aliens with the -less-highly-developed native octopi. Or perhaps the intruders had -merely sought to adapt themselves to life in water, rather than the -smelly stuff in the Labyrinth tank.</p> - -<p>In any case, they'd held Crete for a long, long time—the way they'd -buried their ship in the heart of Mount Lasithi proved that.</p> - -<p>Minos, in turn, had played the role of a Quisling, power-hungry -intermediary between his own race and the aliens. To hold his kingship, -he'd had Daedalus build the Labyrinth, to serve as quarters for the -alien overseer who, in the guise of oracle, held final power in -Knossos. And when a human host for this octopodal commandant had been -demanded—a man to serve as transportation for the creature—Minos had -blackened his wife's name and dedicated his imbecile son to the duty.</p> - -<p>Or perhaps he hadn't. Perhaps he'd done the things he'd done -reluctantly, and only in order to save his people from alien wrath such -as had struck tonight.</p> - -<p>In any case, the death of the alien in the Labyrinth had served -as trigger for the disaster. One of their number slain, the -extraterrestrials no doubt had concluded Earth unsafe, and so had fled -back to the outer space from which they'd come.</p> - -<p>Which meant that the alien's slayer was also responsible for Knossos' -fall ... the death that had struck down all the hundreds trapped in the -now-blighted palace area tonight.</p> - -<p>Burke shivered.</p> - -<p>Only there was another side to that, too.</p> - -<p>For instance, suppose he'd stayed in his own time; never come to Crete, -nor slain the Minotaur?</p> - -<p>Where would that leave Earth? As an alien outpost, overrun with -telepathic octopodal horrors, while Man survived as mere serfs to carry -out the bidding of the master race?</p> - -<p>Again, questions without answers.</p> - -<p>Burke's shoulders shook.</p> - -<p>But then, while he still stood brooding—fatigue-worn, lame, -half-sick—the first pale fingers of the sun began to touch the horizon -with rose.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Turning, Burke stared down at the river and the tiny port village near -its mouth.</p> - -<p>As if his move had been a signal, there was a sudden stir of activity. -Men hurried to and fro along the water's edge. A Greek long ship pushed -out from shore.</p> - -<p>Now those aboard the craft hoisted its sail.</p> - -<p>A black sail.</p> - -<p>Involuntarily, Burke stiffened.</p> - -<p>Because the black sail made it Theseus' ship.</p> - -<p>And legend said Theseus left Crete with Ariadne.</p> - -<p>Burke ran for the point closest to the water; stared tight-lipped at -the long, slim vessel.</p> - -<p>Scarlet caught his eye—the scarlet of a woman's bright-striped cloak.</p> - -<p>The same cloak Ariadne had swirled for him so prettily, perhaps—?</p> - -<p>Burke dived from his point, straight down into the river. With all his -strength, he swam to intercept the slowly-drifting long ship.</p> - -<p>Now those aboard had glimpsed him. Men pointed. Women's voices rose, -thin on the morning breeze.</p> - -<p>Burke plowed the water closer ... closer....</p> - -<p>And now a brawny, familiar figure came striding to the bow: Theseus, -Hero of Athens.</p> - -<p>Burke swam the harder. Just a dozen strokes more—</p> - -<p>Almost, it seemed as if he could reach out and touch Theseus.</p> - -<p>The Athenian leaned forward—face stiff, teeth bared, eyes bright with -malice. Then his arm came up and back, and Burke saw he gripped a spear.</p> - -<p>Theseus hurled the weapon in the same instant.</p> - -<p>Desperately, Burke tried to throw himself aside.</p> - -<p>But the waves, the water, slowed his movements. The spear struck home, -deep in his shoulder.</p> - -<p>In spite of himself, Burke cried out.</p> - -<p>And now Theseus caught up another spear and poised to throw it.</p> - -<p>Burke drove the air from his lungs in a gust. He sank like a rock, -turning over and over, as the rush of the Amnissus into the sea carried -him along.</p> - -<p>But at least there were no more spears; and after a long moment when -it seemed his lungs must surely burst, he fought his way back to the -surface, and drank in air, and then floated till he could grit his -teeth and tear Theseus' javelin from his shoulder.</p> - -<p>After that, there was the long swim back to shore—a swim against -the current, this time. By the time Burke made it, Theseus' ship was -toy-size in the distance.</p> - -<p>For his own part, and what with fatigue and pain and loss of blood, -Burke wasn't at all sure that he cared whether he lived or died. -Stumbling up from the water onto a narrow strip of beach, he crumpled -face-down before he'd gone ten steps.</p> - -<p>Half in delirium, thinking of Ariadne, he almost sobbed aloud.</p> - -<p>The delirium grew. He knew it did, because now he could even hear her -calling to him dimly, as from afar.</p> - -<p>Only then the voice came closer: "Dion, Dion! Please, my lord Dion, -speak to me!"</p> - -<p>Hands lifted his head; cradled it in soft arms. Tender fingers smoothed -his hair and brushed the sand from his face.</p> - -<p>With a tremendous effort, Burke opened his eyes.</p> - -<p>And there was Ariadne.</p> - -<p>It took him a full minute to know he wasn't dreaming, or in that dark -half-world between reality and hallucination.</p> - -<p>Then, at last, incredibly, it was true, and she was with him, her salt -tears spattering his face faster than she could wipe them away. "Oh, my -lord Dion ..." she whispered, again and again, "My Dion, my Dion!"</p> - -<p>Burke said hoarsely, "Ariadne, what happened? I thought—How'd you get -here?"</p> - -<p>"How indeed, my lord Dion!" Of a sudden the slim princess was laughing -through her tears. "I walked, as you did, though it took me longer, for -I wanted to be sure we were free of that dog Theseus before I joined -you."</p> - -<p>"Free of Theseus—?"</p> - -<p>"Of course. When he came seeking me at my quarters in the night I fled, -then followed him, till I knew for certain he was aboard his ship."</p> - -<p>And that brought up another matter: "But—the cloak—the woman—"</p> - -<p>"The woman?" Never had Ariadne looked more a picture of wide-eyed -innocence. "I do not understand, my lord."</p> - -<p>Burke gave her back stare for stare, holding his tongue; and after a -moment, with a sound suspiciously like a giggle, she murmured, "It -could not be my maid you mean, could it, my lord?"</p> - -<p>"Your maid—?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, the peasant girl who found such favor with Theseus." Ariadne's -dark eyes held more than a hint of laughter. "I thought it only fitting -that he be rewarded for his efforts, Lord Dion. So I wrapped the wench -in my cloak and told her that if she kept her face hidden and played -the role of Princess Ariadne long enough and well enough, she might end -up as Theseus' queen."</p> - -<p>The picture was perfect. Burke laughed till he feared he'd open his -wound again.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Ariadne laughed with him for a moment, then sobered. "I meant what -I told her, Lord Dion. She's a clever girl, and Theseus can see no -farther than the nearest bed. By the time he reaches Athens, she may -have him so in her toils as not to be able to bear the thought of -parting from her."</p> - -<p>Burke smiled wryly; shook his head. "I'm sorry, Ariadne. It won't work. -Theseus isn't going to like being tricked. So when he puts in at Naxos, -he'll leave your maid behind."</p> - -<p>Ariadne's great eyes widened. "And—Theseus himself—?"</p> - -<p>"When he reaches Athens, he'll find his father dead."</p> - -<p>"I see." The slim, lovely princess nodded slowly. "And then, you'll go -to Athens, and you'll kill him. And after that, if my father, Minos, -still lives, you'll kill him, too. And then—"</p> - -<p>Burke said, "No, princess."</p> - -<p>"No—?" she stared. "What do you mean?"</p> - -<p>"I mean, I'm all through killing."</p> - -<p>Burke shifted, trying to ease his wound. "You see, Ariadne, I don't -need to kill anyone. Because Theseus isn't stupid, really, and after -all this trouble here, he's going to settle down and make Athens a good -king.</p> - -<p>"As for your father, he's alive. But we don't need to worry any more -about him. All he's thinking of is avenging himself on Daedalus for -helping us. Only Daedalus is going to get away to the court of King -Cocalus, in Sicily, and Cocalus' daughter will kill Minos."</p> - -<p>It was a long speech. When he'd finished, Ariadne brought up her hands -and crossed them on her firm, bared breasts. "It is good to know what -the future holds, my lord Dionysus. I thank you."</p> - -<p>Quick irritation touched Burke. "Damn it, girl, I'm not—"</p> - -<p>He stopped short.</p> - -<p>That line he'd half spoken—the one about him not being Dionysus, not a -god; just plain Dion Burke?</p> - -<p>Was it true, really?</p> - -<p>After all, in a world as primitive as this, what was a god but a man -who knew spectacularly more than his fellows?</p> - -<p>So, wasn't Ariadne maybe right? Wasn't the Dionysus of legend maybe -just plain Dion Burke, twentieth century man, set down in Bronze Age -Crete with his name corrupted to fit the language and the era?</p> - -<p>And in that case—</p> - -<p>Ariadne squirmed a little and began to smooth his hair again. Her hand -trembled, ever so slightly. Her voice, too. She whispered, "My lord, -this talk of days to come—would you tell me about—about—"</p> - -<p>"About you, you mean? About your own future?"</p> - -<p>Ariadne hid her face. Her words came tremulous and muffled. "Yes, yes, -my lord!"</p> - -<p>Burke couldn't help but smile a little. It was a good thing he -practically knew his classical mythology by heart.</p> - -<p>And there was nothing quite like time travel to make a man's -predictions work out.</p> - -<p>Shifting, he brought his good arm up so he could hold Ariadne. Then, -very gently, he began: "You needn't fear, my princess. You and -I—we'll go to Lemnos, make our home there. Then, we'll have four -children—Thoas, Staphylus, Oenopion, Peparthus...."</p> - -<p>It was a good story, even if somewhat foreshortened by the fact that -Ariadne stopped it with her lips.</p> - -<p>Then, abruptly, she halted the new activity, too, saying, "My lord -Dionysus, Lemnos is a far place. We'd better try to find a ship before -the sun climbs higher into the sky."</p> - -<p>Together, they got up, then, and moved slowly down the beach towards -the tiny harbor town.</p> - -<p>As for the sun, Burke decided it had never shone on a finer day.</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BATTLE OUT OF TIME ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. -</div> - -<div style='margin:0.83em 0; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE<br /> -<span style='font-size:smaller'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br /> -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</span> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person -or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the -Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when -you share it without charge with others. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work -on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the -phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: -</div> - -<blockquote> - <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most - other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions - whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms - of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online - at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you - are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws - of the country where you are located before using this eBook. - </div> -</blockquote> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg™ License. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format -other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain -Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -provided that: -</div> - -<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation.” - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ - works. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. - </div> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right -of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread -public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state -visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. -</div> - -</div> - -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/65394-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/65394-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 564c6e4..0000000 --- a/old/65394-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65394-h/images/illus.jpg b/old/65394-h/images/illus.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 783f0fa..0000000 --- a/old/65394-h/images/illus.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65394-h/images/illusc.jpg b/old/65394-h/images/illusc.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index dabeea6..0000000 --- a/old/65394-h/images/illusc.jpg +++ /dev/null |
