Renegades of Time by Raymond F. Jones

Author:Raymond F. Jones [Jones, Raymond F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0373720017
Publisher: Laser Books (Harlequin Enterprises)
Published: 1975-08-01T00:00:00+00:00

XI

After a short time Joe knew he could not remain immobile. Even though death was certain in this roiling desert it would be easier to keep moving as long as he had strength left. With his back to the wind he began a slow walk to nowhere.

He could not tell whether the sun had gone down or whether it was still in the sky. His watch told him it must be about sunset, Bakoran time. He was beginning to feel hunger, but dryness was the worst. Already the desert seemed to have sponged all moisture out of him, and this was but the beginning of what was to come.

After hours of walking he fell once more on the sand. He lay face down and drew his collar up. He realized after a time that he must have dozed. He checked his watch by the light of the lantern. Two hours.

He scanned the atmosphere in hope that the wind might be dying, but there was no sign of it. The dust and blackness around him was as thick as ever. Not that it really mattered. This was the way it was going to end, and the intensity or variations of it didn’t matter.

The wailing sound that rose and fell had never stopped. He had almost become used to it. Wild threads of lightning broke the thick darkness intermittently.

After a time he noticed there were flashes of other color than white streaks of lightning. Ahead of him and to the right there was a reddish glow that pulsated with the sheets of sand blowing through the air. It, too, must be some manifestation of the Bakori. He lay watching it for a long time, wondering why it didn’t shift about like everything else.

Then, abruptly, he was on his feet, running desperately in the direction of that light. He remembered where he had seen a light like that before. Once, so very long ago on a beach beside a dirty, brown sea where a golden haired girl had placed some little cubes in a methodical pattern. The cubes had begun to glow until they sent a mighty, crimson light into the sky—toward infinity.

He cursed himself for not recognizing the glow when he first saw it. He might be too late. His lungs burned fiercely as he pounded the desert sand with agonized steps. The light seemed to get no nearer.

Was it Bill alone who had decided to attempt the use of the beacon? Or was Tamarina with him? Bill carried half the cubes, Joe the other half. But it hadn’t occurred to Joe to use them to attempt contact with Algor. Apparently Bill was determined to do so as a last desperate chance. But surely he wouldn’t without Tamarina—

The cubes provided a visual beacon that penetrated even the thickest of the black cloud that swirled over the sands. And now Joe knew he was making progress. He could detect he was approaching the red beam at a perceptible rate.

His pace quickened in spite of his burning lungs.

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