Foster looked at me, his eyes traveling up to my uncombed hair and down to my scuffed shoes. His eyes narrowed in a faint frown. Then he said something--in a language that seemed to be all Z's and Q's. "Don't spring any surprises on me, Foster," I said hoarsely. "Talk American." A look of surprise crossed his face. He stared into my eyes again, then glanced around the room. "This is a ship's library," he said. I heaved a sigh of relief. "You gave me a scare, Foster. I thought for a second your memory was wandering again." Foster was watching my face as I spoke. "What was it all about?" I said. "What have you found out?" "I know you," said Foster slowly. "Your name is Legion." I nodded. I could feel myself getting tense again. "Sure, you know me. Just take it easy pal. This is no time to lose your marbles." I put a hand on his shoulder. "You remember, we were--" He shook my hand off. "That is not the custom in Vallon," he said coldly. "Vallon?" I echoed. "What kind of routine is this, Foster? We were friends when we walked into this room an hour ago. We were hot on the trail of something, and I'm human enough to want to know how it turned out." "Where are the others?" "There's a couple of 'others' in the next room," I snapped. "But they've lost a lot of weight. I can find you several more, in the same condition. Outside of them there's only me----" Foster looked at me as if I wasn't there. "I remember Vallon," he said. He put a hand to his head. "But I remember, too, a barbaric world, brutal and primitive. You were there. We traveled in a crude rail-car, and then in a barge that wallowed in the sea. There were narrow, ugly rooms, evil odors, harsh noises." "That's not a very flattering portrait of God's country," I said, "but I'm afraid I recognize it." "The people were the worst," Foster said. "Misshapen, diseased, with swollen abdomens and wasted skin and withered limbs." "Some of the boys don't get out enough," I said. "The Hunters! We fled from them, Legion, you and I. And I remember a landing-ring...." He paused. "Strange, it had lost its cap-stones and fallen into ruin." "Us natives call it Stonehenge." "The Hunters burst out of the earth. We fought them. But why should the Hunters seek me?" "I was hoping you'd tell me," I said. "Do you know where this ship came from? And why?" "This is a ship of the Two Worlds," he replied. "But I know nothing of how it came to be here." "How about all that stuff in the journal? Maybe now you--" "The journal!" Foster broke in. "Where is it?" "In your coat pocket, I guess." Foster felt through his jacket awkwardly, brought out the journal. He opened it. I moved around to look over his shoulder. He had the book open to the first section, the part written in the curious alien characters that nobody had been able to decipher. And he was reading it. * * * * *