"I'm through with Earth. If I could collect--ten thousand?--I'd commit suicide, in a very funny way. I'd go into the Black Forest. The money could get me the men and equipment I'd need, but--well, nobody gets out of the Black Forest alive." "You did," Captain Brown said. "Eh? You heard about that?" "We've heard stories--plenty of them. About how you came out of the Black Forest six years ago, raving with fever and talking in a language nobody could understand. And how you've been taking trips into the Forest ever since. Just what happened? I know you tried to get up expeditions to rescue a man named Willard--he was with you, wasn't he?" Garth felt again that sick deadness in his brain--the monstrous question that had been tormenting him for five years now. Abruptly he slammed his fist on the table. Tolomo's face appeared behind a curtain and vanished again as Brown waved him back. "Forget it," Garth said. "Even on Ganymede, men mind their own business--usually." Brown stroked his cheek with a calloused thumb. "Suit yourself. Here's the set-up, then. It's strictly confidential, or the deal's off. You'll know why later. Anyhow--we want you to guide us into the Black Forest." * * * * * Garth's laughter rang harsh and bitter. Brown and the girl watched him with impassive eyes. "What's so funny about it?" she asked, scowling. Garth sobered. "Nothing much. Only for five years I've been sweating blood trying to get into the Forest, and I know the place better than anybody on Ganymede. See this?" He rolled up his sleeve and exhibited a purplish scar along his arm. "A cannibal-plant did that. I couldn't get away from the thing. Bullets and knives don't hurt the bloodsucker. I had to stand there for two hours, helpless, till it got all the blood it wanted. After that I managed to pull away." "I've picked up a few scars myself," Brown said quietly. Garth glared at him. "Not in the Black Forest. The only way to get through that pest-hole is with a big, armed expedition. Even then ... you ever heard of the Noctoli?" "No. Who--" "Flowers. Their pollen works funny--plenty funny. They grow in the interior, and they give you amnesia. Not even gas-masks help. The stuff works in through your skin." "Doesn't it affect you?" the girl wanted to know. Garth shivered and drank again. "It did--once. Later I managed to work out an antitoxin. And I've built up immunity, anyway. But it's quite a laugh. The two of you wanting to go into the Black Forest!" Brown's face was emotionless. "With an expedition, well armed. I'll provide that." "Oh. That's a bit different. Just the same--what are you after?" "Just sightseeing," the girl said. Garth grinned crookedly. "Okay. I know the stories. Everybody on Ganymede's heard of the _Ancients_." Captain Brown's eyes hooded. "What about them?"