"Yeah, Charlie. You can't hear voices on Ganymede, but I heard them, inside my head. Also, don't forget the Ganymede-fear. I'd say the three things will fit together when we begin to learn what's going on." "Provided we can find out," Teejay told him. "You can keep your scientific mysteries for a while, Steve. What I want to know is this: where are we going, and why?" "Ask your desert cat out there." Kevin's laughter was sour. "What we need is a good turncoat," Teejay assured him. "Someone who can go out among the animals and ask questions. I'm joking, of course, but if anyone could do it, it would be that rat, LeClarc." Steve frowned. "That's not as funny as it sounds. Has anyone seen LeClarc since the fight?" "No!" Kevin slammed fist against palm. Steve was about to answer, but quite suddenly the lights blinked out. Somewhere outside, a dozen animals roared their fear. Within the lounge, Kevin commenced cursing lustily and an involuntary moan escaped Barling's lips. The darkness was the bleak, utter black of deep space. Further, Steve realized, the steady humming of the fission engines had ceased. Minutes later, impossible pain gripped him and flung him, sobbing to the floor. He'd never felt anything like it, a gripping, grinding, twisting torment which tried to turn him inside out. He heard the others dimly, reeling about the lounge and falling to the floor, and in the darkness someone fell near him. "Steve? Steve, is that you?" Teejay.... "Yeah." The pain seemed to come in waves, and Steve gritted his teeth when the second turned out to be worse than the first. He reached out with his hand, found Teejay's and squeezed it. "Hold on, kid. It can't last forever." "It better--not." When her hand tensed in his, then relaxed, Steve knew she'd fainted. And soon after that, his own senses reeled and deserted him. * * * * * Teejay's hand was still tightly clenched in his when he regained consciousness. A dozen feet from them, Kevin sat up, shaking his head slowly back and forth. Schuyler Barling lay stretched out on his stomach. "Whatever happened," Kevin growled, "I didn't like it." Teejay extricated her hand, looked at Steve, smiled. "It's still awful quiet outside." It didn't remain that way for long. As if Teejay's words had been a signal, a voice boomed at them from the wall-microphone. "We have landed. All humans will please file out into the main corridor in an orderly fashion and make their way to the airlock." Schuyler Barling sat up groggily. Teejay said, "I could swear I know that voice from somewhere." "And I," Kevin told them. "It's familiar, though I can't place it." Steve felt his heart pounding. The voice was Charlie's. * * * * * They stood on a flat, grassy plain which stretched halfway to the horizon and then began to undulate into low hills. And far off, shrouded by purple mists, a range of mountains loomed distantly.