Arkalion smiled. "Yes and no. It is not a dream like the others because I assure you your bodies are not now resting on a pair of identical white tables. Still in the other dreams physical things could happen to you, while now you'll find you can do things as in a dream. For example, neither one of you knows the intricacies of a spaceship, yet if you are to save your planet, you must know the operation of the most intricate of all space ships, a giant space station." "Then we're not dreaming?" asked Temple. "I never said that. Consider this sequence of events about half way between the dream stage you have already seen and reality itself. Remember this: you'll have to work together; you'll have to function like machines. You will be handling totally alien equipment with only the sort of knowledge which can be played into your brains to guide you." Sophia sighed. "Being an American, Kit is too much of an individual to help in such a situation." Temple snorted. "Being a cog in a simple, state-wide machine is one thing--orienting yourself in a totally new situation is another." "Yes, well--" "See?" Arkalion cautioned. "See? Already you are arguing, but you must work together completely, with not the slightest conflict between you. As it is, you hardly have a chance." "What about you?" said Sophia practically. "Can't you help?" Arkalion shook his head. "No. While I'd like to see you come out of this thing on top, I would not like to sacrifice my life for it--which is exactly what I'd do if I remained with you and you lost. "So, let's get down to detail. Imagine space being folded, imagine your time sense slowing, imagine a new dimension which negates the need for extensive linear travel, imagine anything you want--but we are in the process of moving nine hundred thousand light years through deep space. There is a great galaxy at that distance, almost a twin of your Milky Way: you call it the Andromeda Nebula. Closer to your own system are the two Magellanic Clouds, so called, something else which you table NGC 6822, and finally the Triangulum Galaxy. All have billions of stars, but none of the stars have life. To find life outside your galaxy you must seek it across almost a million light years. My people live in Andromeda. "Guarding the flank of their galaxy and speeding through inter-galactic space at many light years per minute is what you might call a space station--but on a scale you've never dreamed of. Five of your miles in diameter, it is a fortress of terrible strength, a storehouse of half a million years of weapon development. It has been arranged that the one man running this station--" "Just one?" Temple asked.