She watched Worm approach, kicking up clouds of dust with the jets that propelled him across the ground on his rolling threads. When he arrived, she sent him a "hold-everything" signal. As he remained motionless before her, she lowered her drill head until she could sense the slight change in capacitance values that indicated physical contact with him. No, even though she had destroyed the Supreme Being and, by that action, had forever shut herself off from the other members of the clan, she was not alone. She still had her Worm! But within the limits of those circumstances, she resolved suddenly, she would try to _act_ like a Supreme Being! She drew herself upright and remained rigid while she drove her rationalization circuits at a furious pace. How _did_ an Omnipotent One act? Judging from Bigboss' behavior, a Lord or Mistress of All Creation should go about destroying non-Totemic pretenders. Was that what _She_ should do? Realizing the decision would require much more concentration, she retired from the site of operations to consider all the factors. * * * * * Halfway back to the _Photon_, Stewart paused and leaned against a boulder, exhausted. The muscles in his legs were flaccid from lifting the great weight of hermetically sealed plating with each step. Now he fully understood that the suit was _not_ made for walking. Ahead, the ship was a beckoning silvery pencil that glittered in the harsh, golden light of Aldebaran and cast its blocks-long shadow on strange, bare soil and rocks. Then he saw it--the elongated, symmetrical shape that seemed to spring up from beyond the horizon and expand explosively as he watched in dismay. It was _a ship_--the likes of which he had never seen before! Or, then again-- Bewildered, afraid, he could only stand there trying desperately to pierce the veil in his mind, to equate this incredible thing that was happening now to the inexpressible fear he had felt for weeks. Meanwhile, the strange ship, gliding smoothly in its horizontal attitude that gave evidence of some highly developed type of antigravity drive, surged forward. Its smooth, dark under-surface, he could see, was broken by twin rows of open ports that extended from bow to stern on either side. And deep within those circular recesses bristled scores of elongated metal structures that could only be--_linear intensifiers for laser weapons!_ Then Stewart realized this could only be another nightmare and he sickened at the horrible prospect of being drawn further into the dream. The ship would land, of course, and out of its hatches would pour streams of vengeful, grotesque Harpies. But, instead, the sky was lashed by scores of fierce, dazzling beams that streaked from the vessel as it passed overhead. And he sensed that this was no nightmare, no mere symbolic expression of the vague dread that had harassed his thoughts all along. This was _real_! This was actually happening!