A brilliant crescent shining with the blue green radiance of the third planet. Much larger than ever the Master Astrologer had seen it. He stared eagerly at the now sharply outlined land masses visible, noting the green color of some and wondering if it could be the green of vegetation. He drew his gaze from the bright crescent to stare at the dark portion. It was not truly dark. A dim grey light seemed to show up vague suggestions of continents and seas, the reflected light of Kurnal's huge moon, he thought. But the lights: he must look for the lights. Long he stared and suddenly he saw them. A tiny dot of white light glowing in the center of the dark disc. Now several others caught his view; his heart thumped wildly. The lights were there; Kwarit had spoken truthfully. He stared avidly at them. Cities, he thought: could they be cities? He dismissed the thought as soon as it had come as being foolish. There were many. He tried to count them. Most were in the Northern half, yet there were one or two in the southern zone, too. Many on top and a few below. A strange sense of having seen that design before entered his mind. The arrangement was peculiar; he studied it closely. The Sign of Dallon! He recognized it. The ideograph of Dallon the prophet was exactly like that. The Sign of Dallon on the face of Kurnal. The prophecy. He remembered it from his student days. Dallon, one of the ancient founders of the priesthood, had declared; "Man shall be humble and bow down to the gods; he shall revere those who are their priests and prophets; he shall not deem to impose upon their domains and shall support and obey them. This shall be until the Sign of Dallon shall appear on the face of the Morning Star. Then will Man rise above the gods. And that time is Never." The time had come; the priesthood should no longer enslave mankind. Now was learning and enlightenment to come to the people to give them conquest over fear and misery. And he, Saknarth, must tell the multitudes. He continued thus, in his reveries, his lone eye glued to the great instrument, his mind seething with a multitude of thoughts. * * * * * A step sounded in the darkness. A hand was laid roughly upon his shoulder. He was jerked away from the eyepiece to face the two guards that had been patrolling the halls of the Museum. Saknarth opened his mouth. "I have seen on Kurnal--" he began, but a soldier clapped his hand over the astrologer's mouth and said gruffly, "Silence. Let not your mouth tell of the blasphemies seen through this instrument of the Devil." They gagged Saknarth and bound his hands and led him out of the hall, turned him over to imprisonment.