"It's worth trying," said Rains, folding the map. "Behind the Gommaf building is an electric fence and behind that is open country, mostly swamp. Normally the swamp is considered impassable, but there is a way through it. The telepath has to concentrate mentally just as you do visually. He'll be expecting trouble from the front. I sneak in from the rear, examine the records, and get out again before it occurs to him that I've been there. After that I still have to contact the teleport, but once I know who he is, that's easy." "Why not rent a copter and set it down in the middle of the swamp? It will save a lot of walking." "It would, but it would also inform Gommaf that we're up to something. No, we'll just have to walk." Rains stuffed the map into his pocket. "Are there any shrines on the road to the city?" Gowru Chandit shrugged. "There are shrines anywhere in India except straight up." Rains nodded with great satisfaction. There'd be one there too when the hydrogen bomb exploded inside the comet. A bright flaring shrine to astronomy. The road was paved but dusty. There were other tourists walking toward the city so Egan Rains and Gowru were by no means conspicuous. At some distance from the civic center they stopped at a wayside temple. They entered and examined the strange but not notable architecture, the intricate but not always esthetically pleasing carved walls. When they were not observed they slipped through a side door and hurried to the rear where they plunged into the light underbrush. In half an hour they were at the edge of an open plain. No one followed them. After some discussion they decided to skirt the plain, and started out, keeping well within the shadow of the trees which separated plain from adjacent swampland. They circled back toward the civic center, toward the narrow spot of firm ground that reached nearly to the electric fence behind Gommaf. In the middle of the afternoon they rested and ate some of the food they had brought with them. "Psst!" said Gowru, waving his great hand. Rains swallowed. "I don't hear anything." Again the Hindu flapped his hand for silence. After listening intently, he crawled away into the underbrush. Presently he came back. "Soldiers," he whispered. Rains was worried. Did that mean Gommaf knew what he was up to? And if so, why did they send out soldiers? He could swear no one had tapped his mind. "How many?" he asked in a low voice. "Thousands." Allowing for exaggeration, there were still too many. He picked up the sandwiches, shoving one in his mouth and the rest into his pocket. "Let's go," he said. "Where?" He pointed in the direction they'd been heading. Gowru shook his head. "They're coming from there too." That made it difficult. He looked questioningly at the swamp, but his guide frowned. "Snakes," he said laconically. "Tigers, crocodiles."