Xintel too stood up and gasped in the warm, stench-filled air, floundering beside the taller Earthman as they waded toward a dimly seen bank ahead. The water had shoaled to her waist, when without warning, she staggered and collapsed. Barry caught her as she fell, and with Earth habits returning, cradled her in his arms with her face above water. "Xintel! What's wrong?" She stirred in his arms and her eyes opened. "Put me down," she requested. Then she noticed the frightened expression on his face. "I'll be all right soon," she assured him. "Just--tired. And air--too suddenly." Tenderly he laid her in the shallow water. "Sure you're all right?" he asked solicitously. She nodded. For a few minutes he waited beside her, thinking of the colony. He understood now Komso's reference to the beasts of the marshlands overturning the houses of the demons, and the priest's plan of battle. His lure would attract the monsters with which the colony had already had trouble. And when the colonists were forced outside by the hypervirulent bacteria of the Unseen, death would strike. Without a warning the unsuspecting colony would be doomed, but without Xintel's guidance he could not reach them to give that warning. "Barry." The Venusian girl's voice was still weak and unsteady. "The Place Of Change is on this shore. Go look at it. Perhaps you, with a different mind and a different knowledge, could--" "You sure you'll be all right alone?" She was sure, and finally Barry left her, emptied his lungs once again, and floundered up the muddy bank. * * * * * His body felt heavy without the support of the water to which it had become accustomed, but it was good to be walking like a true Earthman again. He plodded inland, cautiously forcing his way through the thick swamp vegetation. The ground underfoot was a tangle of roots, slime and jagged stones. Last City was a disappointment. Nothing was left but a few scarcely discernible mounds almost hidden by the swamp jungle. It was impossible to tell even what sort of buildings once existed. He was ready to turn back when a shift in the mists disclosed the Place Of Change. It was a domed building, huge even by the engineering standards of Earth, and something done in ancient times had prevented the jungle from encroaching upon it. Half submerged in mud, tilted where the ground beneath it had softened and shifted, the great hemispherical shell nevertheless remained intact. Barry hastened forward, found a circular opening, evidently once a window high on the structure but now at ground level, and after a glance at the dimness within stooped and entered.