Thor grinned, seeing that axe. He reached for the ivory haft, lifted and swung it around his head. He staggered. The pain was unbearable, there in his side. He reached down, felt in his pocket. His fingers closed on the ruby. With a curse, he flung the jewel from him. His palm still stung from its icy coldness. The ruby hit the deck and bounded across the ancient planks. It rolled to a stop near a shield. Thor stared at it. The ruby was changing, right there in front of him. It pulsed and throbbed with the light inside it. Its red hues gave way to deep, royal purple; an angry purple. Thor went nearer. He could see the beat and heave of the Green Flame, trapped in the crystallized alumina. It waxed and surged, as though battering against its jeweled walls. "Aava!" he whispered. "Of course, Aava. Did you think I put parts of my immortal self in these bits of stuff to pass the time? They are myself; I, them. It is my method of keeping watch on all my planet. I am with every android who carries a gatestone, if I so will." Thor lifted the axe; he looked from it to the ruby, at the greenish fire flaring within it. "No use," Aava thought-waved at him. "You cannot harm me, just as I cannot harm you--in this form. I have been searching for you. You invaded the Cave of Life with the Discoverer. You stole a gatestone. You raided my arsenal and woman-stockade. You assaulted the Black Priest. You overturned Aava-in-the-urn. A long list for one man." There was silence. Above his head, Thor heard the rotting sail flap dismally in the slight wind. He shifted and a plank creaked underfoot. Aava went on, "But I am a patient being, and kind. I bear no ill will. Become my man, you who call yourself--what is it--Thor? You will not regret your move." Thor thought of Karola's golden hair and red mouth, of Peter Gordon and his bow, of Slag, of Kor Tan, of white Yorg. They and the others were depending upon him. They needed him and his gatestone to return them to their settlements and safety and peace. He shook his head, gripping the war-axe tighter. Aava chuckled, "You _are_ an idiot, aren't you? Oh, I can read your thoughts. It isn't hard for someone who's spent an untold eternity of eons living by one's self. You train yourself to do things.... You have loyalty in your heart. You love this woman with the yellow hair. "But what is one woman? What are casual friends? I can give you more than that. I can give you anything you want. "Permit me to demonstrate. Turn the gatestone." The sail flapped louder in the breeze. A shaft of sunlight glinted on the edge of a shield fastened to the side of the longboat. Thor bit his tongue inside his mouth. It came home to him suddenly, with the force of a powerfully swung sledge, that he was trapped irrevocably.