And Stuart's brain dimmed with it one last glimpse he had of the shining smile on Kari's face, triumph and delight, in the instant before the cloudiness of oblivion blotted her features out. He was not dead. Somewhere, far away, his body lay prone upon the cold pavement of the Aesir's hall, a hall terribly empty now of life. But Stuart himself hung in empty space, somewhere between life and death. The thought of the Protectors touched him gently, almost caressingly. "You are a mighty man, Derek Stuart. Your name shall not be forgotten while mankind lives." With infinite effort he roused his mind. "Kari--" he said. There was silence for a moment--a warm silence. But the voices, speaking as one, said gently, "Have you forgotten? When the Aesir died, Kari died too. And you, Derek Stuart--you can never go back to your body now. You remember that?" Sudden rebellion shook Stuart's bodiless brain. "Get out of my mind!" he raged at the double-voice. "What do you know about human beings? I've won for mankind--but what did I win for myself? Nothing--nothing! And Kari--Get out of my mind and let me die! What do _you_ know about love?" Amazingly, laughter pulsed softly. "Love?" said the double-voice. "Love? You have not guessed who we are?" Stuart's bewildered mind framed only a voiceless question. "We know humanity," the twin voices said. "We were human once, a thousand years ago. Very human, Derek Stuart. And we remembered love." He half guessed the answer. "You are--" "There was a man and a woman once," the voices told him gently. "Mankind still remembers their legend--John Starr and Lorna, who defied the Aesir." "John Starr and Lorna!" "We fought the Aesir in the days when we and they were human. We worked with them on the entropy device that made them what they are now--and made us--ourselves. When we saw what they planned with their power, we fought.... But they were five, and strong because they were ruthless. We had to flee." The voices that spoke as one voice were distant, remembering. "They grew in power on their Asgard world, changing as the millenniums swept over them, as entropy accelerated for them. And we changed, too, in our own place, in our different way. We are not human now. But we are not monsters, as the Aesir were. We have known failure and bitterness and defeat many times, Derek Stuart. But we remember humanity. And as for love--" Stuart said bitterly: "You know _your_ love. You have it forever. But Kari ... Kari is dead." The voices were very gentle. "You have sacrificed more than we. You gave up your love and your bodies. We--" * * * * * Silence again. Then the woman, serene and gentle-voiced, "There is a way, John. But not an easy one--for us." Stuart thought, "But Kari is dead."