Wilmington Stroud said: "I say!" He took off his glasses and polished them. By the time he had put them back on his nose he had recovered his glacial self-possession. Rex Piper muttered something banal about going on the wagon.
Zrap, Vlik, and Sfong talked to the two other Alans in their own language.
Willard Butland had been moving his lips silently. He now said to his human companions: "Don't you think we all ought to pray to God?"
Piper shrugged."I'm afraid this is out of Yahveh's territory. Ng's the boss here."
"Rex, you're a hopeless—"
"Don't talk rot, you two," snapped Stroud. "Nothing's happened to us."
"Yet," added Kitty Blake.
Zrap addressed the quartet in English: "Friends, as we are back in Ala, my colleague Vlik outranks me. He will conduct you to the Great Black Father."
Vlik started off. The four followed him. Vlik walked toward the curved wall, on which a thin red line denned a rectangle about the size of a door. Instead of opening anything, Vlik marched through the wall and disappeared. The others halted.
"Go on," said Zrap."Put your trust in Ng."
Stroud extended a cautious finger. It went into the wall without resistance. The undersecretary followed. So did the others.
Butland had an instant of total darkness. Then he was in another spherical room, much like the previous one. A Mickey Mouse sat behind a desk. Vlik talked into its ear. At least, the people assumed that Vlik was the one standing; the Alans all looked as much alike as a bucketful of crabs.
VLIK straightened up and said: "Friends, this is Senator of Ala, Bvin Drula Vunyup Ghob Hlong Sam Dzak Hmelk Froebvet Ing."
Stroud said coolly: "We're very much honored, I'm sure. Are we supposed to bow from the waist or stand on our heads or what?"
"No," said Vlik."Such punctilio is not expected of aborigines. The Senator wishes you to know that, because of our admiration for your struggle toward civilization, we have decided that you deserve a helping hand. We shall therefore establish a mission near the portal between this term of the universal series and yours, to spread the true worship of Ng among you."
Stroud said: "You will, eh? Very kind of you. I shall have to consult my government about that, though."
The two Alans spoke in their own language. Vlik said to Stroud: "That will be quite unnecessary. We shall establish the mission entirely with our own resources, without making any demands on your tribe for labor or materials or anything else."
"I'm afraid you don't understand," said Stroud."You see my country has things called laws, which determine who is allowed to enter it and under what conditions."
More consultation. The whiskers that stuck out from the sides of the Alans' noses quivered with a suggestion of amusement. Vlik said: "If your tribal government wishes to put its official approval on our acts, it is quite welcome to do so."
Stroud said: "My good fellow, has it occurred to you that my tribal government, as you see fit to call it, may disapprove?"
More quivering of whiskers. Vlik said: "Disagreement between master and pupil would be unfortunate, do you not think? There is no sense in it, since we have only your best interests at heart. To convince you of this, will you step this way?"
As they did so, wondering what was up, a section of the wall vanished, or at least became transparent. In front of them was a flat plain stretching out of sight in all directions. On it grew plants that suggested a desert: barrel-shaped spiny things. Overhead tall banks of clouds rode through a purple sky.
"You see the plains of Ala," said Vlik."Now watch."
Over the rim of the horizon came a number of dots, which swiftly grew into armored vehicles. These rushed straight at the window. Some of them were small, and rode on a dozen doughnut-shaped wheels. Others were a thousand feet long, and were supported on a single huge belt or caterpillar track as wide as themselves. They swelled to huge size and vanished.
Piper said: "Look as though they were doing a hundred. But I wonder how the big ones with the single track turn?"
The Alans' whiskers quivered. One of the large machines rushed back into view and described a wide figure-eight, throwing up clouds of sand and broken rock.
"Now how," said Rex Piper, "did the driver of that thing know I was going to ask that question? Are we looking at the real thing, or a movie, or what?"
The catwhiskers trembled. Vlik said: "Look up." The sky was filled with drifting dots. These were presumably flying machines.
"WHAT'S that?" asked Kitty Blake."A Lombardy poplar? It wasn't there a minute ago." She referred to a dark column that had sprung up on the horizon. Others appeared. They became larger, and were seen to be tall slender clouds of dirt thrown up by explosions. As they came closer, the four human beings gasped at their magnitude. Any one of these explosions would have wiped a terrestrial county off the face of its earth.
The explosions came closer until the audience flinched at each one, expecting the next to blow them up. The explosions ceased, leaving the landscape dotted with pits big enough to hold a fair-sized town.
A vast herd of animals trickled into the picture, trotting in streams of thousands of individuals around the edges of the pits, stopping intermittently to nibble at the cactus-like plants. They were nondescript, unspectacular beasts, with blunt muzzles, mule-like ears, leathery hides, large flat feet, and long thick tails. They looked somewhat like a lizard, a bear, and a rabbit rolled into one.
Then all at once these thousands of beasts dropped dead and melted and ran down the sides of the pits. The sight was not pleasant. When the Great Black Father saw that his visitors were on the verge of digestive upsets, the wall became opaque again.
"You see," said Vlik, "how regrettable would be a disagreement between us."
"I see," said Wilmington Stroud grimly."What, besides the establishment of your mission, do you want of us?"
Vlik spread his hands."Practically nothing. Save perhaps some of the substance you call wood. The plants of our world are all soft-bodied, and we could use some of the harder woods of yours."
Stroud said: "With such advanced science, I don't see why you need such an inferior material as wood."
"Ah, that is because wood is so common on your world that you do not appreciate its properties. We shall pay for the wood, of course, with things that you lack, such as the—I suppose you would call them parascopes and paraphones; those seeing and listening devices we have shown you."
"I'll tell my government," said Stroud noncommittally.
"That will be fine," beamed Vlik."This way, if you please." He walked through the wall again. When the others followed, they found themselves in a third spherical room with four couches and other furnishings. Vlik said: "Here you will remain for some days, as the portal is unfortunately in use. We shall return you to the earth as soon as possible."
Piper and Butland looked at one another. Each had a question he wanted to ask, but Butland was too inhibited a person. As Vlik's tail w-as disappearing through the wall, Piper called: "Mr. Vlik!"
"Yes?" The Alan's tail vanished, and his head popped through the wall. It looked like a mounted head, except for its lively speech and expression.
"We—uh—if you're going to leave us here for some hours—"
"Ah, I understand." Vlik pointed at the opposite side of the circular room, on whose wall at once appeared a green rectangular line."Through there." The head vanished, leaving nothing but smooth yellow wall. Piper extended a finger. The wall was solid to the touch. He walked across the room and touched the wall within the green rectangle.
This time his hand sank without resistance into the wall.
"Damn clever, these Alans," said Piper.
"Rex," said Butland, "I wish you wouldn't use such language—" His three companions gave him such withering looks that he subsided.