The Defiant Agents

ic envelope of the planet which glowed as a great bronze-golden gem in the four-world system of a yellow star. The globes had b

not knowing the secret channel, so was this world supposedly closed to a

as well as possible, but as yet not put to the ultimate proof. The small bright globes spun undis

ent. A sphere resembling the warden-globes, it was a hundred times their size, and its o

assengers, their own labor waiting for the time when they would set down on the alien soil of Topaz. The planet hung there in their visa-screen, richly beautiful in its amber gold, growin

e awakening spark which would send it on its mission of destruction. A relay clicked, but for the smallest fraction of a millime

art when the alarm rang. The pilot's hand clawed out at the bank of controls; under the almost intolerable pressure of their descent, there was so little he could

form words, to speak to his companion. The other was staring ahead at the

are ...

be pinned here so near his goal, fastened up as a target for an inanimate but cunningly fashioned weapon, ate into him like a stream of deadly acid. His b

ompanion in the passenger seat had closed his eyes, his lips moving soundlessly in an expression of his own scattered thoughts. The pilot and his assistant divided

ad stirred where it rested on forepaws, slitted eyes blinked, aware not only of familiar surroundings, but also of the tension and fear generat

fought down instinct raging to send both those bodies hurtling at the fastenings of the twin cages. Curiosity and the ability to adapt had been bred into both from

o-as a testing ground for atomic experiments. Humankind could be barred, warded out of the rad

of the wolf, whose natural abilities had made an undeniable impression on the human mind. He was in countless Indian legends as the Shaper or the Trickster, somet

th all his legendary cunning. Those who had reviled him as vermin had unwillingly added to the folklore which surrounded him, telling their own tales

began once more on a fantastic scale. And finally scientists were sufficiently intrigued to seek out this creat

en brought back on the first expedition, coyote in body, their developing minds different. The grandchildren of those cubs were now in the ship's cages, their mutated senses alert, ready for the slightest chance of escape. Sent to Topaz as eyes and ears for less keenly endow

n he could not see reached panic peak. He still crouched, belly flat, on the protecting pads of

ith every ingenious device known to those who had placed them there so many weeks earlier. Their minds were free of the ship

rs of ancient Egypt. But Redax returned men in mind to the paths of their ancestors, or this was the theory. And those who slept here and now in their narrow boxes, lay under its government, while

That, too, had been a last-minute addition, an experiment which had only had partial testing.

ent that round of metal flush with the board

the duty man on watch, and its tracker was shaken off course. When it jiggled back into line it was no longer the

y to stabilize, to re-establish their functions. Some succeeded, some wobbled in and out of

fought the stealthy tide of blackness which crept up his brain, his stubborn will holdi

relays clicking, striving to bring it to a landing under auto-pilot. All the

er was now between it and the base from which the missiles had been launched, and the crash had not been recorded on that tracking instrument. So far as the watchers several hu

the moans every effort tore out of him. Time held the whip, drove him. He rolled from his seat to the floor, lay there

ained the well where the ladder to the lower section hung, now at a

re rock under his hands as he edged over and around twisted metal. The moans were now a g

inert bulk up to the point where he could reach the Redax release. For a second of unusual clarity he wondered if there

pt the unfeeling lump of cold flesh down against the release in a gesture which he knew must be his final move. And, as he fell back to the floor, Dr. Ruthven could not be certain whether he had succeeded or failed

, which had snuffed out nineteen lives in the space globe, had missed ripping open that cabin on the mountain side. Five yards down the corridor the outside fabric of

d rapport he'd had with the human brains, unknown to them, had operated to keep him to the old role of cunning deception, which in the past had saved countless of his species from sudden and violent deat

t in the latch and pressed it down, and the weight of the door swung against him. Together they were free n

xplore, but always in the company and at the order of man. This was not according to the pattern she knew, and she was suspicious. But to her sensitive nose the smell of the ship wa

a network of lines, activated beams, turned off and on a series of fixtures in those coffin-beds. For five of the sleepers-nothing. The cabin which had held them was a f

de-open, terror-haunted eyes. He clawed for purchase against the smooth edge of the box in which he had lain, somehow got to his kn

were small sounds in the dark, a stilled moan, a gasping sigh. But that meant nothing. W

ied hazily as an exit. Unconsciously he fumbled along the surface of the door until it gave unde

arring thud onto the mound of earth the ship had pushed before it during its downward slide. Limply he tumbled on in a small ca

ng the blood-streaked face of the explorer an alien mask. It had passed well on to the horizon

hand to his head. His eyes opened, he looked vaguely about him and sat up

n or one of his assistants could have explained that chaotic mixture for what it was. But for all practical purposes Travis Fox-Amerindian Time Agent, member of Team A

ar, a thread of something real through all the broken clutter i

gnized that as part of the proper way of life. She yapped once at her mate, but he wa

such a landing shoot up his stiffened forearms. He tried to get up, but hi

, and the swift sweep of an animal tongue on his face. He flung up his hand, gripped thic