Key Out of Time

of Ma

ans of Terra, had their counterparts here. And the settlers had given them the familiar names, though the crabs, the fish, the anemones, and weeds of the shallow lagoons and reefs were not identical with Terran creatures

a forest of weaving, waving lace which varied from a green which was almost black to a pale tint he could not truly identify. Among those waving fan

ading in toward the checkpoint of the finger isle, forming an arc of expert divers, men and girls s

alked erect and forepaws, well clawed for digging purposes, which it used with as much skill and dexterity as a man used hands. Its body was hairless and it was able to assume, chameleon-like, the color of the soil and rocks where it denned. The head was set directly on its bowed shoulders without vestige of neck; and it had round bubbles of eyes near the top of its skull, a nose which was a single vertica

ative population before the coming of the stellar explorers? Ross hovered above a dark pocket where the bottom had suddenly dipped into a

oward the surface-yes, allowing for those-this was decidedly something out of the ordinary! The depression was too regular, too even, Ross was

re, flourished, died, with other creatures to build anew on the remains? Now

at the nearest wall of the saucer, striving to reach into a crevice between two lumps of growth and so probe into what might lie beh

t Ross was aware of blues and greens in shades and tints which were not visible above. He switched on his diving torch, and color returned

n. Just when did Ross become aware of that shadow below? Was it when a school of ghost-fish burst unexpectedly between weed growths, and he tur

ht and held for a long moment of horror something which might have come out of the nightmares of his own world. Afterward R

kind of thing had only existed before in the fairy tales of his race as the dragon of old lore. A scaled head with wide eyes gleaming in the light beam w

d himself back against the wall of the saucer. The thing before him did not rush to attack. Plainly it had seen him and now it moved with the leisure of a hunte

ic-com at his waist. He tapped out a distress call which the dolphins could relay to the swimmers. The swaying dragon head paused, held

t only while he faced it so had he any chance, grew stronger. The head was

tly at the head. The scales, as far as he could determine, were not horny plates but lapped, silvery ovals such as a fish possessed. And the underparts of the monster m

p the dragon at bay until help arrived. Ross moved with all the skill he had. His hand closed upon the edge of the niche and he whirled himself up, just making it into that refug

light appeared to bewilder the reptile for some precious seconds. Ross pulled as far back into the niche as he could, until the poin

eamless surface where the growths had been torn or peeled away. Though he could not, or dared not, turn his head to see, he was

ers moving like planes to hold it poised. The body, sloping from a massive round of shoulders to a tapering rear, was vaguely familiar. If one provid

t the body, the head curved downward until the horn on its snout pointed the tip straight at Ross's middle. The Terran steadied

. A sleek dark shape struck down, skimming across the humped-back ridge of the dragon. Some of the settler

as the reptile attempted to see above and behind its own length. But the dolphin was only a streak fas

lf hooked about the neck and seemed to confuse the creature. Ross squirmed as far back as he could into his

floating cord of the harpoon and giving it a jerk which jolted the dragon even more

eir agile maneuvers. Whatever prey came naturally to the Hawaikan monster was not of this type, and the creature was not prepared to de

at him, unwilling to give up its prey. Only one of the dolphins frisked and dodged above now as the sonic on Ross's belt vibrated against his lower ribs

toward the saucer's depths. Then they flashed up and away. The dragon was rising in turn, but coming

acted. He blinked behind his mask. A fish floated by, spiraling up, its belly exposed. And about him growths drooped, trailed lifelessly through the water; while there was a now motionles

As Ashe descended, Ross relayed his news via the sonic. The dolphins

been right! There was a long groove in the covering built up by the growths; a vertical strip some six

alloy, we'v

still baffled. It would require labor and tools they did not have, to clear the whole of the saucer. They could be sure only of its size and shape, and the fact

e which sprawled the body of the creature. That was dragged aloft with the dolphins' aid, t

ame gray showing in its interior. Ashe dug the butt of his spear-gun into the sand on the flooring to unco

eep-probe her

egative. "Look farther ... sp

first, set in a line on the ocean floor, pointing directly to Karara's Finger Island. Cautiously e

paced along the beached dragon. Ashore it lost none of its frightening aspect. And seeing it,

KeeKee commented. "Where there is an eater

rk demon of her people. "Such a one is truly king shark in these waters! But why ha

have a fairly wide hunting range, yet there's evidence that this thing has laired in that den for some time.

quiet until that meal is digested. There are large snakes on Terra that

it-"we know what to watch for, and the weapon

gistered the vibrations which would warn of a dragon's

quatted on his heels by the head lying on the

n the snout. But PaKeeKee's comment drew his attention to the fact that the scale-covered skull did dome up abov

went over to sur

whether it was addressed to him o

fullest extent. Humanoid form may no

let a monster nibble at you because it might just be a high type of alien intelligence? Let Karara

t stop to apply recognition techniques when you are being regarded as legitimate prey. If you are the stronge

pointed out, "it could be poss

round-"what have we found

been there for a long time. Whether they were originally in the water, or the land

now. Impatience bit at him. But Ashe stil

e. I don't want to start any chain react

ward to their twentieth-century source, ruthlessly destroying each station. The original colonists of Hawaika had been as giants to Terran pygmies