The Time Traders

f the pain lines smoothed from his face, sat on a bunk in the arctic time post nurs

int to meet the three from Britain but were now crammed into the room, nearly pushing Ross and McNeil thro

n. Yet Ross had been on the roster long enough to know that it was Millaird's thick and hairy hands that gathered together all the loose threads of Operation Retr

hiff of a trail," he co

gainst the door, as alert as if he were about to turn and face the enemy. "The Reds wouldn't have move

ay be switching times. Do you think they will sit here and wait for us to show up

e a big base?" that officer countered. "At least

o we send that team, Kelgarries? Northeast of a coastal point in Britain is a rather vague direction, to say th

eguard working. I don't know how they caught on to us, unless they located our beam to this post. If so,

m. We have the patience and the brains, but not the gadgets. And time is against us. Get anythi

that they are located somewhere near the Baltic Sea. There are old trade routes there, and in our own time it is a territory closed to us. We never did know too much about

hurt to stir up some of the present-day agents of the M.I. and the rest. They might just

mber trade. The country is forested, but not so heavily as it was in an earlier period. The native tribes are mostly roving hunters, and fishermen along the coast. B

lgarries

g waves of migratory people, who flooded the country, settled there. Eventually they became the Norse or Ce

ely," McNeil commented. "It could mean the difference be

und today suggests that the Beaker folk simply went on about t

o Ross. "Don't forget Lurgha's Wrath. From now on our enemies might

ory. The Reds won't dare that, not just on general suspicion. Remember, they are not any more eager to ti

uick communication. You lab boys put your brains to work and see what you can turn out in the way of talk boxes tha

d they have been spotted, they must be dismantling their post right now, working aroun

Kelgarries stirred restlessly by the door, and Webb's round face

houlder to the fourth man of his

t five days. McNeil's burns aren't too ba

or. "Personnel. We're tied down without any useful personnel. Who

in Kelgarries' eyes faded. "No, we have no proper briefing and can't get it until the tribe does appear on the m

ecall what men we can and brief them again as fast as possi

"You can't pinpoint the regio

ing offshore there for the next five days. If there is any radio activity-any communication-we should be able

seized upon it with the reli

just such a move on our part

bout to lose his temper, "but it is about the only mov

r the maps again," he told Ashe. "We haven't scouted that area, and we don't

e it," Ashe replied. "I'll be glad to

the next jump would rest on only three of them-Ashe, McNeil, and himself-they were plunged into a whirlwind of instruction, until Ross, dazed

to go to school again, and they won't be ready to come on for maybe three,

bout ne

oing to be noticed-maybe remembered too well. We can't afford to take that chance. So Kelgarries had to discover men who not only look the part but are also temperamentally fitted for this job. You can't plant a fellow who thinks a

d light eyes-Ashe's blue, his own gray, and McNeil's hazel-and they were of similar build, small-boned, lean, and quick-moving. He had not seen any of the true Beakermen e

e studying a map Webb had produced that Kelgarries, follow

ave the luck! The Reds slip

at his pursed mouth. "Miracles sometimes do happen

bb read the notation on it and bent over the map, making a mark with one of those needle-sharp

it," he conceded. Ashe l

metime, Miles. Remember we have to cover this on foo

McNeil offered his own protest when he saw

ider this critical, condition red," he said in such a dubious tone that he might have been

provide and in ten minutes there won't be enough of them left for anyone to identify. We haven't but a dozen of these, and we can't throw them away except in a crisis. Find the base and ri

termediate post. They probably have played it smart and set up a series of them t

we can trace them along if we must send in some of the boys wearing dinosaur skins later. We ha

get the fix?"

rties ran into trouble

hey ge

u know the rules-and the ones the Reds pl

trouble?" Ashe

code, but we're not a hundred per cent perfect in reading it. I gat

ain, eh?"

r the edge of prudence yourself, Gordon, with that Lurgha business. To use the Grea

may have saved our lives. But I assure you I am n

w on paper resemble the countryside. A few landmarks, if there were any outstanding ones

e dark with a measure of rain thrown in, the action was anything but pleasant. Leaving the plane in a blind, follow-the-leader fashion, Ross found the descent

ed as one of the two burden asses sent to join them landed and began to kick at its trappings. The animals they had chosen were the most docile available

me called through the dark brought

have one of

other!" Tha

together in a heap. The rain would, Webb had assured them, add to the rapid destruction wrought by the chemical he had provided. Ashe sh

part had been successful. Unless some agent had been stationed t

angled southward to the distant sea. They knew this section was only sparsely settled by small tribes, hardly larger than family clans. These people

wns. There were perhaps a few hardy pioneer farmers on the southern fringes of the district, but the p

s the identifying mark of his adopted people. He measured into it a portion of the sour, stimulating drink which the traders introdu

n flat cakes of meal, they packed the donkeys, using the same knots and cross lashing which were the mark of real Beaker

In the absence of a path they had to set a ragged course, keepin

oozed into nothingness between the trees with an ease Murdock envied. As they waited for him to return, Ross became conscious of another life about

out, but this was different. Here, he could have believed i

ee them better. One of the donkeys tossed its head, and the squirrel was gone with a flirt of its tail. Although it was quiet,

arm and a slight movement of his head indicated the direction of the sound. Then, as flui

t ki

We are certainly out on the fringes now. These people look a

w m

ting, but there're about ten children and six or seven women.

oning Ross forward with the donkeys. "We will circle about them to the