The Colors of Space

Well, Montano would be safe here in the bunker. Hastily, Bart looked at

his timepiece. Half an hour before the radiation was lethal--for the

Lhari. Was it already, for him? Shakily, he unfastened the door. He ran

out into the glare, seeing as he ran that his badge was tinged with an

ever-darkening, gold, orange....

Montano had said there was a safety margin, but maybe he was wrong,

maybe all Bart would accomplish would be his own death! He ran back

along the line of bunkers, his heart pounding with his racing feet. Two

crewmen came along the line, young white-crested Lhari from the other

watch. He gasped, "Where is the captain?"

"Down that way--what's wrong, Bartol?" But Bart was gone, his muscles

aching with the unaccustomed effort inside gravity. Putting on speed, he

saw the tall, austere shape of Vorongil, his banded cloak dark against

the glaring light. Vorongil turned, startled, at the sound of his

running feet.

Suddenly, Bart realized that he was still holding his energon-ray. In

shock and revulsion, he dropped it at Vorongil's feet.

"Captain, go warn the men! They'll all be dead in half an hour! There

are lethal radiations--"

"What? Are you sunstruck?"

Bart stopped cold. Never once had it crossed his mind what he would say

to Vorongil or how he would make the captain believe his story, without

revealing Montano. He started to hold up his badge, realized the Lhari

captain could not see color, and dropped it again, while Vorongil bent

over to pick up the fallen gun. "Are you sunstruck or mad, Bartol?

What's this babble?"

"Captain, everybody on the Swiftwing--"

"And speak Lhari!" Vorongil demanded, and Bart realized that in his

excitement he had been shouting in Universal. He drew a long, deep

breath.

"Captain, there are lethal radiations being released here," he said.

"You have just barely half an hour to gather all the men and get them

behind shielding."

"The radiation counter is out of order," Vorongil remarked, unruffled.

"How can you possibly know--"

Bart stood in despair. Could he say, A ship has landed here? Could he

say, Check that bunker? Even if Montano was a would-be murderer, he

was human, and Bart could not betray him to the Lhari. There had been

too much betrayal. His voice rose in sudden hysteria.

"Captain, there's no time! I tell you, you'll all be dead if you don't

believe me! Get the men into the ship! Get them behind shielding and

then check my story! I'm not--" he had gone this far, he might as well

go the whole way--"I'm not a Lhari!"