Chapter II

Eternal night glimmered black and velvety, flecked with dots of pale blue-white. All around lay the vast universe; silent, but alive with glaring suns and great orbs that were the planets, known and unknown. Here teemed life among the far reaches of vast space.

And like an immortal, living ether, Jonathan Morgan sped onward and outward into that space. Black meteors went through him and harmed him not. Somehow he found himself aware of them, knowing that they only pushed the gaseous components of his form aside; that when they had passed, his body resumed its former shape. He did know that they could not hurt him; but why, he was unaware.

The infinitely tiny motes of matter that were Jonathan Morgan swelled and grew and expanded. He fled upward and downward with the speed of thought. He grew and towered, and the Earth dropped away below the mad onrush of this strange, galactic giant.

He passed Mars swiftly, casting a curious glance at its canals, seeing half-buried cities beneath ancient sea-bottoms. Beyond the asteroid belt he found frozen Jupiter, and Saturn with its ring, and saw strange forms of life that eked out existences on icy worlds.

In a moment he passed over Pluto and the dark planet beyond it. There was life here, too, of a queer, alien sort. Not flesh, but another form of matter. He thought idly that he would like to study it, but he had not the time.

For the call that had been vague on Earth was now grown peremptory, summoning.

In answer to that call, he fled onward in a rush of gas that seemed to whisper as it sped through the cold voids of space.

In short seconds he was beyond the outermost limits of Sol's domain, ever expanding....

Proxima, nearest star to Sol, glowed brilliant in his path. Beyond it he could see Alpha Centauri, huge and bright. The other stars, too, he recognized. For he was out among the star trails now, and Sol was a dot behind him.

And ever as he flew onward, always as his height grew and grew until he straddled a thousand worlds, the call came clearer. He _knew_ now that he had been summoned from the Earth; knew that ahead of him was an intelligence demanding his presence.

Insanely he flung himself out and up, searching the odd and sometimes terrible worlds that flitted past his eyes. Alien life, spawning on planets so far from Earth that they were undreamed, lived and died beneath his gaze as he shot by.

The call came clarion clear, at last.

* * * * *

It said: "Creature of the Third Planet of the sun named Sol. Heed me. You have done well to find me, very well. Turn your gaze this way, Earthling. A little further. Yes, right there.

"The pale yellow planet. You see it? Then hasten, join us. For we have need of every aid that the universe contains. Hurry, Earthling!"

He swirled downward toward the atmospheric belt of the amber orb that swung lazily about a double sun. Even as he compressed his body together, he caught a flicker of queer black lights off to one side in the corners of his eyes. They quivered and throbbed, and almost touched the yellow planet.

Then he was contracting, willing the motes and particles of his body together, shooting downward toward a vast stretch of green sward and rounded white buildings that sprawled gracefully over mile after mile of land.

The black flames burned, forgotten.

He dropped lightly onto his feet on the smooth lawn, felt it give beneath his feet.

"Congratulations," said a deep voice behind him, and Jonathan whirled.

A gigantic lizard faced him. It stood fifteen feet high, possessed of powerful legs and massive, armoured body. The great reptilian head swayed slightly in regarding him, and the eyes on either side of the broad nostrils were alive with intelligence.

"You--you're a reptile!" Jonathan gasped.

"And you--a man," replied the creature.

Jonathan grinned and said, "I think I was prepared for any form of life but yours. Even pure thought, or beings of non-carbon basic formation. I--hmm. Strikes me we understand each other pretty well."

The reptile looked puzzled, then grunted.

"I forgot you came from Earth. Earth is a young planet. Her--ah--inhabitants have not made the progress some of our other neighbors have. That is why--why you were changed, a little. I'll tell you of that, later.

"But now you must come with me and rest. While your body is unaffected, your mind has been under a terrific concentrative strain. It would cause a reaction unless rested. You see, you do not have certain--ah--facilities as yet. Being as you are is too new."

"Just what am I? I understand your language, or your thoughts, and I've done things I'd have said were impossible, two weeks ago."

"You will learn. Now you must rest."

* * * * *

Jonathan walked with the lumbering being along a crushed stone walk between hedges adroop with riotously colored fruits. Ahead of them glimmered a building, translucently white in the hot beams of the great double-sun now low on the horizon.

"Life forms vary," said the big reptile. "Here on Neeoorna the reptile life that became extinct on Earth flourished. It evolved more swiftly, due to atmospheric and other conditions. Its intelligence kept pace. In other systems there are things of thought, there are beings with liquid helium in their veins, there are certain others with no veins at all.

"And then, to cheer you, there are still others who might well be named men. They are men, too. They are what you would call human. They have bodies exactly similar to your own. You shall meet them. All manner of beings live on Neeoorna these days."

His voice was heavy. Jonathan glanced quickly at him, sympathetic.

"Something wrong?"

The reptile shook his head soberly, saying, "You will learn, in time."

A thick glassine door slid noiselessly apart as Jonathan and the Neeoornian neared it. They passed into cool halls of veined green marble lighted so brilliantly that Jonathan remarked it.

"Filaments of glass containing electrified carbon dioxide gases exuded by specially reared plants. Carbon dioxide emits a light much like ordinary daylight. We have perfected that until our inner and outer light is the same."

A rounded chamber whose cool blue walls reflected heat and absorbed moisture contained chairs and tables so similar to Earth products that Jonathan started.

"They look like a futurist's dream, but they're remarkably like our own," he acknowledged.

"This is the Court of Counsellors for bipeds. The other courts are different, naturally, being suited to the individual needs of the various visitors Neeoorna plays host to. Were you or a Zarathzan to enter some of them, you would die instantly from cold and deadly gases, or terrific heat. That is, unless you were forewarned as to what to expect."

Jonathan puzzled over that for a moment. No amount of foreknowledge made deadly cold any hotter, nor did it turn noxious fumes into pure air. He shrugged. He must be tired, after all. Maybe a rest was what he needed.

The reptile gestured Jonathan to a glassine couch covered with the spotted fur of some jungle beast. It looked soft. It invited him, dumbly. Jonathan dropped on it and stretched out his legs.

"Neeoornians call me Shar Bytu," said the reptile, gazing down at him. "If you need aught, mention my name. Tell them you are the representative of Earth."

Jonathan knew his eyelids were blotting out sight of the great lizard. He tried to mumble thanks, but a gentle torpor crept about him, embracing his brain, his tired, tired brain. He was _so_ tired....

A soft hand on his forearm awakened him; brought him up sharply, alarmed, like a panther.

The girl who bent above him drew back in alarm, her violet eyes wide, thin nostrils flared, a cry hovering on her wet red mouth. She looked at Jonathan again and read the swift admiration in his eyes, and smiled.

"You frightened me," she accused softly, her lips undecided between a pout and a smile. "You are so big, so strong--like a dappled claw-thing of my native Zarathza."

So this was a Zarathzan. Jonathan found her good to look at. Her skin was a pale lavender, so delicately flushed that it seemed some strange, rare satin. Her hair was black, and coiled in coronas about her intelligent, shapely head. Her deeply glowing eyes were bright with laughter, and Jonathan thought her mouth would be perfect for kisses.

"We are not fighters, we Zarathzans. At least with our bodies, like you Earthlings," she said, looking at him sidewise. "It has been long since our kind were--beasts."

Jonathan grinned hugely.

"It's been a long time since a girl called me that. Must be something about me."

"Oh," whispered the girl hurriedly, putting a soft hand to his arm, "I do not mean to offend. Sometimes I admire the--beasts."

Well, he was getting on. He was keenly aware of her warm hand on his forearm. The girl felt his thought; flushed a little and stood up.

"Shar Bytu sent me to you," she informed him.

"My thanks to Shar Bytu," replied Jonathan, throwing aside the fur and rising. Someone had clothed him while he slept. He wore thin trousers that clung to his ankles and bellied outward as they went up. A broad leathern belt fitted snugly around his waist. His great chest was naked. Fur sandals protected his feet.

The girl was likewise clad, with bare midriff and a halter of white fur about her breasts.

"This is the universal garb for counsellors of our make," the girl said. "Others wear different clothes. Still others wear none, having no sex."

"I'm Jonathan Morgan. Do Zarathzans--er--have any names?"

"Silly. Of course. I'm Adatha Za."

Jonathan grinned and said, "Glad to know you. And now that introductions are over, suppose you let me in on the big secret around here. Just what am I doing on Neeoorna?"

* * * * *

Adatha Za was startled.

"You do not know? Didn't Shar Bytu tell--but perhaps he left that to me, seeing that I am not a--reptile."

Jonathan looked her over and laughed, "I'm mighty glad you're not," and he noticed that Adatha Za--whose civilization was eons beyond that of Earth--looked pleased.

They walked toward a balcony overlooking a bed of scarlet flowers patterned between strips of green grass. Great lights beamed into the blackness of the Neeoornian night from high on the parapets, lighting the scene before them. And high in the heavens, black and moving against the blue of the starry sky, strange shadows chased one another between the stars.

Adatha Za lifted a bare arm and pointed to that great blotch in the heavens. Her arm trembled against Jonathan even as she pointed, and he read stark fear in her eyes and in the drooping corners of her scarlet mouth.

"You see those black flames? No one knows what they are. They kill us, one by one, when we attempt to fight them. They are growing. Already they have eaten one of the moons of this planet. Soon they will reach Neeoorna itself--indeed, they are past the fringe of the heavenside. And after Neeoorna they will eat the twin suns, and other suns and other planets. Zarathza and Earth, too. There will be nothing beyond the black flames, Earthling. It will eat our entire universe!"

Jonathan was aware that his spine tingled, looking up. He felt deep inside him, the _alienness_ of those dancing darknesses. They were not of the known universe. They came from somewhere outside, from another world. So different from Earth that their mere presence spelled doom for anything normal to his world. Unhidden, they had emerged from some deeper space, and were voyaging across his, advancing inexorably, like flames of fire lapping across thin paper.

The girl's bare shoulder pressed his, trembling.

"I'm frightened, Earthman," she whispered. "When I think of Zarathza in the path of that--those blights from hell, I--oh, I don't know how to say it!"

"Yes," he answered soberly. "It isn't nice to think of Earth waiting her turn, either. Not knowing. Happy until realization comes--"

Earth! It was so far away, so secure and homey. Unaware of this danger growing millions of light years from it, a danger threatening extinction to men and the pursuits of men, eating like a living monster into the suns and planets. Jonathan put an arm around the girl; held her against him. Lonely, they stood together, awed.

The girl lifted her head and smiled tremulously. She tossed her head and her hair brushed her shoulders.

"Let's forget them," she brightened. "I succeed pretty well. It's just--at times--that I feel low down."

"I feel low myself. Don't anyone know anything about them? Can't somebody think of something?"

Adatha Za leaned back against the marble rail of the balcony and looked at him and said, "You are big and strong. What would you do to something that was threatening you?"

"I'd fight," he grunted.

"We fight, too. But our opponent always wins. And when we fight, we always die."

Adatha Za sighed. Looking down at her, seeing the sweetly curved mouth that not quite pouted and the straight thin nostrils and deep, dark eyes fringed with long lashes, Jonathan realized she was a rarely beautiful girl. He felt suddenly as though he had been jabbed sharply under the ribs.

"Seeing you makes me want to fight something," he grinned, laughing a little. "Funny, I haven't felt like this since I was in high school. It's like the little boy who turns somersaults before the pretty little girl who's just moved next door. I guess I never noticed the little girl before."

Adatha Za looked at him, her dark eyes alight; but her thin brows raised, faintly questioning.

"Some-somersaults? What is that?"

"Oh, just a way of showing off. Putting your head down and--here, I'll show you."

He dropped to the tiled flooring of the balcony and tumbled. Halfway over, he found himself looking upside-down at a tall figure who glared down at him incredulously. Jonathan flushed hotly and landed hard.

He sat there and felt foolish.

Adatha Za started up, catching her breath in her throat.

Jonathan drew a deep breath. There was a strange malignancy in the eyes of this man who stood in the arched entranceway and looked down at him. Malignancy and contempt, and his thin lips sneered with the livid disdain that moved him.

"You're just asking for trouble, mac," he said quietly, getting to his feet. "I'm not used to being looked at like that."

The man stood straight and haughty, but his eyes blazed. Jonathan felt as though he had been spat at. He started forward; felt Adatha Za's hand on his arm, squeezing him hard.

"This is Morka Kar, Jonathan. He is from Zarathza. This is the Earthling, Jonathan Morgan."

The Zarathzan did not incline his head. He flashed an irritated look at Adatha Za, then looked back at Jonathan.

"The guests of Shar Bytu have gathered to meet the barbarian," he snapped. "He sent me to see if he were awake. I see he is. Be good enough to show him the Temple, Adatha Za."

He swung on his heel and walked away. Jonathan quivered and took a step after him, but the girl beside him tugged on his arm, saying, "It is always his way. He is abrupt, and so self-controlled that anything like gaiety annoys him."

Jonathan grunted. His lips that had been hard, slowly softened.

"That baby was just begging for a left hook," he growled. "And something tells me he'll get it, too."

"Morka Kar is a great scientist. I came in his retinue from Zarathza, to help fight the flames."

"I still don't like him!" Jonathan drew a deep breath and asked, "He--he isn't your husband? Mate, I mean. Or--your fiance?"

Adatha Za laughed.

"You use quaint expressions. But I follow your thoughts. No, he is not my husband, nor my engaged. But he _does_ want me. You see, on Zarathza I am _tapu_. Sworn to science research, forbidden to wed a Zarathzan."

Jonathan reflected on that for a moment. He glanced sidewise at her and grinned, "What about an--Earthman?"

Adatha Za pinched his arm and laughed, "Strictly, there's nothing against it. Zarathza never even heard of Earth until recently!"