“Ready?”

Mara was just inside the narrow passage behind the altar.  She nodded quickly.

Rynason twisted himself so that he could speak directly into the input of the speaker.  He raised his voice to approximate the thin, high sounds of the Hirlaji language.

Remain motionless.  Remain motionless.  Remain motionless.

The command burst out upon the altar room of the Temple, shattering the silence.  The Hirlaji turned in surprise to the altar—­and stood still.

Remain motionless.  Remain motionless.

It was the phrase he had heard the machine use so often to Tebron, king priest leader of all Hirlaj.  It had meant something else then, but the proto-language of the Hirlaji had no precise meanings; given by itself, it seemed to mean precisely what it said.

“All right, let’s go out!” Rynason said, and the two of them broke from behind the altar.  The Hirlaji stood completely still; several of those that Rynason had dropped with his stunner had recovered consciousness, but they made no move either.  Rynason and the girl ran right through the quiet aliens; only a few of them turned shadowed eyes to look at them as they passed.  They made the outside colonnade in safety, and paused there.

“They may see through this in a minute,” Rynason said.  “Don’t wait for me—­get out of the city!”

“You’re not coming?”

“I won’t be too far behind.  Get going!”

She hesitated only a moment, then hurried down the broad levels of the Temple steps.  Rynason watched her to the bottom, then turned and re-entered the altar room.

Rynason went quickly among them, taking their weapons.  Most of them made no effort to stop him, but a few tightened their grips on the disintegrators and he had to pry those thick fingers from the weapons, cursing to himself.  How long would they wait?

There were fourteen of the disintegrators.  They were large and heavy; he couldn’t hold them all at once.  He dumped five of them outside the altar room and returned to disarm the rest of the aliens.  Sweat formed beads on his forehead, but he moved without hesitation.

Another of the Hirlaji tightened his grip when Rynason began to take the weapon from him.  He looked up, and saw the quiet eyes of Horng resting on him.  The leathery grey wrinkles which surrounded those eyes quivered slightly, but otherwise he made no movement.  Rynason dropped his gaze from that contact and wrested the weapon away.

As he started to move on to the next, Horng silently dipped his massive head to one side.  Rynason felt a chill go down his back.

In a few more minutes he had disarmed them all.  He set the last three disintegrators on the stone floor of the colonnade—­and a movement in the distance caught his eye.  It was on the south wall of the city; two men stood for a moment silhouetted against the Flat, then disappeared into the shadows.  In a moment, another man appeared, and he too dropped inside the wall.