“Let’s try to surprise them if they’re still working over there,” I said.

  Given our numbers, we moved stealthily and quickly. The Nine and Brakka were with me.

  Zog couldn’t contain himself, though. He’d started panting the second he saw the bright light. Now, holding his lance, he broke into a sprint.

  “Come on,” I said, “let’s follow him.”

  Zog reached the corner ahead of us, but not by much. We raced into a huge cavernous chamber perhaps half the size of a football stadium. At the far end was a circular, shimmering portal.

  Three well-dressed First Folk whirled around. A team of Neanderthals shoved heavy equipment up a ramp to the portal. One shoved a piece of equipment through the portal so it disappeared.

  That had to be the transfer machine. There were banks of controls to the sides.

  The three First Folk had holstered phasors at their sides. Zog was already firing his lance. It might have been his best shooting.

  Before I knew it, two of the First Folk were dead on the ground, their chests blown open. The last one hooted in terror, sprinting up the ramp, past the Neanderthals and dove through the shimmering portal.

  It wavered like upright water, and he was gone.

  The Neanderthals on the ramp looked at it, at us and then raced for it, diving through the portal to join their master.

  Those on the floor looked at us in terror.

  “Lay down and you won’t be harmed,” I shouted.

  They lay down speedily.

  Zog sprinted for the portal.

  “Stop,” I shouted. “Don’t do it.”

  Zog paid no heed. His booted feet touched the end of the ramp.

  The portal glistened and shimmered, and abruptly powered down. The sheen disappeared. Behind it was rocky emptiness.

  The First Folk must have shut it down from their side.

  This chamber’s lights stayed on, a plus. Clearly, though, the First Folk had taken all the women and the vast majority of Neanderthal slaves. The few remaining on the floor were now stranded on Garm with us. Except for Philip, all the First Folk were gone. Just the Neanderthals and I remained.

  Zog threw back his head and howled with rage and despair. He fired missiles one after the other at the walls, randomly blowing holes. When his lance clicked empty, he rushed and tried to snatch Drogar’s lance.

  “Subdue him,” I said.

  Skarl and Drogar did just that, even though Zog raged and fought against them.

  Panting, Zog bellowed, “They’ve taken our women. Our women are gone forever. We’ll never have a mate. None of us. It’s over. It is all over. It is finished.”

  The crowd of Neanderthals seethed with hopelessness and rage. Destructiveness filled their eyes. Unless I could figure out something fast, they were going to tear this place apart. It was possible Krull, Philip, and I would face the ire of their impotent rage.

  I had to do something, or else.

  -39-

  Zog wept on the floor. Skarl and Drogar had released him. Zog groaned with deep groaning.

  Others did likewise. Their emotion was sweeping across to the rest.

  I took out my knife and cut the bonds of Krull and the others. I was thinking hard and fast. This was a volatile situation. Grief that cannot be assuaged is a terrible emotion, a powerful emotion. They’d soon turn on us. I was the other. Even after all I’d done, I didn’t feel safe. Even Gruum was beginning to look upset.

  I had to give the Neanderthals hope. What kind of hope did they want? Clearly, they wanted the hope of having a woman. If you don’t have a woman and you want one more than anything, there’s nothing that can assuage that except a woman. You can drink. You can do other things. But there was only one way to fill the longing. You had to find a woman. A woman, preferably, that was eager to be with the man and delighted in his company.

  The Neanderthals had been bachelors for many, many years. They must have yearned for the day they could finally have a mate. The idea of storming the mines and finally having their women had filled them with hope and longing. Note how they’d fought savagely and brilliantly against much greater numbers. Oh, yeah, these guys needed some hope and I had to give it to them now.

  In a flash, I saw it. I understood. It made sense in a way.

  “Men, no,” I coughed. “Neanderthals, people, warriors, listen to me, hearken to my words. I know what to do. I know how to get you Neanderthal women.”

  They turned to me.

  Even Zog, who dried tears of frustration and rage from his face, looked up.

  I knew I had to finish. I had to give them my plan, the full plan. I hoped Krull and Philip knew enough. Krull, I suspected, had had access to women and so didn’t have the woman sickness, the woman hunger that drove him to anxiety like these others.

  “Listen!” I held up both hands. “I’m a Traveler, as many of you know. I’ve been from one planet to another and I’ve seen marvels, yet I’ve seen something else. There is a planet where other Neanderthals have snake people ruling them.”

  I left out that the other Neanderthals were hairy and bigger than those on Garm. Maybe bachelors could overlook that. Maybe I could worry about that part later. Here was a way to give them hope now.

  “What are snake people?” Zog was up on his feet as fire blazed in his eyes.

  “They’re a hideous people who literally eat Neanderthals,” I said.

  A feeling of horror swept through them.

  “Warriors,” I said, “we have the transfer machine. Do you not understand?”

  “The machine is down,” Zog said. “Down, how can it help us?”

  I pointed at Philip, Krull and the others. “These technicians know how to fix the machine.” I turned to them. “Do you not?”

  “Yes,” Philip said in what sounded like a squeaky voice compared to the bull roar of the Neanderthals.

  “Yes,” Krull said in a deeper voice, “we can fix it.”

  “We won’t be able to go to the Institute planet,” I said, “because the First Folk there will be ready for us. The First Folk will ambush us with terrible weapons, but these others, they won’t be able to stand against us. We’ll train and we’ll use the weapons that are no doubt littered about the mine. I’ll train you to fight even better than you have. You’ve swept everyone aside and you’ve done that with primitive weapons. What if you had the great, godlike weapons of the First Folk? Then the snake people, these Ophidians, would die and you could rescue the trapped Neanderthals. They have many women, many women there, enough so there would be a mate for each of you.

  “Warriors, I know what I’m talking about. The history of Earth, my planet, shows us the truth of it. There were these Romans and they didn’t have enough women. So they trekked to a different land and waited behind trees. When the Sabine women came out to perform their sacred duties, the Romans ran out and snatched them, capturing Sabine brides. Later, when the brothers and fathers came to fight the Romans, the Sabine women rushed between them and said, ‘Let us have peace. We already have children by the Romans. We don’t want war. Let there be unity.’

  “That is what will happen on Saddoth. We’ll open the portal. It will take time, of course. That’s obvious. We cannot do it immediately, but we will do it. I promise you that. You know me. I’m Jake Bayard the Traveler. I’ve kept every promise I’ve given you. I’ll keep this promise, too. The way will be open and we’ll go through as the mightiest soldiers in all the former Harmony of Planets. We’ll defeat these Ophidians. And if we don’t defeat them, we’ll at least smash the nearby units and grab Neanderthal mates for each of you. Think of that. It is not over. It is not over at all. It is just beginning.”

  A few looked at each other. Some shook their heads angrily, Zog among them.

  “You’ve won your planet. Yes, yes, yes. This was a setback today. There is no question about that. It was a grim setback just now. But oh, I see the fire in your hearts. I see the wonderful valor that you’ve exhibited. No one has fought as you have fought today. This was unique. This was….spellbinding.

  “Now, my brothers, now fellow warriors, I’ll train you so that you’re the best. We’ll gather all the free Neanderthals of Garm and we’ll fix this machine. We’ll fix the transfer machine.”

  “When?” Zog asked. “Fix it now.”

  “I’ve already told you. First, we need to train. Yes, I know you’re eager, Zog. I appreciate that. You’ve been one of the bravest of all because the fire in your belly to get yourself a mate propels you. Well, you, my friend—” I pointed at him. “You’re going to get a mate. I’ll see to that personally.”

  The Neanderthals stared at me, a few with hope in their eyes.

  “We’re momentarily stopped. But think of what you’ve done. You’ve rid the planet of the First Folk. You’ve gained control of Garm. It is yours. Now, we’ll use the resources this mine can give us. You all know how great that is. Perhaps we’ll use tools from here to search deeper in the other mine where Gruum found these lances. There will be more and better weapons down there. We’ll combine that and we’ll use the power of the ancient Neanderthals. We’ll be a mighty force, the greatest in all the ex-Harmony of Planets. More importantly, you’ll all have mates and you’ll all have children, becoming fathers. Here today in this mine is the nucleus of the new Garm, of the powerful Garm, of the free Garm.

  “Warriors, lift your voices and roar for the great deeds you will do. Roar for the great deeds you have done this moment.”

  I prodded Krull with the end of my lance.

  “Hip, hooray!” Krull shouted. His friends immediately did likewise.

  Bit by bit, Skarl, Gruum, Brakka and the others cheered. It wasn’t the loudest cheers I’d ever heard, but they cheered. I’d averted the grief that could have caused a disaster.

  Now, the big question was, could I achieve my promises? The secondary question was, if I did, could they accept hairy Neanderthal mates? That was something we were going to potentially find out.

  -40-

  Three and a half weeks had passed, Earth weeks, since we broke through to the transfer portal and the last First Folk had escaped. It had been three and a half weeks since I’d talked Zog down, and I’d made wild promises to the rest.

  By degrees, we’d brought in other free Neanderthals and had also found a few ex-slave Neanderthals hidden in the mines.

  We had a grand and mighty five hundred and fifty-six Neanderthals. That counted every one of them, even those who were still sick and recovering from their wounds. We didn’t find any of the Slave-Corps Neanderthals. They’d taken off to places unknown or had died for whatever reason.

  We hadn’t found any flying saucers or drones in the mine or elsewhere. We had found a cache of phasors. Yet, the apparatuses to re-power them were gone. We had the old machine back in the other mountain. There was debate about bringing it here.

  That was one question among many. Where would our headquarters be? I was for here because this was where the portal was.

  Gruum, of all things, wanted to go back to his bed in his cave. He wasn’t feeling as vigorous as before. The efforts the past three and a half weeks, and the time before that, had taken its toll on the old Neanderthal. He was sad all the women were on the planet of the Institute.

  Philip and Krull had found a star chart pinpointing Saddoth, the planet of the Ophidians. It was indeed twenty-six light years from Earth and seventy-three light years from Garm.

  I learned more about the transfer portal. Philip explained it one night. It was an ancient system, older than the obelisks and the ziggurats. There were only a few working systems left. It did appear one of those was on Saddoth. Whether the Ophidians used it to go anywhere and link to other star systems, I hadn’t yet learned.”

  There were five hundred and fifty-six Neanderthals and one human. I didn’t know if I could fulfill my promises to Zog and the others. He asked me daily about that and stayed by my side far too much.

  Zog didn’t trust me. He was too angry for trust.

  If nothing else worked, I was for punching through onto the Institute planet. Philip hadn’t told us its location yet. He claimed that knowledge had been burned out of his brain long ago. I didn’t really believe that, but I didn’t push it for now.

  Our star chart showed some of the other former planets of the Harmony, but that wasn’t where my interests lay.

  I walked outside with Skarl and Krull. They were turning out to be my favorite Neanderthals.

  We trudged toward the obelisk. I hadn’t yet seen it.

  It had been three and a half Earth weeks and longer than that since I’d seen Livi. I yearned for her.

  Sigh.

  I’d begun some desultory training with a group of chosen Neanderthals. But we had so few phasors and we couldn’t recharge them easily. We had one hundred and ninety-eight lances left. We needed new weapons and in abundance.

  One of my ideas was to take a team down into the other mountain with the magnetic train line, drilling with phasors in order to find more weapons. Maybe we should scour the mine here again and hope there was some secret place we’d missed earlier.

  Even if we found weapons, though, how could I conquer Saddoth with five hundred and fifty-six Neanderthals? That didn’t even make a battalion.

  I had made big promises but lacked the means to achieve them. I wanted to do it. I wanted Garm back on its feet. They needed both men and women if they were going to have a functional society. Without children, it would die out in a generation.

  What was I going to do?

  As I trudged over snow, I saw the obelisk in the distance.

  Skarl and Krull hadn’t said much today. I wondered if they had secret instructions from Gruum or even Zog. “Do not let him go too close to the obelisk or he might use it to transport away and leave us in the lurch.”

  I admit the thought was on my mind.

  Would they string me up if we couldn’t get the portal working? Krull and his boys were doing the best they could. Philip might be holding back on us.

  I didn’t know what the sneaky Homo habilis was hoping. He didn’t like being the lone First Folk, the butt of many jokes, to the Neanderthals. They’d suffered for generations under the First Folk and now they had one who could be the jester or clown of their ham-fisted jokes.

  What was I going to do with Philip? Probably, I should have taken him along with me today. I wondered if he could secretly activate the portal and slip away onto the planet of the Institute.

  I stared at the obelisk as I drew closer to it.

  I noticed Krull and Skarl had moved closer to me.

  “Don’t you guys trust me?” I asked.

  Krull looked away. He did not have the same standing with the others as the warriors. They still distrusted him. I think Krull dreaded the idea of me leaving. If I left, he would be the one they’d take out their frustrations on.

  And what if Gruum died? There was a power struggle even now because Gruum wasn’t around as much. Zog’s standing was high. The others had seen his fire for a woman. Ninety percent of the Neanderthals felt the same way. Skarl was a great warrior and obviously wanted a mate, but it wasn’t the same for him as it was for Zog. A few followed Skarl because he was the biggest, the champion and the hardest fighter. But Zog…

  I didn’t trust Zog.

  Soon, the three of us stood in front of the obelisk. There were no statues around it. The obelisk was old, pitted and all alone.

  It was windy here, but not as cold as it had been. We’d come up in the heart of winter on Garm, not that there was as much variation between the seasons as on Earth.

  My mind stirred, and I heard, Traveler, would you like to leave this place?

  My heart quickened. That was the question. I didn’t answer in my mind or aloud. Dare I try? Skarl and Krull might crush me to the ground.

  You do not answer. If you are a prisoner, I can make it so that those two cannot harm you, the voice in my head said.

  I looked up at the pyramidion. It glowed faintly with a reddish tinge.

  I turned to the Neanderthals. “Gentlemen, I’m going to ask the obelisk a few questions. Please don’t take alarm.”

  Skarl and Krull looked at me in alarm just the same.

  I faced obelisk and asked in English, “Could you send me to Earth?”

  Of course, the pyramidion said in my mind. Is that your wish?

  I shook my head. “No,” I said, “not yet. I have a mission to perform here.”

  Would you like to go to the Vega System?

  All this talk of women, I kept thinking of Livi and how she’d left me. I was certain a psi-master had put the thought in her mind.

  “Just a moment, pyramidion,” I said.

  I turned to Skarl and Krull. “The three of us could go to my planet. We could go through the subterranean area looking for weapons and equipment that might help us here. What do you say?”

  Krull looked at Skarl and shrugged. “I’m game.”

  Skarl eyed me. “Is this a trick? We’ve trusted you, Bayard.”

  “It’s not a trick. It’s a question. What do you say?”

  “If you think it wise,” Skarl said, “I’ll do it.”

  I turned back to the obelisk.

  Was it wise? What if the Earth had erupted in a nuclear holocaust? Perhaps radiation had reached the South Pole. What if the Krekelens had set up teams and were waiting to capture me there? I’d made promises to the Neanderthals. Should I forget about the promises, or was I a man of my word? I didn’t like the idea of leaving these guys in the lurch. Would the pyramidion in Antarctica allow me a second time to Garm? It hadn’t let me to go to the Vega System.

  I stood indecisive for possibly ten seconds. Finally, however, I knew the answer. It wasn’t the time to leave Garm. Three and a half weeks, there was more we could do, and if nothing else, I wanted to fix the portal so that we could make a raid onto Saddoth. Then, we could free Bok and the others and get some mates for these guys…maybe…if they found hairy Neanderthal women beautiful or not. If not…I’d need another idea.

  I would have finally kept my promise to my blood-brother Bok. I think that was what was driving me in this.