Part 30 (2/2)

Was this the time to speak of the switched tapes, Ross wondered. No, he did not really believe that the Rover curse or their treatment of the captives would, either one, influence the star leaders. But, if the invaders did not return to their base, their vanis.h.i.+ng might also work to keep another expedition from invading Hawaikan skies. Leave it to chance, a curse, and time....

So it was decided.

”Have we won?” Ross asked Ashe later.

”Do you mean, have we changed the future? Who can answer that? They may return in force, this may have been a step which was taken before. Those pylons may still stand in the future above a deserted sea and island. We shall probably never know.”

That was also their own truth. For them also there had been a subst.i.tution of journey tapes by Fate, and this was now their Hawaika.

Ross Murdock, Gordon Ashe, Karara Trehern, Tino-rau, Taua--five Terrans forever lost in time--in the past with a dubious future. Would this be the barren, lotus world, or another now? Yes, no--either. They had found their key to the mystery out of time, but they could not turn it, and there was no key to the gate which had ceased to exist. Grasp tight the present. Ross looked about him. Yes, the present, which might be very satisfying after all....

SCIENCE FICTION by ANDRE NORTON

THE DEFIANT ANGENTS

Operation Cochise: a carefully planned Western move to colonize a planet ahead of the Reds. Travis Fox had been an eager volunteer, but the morning he dragged himself half-conscious from the wrecked s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p on the planet Topaz, he sensed the terror which would threaten the project.

Travis never learned why the s.h.i.+p had crashed, nor why he and the other Apache agents had been shot into s.p.a.ce without warning and under Redax control, a machine which had returned them to ancestral mentality.

But the dangers on Topaz demanded free minds, for Travis soon realized that if the Reds already encamped beyond the mountains--a horde of barbaric Mongols completely dominated by their masters--discovered the secret of the eerie underground chamber in the towers hidden in a valley of mists, not only Topaz but Terra itself would be destroyed.

Andre Norton's ability to grip the reader and transport him to other worlds in s.p.a.ce and time is well known. In this fast-paced adventure in which the struggle for domination of men's minds ranges from control of their prehistoric memories to the risk of unleas.h.i.+ng a horror never meant for the hands of men, the author again proves to be ”a superb storyteller whose skill draws the reader completely into a fantastic other-world,” (_Chicago Tribune_). A companion book to _Galactic Derelict_.

STORM OVER WARLOCK

”Fleeing from Throg invaders, Shann Lantee and Ragnar Thorvald enter the world of beautiful women. Immensely powerful as they are lovely, these witches control men by thought domination. Shann's victory over the beetle-like Throg and his civilized alliance with the women is told here with that sweep of imagination and brilliance of detail which render Andre Norton a primary talent among writers of science fiction.”--_Virginia Kirkus_ (starred).

GALACTIC DERELICT

”Andre Norton has no peer in his chosen field of science fiction for teen-agers. This time his story involves an expedition in both time and s.p.a.ce, as some young scientists ... set forth on a journey to repossess a lost s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.”--_Virginia Kirkus_ (starred).

THE TIME TRADERS

”Effectively utilizing the concept of time travel, the author ... has written another imaginative, action-filled science fiction story for teenage boys. Young Ross Murdock ... is sent back into the Bronze Age, discovers a derelict galactic s.h.i.+p, and finds himself fighting ... to gain control of the secrets of s.p.a.ce flight.”--ALA _Booklist_.

STAR BORN

Young Dalgard Nordis of the planet Astra and his merman companion Sssuri join forces with a s.p.a.ce man from Terra to outwit resurgent nonhuman Aliens. A sequel to _The Stars Are Ours!_

THE STARS ARE OURS!

To escape the tyranny on Terra in the year 2500, a group of scientists make a last-minute getaway under fire and take off for another planet in another solar system. Their adventures make top-flight entertainment for all science-fiction fans.

s.p.a.cE PIONEERS

<script>