"When will your people come again?"
She shook her head. "Never. They are no longer my people. They have
disowned us."
"And because of me even those in the cavern have disowned you."
Suddenly she stiffened beside him. There, directly in their path, stood
the Sand God. It was blood red now. It pulsed violently. The great
voice burst forth.
"Leave the woman!" it demanded angrily. "The webfoots are nearing your
position."
"I cannot leave her. She is helpless against them."
"What form of primitive stupidity are you practicing now? Leave, or
they will kill you."
Stinson shook his head.
The Sand God pulsed more violently than before. Ice melted in a wide
area around it. Brown, frozen grass burned to ashes.
"You will allow them to kill you, just to defend her life? What
business is it of yours if she lives or dies? My race discarded such
primitive logic long before it reached your level of development."
"Yes," Stinson said, "and your race no longer exists."
The Sand God became a sphere of blue flame. A wave of intense heat
drove them backward. "Earthman," the great voice said, "go back to your
Earth. Take your inconsistencies with you. Do not come here again to
infect my planet with your primitive ideas. The webfoots are not as
intelligent as you, but they are sane. If you bring your people here, I
shall destroy you all."
The sphere of blue fire screamed away across the frozen wilderness, and
the thunder of its passing shook the ground and echoed among the lonely
hills.
* * * * *
Sybtl shivered against his arm. "The Sand God is angry," she said. "My
people tell how he was angry once before, when we first came here. He
killed half of us and burned the ship that brought us. That is how
Kaatr got the tube-weapon. It was the only thing the Sand God didn't
burn, that and the skirts. Then, when he had burned the ship, the Sand
God went to the sixth planet and burned two of the largest cities, as a
warning that no more of us must come here."
Well, Stinson said to himself, that does it. We are better off on
Earth. We can't fight a monster like him.