He stared around, puzzled. There were no signs of a human being, of
human habitation. But somebody else must be here. Somebody to keep
guard on him. Otherwise there was nothing to stop him from walking
away from this place--though it might very well be a long,
uncomfortable hike to any civilized spot.
Even if this did turn out to be the Himalayas, or some equally remote
area, there must be hill tribes about if one went far enough--there
should even be an occasional airplane passing overhead.
Barney stood just outside the door, frowning, pondering the situation
again, searching for the catch in it. McAllen and his friends,
whatever else they might be, weren't stupid. There was something
involved here that he hadn't become aware of yet.
Almost without thought then, he turned up his head, squinting at the
bright hazy sky above him--
And saw IT.
His breath sucked in and burst from his lungs in a half-strangled,
terrified squawk as he staggered backward into the cabin, slammed the
door shut, then spun around and began slapping frantically at the
switches on the wall-plate until door and window were gone, and only
the cabin's soft illumination was around him again. Then he crouched
on the floor, his back against the wall, shaking with a terror he
could hardly have imagined before.
He knew what the catch was now. He had understood it completely in the
instant of glancing up and seeing that tiny brilliant blue-white point
of light glare down at him through the incandescent cloud layers
above. Like a blazing, incredibly horrible insect eye....
_This_ world's sun.