'Different space-time-continua. Every STC seems to have only one dominant, intelligent life form. I can't explain it.'
'It must mean something. That's what I suspected, anyway. A phenomenon natural to every STC universe. But what isn't happening, I hope, in every STC, is what is happening in our particular universe.'
'Happening?' Talfryn spoke.
'The visitors from the other galaxy came to warn us. Their news was so terrible that I had to keep it to myself. To have released it would have been to start galaxy-wide panic.'
'What the hell is happening?' Even Olesson became interested.
"The end of the universe,' Renark said.
'What!' Talfryn gasped.
'The end of the universe - so far as humanity's concerned, at any rate.'
'And the Gee-lords don't know?' Asquiol said. 'You didn't tell them - why?'
'Because I was counting on the Shifter to offer a clue that might save us.'
'Not just the end of a galaxy,' Klein said softly, 'but an entire universe. Our universe. How do you know, Renark?'
'The visitors gave me proof - my own space-sensing ability did the rest. I'm convinced. The universe has ceased to expand.'
'That's a problem?' Olesson said.
'Oh, yes - because, not only has it ceased expanding, it is now contracting. All matter is falling back to its source. All the galaxies are rapidly drawing together - and at a far greater speed than they expanded. And the speed increases as all matter is drawn back to the hub of our universe! Soon all the galaxies will exist as a single mote of matter in the vastness of space. Then even that mote may vanish, leaving - vacuum. So far this inward movement is restricted to the galaxies, but, soon, when they all come together, it will involve the stars, the planets - everything.'
'This is theory,' Klein spoke softly.
'Fact,' said Renark. 'My visitors' experiments are conclusive. They have tested the theory in their laboratories and found that when the matter has contracted as much as it can - and it forms a pellet of astounding density - it just disappears. They believe that when it reaches the final stage it enters other dimensions as a photon, possibly in some greater universe - the one encompassing the multiverse, itself, perhaps.'
'So it disappears - like the shifter?'
'That's right.'
'I still don't know why you came here,' Klein said. 'Because it's safe? We are safe, aren't we?'
'I came here,' said Renark, more calmly now, 'in the hope of discovering a means of travelling into another universe.'
'You think because the Shifter travels through the multi-verse that you can find out how it works and build some kind of machine that will do the same - is that it?' Klein seemed interested, even enthusiastic.
'That's it. If I can discover the Shifter's secret, I may be able to return to our universe. As a Guide Senser I could probably find it - and warn them of what's happening and offer them a means of escaping into a universe which isn't undergoing this change.'
Olesson put in: 'Whatever happens, we're all right eh?'
Renark nodded. 'Yes. But that doesn't appeal much to me.'
The others didn't reply. Although horrified, they also seemed relieved.
Renark sensed this. 'You're still with me?' he said to his friends.
'We've nothing to lose,' Talfryn said uncomfortably.
'Nothing,' agreed Asquiol.
The equipment beside them squealed. Olesson moved ponderously towards it, tuned in the receiver, got sound and a picture. 'Yes.'
The face on the screen said: 'More visitors, Ragnar - a big load from Migaa are coming in now.'
'The usual routine,' said Olesson, shutting off the receiver.
FOUR
Renark and his companions watched the screens as the shoals of craft from Migaa entered the Shifter's area of space.
Then the Thron ships came slashing upwards from their planet - like sharks. There was an insane, inexplicable anger in their ferocity.
From other directions a large, motley force of Entropium warships helped the Migaan craft dispose of the outnumbered Thron vessels. The fight was much shorter than Renark's.
'They're just in time,' commented Olesson, watching the screen. 'The system's due to begin transition again pretty soon. Better wave your universe goodbye, Renark. You won't be seeing it again for some time if at all.' He grinned callously.
Ignoring the big man, Renark turned to his friends.
'We'll have to split up. There must be people here who aren't just criminals - people who've made some attempt to explore or analyse the system. They can help us. Move about the city - ask questions.'
There was a peculiar note in Klein's voice. 'Go to see Mary the Maze, Renark. I can't guarantee she'll help, but she'll serve as a warning to you. She was an anthropologist, I hear. She explored as much of the Shifter as she was able. But go and see where her curiosity got her, Renark.'
'Where is she?'
'I'm not sure - but everyone knows her on Northside. You'll find her soon enough if you ask.'
'Okay, I will.' He said to the others: 'You take other parts of the city. Don't ignore any piece of information, speculation or rumour - it could all be useful. We've got to work fast!' 'But fast,' sneered Olesson as they left.
Walking out of the untidy building, they saw the bright arrows of fire searing down on the landing-field two miles away. They split up.
Renark had chosen the worst possible time to look for anyone.
As he went from hotel to hotel, from bar to bar on the north side of Entropium, the men and women from Migaa began to pour exuberantly in.
They got drunk quickly and the whole city came alive and excited. Not only human beings celebrated the new 'shipment's' arrival. Aliens of many kinds joined in with their own forms of merry-making.
Once, a creature like a giant cross between a slug and a caterpillar addressed him in high-pitched Terran, but he ignored it and moved on, searching, asking questions, getting incoherent or facetious replies.
And then the nightmare really began.
Quite suddenly Renark felt nausea flood through him, felt his vision blur and sent out a mind-probe which took in the whole of the system and part of the galaxy beyond it. His mind just refused to accept some of the information it received - he couldn't take it in.
The galaxy seemed distant, and yet retained the same point in space in relation to the Shifter.
Then the whole planet seemed suddenly engulfed by a weird, greyish mist. The darkness gave way to it.
For an instant, Renark thought he saw the buildings of the city begin to fade again. He felt weightless and had to cling to the side of a house. The house seemed solid enough, but its components moved beneath his hands and his own body seemed diffused, lacking its normal density. As his mind swirled, he returned it to the comforting reality of the galaxy, as he habitually did in tunes of stress. But the galaxy was no longer real.
It seemed ghostly, he was losing touch with it. He very nearly panicked, but controlled himself desperately.
Then he understood what was happening.
They were leaving the galaxy - leaving the universe Renark loved, that he was prepared to die for. He had an unreasoning sense of betrayal - as if the galaxy were leaving him rather than the reverse. He breathed heavily. He felt like a drowning man and sought for something to grab - physically and mentally. But there was nothing. Nothing constant. Nothing that did not change as he sensed or saw it.
The grey city seemed to tilt at an angle and he even felt himself sliding. He staggered on down the crazily angled couch ripped from some ship and evidently used as a bed by the mad woman.
'Mary?' he said to the muttering wreck. 'Mary?'
She stared at him and the look in her eyes repelled him.