Cretaceous Sea

climbing shoes, a rope, carabiners, and pitons, but nothing he felt secure freeclimbing in street shoes. Finally, about fifty yards from where Con sat, he discovered a fissure in the cliff. He stepped inside it. Its parallel sides were about three feet apart and rose straight up, forming what climb-ers call a 'chimney.' When he exited the fissure, he saw Con walking toward him. 'Any luck?' she called out.

'I think I can climb this crack,' Rick called back.

When Con reached him, she looked up the fissure. Its rough walls appeared devoid of holds. 'How could you possibly climb that?' she asked.

'There's a technique called 'stemming' that works for cracks. I've practiced it for years.' Rick entered the fissure and leaned his back against one of its walls. He then raised his left foot and placed it on the opposite wall at hip height. He pressed his left foot against the rock wall to wedge his body in place as he swung his right foot so that it touched the rock beneath his buttocks. Rick was wedged in the crack a few feet above the floor.

'I thought you were going to climb up,' teased Con.

Rick didn't answer, but placed his palms as high as he could on the rock behind his back. He suddenly pressed his body away from the wall as he pushed up with both legs. His torso rose, and he quickly swung his right leg upward to the opposite wall at hip height. Both legs pressed his lower back against the wall, wedging him in place a foot higher than he had been before. Then he swung his left foot so it pressed the wall beneath his buttock, assuming his original position, only with his legs reversed. Rick did the maneuver so quickly it looked like he was walking up the fissure. Con had to watch several repeti-tions before she understood exactly what he did. When he was about eight feet above the floor of the crack, he left both feet against the opposite wall and locked his knees. Wedged in place, he rested.

'It's been a while since I've done this,' he said. 'When I get to the top, I'll you tell what's up there.'

'I'm coming, too,' said Con.

'I was roped in when I learned to do this,' said Rick. 'I fell several times before I caught on. Without a rope, you might. ..'

'I get your point,' said Con.

She stood and watched as Rick raised himself in in-crements until he was a small figure five stories above her. Then, with a quick motion, he disappeared. A mo-ment later, his head peered over the edge of the crack.

'There's something up here all right,' he called down with excitement. 'It looks like some kind of aircraft or a ...' Rick's head disappeared.

'Rick, what is it?' No answer. 'Rick!' His head did not reappear over the edge. 'Rick, damn you, what did you find?'

Con waited impatiently for an answer. When she could bear it no longer, she kicked off her rubber thongs and entered the fissure.

RICK STOOD AT the top of the mesa and stared in amaze-ment at the craft twenty yards in front of him. It rested in a large circular depression cut in the rock of the mesa. It looked like a flying saucer twenty feet in diameter, with a fuselage made entirely of crystal. Its transparent shell was crammed with strange machinery and devices. He had been calling down to Con when he spotted the col-umn in the center of the craft. Within the column was a strangely immaterial cylinder. He recognized it immedi-ately. The craft was a time machine.

Rick forgot all about Con as the implications of his discovery hit him. Apparently, Green had more than one time machine already, and its existence contradicted Joe's version of their situation. Joe's calming assur-ances—that Green's scheme was impossible and he was as good as caught—were most likely fabrications to keep Rick in line while the plot proceeded. He found it hard to see it any other way. Joe lied to me! thought Rick angrily and, for a moment, he wished he had pulled the trigger when Joe had confronted him on the path. Once again, Rick felt that the world had been pulled out from under him like a rug, leaving him spinning.

Rick approached the time machine to examine it more closely. The sloping sides of the depression where it stood were covered with the same black panels found on the plane and on the other time machine. They were im- maculately clean, as was the transparent craft they sur-rounded. Everything appeared brand-new, as if they had been placed there only moments before.

The interior of the time machine was filled with exotic machinery and what appeared to be instruments. Rick recognized a large telescope and numerous instruments with lenses. These, he assumed, were cameras. One fol- lowed his every movement. It gave him the uncomfort-able feeling that he was being watched. Perhaps by the time we reach camp, Green will know I was here, he thought. If that's the case, I might as well finish inves-tigating.

As he walked down the sloping sides of the landing site, an opening formed in the machine's fuselage. Be-hind it was a tiny chamber empty of instruments. It con-tained a small control panel and a simple transparent bench that served as the only seat. Rick was leery of entering the machine, so he examined the chamber from outside. It was so small only two, or possibly three, peo-ple could fit inside. The control panel lacked the tape labels of the other machine and seemed less complex. Rick noted that the glowing yellow symbols Con found on her wall were also on the panel.