You leave Incu and his idol and follow the small amber lights that float ahead, guiding you along the long, curving passageway. Purple-tinted white walls arch around you like the interior of an enormous seashell. The passageway spirals upward and broadens into a circular room. There, hovering in air, is another alien, the size of a small bear. Its oval head looks like an enormous egg standing on end, and its body seems to be nothing more than the joining point for four tentacle-arms and four spiny legs. It has huge green eyes, almost no nose, and a long expressive mouth that extends almost from the top to the bottom of its hard, shiny face.

As you shrink back, the creature laughs. "You're one of us!" it says. "My name is Qally." The creature holds out a tentacle. Cautiously, you allow it to take your hand in its warm, rubbery grip.

"What planet were you collected from, Qally?"

"The planet Karim of the star Akbar—thirty-eight light-years from your planet Earth."

"Do you know what they plan to do with us?"

Speaking in a low voice, as if afraid of being overheard, Qally says, "The rulers of this ship—the U-TY—have been investigating Earth for hundreds of years, for they believed that Earth was the key to reaching the sublime planet of Ultima. Now they have decided to look elsewhere. In only a few days the Rakma will leave this solar system, and you and I and all the other captives will be placed in the zoo on the imperial planet of Ra."

"Then is there any way I can escape to Earth?" you ask.

Qally is silent for a moment. Then he says, "I cannot promise anything, but I can show you the way to the forbidden chamber. I don't know what's there, but it has something to do with time. I would not dare go there, but it could be your only chance."

~ If you decide to go to the forbidden chamber,

< GO TO CHAPTER 33 >

~ If you try to find some other way to escape,

< GO TO CHAPTER 36 >