Afternoon waned as the patches united, spread into the beginning of the
jungle as the counter was once more an almost steady light. When evening
closed in they were not caught in darkness--for below trees, looping
vines, brush, had a pale, evil glow of their own, proclaiming their
toxicity with bluish halos. Sometimes pockets of these made a core of
light which pulsed, sending warning fingers at the flitter which sped
across it.
The hour was close on midnight before Dane sighted the other light, the
pink-red of which winked through the ghastly blue-white with a natural
and comforting promise, even though it had been meant for an entirely
different purpose. The Queen had earthed with her distress lights on and
no one had remembered to snap them off. Now they acted as a beacon to
draw the flitter to its berth.
Dane brought the stripped flyer down on the fused ground as close to the
spot from which he had taken off as he could remember. Now--if those on
the spacer would only move fast enough--!
But he need not have worried, his arrival had been anticipated. Above,
the rounded side of the spacer bulged as the hatch opened.
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