"THE TIME MASTERS" "Why are you going so fast?" "It's just for fun." "Jaffar." "Calling Jaffar." "Claude here." "Answer!" "Come in!" " Who are you talking to?" " Jaffar, this is Claude." "Where are you?" "Answer me!" "This is on tape." "Jaffar, this is Claude." "I'm calling from the planet Perdide." "Northern hemisphere, 73rd quadrant, 16 hours 50, universal time." "Jaffar, they attacked us by surprise." "It was horrible." "Eilene's dead." "I'm heading for the zone of the Dolongs." "I've crashed." "I'm trapped." "I'm sending Piel into the Dolongs with a microphone." "For God's sake, come get him!" "Hurry!" "I beg you!" "Thank you, Jaffar... and good-bye." "Claude." "Take this, Piel." " Catch it." " What is it?" "It's a microphone." "I don't understand." "Call it Mike." "Mike is a friend of yours." "When Mike talks to you, you must do exactly what he says." "Now run as fast as you can through the Dolongs... and stay there until the machine..." "until Mike... talks to you." "I can't run." "My knee hurts." "Anyway, I don't want to go into the Dolongs." "I want to go home." "Your mother doesn't want us to come home right now." "Do as I say!" "Run through the Dolongs." "Run, I tell you!" "Run!" "Well, very nice." "What's the matter?" " You idiot." " What's got into you?" "What are you doing?" "Look what's happening." "We almost collided with that meteor while you were taking a nap." "I don't understand." "I thought the collision-swerve control was automatic." "Yes, but only for matches that weigh less than 10,000 tons." "Well, I didn't know that." "You don't know very much." "Hello." "I have refreshments for the navigators." "Is anything wrong?" " No, nothing's wrong." " Holy stardust!" "How long has this signal been on?" "How should I know?" "I don't understand anything about this tub of yours." "Jaffar, this is Claude." "I'm calling from the planet Perdide." "Northern hemisphere... 73rd quadrant, 16 hours 50, universal time." "Jaffar, they attacked us by surprise!" "It was horrible." "Eilene's dead." "I'm heading for the zone of the Dolongs." "I've crashed." "I'm trapped." "I'm sending Piel into the Dolongs with a microphone." "For God's sake, come get him!" "Hurry!" "I beg you!" "Thank you,Jaffar, and good-bye." "Piel!" "Can you hear me?" "Answer if you hear me." "I'm calling you." "Listen to me." "I don't like you." "And I don't like your lights, either." "I don't like you either." "What?" "I didn't know you could hear me, Mike." "Piel, is that you?" "Of course it's me." "Where are you?" "Right here, in front of you." "I'm speaking to you from far, far away." "Really, Jaffar, he doesn't understand." " Perhaps you should..." " Why do you have two voices?" "Answer, Mike." "I know your name is Mike." "Why do you have two voices?" "You're right, Piel." "My name is Mike." "And I have two voices because I have practically nothing else." "I don't have eyes to see with, nor legs to walk with... nor arms to hold things with." "So instead, I have two voices... and I can even have more than two." "Do you understand?" "I think so." " You're in a forest now, aren't you?" " Yes." "With glowing red and yellow fruit?" "Yes, that's right." "Good.Just wait there." "Just one second." "Are you saying that we are no longer going to Aldebaran?" "That's exactly what I'm saying." "But Captain, we are paying you a fortune to take us to Aldebaran." "You can't break your word." "I didn't promise you anything, Prince Matton." "It so happened I was on my way to Aldebaran." "It was your idea to join the ship... and with half the public treasury in your possession." "Only that which is mine." "Don't make me laugh." "The entire police force of the Interplanetary Reform Alliance... is on your heels." "Your destination makes no difference to you." "It can be Aldebaran, or anywhere else... just as long as you get away." "Yes, I've changed our destination." "It's no longer Aldebaran." "It's Perdide." "Consider yourself lucky, Prince, to be going anywhere at all... and that I've taken pity on you." "And don't smoke on board ship!" "Oxygen is precious." "Go down to your cabin and buckle in." "In order to reach Perdide, we'll fiirst have to land on Devil's Ball... and then arc over to Gamma Ten." "On Gamma Ten, we'll have to wait until the passage of the Blue Comet." "By keeping within the magnetic fileid of the comet... we can hope to approach Perdide in one month, real time." "Mike, why have you been so quiet?" "Piel, I'm busy right now." "I'll talk to you later." "Oh, they're lovely." "Silbad calls them his shroos." "Jaffar, you rascal, you!" "Why didn't you warn me?" "It wouldn't be so bad, Perdide, if it weren't for the Frelons." "You know about the Frelons of Perdide, Princess?" "Here." "Look at this." "The Frelons of Perdide did it to me years ago." "They like to eat the brain of a man... just as if it were a soft-boiled egg." "Mr. Silbad, if you don't mind..." "Sorry, Prince." "As you were saying, Jaffar." "Your friend Claude?" "Claude has a son called Piel." "A son!" "It's bad enough being loaded down with a wife, but a kid too..." "I tell you, Jaffar, your friend is doomed." "He's dead." "Those Frelons again." "His wife too, and the boy?" "The boy's taken refuge in the Dolongs." "As long as he stays in the Dolong forest, he's safe." "The pollen from the trees keeps off the Frelons." "No other settlers around?" "Piel is totally alone in Perdide." "How old is he?" "He must be somewhere between fiive and ten Earth years." "The only link you have with him is through that mike?" "A little marvel, that microphone." "Instant communication anywhere in Space Five." "Yes." "Claude gave it to me." "He thought I might need help one day." "As it turned out, he was the one who needed it." "Let me think." "They've been singing for three days." "It won't be long before they metamorphose." "If someone..." "someone who knows Perdide very well... were to remain in constant contact with the boy... and keep telling him just what to do, he can get out." "He can make it." "How long will it take you to get there?" "Hello, Piel." "Are you there?" "How would you like to hear a song?" "Listen to this." "What about "The Song of the Lamprey Guzzlers"?" "Do you know that one?" "Sing it to me, Mike." "Well I'd like to introduce myself" "If you can spare the time" "To listen to this song and help my story to unwind" "I'm the Astro Guzzler the Interstellar Fool" "Riding on my Lamprey and everything is beautiful" "I can see a million eyes" "Smile at me as I go by" "I'm another Peter Pan" "I'm another Superman" "Rollin'along the stars with nothin' much to do" "I'm another Robin Hood" "Who's in the neighborhood" "But I couldn't hurt nobody if I wanted to" "And I couldn't give a care" "'Cause I'm a millionaire" "When people say I'm "starey-eyed" no I don't care" "I'm another Peter Pan" "I'm another Superman" "I never cry Why should I" "When I don't feel blue" "You ought to be ashamed of yourself... singing those kind of songs to a child." "Why did you stop, Mike?" "Keep singing." "I'll sing the rest later on." "Right now, little one..." "I want you to eat one of those pretty red fruits." "I'm tired of them." "Isn't there anything else?" "Do you want me to get angry?" "Okay, okay." "What's a lamprey?" "Ah, my boy, that was a proud space vessel... the last of an illustrious fleet." "What's a guzzler?" "Well, now, that's, uh..." "Guzzle..." "that means sort of to drink." "So guzzlers are people who like to drink... just a tiny little bit." "You know, Mike, that's just what I'd like to do... drink." " I'm thirsty." " I've already told you." "You can drink the juice that comes from the red fruits." "I don't like that taste." "Couldn't I have some water?" "Listen, son." "I know something that's much better than water." "Is there a strawberry near where you are?" "A huge, enormous strawberry?" "I can't see any." "Look around a little." "They grow on the trunks of trees." "There must be some around." "There's one, over there." "Right." "I'm standing in front of your big, fat strawberry." " What shall I do now?" " You see those soft, round spots on it?" " Yes." " Burst them open with your fiinger... and something will flow out that's much better than water." "That's good!" "Now what are you up to?" "First you sing him drinking songs... and now it sounds as if you're trying to get him drunk." "Under the circumstances, my friend, we can't be choosy." "The juice of the legol contains a harmless alkaloid... but it'll help him sleep." "The more the boy sleeps, the better." "It'll keep him out of trouble." "Are you sure it won't intoxicate him?" "If he soaks up the stuff for a month straight... then maybe yes, a little." "But he'll get over it very quickly." "Believe me." "I know from experience." "I think I'll go for a swim." "I really like your friend." "I'm glad." "He's quite a character, isn't he?" "He certainly is." " You know..." " Yes?" "I don't know, but somehow I get the impression he's hiding a deep sorrow." "Maybe I'm just imagining things." "Not completely." "The fact is, Silbad does suffer." " His head?" " His heart." "Silbad has been hopelessly in love for 20 years." "In love?" "With whom?" "With this planet." "You're going to witness something very rare." "Close your minds!" "They're arriving!" "Oh!" "What's that?" "The metamorphosis of the shroos." "But be careful." "Those little scamps are telepathic." "Close your minds!" "They're arriving!" "Close your minds." "They're arriving." " Careful." " Leave us in peace." "Go on, be off with you." "Close your mind, human." "I hear everything." "Look!" "Two of them seem to be stuck." "Yes." "And the petals are closing again." "Stay here." "I'll go." "Hello, Piel?" "Little Piel, do you hear me?" "Would you go and fetch the prince, please?" "If we want to enter the Blue Comet's magnetic fileid... we have to go on board ship in less than an hour." "I bet you'd be mighty happy to abandon the prince here." "Certainly not." "You and your code of honor." "Hello." "Who are you?" "Come on, now." "Don't be afraid of me." "Am I afraid of you?" "'Course not." "Just a minute." "You're not the one who took my Mike, are you?" "Listen, you old pirate, do you think anything's wrong?" "It's been a long time since we've heard from the boy." "That's true." "He should have been awake for some time now." "I think I hear something." "As if Piel were a long way from the microphone." "Can you hear me?" "Well, I can't shout any louder... but we have to make a sound that will catch the boy's attention." "Do you know the war cry of the fiighting monks of Guama Seti Five?" "Then you'd better cover your ears." "No comments, please." "Just wait." "Mike, was it you who shouted like that?" "Are you all right?" "It sounded like you were very far away from me." "That's because there was a big animal sitting on you." "I'm glad I found you again." "Me too, little one." "What happened?" "I heard a terrifying noise." "It was nothing, my dear lady." "I was just clearing my throat." "I drew it from memory." "Here's the Desert of the Sooks." "The Dolongs are here." "Claude was driving there from the west." "The little fellow, therefore, had to cross through here." "Good." "There are only a few grottoes there." "But couldn't the boy use a grotto for shelter?" "My dear lady, the grottoes of Perdide are full of Sourpleas." " Full of what?" " Sourpleas... another scourge on Perdide." "They're a sort of maggot that burrows into the skin." "Oh, how awful." " You don't think Piel could be..." " No." "I've questioned him thoroughly." "He hasn't got near the grottoes." "What worries me more is the lake." "The lake?" "What's the danger there?" "Nothing, really." "It's just a body of water fiilled with friendly little fiish." "However, there's nothing to stop a kid from drowning... even in a harmless lake." "By now, Piel must be very close to it." "There's something odd going on behind that screen." "Something that doesn't..." "Aha!" "Stowaways!" "The others preferred to remain on Devil's Ball." "To await the next transformation." "Something smells here." "Mind your language in front of a lady." "Oh, dear." "Perhaps it's my perfume." "No, madam, not at all." "Your perfume is exquisite." "You must excuse my chum." "He says anything that pops into his head." "A bad telepathic odor?" "That's it!" "There's a thought here that stinks." "Now, enough of that." "I'm ashamed of you." "Don't you know how to behave yourself in polite company?" "Anyway, it's gone now." "Piel, are you there?" "Yes, I'm here... and I'm getting fed up with being here too." "Yes, I understand, dear Piel." "So for a change, why don't we take a little walk?" "I don't want to take a walk." "I want to be somewhere else." "Of course, but to be somewhere else, you have to walk." "I want you to visit a lake." "You'll be able to wash yourself there." "Why?" "I'm not dirty." "All right, you don't have to wash." "But it's pretty there, and you'll enjoy it." "Well, if I don't have to wash, okay." "How do I get there?" "First, you have to turn your back to the moon." "Why have you changed your voice again?" "I like the other ones better." "The others have to rest." "How much farther is your lake?" "We'll be there in just a few minutes." "I'm going to see what the prince is up to." "Ah." "Here you are." "I was wondering where you'd gone." "Well, I just wanted to be useful." "Since no one was looking after the child, I thought I would." "Any new developments?" "No." "He's asleep." "Look!" "Like this, they're beautiful." "What's the point of owning sparkling things... if all you do is lock them in a bin like trash?" "You know how it is, space mate." "Human beings..." "or at least, some of them... don't care about the beauty of things." "It's only their value that interests them." ""Value"?" "What is "value"?" "A concept." "I read it in their thoughts." "And what's the concept?" "To tell the truth, I don't know for sure." "It's something that drives men crazy... at least some of them." "Prince Matton, for one." "Now there I agree with you." "His thoughts smell terrible." "Perhaps we should warn the others." "They're humans, space mate." "We are gnomes." "It's best that we each mind our own business." " "Business"?" "What's "business"?" " None of your business." "Humans have their own way of doing things... and we have our way." "I suppose you're right." "But Prince Matton's thoughts still stink." "There we are." "From this point, we can rely on the computer." "It'll put us in orbit around Gamma Ten... and keep us there until the Blue Comet passes." "Then it will send us into the comet's gravitational fileid." "Since we'll be orbiting Gamma Ten... would we have enough time to land there?" "We could if we wanted to." "All right, I'll relieve you now." "Oh, but I prefer to stay here and look after the child." "You see, Jaffar... when I said a little while ago that I wanted to be useful..." "I truly meant it." "The thoughts of that human keep smelling worse and worse." "Well, close your mind, space mate." "Those are human affairs, not ours." " Piel?" " Well, it's about time!" "What happened to you?" "Did you fall asleep?" "Never mind.Just tell me... are you still walking?" "Don't forget, you have to reach the lake." "But I'm already there." "Oh, good." "And what have you been doing?" " I saw a big fiish." " Is that all?" "Did you wash yourself?" "You said I didn't have to." "I've changed my mind." "You have to take a bath." "Walk into the water and head towards the middle of the lake." "But I'll drown!" "Of course you won't, you little fool." "If you carry me with you, I'll support you." "I'll make you float on the water." "You'll see." "Are you in the lake yet?" "Yes." "It's cold." "Walk to the middle of the lake." "Keep walking." "Forward!" "Obey me!" "Oh, Mike, this is getting deep." " No, Piel!" "Stop!" " Belle!" " Don't move." " You wouldn't dare." "Mike!" "What did you say, Mike?" "What do you want me to do now?" "I'm cold, and the water's getting deeper." "Piel, turn around and head back to shore." "Get out of the lake at once." "Belle, listen." "I can explain." "It's perfectly clear." "But if we continue on to Perdide, we're fiinished." "They'll take my treasure." "We'll be nothing but miserable tramps, wandering from planet to planet." "Jaffar, please come here immediately." "Right." "I'm coming." "Go to the Dolongs and dry yourself, Piel... and wait there until I speak to you again." "I have to think for a moment." "Belle, have pity on me." "Try to understand." "If you tellJaffar I tried to kill the child... he'll throw me out into space." "Belle, please, I beg you!" "What happened?" "Mike, I did what you told me to do." "I've come out of the lake, and I'm drying myself with some leaves." "Now what should I do?" "Just wait there." "I see." " May I make a suggestion?" " Go ahead." "Oh, no!" "There go all our decorations." "All that work for nothing." "I'm beginning to think that the human race is crazy!" "Let me out!" "I'll kill you!" "I swear, I'll kill you!" "Good grief!" "We've got to do something." "I can't take anymore of that human's thoughts." "I'll simply die if he continues." "Yes." "He's giving me a splitting headache." "Look." "He wants to get out of here, right?" "Perhaps if we were to..." "Don't talk nonsense, space mate." "That type is a cosmic danger." "Jad, I'm getting sick." "Let's help him escape." "All he wants is to take the shuttle craft and land on Gamma Ten." "That's not all, Yula." "He also wants to recover his treasury... and recruit mercenaries and massacre everybody." "No." "We can't let him get away." "But he'll never come back from Gamma Ten." "What do you mean?" "Can't you hear that planet?" "Hear it?" "It's bursting my eardrums." "Mine too, space mate." "That's a world I don't want to have anything to do with." "He'll never leave it." "No." "Not a chance." "Well, then, shall we liberate that monster?" "You're sleepy" "Lay easy tonight" "You're sleepy" "You're high on a flight of magic" "You can when you dream" "But remember" "You're only a child" "Remember" "Alone in the wild" "Remember" "This life can be mean" "Everything's fine now, Mike." "I'm warm and I'm sleepy... and I like it so much when you speak in a voice like my mum's." "Go to sleep now, little Piel." "I love you, Mike." "And I love you too, little Piel." "What's going on?" "Someone's ejected in the shuttle craft!" "It's the prince!" "Prepare the emergency capsule." "What kind of planet is this?" "What was all that?" "I don't know, space mate... but just a little more of it and I think my brain would have melted." "I think mine is turning to stone." "We have to do something." "First of all, let's not lose Jaffar." "Jad, I'm afraid." "I'm afraid of what's under that dome." "Me too, space mate." "I'm scared stiff." "We're the ones who got Jaffar into this mess." "Now we'll have to get him out of it." "We must contact the others in the spaceship." "We can try." "That thing's liable to swallow our brains if we're not careful." "Now, my dear lady, there's nothing we can do except wait... and hope that Jaffar will be able to return here... before the passage of the Blue Comet... which only gives him fiive hours." "At last!" "Where were you?" "Don't think this is easy for us, what with that thinking thing." "It's no use." "It's too much for you." "But take off my helmet." "Listen." "You're going to have to pilot the shuttle craft." "Tune in on my thoughts, and I'll show you how to fly it." "Take it back up to the spaceship." "Tell Silbad to catch the Blue Comet, and go and save the boy." "And desert you?" "Out of the question." "I'm not so sure it's out of the question." "Why don't we get out of here?" "We can always return later to save Jaffar." "That's it." "Yula is right." "No." "Yula is wrong, and he knows it." "Yula, I'm ashamed of you." "You're a coward, a scaredy-cat, a crybaby and a milksop." "And what's more, a spineless, chickenhearted jellyfiish." "You know very well what will happen to Jaffar... in just a few hours if we leave him here." "I can take care of myself." "Not against that, Jaffar." "Not against that thing." " What thing?" " It doesn't have a name." "It's-It's pure thought." "Don't worry." "I can handle pure thought." "I'm afraid it's beyond even your strength." "The thought will absorb you as it has all the others." " What others?" " All those who've set foot on Gamma Ten." "Once they were normal people." "Now they're puppets..." "puppets of that thing." "Brothers, it is time." "Once again... difference has intruded... on Gamma Ten." "Once again, the ceremony must take place." "Once again, difference must be abolished... and unity restored." "Here they come!" "I smell their thoughts." "Relax." "We still have a moment." "Pull, Jaffar!" "They're coming!" "They're coming!" "Jad, is there anything I can do?" "Matched against the thing, your thought is powerless... a feather against a mountain." "That is, unless..." "Unless what?" "Unless you can turn your thought against itself... and against any other thought." "If you can become pure denial, pure hate, pure insane fury..." "Then there's a chance..." "a slim chance... that you can annihilate the thing." "But you will annihilate yourself at the same time." " I prefer to be destroyed than enslaved." " They're here!" "Hurry to the shuttle, and do exactly as I told you." "Obey me!" "Good-bye, Jaffar." "Hurry!" "Jaffar, do you think I'm a coward and a crybaby... and all those other things Jad called me?" "Of course not." "You're a sweet little gnome, Yula." "That's what you are." "Now good-bye." "Thank you, Jaffar." "Here is the second individual." "Carry him to the glory of the sameness." "Happiness." "Happiness upon them!" "Happiness upon us!" "Happiness!" "Unity!" "Are they going to turn us into fodder for that blob?" "It's more complicated than that... but that's the general idea." "I propose that we flight and die together." "That won't do any good, Matt." "Don't you understand?" "I propose that we flight." "We can wipe out a few dozen of them before they crush us." "The enemy is there, Matt." "All those poor creatures are nothing but puppets." "Then let's attack the blob itself." " There must be something we can do!" " Yes, there is one thing." "When we're absorbed into it... when it tries to turn us into contented puppets... we must hate ourselves... and deny ourselves with all the force in our minds." "We must become madmen in order to drive it mad." "But even if we succeed... we'll leave our skins here as well as our souls." "That suits me fline." "My skin isn't worth much, and my soul is worth nothing." "The ceremony... is begun!" "In a few moments... the unhappy ones... will lose their individuality." "They will be one with us." "We will be one with them!" "You know something, space mate?" "Your thoughts have an odd smell." "Your intention's a funny color." "That's because I don't appreciate your thinking I'm a coward." "Come on." "We have very little time before the Blue Comet passes." "Right." "Hold tight!" "Good-bye, Matt!" "Here goes!" "No, Jaffar, I'll go!" "If you ever get out of this, take care of Belle." "Monstrous vibration!" "Difference is opposing unity!" "One individual is hurling himself into totality!" "The ceremony... is destroyed!" "The individual denies with all his strength!" "He denies totality!" "Difference denies unity!" "Hatred denies happiness!" "Fury denies peace!" "Galloping galaxies!" "What are they doing down there?" "I swear, they've started a planetary war." "You sound worried, Mike." "Is anything the matter?" "No, Piel, I'm not worried." "Look, Belle!" "He did it!" "He's returning!" "Prepare for takeoff." " Jaffar, do you hear me?" " Roger." "May I be struck by a wayward asteroid!" "What in the devil's name is all that?" "Sorry." "I was a little too busy to forewarn you, Silbad." "We have guests for dinner." "You're a funny kind of wah-wah, aren't you?" "Have you lost your pals?" "Let's go and look for them together." "Are you quite sure he's gentle?" "Oh, yes, Mike." "I told you, he's my pal." "Piel's working with something that goes, "wah-wah."" "There's nothing to fear." "It's merely a hyperniteryx." "Gentle as a lamb and strictly vegetarian." "How are you feeling, Yula?" "You know very well." "Oh, my poor space mate." "The worst time is when they're asleep." "That's when their thoughts smell the strongest." "What I don't understand is why humans immediately begin... to stuff themselves with food and drink as soon as they meet." "Not only humans." "Did you see how much that Centaurian packed away last night?" "I can understand, but..." "I beg your pardon?" "Excuse me." "I'm tuned into hiccups... that big man with the mustache... who drank three quarts of moonshine last night." "He can't control his hiccups... and neither can I." "Try to close your mind." "I can't." "I have the hangovers of thirty... two people, all at the same... time." " Is everything all right?" " Yes." "Belle, I haven't yet told you how Matton died." "It's not necessary." "I'm sure he died as I wish he would have lived... with generosity and courage." " Silbad?" " Trouble?" "Yes." "We are being pursued by a warship of the Reform." " Great!" "Let's attack!" " It's not that easy." "All right, everyone." "Meeting in the conference room at once." "This is the space cruiser Silver Demon, of the Reform Patrol Fleet." "Unidentifiied ship, maintain your speed." "We are going to board you." "This is spaceship Double Triangle 22, receiving you." "We await your visit with humble respect." "Captain Jaffar." "If you hadn't saved my life..." "I'd cut your throat for your cowardice." "Do you want to surrender to them?" "I want them to board us." "You and your comrades need your own ship, right?" "Well, you can get theirs... but only by letting them board ours fiirst." "Comrade is right." "We're stalking big game." "We must proceed with caution." "If you have any ideas..." "I believe I have." "Allow me to present my good friend, Onyx the Deegwid of Gnaz." "What's he supposed to do, make them die laughing?" "My friend has the natural ability to mimic anything." "Go ahead, Onyx, give us a little demonstration." "Amazing!" "It even has the smell." "Onyx fully controls his molecular structure... and can change it in an infiinite number of ways." "Hey, Onyx, change yourself into a secret weapon... something dreadful." "By the rings of Saturn!" "It's amazing what they can do nowadays." "As you can see, the illusion is perfect." "I must admit, that opens up a lot of possibilities." "What do you think, Silbad?" "I think the Reformists are in for a bad time." "A ship's approaching that's full of foul-smelling thoughts." "Attention, everyone." "As soon as the link tube is sealed... silence." "Jad and Yula, if anything goes wrong... warn me by telepathy." "Honored representatives of the Reform..." "I welcome you on board my humble ship." "Your humble ship is giving refuge... to the traitor Matton, former prince of Atoll." "And the treasure chest that was stolen by the traitor." "Silence." "Indeed, it was while defending some mysterious guest that Matt... that the prince... was murdered by the pirates of Gamma Ten." "Matton is dead?" "And where is that chest now?" "In the hold, with the pirates we took prisoner." "Let's go and see that famous treasure chest." "Halt!" "Leave that here." "But it's not a weapon." "I said leave it!" "Mike, me and Wah-wah, we found a house." "We'll be safe here until his friends come." "Go on, Wah-wah." "Go on in." "Somebody do something." "What a marvel." "Our prisoners..." "the pirates of Gamma Ten." "May I suggest that Your Excellencies... have these miserable creatures reeducated?" "Perhaps." "We'll see." "Everything's going fline, Jaffar." "They don't see the trap." "They don't see anything." "They're all blind." "Captain, I see that you mean well." "Guard, prepare for immediate transshipment." "Tell me, Silbad, how long do you think... it'll take them to become masters of the vessel?" "Those buccaneers, with their secret weapon... two hours." "They might prefer to stretch out the pleasure." "The microphone's no longer working." "Answer me, little one!" "We've lost him!" "I'm afraid we'll never hear from him again!" "Come on, Belle." "Don't worry." "Silbad'll flix it." "There's nothing wrong with it." "The problem is, there's no one at the other end." "Do you know something?" "You're not very pretty." "In fact, you're ugly..." "all of you." "Go away!" "Do you hear me?" "Go away!" "Get out of here!" "I've given her a sedative." "She's convinced it's her fault." "Nonsense." "Something must have happened on Perdide." "Fortunately, we're getting nearer." "Soon the computer will release us from the Blue Comet's gravitational fileid." "Hello, Piel?" "Can you hear me?" "The stars... they're fading out in this sector of Perdide." "What was that?" "A magnetic storm?" "The detector dials are going crazy!" "We are..." "What's happening?" "According to these insane instruments... all the radiations in the Perdide sector, including its light rays... are going backwards!" "Buckle in, fast!" "Attention." "Attention." "Attention." "This is Robot Patrol ship number five... of the Federation of the Masters of Time." "This is a warning." "You are approaching the forbidden zone of Perdide." "Identify yourselves and decelerate to a stop." "I repeat... you are entering a forbidden zone." "Identify yourselves and stop." "Calling advisor Pixa." "Foreign vessel is entering the forbidden zone." "Its course is irregular." "Shall we destroy it?" "No." "I wish to investigate." "Board the vessel and conduct it to the base." " And Silbad?" " Yes." "But in truth, the old man is dying." "It's just a question of hours." "You and your ship were just at the outer fringe of the concussion area... when the operation took place." " What operation?" " Do you know where we are?" "Well, I can see we're in a hospital somewhere in space." "Not just somewhere in space, Princess." "We are in a particular zone now being colonized by the Masters of Time." "Have you ever heard of the Masters of Time... and their method of accelerated colonization?" " No, never." " It's a strange race, Princess... a race that can manipulate time itself." "When they decide to colonize a planet, they project it into the past... literally send it backwards through time." "In this instance, 60 years backwards." "So for those on a distant ship... it would seem as if light rays were speeding in reverse... and all of space were going mad." "Exactly." "But to those on the planet being colonized... everything would seem to be perfectly normal... except that their present time would be that of 60 years ago." "And that's what happened to Perdide." "My God." "Piel." "Mike." "Mike." "Jaffar, how old is Silbad?" "No one knows." "No one's ever known anything about his childhood." "Be still." "The old man's past is rising from the depths." " Shut your eyes, humans." " And open your minds." "For what is hidden in the folds of time can now be revealed." "Now long-lost memories... the unknown past of a small child... can be projected on your mental screens." "Shut your eyes, humans, and open your minds." "Mike!" "Mike!" " It's Piel's voice!" " Silence, humans." "Mike!" "Where are you, Mike?" "It's Piel... just as he was when we were approaching Perdide." "It's Piel as he was 60 years ago, Belle." "It's Piel hurled into the past, along with the entire planet... by the Masters of Time." "Lowry!" "Cover me!" "Get away!" "Get away from him!" "I hope those fiilthy beasts didn't hurt you too much, son." "I've done everything I could." "The doctors on my planet will do the rest." "And now the best thing you can do is sleep." "Where are we now, Lowry?" "What time is it?" "Those monsters!" "Speak up, Lowry!" "Didn't you hear me?" "I'm sorry." "I was thinking." " You're getting old, Lowry." " Alas, Igor, aren't we all?" "I'll have none of your insolence!" "Now, then, be good enough to explain to me... why we suddenly found ourselves on the surface of a planet... when just a moment before we were in empty space?" " Weren't you paying attention?" " I had nothing to do with it, Igor." "It was the planet's fault." " What planet?" " The planet Perdide." "It suddenly appeared before us without warning." "Come now, talk sense!" "Where did it come from?" " From the future." " Lowry..." "I think you're becoming feebleminded." "I am not becoming feebleminded." "The planet Perdide surged out of the future and almost smashed into us." "But the child, Lowry, the child." "Did he also, as you say, surge out of the future?" "Exactly, Igor, with the planet." "It's stopped." "What happened was, the child recovered." "He became a cabin boy, then a space sailor... a pilot, a mercenary... a hundred other things that fiilled 60 years of his life." "Piel." "Silbad." "The orphan of Perdide is dead, humans." "He has left our time to enter into eternity." "It's strange." "There are only a dozen, but I sense the emotions of a thousand." " I know." "Me too." " Where's it all coming from?" "From here." "From my heart, Yula." "I believe we loved that old man very, very much." "Look up there!" "A Master of Time."