In that dim dawn of all things, when Time was unmeasured and Space wasan empty void, before the strange mating of these two and the birth ofthe cosmos, the Rebel lived. Its streams flowed forth from unfathomableerrors, seventeen-hundred billion years ago. It was a cancer of Space,and when Space met Time and flowed with it toward eternity, the Rebelfought. Time and Space sought to disgorge it, for it was the Rebel,and its own great tendrils of Space and Time heaved and raged like thecorona of a giant sun. The tendrils leaped and danced, and once in awhile they touched reality. And when they did....

The purple light came first, tinting the library of the old house, andflooding across rugs and books on the shelves. Then the mansion rockedand tilted as though being lifted and torn loose from its foundation.

Thor Masterson came up from his chair, brown eyes staring. His flannelshirt opened to disclose tanned chest and thick neck. He saw thepurple light, but he did not think of it as a pathway between worlds.He felt the tilting of the house, but he did not think of it as ridingdown the cosmic corridor through which it was being transported.

The mansion rocked and turned slowly. If Thor could have had time, hemight have tried to reason, but there was no time—

A woman stood in the center of the rug, a woman with long yellow hairand gauze trousers and jeweled girdle. A dwarf-man with a big clubleaped for her, snarling. The woman whirled, a slim dagger glitteringin her right hand.

Thor Masterson came alive. He drove forward. His big right fist,scarred with battles in Oregon lumber camps and wise to the ways ofaxes and bounding footballs and enemy jaws, swept up in a short arc.

The dwarf-man seemed to leap backward. He fell against an antiquesecretary, splintering wood. Slumping toward the floor, he lay still.The girl screamed.

Again the mansion was rocking and tilting, lifting and falling. A chairskidded into a corner, and a heavy picture dropped with a shattering ofglass and frame.

Thor Masterson thought of hurricanes and cyclones and tidal waves. Heheld the girl against him, looking into her frightened violet eyes.

"Easy does it. Just take it easy. Relax. It's like skiing. If you'renot stiff, you won't get broken bones."

The violet eyes told Thor that she hadn't the slightest conceptionof what he said, but his tones made her generous red mouth yield atremulous smile. She relaxed and lay against him.

Thor stared out the window. There should be the elms of the Midwesterncampus out there, but all he could see were pale purple mists. Thorwent toward the window and peered out. Midwestern University, whereThor had come from lumber camp and battlefield, ought to be showing itsgreystone buildings soon. But the more Thor stared into the lavendermists, the colder became his heart.

Because, as the clouds shifted to reveal darker spaces, Thor could seestars glittering in the blackness. He thought, Something has liftedthe