She looked about to stomp off in anger at his thoughtlessness. He groped for the words to tell her of his own sorrow at hurting her, but there were no words. He hung his head.

The next moment he felt her cool hand on his cheek and he raised his eyes to meet hers. "I never thought I'd see you again, either," he said. "I-I'm sorry. I love you."

Ari pressed herself to him in a tight embrace. "I love you, too, Spencer. Never leave me again."

"We have to get away somewhere private where we can talk. No one else on Gotham knows I've returned-yet. I'd like to keep it that way for a little while longer if I can."

"Come on, I know a secret place here in the garden where we can be alone. I discovered it when I first came here. No one else seems to know about it."

She led him along, his hand clamped tightly in her own, to a place where one of the little artificial creeks bubbled out from a fern-covered bank. She parted the ferns and jumped lightly across the water. Spence followed her and found himself in a cool green shade sweet with the smell of gardenias. He looked around and saw bushes of the fragrant flowers, luminous against their waxy dark green leaves.

Ari pulled him down onto a soft bed of long grass. For a moment all he heard was the burbling of the brook nearby and the rush of his own pulse in his ears. Then he was kissing her and nothing else in the world existed but the moment and the kiss.

When they parted Ari looked at him, drinking in his presence with dark blue eyes now sparkling with happy excitement.

"Now, then," she said, drawing her knees to her chin and circling them in her arms. "Tell me everything. I want to hear it all."

"It scarcely seems to matter anymore."

"I don't care. I want to hear it. I need to hear it, Spence."

"All right. I won't leave out a single thing," he said and then remembered that the most important part of his tale, his ojourn in Tso with the Martian Kyr, the whole incredible miracle that was, he could not tell her. His heart sank at once.

Ari must have seen what transpired, mirrored in his features.

"What's the matter, love?"

"There is something I can't tell you right now."

She did not make it easier for him. "Oh?" she said, and looked hurt and disappointed.

"At least not yet."

"I understand." She did not understand at all.

"I promise you'll know soon. I don't want there to be any secrets between us ever. For now, though, this is how it must be."

"Of Course." Ari brightened at once. "You know best, Spence. Tell me all you can, then. I won't press you for details.

It's just that you've been away so long, I want to know what you were doing every minute since I saw you last."

Spence took a deep breath and began relating to her all that had happened since he left, starting with the journey and eventual landing on Mars, then on to that first night and the blackout that had sent him wandering lost on the surface with the stoma rising around him. He told of the exhaustion, of nearly freezing to death, of his plunge into the rift valley, and his discovery o f the crevice and tunnel. Then he stopped, uncertain what to say next "There's something in that tunnel you don't want me to know about."

He nodded. "That's right. I shouldn't say any more right now."

Ari stared upward into the leafy canopy overhead; a ray of sunlight slanting through the branches caught her hair and set it ablaze with golden fire. "All right," she said softly. "Even though I'm dying with curiosity, I won't make you. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're here with me and safe."

In the shelter of the hidden nook the two lovers held each other and talked in low, intimate tones, pledging themselves to one another again and again until the closing sunshields cast the garden into a semblance of twilight.

"We'd better go," said Spence, drawing Ari to her feet. He held her close and kissed her once more. "That's until I see you again." "When will I see you again?"

"Tomorrow, I hope. Here. We'll meet here at the same time as today. If I need to get in touch with you before then Mary D. will leave a message."

"You're not going back to the lab?"

"No, I'll be staying with Adjani. You two are the only ones I can trust right now."

"You make it sound very dangerous."

"Well, I think it's best to assume so until we can figure out this whole thing. My keeping out of sight for a while longer might be just the break we need."

"I'll do whatever you want me to. You know that."

"I know." He drew her to him and kissed her lightly. "That's good-bye. Until tomorrow."

"Tomorrow." She slowly turned away and parted the ferns closing the entrance to the shady alcove. "Sleep well, my love. Don't let the Dream Thief get you."

For a moment the words did not register. Then they began to burn themselves into his brain like a laserknife through soft butter. An icy tingle crept up his scalp. "What did you say?" His voice had become a rasping whisper.

… ARI FROZE IN PLACE. "What is it, Spencer? What's wrong?"

"What did you say just then? Say it again." "I said, 'Don't let the Dream Thief get you."' "Where did you hear that?" He stepped close to her and pulled her back into the deepening shadows.

"I don't know… we've always said it. It's-" Her eyes shifted away.

"It's what? Tell me!" He gripped her arm tightly.

"Spence, what's wrong? You're scaring me!"

"It's what?" Spence persisted. He lowered his voice and forced a calmer tone, letting go of her arm. "Tell me. It's important."

"It's just something my mother used to say. That's all. I must have heard it from her. Why? What does it mean?" She gazed at him with troubled eyes, her brow wrinkled in concern.

"I-I'm not sure," he said at length, avoiding her eyes. "It just seemed important somehow… I don't know." His tone softened and he smiled to reassure her. "I'm sorry if I frightened you. It surprised me, that's all."

Ari nodded uncertainly; the cloud still hung over her features. "All right. If you're sure, Spence, I-"

"Don't think about it anymore. I'm all right. Just let me think it over. I'll tell you if I come up with anything tomorrow."

"Good night, Spence. She waved and was gone. Spence heard her footsteps recede along the pathway outside and then stepped out of their hiding place and left the garden by another route. …

ADJANI SAT CROSS-LEGGED ON his rumpled bed. He was barefoot and appeared more than ever the wise, all-knowing guru dressed in his flowing white kaftan, his hands placed palms together, fingertips touching lightly. He had been silent, listening to Spence's recitation of the facts. Now Spence waited for his verdict.

"So, here it is," he said at last. "Another fact to be connected.

How will we make the connection? That is the primary question,. "I can't see it myself," offered Spence. "Maybe it's just', coincidence."

"Please, there is no such thing as coincidence. Not in science. Not in the plans of God. The connection must be made and perhaps it will be useful to us."

"Ari's mother-the woman isn't even alive anymore. How can she help us?"

"Ari herself might know more than she thinks she knows. We should find out."

"I still don't see how I could possibly be connected with some weird superstition in the mountains of India somewhere, and to a woman I've never even met-who has been dead I don't know how long."

"Stranger things are possible. You yourself thought there was a connection or you wouldn't have reacted the way you did. Subconsciously you fastened on it."

"How could I help it? I mean first you mention it, and then Ari-it gave me a jolt at first. I thought it might be a clue, but I'm not so sure now."