Then, rallying, he fumbled the rations from the other's belt-case, gulping down the concentrates in great, gagging, half-chewed bites.
His protesting stomach writhed. For long seconds he thought he was going to vomit.
But that, too, passed. The sugars, the ectoids, began to reach his bloodstream.
Strength came with them.
Tight-lipped, clutching the blaster, Boone began the long, weary climb back up the hill.
... Back, and beyond, to the strange, domed city of the Helgae ... and to Eileen Rey....
CHAPTER VII
He saw the light-shafts first—two glowing cones of color that speared down from a single halo-source high in this vastest of all the bubble-chambers. The beam on the left shone rich with hues of deepest purple. The other, the one on the right, shimmered golden as Earth's September sun.
Numb, wordless, Boone moved forward with unsteady steps.