"We—we can still go back," Schiemann said in a cracked voice; apparently the minds outside had not touched his. "Please, Lennie...."
"No, it's too late!" Mattern cried. Once he went back, he would never dare return, and all hope of—Lyddy would fade into fog. The thought of not being able to have her was unbearable. "We can't go back now!"
The hideous mask that was Schiemann's hyperspace visage contorted, and drops of liquid flowed where his withered cheeks would have been in normspace. "Please, Lennie...."
"I can't," Len said. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. It's too late, now that we've stopped."
He forced out the words, against objections that seemed to come from outside him—not objections to Schiemann's knowing the truth, but to his own admission of it.
"They're in control," he said.
V
"We bid you welcome to our universe, Mattern," the xhindi said in his mind. "Come, follow us. We will lead you to the port on Ferr that we have made ready for you."
"Will the ship be safe there?" Mattern asked, remembering the further danger of touching alien substance.