CHAPTER III
Attack
"Daan?" repeated Steve wonderingly. "Daan, Mother?"
"Yes, O Everlasting. Daan, the shining star of morn and eventide. Surely you know how, many snows ago, before my mother's mother's mother learned the Rites, the invaders from Daan swooped down upon Earth in their rockets, destroying all who stood before them? How they seized Earth's mighty cities and vanquished equally both the Women and the Wild Ones?"
Surprisingly, it was von Rath who spoke. To Steve's astonishment, the German seemed to have forgotten, faced with this new problem, their own ideological differences. He said incredulously, "Leutnant, the star of morgen und abend! That is—"
"I know," said Steve. "The planet Venus! They call it 'Daan'; why, I do not know. Perhaps from our word 'dawn.' But I'm beginning to understand their distortion of America's national anthem. I wondered why she chanted of the '—Daan's surly light—' and the '—rockets' red glare-bombs—.'
"But—" And he turned to the Mother querulously—"how can we help you? We are but three, and you are many."
"It is written," said the Mother Maatha confidently, "that one day the Slumberers shall waken, and that with their wakening the one known as Dwain shall reveal the Great Secret which he alone knows. It is also written that this knowledge will forevermore bring peace to Earth. You, O Slumberer, are Dwain?"
"I am Duane. But I know of no secret—"
"Wait a minute, Steve!" That was Lafferty. "You're forgetting something, ain't you? You do know a secret!"