"Ready—!" cried the officer in charge.
Some of the women screamed, while others prayed. Uncle Andy had an arm around Valerie Roagland, as well as Henry and Martia. Sceranka was swearing in Polish. Pee Bee was hiding behind as many people as he could find, shivering.
"Aim—!"
Henry thought: This is all impossible! I can't let it happen! But who am I to—
Something began to happen inside his head. It felt like he had had a cold and his ears were clearing up. But it was purely a mental sensation. Suddenly, he saw everything with a new clarity. And in the same instant he began to utilize that new faculty.
But before the word, "Fire!" could be given, a new change occurred with the abruptness of an explosion....
They were back again at the old campsite on that timeless shore, with the jungle all around them. The city was gone, as were the warships and the planes and the soldiers—and the space ship. There stood Weston and Sceranka as before, in front of their calloused bowmen.
And Weston was saying, "We want action!"
Both Henry and Martia looked at their companions in growing amazement, because the others acted exactly as if there had been no interlude whatsoever! Yet Henry and Martia, when they looked into each other's eyes, knew that they remembered!