Sybtl shivered against his arm. "The Sand God is angry," she said. "My people tell how he was angry once before, when we first came here. He killed half of us and burned the ship that brought us. That is how Kaatr got the tube-weapon. It was the only thing the Sand God didn't burn, that and the skirts. Then, when he had burned the ship, the Sand God went to the sixth planet and burned two of the largest cities, as a warning that no more of us must come here."
Well, Stinson said to himself, that does it. We are better off on Earth. We can't fight a monster like him.
Sybtl touched his arm. "Why did the Sand God come? He did not speak."
"He spoke to me."
"I did not hear."
"Yes, I know now. His voice sounds like thunder in the sky, but it is a voice that speaks only in the mind. He said I must leave this planet."
She glanced at him with suddenly awakened eyes, as if thinking of it for the first time. "Where is your ship?"
"I have no ship."
"Then he will kill you." She touched her fingers on his face. "I am sorry. It was all for me."
"Don't worry. The Sand God travels without a ship, why shouldn't I?"