44 STARTLING STORIES few miles down. This degree of observation is what he would be leaving behind. Luis did not want to give it up. The knowledge coursing through him was pure exhilaration. The superhuman degree of deduction he now experienced dwarfed his cleverest observations by universes of magnitude. A new understanding of physi-cal motion was within his grasp. It would inspire a paradigm shift not just knowledge of Rygiat but in physics on Earth. If only he could somehow preserve it. Survive with it. The insect mother interrupted his thoughts with the rage it spit into its mind. It charged him. Train-sized, but skittering for-ward like a millipede across bathroom tile. Flanked by the cloud of impossibly numer-ous white blocks. Luis counted. Three. Two— He stepped backwards i

