They broke through the jungle many hours later, and rubbed their eyes to get used to the light. They rubbed them again when they saw where they were. Amusement park rides, strangled by weeds, covered an area roughly three times the size of their shuttle. Nearby, an old fountain still made a valiant effort to churn out water, but not water anyone would be willing to drink.

Birds sang sweetly in the trees, and animals that seemed almost familiar were grazing in a field near a pond. One of them could have easily passed for a deer. Suddenly, the serenity of the place turned into chaos. The birds started to squawk, the deer ran away, and they heard several invisible rustlings in the foliage.

"Get back under cover until we see what's wrong," said Riggs. Ensign James took the opportunity to set Captain Edwards down, for Riggs had stopped carrying him when the sky had brightened once again. At that time his arm swollen to twice its normal size and was aching quite a bit, so he had been of little help.

Wendy came to hunker down next to Riggs. "What do you think's going on?" she asked as she gently stroked his pain away.

"I have no idea," he admitted, putting a hand over hers to stop her.

"Shh!" Edwards said. "I think someone's coming."

"Sir, look, there's a man sitting on the ground over there, plucking a bird," Savant whispered to the Captain. He straightened his shoulders and looked tiredly at where she was pointing.

The man was gray haired, and dressed in strange, leather-like clothing. The outfit looked like it may have previously been one of the deer. Beside him was a makeshift bow, and on his back was slung a quiver full of arrows. He seemed to be constantly watching for danger as he worked, his muscles bunched up, ready for action.

"That's no cannibal," Edwards said. "It must be a member of that other tribe the cannibals mentioned. They thought we were spies from the city tribe when they first captured us. We must be heading in the right direction after all."

"You mean you didn't think we were?" asked Wendy, grinning at him.

"Well, it has been fifty-four hours," he pointed out.

"Yes, sir, but this Folly is huge," Wendy pointed out. "We could travel another fifty-four hours and still not reach the center. Though, I doubt the center is what we're looking for. I've been studying the structure, and I think the middle is probably just more jungle. It's the outside walls we should be aiming for."

"She's right," Savant said. "I did a vectographic reading, and it appears the outer walls contain at least ten levels, all the way around the sphere."

"I hate to point out the obvious," said Riggs, "but if this guy is from the city tribe, won't he be heading back to the city at some point?"

"Yes, of course," said Edwards. "Maybe we can talk to him--get him to lead us to the city. There's got to be an oxygen generation unit in that city somewhere. You people wait here, and I'll go talk to him."

"Sir, you can't even walk on your own," Riggs objected. "Don't you think I should go over there instead?"

"No, you'd best leave it to me," Edwards said. "If he isn't friendly, there's no sense wasting more than one life. You're doing a fine job so far--I'd hate to see you bite the big one."

"Sir, there's no way you'll be able to go over there on your own. I'll go with you--carry you," Riggs insisted. "If he sees that you're hurt it may gain us some sympathy, and if it doesn't, I can take him out before he can hurt you."

"Riggs, you stubborn SOB, why don't you ever take a direct order?"

"I would, sir, if it was an order I could live with," he quipped. "I'm not about to let you go gallivanting off and getting yourself killed. Either we go together, or we're not going at all."

"All right, together then," Edwards agreed reluctantly.

Riggs helped the Captain up, and put a supporting arm around his waist as they walked together, free hands extended to show that they held no weapons, towards the stranger.

"Well, I'll be," said the man. "Fence, old man, you must be seeing things."

"Help us," said Edwards. "We've been attacked by those cannibals in the forest."

"Where? Here?" he asked, springing up and looking around. "Old Fence don't have no use for them demned Jungle Creepers."

"No, no, don't worry," Edwards assured him. "It was over two days march away."

"We're looking for a city," said Riggs. "The Captain's been hurt, and he needs medical attention. We don't have enough supplies to take care of him."

"Looks like he's not the only one," said Fence. "Boy, yer about as pale as a ghost, and ol' Fence can see from here that yer arm is swollen up like a melon. You've got cat-scratch, don't you, son? If we don't see to that soon, yer gonna to be in worse shape than him."

"What?" Riggs gasped, setting the Captain down and sitting down himself.

"They can kill you if you let 'em go, friend. Only takes about a week," he explained. "Say, you folks aren't from around these parts, are you? Only outworlders don't know about the cats. Are any of the others cat-scratched? Come on out, the rest of you. You have nothin' t'fear from ol' Fence. I'm just another food gatherer on the march."

Wendy was out of the forest in a shot, and checking Riggs's arm again.

"Did you say this scratch is lethal?" she demanded. "Tell me you can fix him!"

"Calm down, li'l lady," said Fence, laughing. "I've got somethin' fer him right here in my bag. If'n yer so all fired worried about yer man, ol' Fence'll even let you give it to him yerself. It'll make him sick fer a day--mebbe two, but when all's said and done, sick is better'n dead."

Wendy snatched the medicine quickly from his hands. Since it was in a hypodermic, she asked, "Where do I stick him?"

"Right in the wound," he answered, then turned away from them, back to the Captain.

"You're right. We came from outside the Folly," Edwards explained. "We need an oxygen generation unit to complete our journey to Omega 17. Our unit was damaged, and we'll never be able to make it without obtaining a new one. But what about you? I thought these Follies were evacuated over two centuries ago."

"Oh, well, them uppity types left all kindsa people in here to fend fer 'mselves," the man said. "Only the men and women of noble rank actually got out. Y'see, we formed a have/have-not society here. The nobles were in charge of everythin'. When they realized that the Folly ecosystem might fail, the nobles left behind the others, and holed 'mselves up in The Wall. We understand that from there, they took the only ship and flew off in search of a planet to populate.

"But, that's not the end of the story," he continued. "See, the leftovers didn't wanna just up'n die in some ecological disaster, so they got their heads together and figured out a way to fix the problem. They managed to restore the balance, and then decided they didn't want no nobles comin' back in. So they built an energy field around the Station, makin' it impossible for anyone to get inside. But it must not be workin' proper, or you folks wouldn't be here."

"Ow! What is that stuff?" Riggs shouted as Wendy injected him, and then turned away from everyone to vomit.

"Wow! You're not kidding about him getting sick," Wendy said, rubbing Riggs's back.

"Sorry, I forgot to warn you," Fence said. "That's some pretty potent stuff."

"So, Mr. Fence, I was curious," she said. "You came from the city, right? How many people are there now?"

"Mebbe about a thousand, mostly inside the inner city," he told her. "Me, ol' Fence, I'm one of the foragers. They send people like me out here t'find food for the masses--and sometimes I think it's safer out here than it is in there."

"And why do they call you Fence?" asked Edwards, who had only been following the story with half an ear. He was leaning against a tree, trying to pretend he wasn't feeling as weak as he a kitten.

"Because I was born outside the city walls. My mother was a forager and she couldn't get back to the city on time. The Jungle Tribe almost got me before I ever had a chance to grow. And they'll get us now, if we don't get movin'. Come, let an ol' man take you to the city."

"Thank you," said Edwards.

Fence and Banks helped Edwards walk, and Wendy helped Riggs. The going was slower than they liked, but soon they found themselves approaching the massive wall of Fence's city.