"We might be safe. Maybe the Ur-humans designed this wormhole to be as safe as possible; maybe the ship will just rebound, and..."

"Or maybe not. Maybe the Ur-humans didn't expect anyone to be stupid enough to go careering through their doorway in a wooden ship. I think that damn thing is going to cut us in two."

The Interface edge, wheeling past the windows, had widened from the abstraction of a line into a glowing rod as broad as a human arm.

Dura wrapped her arms around herself. Behind her the pigs were a comforting, warm mass, an oasis of familiarity. "At least try, damn you. Maybe you can get a purchase on the Interface's magnetic field."

Now, beyond the walls of the ship, there was a spectacular flash, a sudden storm of blue-white light which flooded the cabin and made her cry out. The pigs squealed, terrified again. The ship lurched. Hork rolled in his seat and Dura grabbed at the pigs' restraining harness.

"We've hit!" she cried.

Hork dragged at his levers. "No. It's the ship's own field; it must be brushing against the edge... The ship's responding. Dura, I think you're right; I think we're starting to work against the artifact's field. Keep feeding those animals, damn you!"

The flashing persisted and the shuddering of the ship assumed a steady, violent rhythm. Dura clung to the pigs' harness, striving to feed the pigs with an unwavering rhythm of her own.

Slowly, painfully slowly, the wheeling of the edge lessened, and the blue glare which had filled the cabin began to diminish. Dura glanced through the windows; the edge was receding and the magnetic flashes lessened, growing fitful and irregular, before dying completely.

The three edges of the face were all around the ship now, a fence of pale light slowly ascending past her. At last the ship was passing through the face, Dura realized; they were actually entering the Interface.

"Yes," she murmured. "But we're hardly safe."

Hork raised his hands over the control panel. Then he pushed all three of his levers forward, deliberately; the ship surged forward into the Interface. She heard the hum of current in the Corestuff bands around the hull. "We go on," Hork said.