A drug that would knock out the Nipe would have been very useful, but to synthesize such a drug would have required a greater knowledge of the biochemical processes of the Nipe than any human scientist had. The same applied to anesthetic gases, or electric shock, or supersonics. There was no way of determining how much would be required to knock him out or how much would be required to kill. There were no easy answers. The only answer was a man called Stanton. _Boots! Boots! Boots! Boots! Marchin' up and down again! And there's no discharge in the war!_ Stanton hummed the song in his mind. It seemed that he had been walking forever through the Kingdom of Hades, while around him twittered the ghosts of the dead. _Poor shades_, he thought, entertaining the fancy for a brief moment, _will I be one of you in a short while?_ There was no answer, though the squeaking continued. The sound of his feet and the snarling chirping of the rats were the only sounds in the world. "Barhop to Barbell," said a voice suddenly, sounding very loud in his ear, "this is where you have to make your change to the other tunnel." "Barbell to Barhop. I know. I've been watching the markers." "Just precaution, Barbell," Captain Greer said. "How do you feel?" "I'd like to rest for a few minutes, frankly," Stanton said. "Feeling tired?" There was just the barest tinge of alarm in the captain's voice. "No," Stanton said. "I just want to sit down and rest my feet for a few minutes." There was a pause. Then the captain's voice came again. "Okay, go ahead and relax, Barbell. Take ten. But be ready to move fast if I yell. These alarm systems are tricky things to hold. And don't start moving again without letting me know." "Right." Stanton lifted himself out of the trench in which the tunnel ran and sat on the edge of the boarding platform. It wasn't far now. There was only one more of the old entranceways between himself and the Nipe. This particular one was a transfer point, where two different parts of the tunnel network met and it was possible to transfer from one to another. It required going up a couple of flights of stairs to the next higher level, and changing to another tunnel going southward. There were other ways. This tunnel, the one he had been following for so long, branched a little farther south. If he took one branch, he would end up to the east of the Nipe; the other would bring him to a point on the west. From either, he would have to travel laterally through another set of tunnels, but neither route offered anything that this one didn't have, and the most direct route would be best. "Barbell to Barhop," he whispered, "I'm ready to go." "It's only been five minutes." "I know. But I rest pretty fast, too. Let's move out." There were a few seconds of silence, then Captain Greer said: "All set, Barbell. Move out."