Stanton got to his feet and walked toward the stairway that led up to the next level. Minutes later, he was in another tunnel exactly similar to the first one, walking southward again. But now he was more careful. He watched the ground carefully, making sure that he didn't step on anything that would snap or rattle. The Nipe was still quite a distance away--three-quarters of a mile, or so--but taking the chance that the beast couldn't hear him might be deadly dangerous. The robot rat that he was following led him along a path that had been unobtrusively cleared of rubble by the robot rats over a period of months, but the robots weren't the only rats in the place. He kept his eyes on the path. A while later, the voice in his ear said: "A hundred yards to go, Barbell." "I know," Stanton whispered. "He hasn't moved?" "No. I'll yell if he does. You don't need to talk any more. His ears might pick up even that whisper." _He hasn't moved_, Stanton thought. _Not for all this time. Not since I came down into his private domain. All this time, he has been sitting motionless--waiting. Wouldn't it be funny if he were dead? If his heart had stopped, or something. Wouldn't that be absolutely hilarious? Wouldn't that be a big joke on everybody? Especially me._ Ahead was the large area that had been one of the major junction points of the tunnel network. This was the area that the Nipe had taken over to build his home-away-from-home. Here were his workshops, his laboratories, his storerooms. And somewhere here was the Nipe. He came out of the tunnel into another passenger-loading area. Just to his left was another short stairway that led up to a slightly higher level. He moved slowly and quietly. He didn't want to fight down here on the tracks, and he didn't want to be caught just yet. Cautiously he lifted himself to the platform where long-gone passengers had once waited for long-gone trains. The quality of the illumination at the head of the stairs was different from that which he had been used to for the past three hours. He lifted off the infra-red goggles. Enough light spilled over from the Nipe's lair to give him illumination to see by. Silently, he put the goggles on the floor of the platform. He wouldn't need them again. Then, step by step, he walked up the concrete stairway. At the head of the stairs, he paused to get his bearings. The illumination was not bright, but it was enough to-- "Barbell! He's heard you! Watch it!" But Stanton had already heard the movement of the Nipe. He jerked off the communicator and threw it down the stairs behind him. He wanted no encumbrances now! He ran quickly out into the center of the big underground room, away from the open stairwell. And then, as fast as any express train that had ever moved through these subterranean ways, the Nipe came around a corner thirty feet away, his four violet eyes gleaming, his limbs rippling beneath his centipede-like body.