And yet, there _had_ been a crowd of onlookers. In spite of their fear, it is hard to keep human beings from being curious. It was known that the Nipe didn't stay around after he had struck, and, besides, the area was now full of armed men. So the curious came to look and to stare in revulsion at the neat pile of gnawed and bloody bones that had been the night watchman, carefully killed and eaten by the Nipe before he had opened the vault. _Thus curiosity does make fools of us all, and the native hue of caution is crimsoned o'er by the bright red of morbid fascination._ Stanton went through the door of the automatic restaurant and walked over to the vending wall. The big dining room was only about three quarters full of people, and there were plenty of seats available. He fed coins into the proper slots, took his sandwich and milk over to a seat in one corner and made himself comfortable. He flipped open the newspaper and looked at the front page. And, for a moment, his brain seemed to freeze. The story itself was straightforward enough: BENCHAIM KIDNAPPERS NABBED! STAN MARTIN DOES IT AGAIN! CERES, June 3 (_Interplanetary News Service_)--The three men and three women who allegedly kidnapped 10-year-old Shmuel BenChaim were brought to justice today through the single-handed efforts of Stanley Martin, famed investigator for Lloyd's of London. The boy, held prisoner for more than ten weeks on a small planetoid, was reported in good health. According to Lt. John Vale of the Planetoid Police, the kidnap gang could not have been taken by direct assault on their hideout because of fear that the boy might be killed. "The operation required a carefully planned one-man infiltration of their hideout," Lt. Vale said. "Mr. Martin was the man for the job." Labeled "the most outrageous kidnapping in history", the affair was conceived as a long-term method of gaining control of Heavy Metals Incorporated, controlled by Moishe BenChaim, the boy's father. The details ... But Bart Stanton wasn't interested in the details. After only a glance through the first part of the article, his eyes returned to the picture that had caught his attention. The line of print beneath it identified the picture as being that of a man named Stanley Martin. But a voice in Bart Stanton's brain said: _Not Stan Martin! The name is Mart Stanton!_ And Bartholomew felt a roar of confusion in his mind--because he didn't know who Mart Stanton was, and because the face in the picture was his own. _[13]_ He was walking again. He didn't quite remember how he had left the automat, and he really didn't even try to remember. He was trying to remember other things--further back--before he had ... Before he had _what_? Before the Institute. Before the beginning of the operations.