Mercer was bending over me; speaking softly. "I was watching, old man," he said gently. "I can imagine what happened. A momentary, psychic fusing of an ancient, long since broken link. You, together with all mankind, came up out of the sea. But there is no retracing the way." * * * * * I nodded, my head bowed on my streaming chest. "Sorry, Mercer," I muttered. "Something got into me. Those big eyes of hers seemed to tug at threads of memory ... buried.... I can't describe it...." He slapped me on my naked shoulder, a blow that stung, as he had intended it to. It helped jerk me back to the normal. "You've got your feet on the ground again, Taylor," he commented soothingly. "I think there's no danger of you losing your grip on terra firma again. Shall we carry on?" "There's more you'd like to learn? That you think she can give us?" I asked hesitantly. "I believe," replied Mercer, "that she can give us the history of her people, if we can only make her understand what we wish. God! If we only could!" The name of the Deity was a prayer as Mercer uttered it. "We can try, old-timer," I said, a bit shakenly. Mercer hurried back to the other side of the pool, and I adjusted my head-set again, smiling down at the girl. If only Mercer could make her understand, and if only she knew what we wanted to learn! I was conscious of the little click that told me the switch had been moved. Mercer was ready to get his message to her. Fixing my eyes on the girl pleadingly, I settled myself by the edge of the pool to await the second and more momentous part of our experiment. * * * * * The vision was vague, for Mercer was picturing his thoughts with difficulty. But I seemed to see again the floor of the ocean, with the vague light filtering down from above, and soft, monstrous growths waving their branches lazily in the flood. From the left came a band of men and women, looking around as though in search of some particular spot. They stopped, and one of the older men pointed, the others gathering around him as though in council. Then the band set to work. Coral growth were dragged to the spot. The foundation for one of the semi-circular houses was laid. The scene swirled and cleared again. The house was completed. Several other houses were in process of building. Slowly and deliberately, the scene moved. The houses were left behind. Before my consciousness now was only a vague and shadowy expanse of ocean floor, and in the sand dim imprints that marked where the strange people had trod, the vague footprints disappearing in the gloom in the direction from which the little weary band had come. To me, at least, it was quite clear that Mercer was asking whence they came. Would it be as clear to the girl? The switch clicked, and for a moment I was sure Mercer had not been able to make his question clear to her. * * * * *