The Professor, coppering his bets ... taking no chances on trouble over having misused university funds to finance a private project. Not even if it involved proclaiming a friend insane. The final straw, piled on the camel's back. And only one way out. Savagely, Burke whipped the Smith & Wesson from his belt; then, tight-lipped, flicked a quick glance along the dials. The inverter was as ready as it ever would be. Breathing hard, Burke slid between the wire grids; stepped up onto the cramped central platform. From the outer room: "Come out, now, Burke! You'll have a chance to prove you're sane--just a few tests, a month or two of observation--" Burke gripped the activating switch, the lever that would throw full power into the grids. Again, then, he hesitated. The campus policeman's head appeared around the corner, peering. To one side, The Professor cried out. "The inverter--! Stop him!" It was like a wire snapping in Burke's brain. He fired a single shot, high, and simultaneously threw the activating switch in one swift, coordinated flow of motion. The grid-wires glowed. A tingle of energy pulsed through Burke's body. The laboratory disappeared.... CHAPTER IV Burke heard the voices first--strange voices, speaking in a strange language. The room came clear a moment later, cool and shadowy. Burke recognized it by its shape, and by the distinctive relief in painted stucco on one wall. So his calculations had been correct. He'd landed in the apartment off the Queen's Megaron. Cat-like, he moved towards the room's doorway, the voices. The speakers were man and woman, apparently. And when Burke flicked the switch of the computational translator strapped tight to his belly, he found he could understand them almost as well as if they'd been talking English. "... and you're a pretty thing, you know," the man was saying. "As a matter of fact...." His voice trailed off, the last words lost in a rising feminine giggle. "Master Theseus! You're here to see my mistress, not me--" Warily, Burke peered through the grating of a sort of grilled divider that helped to separate room from room. The chamber beyond was larger than the one in which he stood. Brighter, too--a typical Minoan light-well spilled noonday sun clear along one side. The furnishings and the octopus frescoes on the wall showed an opulence that spoke of nothing less than royalty. As for the man and the woman, they were alone in the room, and playing a game as old as time. That is, the man was trying to catch the woman--girl, really--while she strove to stay out of his reach. Burke decided he could have taken her efforts more seriously if she hadn't kept giggling--not to mention slowing whenever the man gave any sign of pausing in his pursuit. Then, abruptly, the man leaped across a low table, cutting her off. The girl promptly tripped, and fell into his arms.