"I admit the charge," chuckled Van Ostrand. "I do. Frequently. Not this time, however. Besides, I didn't say she killed him; I said she blew up his ship, which is quite a different thing. Indeed, my dear, I am happy to say that your father has been alive for these seventeen years and is alive at this very moment." Nikki looked at him silently for a long moment, then leaned back and closed her eyes. "I don't believe you, of course," she said calmly. "Of course not," said the fat man. "Why should you? But it's true, nonetheless. You see, your father--" "Time, boss," interrupted the rodentish little Giles Jackson suddenly, pointing at the clock on the wall. "So it is," said Van Ostrand. "You are very observant, Giles, my boy." He heaved his ponderous bulk out of the chair into which he had lowered himself and strolled rollingly over to the visiphone. He dialed a number. The screen lit up, but no face appeared. "Yes, Mr. Van Ostrand?" said a voice at the other end. "Ah, you're there on time, I see," said the fat man. "Very good. We'll synchronize, then, for exactly twenty-five seconds after three. Understood?" "Twenty-five seconds after three. Yes, sir." There was a click, and the screen faded. * * * * * The fat man looked even more jovial than ever. "All is going according to schedule, my children," he said as he lowered his bulging body again into the chair. "Boy, I sure hope this works," said Bob North suddenly, as though he had thought about it for the first time. "It'll work," said Giles Jackson sharply. "Mr. Van Ostrand figured it out, and he's got more brains than you and me put together." "Your loyalty is touching, Giles," said Van Ostrand gravely, "and well within the bounds of truth." He dropped the remains of his cigar into a dispenser and watched it vanish. "I have worked on this ever since I found those papers ten years ago. And I have waited patiently for Dr. Marcus Varden to return. Nikki, my dear, when we first came in here after Mr. North had so kindly shut off the house's ingenious defenses, you thought I was going to force you to hand over to me the rest of the stock shares in Marcus Varden Enterprises, did you not? And for that reason, you were not in the least afraid that we would kill you. Why not?" "You know perfectly well," said Nikki, "If I die or even become unconscious, my brain pattern won't register on the recorder at the Exchange Commission, and the transfer wouldn't be valid."