She didn't have to. Van Ostrand was in an expansive mood. He had become more and more jubilant as the time approached, and his jubilance loosened his tongue. "You see, my dear, we don't want to lose a secret which may be even more important than the mind controller--the secret of immortality. Because that's why he put his ship into that orbit; that's why he surrounded it with so many protective devices; that's why he can't land it himself. Your father is in a coma, you see, and has been for seventeen years, while his body was being rejuvenated by a process known only to himself. "If it was successful, he planned to return and rejuvenate your mother, using a process which renders the body immortal and eternally young, for all practical purposes. But your mother couldn't wait, so she had a duplicate of his ship blown up, and had the courts declare him dead. She wanted the money immediately. And a good thing it was, too; she died six years ago, when you were nineteen." "How do you know all this?" Nikki asked. "How _could_ you?" The fat man smiled. "From a friend, a very dear friend. And that, for now, is all I think you need to know." I smiled thoughtfully. I had all I needed to know, too. I knew how he had gotten his information, and where it came from. It's nice to know who you can trust and who you can't. The clock showed that I had ten minutes to do what had to be done. I backed away from the door and trotted back in the direction from which I had originally come upstairs from the sub-basement of the house. None of the others noticed me leaving. * * * * * It was while I was in the sub-basement that I was actually surprised for the first time that night. I felt the faint vibration of a landing spaceship. But that couldn't be! It should have landed at the spot Van Ostrand had chosen unless something had gone wrong with his device. In my own flesh this time, I headed up through the sealed tube, out of the prison where my body had lain, immobile, for seventeen years, buried, like the cicada, waiting for new life. When I reached the living room, it was empty, except for Nikki. It took every bit of will power I had to stay away from her, but I didn't want her to be able to give anything away. I slipped in carefully so that the back of the sofa prevented her from seeing me. I could hear the fat man's voice through the French windows as he, North, and Giles pounded toward the little antigravity-powered spaceship that had landed on the front lawn. "It shouldn't have landed here!" Van Ostrand was bellowing. "We'll be detected here! They'll follow it in no time! They--" His voice was drowned out by a bellow of thunder as the police ships dropped from the sky. "_That ship is government property! Stay away, or we shoot!_"