A noise like the roar of a swift freight train rushed into the room, rattling the windows. The walls shook, the floor trembled, the slide-rule slid off the pile of books and clattered to the floor. They jumped to their feet and Avery ran to the window, clutching at the bars. "Not yet," said Rothman calmly. "The cactus plant will still be there, casting its little shadow. You might as well sit down and finish the game. That was only the shock wave. Have you forgotten that it is transmitted through the Earth faster than the wave of disintegration? We still have a few minutes left. Isn't anybody going to see my bet?" Avery lurched to the desk, grabbed a remnant of torn paper and scribbled on it "I'll see you," he yelled, "and raise you a hundred and twenty-five billion blues!" MacPherson walked to the window. "Look at the sky. This is it." They all jammed against his back, trying to see the horizon, waiting. Avery dropped the scrap of paper and covered his eyes. "What is there to see?" Neill whispered. "I thought--there was a flash...." MacPherson's voice trailed off, and he rubbed his eyes. "But I didn't see anything," said Neill. "There's nothing to see." * * * * * A minute went by. The desert remained calm, the blue sky was unmarked by even a cloud, the air was still. A second minute went by. Neill drew out his watch, looked wonderingly at the steady march of the second hand. Then he turned and stumbled into the lavatory. They could hear his dry heaves. Rothman's eyes wavered from MacPherson to Avery, and back to MacPherson, and he sighed. "Looks as if I was wrong, gentlemen," he said. "Maybe I am crazy, after all. I wonder if that integration constant could have been wrong." He reached down to the floor to pick up the fallen slide-rule, sat down and drew a pad of paper toward him. MacPherson leaned against the window, too weak to move. He saw Avery take his hands away from his eyes. He could hear the chattering of Avery's teeth, could hear them click as he clamped them together, trying to control his lips. It seemed a long time before Avery managed to speak. "_You!_" cried Avery. He lunged forward, grabbed Rothman by the shoulder and jerked him to his feet. "This--will teach you--not to make--mistakes--" He smashed his fist into Rothman's face. Still MacPherson could not move, could not even shout. He could only listen to Avery. "And this will teach you--not to set up matrices--that don't multiply--that burn up--the world--" Again Avery struck and knocked Rothman to the floor. Breaking through his paralysis, MacPherson clutched Avery by the shoulder, but Avery kicked at the man on the floor, again and again. "Avery!" shouted MacPherson. "Snap out of it, man! It's all over! The test is finished. We're still here. Rothman was wrong, just as we always knew he was!"