"It is. That is one reason I am here, to convince you of the truth, which you would not otherwise believe fully. Also to see to it that your rest, without which you might have been hurt, was not disturbed, as well as to make sure that you were not permanently damaged by the Eddorians." "I wasn't ... at least, I don't think so ... was I?" "You were not." "Good. I was wondering--Mentor will be tied up for quite a while, of course, so I'll ask you--they must have got a sort of pattern of me, in spite of all I could do, and they'll be camping on my trail from now on, so I suppose I'll have to keep a solid block up all the time?" "They will not, Christopher, and you need not. Guided by those whom you knew as Mentor, I myself, as a Guardian, am to see to that. But time presses--I must rejoin my fellows." "One more question first. You've been trying to sell me a bill of goods that I would like to buy. But, Eukonidor, the kids will know that I showed a streak of yellow a meter wide. What will _they think_?" "Is _that_ all?" Eukonidor's thought was almost a laugh. "They will make that eminently plain in a moment." * * * * * The Arisian's presence vanished, as did his sphere of force, and four clamoring thoughts came jamming in. "Oh, Kit, we're _so_ glad!" "We _tried_ to help, but they wouldn't let us!" "They smacked us down!" "_Honestly_, Kit!" "_Oh_, if we had only been in there, too!" "Hold it, everybody! Jet back!" This was Con, Kit knew, but an entirely new Con. "Scan him, Cam, as you never scanned anything before. If they burned out even one cell of his mind, I'm going over there right now and kick every one of Mentor's teeth out!" "And listen, Kit!" This was an equally strange Kathryn blazing with fury and yet suffusing his mind with a more than sisterly tenderness, a surpassing richness. "If we had had the faintest idea of what they were doing to you, all the Arisians and all the Eddorians and all the devils in all the hells of the macrocosmic Universe couldn't have kept us away. You must believe that, Kit--or can you, quite?" "Of course, Sis--you don't have to prove an axiom. Seal it, all of you. You're swell people--absolute tops. But I ... you ... that is--" He broke off and marshaled his thoughts. He knew that they knew, in every minute particular, everything that had occurred. Yet to a girl they thought that he was wonderful. Their common thought was that they should have been in there, too--taking what he took--giving what he gave! "What I don't get is that you are trying to blame yourselves for what happened to me, when you were on the dead center of the beam all the time. You _couldn't_ have been in there, kids; it would have blown the whole works higher than up. You knew that then, and you know it even better now. You also know that I flew the yellow flag. Didn't that even _register_?"