It did. Before any of the Five weakened to the danger point the Unit, again five-fold, snapped back. Clarrissa's life-force, which had tried so valiantly to fill all of space and all of time, was flowing back into her. A tight, hard beam ran, it seemed, to infinity and vanished. Mentor had been unable to follow the Unit, but he could and did follow that beam to Kimball Kinnison. Abruptly the trace was hidden by the walls of a hyperspatial tube. "A right scholarly bit of work, children," Mentor approved. "I could not follow you, but I have arranged the means of his return." "Thanks, children. Thanks, Mentor." Instead of fainting, Clarrissa sprang from her bed and stood erect. Flushed and panting, eyes flamingly alight, she was more intensely vital than any of her children had ever seen her. Reaction might--would--come later, but she was now all buoyantly vibrant woman. "Where will he come into our space, and when?" "In your room before you. Now." Kinnison materialized; and as the Red Lensman and the Gray went hungrily into each other's arms, Mentor and the Five turned their attention toward the future. * * * * * "First, the hyperspatial tube which was called the 'Hell Hole in Space,'" Kit began. "We must establish as fact in the minds of all Civilization that the Ploorans were actually at the top of Boskone. The story as we have arranged it is that Ploor was the top, and--which happens to be the truth--that it was destroyed through the efforts of the Second-Stage Lensmen. The 'Hell Hole' is to be explained as being operated by the Plooran 'residuum' which every Lensman knows all about and which he will never forget. The problem of Dad's whereabouts was different from the previous one in degree only, not in kind. To all except us, there never were any Eddorians. Any objections? Will that version hold?" The consensus was that the story was sound and tight. "The time has come, then," Karen thought, "to go into the very important matter of our reason for being and our purpose in life. You have intimated repeatedly that you Arisians are resigning your Guardianship of Civilization and that we are to take over; and I have just perceived the terribly shocking fact that you four are now alone, that all the other Arisians have already gone. We are not ready, Mentor; you know that we are not--this scares me through and through." "You are ready, children, for everything that will have to be done. You have not come to your full maturity and power, of course; that stage will come only with time. It is best for you, however, that we leave you now. Your race is potentially vastly stronger and abler than ours. We reached some time ago the highest point attainable to us: we could no longer adapt ourselves to the ever-increasing complexity of life. You, a young new race amply equipped for any emergency within reckonable time, will be able to do so. In capability and in equipment you begin where we leave off."