Tanner had been distracted just long enough by the shout. Stan dropped to the carpet and rolled against Tanner's legs. Then they were both on the floor. Stan grabbed for the arm which still clung to the time pistol. Tanner grunted and twisted and then.... Stan paled and almost gagged. Tanner was flickering. In the background, Avis screamed. And then Mr. Ainsworth was looking at him. "I'm your friend," the creature said weakly. Stan weakened and almost let go. "I'm your friend," the creature repeated softly, triumphantly. "I saved your life, didn't I?" He was lying in the alley again, back in Chicago, lying there hurt and bleeding. And Mr. Ainsworth had come up to help him. Out of all the millions of people in the city, it was only Mr. Ainsworth who had helped. "I'm your friend," the creature purred again. That still, quiet morning when the chill air had hung heavy over the city.... And then the conditioning was totally gone and Stan felt exultant. He hadn't realized.... He gripped the arm harder and twisted and the time pistol went skittering across the carpet. Mr. Ainsworth looked surprised and faded back into Tanner. A powerful, cold-eyed Tanner who suddenly wrenched free and bent Stan under him. He reached for a water carafe from the table to bring it down to smash Stan's skull. Stan jerked his head to one side and doubled his legs under him and lashed out with them, catching Tanner in the chest. Tanner staggered backwards towards the hoop, his foot unintentionally pressing the on switch. The circle of black started to build up. The time pistol was only a few feet away. Stan snatched at it and turned it on the still reeling Tanner. It caught the creature flush at the same time as he toppled back through the black velvet circle. Stan's last glimpse of The Enemy was of a suddenly very old and aging man--hair whitened and thinning, lines etched deeply in the face, clothes sagging limply from a suddenly shriveled frame--toppling backwards into the hoop. And then the solid circle of black suddenly broke and faded into the frame again. Stan turned on his side and got sick. The Bristol hoop had been tuned to Chicago. Only there was no more Chicago and no more hoop there. But Tanner had toppled through--to where? The creature that had been Mr. Ainsworth and Tanner was lost in a space that had no beginning and no end. And no exit. CHAPTER XV They stood on a parapet of the first building to be erected in New Chicago and watched the tiny flares of the workmen who had come from all over the world to rebuild the city. It was night--a cool, almost clear night with only a few faint clouds scudding across the face of the full moon. The stars blazed down, a million tiny candles flickering against a background of black. Avis moved her head a fraction and said: "Do you love me?" "What do you think?" After a moment, she said: "I have to go back tomorrow." "I know." "I ... don't want to leave."