She was stilled by a flicker of Nodus' eye. On with the effects. "Now this," Nodus lectured, handling the new record tenderly, "has more surface noise than I consider excusable. I keep it in my library only because...." He glared at Woodard, who had been unobtrusively removing his jacket and now dropped it hastily to the floor. "That won't do there!" The girl roused and floated over, picked up the offending garment and carried it with abstracted solicitude to a hook by the door. "--than I consider excusable. I keep it in my library only because the engineer, a really cooperative fellow, learned some very important principles of underwater reproduction from taping these underseas mating calls." Woodard repressed a smile as the girl, back in her seat, doubled over in silent laughter. Nodus threw her a disciplinary look. "Like to sit in that chair yourself?" he muttered, indicating Woodard's place. Instantly she sobered. Now what does _that_ mean? Woodard asked himself. "Nine and one-half minutes will be right for this." Fantastic that it could be recorded at all, Woodard had to admit, listening incredulously to the beeps and crackles, the yips and squeals and tiny shrieks. Undersea, Nodus had said. Was the lake across the road a similar hotbed of solicitation? Did Mr. Ward's chill presence cast no damper on concupiscence? Woodard pantomimed astonishment with a wondering nod. "Now with this one," Nodus recited, "I say nothing. Just mention that it lasts seven seconds. Watch the clock." Woodard counted seconds so intently that he didn't interpret the four very loud preliminary gasps from the speaker. Suddenly, magnified a hundred times but undistorted, crystal clear and shattering, nearly blowing him off his chair: a monumental sneeze. His heart stopped, then pounded achingly. He looked furiously at the speaker. It should have been wetly splattered all over the place, but it rested amorphous and unshaken in its dark covering. "And," said Nodus, "that could have been magnified a thousand times--not in this enclosure--without distortion. An epochal recording." Deftly he switched records, turned a knob or two. "Now _here_--an old-timer, a real old 78. And if I can find the right groove, a most interesting effect." Leaning over, he whispered something to Russ, who smiled. "I defy _anybody_ to recognize...." Woodard braced himself to interrupt. "I'd like to be excused for just a minute," he begged nervously, rising. "Have you--do you happen to have...." He fished for words and came up, hating himself, with "Do you have a little boys' room?" "Can't you wait?" "Well, I just thought...." Woodard licked his lips. If the next effect were anything like that sneeze, he feared the consequences of delay. The girl nodded apprehensively at Nodus. "It's the great outdoors," he said grudgingly. As Woodard fumbled with the door, he added very distinctly, "We'll be waiting." * * * * *