Urs looked at the calm, intelligent faces before him. Now, if ever, was the time for his outburst. But he couldn’t bring himself to speak. He moistened his lips and kept silent. The chairman nodded. “The Board will call a witness.” A security man opened a side door of the chamber. A tall red-headed man in a sky-blue uniform stepped hesitantly forward. He walked slowly across the floor and stood beside Urs. “This is Third Level Time Explorer Renar.” Urs nodded dumbly. He and Renar were fellow-workers. They had parted at the Time Traveler’s Bureau not an hour before. And from the look on his face, Renar was as surprised to be here as Urs was to see him. “Time Explorer Renar,” the chairman said, “please tell us the kind of work you are doing now.” Nervously, but with more assurance as he warmed up, Renar explained that he had been working on the culture pattern of Great Britain. The studies that he, Urs and others were making would dove-tail into a master graph. “And what time were you studying, with relation to Urs’ last trip?” Renar scratched his head. “Roughly twenty years later.” “Thank you. Now will you tell us exactly what happened on your last trip.” Renar hesitated, his homely face screwed up concernedly. “Well,” he began--and stopped. There was the faintest lessening of the sternness in the chairman’s face. It could not have been called a smile, nor even the beginning of one. But it matched the shade of sympathetic understanding in his voice. “Renar, may I remind you I already know what happened. I want Urs and the others to hear it.” “Yes, sir.” Renar still looked troubled. “You must understand that time travel does not always work out according to the rules. Things happen--” “That,” the chairman said, “is the reason for this trial. Now please describe your arrival in primitive Great Britain.” “Well, sir, when I made my last trip, there was some slight error in calculating the physical plane of my appearance. When I came out in that previous time I was not on dry land, but under water.” Not one of the Board members smiled. But there were chuckles in front of millions of life screens. “I wasn’t far under the surface. But you can understand I was startled and confused. I thrashed around, trying to get to air. One arm broke through the surface of the lake I was in. To my great surprise, something was immediately dropped into it. Instinctively, I grabbed hold and pulled. But the object wasn’t attached to anything. “On the contrary, its extra weight added to mine caused me to start sinking. I struggled a few seconds longer. Then I gave up, pressed my waist stud, and returned to the present.” “And the object?” “I held on to it. It’s in my room at the Time Traveler’s Bureau. I--uh--” “Yes,” the chairman said calmly, “you were troubled about reporting it. Because it meant something had gone wrong. Somewhere along the line, the rules had been violated.” “Yes, sir,” Renar said, a little despairingly.