"So what? The fact remains that it was done, and here he is--and here we are." The doorbell rang. Philip and Norah exchanged glances. SK540 watched them. "It's probably Kelly, from the lab," Philip said, "trying to find out why I wasn't there today. It's just about quitting time, and he lives nearest us." Norah astonished him. She picked up SK540 from the bed-side table where Philip had placed him, and hid him under her pillow. "Get rid of whoever it is," she said defensively. Philip stared for an instant, then walked briskly downstairs. He was back in a few minutes. "It was Kelly, all right," he told her. "I said you were sick and I couldn't leave you to phone. I said I'd be there tomorrow. Now what?" SK540's white whiskers emerged from under the pillow, and he jumped over to the table again. Norah's cheeks were pink. "When it came to the point, I just couldn't," she explained shamefacedly. "I suddenly realized that he's a _person_. I couldn't let him be taken back to prison." "Aren't you frightened any more?" "Not of him." She faced the super-rat squarely. "Look," she said, "if we take care of you, will you get rid of that gang of yours, so we can be free too?" "That's nonsense, Norah," Philip objected. "He can't possibly understand you." "Dogs and cats learn to understand enough, and he's smarter than any dog or cat that ever lived." "But--" The words froze on his lips. SK540 had jumped to the floor and run to the door. There he stood and looked back at them, his tail twitching. "He wants us to follow him," Norah murmured. There was no sign of a hole in the back wall of the disused pantry. But behind it they could hear squeaks and rustlings. SK540 scratched delicately at almost invisible cracks. A section of the wall, two by four inches, fell out on the floor. "So that's where some of the oatmeal went," Norah commented. "Made into paste." "Sh!" SK540 vanished through the hole. They waited, listening to incomprehensible sounds. Outside it had grown dark. * * * * * Then the leader emerged and stood to one side of the long line that pattered through the hole. The two humans stared, fascinated, as the line made straight for the back door and under it. SK540 stayed where he was. "Will they go back to the lab?" Norah asked. Philip shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Some of them may ... I feel like a traitor." "I don't. I feel like one of those people who hid escaped war prisoners in Europe." When the rats were all gone, they turned to SK540. But without a glance at them he re-entered the hiding-place. In a minute he returned, herding two white rats before him. He stood still, obviously expectant. Philip squatted on his heels. He picked up the two refugees and looked them over. "Both females," he announced briefly. "And both pregnant." "Is he the father?" "Who else? He'd see to that." "And will they inherit his--his--"