"Um," he said. "It's more than possible that the various functions of the space-resonant elements depends upon their mass. For instance, a small quantity might be suitable for mere communication--a larger quantity may be required for the visual communication, while a still larger mass is needed for a physical transfer. "How their division comes with respect to the transfer of objects or messages from time plane to time plane is something that might be baffling." "But what are you going to do right now?" asked Virginia. "First, I'm going to see what can be done about building a detector for the supercritical masses," he said. "Then we're going to do some micro-analysis on these crystals." Virginia was silent. She was not entirely convinced that there was something wrong with the culture on Earth Three. Earth Three obviously had all of the scientific cards, what with years of research and no restrictions or regulations. However, Virginia was content to remain where she was for a short time. There was little point in making an abrupt change just then. Any moment that danger threatened Virginia knew that she could escape to Earth Three and be safe. Her decision to remain was based upon her lifetime of training on Earth Two. Regardless of any decision to eschew a former life, the training of a lifetime will remain. That Virginia had no intention of remaining on Earth Two did not remove her interest in the main problem of her life. Bronson had some theories that were interesting. Therefore Virginia was content to remain and learn all she could. Such knowledge might come in handy at a later date. * * * * * Leader Kingston leaned back against a counter and regarded his cohorts with a cold stare. Maddox growled in his throat and the three guards cowered because theirs had been a crime punishable by death for hundreds of years. "Well," asked Maddox, "what do we do now?" "The first thing," said Kingston sharply, "is to locate ourselves." "That shouldn't be hard," said Maddox, looking around. Kingston nodded, regarding his wrist watch. "It is near-morning in New Mexico," he said. "Where we are now is midnight." "It's also cold--and that lettering on the window is Russian. We are in eastern Siberia." Kingston made some calculations. "We're lucky at that," he said. "So long as morning comes in Washington before morning comes here we are in no great danger. The fact is," he added, regarding his watch once more, "that the monitors will be taking up their regular duty in a few minutes. Otherwise we might have no end of trouble."