"SILENCE!" The word roared out furiously. "How dare you question me, the Pervader of all, the Only Entity? Do you wish to be destroyed?" "You're going at this wrong," Bill said doggedly. "You're trying to sell me something. First of all, you get the customer's confidence, after a manner of speaking. You sell yourself first, see?" Molly nodded vigorously, her hand over her mouth, her eyes sparkling with repressed glee. _You're going at it right, Bill._ Bill's shoulders went back. He was still scared stiff but he threw himself in full blast. "Just let me give you a hint, Voice," he said. "We're a couple cooperative pieces of matter. But you ain't said nuthin' that makes us like you. Sell us." * * * * * "Speak," said the Voice sternly. "Where are your thoughts? They have faded. Or is it that my strength is failing so that I cannot pick up your lower-order vibrations? Speak, I command you!" Bill darted a flurried look at Molly. He repeated himself to the Voice, shouting. Back came the Voice, outraged. "Your thoughts buzz. You are seeking to evade me. I shall destroy you!" Bill looked desperately around. "Something's wrong!" he told Molly. "Where's Was?" "He was," said Molly, looking under tables. "Get him back!" Bill sweated. "Hurry. We still haven't got the Voice where we want him. He's liable to get mean." Distractedly, he started aft, holding the unhappy Is close to his chest. Molly fell into running step beside him. "But why?" she asked anxiously. "What's Was got to do with it?" "Speak," cried the Supreme Intelligence. "Your time is short unless you continue communication. You dare--" Vituperation. Outrage. Bill broke into a run. "It's the dogs," he yelled at Molly. "I can't think of any other reason we'd break contact. Dogs have a high psychic sense. The way they can find their way home. The way they howl when somebody dies. Intuition. Sumpin'. I don't know. But they sensed the Voice coming back before we ever did. Our thoughts are heterodyning through their telepathic level. Like a radio beam. When Was went out, half the power of the beam failed. Get it?" "Oh, sure," Molly yelled back. "And you throw algebra at me when we're on the brink of death!" She darted ahead, pleading for Was to come out from wherever he was. Was came out readily enough and jumped into Molly's arms and apparently was perfectly willing to continue as part of the hookup. "All right, Voice," Bill said unsteadily. "We're back." He held his breath. Maybe he was right. Maybe he was wrong. But the Voice came in, drenching them with anger, but with ample evidence that communication had been reestablished. "Once more," it said sternly, "and you shall be obliterated for having so impolitely intruded upon my meditation." "_We_ intruded on _him_," Bill muttered.