Martel thought, "For first time in the world!" as he reached over and twisted Parizianski's Brainbox up to _Overload_. Parizianski's eyes glittered in terror and understanding. His body began to drift down toward the floor. Martel had just strength enough to reach his own _Chestbox_. As he faded into haberman or death, he knew not which, he felt his fingers turning on the control of speed, turning down. He tried to speak, to say, "Get a Scanner, I need help, get a Scanner...." But the darkness rose about him, and the numb silence clasped him. Martel awakened to see the face of Luci near his own. He opened his eyes wider, and found that he was hearing--hearing the sound of her happy weeping, the sound of her chest as she caught the air back into her throat. He spoke weakly: "Still cranched? Alive?" Another face swam into the blur beside Luci's. It was Adam Stone. His deep voice rang across immensities of space before coming to Martel's hearing. Martel tried to read Stone's lips, but could not make them out. He went back to listening to the voice: "...not cranched. Do you understand me? Not cranched!" Martel tried to say: "But I can hear! I can feel!" The others got his sense if not his words. Adam Stone spoke again: "You have gone back through the Haberman. I put you back first. I didn't know how it would work in practice, but I had the theory all worked out. You don't think the Instrumentality would waste the Scanners, do you? You go back to normality. We are letting the habermans die as fast as the ships come in. They don't need to live any more. But we are restoring the Scanners. You are the first. Do you understand? You are the first. Take it easy, now." Adam Stone smiled. Dimly behind Stone, Martel thought that he saw the face of one of the Chiefs of the Instrumentality. That face, too, smiled at him, and then both faces disappeared upward and away. Martel tried to lift his head, to scan himself. He could not. Luci stared at him, calming herself, but with an expression of loving perplexity. She said, "My darling husband! You're back again, to stay!" Still, Martel tried to see his box. Finally he swept his hand across his chest with a clumsy motion. There was nothing there. The instruments were gone. He was back to normality but still alive. In the deep weak peacefulness of his mind, another troubling thought took shape. He tried to write with his finger, the way that Luci wanted him to, but he had neither pointed fingernail nor Scanner's Tablet. He had to use his voice. He summoned up his strength and whispered: "Scanners?" "Yes, darling? What is it?" "Scanners?"