Cocteau took the lead and set a fast pace for a man of his age. He took a highly devious path through the "mountain," or what began to seem to Craig needlessly difficult and that outlined them against the bright western sky. At one point Craig left the invisible path of the older man to avoid an exhaustingly steep rise. "Follow me exactly," warned Cocteau in a sharp voice. "There is only one relatively safe path through here." "They'll see us against the sky!" "It cannot be helped." But there was no indication that they were followed. They pushed onward, scurrying over heaps of weathered plaster and brick. The old man seemed to avoid with great care places where metal girders were visible. The exertion together with walking directly into the setting sun made Craig begin to feel the old nausea return. He resisted it for a time, but it would not be repressed, particularly as he strove to maintain his balance on difficult climbs. Once he stumbled on a splintered building stone and fell. It was a long minute before he could regain his feet and mutter a feeble, "Sorry." "We must push on, Mr. Craig," was Cocteau's only comment. "It's safe here for a _minute_, isn't it?" Craig panted, dizzy and breathless. "There is no safe place here, Mr. Craig." They continued their winding way through the growing darkness. For Craig it became a nightmare of stumbling over the endless piles of sharp stones. His mind spun sickeningly and he retched as he half ran along the path Cocteau set for them. "Please, mister," breathed the voice of Phil behind him. "It isn't so far now." Doggedness carried Craig onward long after awareness left him. * * * * * He became conscious suddenly, as though by an injection of stimulant. He found himself surrounded by a number of figures, including Cocteau and a white garbed man, evidently a doctor. "You are quite safe now, Mr. Craig," said Cocteau warmly. "Welcome to the _City of We_." "Where are we?" "Deep in the old city, in a place where the radioactivity is negligible," the man answered as the doctor took his pulse. "This is Dr. Grant and these others are members of the _Liberty party_." "Liberty!" "You've heard of it?" "Yeah, you're pretty unpopular, aren't you?" "Unpopular? Let us say that all of Terran _officialdom_ is dedicated to exterminating us." "The committee on something-or-other asked me about my attitudes toward the Liberty party," said Craig, rising to a sitting position on the cot. "And at the time you had a lack of attitude, which most likely was unacceptable to them," supplied Cocteau, smiling. "Well, you may be interested to know that you are considered one of us by most of Terra just now." "_What?_" "That is correct," said another of the group. "It seems you were in a bar in--ah--in a somewhat less than fully conscious state...." "But I didn't know anything about the Liberty party."