In her headlong rush she did not see the human form on the second landing before she crashed into him. She gasped as the breath went out of her lungs. The man reached out for her. "What happened?" His voice was desperate. "I've been asleep, and all of a sudden, when I wake up--" "Let me go!" "What happened?" he said pathetically. "The city's so _still_." She pushed him back and continued up the stairs. He ran after her. "Wait!" At the top floor she saw no exit to the roof. The corridor was "U" shaped, the bottom of the "U" facing onto the street. Six rooms on it. "Young lady!" the man cried, rounding the corner of the stairs below her. She dropped her mental range into a low register and struck toward him. But she could not quite find his range and he shook his head and continued up the stairs. She waited, and when he arrived, she said, "Sorry," and hit him on the chin. He rolled halfway down the short flight of stairs. She searched the six rooms. All were unlocked and empty, and the doors slammed in her wake. Nothing. She gritted her teeth and headed for the stairs and the next floor below. * * * * * Parr shattered the glass from the emergency deep space suit. He ripped the suit from the hangar and struggled into it with anxious fingers. It was a minute after the hour. He hesitated, holding the helmet in his hands. The force field at the door was nearly gone. The radio crackled with Knoug attack orders. And then--with infinite relief--he heard her voice, crackling over the other voices. She sounded short of breath and excited. "What's that?" someone roared in Knoug, and Parr realized they did not understand English, the common language they had used on the planet. "Idiots!" Parr shrieked. "Fools! Can't _any_ of you understand!" "I'm going to destroy your Advanceship," Lauri said breathlessly. "I am an Oholo. I'm...." Suddenly a Knoug was translating her message. Last minute instructions to the Fleet ceased. "I'm going to destroy your Advanceship," she said again. And then, after a breath, she said, "Be careful! Be careful!" And he knew that the last was not to them but to him. He could wait no longer. The force field was seconds thin. His mind cried desperately, "Hurry!" He clamped down the helmet and all sound vanished. But her words rang in his mind, "Be careful!" and he was grateful for them. They choked in his throat. Then he threw the Advanceship into hyperspace. * * * * * There was a pinwheel of motion that slammed him into the control panel. He could not hear, but everywhere, around him, metal screamed and wrenched and tore. The force director beyond the door spun loose and sprayed the Knougs around it, and they vanished. It jerked its current cable and was still. A vast rent in the hull let the air whoosh out into hyperspace, and the Knougs all over the Ship puffed and exploded.