Perry was petrified for a moment of utter consternation. Then he rushed toward the sound of the scuffle there in the weird dark. The slithering of his own feet betrayed him. There was a clanking rush in the gloom. Cold metal claws closed firmly about his shoulders. He struggled. The oxygen mask was scraped from his face. But the gripping members held him firm at last, and he desisted in his futile efforts to escape. "Who's there?" he growled, panting. "It's me--Troubles," came the answer, half sobbing. Perry Wilcox was stunned. "How did _you_ get here?" "Same way you did," the girl choked. "When you ran away from the hospital, I sent an orderly to follow you, and bring you back. He didn't get to you; but he saw you dive off the dam with the oxygen mask on. When he told me, I guessed right away what you were trying to do. So--I got leave, found myself a mask in the operating room, and--tagged after you." "In the name of sense, _what for_?" Perry demanded. "For a lot of good reasons--Mister!" she said more decisively. "I used to be an ambitious newspaper woman, for one thing--always hunting up trouble and hoping for a scoop. You can believe it's that way, if you want to. Or you can believe that I'm the little girl that used to keep clippings of all the Wilcox-Murgatroyd exploits, and that you're still my hero--if you're conceited and crazy enough. I don't care!" It was a torrent of words that would have startled Perry Wilcox if he wasn't so amazed already, here in this dark hole of a place, with metal monsters clutching him. "Okay--Troubles," he stammered. The robots restraining him were motionless. Nearby there were hollow clankings. Trying to catch the significance of the sounds, Perry was sure that the cover of the great vat was being raised. Cold prickles raced over his body. What was it that would happen now? Lyssa Arthurs was talking again, out of the dark. "Perry," she said more gently, though just as intensely as before. "Just when I started out it came over the radio that Kerwin was appointed Provisional Director of Defense. And--and there's danger that the hospital will be stormed by a mob--to get Murgatroyd." Before he could answer, Perry felt his feet hoisted from the floor. He was swung in metal arms, then tossed free. He flew through the air. Warm fluid closed about him. It was like water, only it stung his flesh--made his nerve-ends numb. He heard the girl give a startled, involuntary cry, as she too splashed into the strangely energized fluid in the great vat. Automatically he tried to swim toward her; but the numbness was quickly creeping over his nerves and muscles. He could hardly move. His voice was hoarse with half paralysis when he choked: "Keep your courage, Troubles...."