The soul-quickening Perfume of the Dreamer was stronger here. The throbbing of the lutes was louder. It was Venusian music the lutes were playing. Human ears found it inharmonious at first, but as they became accustomed to it, they began to detect rhythms and melodies that human minds had not known existed. The room was pleasantly cool but it had the feel of dampness. A world that was rarely without pelting rain would have the feel of dampness in its dreaming rooms. The music playing strange harmonies in his ears, the perfume sending tingling feelings through his nose, Johnson entered the Room of the Dreamer. He suspected that other forces, unknown to him, were catching hold of his senses. He had been in dreaming rooms many times before but he had not grown accustomed to them. He wondered if any human ever did. A touch of chill always came over him as he crossed the threshold. In entering these places, it was as if some unknown nerve center inside the human organism was touched by something, some force, some radiation, some subtlety, that quite escaped radiation. He felt the coldness now. Vee Vee's fingers left off patting his arm. "Do you feel it, darling?" "Yes." "What is it?" "How would I know?" "Please!" Her voice grew sharp. "I think Johnny Johnson ought to know." "Johnny! How do you know my name?" "Shouldn't I recognize one of Earth's foremost scientists, even if he is incognito on Venus?" Her voice had a teasing quality in it. "But--" "And who besides Johnny Johnson would recognize the Karmer nerve grip and be able to break it instantly?" "Hell--" "John Michael Johnson, known as Johnny to his friends, Earth's foremost expert in the field of electro-magnetic radiations within the human body!" Her words were needles of icy fact, each one jabbing deeper and deeper into him. "And how would I make certain you were Johnny Johnson, except by seeing if you could break the Karmer nerve grip? If you could break it, then there was no doubt who you were!" Her words went on and on. "Who are you?" His words were blasts of sound. "Please, darling, you are making a scene. I am sure this is the last thing you really want to do." He looked quickly around them. The Venusians and humans moving into this room seemed to be paying no attention to him. His gaze came back to her. Again she patted his arm. "Relax, darling. Your secrets are safe with me." A gray color came up inside his soul. "But--but--" His voice was suddenly weak. The fingers on his arm were very gentle. "No harm will come to you. Am I not with you?" "That's what I'm afraid of!" he snapped at her. If he had had a choice, he might have drawn back. But with circumstances as they were--his life, Caldwell's life, possibly Vee Vee's life hung in the balance. Didn't she know that this was true? And as for Martin--But Caldwell had said that she had been asking about Martin. What connection did she have with that frantic human genius he sought here?