"That's what I mean. You did nothing more than any of the rest of us. It was pure chance that the right stuff was on a tray given to you to test. But in the history books your name will get the credit--just like it took brains." Earl shrugged. "I'm afraid all our names will be left out. Dr. Glassman will get the credit. He master-minded the whole thing. He deserves the credit, too. The rest of us are just damned good chemists. That's all. He took the risks. If it hadn't paid off, the Dome would have been known as Glassman's Folly." "Something in that," Basil said. "By the way, what have you found out about Nadine? You two seem quite palsy walsy now." "She's what she claims to be," Earl said. "Is she?" Basil said, his eyes narrowing. "I think you're lying. Matter of fact, you're different than you were. What's come over you?" "Nothing, Basil." "Nothing, he says," Basil said mournfully to the bench he was sitting on. "What's happened to you? Have you been bought?" "What do you mean?" "You know what I mean. Nadine came here under mysterious circumstances, to say the least. You were hot on the trail of something. You wanted me to help you follow her. I couldn't, because Irene had given me my first chance to date her. So you followed her by yourself. What happened?" "Sure," Earl said. "She went to the best hotel in town. I called her on a house phone and asked her to have dinner with me. She did." "Did she tell you how she happened to be only four inches high and naked when you first met her?" Earl stared at Basil in mock astonishment. "Basil," he said softly. "Haven't you ever heard of that terrible scourge of the human race--alcohol?" "Don't give me that!" Basil said, his nostrils flaring. "You were stone sober. I was with you for an hour while you bought those clothes and patiently gathered fashion magazines that would show a dame who didn't know the first thing about it how to put them on. I saw Nadine in this lab, being carried off by a man. I was paralyzed by a ray gun or something from a gun. So were you." "He's right, Earl." Both men turned toward the door. It was Nadine. She closed the door and came into the lab. "Maybe we should take him with us, Earl," she said. "If we don't, he's going to think the worst things about us. I know we swore you to secrecy, but he could wreck everything." "Maybe you're right," Earl said. "Oh no," Basil said, edging toward the door. "They _did_ something to you, Earl. I'm not going to give them a chance to do the same thing to me." "Don't be a fool," Earl said. "Let me at least explain things." * * * * * Nadine was edging toward the door to cut off Basil's escape. He saw this, and leaped past her to the door, pulling it open. "Come back here and let me explain," Earl heard himself say. "You can explain to the Secret Service," Basil said.