"What are you doing?" she asked. "Packing my belongings to take with us," Earl said. "Oh, but you don't need to do that. We'll be back in a few hours--a day or two at the most. The Cyberene has promised. Just as soon as it makes sure it doesn't need us." "Sure," Earl said, "but I'll take them just the same. Then when we come back we can go straight to the airport and catch a plane to Miami or someplace and get married." Fifteen minutes later they left the lab. They walked along the familiar sidewalk to the spot where they always cut through the woods toward the hill, circling it so no one would know where they had gone. They reached the clearing. Ahead, shimmering in the evening sun, was the familiar refractive outline in the atmosphere. There was no breeze to stir the still leaves. A meadowlark broke the silence with its call, and was silent. Over the trees the giant dome that housed the Brain loomed, unbelievable in its enormous bulk. Nadine took his hand and stopped him. "Kiss me, Earl Frye," she said, her lips trembling. Earl looked down at her upturned face. Did she know? Perhaps the real Nadine, within, sensed what was to come. Or perhaps she didn't. The tom tom beat of pain began within him. He forced his way through it, taking her into his arms. "The pleasure is all mine, Nadine Holmes," he murmured. Their lips met, tenderly, then crushed together with the fierceness of passion. Their lips parted, lingeringly, regretfully. They drew back, to look into each other's eyes for a brief moment, a moment Earl knew the Cyberene had given them to make more bitter what was to come. Earl saw the glow fade from Nadine's eyes. As he picked up his suitcases he heard someone approaching. Victor Glassman joined them, his face gray, his expression wooden. This was it. Glassman might be missed. There might be an investigation, but Project Brain would go on regardless of that now. And the only ones who might stop it were here. Side by side they walked toward the barely perceptible refractive shimmer. Beyond it they could see the woodland, a Bluejay's flashing wings, a chipmunk standing upright, observing them. And then they were standing in the familiar hall, in the year 3042. George Ladd was not there, but there was no need for him to be there. Their bodies, controlled by the Mind that enslaved them, walked on toward the far exit and the garden they would cross--to the Dome, the Cyberene. * * * * * There was no turning back now. Nor would there be other days to perfect the technique of _meshing_ with his mind. Earl reached out into every part of his thoughts, thinking them, identifying himself with them, with the desires of the Cyberene. In that other Earth so close to this there would now be a second Cyberene. There must be, since nothing stood in the way of its developing throughout the ten centuries and more since they had left it, a few minutes ago.