His little mind ran on one track. The building was here, the machines were here, facts to be accepted without question, just like the hills and the rain. He had found them here. That was all he knew about them. "Let's get out of this place," I said to Ellen. There was a dazed, glazed expression in her eyes. Her mind had refused to accept the evidence of her eyes and she had stopped thinking. In my mind was pure panic. Never in my life had I wanted to run so badly. The only thing that interested me was to get out of this place, fast! I was starting to do just that when a voice stopped me. "Here's that thief again," the voice said. At least that was what I thought it said. The words were English but they weren't like the English I know. The accent was all wrong and they were run together in a sing-songy effect. I turned to see who had spoken. * * * * * Two men were standing in a door at the far end of the building. Apparently they had just entered. Dressed in glittering clothes, stern faced, they didn't look like any people I wanted to meet. I grabbed Ellen and started to run. "Alt!" the command came. I wasn't doing any halting. I was out of my mind from sheer fright. My sole interest lay in getting out of that place. I was so confused I didn't realize I didn't know how to get out and I did the only thing possible, which was to turn and run. As it worked out, this was exactly the right thing to do. A split second after I started to run, the building vanished. I was back at the high-line tower, not under it but beside it, with the night and the stars and the moon around me, and the high-pitched whine of leaking current in my ears. I was back where I had started from and no building full of automatic machinery was in sight. "W--what's the matter?" Tommy gibbered beside me. He sensed how scared I was and this scared him. Ellen had quietly fainted. I threw her over my shoulder. "Run!" I shouted at Tommy. With him at my heels, I started making tracks away from there. "Alt!" came a high-pitched command from behind me. A streak of light drove through the night, passed within a foot of my head. It seemed to set the darkness on fire. The two men had taken a shot at us. This was all Tommy needed to convince him that something was really after him. He was already scared and when that streak of light went past us, he went crazy. Crouching and turning, he stretched the rubbers of that slingshot. "Don't shoot!" I screamed at him. It was too late. The rubbers blurred as he released the sling. Looking back I caught a glimpse of the two men. It was the same two all right. They were standing beside the tower. Looking completely bewildered, they were making no effort to stop us. Then the pellet hit them. _Blooie!_ * * * * * The blast hurled me forward but I managed to keep my feet and keep running. Fire spouted skyward, there was a crack of breaking steel.