I turned and rushed out of the room and down the hall to the stairway. I tore down the stairs, and out into the hall below. I ran for the room directly underneath the one where Krome had been. Before I could reach it several sickeningly-curdled screams resounded through the corridor, and I heard the muffled bangs of things crashing to the floor. A few loose papers floated out through the open door. I pulled up in the doorway, and looked in. There were five patent attorneys in the room, waiting their turn to be heard by the Board of Appeals. Krome was in the middle of the room up to his waist in the floor. His arms flailed wildly as he tried to keep his balance. The panic-stricken attorneys stood on tables and chairs hurling whatever they could lay their hands on at the monster that confronted them. Books, inkwells, and brief cases rained around Krome’s helmeted figure. Finally one of the attorneys reached down and hoisted a chair high over his head. Krome saw it and raised an arm in terrified protest. For the first time his voice came out through the speaker attached to the diving suit. “No! No!” he screamed. But it did no good. With fear-driven muscles the attorney launched the chair at Krome. It struck him sharply across the chest. The two shattered ends of the chair hurtled past him, and crashed against the opposite wall. The middle portion that had hit his body flattened out like water against the suit. Part of it flowed down, and formed wooden puddles on the floor. Other parts splashed out sideways in little streamlets that solidified into splinters and sprinkled all over the floor. The attorneys stared bug-eyed at what had happened to the chair. For a brief instant they were paralyzed. Then, moving as a single man, all five of them made a dive for the doorway. I was directly in their path, and I never had a chance. I was a wreck when the stampede had passed over me. My nose was bleeding profusely, my left trouser-leg was ripped off at the knee, and my right sleeve was gone. There were even footprints on my naked chest. I crawled back to the door and looked in. Krome was gone. I got to my feet and slowly started to walk toward the stairs. I tried in vain to stem the flow of blood with my shirttail. One eye was swelling fast, and a front tooth had worked loose. I wandered out into the next lower corridor in search of Krome. I looked in at the doorway of what seemed to be the proper room. It was. The Primary Examiner was sitting at his desk talking to an ashen-faced young fellow. Neither of them was saying anything. Their eyes were fixed on a stationary point at one corner of the Primary’s desk. At first I couldn’t tell what it was. Then I caught a movement, and my heart sank.