Enfolding her and drawing her closer to him, he leaned his back against the nearest wall and whispered into her ear some of the phrases he had stored up from his reading which he had meant to say to Grundy's girl, Helen. Their bodies were glued so tightly together that when the sound came, their start of surprise was completely mutual. "Ssssst." It sibilated. And then again, "Sssst!" Thunderstruck, their arms still pressing around each other, Pat and Comstock looked around them. There was nothing to see. Nothing at all. Then the sound became words, "Sssst, the R.A.'s after you?" "Uh huh." Comstock managed to answer. "Count three and then press against the fifth block from the ground." Feeling that they had absolutely nothing to lose, Comstock obeyed the whispered command. The fifth block up looked exactly like all the others. But when Comstock pushed at it, an irregular segment suddenly swung inwards. Low light was visible for a moment through the opening. Then it vanished and Comstock, holding Pat by the hand as though to give her reassurance, but really so that he could draw strength from her nearness, stepped through the dark aperture. * * * * * At that particular moment, back at Bowdler's house, Grundy, Helen and the owner of the robot house were seated in the library. Bowdler had his hand outstretched to a lever that projected from behind some books. His eyes were glued to a clock. He said, "Five seconds ... four ... three ..." then he shook his heavy head, and threw the lever back in its slot. "I'm afraid we'll have to give them up. It's past midnight. We'll try again at noon tomorrow." "Don't you dare leave the force field open for a few moments more?" Grundy pleaded. Shaking his leonine head, Bowdler pushed some books into place so that the lever was hidden from sight. "I would if I could, Grundy. But they must take their chances now." "Even if Comstock has found that poor girl," Helen said, "what can they do out in the night?" "Twelve more hours before they can make another attempt to reach safety here." Grundy shook his head. "I can't imagine where they can hide from the omnipresent R.A.'s." "If only Comstock knew a little more," Helen said, "but we didn't dare try to open his eyes till you were here and it could be done under your aegis." "The poor innocent," Bowdler said, "you were right to wait for me, but I wish things had worked out differently. Pat doesn't know much more about reality than Comstock." He sighed and then rested his big head on the myriad chins that formed a collar of flesh around his neck. "What," Grundy asked, "will the R.A.'s do if they capture them?" "Stun them to death, I'm afraid," Bowdler said. "No," Helen said hopelessly, "no, they wouldn't...."