She gripped me as I passed her. And cried, "Drake, wait! You and Frank, will you come with me? If we get small--follow him into smallness here in this room--we may catch him! Will you come?" CHAPTER VI _The Chase into Smallness_ Drake and I took the small pellets which Dianne offered. She had them in a phial at her waist. She said hurriedly: "Ahlma, you stay here. Keep her with you, father. Stay here in the room. Watch us--then, when you can't see us any longer, sit down! Don't move about--you might trample on us!" It seemed that we had last seen the figure along the inner wall, away from the door or the windows. This was a small room. Two windows on one side, and the single door. It had once been a bedroom; but it was furnished meagerly now, with a small table and a few chairs. "Here," said Dianne, "I think this is the best place. He may be--right here now. He could not go far--not far from this particular spot--when he is so small. Stand beside me, Drake. Here, Frank." Father stammered: "You--you won't be gone long?" "No," said Dianne. "Togaro would not dare go far into smallness here. It would lead him into the unknown--he would get lost. We will be back--in an hour perhaps. You ready, Frank? Ready, Drake?" The pellet tasted a trifle sweetish. It dissolved on my tongue. I gulped and swallowed. Cold beads of sweat stood on my forehead. But it was fear only. My head reeled. The room seemed to take a dizzying, sweeping lurch. Dianne's steadying arm was around me and Drake; and in a moment my senses cleared. I later learned the details of this drug's effect. A contraction of the cells of my body, preserving their form, contracting each of them in normal relation to the others. An aura of its effect, like a magnetic field, was around me. My garments contracting; even the air, as I breathed it, was diminished in all its inherent molecules and atoms. Dianne's voice said: "You feel all right?" I heard Drake mutter: "Yes. But--Dianne--strange." I was standing still, yet everywhere the room was in movement--a crawling, flowing movement. I could see the near-by wall at which I stared, moving upward, expanding, growing steadily larger. The ceiling over me, lifting. The wall receding. A moment ago I could have touched it. Not now. It was drawing back from me. A visual enlargement of all my surroundings. An illusion, because I was dwindling. I was still dizzy; I did not dare turn my head or shift my gaze. Beside me was a chair. I could see it out of the tail of my eye. The chair was shifting away, and growing huge. Already its seat loomed higher than my head. I saw Dianne and Drake beside me; in all this movement they alone were unchanged.