Painfully, Marc lifted his head and looked out at the world around him with dulled eyes. A blurred vision of Toffee instantly swam into view. She seemed to be holding a newspaper in her hand. "There, you see!" Cecil told Gerald. "I was right. She's a thought creation." "Never heard of it," Gerald said. "Very rare," Cecil commented shortly. "Particularly one that positive." Across the room Toffee ran quickly to Marc's side. "What have they done to you?" she cried. "What happened?" Marc shook his head, forced awareness into his brain. He concentrated on Toffee's words. "Happened?" he said. Then his mind cleared a bit. "I don't know. They doped me. With a needle. They found out about you." Toffee whirled on the Blemishes with utmost loathing. "If I had a rat trap, I'd offer you some cheese," she said. She turned back to Marc. "I should have stayed away, I suppose, but I had to find out what they'd done to you." "Did you reach the police?" Marc asked anxiously. Toffee shook her head. Marc sighed. "I feel awful." "They won't get away with it," Toffee said. She picked up the paper from where she'd dropped it on the floor. "Look. They're searching for you." She read the article quickly: Foul play was suspected since Marc was known to be the inventor of a new explosive. It was believed that he had fallen into the hands of foreign agents and might even have been removed from the country. The search for him extended around the world. "You see," Toffee said. "They'll find you sooner or later." "If they don't kill us first," Marc said. "I feel dead already." Toffee got up and went over to the Blemishes. "Just what did you little vultures do to him?" she asked angrily. Cecil shrugged. "A little of this and a little of that," he said. "A lot of truth serum." "Yeah," Gerald sniggered unalluringly. "Enough to get the formula out of him." He looked down significantly at the papers on the table. Toffee stiffened. "Why, you ... you ... reptiles!" Ignoring her, Cecil turned to Gerald. "I guess we don't need Pillsworth any more, do we?" "Well," Gerald said, "we'd better keep him around until after the test. Just in case, you know. We should be able to whip out the formula before tonight if we get right to work. We can take care of Pillsworth tomorrow." Cecil nodded toward Toffee. "What about her?" "Oh, she's no problem at all. She'll go automatically when he does." "How'll we do it?" Cecil asked. * * * * * For a moment Gerald stared dreamily off into space. "We could starve him for a day and just let him drift off of his own accord." "That would be fine," Cecil said. "Sort of poetic."