Meanwhile, Randall was flailing at two Kralons which were trying to reach him with their vicious claws. Whenever one got in the way, the heavy bar cracked the chitinous shell like that of a crab, and both Kralons drew back, nursing their injuries. Randall spoke tersely over his shoulder. "Edge over toward the stack of bus-bars," he told McClellan. Back to back, still flailing with the heavy metal ingots, they worked their way to the corner of the room. "Use them as missiles," said Randall briefly. "Whenever one of the things starts for us, let him have it with an ingot!" McClellan did, and, with great effect. The heavy metal bars, flying end-over-end toward attacking Kralons, soon convinced the huge insects that another method of attack should be formulated, and the remaining able individuals withdrew to an adjoining room. Seizing this opportunity, Randall made sure that there was no life left in the form on the operating table, then he and McClellan dashed from the room, back into the main corridor. A panel at their left opened suddenly, and a Kralon stepped into the corridor. Randall sent his ingot flying end-over-end toward the huge insect. It was a perfect hit, and the Kralon went down, limbs twitching feebly. "In here!" said Randall tersely, and McClellan followed him through the opening. They found themselves in a high-domed room filled with huge generators and other elaborate electrical equipment. Massive four-inch conduits led from the generators to a main cable, which in turn left the building through a sleeved opening in the wall. Through a large window across the room, Randall saw the Time Net on which they had first made their appearance into this strange world. It was stretched like an acrobats' net between four pylons just outside the building. The supporting pylons extended on above the net, forming four towers, between the crests of which was supported a complex skein of intermeshing heavy metallic strands with spherical nodules studding their length every few feet. Randall nodded toward the massive equipment. "The mechanism for the Time Trap," he said. McClellan raised his metal ingot suggestively. Randall shook his head. "Not yet," he said. "We might have use for it." Then he noticed that the generators were operating, and what appeared to be a huge rectifier was humming with a deep vibrant moan, violet light flashing in a dozen huge tubes which reached almost from ceiling to floor. He nudged McClellan. "It's running," he said. "The Kralons must leave it in operation all the time in their effort to catch victims from the future." VI While Randall and McClellan were deciding what should be done about the Time Trap, Jerome Jackson was standing in open-mouthed awe before the huge crystal cylinders in the room which he had entered. In the first cylinder was a twelve-foot length of undulating livid flesh which looked exactly like a gigantic maggot.