Randall climbed upon it. "Better hurry," he said. "You first, Doctor." Dr. Gerard climbed upon the table, and with Randall's and McClellan's help, pulled himself up into the opening. He hung outside by his hands for a moment, then dropped to the ground below. McClellan was next, pulling his lanky body up to the opening, with Randall boosting. Settling himself on the sill, he reached a hand down to Randall. Just then a giant Kralon stepped into the room. Its faceted eyes regarded them for a moment in almost ludicrous surprise. It turned its head, clacked a message to companions in the hall, then scurried rapidly toward Randall, two more Kralons close behind it. Randall had just touched McClellan's hand when the foremost Kralon caught the table with a hooked foreleg, sliding it and Randall away from the opening. "Hurry up!" he told McClellan. "Jump!" McClellan hesitated. "You can't help me alone," Randall urged. "Get back to the stockade and get help!" McClellan was still undecided. He started to drop back into the room, then as if realizing the truth of Randall's words, he turned and leaped from the opening to the ground below. Randall stepped calmly from the table to the floor and held his hands above his head in universal gesture of surrender. "Okay," he said quietly. "Now what?" The Kralons apparently understood. Without touching Randall, one of them motioned toward the corridor. Doctor Gerard and McClellan scrambled to their feet outside the building. "We'd better get help, fast!" said McClellan. * * * * * In Gordo Lanson's hut, Lanson acquainted Dr. Gerard and McClellan with his theory, and told them of his tentative plans. Dr. Gerard was faintly hopeful, but immediately voiced an objection. "How do you propose to escape the Kralons long enough to acquaint yourself with the operation of the Time Trap, and to perform the necessary experimentation?" "We thought perhaps you could help us there, Dr. Gerard," said Lanson. "You're a physiological chemist, are you not?" "Used to be," admitted Dr. Gerard. "But of late years I have concerned myself more with my avocation of Entomology. That is, it _was_ an avocation until I met the Kralons. "But that isn't the thing of immediate importance," he continued. "The Kralons have captured Randall. We've got to find some way of helping him!" "That would be pretty hard to do now," said Zor Ala. "The Kralons have turned the spotlights on the stockade, and apparently are sending out guards. I'm afraid Randall will have to take care of himself for the present." "Say, how about Jackson?" said McClellan. "He's back," replied Lanson. "According to his story, he was caught in the Hive corridor." "Too bad," remarked McClellan laconically, leaving a doubt as to what was too bad. Zor Ala and Lanson grinned appreciatively, but McClellan was deeply absorbed in thought.