She opened the inner door again and Don followed her into what he supposed to be the office of the Grand Chairman of POSAT. Instead he found himself on a balcony along the side of a vast room, which must have been the interior of the warehouse that he had noted outside. The girl motioned him toward the far end of the balcony, where a frosted glass door marked the office of the Grand Chairman. But Don could not will his legs to move. His heart beat at the sight of the room below him. It was a laboratory, but a laboratory the like of which he had never seen before. Most of the equipment was unfamiliar to him. Whatever he did recognize was of a different design than he had ever used, and there was something about it that convinced him that this was more advanced. The men who bent busily over their instruments did not raise their eyes to the figures on the balcony. "Good Lord!" Don gasped. "That's an atomic reactor down there!" There could be no doubt about it, even though he could see it only obscurely through the bluish-green plastic shielding it. His thoughts were so clamorous that he hardly realized that he had spoken aloud, or that the door at the end of the balcony had opened. He was only dimly aware of the approaching footsteps as he speculated wildly on the nature of the shielding material. What could be so dense that only an inch would provide adequate shielding and yet remain semitransparent? His scientist's mind applauded the genius who had developed it, even as the alarming conviction grew that he wouldn't--couldn't--be allowed to leave here any more. Surely no man would be allowed to leave this place alive to tell the fantastic story to the world! "Hello, Don," said a quiet voice beside him. "It's good to see you again." "Dr. Crandon!" he heard his own voice reply. "_You're_ the Grand Chairman of POSAT?" He felt betrayed and sick at heart. The very voice with which Crandon had spoken conjured up visions of quiet lecture halls and his own youthful excitement at the masterful and orderly disclosure of scientific facts. To find him here in this mad and treacherous place--didn't anything make sense any longer? "I think we have rather abused you, Don," Dr. Crandon continued. His voice sounded so gentle that Don found it hard to think there was any evil in it. "I can see that you are suspicious of us, and--yes--afraid." * * * * * Don stared at the scene below him. After his initial glance to confirm his identification of Crandon, Don could not bear to look at him. Crandon's voice suddenly hardened, became abrupt. "You're partly right about us, of course. I hate to think how many laws this organization has broken. Don't condemn us yet, though. You'll be a member yourself before the day is over." Don was shocked by such confidence in his corruptibility. "What do you use?" he asked bitterly. "Drugs? Hypnosis?"