"You bet it would. It would give those howling babies out there the sweetest case of what used to be called "shell shock" or "battle fatigue" you ever saw. But--it's our only chance!" Jones stared at him, touching his lips with a dry tongue. He whispered, "Yes. Yes, I see what you mean. But--" The battering ram thumped the machine. The floor under their feet shook. Jones nodded hastily. "Yes, I'll do it. I'll hurry." He went to a round opening in the floor, caught a metal rod protruding through it, and swung himself down. Grim caught Tlokine and drew her to the _selassi_-metal table and hunted in its drawers. He found cotton and tore loose several strips. He crumpled the cotton into tiny balls. "I'm going to put these in your ears, Tlokine. You won't be able to hear much, then. Just sit still. Jones and I--we're going to do our best to stop those babies outside. When we do, things are going to happen in a hurry. I want you to be prepared." He put the cotton tabs in her ear, whispered, "I love you, darling," and caught the sliding rod in his hands and swung down. Grim walked the cat-walks between the throbbing engines in the dim light of myriad bulbs set in plastic casings. He saw the enclosed dynamos that forced the incredible vibrations outward to the needle towers that picked them up and threw them around the planet. On a metal floor below him, old Jasper Jones was disconnecting terminals and re-hooking them. Grim joined him. It was close, hot work inside the huge machine. Sweat dripped down Grim's forehead and ran into his eyes and mouth. With the back of his forearm he swabbed at his face and worked on. He heard the boom of the improvised battering ram thud into the metal wall; saw the great tubes shake and flicker. The metal floor quivered under his feet. A woman screamed. Grim came to his feet, incredulous, hearing Tlokine cry, "It's Black Randolph! He's coming through the back way--" Grim whispered, "He's dead. I saw him fall from the cliff." He leaped; came up short as Jasper Jones clawed at his arm with aged hands. The old man babbled, "The machine is our only chance." Randolph was roaring in triumph, "I have your girl, Thorssen. Come out of there or I'll give her a disintegrator pellet. Ha! You didn't watch me long enough, Thorssen. I missed the rocks--went into the water. It carried me under the temple, to stone steps. They led me--here! You hear me, Thorssen? Come out of there!" "I hear you. I'm coming." Instead he turned and looked at the wiring terminals where Jasper Jones toiled, his hands a blur of movement and his white hair wet with sweat. The old man's panting made a harsh sound in the fetid air. "We almost through?" Grim whispered. "Almost ... just these, now ... another turn to tighten them--there!" A switch with a glittering red handle was a foot above Jones' bent head. Grim went for it in a flying leap. His hands came up and the switch went down and-- Hell broke loose.