be dead, if we hadn't pulled
you out of those hills."

"Can you really return me to my own time?"

"Of course!"

"Reinhart won't interfere?"

Sherikov laughed. "What can he do? How can he stop me? I have my own
men. You saw them. They landed all around you. You'll be returned."

"Yes. I saw your men."

"Then you agree?"

"I agree," Thomas Cole said. "I'll wire it for you. I'll complete the
control turret--within the next five days."

IV

Three days later Joseph Dixon slid a closed-circuit message plate
across the desk to his boss.

"Here. You might be interested in this."

Reinhart picked the plate up slowly. "What is it? You came all the way
here to show me this?"

"That's right."

"Why didn't you vidscreen it?"

Dixon smiled grimly. "You'll understand when you decode it. It's from
Proxima Centaurus."

"Centaurus!"

"Our counter-intelligence service. They sent it direct to me. Here,
I'll decode it for you. Save you the trouble."

Dixon came around behind Reinhart's desk. He leaned over the
Commissioner's shoulder, taking hold of the plate and breaking the
seal with his thumb nail.

"Hang on," Dixon said. "This is going to hit you hard. According to
our agents on Armun, the Centauran High Council has called an
emergency session to deal with the problem of Terra's impending
attack. Centauran relay couriers have reported to the High Council
that the Terran bomb Icarus is virtually complete. Work on the bomb
has been rushed through final stages in the underground laboratories
under the Ural Range, directed by the Terran physicist Peter
Sherikov."

"So I understand from Sherikov himself. Are you surprised the
Centaurans know about the bomb? They have spies swarming over Terra.
That's no news."

"There's more." Dixon traced the message plate grimly, with an
unsteady finger. "The Centauran relay couriers reported that Peter
Sherikov brought an expert mechanic out of a previous time continuum
to complete the wiring of the turret!"

Reinhart staggered, holding on tight to the desk. He closed his eyes,
gasping.

"The variable man is still alive," Dixon murmured. "I don't know how.
Or why. There's nothing left of the Albertines. And how the hell did
the man get half way around the world?"

Reinhart opened his eyes slowly, his face twisting. "Sherikov! He must
have removed him before the attack. I told Sherikov the attack was
forthcoming. I gave him the exact hour. He had to get help--fr