orning he was startled to see
Marie bustling down the corridor, pushing the food service cart
herself. That did not make sense, especially considering last night's
statement about Eric.

"I thought you'd want breakfast early," she coughed.

"You didn't have to bother, honey. Eric could have done it."

If she had been prying, the cart might have been a prop to take up as
soon as he came out. On the other hand, what could she in her
technical ignorance make of such matters anyway?

It was best not to rouse any deeper suspicions by openly noticing her
wifely nosiness. At breakfast they pretended nothing had happened,
devoting the time to mutually disapproved cousins, but all day long he
kept wondering whether ignorant knowledge couldn't be as dangerous as
the knowing kind.

* * * * *

The next morning, after a long sleep, he went to the factory for the
first of his semi-weekly work periods.

He sat before a huge console, surveying scores of dials, at the end of
a machine that was over five hundred yards long. Today it was turning
out glass paper the color of watered blood, made only for Ritual
publications, packing it in sheets and dispatching them in automatic
trucks; but the machine could be adjusted to everything from metal
sheeting to plastic felts. At the far end sat another man, diminished
by distance, busily tending more dials that could really take care of
themselves.

After a while the man went out for a break. Hart ran a hundred yards
to a section that was not working. He snapped it into the alloy supply
and fed in the tape. In a minute, several dozen tiny contacts came
down a chute. He pocketed them and disconnected the section just
before his fellow worker reappeared.

The man walked down the floor to him, looking curious.

"Anything the matter?" he asked, hopeful for some break in routine.

"No, just felt like a walk."

"Know what you mean--I feel restless too. Too bad this plant's only
two years old. Boy, wouldn't she make a great disintegration!" He
grinned, slapping a fender affectionately.

Hart joined in the joke. "Gives us something to look forward to in ten
years."

"A good way to look at things," said the other man.

At home he locked the contacts in a desk drawer. Tomorrow he would
deliver most of them to Burnett's apartment.

But the next morning an emergency letter came from his group leader,
warning him not to appear there. _I am going completely