rithing and shrieking
in terror.

At this moment, the elevator shot to a sudden stop behind the grill, and
prepared for the worst, I faced it, disintegrator pistol raised.

But I lowered the pistol at once, with a sigh of relief. The elevator
was empty. For a moment I considered. I dared not leave either of these
bodies nor the girl behind in descending the shaft. At any moment other
passengers might glide out of the tunnel to take the elevator, and give
an alarm.

So I played the beam of the pistol for an instant on the two dead
bodies. They vanished, of course, into nothingness, as did part of the
station platform. The damage to the platform, however, would not
necessarily be interpreted as evidence of a prisoner escaping.

Then I threw open the elevator gate, dragging Ngo-Lan into the car and
stifling her hysterical shrieks, pressed the button that caused it to
shoot downward. In a few moments I stepped out several thousand feet
below, into a shaft that ran toward one of the Valley Gates.

The pistol again became serviceable, this time for the destruction of
the elevator, thus blocking any possible pursuit, yet without revealing
my flight.

Ngo-Lan fought like a cat, but despite her writhing, scratching and
biting, I bound and gagged her with her own clothing, and left her lying
in the tunnel while I stepped in a car and shot toward the gate.

As the car glided swiftly along the brilliantly lit but deserted tunnel
I conversed again with Wilma through the metallic speaker of the air
ball.

"The only obstacle now," I told her, "is the massive gate at the end of
the tunnel. The gate-guard, I think, is posted both outside and inside
the gate."

"In that case, Tony," she replied, "I will shoot the ball ahead, and
blow out the gate. When you hear it bump against the gate, throw
yourself flat in the car, for an instant later I will explode it. Then
you can rush through the gate into the night. Scout ships are now
hovering above, and they will see you with their ultroscopes, though the
darkness will leave you invisible to the Hans."

* * * * *

With this the ball shot out of the car and flashed away, down the tunnel
ahead of me. I heard a distant metallic thump, and crouched low in the
speeding car, clapping my hands to my ears. The heavy detonation which
followed, struck me like a blow, and left me gasping for breath. The car
staggered like a living thing that had been struck, th