fore he slid along
the wall, closing the door and putting his shoulders against it.

"What's the pitch?" Ross demanded in a whisper.

There was a ragged breath, maybe two, then a little laugh out of the
dark. "You are ready?" The visitor's accent left no doubt as to his
identity. Kurt was paying him the promised visit.

"Did you think that I wouldn't be?"

"No." The dim figure sat without invitation on the edge of the bunk. "I
would not be here otherwise, Murdock. You are plenty ... have plenty on
the ball. You see, I have heard things about you. Like me, you were
tricked into this game. Tell me, is it not true that you saw Hardy
tonight."

"You hear a lot, don't you?" Ross was noncommittal.

"I hear, I see, I learn more than these big mouths, like the major with
all his do's and don'ts. That I can tell you! You saw Hardy. Do _you_
want to be a Hardy?"

"Is there any danger of that?"

"Danger!" Kurt snorted. "Danger--you have not yet known the meaning of
danger, little man. Not until now. I ask you again, do you want to end
like Hardy? They have not yet looped you in with all their big talk.
That is why I came here tonight. If you know what is good for you,
Murdock, you will make a break before they tape you----"

"Tape me?"

Kurt's laugh was full of anger, not amusement. "Oh, yes. They have many
tricks here. They are big brains, eggheads, all of them with their
favorite gadgets. They put you through a machine to get you registered
on a tape. Then, my boy, you cannot get outside the base without ringing
all the alarms! Neat, eh? So if you want to make a break, you must try
it before they tape you."

Ross did not trust Kurt, but he was listening to him attentively. The
other's argument sounded convincing to one whose general ignorance of
science led him to be as fearful of the whole field as his ancestors had
been of black magic. As all his generation, he was conditioned to
believe that all kinds of weird inventions were entirely possible and
probable--usually to be produced in some dim future, but perhaps today.

"They must have you taped," Ross pointed out.

Kurt laughed again, but this time he was amused. "They believe that they
have. Only they are not as smart as they believe, the major and the
rest, including Millaird! No, I have a fighting chance to get out of
this place, only I cannot do it alone. That is why I have been waiting
for them to bring in a new guy I could get to before they had him pinn