*

Suicide had been hinted by some of the papers, but had not been taken
seriously, since she had no apparent motive for ending her life.
Abduction seemed to be the more logical explanation, and huge rewards
had been offered by her frantic parents--all to no avail.

What had happened was, she now explained, that after visiting several
shops and making a number of purchases, she had stepped into Central
Park at the Plaza for a breath of fresh air before lunching at the
Sherry-Netherlands, where she planned to meet some friends.

But before advancing a hundred yards along the secluded path, she had
been seized by invisible hands--had felt something strapped to her
wrist, before anyone came in sight--and then, invisible too, had been
lifted up, whirled away into a vast, humming vibration that sounded
through the air.

Once on the disc, it had swept off into space at incredible speed,
pausing only when some hundreds of miles above the earth and invisible
from below without mechanical aid. When its vibration finally ceased
that amazing city had leapt before her eyes.

Then, her own visibility restored, she had been led into the presence
of that mighty little monarch, Cor, who explained that she had been
seized as a hostage and would be held as an ace in the hole, pending
conquest of her country. Since when she had been a prisoner aboard the
disc.

* * * * *

Learning of Kendrick's capture, from gossip among the women, she had
taken the first opportunity of coming to him, in the hope that between
them they might devise some means of escape.

Indeed, that was his own fondest hope--their imperative need, if the
people of America and of the earth were to be saved from this
appalling menace. But what basis was there for such a fantastic hope?
Just one, that he could see.

"That thing on your wrist," he said, voicing it. "I'm surprised they
let you wear one of those."

"They don't," she smiled. "I stole it!--from one of the maids in my
apartment. It was the only way I could get here without being seen. I
felt I must see you at once. We've got to do something, soon, or it'll
be too late. I felt that, as a scientist, you might have some idea how
we could get off."

"How do the people themselves get off?" he asked. "That escalator
ray--do you know how they use it?"

"No, I've never been able to find out. They don't let me go near that
part of the city."

Kendrick reflected a momen