became mere fantasy. And nothing
could be made from fantasy.

But Soames found frustration rampant even among the men who were most
successful with the fantasy-trick. There were new devices. They were
triumphs. They were plainly the beginnings of progress of a brand-new
kind, not derived wholly from the present, and certainly not imitative
of the children's. But the devices couldn't be used. Their existence
couldn't be revealed. Because anything of unprecedented design would
seem to have been learned from the children, and the United States
insisted--truthfully--that so far it had learned nothing from them. But
nobody would believe it if a spate of astonishing technological
improvements began to appear in the United States.

Dislike of America rose to new heights anyhow. But presently some trace
of suspicion began to appear in the actions of the anti-American
nations. Before the broadcast, a dirty trick had been prepared against
America. It developed and succeeded. It was not discovered until too
late. Somebody tried another one. It wasn't anticipated or stopped. A
very lively and extremely tempting idea occurred in quarters where the
United States was much disliked. But nobody dared quite believe it--yet.

Then Fran disappeared. He vanished as if into thin air. At one moment he
was in the heavily guarded surface area over the hidden base in the
Rockies. The next moment he was gone. Three separate lines of
electrified fence protected the area from intrusion, with sentries and
watching-posts besides. But Fran disappeared as if he'd never been. It
was not easy to imagine that he'd run away. His English was still very
limited. His ignorance of American ways was abysmal. He couldn't hope to
hide and find food while accomplishing anything at all. On the other
hand, for him to have been kidnapped out of the top-secret base was
unthinkable. Yet if he had ...

Soames got transportation to the Rocky Mountain installation.

He was shocked when he saw Gail.

CHAPTER 8

She smiled faintly in the darkness after they'd paused on the way to the
cottage, and after Soames had released her.

"When this is all over, we'll have our life together, you know that,
don't you?"

"I'm glad," she said quietly, "that you feel the way you do. I'm
thinner. I'm not very pretty just now. But it's because I'm worried,
Brad."

He muttered angrily. He felt that infuriated rage which was appropriate
because something worried Gail.