* * * *

It occurred to me that Mary might very well be safer here.

Again I leaned over her. "It seems horrible to leave you alone."

"I'll stay. It may be best." Her smile was pathetically tremulous.
"Lock me in so Tugh--so nothing outside--can reach me. But, oh,
George, come back quickly!"

"Yes." I bent lower, and whispered, "It's Larry, not Tugh I really
want to find--he and that Princess Tina. We'll come back and get you,
and then all of us will get away in one of the Time-cages. That's all
I want, Mary--to get us safely out of this accursed Time-world."

Migul said, "I am ready to start."

I pressed Mary's hand. "Good-by. I will come back soon, God willing."

"Yes. God willing."

I left her sitting there and turned away. Migul slid the door open,
letting in the hum and buzz of the machinery outside. But I saw that
the attending Robots had all vanished. There was no mechanism of
independent locomotion left.

Mary repeated, "Lock the door carefully upon me. Oh, George, come back
to me!"

I essayed a smile and a nod as the door slid closed upon her.

"Is it locked, Migul?"

"Yes. Sealed."

"You are sure Tugh cannot open it? He did before."

"I have set my own lock-series. He will find it does not open."

"Show me how to open it."

* * * * *

The Robot indicated the combination. I verified it by trying it. I
said once more, "You are sure Tugh cannot do this?"

"Yes. I am sure."

Was the Robot lying to me? Could a Robot lie? I had to chance it.

"All right, let's start. Where was Tugh to meet those Robot leaders?"

"Out here. He has already met them without doubt, and gone somewhere
else."

"He said he was going to the Princess Tina. Where would that be?"

"Probably in the palace."

"Can we get there?"

I had, of course, no idea of the events which had transpired. The
laboratory overhead was deserted, save for the upper tower where a
Robot was still broadcasting defiance. His electrical voice floated
faintly down to us; but I ignored it. In the comparative silence of
this deserted cavern, now, there were also the blurred sounds from
overhead. The Robots were running wild over the city, massacring its
human inhabitants; they had burned the Patrol Station; their red and
violet rays were flashing everywhere. But I knew none of this.

Migul was saying:

"We cannot get to the palace above ground: the wall is electrified.
But there is an un