something occurred to him. The base line
instrument had to be aimed exactly right for Vale or Sattell to pick
up his voice as carried by its beam. Vale's or Sattell's instruments
had to be aimed as accurately to convey their voices to him. Yet after
the struggle he'd overheard, and after Vale had been either subdued or
killed, someone or something seemed to have picked up the
communicator, and Lockley had heard squeakings, and then he had heard
the instrument smashed.

It was not easy to understand how the beam had been kept perfectly
aligned while it was picked up and squeaked at. Still less was it
understandable that it remained aimed just right so he could hear when
it was flung down and crushed.

But somehow this oddity did not change his feelings. Jill could be in
danger from creatures Vale said were not human. Lockley didn't wholly
accept that non-human angle, but something was happening there and
Jill was in the middle of it. So he went to see about it for the sake
of his self-respect. And Jill. It was not reasonable behavior. It was
emotional. He didn't stop to question what was believable and what
wasn't. Lockley didn't even give any attention to the problem of how a
microwave beam could stay pointed exactly right while the instrument
that sent it was picked up, and squeaked at, and smashed. He gave that
particular matter no thought at all.

He jammed down the accelerator of the car and headed for Boulder
Lake.

CHAPTER 2

The car was ordinary enough; it was one of those scaled-down vehicles
which burn less fuel and offer less comfort than the so-called
standard models. For fuel economy too, its speed had been lowered. But
Lockley sent it up the brand-new highway as fast as it would go.

Now the highway followed a broad valley with a meadow-like floor. Now
it seemed to pick its way between cliffs, and on occasion it ran over
a concrete bridge spanning some swiftly flowing stream. At least once
it went through a cut which might as well have been a tunnel, and the
crackling noise of its motor echoed back from stony walls on either
side.

He did not see another vehicle for a long way. Deer, he saw twice.
Over and over again coveys of small birds rocketed up from beside the
road and dived to cover after he had passed. Once he saw movement out
of the corner of his eye and looked automatically to see what it was,
but saw nothing. Which meant that it was probably a mountain lion,
blending perfectly w