ble place to sleep, and food is
not far away."

"How is that?"

"Why, the stores level is not far below. Most of New York's structures
have a number of residential levels at the top, then a floor of retail
stores, and below that amusement places, offices, and factories."

"But whatever food there was must be decayed by this time."

"The fresh food, yes. But there was a lot of canned stuff, and that is
probably all right." He pushed open a door. In the eery light a
well-furnished living room was revealed. "You wait here, and I'll see
what I can rustle up."

"But I want to go with you."

Allan was inflexible. "Please do as I say. I have my reasons."

The girl turned away. "Oh, very well," she said flatly, "if you don't
want me with you."

"That's a good scout. I'll be back just as quickly as I can. And, by
the way, lock the door from the inside, and don't open it till you
hear my voice."

The girl looked at him wonderingly. "But--" she began.

"Don't ask me why. Do it." There was a curious note in Allan's voice,
one that cut off Naomi's question. The door shut, and Dane heard the
bolt shoot home.

He stood in the corridor, listening intently, his face strained. There
was no sound save that of Naomi's movements behind the locked door.
Allan turned to search for the auxiliary staircase that must be
somewhere near the bank of ascendor doors.

Silence was again around him, almost tangible in its heaviness. His
footsteps reverberated through dead halls, the echo curiously muffled
by the coating of slime that spread dankly green. Allan found the
staircase well, descended cautiously, pausing often to listen. Not
even the faint scuttering of vermin rewarded him.

* * * * *

At last, three stories down, he reached the stores level. Here, in a
great open hall, were the numerous alcoved recesses of the shops. Once
thronged, and gaudy with the varicolored goods brought by plane and
heavy-bellied rocket-freighter from both hemispheres, the vast space
was a desert of moldering dust heaps, brooding. There was a faint odor
in the stagnant air--of spices, and rustling silks, of rare perfumes,
of all the luxury of the Golden Age that Man's folly had ended.

Allan searched the long shelves feverishly, a nervous urge to complete
his task and get back to Naomi tingling in his veins. Once he stopped
suddenly, his body twisting to the stair landing. He seemed to have
heard something, an indefin