Nils said into the microphone, "Don't worry about me. You watch out for
those lions."
He glanced at his watch. He had been on duty now only twenty minutes.
An hour and forty minutes to go before his plunge. Usually you took it
first, in order to be in your best condition, rested and untired. But,
because Nils had got out of order owing to his trip upstairs, he had to
take his plunge after he had already been on duty for two hours.
That was bad. He would be just a little tired. He wouldn't be quite in
the right condition. His responses would be just a shade off. The work
would be just that much more dangerous.
And then he thought, What if I don't get back? What if it's my last
plunge? What if I don't get that air lion? What if I die down there,
Siegfried unprovided for?