Dr. Gerard climbed upon the table, and with Randall's and McClellan's
help, pulled himself up into the opening. He hung outside by his hands
for a moment, then dropped to the ground below. McClellan was next,
pulling his lanky body up to the opening, with Randall boosting.
Settling himself on the sill, he reached a hand down to Randall.
Just then a giant Kralon stepped into the room. Its faceted eyes
regarded them for a moment in almost ludicrous surprise. It turned
its head, clacked a message to companions in the hall, then scurried
rapidly toward Randall, two more Kralons close behind it.
Randall had just touched McClellan's hand when the foremost Kralon
caught the table with a hooked foreleg, sliding it and Randall away
from the opening.
"Hurry up!" he told McClellan. "Jump!"
McClellan hesitated.
"You can't help me alone," Randall urged. "Get back to the stockade and
get help!"
McClellan was still undecided. He started to drop back into the room,
then as if realizing the truth of Randall's words, he turned and leaped
from the opening to the ground below.
Randall stepped calmly from the table to the floor and held his hands
above his head in universal gesture of surrender.
"Okay," he said quietly. "Now what?"
The Kralons apparently understood. Without touching Randall, one of
them motioned toward the corridor.
Doctor Gerard and McClellan scrambled to their feet outside the
building.
"We'd better get help, fast!" said McClellan.
* * * * *
In Gordo Lanson's hut, Lanson acquainted Dr. Gerard and McClellan with
his theory, and told them of his tentative plans.
Dr. Gerard was faintly hopeful, but immediately voiced an objection.
"How do you propose to escape the Kralons long enough to acquaint
yourself with the operation of the Time Trap, and to perform the
necessary experimentation?"
"We thought perhaps you could help us there, Dr. Gerard," said Lanson.
"You're a physiological chemist, are you not?"
"Used to be," admitted Dr. Gerard. "But of late years I have concerned
myself more with my avocation of Entomology. That is, it _was_ an
avocation until I met the Kralons.
"But that isn't the thing of immediate importance," he continued. "The
Kralons have captured Randall. We've got to find some way of helping
him!"
"That would be pretty hard to do now," said Zor Ala. "The Kralons have
turned the spotlights on the stockade, and apparently are sending out
guards. I'm afraid Randall will have to take care of himself for the
present."
"Say, how about Jackson?" said McClellan.
"He's back," replied Lanson. "According to his story, he was caught in
the Hive corridor."
"Too bad," remarked McClellan laconically, leaving a doubt as to what
was too bad.
Zor Ala and Lanson grinned appreciatively, but McClellan was deeply
absorbed in thought.
"We've got to do something to help Randall!" he insisted. "That's why
the doctor and I left him and came to the stockade.--To get help!"
"How?" asked Zor Ala.
McClellan shrugged helplessly.
Then his dilemma was solved by a voice outside the hut which asked:
"May I come in?"
"Randall!" shouted McClellan exuberantly.
"How did you do it?" asked Dr. Gerard and McClellan simultaneously.
Randall shrugged. "I didn't," he said. "They just decided that I was
entirely harmless, and brought me safely back to the stockade."
McClellan eyed him suspiciously, remembering the agent's flailing metal
bar. "That isn't all of it," he accused darkly.
Randall grinned. "Well, not quite all," he admitted. "When they took me
to the conference room and questioned me, I inferred I had knowledge of
what destroyed their race in the future. I told them that if they would
return me to the stockade for consultation with my companions, I would
give them that information later. They took me up on it."
Zor Ala was the first to ask: "Do you really mean that you have an idea
what destroyed the Kralons?"
Randall nodded. "I think so," he said. "I believe there's a good
possibility that it was--"
Just then the door opened again, and Jackson stepped into the hut.
"Outside intervention," completed Randall, regarding the new arrival
with expressionless eyes.
Jackson looked at Randall sharply, as if wondering whether the last
words applied to him.
"What's up?" he asked. "When did you get back, Randall?--And Gerard and
McClellan," he added, seeing the other two men. "How did you make out?"
"Didn't accomplish a thing, unfortunately," said Randall. "How about
you?"
Jackson shook his head. "I got caught in the corridor. What's the
conference about?"
"We were just discussing--" began Lanson, when Randall interrupted.
"Plans for the future," he completed. "Now how about us all getting
some sleep. The night is almost over, and none of us have had any rest."
The others took the hint, and all agreed that it was far past bedtime.
Randall didn't sleep much, but he did rest his weary body in
preparation for the day to come.