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outwardly. Captain Greco of Badger, before he dropped down into hyperspace, said that it fitted the
ident foto made fifteen years ago to the last jot and tittle, except
Except ? Gram asked, grinding his molars. I ve got to stop grinding my teeth, he realized; I
broke right through that upper right cap, that time. That should have taught me. He leaned back, fooled
with his pillows.
Except, General Hefele said, some of the exterior sensors were either missing or visibly
changed, possibly damaged. And of course the hull was deeply pitted.
Badger could see all that? Gram said wonderingly.
The new Knewdsen radar scopes, the so-called eyepiece models, can
Be quiet. Gram was consulting his watch. I ll time them, he said vigorously. It s been about
three minutes already, hasn t it? I ll make it five, just to be on the safe side. He sat in silence,
studying his Omega watch; everyone else studied his own.
Five minutes passed.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Over in the corner, Camelia Grimes, the Minister of Job Opportunities and Education, began to
sniffle quietly into her lace handkerchief. He lured them to their death, she half-spoke, half-
whispered huskily. Oh, dear, it s so sad, just so sad. All those men lost.
Gram said, Yeah, that s sad. It s also sad, too, that he got by a picket ship. One chance in
what? A billion? That a picket ship would pick it up in the first place. It almost looked like then and
there we had him. Nailed down; snuffed, as a sight for his alien friends to witness.
To General Hefele, General Rayburn said, Are there any other ships which might pick up the
Gray Dinosaur when and if it emerges from hyperspace?
General Hefele said, No.
So we won t know if it emerged, Gram said. Maybe it was destroyed, too, along with Badger.
We ll know when and if it comes out of hyperspace, General Hefele said, because as soon as it
emerges, it ll begin transmitting that signal on the forty meter band, again. To an aide he said, Have
my com-net monitor for a renewed indication of their transmission. To Gram he said, I m assuming
You may so assume, General Rayburn said. No radio signal can pass out of hyperspace into
paraspace.
General Hefele said to his aide, Find out if Provoni s signal was cut off a few minutes ago.
A moment later, through the intercom equipment which he wore from several neck straps, the
tall, young aide had his message. Signal cut out twenty-two minutes ago and has not resumed.
They re still in hyperspace, General Hefele said. And the signal may never resume; it may be
all over.
I still want your resignation, Gram said.
A red light lit up on the console of his desk. He picked up the appropriate fone and said, Yes?
You have her with you?
Miss Charlotte Boyer, his third-level clearance A receptionist said. Brought in here by two
PSS men who had to drag her all the way. My goodness, their shins are going to be blade and blue
tomorrow, and she bit one on the hand; it tore a whole lot of flesh loose, and he s going to have to go
to the infirmary right away.
Gram said, Get four military MPs to spell the PSS men. When you have them, and they ve got
her completely under control, then let me know and I ll see her.
Yes sir.
If a certain individual named Denny Strong barges into the building looking for her, Gram said,
I want him arrested for trespassing and I want him in a jail cell immediately. If he tries to physically
break into my office, here, I want the guards to snuff him. On the spot. The second his hand touches
the handle to the door to this room. I could have done it once myself, Gram thought. But now I m too
old and my reflexes are too slow. Nonetheless, he lifted the lid at the corner of his desk-top . . . which
brought the butt of a .38 magnum pistol within easy reach. If Nicholas Appleton s mental image of
him and his knowledge of him are correct, then I d better be ready, he thought. And good God, he
thought, I have to be ready vis-à-vis Nick Appleton just because he left the building voluntarily and
with no show of violence, there s no guarantee that he ll continue to go along with this.
That s the trouble with being that age, he reflected. You idealize the whole woman, her self, her
personality . . . but at my age it s simply how good a lay they d make and that s that. I ll enjoy her,
use her up, teach her a few things she probably doesn t know about sexual relations even though
she s been around that she hasn t dreamed up. She can be my little fish, for example. And once
she learns them, does them, she ll remember them the rest of her life. They ll haunt her, the memory
of them . . . but on some level she ll be yearning for them again: they were so nice. Let s see what
Nick Appleton, or Denny Strong, or whoever gets her after me, will do to gratify that. And she won t
be able to force herself to tell him what it is that s the matter.
He chuckled.
Council Chairman, General Hefele said, I have news from my aide. His aide bent over him,
covertly speaking into his ear. I regret to say the forty meters signal has resumed.
That s that, Gram said stoically. I knew they d come back out; they wouldn t have gone in if
they hadn t known they could handle it . . . and Badger couldn t. Laboriously, he heaved himself up
to a sitting position, then rolled over, extended a massive leg, raised himself to a standing position.
My bathrobe, he said, looking around.
I have it, sir, Camelia Grimes said; she held it up for him to back into. Now your slippers.
General Hefele said frigidly, They re right by your feet. And thought, Do you need someone to
put them on for you, Council Chairman? You gigantic mushroom that has to be waited on day and
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