a did.

"Excuse me a minute," he said. He swiveled to his desk. He picked up his
phone and dialed. He waited. "... Peggy? This is me. I won't be home
for dinner tonight. A case just came in...." He hung up.

He turned back to Julia.

"Now, about this space station. How is it we haven't seen it?"

"I assume it has a distortion field around it. It's invisible."

"Hummmm." He entered that in his notebook. "Is there any way we could
detect it?"

"I.... If I were able to talk to a physicist, he might be able to build
detection equipment. It would take time."

"I see. Now, about this Walt. How dangerous would you say he is?"

"I disconnected the bridge in his mind."

"Bridge?"

"I call it that. It's what makes us different. It could be built into a
normal human being, I think."

"You mean," he said, "I could be fixed up to do the things you can do?
Teleportation? Telepathy?"

"If I were a surgeon, I think I could change your brain to our pattern.
I can see how it should be done. But I'd have to train to be able to.
Surgery is a skill; it takes practice to master it."

"How long?"

"I don't know."

"How long until the invasion?"

"I don't know that either. I don't know whether or not I can find out
from Walt. I doubt if he has enough information to tell me. Very soon
now. Less than a month. Maybe even tomorrow."

"There's no time, then," he said. He chewed his lip. "I see.... The Air
Force still has its saucer files. I'm going to refer you to it."

"We haven't much time. Remember that."

The F.B.I. man looked at his watch. "There's a plane to Washington in
three hours. I'll get you reservations on it. I'll phone the head office
there. There'll be somebody from the Air Force to meet you."

"I'll leave at eight, is that right?"

"From the city airport. Just a minute. I'm going to assign a man to you.
I don't want anything happening between now and then."

"I can look out for myself," Julia said. "I'll pick up my ticket and
Walt's at the reservation booth. 'Bye."

The F.B.I. man blinked his eyes. She had vanished. He got up and
searched the office carefully. The door had not opened.

But she was gone.

Sweating, he went to the phone.

In less than two minutes, he was talking to Washington. When he
recradled the phone, he was shaking. He took out his pipe, filled it,
lit it, walked to the window.

He looked out at the twilight city. A lone star sparkled in the sky. He
stared upwards.

"My God,