't have let her get away. I should
have--what should I have done? Could I have?

I could have....

He shook his head. No: that wouldn't have fooled her either.

_Forential, what am I going to do now?_

Walt sat down. He tried to think things out. I'm no good, he thought.
The only thing I'm good for is to kill earthlings. I ought to be ashamed
of myself.

... I'm alone, he thought. Things are going all wrong.

I've ... I've got to learn to depend on myself.

I've always depended too much on Forential.

I've always been told what to do, he thought. It's time for me to begin
telling myself what to do.

He nodded his head at the truth of this. I'm on my own, he thought.
Well, by God, it's time to face that! I'll stop her some way.

Forential is depending on me!

At last it occurred to him to try to locate Julia. He concentrated. He
formed Julia's pattern in his mind. He sought to equate it with reality.
For a moment of bleak despair, he felt nothing. Then the pattern and
reality overlapped. He fixed her in space. He had her. She was fleeing
in an automobile.

And--she had changed! She was now--as she had been once before--as
impotent as an earthling.

He sprang to his feet. Elation filled him. A rising tide of confidence
swept over him.

Damn, damn, damn! he thought in excited delight. She's mine now!

_Julia, oh Julia, can you hear me?_

She couldn't.

He could feel her fleeing.

I'll show her now, he thought with savage satisfaction.

_Wait'll I catch you!_

There'll be no nonsense about privacy this time! he promised himself.
I'll kill her where ever I find her. Forential may not like it as well
as--to hell with Forential!

* * * * *

Outside the hotel, in the crisp, fresh night air, Walt plunged into the
crowd emptying from a theater, whose marquee, "Junkeroo", flashed
lonesomely above the sidewalk.

I'll need a car to overtake her, he thought.

He remembered back to his first ride. I can operate one, he thought, if
I can start it. It's easy.

Julia lies in that direction. I'll catch her in no time.

He heard a car door open behind him.

He spun on his heel and walked back to the car. The driver, settled
behind the wheel, was just depressing the light stud when Walt cut in
front of it and came abreast of the driver's side.

"You're the one I'm looking for," he said.

"Eh?"

"Move over!"

The owner was a heavy, middle aged man; he snorted and narro