ion and a remembrance of why he
had come here.

When he walked among the shells this time he carried a large basket with
him and he picked up shells and dropped them into the basket, selecting
those that were the most alien.

In due time the basket was filled to overflowing and Sutter stood still,
waiting. Once more the surrounding landscape underwent its change. After
the whirling had ceased and the initial feeling of vertigo had passed
Sutter carried the full basket back to the car and began the long drive
home.

As he drove he mused over what Travail would say when he saw these
shells. Then on second thought, he decided not to show them to him.
Travail was getting on his nerves. He had obviously lied about his
interest in shells. On discussing the subject with him Sutter found he
did not know the first thing about them. In fact, he regretted taking
him in as a roommate.

He was convinced that Travail's friendly good-fellowship attitude was
just a pose, cloaking a so far mysterious motive. But it could be that
Travail knew of the value of Sutter's shell collection. Yesterday a
letter had come from the Federal Arts Museum offering five thousand
credits for the lot, and while he had made no mention of the amount,
Sutter had been foolish enough to tell Travail there had been an offer.

"Are you going to sell?" Travail had asked.

"Certainly not. They're worth five times the price they offered."

"Are they really?" said Travail. "That makes my own collection seem
worthless by comparison."

Oh, Travail could be clever all right! Why else had he made no comment
about the alien shells they both had seen on the television set, if he
did know something of the value of shells?

Arriving home, Sutter entered by the rear door and carried the basket of
shells to his bedroom. There he took them out and one by one spread them
on the table. He drew a goose-necked lamp down close and from the table
drawer took out a powerful ato-magnifying glass. Then he selected one of
the larger shells and began to examine it.

* * * * *

After a while he took a small keyhole saw which he kept for such
purposes, and very carefully began to cut the shell into two equal
portions. Once again he moved the ato-glass and began to study one of
the sections. But the lamp was not very powerful, and insufficient for
the tiny details. Sutter abruptly remembered the four-position lamp in
the sitting room. He took the