nty-nine minutes or so,
the Place would be a sun in a bag.

* * * * *

Erich was the first to get down to business, as I'd have laid any odds
he would be. He had the jump on us and he wasn't going to lose it.

"Well, when are you going to start getting Lili to tell us where she hid
the Maintainer? It has to be her--she was too certain it was gone
forever when she talked. And Bruce must have seen from the bar who took
the Maintainer, and who would he cover up for but his girl?"

There he was plagiarizing my ideas, but I guess I was willing to sign
them over to him in full if he got us the right pail of water for that
time-bomb.

He glanced at his wrist. "According to my Caller, you have twenty-nine
and a half minutes, including the time it will take to get a Door or
contact headquarters. When are you going to get busy on the girl?"

Bruce laughed a little--deprecatingly, so help me--and started toward
him. "Look here, old man," he said, "there's no need to trouble Lili, or
to fuss with headquarters, even if you could. Really not at all. Not to
mention that your surmises are quite unfounded, old chap, and I'm a bit
surprised at your advancing them. But that's quite all right because, as
it happens, I'm an atomics technician and I even worked on that very
bomb. To disarm it, you just have to fiddle a bit with some of the
ankhs, those hoopy little crosses. Here, let me--"

Allah il allah, but it must have struck everybody as it did me as being
just too incredible an assertion, too bloody British a bare-faced bluff,
for Erich didn't have to say a word; Mark and Sevensee grabbed Bruce by
the arms, one on each side, as he stooped toward the bronze chest, and
they weren't gentle about it. Then Erich spoke.

"Oh, no, Bruce. Very sporting of you to try to cover up for your girl
friend, but we aren't going to let ourselves be blown to stripped atoms
twenty-eight minutes too soon while you monkey with the buttons, the
very thing Benson-Carter warned against, and pray for a guesswork
miracle. It's too thin, Bruce, when you come from 1917 and haven't been
on the Big Time for a hundred sleeps and were calling for an A-tech
yourself a few hours ago. Much too thin. Bruce, something is going to
happen that I'm afraid you won't like, but you're going to have to put
up with it. That is, unless Miss Foster decides to be cooperative."

"I say, you fellows, let me go," Bruce demanded, struggling
experi