he tunnel with a
methodical stride. We were aware of him climbing over the noisome
litter of the dead giant's body which blocked the tunnel's further end.
We heard his astonished exclamations. But evidently he did not suspect
what had happened, thinking only that the stupid messenger had
miscalculated his growth and had been crushed.

We emerged into a less dim area. Polter did not stop at the fallen
giant. Nothing mattered now to him, quite evidently, save his own exit
with Babs from this atomic realm. His movements seemed calm, yet
hurried.

We realized now how different an outward journey was from the trip
coming in. This was all only an inch of golden quartz! The stages upward
were frequently only a matter of growth in size; the distances in this
vast desert realm of golden rock always were shrinking. Polter many
times stood almost motionless until the closing, dwindling walls made
him scramble upward into the greater space above.

It may have been an hour, or less. Babs and I, from our smaller
viewpoint, with the landscape so frequently blurred by distance and
Polter's movements, seldom recognized where we were. But I realized
going out was far easier in every way than coming in. Easier to
determine the route, since usually the diminishing caverns and gullies
made the upward step obvious.... We knew when Polter scrambled up the
incline ramp.

It seemed impossible for us to plan anything. Would Polter make the
entire trip without a stop? It seemed so. We had no drugs, and our cage
was barred beyond possibility of our getting out. But even if we had had
the drugs, or had our door been open, there was no escape. An abyss of
distance was always yawning beyond our lattice--the sheer precipice of
Polter's body from his chest to the ground.

"Babs, we must make him stop. It he sits down to rest you might get him
to take you out. I must reach his drugs."

"Yes. I'll try it, George."

Polter was momentarily standing motionless as though gazing around him,
judging what to do next. His size seemed stationary. Beyond our bars we
could see the distant circular walls as though this were some giant
crater-pit in which Polter was standing. Then I thought I recognized
it--the round, nearly vertical pit into which Alan had plunged his hand
and arm. Above us then was a gully, blind at one end. And above that,
the outer surface, the summit of the fragment of golden quartz.

"Babs, I know where we are! If he takes you out, ke