high speed toward the first stage.

They emerged into a bewildering scene of activity. Soldiers were
fastening on lead suits, talking excitedly to each other, shouting back
and forth. Guns were being given out, instructions passed.

Taylor studied one of the soldiers. He was armed with the dreaded Bender
pistol, the new snub-nosed hand weapon that was just beginning to come
from the assembly line. Some of the soldiers looked a little frightened.

"I hope we're not making a mistake," Moss said, noticing his gaze.

Franks came toward them. "Here's the program. The three of us are going
up first, alone. The soldiers will follow in fifteen minutes."

"What are we going to tell the leadys?" Taylor worriedly asked. "We'll
have to tell them something."

"We want to observe the new Soviet attack." Franks smiled ironically.
"Since it seems to be so serious, we should be there in person to
witness it."

"And then what?" Taylor said.

"That'll be up to them. Let's go."

* * * * *

In a small car, they went swiftly up the Tube, carried by anti-grav
beams from below. Taylor glanced down from time to time. It was a long
way back, and getting longer each moment. He sweated nervously inside
his suit, gripping his Bender pistol with inexpert fingers.

Why had they chosen him? Chance, pure chance. Moss had asked him to come
along as a Department member. Then Franks had picked him out on the spur
of the moment. And now they were rushing toward the surface, faster and
faster.

A deep fear, instilled in him for eight years, throbbed in his mind.
Radiation, certain death, a world blasted and lethal--

Up and up the car went. Taylor gripped the sides and closed his eyes.
Each moment they were closer, the first living creatures to go above the
first stage, up the Tube past the lead and rock, up to the surface. The
phobic horror shook him in waves. It was death; they all knew that.
Hadn't they seen it in the films a thousand times? The cities, the sleet
coming down, the rolling clouds--

"It won't be much longer," Franks said. "We're almost there. The surface
tower is not expecting us. I gave orders that no signal was to be sent."

The car shot up, rushing furiously. Taylor's head spun; he hung on, his
eyes shut. Up and up....

The car stopped. He opened his eyes.

They were in a vast room, fluorescent-lit, a cavern filled with
equipment and machinery, endless mounds of material piled in row a