it over and
over again?"

Ernie scowled and stopped. They were outside the plant door. "Boy," he
said, "you are a bug, ain't you? What are you trying to give me?"

"Just an idea, Ernie."

The suspicion that Jory was needling him came back. "Well, I don't
like it," Ernie said scornfully. "In fact, I think it's nuts." He
paused to think of something else to say, then shrugged and turned.
"I'll see you later. I got to get in to work."

* * * * *

And now here he was, Ernie thought, sitting in his own room with
Jory's face looking at him out of the blue screen.

_The whole day has been nuts_, Ernie told himself.

"Hello, Ernie," Jory's voice repeated tiredly. "Hello, Ernie....
Hello, Ernie--"

Ernie threw his beer can on the floor. Foam spewed out and soaked the
rug. "All right," Ernie bellowed, "All right--Hello!"

Jory stopped. He put his hand to his head and looked excited. He was
wearing earphones, Ernie saw.

"Ernie!" Jory said. "Do you see me?" He looked blindly out of the
screen.

In his rage, Ernie nearly kicked in the face of the set. "Yes, I see
you! What are you trying to pull?"

Jory turned excitedly to someone beside him, but off the screen. "I've
got him," he said quickly. "He's awake." He turned and faced Ernie.

"Look, Ernie, I can't see you but we've got a microphone in your room.
I can hear every word you say. Now sit down for a minute and let me
explain."

"You'd better," Ernie said ominously.

"Are you sitting?"

"Yeah, I'm sitting. Get on with it."

"I've been on your screen every night for the past week, Ernie. We
took over the station. And we've been broadcasting to you on all
channels for the past week."

Ernie shook his head. "You're nuts," he mumbled.

"It's true, Ernie."

"But--" A thought struck him. "Hey, are other people getting this on
their sets?"

"Everyone in the city, Ernie. But they aren't seeing it. As far as we
can tell they think they're watching their usual programs. Everyone is
in a trance, Ernie. They just go through the same motions over and
over. It was the same with the engineers here. We just pushed them
aside. They're tied up now. We're keeping them under drugs. We had to
do that. When they were loose they just tried to get back at the
controls. But that was all, they never really saw us."

Ernie shook his head again. "Wait a minute. Let me get my head
clear--O.K., now you say everybody is in some kind of trance. _Wh