at ease.

If anything--while the wide world went happily about its
business--really high-level officialdom grew more unhappy day by day.
Coburn and Janice flew back to Salonika. They went in a Navy plane with
a fighter plane escort. They landed at the Salonika airport, and the
Greek general was among those who greeted them.

He took them out to the villa he'd placed at the disposal of high
authority for their use. He displayed it proudly. There was absolutely
no sign that it had been touched by anybody since its original builders
had finished with it two-hundred-odd years before. The American officer
who had wired it, though--he looked as if he were short a week's
sleep--showed them how anywhere on the grounds or in the house they
would need only to speak a code-word and they'd instantly be answered.

There were servants, and the Greek general took Coburn aside and assured
him that there was one room which absolutely was not wired for sound. He
named it.

So they took up a relatively normal way of life. Sometimes they decided
that it would be pleasant to drive in to Salonika. They mentioned it,
and went out and got in the car that went with the villa. Oddly, there
was always some aircraft lazying about overhead by the time they were
out of the gate. They always returned before sunset. And sometimes they
swam in the water before the villa's door. Then, also, they were careful
to be back on solid ground before sunset. That was so their guards out
on the water wouldn't have to worry.

But it was a nagging and an unhappy business to know that they were
watched and overheard everywhere save in that one unwired room. It could
have made for tension between them. But there was another thought to
hold them together. This was the knowledge that they were literally
living on top of a bomb. If an Invader's flying ship descended at the
villa, everything that happened would be heard and seen by microphones
and concealed television cameras. If the Invaders were too arrogant, or
if they were arbitrary, there would be a test to see if their ship could
exist in the heart of an atom-bomb explosion.

* * * * *

Coburn and Janice, then, were happy after a fashion. But nobody could
call their situation restful.

They had very few visitors. The Greek general came out meticulously
every day. Hallen came out once, but he knew about the atomic bomb. He
didn't stay long. When they'd been in residence a wee