hangar where
stood her little jetticopter plane. "Let's get in here," she said. "I'm
freezing and I don't want you to be seen around here."

She didn't put on the lights, yet even in the dark Lee could see the
golden helmet of her hair shimmering like the pale gold in the halo of
the Virgin as the primitive art of Tuscany presented her a thousand
years ago. She nestled the soft fur of her coat against Lee's shoulders
and as she did he felt her shivering. He put a protecting arm around
her, careful to do it as a friend, careful to suppress the surge of
blood which started burning in his veins. She seemed to be groping for
words; it took a little while before she began to speak, with clarity
and simplicity as she always did but with an audible effort to keep
composed:

"I've brought you a suitcase, Semper, with a few necessities. And I
brought you some money, later you can send me your check. And here are
the keys of the plane. Fly over to Mexico; go back to Australia from
there or anywhere you want, but _do_ get out of this country and do it
quick. I couldn't tell you that over the phone and I shouldn't be
telling this to you now, but I feel I must.

"You're in danger and it's serious. Why? I don't know, but Howard seems
to suspect your loyalty. He also seems to think that you've gone out of
your mind. And Howard has taken measures; he has ordered re-examination
of your broad aptitude test. He has voiced his suspicion as to your
sanity to Bondy and Mellish and you know what kind of yes-men those
fellows are in the face of an authority like Scriven's. Trust them to
discover something wrong with you, trust them to give the test some kind
of a convenient twist. They're going to have you certified, they're
going to put you into a mental institution, Semper.

"Do you get that? Do you realize that it's fate worse than death? Do you
understand that there is nothing you can do to escape that fate except
by flight? I have no idea when it's going to be, this trap they're going
to spring on you; but for God's sake, Semper, get going as long as
there's still time. Any moment now some plainclothesman might grab you
by the arm and then...."

It was she who had grabbed him by the arm, Oona who looked into his
face, her big eyes moist.

Lee strained his willpower so it would control the tremor of his voice:

"Oona; there's one thing I have got to know: What made you tell me
this--and do all this so I could get away?"

The girl