the wonderful calm and serenity he felt. His job was done, his
mission completed. Time for him had ceased to exist. Danger--he had no
consciousness of it. Slowly he stepped out in the corridor. It felt like
walking on air. There, it was Vivian Leahy who brought him down to
earth. She came rushing out of the archive laden with precious records
up to her chin. Under the provoking red of her hair the face looked pale
and pinched: "Where are the doctors?" she panted.

"I don't know," Lee said. "They left me a moment ago--rather suddenly."

"The rats! Leaving me to get their chestnuts out of the fire for them.
How d'you like that?"

Her flippant manner was nothing but a brave front she put up to hide the
panic in her heart. Lee sensed it. There was an unexpected
responsibility thrust into his hands. His mission was not yet completed;
he had to get this girl to safety.

She followed the direction of his glance.

"No go," she said. "They took the elevator. It will be some time before
another one comes up. If it does come. What are we two going to do now,
Dr. Lee?"

He smiled down to her as he would have to a child lost in the woods.

"Never you fear, Vivian. We still have that other exit. We can use the
glideway through The Brain."

"Through the fire?"

"Yes. I think we can make it if you're a brave girl. Know where the gas
masks are and asbestos suits? There ought to be some in every
Apperception Center."

"How about these records? Your own amongst the lot!"

"Leave them; they aren't worth risking your life for. You can believe
that."

She dropped them instantly: "I like you, Dr. Lee, you're a real
old-school cavalier. My doctors here, they'd rather see me burn to a
crisp than any of those records. Come on, I'll show you the gas masks
and the other stuff."

* * * * *

He helped her to put on the outfit. "Ready to go?" he asked.

"With you? To the end of the world at any day." Proudly she marched him
off toward the rear exit.

The glideways were operating. At an accelerated pace, they rushed
through the maze of The Brain with the swish and the swoosh of surf
racing across a coral reef. They had to grab for dear life at the rails.

"Hold tight," Lee cried as he saw the girl go down upon the platform,
but then his own legs were jerked from under him as the momentum of the
journey flung him forward.

They saw what no human eye had seen before! The Brain illuminated by its
own