im standing there. It was plain
common sense, I had decided quickly while he was talking to me, not to
take any risks by admitting anything. I might have been dumped into a
police state or the country could have been at war without my knowing
it, or maybe they were suspicious of strangers. For one reason or
another, ranging from vagrancy to espionage, I could be pulled in,
tortured, executed, God knows what. The place looked peaceful enough,
but that didn't prove a thing.

I went on walking, looking for something I couldn't be sure existed,
in a city I was completely unfamiliar with, in a time when I had no
right to be alive. It wasn't just a matter of getting the information
she wanted. I'd have been satisfied to hang around until she pulled me
back without the data....

But then what would happen? Maybe the starvation cases were people who
had failed her! For that matter, she could shoot me and send the
remains anywhere in time to get rid of the evidence.

Damn it, I didn't know if she was better or worse than I'd supposed,
but I wasn't going to take any chances. I had to bring her what she
wanted.

* * * * *

There was a sign up ahead. It read: TO SHOPPING CENTER. The arrow
pointed along the road. When I came to a fork and wondered which way
to go, there was another sign, then another pointing to still more
farther on.

I followed them to the middle of the city, a big square with a park in
the center and shops of all kinds rimming it. The only shop I was
interested in said: ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES.

I went in.

A neat young salesman came up and politely asked me if he could do
anything for me. I sounded stupid even to myself, but I said, "No,
thanks, I'd just like to do a little browsing," and gave a silly
nervous laugh. Me, an actor, behaving like a frightened yokel! I felt
ashamed of myself.

He tried not to look surprised, but he didn't really succeed. Somebody
else came in, though, for which I was grateful, and he left me alone
to look around.

I don't know if I can get my feelings across to you. It's a situation
that nobody would ever expect to find himself in, so it isn't easy to
tell what it's like. But I've got to try.

Let's stick with the ancient Egyptian I mentioned a while back, the
one ordered to sneak a mummy out of the Metropolitan Museum. Maybe
that'll make it clearer.

The poor guy has no money he can use, naturally, and no idea of what
New York's transp