t her
to the corridor, where I began running back the way I had come.

"But you don't understand!" she cried after me. "I really want to
help--"

Yeah, help, I thought, pounding toward the street door. A gag right
out of that psychology film, probably--get the patient to hold still,
humor him, until you can get somebody to put him where he belongs.
That's what one of our teachers would do, provided she wasn't too
scared to think straight, if she found an old-looking guy thumbing
frenziedly through the textbooks in a grammar school classroom.

When I came to the outside door, I stopped. I had no way of knowing
whether she'd given out an alarm, or how she might have done it, but
the obvious place to find me would be out on the street, dodging for
cover somewhere.

I pushed the door open and let it slam shut, hoping she'd hear it
upstairs. Then I found a door, sneaked it open and went silently down
the steps.

In the basement, I looked for a furnace or a coal bin or a fuel tank
to hide behind, but there weren't any. I don't know how they got their
heat in the winter or cooled the building in the summer. Probably some
central atomic plant that took care of the whole city, piping in the
heat or coolant in underground conduits that were led up through the
walls, because there weren't even any pipes visible.

I hunched into the darkest corner I could find and hoped they wouldn't
look for me there.

* * * * *

By the time night came, hunger drove me out of the school, but I did
it warily, making sure nobody was in sight.

The streets of the shopping center were more or less deserted. There
was no sign of a restaurant. I was so empty that I felt dizzy as I
hunted for one. But then a shocking realization made me halt on the
sidewalk and sweat with horror.

Even if there had been a restaurant, what would I have used for money?

Now I got the whole foul picture. She had sent old people back through
time on errands like mine ... and they'd starved to death because they
couldn't buy food!

No, that wasn't right. I remembered what I had told Lou Pape: anybody
who gets hungry enough can always find a truck garden or a food store
to rob.

Only ... I hadn't seen a truck garden or food store anywhere in this
city.

And ... I thought about people in the past having their hands cut off
for stealing a loaf of bread.

This civilization didn't look as if it went in for such drastic
punishmen