If he came out now, he could see it with his own wondering eyes—and die. If he stayed here, he might never see it. But his mission was not fulfilled. Somehow, quite clearly, he realized that.
So Joe crawled back into his metal cave, into the darkness.
The only sound in the quiet water compartment was a muffled sobbing.
Arden it was who closed the heavy door to the chamber.
"That's it," he said, and his voice was a caress. "There's enough of it in that lead-lined vault to rid the world. It's up to you, John, to take us safely home."
Some one of the men said: "How about Wilding?"
A hush came to the room, a silence tight and somehow menacing.
Arden's voice was harsh: "He can't hurt us now. We have the metal to cure us if he should contaminate us."
Whitey Burnet said: "Why not cure him?"