He got up and started towards the control panel.
In the same instant, he glimpsed a shadowy figure, framed in the door-like scaffolding of tubes and metal that formed the gateway to the shining silver plain that lay like a shimmering no-man's land between the parallel worlds.
Horning came up short, staring.
The figure outlined in the light-loop grew sharper. A man lurched through the frame, into the room. His face was Horning's face, and he staggered under the weight of a transdimensional registration unit, plus a great, bulging, cumbersome bundle slung across his shoulder.
Horning started forward.
His visitor said, "Hold it!" sharply and brought a snub-barreled, too-familiar pistol into view.
Horning stopped in his tracks.
"You mean—it's you—?"
The man from beyond the barrier laughed and spilled the bulky bundle off his shoulder, down onto the floor. "Of course, Doctor! I thought I'd return your visit." He prodded the bundle with his toe. "I even brought you a present."
"But ... I thought you said you'd never developed a successful transit unit...."