"That was close," said Valnar and Barlow looked at him. The strange man had entirely recovered his good humor and confidence. Barlow saw that he was again wearing the plaque.
"Did we all go crazy?" Barlow asked.
"Just a bit more than usual," Valnar grinned. "I got to thinking about what you told me about the Unamenables, and came to the conclusion that the Mental Ray only controlled the average person. Those who varied from the norm, either above or below, were affected differently. To them it was an irritant. Haven't you ever thought it odd that all the Unamenables fought Dodson?
"So when we were captured because the warden reported our visit, I agreed to help Dodson. He had scientists, anyway. They sure blanked the projector that night. Dodson wanted me to make the projector deadly. I did, then Dodson was quite amused when I suggested that he try it out on you Unamenables. But instead of killing you, it aroused you to intense activity. The only thing that went wrong was that Dodson crossed me, and the ray was too strong for me to compensate. I was laid out cold."
"We've won, Joel," Laurine interrupted. "Dodson is dead. And we've released all the members from the prisons, and destroyed the transmitters."
"Yeah," agreed Valnar. "My job here is done, so I'll be getting along. I want to kill Dodson again, this time personally."
Barlow forced Laurine to sit on the edge of the bed. Then held her hand to make sure that she stayed there, and faced Valnar.
"Why don't you stay here?" he asked.
Valnar shook his head. "I got to see about getting home," he said, starting to go. "So long."
"Wait!" called Barlow. "Where are you going this time?" he asked when Valnar halted. "All the way back to the beginning?"