"This way," he said.
The announcer bawled, "You now have ten minutes!"
"Couldn't I get my bag?" pleaded Alice.
"Anything of real value in it?" asked Norton.
"Not really."
"Then we'd best leave it." Norton breathed a sigh of relief. Now she wouldn't find it more expedient to travel with the bunch upstairs.
He led them up a flight of curved stairs and around another curved corridor as the announcement howled:
"Nine minutes!"
The squawk-box said, in a more natural voice, "Jock? Look, I've got this section under control. How're you doing?"
"I'm doing fine, Limey. We're almost at the below-station lock."