"Jim. How are you?" the Professor asked as he motioned the young man to a chair.
"I passed your old place on my way here, Professor. It's a good thing you got out of there. The Watchers must have come back because the place has been burned to the ground."
"We figured they'd be back once they knew our location. This cabin is in bad shape but we were lucky to find it. And it's isolated. Be hard to find, here in the middle of the woods. But now tell me Jim, what progress has been made?"
"We've gotten a lot done in two weeks, Professor. I've just come from Andy. He and his people have moved up to the summit of Thorny Mountain. Joe and Ed have been in Dreamtown for almost the whole two weeks and are working as laborers on the housing project in the West End. Bill got himself a job as a messenger for the video control office and Mike is working in the mess hall at the central headquarters of the Watchers."
"Fine, fine. That's wonderful," Professor Corbett exclaimed happily. He hesitated a moment.
"Mike," Jim said, "overheard one of the Watchers telling about the raid on your place. He said they've got Nancy in one of the Detention Plants near the Watcher's headquarters."
"Is—is she all right, Jim? Could you find out if she's all right?" the Professor asked hurriedly.
"As far as we can tell, she's OK. They're holding her for questioning. They'll probably try to find out as much as they can about our plans before they—I mean—." Jim hesitated, embarrassed.
"I know, Jim. Wait a minute. I'll call Dan. He's upstairs taking a nap. He worked almost all night on the plans for the raid." Professor Corbett called up the steps to Dan, and within a few minutes he appeared, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Jim," Dan said, "have they found Nancy? Is she all right?"