Through a large window across the room, Randall saw the Time Net on which they had first made their appearance into this strange world. It was stretched like an acrobats' net between four pylons just outside the building. The supporting pylons extended on above the net, forming four towers, between the crests of which was supported a complex skein of intermeshing heavy metallic strands with spherical nodules studding their length every few feet.
Randall nodded toward the massive equipment. "The mechanism for the Time Trap," he said.
McClellan raised his metal ingot suggestively.
Randall shook his head. "Not yet," he said. "We might have use for it." Then he noticed that the generators were operating, and what appeared to be a huge rectifier was humming with a deep vibrant moan, violet light flashing in a dozen huge tubes which reached almost from ceiling to floor.
He nudged McClellan. "It's running," he said. "The Kralons must leave it in operation all the time in their effort to catch victims from the future."
VI
While Randall and McClellan were deciding what should be done about the Time Trap, Jerome Jackson was standing in open-mouthed awe before the huge crystal cylinders in the room which he had entered.
In the first cylinder was a twelve-foot length of undulating livid flesh which looked exactly like a gigantic maggot.
Then his glance flicked to the next crystal cylinder. In it was a replica of the first.