After a long period of being left alone, he was in a place that was different from where he had been before, but it wasn't any different than the place where—
A sudden blazing shock crossed Roysland's mind. With the awful brilliant clarity of a man seeing suddenly into a darkened room when the lights have been lit unexpectedly, Roysland snapped agonizingly back to awareness.
Only for a fraction of a second did he realize what had happened. Then his mind blacked out under the shock.
When he came out of it again, a nurse was standing by his bedside. She smiled at him when he opened his eyes, and said: "How do you feel, sir?"
He thought for a moment, taking inventory of exactly how he did feel. Then he smiled. "I feel fine. What happened?"
The girl touched a relay plate. "The psychometrist will be in right away, sir. He'll explain things to you." She gave him another flash of white teeth and stepped out of the room.
Less than a minute later, the door opened, and the psychometrist came in. It was Bilford.
"Well, well," Roysland said. "I get special treatment; the chief cheese is in to see me."
Bilford grinned, ran a hand through his hair and nodded. His thin face seemed to almost sparkle from within. "Yup. You're important. I knew you'd want to see someone as soon as you came to."
Roysland propped himself up in bed. "How right you are. The boys have solved the Secret of the Mysterious Weapon, I see. Have they actually made a usable weapon out of it?"