Curt nodded bitterly. "He told me it was the quickest way to get to a doctor."
"He did? Then he knew even better than we did how rapidly he was slipping. Yes, this was the quickest way."
"What are you talking about?" Curt demanded.
"Did Dell say anything at all about what he wanted of you?"
"It was all wild. Something about helping with some crazy plans to retreat from the scientific world. He was going to finish talking in the morning, but I guess it wouldn't have mattered. I realize now that he was sick and irrational."
"Too sick to explain everything, but not irrational," Sark said thoughtfully. "He left it to us to tell you, since you are to succeed him."
"Succeed Dell? In what?"
Sark suddenly flipped a switch on a panel at his right. A screen lighted with some fuzzy image. It cleared with a slight dial adjustment, and Curt seemed to be looking at some oddly familiar moonlit ruin.
"An American city," said Sark, hurrying his words now. "Any city. They are all alike. Ruin. Death. This one died thirty years ago."