Then, sharp as speech, her thought impinged on Jon Saxon's consciousness. "The fools! And after I told Emil not to let them crowd him!"
Jon Saxon's eyes narrowed. So the girl thought the invisible figures were G.A.'s men. He had known, of course, from their first meeting that the girl was a General Atomic spy. But by not so much as a hint had he let her suspect that her very thoughts betrayed her.
The tingling sensation intensified, warned him that the shadows were closing in. The feel of alienism was stronger, as if they were not quite human. His heart pumped faster, the pulse throbbing in his ears.
The moon was rising, he saw, competing indifferently with the street lights. Its rays streamed down through the ninety-eight levels of the capitol, down through crystal plastic roadways into the dense blackness of the pit itself.
Again he became aware of the girl's thought, "Why, there's nothing here! He's imagining things!" It was accompanied by a wave of relief, and at the same time she whispered,
"What is it Jon? What do you see?"
"Hold it, Ileth!"
His hands gripped her slender shoulders, silenced her. The public conveyor still swept past without a sound.
Bewilderment grew in him.
The alien entities were close, all about them, apparently without substance. The tingling sensations were like hot and cold flashes now, signaling him of something present, something which he couldn't identify.