Hute Hitle marched stiffly through the passive group. One after another fell in behind him. The procession marched down to waiting cars.
The cars crossed the bridge. There they stopped. As one man the Leader and his general staff looked back at the great city they loved so well. The Sacrifice they were making for the good of humanity pressed heavily on their hearts.
With bowed heads they turned back and went down the path to the research building.
Carl Grinch and his science aides were waiting. They paled at the knowledge that the deed was done and there was no turning back now.
Hute placed a fond hand on Carl's shoulder.
"Are you sure you don't want to come with me?" he asked, his voice choked with emotion.
"The success of the Plan depends on my staying," Carl replied, his voice shaken with the emotion of the moment. "The time machine is constructed in connection with the tri-matter block so that nothing in either of the other two universes can enter it. After you enter, it must be sealed from this side for the period of time travel, so that nothing can enter from this side until it is time for you to come back. I, and my aides, must remain to do that."
"Your sacrifice is greater than mine," Hute said simply.
"It is very little compared to what you are sacrificing," Carl said, smiling, with a trace of amused contempt carefully hidden in the back of his eyes.
Hute took his hand from Carl's shoulder and gravely shook hands with Carl's aides. It was his simple gesture of reward for their great sacrifice. They would die with the gratifying knowledge that the Leader himself had taken their hand and shaken it in gratitude at a service well performed.