"Why?"
"If time travel were possible at any future date, we would have time travelers all around us. They'd come back."
"Maybe they have," Basil said darkly. "What did she call those colored marbles you found? Stasis spheres? But the main thing right now is that if I were in this George Ladd's shoes—"
"He doesn't wear shoes."
"Well, I would be trying to rescue Nadine Holmes this very minute. It's dark now—"
But Earl wasn't listening. Basil hurried to catch up with him as he walked rapidly, until they reached the lab building resting against the giant starless bulk of the dome that housed the Brain.
"Be quiet," Earl warned as they stole down the hall toward the door to his lab.
They reached the door and stopped. Through the panel came the sound of a male voice, the words indistinguishable but the tones unmistakably demanding and insistent.
Nadine's voice answered, its tones firm. Earl and Basil looked at each other. Neither of those inside were speaking English.
The male voice uttered a harsh monosyllable. Nadine screamed. Earl, abandoning caution, tried to open the door. It was locked. He wasted precious seconds getting the key into the lock. Cursing at the delay, he flung the door open and ran toward the two figures struggling near the windows. One was Nadine, her clothes torn, her face a mask of desperate effort to escape. The other, Earl recognized instantly as being George Ladd. He also recognized the suit Ladd was wearing. It was one of his own.