I had the thing away from him suddenly, and I wondered what to do next. Running footsteps gave me the answer. It was other C.I. agents closing in.
Seconds later they had Herb under control. Dotty was wringing her hands and crying.
Me, I was holding the thing, afraid to let go of it and afraid to keep on holding it. But as the seconds passed without it exploding into destructive action again I began to let myself think I might live a while longer.
The area of destruction was molten now. Its heat was like that of an open blast furnace.
We skirted it and headed toward the road, lights in the distance telling us that cars were on the way to get us.
I saw Dotty stumble. I took her arm. She looked up at me, recognized me in the light from the glowing pool of bubbling lava, and tried to pull away.
"Take it easy," I said gruffly. "I'm your friend. Maybe the only friend you've got here."
Her look told me she didn't believe me, but she didn't pull away any more.
We walked along, and after a moment she seemed to struggle up out of her mental paralysis.
"Herb was right!" she said in a low, wondering tone. "He really did remember."