As they passed Quesada’s hut, Barrett considered waking the medic and taking him along. He decided against it. Whatever trouble Hahn might be up to, Barrett felt he could handle it himself. There was some strength left in the old gnawed beam.
Latimer stood at the entrance to the main dome. He was right on the edge of panic, or perhaps over the edge. Hew seemed to be gibbering with fear and shock. Barrett had never seen a man gibber before.
He clamped a big paw on Latimer’s thin shoulder and said harshly, “Where is he? Where’s Hahn?”
“He—disappeared.”
“What do you mean? Where did he go?”
Latimer moaned. His face was fishbelly white. “He got onto the Anvil,” Latimer blurted. “The light came on— the glow. And then Hahn disappeared!”
“No,” Barrett said. “It isn’t possible. You must be mistaken.”
“I saw him go!”
“He’s hiding somewhere in the building,” Barrett insisted. “Close that door! Search for him!”
Altman said, “He probably did disappear, Jim. If Don says he disappeared—”
“He climbed right on the Anvil. Then everything turned red, and he was gone.”
Barrett clenched his fists. There was a white-hot blaze just behind his forehead that almost made him forget about his foot. He saw his mistake now. He had depended for his espionage on two men who were patently and unmistakably insane, and that had been itself a not very sane thing to do. A man is known by his choice of lieutenants. Well, he had relied on Altman and Latimer, and now they were giving him the sort of information that such spies could be counted on to supply.
“You’re hallucinating,” he told Latimer curtly. “Ned, go wake Quesada and get him here right away. You, Don, you stand here by the entrance, and if Hahn shows up I want you to scream at the top of your lungs. I’m going to search the building for him.”
“Wait,” Latimer said. He seemed to be in control of himself again. “Jim, do you remember when I asked you if you thought I was crazy? You said you didn’t. You trusted me. Well, don’t stop trusting me now. I tell you I’m not hallucinating. I saw Hahn disappear. I can’t explain it, but I’m rational enough to know what I saw.”
In a milder tone Barrett said, “All right. Maybe so. Stay by the door, anyway. I’ll run a quick check.”
He started to make the circuit of the dome, beginning with the room where the Hammer was located. Everything seemed to be in order there. No Hawksbill Field glow was in evidence, and nothing had been disturbed. The room had no closets or cupboards in which Hahn could be hiding. When he had inspected it thoroughly, Barrett moved on, looking into the infirmary, the mess hall, the kitchen, the recreation room. He looked high and low. No Hahn. Of course, there were plenty of places in those rooms where Hahn might have secreted himself, but Barrett doubted that he was there. So it had all been some feverish fantasy of Latimer’s then. He completed the route and found himself back at the main entrance. Latimer still stood guard there. He had been joined by a sleepy Quesada. Altman, pale, and shaky-looking, was just outside the door.
“What’s happening?” Quesada asked.
“I’m not sure,” said Barrett. “Don and Ned had the idea they saw Lew Hahn fooling around with the time equipment. I’ve checked the building, and he’s not here, so maybe they made a little mistake. I suggest you take them both into the infirmary and give them a shot of something to settle their nerves, and we’ll all try to get back to sleep.”
Latimer said, “I tell you, I saw—”
“Shut up!” Altman broke in. “Listen! What’s that noise?”
Barrett listened. The sound was clear and loud: the hissing whine of ionization. It was the sound produced by a functioning Hawksbill Field. Suddenly there were goose pimples on his flesh. In a low voice he said, “The field’s on. We’re probably getting some supplies.”
“At this hour?” said Latimer.
“We don’t know what time it is Up Front. All of you stay here. I’ll check the Hammer.”
“Perhaps I ought to go with you,” Quesada suggested mildly.
“Stay here!” Barrett thundered. He paused, embarrassed at his own explosive show of wrath. “It only takes one of us. I’ll be right back.”
Without waiting for further dissent, he pivoted and limped down the hall to the Hammer room. He shouldered the door open and looked in. There was no need for him to switch on the light. The red glow of the Hawksbill Field illuminated everything.
Barrett stationed himself just within the door. Hardly daring to breathe, he stared fixedly at the Hammer, watching as the glow deepened through various shades of pink toward crimson, and then spread until it enfolded the waiting Anvil beneath it.
Then came the implosive thunderclap, and Lew Hahn dropped out of nowhere and lay for a moment in temporal shock on the broad plate of the Anvil.
IX
In the darkness, Hahn did not notice Barrett at first. He sat up slowly, shaking off the stunning effects of a trip through time. After a few seconds he pushed himself toward the lip of the Anvil and let his legs dangle over it. He swung them to get the circulation going. He took a series of deep breaths. Finally he slipped to the floor. The glow of the field had gone out in the moment of his arrival, and so he moved warily, as though not wanting to bump into anything.
Abruptly Barrett switched on the light and said, “What have you been up to, Hahn?”
The younger man recoiled as though he had been jabbed in the gut. He gasped, hopped backward a few steps, and flung up both hands in a defensive gesture.
“Answer me,” Barrett said.
Hahn regained his equilibrium. He shot a quick glance past Barrett’s bulky form toward the hallway and said, “Let me go, will you? I can’t explain now.”
“You’d better explain now.”
“It’s easier for everyone if I don’t,” said Hahn. “Let me pass.”
Barrett continued to block the door. “I want to know where you’ve been. What have you been doing with the Hammer?”
“Nothing. Just studying it.”
“You weren’t in this room a minute ago. Then you appeared. Where’d you come from, Hahn?”
“You’re mistaken. I was standing right behind the Hammer. I didn’t—”
“I saw you drop down on the Anvil. You took a time trip, didn’t you?”
“No.”
“Don’t lie to me! You’ve got some way of going forward in time, isn’t that so? You’ve been spying on us, and you just went somewhere to file your report—somewhen —and now you’re back.”
Hahn’s forehead was glistening. He said, “I warn you, don’t ask too many questions. You’ll know everything in due time. This isn’t the time. Please, now. Let me pass.”
“I want answers first,” Barrett said. He realized that he was trembling. He already knew the answers, and they were answers that shook him to the core of his soul. He knew where Hahn had been.
Hahn said nothing. He took a few hesitant steps toward Barrett, who did not move. He seemed to be gathering momentum for a rush at the doorway.
Barrett said, “You aren’t getting out of here until you tell me what I want to know.”
Hahn charged.
Barrett planted himself squarely, crutch braced against the doorframe, his good leg flat on the floor, and waited for the younger man to reach him. He figured he outweighed Hahn by eighty pounds. That might be enough to balance the fact that he was spotting Hahn thirty years and one leg. They came together, and Barrett drove his hands down onto Hahn’s shoulder’s, trying to hold him, to force him back into the room.
Hahn gave an inch or two. He looked up at Barrett without speaking and pushed forward again.