"Steel?" "Steel, can you hear me?" "Steel, come back!" "'Steel!" "'" "Steel, whatever it is, it's seen you." "Steel?" "It's coming for you!" "Steel?" "!" "'All irregularities will be handled 'by the forces controlling each dimension." "'Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life." "'Medium atomic weights are available." "'Gold, Lead," "'Copper," "'Jet, Diamond, Radium," "'Sapphire, Silver and Steel." "'Sapphire and Steel have been assigned. '" "'Steel!" "'" "The child." "No!" " Did you see it?" " Yes." "A bird, some kind of bird." "It was a swan." " But not a real one." " Not exactly." "I'd say it was being used as an instrument of attack." "Well, it did a good job, it came through that thing." "No, it appeared to." "Appeared to?" "I was the victim of that attack..." "Where are the marks?" " It still tried to destroy me." " Oh, yes." "Something soft, something made of feathers and yet it can reach out and strike, strike through that thing." "And we can't even scratch the surface." "Why a swan?" "Why not something like an eagle?" " Does it matter?" " Yes." "The only thing that matters to me is who or what provoked that attack." "What do you think?" "Was it our little family in there?" "Or was it whatever's hiding in there with them?" "I don't know yet." " It's time to set the charges." " No, Steel." "Yes, Sapphire, I have to, as a precaution." "We have to be prepared." "We just might lose this one." "What about the people downstairs?" " That's their bad luck." " There's 63 people and 15 animals." "They'll be saving the whole of humanity." "Human beings love a good sacrifice." "Don't worry, when the building falls down, they'll blame the architect." "It's only a precaution." "Hopefully all we have to do is to block off this stairway - keep the roof, this floor... and that invasion force to ourselves." " What about the lift?" " I'll stop it at the eighth floor." " Why don't you just immobilise it?" " Oh, no." "Life must go on normally down there while we do what we've been sent to do." "They're only human beings." "They're capable of creating something invisible and impenetrable." "Of what else are they capable, our friends upstairs, with 1,500 years of accumulated knowledge?" "Who knows what their plans are or what their reason is for being here?" "A man, a woman and a baby." "It's hardly an invasion force, is it?" "And here, look." "And that, that coat." "It moved by itself." "These things, Eldred, where did they come from?" " Things?" " Yes." "Everything." "Everything in this place - the furniture, clothes, everything." "Where did it come from?" "It was provided." " Are they real antiques?" " Some may be..." "They can't be real." "They're in too good a condition." " Perhaps they're reconstructions." " I need to know." "Well, I'm sorry, I don't know." "Everything was provided." "And this?" "How did this get here?" "Look." "Look, they're objects, that's all." "Items." "Pieces of equipment." "Well, one of these objects, one piece of this equipment," " tried to kill our child." " Rothwyn!" "And you." "It tried to make me kill you." "What?" "Rothwyn!" "I've just seen the child." "There's nothing wrong with it." "Well, what about these things?" "How do they move?" "I've never seen them move." "And the woman?" "Woman?" "Yes, I saw a woman dressed in blue, very beautiful." "So where did you see her?" "Well, I saw her outside." "Outside?" " Yes." " Then how could you see her?" "I saw her through the wall, of course." "In there!" "Which wall?" "That one." "Eldred... we have to go back, back to our proper time as soon as possible." " If the communications are down..." " It's only a temporary fault." "Yes." "Yes, it's sure to be only temporary." "Well, perhaps in the meantime you could contact the others." "I've already said that I would, this evening." " Eldred." " Yes?" "Because there's the thoughts as well." " Thoughts?" " Yes." " They only began today..." " What kind of thoughts?" " A strong desire to leave here." " But haven't we just said..." "No!" "These thoughts have nothing to do with leaving this time period, just with leaving this place." "Just a strong desire to pick up the child and leave, to escape, I suppose." " Escape?" " Yes." "It's as if something's ur... urging me to go outside." "But you know that's impossible." "Yes." "We're sealed in here." "The doors and the windows, they're not real." "These thoughts, do you have them at this moment?" " Can you please contact the others?" " I will, later." "Well, why not now?" "What's wrong with now?" "Because it's project procedure..." "There are things going on here that have nothing to do with the rules of the project." "Yes." "And the state of your mind is obviously one of them." "All right, I'll set up the screens." "Thank you." " It's still receiving information." " I know that." "A change in time can be like a sudden change in altitude." "Some lines can't adjust..." "But I was chosen because of my training!" "Well, I think that deserves a report." "Don't you?" "'Time is the measure of durational continuous existence 'without reference to extension in space." "'Absolute time is unrelated to matter or motion 'and is continuous, unlimited 'and infinitely divisible." "'Relative time, 'by which duration is measured with reference to things... '" " The stairs?" " They're blocked." "All of them?" "Just between the eighth and ninth floors." "This looks complicated." "I've made a knot in the cable." "When it goes up as far as the drum, then the lift will only come up as far as the eighth floor." "'Sidereal time is based on the rotation of the earth 'with respect to the stars." "'Solar time is based on the same movement 'with respect to the sun 'and as the solar day varies in length 'because of the earth's own movement in its orbit, 'time as measured by clocks, chronometers, etc" "'is computed on the basis of an average, or mean, solar day. '" "Experimental project ES stroke five stroke treble seven." "Urban study group transmitting to rural study group." "So either something is happening here or it's my mind, my imagination." "Urban study group transmitting to rural study group." "Rural study group, room two, please." "Hello?" "Hello!" "Urban study group transmitting to provincial study group." "Back to rural study group." "Room three, please." "I realise that you cannot advise me at this stage but perhaps a medical analysis would be of use in the interim period." "In the meantime there's nothing to worry about." "We're making contact with the other two study groups." "As you know, there's a doctor in study group three." "Perhaps he can help." "Provincial study group, room two, please." "Godwyn?" "And Freida..." "'Solar time is always of the same length 'and has no real existence. '" "'Steel!" "'" "'What is it?" "'" "'Three power sources are being used. '" "'So?" "' 'One is..." "'One is some kind of tabulator. '" "'For record keeping?" "' 'Yes. '" "'Well, we predicted that. '" "'Now that's stopped." "That one's stopped." "'The second one, well..." "'I think that's the system for communication. '" "'Between them and who else?" "' 'I'm not sure." "'It's definitely a means of communication. '" "'Well, is there anything unusual about it?" "'Well, it all fits." "Records, communication... '" "'It's not those two power sources I'm worried about." "'It's the other one, the third one." "'Yes, I'm in line with it here. '" "'Which way?" "' 'The third one is wrong. '" "'Where is it?" "' 'Something else is wrong." "'The child, the baby." "It's no longer in there. '" "And there's someone else, I think it's another adult." " You think?" " I'm not sure." "There's a connection." " Between..." " Between the third power source..." " And the new adult." " Yes." "What is the third power source?" " I don't understand." " What is it?" "!" "It's not power." "It's not energy, as such." "It's time." "'It's time." "'It's time." "It's time. '" "What would that family have used to travel back 1,500 years?" " Time itself." " What form would it take?" "A unit, some sort of machine?" "They've succeeded in crystallizing a unit of time?" "'Yes. '" "'A crystal of time. '" "Then, it could be unstable, a time unit gone wrong." "Well?" "I can't communicate with it, not without being in there." "So it's not an outside force that's attacking it, it's an inside one." "Something that came with them, something they used to travel back." "Or it helped to bring them back." "Why isn't it on their side any more?" " Try to communicate with it." " I can't communicate with a crystal." "No?" "Oh, go on." "Time's your specialty, you've things in common." "If you can't communicate with it then try exciting it" " but let's see it!" " All right!" "I'll try." " It's no good!" " Keep trying." "'It's a piece of apparatus, I can analyse its function. '" "You've already done that, try to communicate with it." "I can't possibly." "Is it only a machine?" "Yes!" "No." "No, it's not." "It's not only a machine?" "Well, not completely, not all of it." " I can't!" " You can!" "Tell me." "'It's capable..." "of so many things. '" "Tell me!" "Oh... no." "'No!" "'" "'The pain... the pain." "'For always." "'Forever. '"