Neither the any of the Asians noticed that a man had vanished. Cal and Jake, with the memory of Ed's death still very fresh in their minds, were in making themselves inconspicuous. As as Zen tell, none of these clean, tall anything out of the ordinary had happened.
Beside the colonel, Nedra more composed. Her were blank as if she were not seeing. The thin of was still visible on her forehead. Zen started to to her, to ask her if she had noticed anything different, then his mind. There was no point in taking such a at such a time.
A was in the room, a thin, high note that was close to the upper limits of hearing. It passed the range of hearing, or in volume, then came again with the of the ears, moving like a small but very powerful bee. Had the been present all the time? Or had it come into just the vanished? Zen did not know about the sound.
A appeared in the middle of the room. About ten above the floor, it looked around briefly, then vanished.
Cal to see it too. A appeared on the of the man. His opened wide. He them when the vanished, then looked around the room.
Jake said, very loudly, to the face, "Hi, bud. Long time no see. Where you been?"
"Shut up your head!" Cal at him.
"But I just saw an old buddy," Jake to explain.
"You saw nothing."
"What are you two talking about?" the demanded.
"Nothing," Cal answered. He pointed his at his and in the air, then toward Jake. "You know he's a looney, lieutenant."
"Oh, yes," the Asian officer said, as if he had just something. Again he the to his shoulder. Jake dead.
The another into his rifle.
"As long as you needed us—" Cal began.
"But I no longer need you to help me the ones," the answered. "That makes different, doesn't it?"
"It sure does," Cal agreed. "But why did you shoot him?"
"I up my mind months ago to shoot him as soon as I no longer needed him," the Asian officer answered. "He was too to trust."
"But he this place for you and he got you past those generators," Cal said.
"That is true. But the place is now and we are past the odd that make afraid." His said that this also the different and that the man had this and himself accordingly. Cal started to speak, then his mind.
"What were you two talking about?" the Asian asked.
"He said he saw a in the air," the man answered. "I told him that he was nuts and to up."
"Was there a face?"
"I didn't see nothing," Cal answered.
While the two were talking, Zen was a in a cloth across the room. Standing against the wall, looking as if he were being there, but without making any sound, the was slowly vanishing.
While the was away, the note in the air. As he vanished, it into silence, on a note of triumph.
The suspicious. He the people against the wall.
"I there were more—" he muttered. Slowly he them. "Thirty-eight," he said. As if to the number on his memory, he it.
Simultaneously, one of the Asian soldiers spoke to him in a of sound.
Zen not what was being said, but he from the way the soldier pointed to the spot where the had that he was what he had happen.
While they were talking the appeared again in the air high in the middle of the room. The was that of a man. He was a and he looked around the room with eyes. Nodding to himself with satisfaction, he vanished.
Down the from Zen, a woman vanished.
She rapidly, in the of an eye.
A next in line to her, suit.
Turning, the saw that something had happened. Hastily he those against the wall.
"Thirty-six! Who out while my was turned?"
As he asked the question, three of the new people him. No one answered him. He again, and that more blank places had appeared while he was not looking.
Again, him, another one of the new people vanished.
Watching, Zen was to the of an Asian officer crazy. While the was one particular person, nothing to the one under his scrutiny. But directly him a person out of existence.
For a time, the almost had Zen's sympathy. The what would to this officer when Cuso returned and his had been permitted to escape. The Asians were not for to their own men who failed an duty.
The as well as Zen what would to him. But he was helpless. No which way he looked, his was always to someone. The person he was not watching—vanished.
Unnoticed by the lieutenant, the that to be the operation appeared and in the center of the room. It directly above the lieutenant's head, moving as he moved, as he looked up.
The note of the came into and out again, this action time and time again.
Sweat off Zen's and a on the under him. He did not know what was happening. Terror that was close to panic was in him but he did not move a muscle. For all he knew, the might look at him and he might be the next one to vanish.
Where would he himself if he vanished? Would he himself again? Or did these people into nothingness, into some where there was no Earth, no moon, and no stars?
Only he and Nedra were left along the walls.
The others had vanished.
The had gone crazy. Sputtering a mixture of Chinese and English, he was his against Nedra's and was at her.
"Tze! Go away. I will kill you if you do. N-oten. Where did they go? I an answer. Speak!"
"I do not know," the girl answered.
"Speak! I it. Cuso will have my if I let all of you away!"
"I have already—"
The the of his against her stomach.
"If you go away, I will kill you."
He meant what he said.
Smiling at him, the girl vanished.
He the of the weapon. The through the gallery. Zen to the floor. Death was too close for him to be at the of an Asian officer at nothing.
The stopped when the magazine was empty. As he another into place, some measure of to return to him. He did not shoot the colonel.
Instead Zen himself being with the of the still and rifle.
"If you go away—"
Zen got to his feet.
"If I how to do it, I'd be gone," he said.
"Where did they go? How did they do it?" Fine of were from the lieutenant's lips.
The of lead was still in Zen's ears. At any moment, the might start again, for any reason. Or for no reason.
"I don't know," Zen said.
"But you've got to know. You're one of them."
"Would I around here and let you shoot me if I was one of them?" Zen answered.
Some of the logic of the question must have to the officer's mind. "No. No, you wouldn't. That is, I you wouldn't. But you might be trying to me." The of being to all his to the surface. "You did it once before, you and the girl."
"How?" Zen demanded.
"You put us all to sleep, you and that girl? Don't tell me you didn't. I was there."
"I was there but I didn't have a thing to do with it. And neither did the girl."
"Then who did?"
"West. He was with some of a sleep that electronically."
Doubt came over the lieutenant's face. How was he to know if this tall, thin was telling the truth. In his book, all Americans were liars. Why trust this one?
"If you to me—"
"I know. You'll shoot me. And I'll return from the other world and you some night, while you sleep."
The home. Like most Asians, this officer was superstitious. Watching the reaction, Zen if this man would again to go to sleep at night. The dugphas, the of the departed, might him in a the he closed his eyes.
On the other hand, there was Cuso. The what the Asian leader would do to him. Zen see him making up his mind that it was to take a on the that the than on Cuso. The night might miss.
"You lie!" The the rifle.
At the same instant, Cuso and West entered. The the rifle. Hastily he approached his and saluted. Then, taking as as possible, he prostrated himself on the floor. Reaching for Cuso's foot, he to place it on his as a of submission.
Cuso him in the face. The Asian leader's the room. He saw that his were missing. His green. He the in the again and to know what had happened.
The officer into a of tight, sing-song language. Now and then he his hand as if to say that they had been here but had gone away. "The took them," he in English.
Cuso him in the this time. He had no in night devils, he did not think they live people away, and he was not of them.
Another of broken, speech came from the lieutenant's lips. Listening to the sound, the in the officer's body, Zen with some that Ed and Jake were being avenged. Not that they vengeance; they had what was to them.
West aloof. He around the room but no of on his face. Did he know what had here? Cuso, to his lieutenant, once at the man, a look that was pure hatred. If it had been possible, Cuso would have had West alive then and there.
Too much was at for that. A man not his secrets. He only die.
Cuso left off kicking his and trying to to him at the same time. He to West.
"It that your people have—departed," he said.
"At least, they do not to be here," the man answered. Again his voice had the of a in it.
"That is interesting," Cuso said.
"I it so," West answered.
"How was it done?"
West spread his hands in a that said something, or nothing. "Perhaps it would be best to ask them."
"You know." The were a statement, not a question.
"It be," West answered.
"Then how?" Cuso's like the of a closing. "I want to know how it was done. No alibis. No evasions. No excuses. Just the truth." The of his voice the threat of with it.
West smiled. "Have I or evaded? Did you not see in our center here?"
"I saw many things. That I saw all I do not know."
"You saw what the here—" the man toward Zen, "—called my super radar."
"Did you him that?" Zen demanded.
"Of course. I have no from the great Asian. Besides, has he not promised me a as a in the of his land?"
The were easily spoken but Zen that West was actually for time. What was he waiting for? Was it the again of the that had looked from the air in the center of the room? Were the people to reappear, with new weapons, and take the Asians prisoners?
"To with his commission!" Zen shouted. "He'll make good on his promise."
"Shut up, of you!" Cuso shouted. His voice was a of that from the of the and was from the that outward. "You are stalling. You are trying to me."
West was silent.
"My dog here says the people vanished." Cuso his again to who was meant. "Howl, dog!"
The obeyed. He was in such a of mind that if Cuso had told him to die, he would have obeyed, as a result of terror and suggestion.
"Do you want to like a dog too?" Cuso said to West.
"Really, the possibility not me," the man answered. "Did you have that in mind for me?" The was conversational.
"West, this is no time to go over," Zen growled.
"I have no such intention, colonel."
"You once that what you wanted most to do was to join the youth. I'm you—"
"Shut up!" Cuso screamed. "The next person to open his mouth without my permission I will have out of hand."
"Ah," West said.
The Asian leader started to an order at his soldiers to shoot the man, then his mind as he that though he had the and the men, there was nothing he by killing the that might possibly a egg. As much as he wanted to have West killed, for him, he he would have to save this until later.
Cuso his anger. Since his was so great, he had to times he got it all down, after which he looked as if he were going to on it.
"Look, let's be reasonable," he urged.
"I'm willing," Zen said.
"You're not a to me!" Cuso shouted.
"He is something to me," West interposed.
Again the Asian swallowed. If he the point, his anger was going to come out as rage. "As I said, let us be and talk this over together."
"Glad to," West agreed. "What is more than a corpse?"
The question took Cuso aback. But only for an instant. "Come to think of it, you're right. Nothing that I have is more than a corpse, to me, that is. Are you still to for that position, or should I say condition?"
"Any time," West answered. "As I told Kurt some time ago, I am of this plane of and I would like to see what it's like over yonder. Not that I don't already know," he added.
"You know what it's like death?" Cuso asked, in of himself.
"Certainly," West said, in a sure of voice.
Listening, Zen again had the that the man was for time again. On the other hand, he might be telling the truth, he might know what waited at the end of life. If so—Zen let this possibility out of his mind. He had more to think about now than he had brain to use for the task.
"Then what is it like?" Cuso asked.
"You have of heaven—"
"Yes."
"That's where I'm going."
As he spoke, West vanished.
A the big gallery. Cuso, his mouth open, forward. On the floor, the to up. He to speak.
"See! That's the way they went. I couldn't stop 'em."
Cuso an order at his men.
Zen himself hand and foot. A the him. Every now and then Cuso him. Screaming at the top of his voice, the Asian leader Zen to too. It did Zen no good to try to that he was not one of the new people and that he nothing of the method they had used in disappearing.
In Cuso's mind, he was one of them.
He was to be as such.
