"Blankets," he instructed. "Wrap in blankets. Cold—hot too. Wrap good!" And he was gone again. Gray blinked away the illusion he disappeared upwards.

She ran over to the girl. "Judith, if you want to back down, now is the time. He'll be back in a moment."

"No!" Judith moaned. "No!" Gray smiled in the darkness and began wrapping the blankets around her. A light tapping at the window announced the return of Rat. The nurse pushed open the window wide, saw him out there with arms upstretched.

"Grit your teeth and hold on! Here we go." She picked up the blanketed girl in both arms and walked to the window. Rat took the girl easily as she was swung out, the blackness hid them both. But he appeared again instantly.

"Better lock window," he cautioned. "Stall, if Boss call. Back soon...." and he was gone.

To Nurse Gray the fifteen minute wait seemed like hours, impatient agonizing hours of tight-lipped anxiety.

Feet first, she swung through the window, clutching a small bag in her hands. She never touched ground. Rat whispered "Hold tight!" in her ear and the wind was abruptly yanked from her! The ground fell away in a dizzy rush, unseen but felt, in the night! Her feet scraped on some projection, and she felt herself being lifted still higher. Wind returned to her throat, and she breathed again.

"I'm sorry," she managed to get out, gaspingly. "I wasn't expecting that. I had forgotten you—"

"—had wings," he finished and chuckled. "So likewise Greaseball." The pale office lights dropped away as they sped over the field. On the far horizon, a tinge of dawn crept along the uneven terrain.

"Oh, the bag!" she gasped. "I've dropped it."

He chuckled again. "Have got. You scare, I catch."

She didn't see the ship because of the wind in her eyes, but without warning she plummeted down and her feet jarred on the lip of the lock. "Inside. No noise, no light. Easy." But in spite of his warning she tripped in the darkness. He helped her from the floor and guided her to the hammocks.

"Judith?" she asked.

"Here. Beside you, trussed up so tight I can hardly breathe."

"No talk!" Rat insisted. "Much hush-hush needed. Other girl shipshape. You make 

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