"Okay," I said. "I'll go." But my knees were quivering, and I didn't really mean it.

He handed me a small round capsule. "This is the photonic amplifier. When I give you the signal, just switch it on and start to talk. You'll be heard all over the city."

"Downtrodden males of the world, unite!" I said, grinning despite myself. "All right, Lola. I'll do what I can in the name of mankind."

"You'd better," he said ominously.

What happened after that is pretty hazy. Lola and Clara led me through a fantastic passageway into the open, and conducted me to the Central Plaza. I remember making a speech of some kind. I remember three of the amazon women racing madly toward me, trying to reach me and shut me up. I remember starting to run in the middle of my speech, turning, slugging it out with the three women. They were like pillars of stone. They closed in on me.

And I blanked out. Sometime later, I awoke—

And saw the patient, kindly face of Professor Ostrov peering down at me.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded. "Did you suspend yourself too? And what's been going on?"

"This is the year 1957, son," he said calmly. "Everything is all right."

"Like hell it is," I snapped. "Where am I? What—"

"You're in my laboratory," he said. "You've been under-going preliminary psychological tests before I put you into the somno-casket. I've been keeping close electroencephalographic check on you all the time you were living through that purely fictional incident."

I sat bolt upright. "You mean that never happened?"

"Merely a test," he said mildly. "But I'm happy to report that you showed commendable adaptability in strange situations, that you handled yourself well—though we observed one momentary lapse in stability—and that, in general—"

I got off the table and silenced him. "I want to thank you, Doctor."

"What for?"

"For giving me a second chance," I said. I reached for my clothes and started getting into them. "I've had one look at the future, and maybe it was a phony, but it taught me one thing—life can't be any worse here."

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