Behind them something fell with a crash; ape-men ran gibbering with fright.
"Murray!" she cried, "Murray!" and then lifted the light-gun and sent a pencil of fire screeching to the roof. There was an answering shock as something tumbled from the ceiling.
"Murray!" she called again, at the top of her voice. Behind them, through the platform something fell with a crash and a long red flame licked through the door, throwing tall shadows and weird lights across the bedlam within.
"Here!" came a voice, and Gloria turned to see Murray and Ben running toward her.
"Come on," she said, "hurry. The works is busted."
They made the doorway just as Sherman was pulling Marta up the six-foot step. Ben and Murray lifted Gloria in their arms, tossed her up. The red flame in the background had given place to a white one, and a boiling white mass of something was sending a long tongue creeping across the floor.
Willing arms snatched at those of Ben and Murray, pulling them upward to safety. They turned to run down the tunnel.
"No!" cried Sherman. "Stick! It's all right. The old bloke told me so."
There was another explosion and a great white cloud rolled toward them above the liquid tide. Then they lapsed into unconsciousness.
Murray Lee yawned and sat up.
The others lay around him in curious piled attitudes as though they had dropped off to sleep in the midst of something. He noted, with a shock of surprise, that Ben Ruby's face, turned in his direction, was not metal, but good, honest flesh and blood. He gazed at his own hands. Flesh and blood likewise. He looked around.
The hall of the blue dome had vanished. A tangled mass of rock, cemented in some grey material, was before them, obscure in the darkness. At the other end was the passage, its ceiling fallen here and there, its sides caved in. But a stream of light showed that an opening still led to the outside.
He bent over and shook Gloria. She came to with a start, looked about her, and said with an air of surprise, "Oh, have I been asleep? Why, what's happened to you Murray? You need a shave." Then felt of her own face and found it smooth again.
"For Heaven's sake!" she ejaculated.
The sound brought the rest bolt upright. Sherman looked round at the others, then at the passage, and smiled with satisfaction.
"That old Lassan," he remarked, "told me the metal evolution would reverse if we got the emanation without letting the stuff touch us. Well, he was a sport."
"Yes, but—" said Marta Lami, standing up and feeling of herself. "Look what they did to us. My toes are flexible and my figure bulges in such queer places. I'll never be able to dance again. Oh, well, I suppose it doesn't matter—I'll be marrying the boy friend anyway." She took Sherman's hand and he blushed with embarrassment.
"Good idea," said Murray Lee and looked hard at Gloria.
She nodded and turned her head.
"Ho hum," said Ben Ruby. "The dictator of New York seems to be de trop. How does one get out of here?"
THE END
[Transcriber's Note: Hyphen variations left as printed.]