She addressed them rapidly for several moments.
The two men stepped up to Frost, each taking an arm — They started to lead him away. Frost held back for a moment and said over his shoulder, “Helen Fisher?”
” ‘Elen Feesher’!” the leader assured him. He had to be content with that.
Two hours passed, more or less. He had not been mistreated and the room in which they had placed him was comfortable but it was a cell-at least the door was fastened. Perhaps he had said the wrong thing, perhaps those syllables meant something quite different here from a simple proper name.
The room in which he found himself was bare and lighted only by a dim glow from the walls, as had all of this underground world which he had seen so far. He was growing tired of the place and was wondering whether or not it would do any good to set up a commotion when he heard someone at the door.
The door slid back; he saw the leader, a smile on her rather grim, middle-aged features. She spoke in her own tongue, then added, “Igor…Ellenfeesher.”
He followed her.
Glowing passageways, busy squares where he was subjected to curious stares, an elevator which startled him by dropping suddenly when he was not aware that it was an elevator, and finally a capsule-like vehicle in which they were sealed airtight and which went somewhere very fast indeed to judge by the sudden surge of weight when it started and again when it stopped-through them all he followed his guide, not understanding and lacking means of inquiring. He tried to relax and enjoy the passing moment, as his companion seemed to bear him no ill-will, though her manner was brusque-that of a person accustomed to giving orders and not in the habit of encouraging casual intimacy.
They arrived at a door which she opened and strode in. Frost followed and was almost knocked off his feet by a figure which charged into him and grasped him with both arms. “Doctor! Doctor Frost!”
It was Helen Fisher, dresser in the costume worn by both sexes here. Behind her. stood Robert-or Igor, his gnome-like face widened with a grin.
He detached Helen’s arms gently. “My dear.” he said inanely, “imagine finding you here.”
“Imagine finding you here,” she retorted. “Why, professor-you’re crying!”
“Oh, no, not at all,” he said hastily, and turned to Monroe. “It’s good to see you, too, Robert.”
“That goes double for me. Doc,” Monroe agreed.
The leader said something to Monroe. He answered her rapidly in their tongue and turned to Frost. “Doctor, this is my elder sister, Margri, Actoon Margri-Major Margri, you might translate it roughly,”
“She has been very kind to me,” said Frost, and bowed to her, acknowledging the introduction. Margri clapped her hands smartly together at the waist and ducked her head, features impassive.
“She gave the salute of equals,” explained Robert — Igor. “I translated the title doctor as best I could which causes her to assume that your rank is the same as hers.”
“What should I do?”
“Return it.”
Frost did so, but awkwardly.
Doctor Frost brought his erstwhile students up to “date” — using a term which does not apply, since they were on a different time axis. His predicament with the civil authorities brought a cry of dismay from Helen. “Why, you poor thingi How awful of them!”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say so,” protested Frost. “It was reasonable so far as they knew. But I’m afraid I can’t go back.”
“You don’t need to,” Igor assured him. “You’re more than welcome here.”
“Perhaps I can help out in your war.”
“Perhaps-but you’ve already done more than anyone here by what you’ve enabled me to do. We are working on it now.” He swung his arm in a gesture which took in the whole room.
Igor had been detached from combat duty and assigned to staff work, in order to make available earth techniques. Helen was helping. “Nobody believes my story but my sister,” he admitted, “But I’ve been able to show them enough for them to realize that what I’ve got is important, so they’ve given me a free hand and are practically hanging over my shoulder, waiting to see what we can produce. I’ve already got them started on a jet fighter and attack rockets to arm it.”