Mary did not answer. She peered out and studied their surroundings. The steel fence separating the high-speed controlway they were on from the uncontrolled local-traffic strip lay about fifty yards to their right but no changeover ramp broke the fence for at least a mile ahead-where it did, there would be, of course, the control tower where they were ordered to undergo inspection. She started the car again, operating it manually, and wove through stopped or slowly moving traffic while speeding up. As they got close to the barrier Lazarus felt himself shoved into the cushions; the car surged and lifted, clearing the barrier by inches. She set it down rolling on the far side.
A car was approaching from the north and they were slashing across his lane. The other car was moving no more than ninety but its driver was taken by surprise-he had no reason to expect another car to appear out of nowhere against him on a clear road: Mary was forced to duck left, then right, and left again; the car slewed and reared up on its hind wheel, writhing against the steel grip of its gyros. Mary fought it back into control to the accompaniment of a teeth-shivering grind of herculene against glass as the rear wheel fought for traction.
Lazarus let his jaw muscles relax and breathed out gustily. “Whew!” he sighed. “I hope we won’t have to do that again.”
Mary glanced at him, grinning. “Women drivers make you nervous?”
“Oh, no, no, not at all! I just wish you would warn me when something like that is about to happen.”
“I didn’t know myse1f,” she admitted, then went on worriedly, “I don’t know quite what to do now. I thought we could lie quiet out of town until dark . . . but I had to show my hand a Little when I took that fence. By now somebody will be reporting it to the tower. Mmm.
“Why wait until dark?” he asked. “Why not just bounce over to the lake in this Dick Dare contraption of yours and let it swim us home?”
“I don’t like to,” she fretted. “I’ve attracted too much attention already. A trimobile faked up to look like a groundster is handy, but . . . well, if anyone sees us taking it under water and the proctors hear of it, somebody is going to guess the answer. Then they’ll start fishing-everything from seismo to sonar and Heaven knows what else.”
“But isn’t the Seat shielded?”
“Of course. But anything that big they can find-if they know what they’re looking for and keep looking.”
“You’re right, of course,” Lazarus admitted slowly. “Well, we certainly don’t want to lead any nosy proctors to the Families’ Seat. Mary, I think we had better ditch your car and get lost.” He frowned. “Anywhere but the Seat.”
“No, it has to be the Seat,” she answered sharply.
“Why? If you chase a fox, he-”
“Quiet a moment! I want to try something.” Lazarus shut up; Mary drove with one hand while she fumbled in the glove compartment.
“Answer,” a voice said.
“Life is short-” Mary replied.
They completed the formula. “Listen,” Mary went on hurriedly, “I’m in trouble-get a fix on me.”
“Okay.”
“Is there a sub in the pool?”
“Yes.”
“Good! Lock on me and home them in.” She explained hurriedly the details of what she wanted, stopping once to ask Lazarus if he could swim. “That’s all,” she said at last, “but move! We’re short on minutes.”
“Hold it, Mary!” the voice protested. “You know I can’t send a sub out in the daytime, certainly not on a calm day. It’s too easy to-”
“Will you, or won’t you!”
A third voice cut in. “I was listening, Mary-Ira Barstow. We’ll pick you up.”
“But-” objected the first voice.
“Stow it, Tommy. Just mind your burners and home me in. See you, Mary.”
“Right, Ira!”
While she had been talking to the Seat, Mary had turned off from the local-traffic strip into the unpaved road she had followed the night before, without slowing and apparently without looking. Lazarus gritted his teeth and hung on. They passed a weathered sign reading CONTAMINATED AREA-PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK and graced with the conventional purple trefoil. Lazarus blinked at it and shrugged-he could not see how, at the moment, his hazard could be increased by a neutron or so.