All turned toward the man who lay in the alley. Somehow, he was still alive, gasping for breath. When his gaze caught Alona's, she recognized him.

"Professor Sigger!" she shouted.

"Alona..." gasped the professor.

"You're involved in this?" Ritchie demanded.

"Tricked me... Fascist swine..."

Justin bent down to the dying man's ears. "Quick, man! Why are they doing this?!"

"Trying to take the town with them," he gasped. "Conspiracy... half the town... ran out of toner..."

"Shouldn't we call an ambulance?" Betty asked, wringing her hands.

Prof. Sigger looked back at Alona and with his dying breath said: "d.a.m.n...."

The group stood around the corpse, unsure of what to do.

"Half the town? Probably the police are in on this too, then. Can't call them," Justin said.

"Shouldn't we cover him up?" Betty asked.

"I think we need to get into that theater first," Ritchie said. "He said something about taking half the town."

"If they can, we're in real trouble," Justin said.

"But what does it mean?" Alona asked.

"The way they move. Instantly. That's how they kidnap people. They move them or themselves instantly from one point to another. That's probably what this guy meant. Their goal must be to take the town with them," Justin said.

"That's stupid," Tom muttered.

"No!" Alona said. "That's what happened to Prof. Sigger! He was there one second and gone the next! And that's how they got Kurt!"

"Just what is going on here?" Betty asked.

"We won't know that until we get inside," Justin replied.

"Right," Ritchie began. "Let's sneak in the back, and -- well, we'd have to crawl over the car to get in."

"Forget that. They'll be expecting us now. Might as well use the front door," Justin concluded.

They agreed and began the short walk around the building to the main entrance. Julia, unusually quiet, was the only one who didn't follow immediately. Her attention was fixed on a piece of paper that had fallen on Prof. Sigger's face, covering him just as Betty had wanted.

Julia bent down and saw that it was a form labeled 3G, "Complaints, Problems, Irregularities:" The rest was blank.

"Did you ever have one of those days," Julia found herself repeating, "when you think you've noticed something everyone else has missed?"

27. Their Last Stand?

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."

-- Bertrand Russell

"You killed Prof. Sigger," said the Lab Coat Man, pacing back and forth in the bas.e.m.e.nt hallway. "How could you?"

"I didn't kill him," Denny repeated, rubbing his face with his hands.

He sat inside the small office, leaning back as far as he could in the one decent office chair the conspiracy had acquired. "I sent him outside of town, and the idiot tried to get back without using the proper steps."

"And shot himself a thousand feet in the air? On his first try?"

"You know what I know..." Denny leaned forward until he was sitting straight, took a cigarette from his pack, and lit up. The Lab Coat Man continued to pace.

"How could he interpret that from our notes?!"

"I don't know!"

"There's no smoking down here," the Lab Coat Man complained, as Denny blew a long, slow cloud into the room.

"There is now," he replied. "All I did was send Sigger out of town for a little while. The rest is on him."

"'Out of town'? You mean -- you were trying to make sure we didn't take him with us, weren't you?"

"Don't tell me you weren't tempted."

The Lab Coat Man considered this. "OK, I won't, because I was, if you understand me."

Denny waved his hand as if to say: "Whatever."

"You'll still have to tell the Director," the Lab Coat Man. "I'm not going to!"

"Tell me what?" asked a voice. The men turned as the Manager walked in.

"We have bad news," the Lab Coat Man said.

"Or good news, depending on your point of view," Denny muttered. He avoided the stern look that the Lab Coat Man gave him momentarily.

"We've lost Sigger," the Lab Coat Man said.

"So? Get him back," the Manager/Director replied. "It's not like you need a travel voucher."

"No, we lost him," Denny said. "He's lying in Seltsam Way after falling from... a great height."

The Director paused. "How did he get to a great height in the first place?"

"He must have ignored the information on the second page," Denny said.

"I sent him out of town to... to cool off. He decided to come back the easy way, and then --" Denny slapped his hand on the table.