"All right--go it is!" he said. "Push your round button, like this." He showed her the way he thought was right, pushed his own. "Ready?"
Their voices were grave. It was a grim prospect, stepping off into space like that, with only a guess between them and death.
They jumped, gripping each other's hands tightly--and instead of dropping like plummets were caught in a powerful field of force and whirled gently downward.
"Oh, you were right!" gasped Marjorie, awed. "See, we--"
Then she paused, horror-stricken, for it was obvious that they were to descend within that lake of molten glass, unless they could change their course at once.
"Quick!" he called. "Hold fast! Now--run!"
Breathless, they raced to the left, across that invisible descending belt.
Too far, Kendrick knew, and they would plunge outside its zone, fall crushed and mangled. Not far enough, and they would meet cremation. It was a fearful hazard, either way, but it had to be taken.
They were almost down, now, and still not quite far enough to the left. The heat of that yawning crater rose toward them.
"Faster--_faster_!" he cried, fairly dragging her along with him.
A last dash--a breathless instant--and they stood there on the ground, not three feet from the edge of doom.
Swooning with the heat, Marjorie swayed against him, murmured an incoherent prayer.
"Take heart!" he whispered, lifting her bodily and bearing her some yards away. "We're down--safe!"
Their safety was but relative, however, Kendrick well knew. Until they could put miles between them and this monstrous disc, they were not really safe. No telling how soon their escape might be discovered. No telling what terrible means Cor might take of curbing their flight.
So as soon as Marjorie had recovered sufficiently to proceed, they headed off across the desert at a fast walk toward Ajo, where he hoped to catch the afternoon train for Gila Bend. From there, they could board the limited for Tucson and points east, when it came through from Yuma that night.
They had tuned out on the escalator rays, but continued on still invisible--for the disc hung above them in plain view and it would have been suicide to let themselves be seen.
Even so, Kendrick soon began to have an uneasy feeling of being followed. He looked around from time to time, but could see nothing. Were some of those invisible little creatures on their trail?