Page 324 of 367
to her ship. someone knock on the door, and she asked Billy if he heard anything. Billy cocked his ear and tried to listen for what she had heard, but could detect nothing. He remarked that she must be mistaken, but Semjase said she was sure someone was at the door, and she rose to leave. As she stood up and moved away from her chair, she accidentally caught her foot on the table leg and tripped over the small space heater sitting on the floor. Billy quickly turned around in time to see her fall and hit her head against the wall, just as her hand had pressed the small apparatus around her waist that caused her to dematerialize and return Billy was disturbed by this, and being left alone in the room, he moved to the door to see if someone was actually there. Semjase had seemed so sure of herself, but he had heard nothing. But there he was— Jakobus was hiding just outside the door in hopes of catching a glimpse of the star lady. Billy was very upset with Jakobus because he had embarrassed himself and ruined the meeting. Jakobus said he was sorry, he only wanted to have a look, he didn't mean any harm. He had hoped no one would detect him, and he could just steal his look and be gone. But instead, Semjase was gone. It wasn't until two days later that Billy was visited by a worried-looking Quetzal, the base commander for the underground complex in Switzerland. His pale lime-white expression caused Billy to inquire about his health. But it wasn't his health that was on his mind. He asked Billy to explain what had happened on the evening of the 15th, when Semjase had been present in the meditation room. The manner of his speech and his attitude gave Billy a little start; something was wrong, he was sure of it. For two days the whole affair it had bothered him. He was concerned about Jakobus