imprisoned her. What made Con's situation particularly hard was her ignorance. She worried about what was happening to Rick. She worried about what would happen to her. The woman provided no further information. She had ceased to come alone, and she was coldly formal in the presence of her companions.
The days passed so slowly that Con came to look forward to her daily interrogations, for, although they were demean-ing, they at least broke the monotony. Also, each session held the promise that she might learn something about Rick. In that hope, she was always disappointed. She was not even given an indication whether the sessions were satisfactory to her captors. They ignored all her inquiries. Indeed, they be-came so irritated when she made them, Con soon thought it was prudent to stop. While Con's interrogators provided her no direct infor-mation, she was able to learn things about them through ob-servation. During one of the early sessions, Con observed that the metallic dots on her captors' foreheads were more than adornments. They were apparently involved in trans-mitting information. One of the men arrived in the middle of the interrogation and both of the others touched their dots to his. Afterward, the man's questions reflected an awareness of all that had proceeded in his absence.
Each session caused Con to conjecture on other matters as well. She came to believe that her captors were also con-cerned with business that did not involve her, since they vis-ited infrequently. After they used holographic images and maps to question her about the last location of the airplane and the time machine, she thought they were sent to retrieve them. Later, when they grilled her about the observatory, she decided they were investigating that also. The most puzzling interrogation also proved to be the last. It was concerned with Con's plans after the vacation and the repercussions of her father's demise. Most of their questions involved public rec-ords. Con found herself explaining about such things as wills and diplomas and also about the different forms of media coverage. It was the first time they showed any interest in twenty-first-century society. As always, they did not explain why. When Con awoke the following day, the food cube was already on her bed. She did not see her captors the entire day, nor did they appear the following one. As disconcerting as the interrogations had been, their cessation was even more so. She still knew nothing about what had happened to Rick. As the slow hours passed, her concern for him became an obsession.
'Only that colored thing keeps me from him,' she said to herself. 'Only a little pain.' She approached the colonnade and saw the colors turn angrily intense. She halted a half a foot away. 'I can do this.' Her skin tingled unpleasantly as she gathered up her resolve. Thinking of Rick, she gritted her teeth and stepped forward.
The flash of pain was excruciating and overwhelming. Con screamed and fell writhing to the floor. Only a portion of her foot passed through the colored plane, but agony rapidly boiled throughout her body. The torment was exquisite and all-encompassing. It became her only reality as she moaned and shook spasmodically on the floor. Gradually, the pain subsided until she recovered the presence of mind to examine her foot. It hurt so intensely she expected to find only a charred stump. Despite the searing pain, it appeared un-scathed. She crawled away from the colonnade and curled up into a ball, too drained to climb onto the bed. As the pain faded to a dull ache, someone entered the room.
'I do not understand your behavior,' said the woman. She stood over Con, gazing at her with a puzzled expression. 'You understand the nature of the barrier. Why did you at-tempt to cross it? It was not a rational act.'
Con smiled ruefully. 'No, I guess it wasn't.'
'You have not answered my question.'
'I wanted to see Rick.'
'I said contact would come after satisfactory sessions.'
'I answered all your questions, and then you stopped com-ing,' protested Con.
'My colleagues have the information they require,' the woman stated, 'but I still need information for my own stud- ies.'
Con sighed. 'What do you want to know?'
'It concerns the male.'
'Rick?' said Con eagerly. 'Will you let me see him?'
The woman ignored Con's question. 'Was your irrational behavior associated with the condition you called 'love'?'
'Isn't that evident?' asked Con.
'No,' stated the woman. 'Tell me more about this con-dition.'
'Don't you people have the same emotion?'
'I cannot discuss ourselves with you.'
'Why not?'
