The next morning Mike arose so well rested he had a hard time getting out of bed. His head began a dull throbbing, however, as soon as his feet hit the floor. Painfully rubbing his eyes, Mike pulled on his bathrobe and tied his belt tightly around his waist.
"What did I do yesterday?" he moaned. "I feel awful! I guess something didn't agree with me at the party!"
He went to the sink in his small private bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. This made the pain die down a little, so he went to force down his coffee and a couple of boiled eggs. His kitchen was a disaster area! The girls had tried to neaten it up, he noticed, but had given the idea up as a lost cause. As Mike eyed the sink, or, the area where it was under the sloppy pile of dirty dishes, his emotions were a mixture of embarrassment and guilt.
"I guess if I'm going to have friends over, I've got to keep this place neat and clean! Boy! Jeanie must be some mad at me right now....what a mess this kitchen is! I'll have to tell her I'm...."
Mike's words were interrupted by a sharp pain racing through his temples. He bent over at the waist and put his hand up to his forehead, instinctively. The room was whirling, and his stomach, too.
"Oh!" he moaned, 'What hit me? Maybe I'd better go lie down!"
Making his way to his still unfolded sofa bed, he almost fell onto it, face first, as he tripped over something on the floor. Landing in the bed on his left side, Mike looked to see what had caught his toes.
"Hey!" Mike gasped, in surprise, this time, "My notebook!" He slowly sat up to retrieve the binder. "I hope no one's messed with my stuff!"
It practically fell open to a page in its center when he put it on his lap. "Oh, my God!" he whispered. "Wow!" as he studied the new drawing he saw on the page before him, "I must have done this last night, but...but I don't remember!" And the harder he tried to remember what had happened, the worse his headache became. "Oh," he breathed. The picture was the mysterious device, again, but this time a section of the outside metal had been left out so its intricate internal wiring could be seen and studied. The drawing was so well done it looked like a picture out of a service manual! Mike's eyes wandered over the page slowly and carefully in awe. Then, he noticed beside the usual signature there were other words printed in large, scrawling letters. Mike sharply took in his breath. He was almost afraid to read them.