Mike returned to the hall and stared at the lab entrance.
"I'll wait a few minutes," he thought, "and maybe Jeanie will show up and can wile her way through the military!"
As he stared at the doors they seemed to fade away. He could see Jeanie and Cooper inside, in a strange stereo image. Cooper was at his drafting board and Jeanie was standing in the middle of the room with a push cart.
"Come on, Doc," she told him, "Take ten minutes to eat! You've been at it all night. I'll bet you SLEPT in that chair!"
"I'm really not hungry!" argued Cooper.
"Oh, bureaucrat!" swore Jeanie, "You are so! It's not going to do the project any good if you get sick, and I'm not leaving 'til you eat. It took me enough trouble to get in here! I practically had to promise McCree I'd go to bed with him!"
"YOU DIDN'T!" Cooper cried.
"I said PRACTICALLY! He says I'm going to make a wonderful mother some day! I'm getting plenty of practice with you! Now, come on, Doc, eat!"
"Oh, I suppose," agreed Cooper, distastefully.
"Well!" thought Mike, leaning with his left hand against the wall, "I'll just have to wait until Jeanie comes out. Maybe THEN I can get in. Boy! I wish I could just walk through this wall and be in the laboratory!"
There was a loud THUD and Mike found himself lying on the laboratory floor! Jeanie let out an ear-piercing scream, Cooper spun around with such force that he fell off his swivel chair with a loud BANG, onto the floor. Mike sat, dazed, as Jeanie ran over to him.
"What happened?" he asked, "How did I get in here?"
"I don't know!" Jeanie gasped, "All of a sudden you just seemed to appear out of thin air, and BAM, hit the floor!"
The laboratory doors burst open and the young security man charged in.
"Freeze, feller!" he shouted, "Don't even breathe! Are you all right Doctor?"
"Yes," Cooper replied, picking himself up off the floor. "It's all right. He's one of my assistants. You can leave."
"But how did he get in?" asked the security man. "I was in the hall. I looked away for a second and he was gone, then I heard the lady scream!"
"Don't worry about it," Cooper told him, "If your superior has any questions, have him talk to me, I'll explain it."
"O.k.," said the security man, "you're the General!"
He left to return to his post. Mike was still disoriented.
"How did I get in here?" he asked again.
"I'm not sure," Cooper explained, "but I think you fell through the wall."