Feynman shook his head. "There's a connection between occultism and the Maze. Historically it was always the Occult orders who were the guardians of the portals. I can't tell you too much, but you're probably wondering why we don't just surround the portals and monitor everything that enters and leaves?"

     "Actually, I didn't think of that."

     "The reason is quite simple. There's a connection between awareness and the Maze. If you had too many people watching the portals, or even too many people knew about the Maze, the portals would become inaccessible. There's an exclusion principle at work, just as there is with sub-atomic particles. I don't understand it any better than you do."

     We watched from a hidden lair cunningly constructed on the shore of the lake. Boots O'Banion and the men from the yacht were out about a hundred feet in a rowboat. In the back of the boat there was a striking dark-haired woman who I had never seen before. "Who's the lady?" I asked.

     "The Lady is the other side's volunteer." Feynman smiled, "Seems like a waste doesn't it."

     "You mean the lady is going to hitch a ride into the portal with the alien?"

     "That's the way it's done. You could almost say that the alien eats the girl. It engulfs her. We know that the volunteer remains alive up until the moment she goes through the portal. I say she, because only women can go through the portal. The volunteer can leave any time until that moment. But if she does leave, the radiation that she's absorbed will probably kill her. Take your pick. Dead or gone. That's what happened to my wife."

     "Ye gods." I looked at the young physicist with pity, but his face remained an inscrutable mask. He was watching the lake. Without speaking, he pointed. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. Something white and luminous rose from the lake. I had the sensation that I was seeing something that didn't fit it. That's the best I can describe it. I have no visual memory of the alien at all, only the memory of a feeling. It was a thing that didn't fit in. I think the dark-haired girl jumped into the water in front of the thing, if front is the right word for something that is not completely in our Time and Space. At any rate, the maneuver was a failure. An area of something seemed to move right through her.

     Feynman looked at me with a grim smile. "I guess it doesn't like dark meat. Maybe it'll like white meat better."

     "You don't mean..."

     "That's exactly what I mean. Lily is our volunteer.