six after
nine
Martha pressed the button that told Doctor Nale the first one had arrived , got his O.K. signal , and motioned Gravenard and the guards toward the inner door with a sweep of long yellow pencil in perfectly manicured fingers . As the three passed into the private office she made a slow dash after the spaceman 's name preparatory to writing his destination when he came out . It would be `` obs '' or `` O.K. '' Then she glanced at her wrist watch . Its hands pointed to six after nine . Two hours and fifty-four minutes later Ren Gravenard had still not come out . And in her two years as receptionist for Dr. Nale Hargrave , Martha Ryan had never known him to spend more than twenty minutes with any subject ... . Her manicured nail pressed the buzzer three times to signal she was going to lunch .