The next morning Tony left his flat, as usual, at eight o'clock. He always travelled to work on the Underground. As he walked to the station, he thought about his meeting with the strange woman.
'Why didn't she answer me when I asked her about her nationality? Is her name really Tan-Lin? And is it possible that Shandor can make robots that act and talk like human beings?' These were some of the questions in his mind. He thought about them as he stood on the crowded platform.
'The service isn't very good this morning,' someone next to him said.
'No, it's getting worse and worse. I've been waiting for a train for ten minutes now!' someone else answered. But Tony didn't listen to the conversations around him.
And he didn't notice the tall man with round glasses just behind him in the crowd.
Tony was on the edge of the platform. He could hear the sound of a train approaching in the tunnel.
'Thank God, one's coming now! At last!' someone said. Tony stepped closer to the edge and looked down the tunnel. As the train came nearer, he stepped back a little. But it was difficult to stand away from the edge because there were so many people behind him. Suddenly he felt something in his back. He thought it was a hand but he couldn't be sure.
Whatever it was, it pushed him back towards the edge. Then, with the train approaching very fast, it pushed again, very hard.
Tony fell in front of the train.
But somehow, as he did so, he grabbed the edge of the platform. And as he fell, he pulled his body inwards, away from the electric rail and towards the base of the platform below. At this moment, he looked up and saw the big steel wheels of the train. They came closer and closer. There was a squealing of brakes as the driver tried to stop the train. Someone screamed. 'What's happened?' someone else shouted.
'A man is down there!' another voice said.
'He jumped in front of the train!' In the shouting and screaming, nobody noticed the tall man with round glasses. He walked away and up the steps. His job was done. He didn't wait to see the body of the young journalist.
It took the firemen and the police half an hour to free Tony. The man with round glasses didn't know that in many Underground stations in London, there is a gap between the rail and the base of the platform. The gap is just big enough for a thin man or woman. As he lay there, in that gap, Tony thought again and again of Tan-Lin's warning.
'Be careful. Be very careful!'

1. Why did Tony fall? 2. What happened after he fell? 3. What does the tall man with round glasses think? Now think of some more questions you would like answers to, but which you can't find in this episode.

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