Read the following passage and questions, then choose the right answer from options, the answer should be one of A, B, C, D.

<passage>:
I repeated it patiently. "But why?" he cried, sinking down into the chair before me. In an Peter Karson was dead. He had been dead for some time now, but Peter's eyes were dull, his limbs slumped. For a moment I thought that the shock had deranged his mind. arrangement: I did what Peter wished, so long as I did not actively than they were. I did not even wish that Peter were not dead, for Young Peter Karson put the last black-print down and sighed with Citadel was complete, every minutest detail provided for—on paper. In two weeks they would be laying the core, and then the metal giant itself would begin to grow, A discordant note suddenly entered his fantasy. He looked up, conscious For a moment or an eternity it hung there, unsupported, the bulging One part of his brain had been shocked into its shell. It was hiding Relief washed over him, leaving him breathless. He was horrified, in fifty years. The order was made public early this morning by R. Stein, Secretary of the Council, who said in part: "The reason for this ... order must be apparent to all civilized . "Since the Invaders first appeared in Wood River, Oregon, 24 hours Peter sank back in his chair, the full shock of it striking him for the first time. laboratory. Peter took it in fifteen seconds, running, and stumbled to "Darling, what's wrong?" He said, "Have you seen the news recently?" She frowned. "Why, no—Harry and I have been working for thirty-six hours straight. Haven't seen anybody, haven't heard anything. Why?" "You wouldn't believe me. Where's your newsbox?" "Peter!" she said faintly. "Why do they broadcast such things?" out to switch off the scanner, and froze. The girl felt his muscles "Yes." Silently, they counted stories as the two beings rose. Forty-five ... forty-six ... forty-seven ... forty-eight. Inevitably, they halted. Then they faded slowly. It was impossible to say whether they had gone through the solid wall, or simply melted away. Peter's lips were cold with sweat. Tiny nerves in his face and arms "Wait here," he mouthed. She was after him, clinging to his arms. "No, Peter! Don't go in there! Peter! cleared away to make room for an incompleted setup. Peter walked down Peter forced himself forward another step. Little Harry Kanin, In a moment Peter realized what they were doing to him. He stood, paralyzed with horror, and watched it happen. There was a scream in his throat that would not come out. He was beyond but there was a tiny sound in Peter's brain, a thin, dry whispering. "I can't understand," he cried wildly. "What do you want?" He heard a faint sound behind him, and whirled. It was the first time he had realized that Lorelei had followed him. She stood there, slowly.... " His voice was hoarse. "Don't look! Don't—Go back!" The horrible, She didn't see him. Her eyes glazed, and she dropped limply to the The scream came out then. Before he knew, even, that he could hold Somebody said, "Doctor!" He wanted to say, "Yes, get a doctor. Lorelei—" but his mouth only He tried again. "Doctor." He opened his eyes with an effort. There was a blurred face before him "Where am I?" he said. He tried to turn his head, but a firm hand "You're in a hospital. Just lie quietly, please." He tried to get up again. "Where's Lorelei?" "She's well, and you'll see her soon. Now lie quietly. You've been a Peter sank back in the bed. The room was coming into focus. He looked around him slowly. He felt very weak, but perfectly lucid. "Yes...." he said. "How long have I been here, Doctor?" The man hesitated, looked at him intently. "Three months," he said. He turned and gave low-voiced instructions to a nurse, and then went away. Peter's head began spinning just a little. Glass clinked from a metal the nurse bent over him with a glass half full of In a moment he began to relax, and the room got fuzzy again. Just before he drifted off, he said sleepily, "You can't—fool me. It's been more —than three—months." He was right. All the nurses, and even Dr. Arnold, were evasive, but he kept asking them why he couldn't see Lorelei, and finally he wormed it out of them. It had been nine and a half months, not three, and he'd been in a coma all that time. Lorelei, it seemed, had recovered much sooner. "She was only suffering from ordinary shock," Arnold explained. especially a woman. But you stood actual mental contact with them for approximately five minutes. Yes, we know—you talked a lot. It's a miracle you're alive, and rational." "But where is she?" Peter complained. "You still haven't explained why take it. She's underground, with the rest of the women and children, and a good two-thirds of the male population. That's where you'll go, as soon as you're well enough to be moved. We started digging in six months ago." "But why?" Peter whispered. Arnold's strong jaw knotted. "We're hiding," he said. "Everything else Peter couldn't think of anything to say. Dr. Arnold's voice went on smoldering." "And since then?" Peter asked huskily. "Since then, we've been burrowing. All the big cities.... It would be an impossible task if we tried to include all the thinly-populated areas, of course, but it doesn't matter. By the time we excavate enough to take care of a quarter of the earth's population, the other three-quarters will be dead, or worse." "I wonder," Peter said shakily, "if I am strong enough to take it." "I see," said Peter. And for the first time, he thought of the last a lifetime. It was a new world, all by itself Lorelei said, "You can't do it. I won't let you! Peter—" but that's only delaying the end. They as many. The mortality rate is up, the suicide rate is up, the birth rate is down, in spite of anything we can do. You've seen the figures: we're riding a curve that ends in extinction fifty years from now. or scales out of hair or twelve toes, or a dozen ears—or a better brain. Out of those millions of possible mutations, there's one that will save the human race. We said bitterly. "Those rays are strong. They don't only work on embryos they change adult life forms, too. I have one chance in seven of staying alive. You'd have one chance in a million of staying beautiful. I couldn't stand that. I'd kill myself, and then humanity would die, out of her body. "All right," she said in a lifeless voice. "You'll come back, Peter." He was trembling violently. He ran the last few steps, stumbled into After a while he roused himself, closed the inner door of the lock The days merged into weeks, then months, and finally, far out, The Avenger its slow, monstrous alchemy upon him. Peter waited until the changes from the incubators. Time went by, meaninglessly. He ate when he was after a time he ceased even to wonder. Peter closed the diary. "The rest you know, Robert," he said. He rose and strode nervously over to the window. I watched him as he "And now," he said softly, "we will go home. I've waited so long—keeping the control chamber and the engine room locked away from you, not telling you, even, about Earth until now—because I had to be sure. But now, the waiting is over. He stared at me, his jaw slack, his hands trembling. "What—what did you say?"

<question>:
When Peter woke in the hospital, how long was he told that he had been there?

<options>:
A nine and a half days
B nine and a half months
C Three days
D Three months

<answer>:

D