ist admitted. "I'm finding it difficult to
collect my thoughts. Parnell, why all these questions?"

The cyberneticist rubbed his bushy eyebrows with both hands, a habit
he had when agitated. "Hartson, as you know, I am not a doctor of
medicine. However, I do claim competence as a physiologist, and
consequently bodily reactions are familiar to me. I believe you have
been drugged."

"Drugged?" Rick's heart stopped momentarily.

"Yes. I've looked for the mark of a hypodermic needle, but there is
none. If I'm correct, the drug was a light one, possibly amytal. Your
reflexes are slower than normal, even taking the accident and
subsequent shock into account, and your pupils react slowly."

Rick came to a sudden decision. He went to the desk and picked up the
phone.

"What are you doing?" Hartson Brant demanded.

"I'm calling Steve Ames. We need help."

In a few minutes Rick had the agent on the wire and was giving him the
details of the accident over the scrambler system. He concluded, "If
Dad was drugged by the houseboaters, as Dr. Winston thinks, that means
the enemy has his brain pattern!"

Steve Ames asked, "Is Winston there?"

"Yes."

"Ask him a question for me. Would the brain waves be considered
quasi-optical?"

Steve meant would the waves be of such high frequency that they would
act like light. Rick put the question to Winston.

"Tell Steve the answer is a qualified yes."

Rick repeated the information.

"All right. Then we must assume that the brain scrambler--or whatever
you call it--can operate only from short distances, approximately to
the horizon. Tell your father he is to get out of town. Have him pack
a bag, then deliver him to the New York JANIG office. We'll take it
from there. Got it?"

Rick had it. "How do I make sure we're not followed?"

Steve paused. "That's a tough one. Air travel would be surest. Do you
have any landing lights on Spindrift?"

"No. Besides, it's a short runway, and only a pilot who knew the
island could possibly land at night."

"I've got a pilot who knows it, so forget going to New York. Rig
lights of some kind. You can put lights on the roof of the lab
building, I'm sure. Then put a pair of lights at each side of the
runway's end, so he'll know how far he can go. If you have nothing
else, soak newspapers in gasoline. He'll buzz the island. That will be
your signal to light up."

"Is Mike Malone the pilot?" Malone had landed there before.

"Yes. He'll take