ed subs like _George Washington_, _Patrick
Henry_, or _Benjamin Franklin_ are perfectly capable of
circumnavigating the globe without coming up for air, such
performances are decidedly rare in a presumably Diesel-electric vessel
such as the U.S.S. _Ambitious Brill_. And those few members of the
crew who had seen what went on in the battery room were the most
secretive and the most puzzled of all. They, and they alone, knew that
some of the cells of the big battery that drove the ship's electric
motors had been removed to make room for a big, steel-clad box hardly
bigger than a foot locker, and that the rest of the battery hadn't
been used at all.

With no one aboard but the duty watch, and no one in the battery room
at all, Captain Dean Lacey felt no compunction whatever in saying, as
he gazed at the steel-clad, sealed box: "What a battery!"

The vessel's captain, Lieutenant Commander Newton Wayne, looked up
from the box into the Pentagon representative's face. "Yes, sir, it
is." His voice sounded as though his brain were trying to catch up
with it and hadn't quite succeeded. "This certainly puts us well ahead
of the Russians."

Captain Lacey returned the look. "How right you are, commander. This
means we can convert every ship in the Navy in a tenth the time we had
figured."

Then they both looked at the third man, a civilian.

He nodded complacently. "And at a tenth the cost, gentlemen," he said
mildly. "North American Carbide & Metals can produce these units
cheaply, and at a rate that will enable us to convert every ship in
the Navy within the year."

Captain Lacey shot a glance at Lieutenant Commander Wayne. "All this
is strictly Top Secret you understand."

"Yes, sir; I understand," said Wayne.

"Very well." He looked back at the civilian. "Are we ready,
Mr. Thorn?"

"Anytime you are, captain," the civilian said.

"Fine. You have your instructions, commander. Carry on."

"Aye, aye, sir," said Lieutenant Commander Wayne.

* * * * *
* * * * *

A little less than an hour later, Captain Lacey and Mr. Thorn were in
the dining room of one of the most exclusive clubs in New York. Most
clubs in New York are labeled as "exclusive" because they exclude
certain people who do not measure up to their standards of wealth.
A man who makes less than, say, one hundred thousand dollars a year
would not even qualify for scrutiny by the Executive Committee. T