fast if you want
to beat Ruthven. He's probably on a straight line now to Stanton,
Reese, and Margate. This is what he has been waiting for!"

"There are the news syndicates; public opinion would back us----"

"You don't mean that, of course." Kelgarries was suddenly coldly remote.

Ashe flushed under the heavy brown which overlay his regular features.
To threaten a silence break was near blasphemy here. He ran both hands
down the fabric covering his thighs as if to rub away some soil on his
palms.

"No," he replied heavily, his voice dull. "I guess I don't. I'll contact
Hough and hope for the best."

"Meanwhile," Kelgarries spoke briskly, "we'll do what we can to speed up
the program as it now stands. I suggest you take off for New York within
the hour----"

"Me? Why?" Ashe asked with a trace of suspicion.

"Because I can't leave without acting directly against orders, and that
would put us wrong immediately. You see Hough and talk to him
personally--put it to him straight. He'll have to have all the facts if
he's going to counter any move from Stanton before the council. You know
every argument we can use and all the proof on our side, and you're
authority enough to make it count."

"If I can do all that, I will." Ashe was alert and eager. The colonel,
seeing his change of expression, felt easier.

But Kelgarries stood a moment watching Ashe as he hurried down a side
corridor, before he moved on slowly to his own box of office. Once
inside he sat for a long unhappy time staring at the wall and seeing
nothing but the pictures produced by his thoughts. Then he pressed a
button and read off the symbols which flashed on a small visa-screen
set in his desk. Another button pushed, and he picked up a hand mike to
relay an order which might postpone trouble for a while. Ashe was far
too valuable a man to lose, and his emotions could boil him straight
into disaster over this.

"Bidwell--reschedule Team A. They are to go to the Hypno-Lab instead of
the reserve in ten minutes."

Releasing the mike, he again stared at the wall. No one dared interrupt
a hypno-training period, and this one would last three hours. Ashe could
not possibly see the trainees before he left for New York. And that
would remove one temptation from his path--he would not talk at the
wrong time.

Kelgarries' mouth twisted sourly. He had no pride in what he was doing.
And he was perfectly certain that Ruthven would win and that Ashe's
fears of