keep secrets, I'm told."

"I can," Barby retorted swiftly.

Steve held up his hand for silence. Hartson Brant had Zircon on the
line. The scientist outlined Steve's proposal in a few words, and gave
Zircon the contents of Chahda's cable. Then he listened to Zircon while
Rick fidgeted anxiously. Finally, Hartson Brant said, "All right,
Hobart. Tell your people up there that I'll take your lectures. We'll
see you later today." He hung up and nodded at Steve.

"Hobart had lectures scheduled for next week, but I can take them for
him. He'll be down this afternoon, and, he says, he'll be ready to leave
in the morning if necessary."

"Good!" Steve nodded at Barby. "Even if you can't go on the trip, you
can make yourself useful. Want to place a call to Washington for me?"

"Yes," Barby said eagerly. "Where to?"

Steve gave her the number. Then, while she was placing the call, he
said, "Now, I'll tell you what I know."

Rick's heart beat faster. Now he would learn what was behind Chahda's
cable!

"The day before I phoned here," Steve began, "my office received a
message from Carl Bradley. It was a top secret message sent to us via
the American consulate general's channels from Singapore. I'd better
explain first that Carl is a JANIG man. His knowledge of that part of
the world has made him invaluable, and he works for us secretly while
doing his routine work as an ethnologist. That is top secret information
that must never be repeated outside this room."

"You can depend on us," Hartson Brant assured him.

"I know it. To go on. His job is gathering information about persons who
show too much interest in operations within our embassies and
consulates. However, the cable we got from him wasn't quite in that
line."

Steve paused to see how Barby was getting along. She was trying to
listen to him and the operator at the same time.

"This cable," Steve continued, "said he had accidentally made a
discovery of something potentially dangerous to America. He asked for a
competent nuclear physicist, and he named you, Hartson, to be sent to
Singapore at once to check on his finding, and to locate, if possible,
the source of the stuff he had discovered. We haven't heard from him
since. From Chahda's cable, it's evident something has happened to him.
And on the basis of the cable, I think we'll send Zircon and you boys to
Hong Kong first."

Scotty put into words the question that was in Rick's mind. "What was it
that he di