Oaks--now."

Collins looked up, amazement and incredulity written on his face.

"What do you mean--can't leave? I can leave any time--"

Gordon slowly shook his head almost sadly. "No, only assistants,
technicians, maintenance people, and they are carefully watched or
restricted to this area. People like yourself, like me, we have
information, knowledge which cannot be let out of government hands at
this time. We're here probably for the 'duration'; maybe longer."

"But--this is barbarous. I--" the words clogged, jumbled as he tried to
get them out. His emotions ran from anger, to amazement, to indignation,
followed by a trickle of fear, and as he stared at Gordon, the fear
grew. He could scarcely hear Gordon's words--

"Take my advice--relax--and forget your fears--accept the restrictions
and go ahead--read in some other field--come in again when you've
thought it out." He was scarcely aware when Gordon slipped a bound
journal volume into his hands and walked with him to the door--and
closed it behind him.

* * * * *

Collins left Gordon's office in Administration moving slowly, one arm
hanging loosely by his side, the other clutching the book. The corridor
stretched ahead into B Wing with its laboratories flooded with the glow
of mid-morning sunshine, bright and unreal. His mind was dazed, his
thinking processes stopped in a kind of stunned unbelief. He could not
even quit now. An undercurrent of fear ran close to the surface of his
confused mind. It was the end of science, the end of all his work. All
of the stifling, strangling restrictions of security on his work, on
his private life, came whirling back as a monstrous, formless threat,
something unspeakably big and powerful and unbeatable against which he
could not fight.

To his right as he moved slowly down the hall the double doors of the
main library reading room were open with the stacks and study cubicles
beyond, silent and restful. He paused and then entered crossing into the
maze of the stacks through a grilled iron doorway. The important thing
now was not to meet anyone, not to have to speak or smile or think. It
was very important now to be alone and quiet.

He walked until he found an empty cubicle, the endless walls of books,
repositories of knowledge, silent and reproachful around him. Knowledge
and books such as these would soon be added to no longer. He slumped
into the chair and gazed at the tiny r