new consignment will be here in about ten minutes."

"Thanks. Pass the word along to Dr. Thornberry and add, I'll meet him
at the flagpole in five minutes."

Bennington pushed back his chair, slowly stood up. This had already
been a full day's work.

Slater had been worse sober than he had been sleepy and half-drunk.
His covering barrage of threats on leaving the prison had been equally
divided between the general's personal health and the entire prison
setup.

Thornberry had screened the other guards. And, after sitting in on
only two sessions, Bennington had at last found one small reason to
like his chief assistant. The psych-expert could spot a liar almost
before the man opened his mouth.

But right now, and, at the wages offered, probably for a long time,
Duncannon was very short of guards.

Judkins was ready in The Cage. An efficient man, but he had been a
little resentful at the extra work involved in moving his equipment.

The prisoners would remain in The Cage overnight, except for their
trips to the Mess Hall. A reorganized supply room had disgorged more
than enough cots and blankets to convert The Cage into a temporary
dormitory.

Bennington riffled the papers on his desk showing when the prisoners
on hand had been received and how long they had been ready to go to
their assigned prison. This matter took top priority. Some of the
people had been here over a month. If he could push through the plan
to charge the states for every day Duncannon kept a prisoner after the
criminal was ready for shipment, then the various states should each
pay, as a rough estimate showed....

But the clock on the desk showed 1520, time to meet Thornberry. With
longer than usual steps, Bennington strode out of his office and out
the main door of the Administration Building.

* * * * *

Thornberry was pacing around the flagpole directly opposite the main
entrance.

"This man, Dalton," the psychologist said, falling in step with the
general, "you know he escaped from us twice."

"Make him the first through," and Bennington dismissed the subject.
"I'm more interested in this. Are there any ex-service men among the
group?"

Thornberry sniffed, "Still worried about our conditioning and our
security, general? I repeat, even though we do not use the lobotomies
and other techniques of our cold-war competitors, we can nevertheless
condition anyone sent to us so that he will not make any tro