aught, and then hide so well?

"What therapy does your science have for him, Dr. Thornberry?"

Thornberry's lip-pursing again made his face a skeleton's.

"There are areas of human behavior--"

* * * * *

Bennington observed that Scott and Mosby had turned away from the
conversation to the immediacies of patrol distribution. Scott was
being eloquent on how lighting cut down crime and Mosby was analyzing
the idea in terms of house-to-house combat at night under
slow-dropping flares.

For further insurance of privacy, Bennington pulled Thornberry into
the corner of the room most removed from the others.

"Doctor, let's forget about Clarens for a moment. I want to talk about
Judkins."

"Yes, general."

"How did you hypnotize him? And don't hand me any of that stuff about
him being sensitive because of his job."

Thornberry smiled. "You've seen too many conditioned men, and in a way
I'm surprised that I got past Chief Scott with my ... General Mosby
should have been more alert, too.

"You're right, it was his skin, not his job."

"I'm still puzzled."

"I won't go into the physical structure of the man, his character as
revealed by his choice of profession, and so on. Briefly, he is
hyper-sensitive to the thought of physical pain, that's all. So I gave
him a simple choice. Talk to us in such a way that what he said could
never be used against him, or go for a ride with you, Chief Scott, and
General Mosby.

"This is very odd, a fact I must further check into, that your name
frightened him most."

"_You_ threatened someone with violence!"

Thornberry sniffed. "It was no threat. I knew the man and simply
appealed to him in the proper way. Then with the spray of cannabis
indica that I carry, I speeded his willingness--"

"Marihuana!"

"Please don't be so shocked!" and Thornberry was horrified that
Bennington should be shocked. "The prescription I use is a carefully
compounded medical dosage specifically prepared to promote
suggestibility...."

"Doctor, I am not in the least suggesting that you would use any
method or drug not thoroughly commended by your profession.

"In addition, I am delighted beyond expression that you found some way
to learn what we needed from Judkins.

"But, just as I was surprised that your profession did find a use for
a drug previously condemned, I now want to be surprised in another
way:

"_What can you do for someone like Clarens?_"

Thor