."

This was a different man from the relaxed and quietly efficient Adao
Costa of the past week. All of his muscles were hard with the restrained
energy of an animal crouching to leap. The gun, ready in his pocket, had
a suddenly new significance. Neel looked away, reaching around for
words. This was all very alien to him and suddenly a little frightening.
It was one thing to work out a k-problem in class, and discuss the
theory of correction.

It was something entirely different to direct the operation.

"Well?" Costa's voice knifed through his thoughts.

"You can ... well ... it's possible to change one of the peak population
curves. Isolate individuals and groups, then effect status and location
changes--"

"You mean get a lot of guys to take jobs in other towns through the
commercial agents?"

Neel nodded.

"Too slow." Costa withered the idea with his voice. "Fine in the long
run, but of absolutely no value in an emergency." He began to pace back
and forth. Too quickly. It was more of a bubbling-over than a
relaxation. "Can't you isolate some recent key events that can be
reversed?"

"It's possible." Neel thought about it, quickly. "It wouldn't be a final
answer, just a delaying action."

"That's good enough. Tell me what to do."

Neel flipped through his books of notes, checking off the Beta-13's.
These were the reinforcers, the individuals and groups who were k-factor
amplifiers. It was a long list which he cut down quickly by crossing off
the low increment additions and multiple groups. Even while the list was
incomplete, Neel began to notice a pattern. It was an unlikely one, but
it was there. He isolated the motivator and did a frequency check. Then
sat back and whistled softly.

"We have a powerhouse here," he said, flipping the paper across the
table. "Take this organization out of the equations and you might even
knock us negative."

"Society for the Protection of the Native Born," Costa read. "Doesn't
sound like very important. Who or what are they?"

"Proof positive of the law of averages. It's possible to be dealt a
royal flush in a hand of cards, but it isn't very common. It's just as
possible for a bunch of simpletons to set up an organization for one
purpose, and have it turn out to be a supercharged, high-frequency
k-factor amplifier. That's what's happened with this infernal S.P.N.B. A
seedy little social club, dedicated to jingoists with low I.Q.'s. With
the war scare they have man