from the pernicious influence of
religion, had converted it into a museum as soon as possible.

It was the function of _Tovarishch_ Turenski to push a broom around the
floors of the museum, and this he did with great determination and
efficiency. He also cleaned windows and polished metalwork when the
occasion demanded. He was only one of a large crew of similarly employed
men, but he was a favorite with the Head Custodian, who not only felt
sorry for the simple-minded deaf-mute, but appreciated the hard work he
did. If, on occasion, Comrade Turenski would lean on his broom and fall
into a short reverie, it was excusable because he still managed to get all
his work done.

Behind Comrade Turenski, a guide was explaining a display to a group of
tourists, but Turenski ignored the distraction and kept his mind focused
on the thoughts of Dr. Sonya Malekrinova.

After nearly ten months of patient work, Raphael Poe had hit upon
something that was, to his way of thinking, more important than all the
information he had transmitted to Washington thus far.

Picking brains telepathically was not, even for him, an easy job. He had
the knack and the training but, in addition, there was the necessity of
establishing a rapport with the other mind. Since he was a physicist and
not a politician, it was much easier to get information from the mind of
Sonya Malekrinova than to get it from the Premier. The only person with
whom he could keep in contact over any great distance was his brother, and
that only because the two of them had grown up together.

He could pick up the strongest thoughts of any nearby person very easily.
He did not need to hear the actual words, for instance, of a nearby
conversation in order to follow it perfectly, because the words of verbal
communication were strong in a person's mind.

But getting deeper than that required an increasing amount of
understanding of the functioning of the other person's mind.

His ability to eavesdrop on conversations had been of immense benefit to
Washington so far, but is was difficult for him to get close enough to the
higher-ups in the Soviet government to get all the data that the President
of the United States wanted.

But now that he had established a firm mental linkage with one of the
greatest physicists in the Soviet Union, he could begin to send
information that would be of tremendous value to the United States.

He brushed up a pile of trash, pushed it into a dus