in a bog or eaten by a saber-toothed tiger. Today it
is more than obsolete. It is among the most vicious sicknesses that have
ever infected any culture."

"And you were sick with it."

"I was sick with it. You remember I said a molecular program is chosen
partly on the basis of data presented by parental sources and the spears
of invasion from the external world. This data that came to me from both
sources said that I could deal with the world by yielding to Authority,
by surrounding myself with it as with a shell. It would protect me. I
would have stature. My world-problems would be solved if I chose this
pattern.

"I chose it well. In our culture there are two areas of Authority, one
in government, one in science. I covered myself both ways. I became a
Government Science Administrator. You just don't get any more
authoritative than that in our day and time!"

"But not everyone employs this as a basic premise!" exclaimed Fenwick.

"No--not everyone, fortunately. In that, may be our salvation. In all
times there have been a few infected individuals--Pope Urban, for
example. But in his time the culture was throwing off such ills and was
surging forward under the impetus of men like Galileo.

"In our own time we are on the other end of the stick. We are just
beginning to sink into this plague; it has existed in epidemic form only
a few short decades. But look how it has spread! Our civil institutions,
always weak to such infection, have almost completely succumbed. Our
educational centers are equally sick. Approach them with a new idea and
no Ph. D. and see what happens. Remember the Greek elevator engineer who
did that a few years ago? He battered his way in by sheer force. It was
the only way. He became a nuclear scientist. But for every one of his
kind a thousand others are defeated by the Plague."

Fenwick was grinning broadly. He suddenly laughed aloud. "You must be
crazy in the head, Bill. You sound just like me!"

Baker smiled faintly. "You are one of the lucky ones. You and Jim. It
hasn't hit you. And there are plenty of others like you. But they are
defeated by the powerful ones in authority, who have been infected.

"It's less than fifty years since it hit us. It may have five hundred
years to run. I think we'll be wiped out by it before then. There must
be something that can be done, some way to stamp it out."

"Well," said Fenwick. "You could give Clearwater enough to get us on our
feet and running