l-cared for, however.
The people Fenwick passed on the road didn't look like the recluse type.

Ellerbee's farm was one of the best looking in the vicinity. It had the
look of being cared for by a man who could do everything. The huge barn
and the corrals were as neat as a garden, and the large white frame
farmhouse stood out like a monument against the green pasture.

A woman and two children were in the garden beside the house as Fenwick
drove up. "May I help you? I'm Mrs. Ellerbee," the woman said.

Fenwick explained who he was and his purpose in coming. "Jim's been
expecting you," the woman said. "His laboratory is the long white
building back of the house. He's out there now."

Jim Ellerbee met him at the door. "You didn't bring Dr. Baker," he said
almost accusingly.

"Later," said Fenwick. "I came, as I promised. Dr. Baker wants my report
on your facilities and production methods. Then he will come up to make
his own inspection."

There was doubt in Ellerbee's eyes, as if he was used to such stories.
"Maybe it would be best if I marketed the crystals in any form I can,"
he said.

He led Fenwick through a number of rooms of expensive, precision
electronic equipment. Then they passed through a set of double doors,
which Fenwick observed acted as a thermal lock between the crystal
growing room and the rest of the building. It reminded him of George
Durrant's laboratory at Clearwater.

"This is where the crystals are grown," said Ellerbee. "I suppose you're
familiar with such processes. Here we must use a very precisely
controlled sequence of co-crystallization to get layers of desired
thickness--"

Fenwick wasn't listening. He had suddenly observed the second man in the
room, a rather small, swarthy man, who moved with quiet precision among
a row of tanks on the far side of the room. There was a startling
quality about the man that Fenwick was unable to define, a strangeness.

Ellerbee caught the direction of his glance. "Oh," he said. "You must
meet my neighbor, Sam Atkins. Sam is in this as deep or even deeper than
I am. I think perhaps he's more responsible for the communicator
crystals."

The man turned as his name was mentioned, and came toward them. "You
were the one who developed the crystals," he said in a soft, persuasive
voice, to Jim Ellerbee.

"This is my setup," Ellerbee explained with a wave of his hand to
indicate the laboratory surroundings. "But Sam has been working with me
for about