hat else could a scientist _do_?"

Senator Kerotski nodded, and his nod said: "I see. He would have
diverted his attention from the field of the interstellar drive to the
field of psionics. And he would have wasted years trying to explain an
inherently nonlogical area of knowledge by logical means."

"That's right," Candron said. "We would have set him off on a wild goose
chase, trying to solve the problems of psionics by the scientific, the
logical, method. We would have presented him with an unsolvable
problem."

Taggert patted his knees. "We would have given him a problem that he
could not solve with the methodology at hand. It would be as though we
had proved to an ancient Greek philosopher that the cube _could_ be
doubled, and then allowed him to waste his life trying to do it with a
straight-edge and compass."

"We know Ch'ien's psychological pattern," Candron continued. "He's not
capable of admitting that there is any other thought pattern than the
logical. He would try to solve the problems of psionics by logical
methods, and would waste the rest of his life trying to do the
impossible."

The senator stroked his chin. "That's clear," he said at last. "Well, it
was worth a cracked jaw to save him. We've given him a perfectly logical
explanation of his rescue and, simultaneously, we've put the Chinese
government into absolute confusion. They have no idea of how you got out
of there, Candron."

"That's not as important as saving Ch'ien," Candron said.

"No," the senator said quickly, "of course not. After all, the Secretary
of Research needs Dr. Ch'ien--the man's important."

Spencer Candron smiled. "I agree. He's practically indispensable--as
much as a man can be."

"He's the Secretary's right hand man," said Taggert firmly.

THE END

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| Transcriber's Note and Errata |
| |
| This etext was produced from Astounding Science Fiction, |
| February 1960. Extensive research did not uncover any |
| evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was |
| renewed. |
| |
| One instance each of 'secondhand' and 'second-hand' occur in |
| the text. |
+----