re so many burning questions to ask...."

The girl gave him a smile of sympathy. "Of course," she said, "and I can
imagine some of them. To begin with, we owe you an explanation and an
apology for having used the methods of deception in getting you here. As
you probably know by now the work we're doing here is closely connected
with the National defense. Whether we like it or not, military secrecy
forces us to use roundabout ways in contacting scientists who happen to
work in some context with our field, especially if they live in foreign
lands. That's why in your case we have used the good offices of the
Department of Agriculture in bringing you here. Dr. Scriven feels
terrible about this. He feels that to be lifted out from one desert just
to be dropped into the middle of another must be a fierce disappointment
to you. For this and all the disturbance of your work--can you manage to
forgive us Dr. Lee?"

The sincerity in these regrets was such that Lee hastened to reply: "You
don't owe me any apology, Miss Dahlborg," he reassured her. "Naturally
it is impossible for me to see any connection between my work with ants
and termites and the problems of National Defense. But I am an American;
I wouldn't doubt for a moment the legitimacy of your call." The girl
nodded: "Besides you have fought for your country in the second world
war," she added. "And also you are the son of General Jefferson Lee of
the Marines. You understand of course that we had you investigated
before calling you here; do you mind very much?"

* * * * *

Again Lee blushed; this time even deeper than before. He squirmed in his
seat. "No, I guess not. I suppose it's necessary. Now that I'm going to
meet Dr. Scriven, who is he? I probably ought to know--forgive my
ignorance."

"You really don't know about him?" The girl sounded surprised. "He's a
surgeon. He's considered the foremost living brain-specialist. Remember
the Nuremberg trials of the Nazi war criminals? Dr. Scriven did the
post-mortems on their brains. He wrote a book that made him famous."

"Of course," Lee slapped his forehead. "Yes, but of course, how could I
forget."

"Yes," she answered, "He was made the head of the Braintrust over here."

"What is the Braintrust? What does it do? What am I supposed to do
here?" Lee asked eagerly.

The girl's smile was mysterious: "I think Howard would like to explain
all that to you in his own way."

"Howard". The