hievement
of the Rational Potential.

It was done by their transmitters. A wave of some sort--probably
subsonic or supersonic--continuously filled the Vininese atmosphere.
The Vininese who wore the disks were protected against it. The others
succumbed if they retained their hearing. As Dirrul himself had
discovered in the ravine, when he did not consciously think the terror
diminished.

All Vininese children were given a basic education. It built up their
automatic responses, established correct stimulus-response behavior
patterns. Then, for the masses, the protective disks were eliminated
and the screeching fear pounded at them until the processes of
creative thinking were destroyed, leaving a backlog of malleable and
obedient habit patterns. The problem solving was done for them by
their masters.

The Vininese Confederacy--half the galaxy--was peopled by billions
upon billions of robot races, ruled by a handful of men with absolute
power. To that Dirrul would have betrayed his planet! To slavery and
to the destruction of the Rational Potential, all for the slippery
dream of orderliness and efficiency which masqueraded as progress.

He could save Agron today--but for how long? Sorgel would bewitch
countless other discontented Agronian fools. The Movement would try
again and one day the Vininese space fleet would penetrate the
Agronian Nuclear Beams. Dirrul had to escape. He had to go home and
tell the truth about Vinin.

And it was impossible. He was completely trapped with no visible way
out for himself.

VIII

Dirrul stood in front of the metal-surfaced reflector, fingering the
cap of his ear. To survive as a thinking being he must deafen himself.
Yet he hesitated. Self-inflicted violence was the negation of the
Rational Potential.

Then, slowly, he developed a new idea. He could use the power of
Vinin, to save Agron if not himself!

There came a knock on his door. Dirrul drew on his tunic as a stranger
entered the room.

"The Chief is impatient--you must come at once."

Durril was led through a metal-roofed tunnel into a wide sunny
transparent-walled room at the top of the building. The door closed
behind him. He was alone with a tall smooth-faced man, exotically
costumed in a tight black suit crusted with white jewels and framed by
a white cloak thrown loosely around his shoulders. He sat back of a
tremendous desk--behind his chair was a tilted panel of dials, levers
and tiny glowing lights, runn