"G'morning Mr. Wood. Just a few secs you and the doctor can go in."

"Good enough, George. Keeping you busy?"

"Day and night." He smiled calmly, turned and went back into the gatehouse.

"The security here is pretty laid-back," Snaresbrook said.

"The security here is the best in the world. Old George is retired. Likes the job. Gets him out of the house.

He's just hired to say Hi to people-which he does very well. The real security is handled by an MI. It tracks every vehicle on the ground, every plane in the sky. By the time you got to Megalobe it knew who you were, what you were doing here, had contacted me, checked your identification and got my approval."

"If it's so great why the delay now?"

"No delay. Sensors in the ground are examining this car, checking all of its components, searching it for weapons or bombs, checking your home exchange to make sure that your phone is your phone-there we go." The outer gate was closed before the inner one opened. "This one MI does a better job than all my troops and technology over at Megalobe. Straight ahead now and it is about the fourth or fifth drive, name of Avenida Jacaranda."

"Quite something," Snaresbrook said as they parked in front of the large, starkly modern home.

"Why not? Brian is a millionaire or better by now. You should see the sales figures."

The voice spoke to them as they approached the front door.

"Good morning. I'm sorry to tell you that Mr. Delaney is not available right now-"

"I am Wood, security. Just shut up and tell him that I am here with Dr. Snaresbrook."

There was a short delay-then the door swung open. "Mr. Delaney will now see you," the disembodied voice said.

When they went down the hall and entered the high-ceilinged room Snaresbrook saw why Brian no longer needed to go to the laboratory. The one he had here was probably much better. Spartan and shining, computers and machines covered one wall. Before it sat Brian with an immobile MI at his shoulder. He was not looking at them but was staring vacantly into the distance.

"Please excuse us for a moment," the MI said. "But we are conferencing over a rather complex equation."

"Is that you, Sven?"

"Dr. Snaresbrook-how nice of you to remember. I am just a subunit programmed for simple responses. If you will be patient..."

Sven stirred then, formed its lower manipulators into legs and walked over to them. "What a dist inct pleasure to see you both. We rarely get visitors here. I keep telling Brian all work and no play-you know. But he is a bit of a workaholic."

"So I see." She pointed at Brian, still not moving. "Does he know we are here?"

"Oh yes. I told him before I left the calculation. He just wants to work on it a bit more."

"Does he? All charm and friendship, our Brian. Woody, I see what you meant. Our friend Sven here is more human."

"Kind of you to say that, Doctor. But you must remember that the more I study intelligence and humanity, the more I become human-and hopefully more intelligent."

"You are doing a great job, Sven. I wish I could say the same for Brian."

Her sarcastic words must have penetrated his concentration, disturbed him. First he frowned, then shook his head. "You are not being fair, Doc. I have work to do. And the only way to get it done is to isolate emotions from logic. One cannot think clearly with hormones and adrenaline being pumped around the body. That is a big advantage over mankind that Sven and his lot have over flesh and blood intelligence. No glands."

"Admittedly I have no glands." Sven said. "But static discharges disrupt in the same manner from time to time."

"That is not true, Sven," Brian said coldly.

"You are correct-I was attempting a small joke."

Snaresbrook looked at them in silence. For an instant there Sven had seemed the more human of the two.

As the MI was learning humanity-was Brian losing it? She brushed the terrible thought away. "You said that you were conferencing. You no longer need the physical optic-fiber connection?"

"No." Brian touched the back of his neck. "A slight modification and communication is accomplished by modulating infrared signals." He stood and stretched, attempted a weak smile. "Sorry if I was rude. Sven and I are onto something so big that it is frightening."

"What?"

"Not sure yet-I mean not sure if we can do it. And we are pushing like crazy because we want to get it done before the next meeting of the Megalobe board. It would be great to spring it there. But I'm being a bad host-"

"You certainly are!" Sven said. "But I hurry to make amends. Sir, madam, the sitting room is this way. Cool drinks, soft music, we are very hospitable when we but try."

Sven's hand flicked lightly in Brian's direction, a slight movement that suggested apology-perhaps resignation.

Brian and Woody had soft drinks but Snaresbrook, who rarely drank save at social functions, felt the sudden need for something different.

"Bombay martini on the rocks with a twist-and no vermouth. Can you manage that, Sven?"

"Well within my powers, Doctor. A moment if you please."

She sat in a deep and comfortable chair, folded her hands on her purse, and held her anger at bay. The martini would help. "How have you been keeping, Brian?"

"Very well. I work out when I can."

"And your head? Any negative symptoms, pains, anything at all?"

"Perfectly fine."

She nodded her thanks to Sven, sipped the drink. It did help. "It's been a long time since we have had a session with the connection machine."

"I know. I feel there is no need for that anymore. The CPU is integrated and I can access it at will. No problems."

"That's nice. Did you ever think of telling me about it? I never published more than a general description of the operation, since I was waiting for final results before I did."

There was a cold edge to her voice now. Brian was aware of it, flushed slightly.

"That's an oversight on my part. I'm sorry. Look, I'll write up everything and get the material to you."

"That would be nice. I've talked to Shelly a few times-"

"That is of no interest to me. Part of the past that I have forgotten."

"Fine. But just on general humanitarian terms I thought that you would like to know that her father had the bypass operation and is doing fine. She didn't take to civilian life and reenlisted."

Brian sipped his drink, looked out of the window, said nothing.

They left a half hour later when Brian said that he had to go back to work. Snaresbrook drove in silence until they were through the gate.

"I don't like it," she said.

"He promised to come to the gym more regularly, didn't he?"

"Wonderful. So that takes care of his social life. You heard his answers. Theaters, concerts-he has the best DAT and CD equipment here. Parties? Never was partying type. And girls, I was most unhappy at the way he slid away from that discussion at all. What do you think, Woody? You're his friend."

"I think-somet imes, looking at the two of them together. At times, if not all the time, it's like you said.

Sven is the more human of the two."

ENVOI.

The meeting of the board of directors of Megalobe began promptly at ten in the morning. Kyle Rohart was Chairman now, had grown with the years of responsibility that had been thrust upon nun. He motioned for silence.

"I think that we had better get started because there is a lot of ground to cover. Our annual report to the stockholders is due in a month and we are going to have difficulty in getting it together in time. The way production has grown on the new MI-directed assembly lines is almost unbelievable. But before we begin I would like you to all meet our new board member. Sven, I want to introduce you to the other members."

"Thank you, Mr. Rohart, but that will not be necessary. I recognize them from their photographs, know them well from their histories and records. Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to serve beside you. Please call upon me for any specialized information you might need. Remember that I have been with machine intelligence from, you might truthfully say, the very beginning."

There were murmurs of appreciation, even a few looks of blank astonishment from members not closely acquainted with MI. Rohart looked at his notes.

"We will begin with new products. Brian has something of importance to tell you. But before he does I must let you know that the first MI ship ever built has just sailed from Yokohama. The MI is both captain and crew, but at the insistence of the Japanese government a mechanic and an electrician will also be aboard. I know they will enjoy the voyage since they will have absolutely nothing to do." There was an appreciative laugh.

"Another thing you will want to hear about," Kyle said. "Our NanoCorp Division's new molecular microscope is now working almost perfectly. As you probably know it resembles a medical ultrasound scanner-but it is a million times smaller because we are using the latest nanotechniques. It operates by sending mechanical vibrations to nearby molecules and then analyses the resulting echoes. When we insert its probe into the nucleus of a cell we can find and explore the chromosomes, read that individual's entire genome in only a few minutes. Eventually this data will be used to reconstruct the full story of how every animal evolved. With this kind of knowledge we should be able to build from scratch virtually any kind of creature we want. For example, one of our geneticists sees no great problem to making a cow that gives maple syrup." There were a few appreciative laughs, and some other murmurs of concern. "Brian, you have the floor."

"Thanks Kyle. Gentlemen, I am being a little premature in telling you about a new product, but the prospects are so exciting that I felt you should know what we are working on. All credit goes to Sven for this one. It is his discovery and he worked out all of the details of how to make it into a practical process even before he brought me into the picture."

Brian took a deep breath. "If the math is correct and the new material, called SupereX, can be fabricated-it should change the whole picture of how we use energy. It will change the entire world!"

He waited until the room had quieted down before he went on. "This all has to do with the quantum theory in physics, of what the Nobel laureate Tsunami Huang called 'anisotropic phonon resonance'. But until now that theory has never been put into practical use. Sven has shown how to do just that. You've all heard of superconductors that transmit electricity without any loss. Now Sven has done the same for heat. His new material conducts heat almost perfectly, in one direction. In the opposite direction SupereX should be an almost perfect insulator. As you know the expensive modern insulations in our walls have R-values in the hundreds.

According to the new theory, SupereX should have an R value of approximately one hundred million. And it can easily be sprayed on in the form of a paint-applied with a polarizing field."

He waited for a reaction, but no one knew what to say. Businessmen, he sighed to himself.

"An example-if a very thin film of SupereX is applied to a beer can, that can will keep the beer cold for years. We can throw away all the refrigerators in the country, eliminate our heating costs entirely. Electrical superconductors were never very practical because they did not work at normal temperatures. But now SupereX insulation will enable superconducting cables to transmit power without any loss- even between distant continents. The possibilities are incredible. Longitudinally polarized SupereX thermal-conducting cables will bring heat from the deserts and cold from the poles. To generate virtually cost-free thermo-electricity any- where in between!"

This time there was a real reaction, shouts and cries that almost drowned Brian out.

"Think of what the world will be like! We can stop burning fossil fuels-terminate forever the threat of the greenhouse effect. Clean, nonpolluting energy can be the salvation of mankind. The Mideast oil crisis will end for good when all the oil wells there are shut down. If petroleum is used only as a chemical feedstock there is more than enough in America for all of our needs. The possibilities are almost endless. Sven has worked out some of the development details and will tell you about them. Sven?"

"Thank you, Brian," the MI said. "You are most generous in crediting me with the discovery, but your mathematical contribution far outweighed mine. I will begin with a development analysis."

Brian's phone buzzed and he tried to ignore it. When it buzzed again he picked it up.

"I told you to hold all calls-"

"I'm sorry, sir, it's security. They insisted. Mr. Wood has a registered package for you here at the front desk.

It has been opened and checked out by the bomb detection team. Shall I hold it here or send it up? Mr. Wood is here and says that he will be happy to bring it up to you. He is of the opinion that you will want to see it at once."

Why was he interested in this package so much that he had brought it over himself? It had to be important- and he wanted to find out why. Sven was doing very well here without him, and this shouldn't take long.

"All right. Tell him to bring it up and I'll be waiting for him."

Brian slipped out and was waiting in the outer office when Woody came in.

"It's from overseas, Brian, and personally addressed to you. Since you went off to Europe to launch your revolution I thought there might be some connection."

"Might be. Where is it from?"

"The return address on this says Schweitzer Volksbank in St. Moritz."

"I was there once, but didn't go near any bank. .. St. Moritz-let me see that!"

He tore off the wrapping and a videocassette dropped onto the bench.

"That's what it looked like in the X rays. Any message with it?"

"This is message enough. It says 'play me' loud and clear." He weighed it in his hand, looked at Woody's dark, stolid face. "I must look at this alone. Your suspicions were right-it is important. But I can't break a promise so I can't tell you why right now. But I will make another one. I'll let you know what it is about just as soon as I can."

"You do just that. Don't see I have any choice." Then he frowned. "Don't do anything stupid, hear?"

"Loud and clear. Thanks."

He went into the first empty office, closed the door and slipped the cassette into the machine. The screen flickered and cleared and showed a familiar book-lined study. Dr. Bociort was in his armchair. He raised a hand to the camera and spoke.

"I am saying good-bye, Brian. Or rather I have said good-bye sometime ago, since I made this recording soon after we met. I am an old man and filled with years-and mortal as the next. This recording has been left with my bank, which has instructions laid out in my will to post it to you after my demise. Therefore, you might say that I speak from the grave, as it were.

"When we met here I must now admit that I withheld one rather important bit of information from you. I do beg your forgiveness since it was done from pure selfishness. Had I revealed it, and had it led in turn to your discovering who your enemies are-that might have led in turn to my own death. We know they stop at nothing.

"I will talk no more about that. What I wish to tell you is that J. J. Beckworth is alive and living here in Switzerland. A country that specializes in anonymity and the keeping of secrets. It was only by accident that I saw him, coming out of a bank in Bern. Pure chance that he did not see me first. I of course no longer go to Bern, that is the reason I am here in St. Moritz. However, I did employ a firm of reliable investigators who located his residence. He is now living in a very expensive suburb of Bern under the name of Bigelow. I will read his address out to you and then I will say not au revoir, but a true and final good-bye."

Brian broke the stunned silence that followed Bociort's words with a cry of excitement.

"He's alive-and I know where to find him!"

Beckworth alive-the thought cut through him like a knife. The one man who would know all the details, all the people behind the theft and murders, would know everything. They tried to kill me, tried more than once.

Almost wiped out my brain, put me in the hospital, altered my life in every way.

He would find Beckworth, find who was behind him. Find them and make mem pay for what they had done to him. Brian paced the floor, forcing away the excitement and making himself think clearly-then reached for his telephone.

Benicoff would know what to do. He had started his investigation-now he was going to close it!

Ben was as elated by the news as Brian was-though he wasn't happy about the terms forced upon him.