without giving information to anyone who happened
to be listening on the wire?"

Rick thought he could.

"Okay." Dodd motioned to a restaurant. "There's a phone in there. I
can see the booth through the window. Hop to it."

Rick hurried into the restaurant. The full horror of what had happened
to Dr. Marks was just having its effect. He found himself shivering as
though with a severe chill. Marks was the victim of something ghastly.
He seemed to be trying to make sense, as though there was still a
glimmer of intelligence behind the blank stare. But his words were
disconnected, completely unintelligible.

Barby answered the phone, caught the urgency in Rick's voice, and
yelled for their father. Hartson Brant came hurriedly.

"What is it, Rick?"

"Guarded language," Rick said urgently. "Dad, don't you have a
professional friend in Newark? The teletype machine just went haywire
for the third time and I need help."

Hartson Brant muttered, "Good Lord! Yes, Rick. I have a mechanic
friend who is ideally suited for the purpose. Constantine Chavez. Look
him up in the professional part of the phone directory. I'll phone him
and say you're bringing the machine."

"Good, Dad. I'll come home as soon as possible. Better phone the man
who runs the machines and give him the information."

"All right. Be careful."

Rick disconnected and looked up the name under the listing of
physicians. Back in the car, he cast a quick look at Dr. Marks. The
scientist was sitting quietly, staring straight ahead. He wasn't
talking, and Rick was glad. He didn't know how much of the gibberish
he could take. It was weird and horrifying, particularly since Marks
had been so crisp and terse--even though sometimes unpleasant--in his
speech.

Dr. Chavez was watching for them through his window and hurried out to
meet the car. He was a tall, slender man with handsome features that
showed his Spanish ancestry.

"You must be Rick," he said, shaking hands. "You look very much like
your father. He phoned to say you were bringing a damaged machine, but
I also gathered he was merely being cautious about something he didn't
care to discuss on the phone."

"That's right, Doctor," Rick said. He introduced Tom Dodd and Scotty,
failing to mention that Dodd was a government agent. Then he pointed
to Dr. Marks in the back seat.

"There's your patient, sir."

"Bring him into the house," Dr. Chavez directed. "I assume from his
appearance that the trouble