y not have anything to do with everything else," Boyd said.

Malone shook his head. "If it doesn't," he said, "it's the weirdest
coincidence I've ever even dreamed about, and my dreams can be pretty
strange. No, it's got to be tied in. There's some kind of mental
static that is somehow making all these people goof up."

"But why?" Boyd said. "What is it being done for? Just fun?"

"God only knows," Malone said. "But we're going to have to find out."

"In that case," Boyd said, "I suggest lots and lots of prayers."

Her Majesty looked up. "That's a fine idea," she said.

"But God helps those," Malone said, "who help themselves. And we're
going to help ourselves. Mostly with facts."

"All right," Boyd said. "So far, all the facts have been a great
help."

"Well, here's one," Malone said. "We got one flash each from
Brubitsch, Borbitsch and Garbitsch while we were questioning them.
And in each case, that flash occurred just before they started to blab
everything they knew. Before the flash, they weren't talking. They
were behaving just like good spies and keeping their mouths shut.
After the flash, they couldn't talk fast enough."

"That's true," Boyd said reflectively. "They did seem to give up
pretty fast, even for amateurs."

Malone nodded. "So the question is this," he said. "Just what happens
during those crazy bursts of static?"

He looked expectantly at Her Majesty, but she shook her head sadly. "I
don't know," she said. "I simply don't know. It's just noise to
me--meaningless noise." She put her hands slowly over her face.
"People shouldn't do things like that to their Sovereign," she said in
a muffled voice.

* * * * *

Malone got up and went over to her. She wasn't crying, but she wasn't
far from it. He put an arm around her thin shoulders. "Now, look, Your
Majesty," he said in gentle tones, "this will all clear up. We'll find
out what's going on, and we'll find a way to put a stop to it."

"Sure we will," Boyd said. "After all, Your Majesty, Sir Kenneth and I
will work hard on this."

"And the Queen's Own FBI," Malone said, "won't stop until we've
finished with this whole affair, once and for all."

Her Majesty brought her hands down from her face, very slowly. She was
forcing a smile, but it didn't look too well. "I know you won't fail
your Queen," she said. "You two have always been the most loyal of my
subjects."

"We'll work hard," Malone said. "No matter h