rectly involved in the sabotage."

The two prisoners seemed more amused than otherwise. They were young men,
in their early thirties--well dressed and obviously intelligent. The Boss
had them seated side by side and glared at them for a long moment before
speaking. Larry and the others took chairs in various parts of the room
and added their own stares to the barrage.

The Boss said, "Your situation is an unhappy one, gentlemen."

One of the two shrugged.

The Boss said, "You can, ah, hedge your bets, by co-operating with us. It
might make the difference between a year or two in prison--and life."

One of them grinned and then yawned. "I doubt it," he said.

The Boss tried a slightly different tack. "You have no reason to maintain
a feeling of obligation to Voss and the others. You have obviously been
abandoned. Had they any feeling for you there would have been more
efficacious arrangements for your escape."

The more articulate of the two shrugged again. "We were expendable," he
said. "However, it won't be long before we're free again."

"You think so?" Ruthenberg grunted.

The revolutionist looked at him. "Yes, I do," he said. "Six months from
now and we'll be heroes since by that time the Movement will have been a
success."

The Boss snorted. "Just because you deranged the Records? Why that's but
temporary."

"Not so temporary as you think," the technician replied. "This country has
allowed itself to get deeply enmeshed in punch-card and tape records. Oh,
it made sense enough. With the population we have, and the endless files
that result from our ultra-complicated society, it was simply a matter
finally of developing a standardized system of records for the nation as a
whole. Now, for all practical purposes, _all_ of our records these days
are kept with the Department of Records, confidential as well as public
records. Why should a university, for instance, keep literally tons of
files, with all the expense and space and time involved, when it can
merely file the same records with the governmental department and have
them safe and easily available at any time? Now, the Movement has
completely and irrevocably destroyed almost all files that deal with the
social-labels to which we object. An excellent first step, in forcing our
country back into judgment based on ability and intelligence."

"First step!" Larry blurted.

The two prisoners looked at him. "That's right," the quieter of the two
said. "This