and ready to shoot an intruder who failed
to give an account of himself. There were wars and rumors of wars
on the face of the earth and there was need for the uninterrupted
production of sleek cannon.

But, if something were wrong, why didn't the whistle blow? There
were signals: three short blasts, repeated many times, meant
fire; one long blast meant a breakdown; five toots meant a
layoff. But now the whistle was silent.

Heads popped from the windows of the houses in the city. They
listened. Was it a whistle that the workers heard? No. It was a
whispering, barely audible at first, then louder. It was the
whisper of tongues of flame. But no flames were visible. Only the
red glow of the furnaces lighted up the factory's profile.

One by one the lights of the city went out as workers went back
to bed, to toss restlessly. Without noise there could be no
sleep.

The tongues of flame still whispered.

* * * * *

A car moved rapidly through the streets of the city. At the wheel
was a man dressed in a captain's uniform. The machine whirled
onto the highway that led toward the factory. A barricade,
lighted by torch-lanterns, barred his path. A sentry with a
bayoneted gun stood to one side, signaling a halt.

The car slowed.

"Captain Ted Taylor, ordnance department!" the captain said,
extending his pass toward the sentry.

The sentry signaled him on.

The car came within a stone's throw of the factory, where it
turned into a parking lot. The officer climbed out, noiselessly,
and moved into the shadows.

Once Captain Taylor had been a scientist, but that was long ago,
before wars had made biology very unexciting.

Out of the shadows a second figure moved. He was a short, stocky
man, compared with the slender, graceful figure of the captain.

"Ps-st! Captain!"

"Masters!"

"You got my short-wave call, I see. I was afraid you would be
asleep. He came late, but he's in the tunnel now."

"Who is it?"

"The fellow we've suspected all along. Poses as an ignorant
laborer, but he's not ignorant by a long shot. His name is Hank
Norden."

Masters pointed toward a clump of bushes. As he did, he caught
the captain's arm with his left hand. The bushes were moving.

A black hole appeared at the base of the bushes and from it
emerged the head and shoulders of a man. Taylor drew his pistol.
The man's head turned, searching the shadows to see if he was
observed. He failed to detect t