taring at the equate-panel with
an odd look of excitement.

"Total reject," he gasped. "By God, if he should try _that_--to equate
her from Logical into reject--" He gestured helplessly. "No, it isn't
possible. Those tapes are coded! There's no way of tampering--" Pederson
stopped abruptly, as a great light dawned. "Wait a minute, though. It
needn't be the tapes! One thing I've always wondered--_would_ it be
possible to negate a given factor beyond all reach of empirical
cooerdinates? You know, through operational technique or setup--"

Beardsley peered at him. "I'd say anything was possible," he urged,
"given time and incentive."

Pederson bobbed his head in facile agreement. "By God, you're right! For
example, I've always thought there wasn't sufficient control on
Cumulative! You can bet your life Arnold would know ... results at that
point _could_ be juggled a little, say if the extrapolations were
just--"

The forceps, the forceps of the mind. Already Pederson was reaching out
to seize and to crush; the man was a fool after all! Beardsley felt a
burgeoning disgust, but there was something more, a throbbing,
chest-filling sensation that he strove to hold rigidly in leash. He said
quickly: "Come to think of it, Arnold did mention that he was here most
of last night, working on setup."

He watched Pederson absorb that, too; he saw the excitement grow.
"Beardsley, if you are _sure_--if you could prove that Arnold managed a
thing like that--"

They were interrupted by the sudden quiet that engulfed the room. It was
so total as to be frightening. CUMULATIVE--CUMULATIVE--CUMULATIVE. For
half-a-minute all operation ceased, as the words flashed bright across
the panel.

But the techs had been waiting. It was a mere respite. Swiftly, they
checked their respective units against Cumulative Code, and at the end
of thirty seconds every light went green for total clearance as ECAIAC's
deep-throated power resumed.

* * * * *

Beardsley had been waiting too. "Cumulative!" he breathed. He let his
breath out slowly, and made a sweeping gesture that seemed to encompass
all the latent delight, all the unleashed joy of his being.

He was aware of Pederson again, a voice in panic: "Beardsley! Don't you
know what it means? If there's been an imbalance, it has passed through!
It will reach final equate!"

"That's right, it's entirely in ECAIAC's lap. You wouldn't want to
deprive her of the chanc