ers of all sorts, but they were all the conventional types used
by business organizations...."

The rest was lost in a new outburst of shouting: General Travis, in
the screen, continued in dumb-show. The only thing Conn could
distinguish was Leibert's--Shanlee's--voice, screaming: "Can it be a
lie? Is there no Great Computer?" Then Kurt Fawzi was pounding on the
top of the desk and bellowing, "Shut up! Listen!"

"Frankly, I'm surprised," Travis was continuing. "Young Maxwell talked
to me, here in this room, a couple of years ago; I told him then that
nothing of the sort existed. If he's back on Poictesme telling people
there is, he's lying to them and taking advantage of their credulity.
There never was anything called Project Merlin...."

"Hah, who's a liar now?" Klem Zareff shouted. "Dolf, what did your
people find in the Library?"

"Why, that's right!" Professor Kellton exclaimed. "My students did
find a dozen references to Project Merlin. He couldn't be ignorant of
anything like that."

"This youth has been lying to us all along!" the old man with the
beard cried, pointing an accusing finger at Conn. "He has created
false hopes; he has given us faith in a delusion. Why, he is the
wickedest monster in human history!"

"Well, thank you, General Travis," another voice, from the
screen-speaker, was saying. The only calm voice in the room. "That was
a most excellent statement, sir. It should...."

"Conn, you didn't tell us you'd talked to General Travis," Morgan
Gatworth was saying. "Why didn't you?"

"Because I never believed anything he told me. You were in Kurt
Fawzi's office the day I came home; you know how shocked everybody was
when I told you I hadn't been able to learn anything positive. Why
should I repeat his lies and discourage everybody that much more? Why,
he'd deny there was a Merlin if he was sitting on top of it," Conn
declared. "He wants the credit for winning the War, not for letting
Merlin win it for him."

"I don't blame Conn," Klem Zareff said. "If he'd told us that then,
some of us might have believed it."

"And look what we found," Kurt Fawzi added, pointing at the ceiling.
"Is that Merlin up there, or isn't it?"

"That little thing!" Shanlee cried scornfully. "How could that be
Merlin? I am going to my chamber, to pray for forgiveness for this
wretch."

He turned and started for the door.

"Stop him, Tom!" Conn said, and Tom Brangwyn put himself in front of
the older man, grippin