is name was. We can't
go back to that. The responsibility has been fixed, I presume, upon Jake
Caslow in another state. Brennan, you've a real problem: How can you be
sure that this James Holden will disclose his secret system of study even
if we do succeed in cooking up some legal means of placing him and keep
him in your custody?"

Brennan considered, and came to the conclusion that now was the time to
let another snibbet of information go. "The system of study consists of
an electronic device, the exact nature of which I do not understand. The
entire machine is large and cumbersome. In it, as a sort of 'heart,' is a
special circuit. Without this special circuit the thing is no more than
an expensive aggregation of delicate devices that could be used elsewhere
in electronics. One such machine stands unused in the Holden Home because
the central circuit was destroyed beyond repair or replacement by young
James Holden. He destroyed it because he felt that this secret should
remain his own, the intellectual inheritance from his parents. There is
one other machine--undoubtedly in full function and employed daily--in
the house on Martin's Hill under James Holden's personal supervision."

"Indeed? How, may I ask?"

"It was rebuilt by James Holden from plans, specifications, and
information engraved on his brain by his parents through the use of their
first machine. Unfortunately, I have every reason to believe that this
new machine is so booby-trapped and tamper-protected that the first
interference by someone other than James Holden will cause its
destruction."

"Um. It might be possible to impound this machine as a device of high
interest to the State," mused Manison. "But if we start any proceeding
as delicate as that, it will hit every newspaper in the country and our
advantage will be lost."

"Technically," said Paul Brennan, "you don't know that such a machine
exists. But as soon as young Holden realizes that you know about his
machine, he'll also know that you got the information from me." Brennan
sat quietly and thought for a moment. "There's another distressing angle,
too," he said at last. "I don't think that there is a soul on earth who
knows how to run this machine but James Holden. Steal it or impound it or
take it away legally, you've got to know how it runs. I doubt that we'd
find a half-dozen people on the earth who'd willingly sit in a chair with
a heavy headset on, connected to a devilish aggregation