an extraordinary precision
of diction which had a quality almost of command. "Over there, please,
by the fire...."

From the blue flames there came the freshness and the coolness of an
ocean breeze; the rawhide chairs, built for barbaric chieftains as they
seemed, proved to be most comfortable; the semidarkness, the roughness
of the unhewn stone, gave a sense of the phantastical and the paradox.
Lee sat and waited patiently for Scriven to explain.

"In case you're wondering a little about this setup," Scriven made a
sweeping gesture around the room, "I've long since reached the
conclusion that in these mad times a man needs above all some padded
cell, some shell in which to retire and preserve his sanity. This is my
padded cell, soundproof, lightproof, telephoneproof; a wholesome
reminder of the basic, the primeval things. Simple, isn't it?"

Lee blinked at the extravagance of this statement. "Do you really call
that simple?" he asked.

Scriven grinned: "You are right; it is of course a willed reversal from
the complex, synthetic and perhaps a little perverse. But then, not
everybody has the opportunity you had in living in the heart of nature.
Frankly I envy you; your work reflects the depth of thinking which comes
out of retirement from the world. That's why I called you here; that's
why I am so sure you'll understand."

He paused. Lee thought that he saw what was perhaps a mannerism; the
great surgeon didn't look at his visitor. With his head turned aside,
staring into the flames, stroking his chin, speaking as if to himself,
he reminded Lee of some medieval alchemist.

"It's a long story, Lee," Scriven continued. "It starts way back with a
letter I wrote to the President of the United States. In this letter I
pointed to the immense dangers which I anticipated in the event of an
atom war; dangers to which the military appeared to be blind. I am
referring to the inadequacy of the human brain and its susceptibility to
mental and psychic shock. I explained how science and technology over
the past few hundred years had developed by the _pooled_ efforts of the
_elite_ in human brains, but that the individual brain, even if
outstanding, was lagging farther and farther below the dizzy peak which
science and technology in their totality had reached. I further
explained, by the example of the Nazi and Jap States, how the collective
brains of modern masses are reverting from and are hostile to a high
level of civilizat