going to happen, something is going to break
if The Brain continues in its present mood; and it cannot be far
away....

* * * * *

On Nov. 24th 1960 the "Brainpower-Extension Bill" was defeated in the
Senate 59 to 39 and on the following Thursday in a memorable session of
Congress with the startling majority of 310 to 137. For once all the
"guesstimates" and estimates made by the various pollsters and
grass-root-listeners were proved wrong; the consensus of the "experts"
had been that the bill would pass easily considering the tremendous
political forces which brought pressure to bear in favor of the measure.

The reasons behind this were revealed, as, with military precision,
lawmaker after lawmaker took to the rostrum to deliver himself of how he
had wrestled overnight with his conscience and with his Lord and had
suffered a change of heart and mind as a consequence.

Lee's journal: For the night of Nov. 24/25th shows only this small
entry: "12:30 a.m. Tried everything to establish contact. No answer from
The Brain. I don't think there is any mechanical defect. I get the
impression that The Brain keeps incommunicado purposely. There has been
one previous occasion when The Brain wouldn't talk when angry with me."

* * * * *

Nov. 25th, 1960 fell on a Saturday. It was on this date,--Now as
historic and unforgettable as the Dec. 7th 1941,--that the series of
maddening events began which later became so erroneously labelled: "The
Amuck running of The Brain" when in truth they should have passed into
history as "The Mutiny of The Brain."

It all started like a thunderclap from a clear sky as the shocked people
of America,--and all the world,--heard directly from the White House of
this appalling, this unprecedented, this incredible thing:

The President of the United States had disappeared....

The still more shocking truth that the President had been _kidnapped_
became not known, of course, until after the rescue. But even so the
disappearance of its President shook the nation.

Then an unprecedented series of traffic disasters hit the United States.

A big transcontinental "Flying Wing" crashed into a mountain in Montana;
nothing like this had ever happened since air traffic had become fully
automatic and coordinated by The Brain. The death toll was 78 and
amongst their tragic number was Senator Mumford, whose last official act
had been the vote he