, Dr. Lee, aren't
you? Well, in any case, I can see no reason why I should be beating
about the bush. After all, every foreign agent in this country must have
learned by now about the existence of Cephalon. It's too big to be
secret anyway. Besides, as you perceive, no attempt has been made to
camouflage the place. Cephalon and the whole district takes up about a
thousand square miles. It's a military preserve. Only you don't see any
Brass. What they are doing, I wouldn't know, but I would rather try to
rob all the gold from Fort Knox than get away with a single scrap of
paper from that Braintrust Building in the center of the city over
there. By the way, that skull shaped building right across the Plaza is
the official hotel reserved for very important persons, such as you are
listed."

* * * * *

A deep-throated buzz over the intercom interrupted him. "There, thank
God, they finally made up their minds to let us in. One minute more and
then a shower, a shave, bacon and eggs, and lots of Java!"

There were what appeared to Lee to be a multitude of people waiting as
they landed. Eager and intelligent white faces all lifted up to him and
pressed forward with bewildering offerings and requests. A Western Union
messenger handed him a telegram in which one Dr. Howard K. Scriven
proffered greetings, expressing a desire to interview him. Some cleancut
youngster, obviously a scientific worker, assured Lee that he was fully
familiar with the care and feeding of "_Ant-termes-pacificus-Lee_", that
Lee need not concern himself about their welfare, that the mounds would
be immediately transferred to Experimental Station 19 G. The "Flying
Wing's" supercargo and two truck-drivers came forward with papers for
Lee to sign, as the first of the heavy steelboxes which harbored the
mounds were lowered into a van with the whine of an electric hoist.
Meanwhile somebody who said he was an assistant manager of the Cranium
hotel informed Lee that reservations had been made for him and that he
had a car waiting to conduct Dr. Lee to his suite. It was all very
mysterious, but efficient. Feeling more and more like some prize exhibit
handled without a will of its own on a whirlwind tour, Lee allowed
himself to be whisked from the airport to the hotel. With the din of the
jets still in his ears, overpowered by impressions which crowded his
senses from all sides, he listened politely to the hotel manager's
explanatio