l causer, whose activator
is hostility.

"We have always had the accident prone, the person who has a
psychological proclivity for having more than his share of mishaps. Wims
is an individual who can make an accident prone of _anyone_ who
threatens his well being and survival. This boy, who, as indicated by
the tests, hasn't an unkind thought for any creature on this planet, has
an unconscious, reactive, invulnerable defense against persons who
exhibit even the slightest hostility toward him. The energies of their
own hostility are turned against them. The greater the hostility, the
more accidents they have and the more serious they become. And the
increase in accidents gives rise to an increase in hostility and so it
goes in an ever widening circle of dislocation and destruction.

"As a scientist I would have preferred to take the many months, perhaps
years, necessary to investigate this phenomenon thoroughly, however
these are critical times and I was possessed with an inspired idea on
how we might utilize this phenomenon against the enemies of the free
world. Through a colleague on the Scientific Advisory Council I got the
President's ear and he decided to let us try, on the basis, I'm certain,
that the best way to handle screwball scientists is to allow them one or
two harmless, inexpensive insanities in the hope that they will make an
error and discover something useful.

"Through the good offices of General Fyfe, who was apprised of our plan,
Wims was snatched into the Army, commissioned and sent to Burma to be
captured. Intelligence advises that he has been taken to Moscow which is
for him, an American officer ostensibly on a secret mission, the most
hostile environment extant." Titus shook his head. "I suppose I should
feel sorry for those poor Russians. They don't have a chance."

"Sorry for them!" Fyfe blustered. "Think what I've had to go through.
Those ridiculous orders; couldn't explain to anyone. All my people think
that I've lost my mind. Felt like a fool giving that idiot a battlefield
commission during a training exercise."

"It was necessary to give him some rank," Titus explained. "The
Communists wouldn't expect a private to be sent on a secret mission;
they just wouldn't bother to interrogate him. Now an officer, whose
return was specially requested the day following his capture would seize
their attention and surely they would apply their nasty pressures to
find out why. He hasn't been returned