"For Washington. You'll see who it is." Washington, more than just a sleeper jump away. Washington? Oh, oh.... Well, let's get it over with. We did. We left for the capital that night. We slipped in the back door, or what passed for the back door. Pretty elaborate layout, the White House. Our footsteps rang as hollow as my heart on the shiny waxed floors. The Old Man did the honors. "Mr. President, this is Mr. Miller." He shook hands. He had a good grip. "General Hayes, you know. Admiral Lacey, Admiral Jessop, Mr. Hoover you know, General Buckley. Gentlemen. Mr. Miller." We shook hands all around. "Glad to know you." My palms were slippery. The President sat, and we followed suit. The guest of honor, I felt like my head was shaved, and I had a slit pants leg. You don't meet the President every day. The President broke the ice. It was thin to begin with. "You have within yourself the ability, the power, to do a great deal for your country, Mr. Miller, or would you prefer to be called Pete?" Pete was all right. He was older, and bigger. Bigger all around. "A great deal of good, or a great deal of harm." No harm. I'm a good citizen. "I'm sure of that. But you can understand what I mean, by harm." Likely I could, if I really wanted to. But I didn't. Not the place where you were born. "Naturally, Pete, it makes me feel a great deal better, however, to hear you say and phrase it just like that." The light of the lamp glittered on his glasses. "Very, very much better, Pete." I was glad it was dark beyond the range of the lamp. My face was red. "Thank you, Mr. President." "I like it better, Pete, because from this day on, Pete, you and I and all of us know that you, and you alone, are going to have a mighty hard row to hoe." That's right; he was a farmer once. "Hard in this respect--you understand, I know, that for the rest of your natural life you must and shall be guarded with all the alert fervor that national security demands. Does that sound too much like a jail sentence?" It did, but I lied. I said, "Not exactly, Mr. President. Whatever you say is all right with me." He smiled. "Thank you, Pete.... Guarded as well and as closely as--the question is, where?" * * * * * I didn't know I'd had a choice. The Old Man had talked to me before on that. "Not exactly, Pete. This is what I mean: General Buckley and General Hayes feel that you will be safest on the mainland somewhere in the Continental United States. Admirals Lacey and Jessop, on the other hand, feel that the everpresent risk of espionage can be controlled only by isolation, perhaps on some island where the personnel can be exclusively either military or naval." I grinned inwardly. I knew this was going to happen.