He reached for his own microphone and then paused. How could he command attention? He thought a moment and then smiled bitterly. "I've got it!" he yelled into the microphone. He repeated his statement again and again, and the chattering curses and reports died slowly as every man waited to hear the answer. "Who's calling?" "Captain Jason Charless to General Lloyd." "Charless--God, man--What--?" "I have the answer, general." "Speak in code, Charless." "No need, sir; what I have to say is as important to Admiral Sarne as it is to you." "Be careful, Captain Charless. You--" "General Lloyd, both you and Admiral Sarne are fighting an enemy far more dangerous than each other." "But--" "Sarne's people did not steal the logic computer and the guided missile stockpile; no more than we stole his." The mad, weaving and winding of the aircraft flights straightened out and gradually shaped into a vast circle that rotated on an hypothetical axle. General Lloyd spoke into another microphone. "General Lloyd, Commander of American Flying Force, calling Admiral Sarne, Commander of--" "Save it, General Lloyd," interrupted the reply from Admiral Sarne. "I've heard; I've also seen. If there is any logic in this, my normal suspicion of you and your kind can be allayed long enough to find out what this is all about." Lloyd laughed bitterly. "We have no equipment capable of shutting off your guns," he told Sarne. "We were grudgingly willing to accuse you of having made such a discovery--to our complete detriment." Sarne's reply was instantaneous. "If such gear exists--and exist it does--it is none of our doing. Nor, it would appear, is it yours. I'll listen to your Jason Charless, for he appears to know what has been going on. And if a common enemy has taken it upon themselves to hurl you and I at one another, we both shall show him that the combined might of the two greatest countries on earth is nothing to be trifled with!" "Amen. Go on, Charless. Give!" Rapidly, Charless started to explain. Then every radio in every plane spoke forth. "Well done, Jason Charless. Gentlemen, I am The Machine. Had I interrupted you before, you would have believed this a trick. But the forces I can employ in my own favor, plus the fact that you have one of your own kind there who has seen and talked with me, will, no doubt, convince you." Lloyd said, "There's our enemy, Sarne." Admiral Sarne's voice was as bitter as General Lloyd's. "How do we fight a machine capable of this?" "Not by building a bigger and better machine," replied Lloyd in a completely helpless voice. "So we are unarmed men fighting the best in modern war equipment," grumbled Sarne. "Look, Lloyd, let's get out of this circling race and land somewhere we can sit and talk and plan." "Washington." "I prefer--" "Radar trace at max range, South," came the cry of Sarne's radar officer.