"The man is a miracle of perseverence, a keen observer, a shrewd reasoner, and a mechanic par excellence--a born researcher. Therefore, in time he learned what it must be: to cut it short, the pineal body. Then he had to find the stimulant. Drugs, chemicals, and spectrum of radiation; singly and in combination. Years of plugging, with just enough progress to keep him at it. Visits to other planets peopled by races human to two places or more; learning everything that had been done along the line of his problem. When you fellows moved Medon over here he visited it as a matter of routine, and there he hit the jackpot. Wise himself is a surgeon, and the Medonians have for centuries been having warfare and grief enough, steadily and in heroic doses, to develop the medical and surgical arts no end. "They knew how to stimulate the pineal--a combination of drugs and specific radiations--but their method was dangerous. With Phillips' fresh viewpoint, his wide, new knowledge, and his mechanical genius, they worked out a new and highly satisfactory technique. He was going to try it out on a pirate going into the lethal chamber, but von Hohendorff heard about it and insisted that it should be tried on him. Got up on his Unattached Lensman's high horse and won't come down. So here we are." "Hm-m-m--interesting!" The admiral had listened attentively. "You're pretty sure that it will work, aren't you?" "As sure as we can be of anything that hasn't been tried. Ninety-percent probability, say--certainly not over ninety-five." * * * * * "Good enough odds." Haynes turned to the commandant. "What do you mean, you old reprobate, by sneaking around behind my back and horning in on my reservation? I rate Unattached, too, you know, and it's mine. You're out, von." "I saw it first and I refuse to relinquish." Von Hohendorff was adamant. "You've got to," Haynes insisted. "He isn't your cub any more; he's my Lensman. Besides, I'm a better test than you are--I've got more parts to replace than you have." "Four or five make just as good a test as a dozen," the commandant declared. "Gentlemen, think!" the Posenian pleaded. "Please consider that the pineal is actually inside the brain. It is true that I have not been able to discover any brain injury so far, but the process has not yet been applied to a reasoning brain and I can offer no assurance whatever that some obscure injury will not result." "What of it?" and the two old Unattached Lensmen resumed their battle, hammer and tongs. Neither would yield a millimeter. "Operate on them both, then, since they are both above law or reason," Lacy finally ordered in exasperation. "There ought to be a law to reduce Gray Lensmen to the ranks when they begin to suffer from ossification of the intellect." "Starting with yourself, perhaps?" the admiral shot back, not at all abashed.