Brackney nodded with an air of satisfaction. "Good. I see you do have the kind of imagination we need. "Now, we'll be giving nothing away, because they already know how to make the stuff and can think up anything we can. But, we have a long jump as far as production facilities are concerned. "The idea is this. We want to make really enormous quantities of such weapons. By various means--through underground channels, by air if necessary--we want to distribute them to all the Iron Curtain countries. The people will be armed, and hell is going to break loose! "We want you in on it as design and production consultants. Leave tomorrow, be gone for several months probably. It's going to have to be highly organized, so it can be sprung as a surprise; otherwise the Soviet bosses, who are no fools, will hit. But your part will be in production. Are you game?" "It's--astonishing," said Elizabeth. "Frankly, I didn't think the government had that much imagination." "We're probably exceeding our authority," admitted Brackney. "By rights, of course, Congress should be consulted, but this is like the Louisiana Purchase: there's no time to do so." It was the historical note which decided Arch. Grade-school history, yes--but it didn't fit in with his preconceptions of the red-necked militarist. Suddenly, almost hysterically, he was laughing. "What's so funny?" asked Horrisford sharply. "The idea--what old Clausewitz would say--winning wars by arming the enemy! Sure--sure, I'm in. Gladly!" * * * * * Six months on a secret reservation in Colorado which nobody but the top brass left, six months of the hardest, most concentrated work a man could endure, got Arch out of touch with the world. He saw an occasional newspaper, was vaguely aware of trouble on the outside, but there was too much immediately at hand for him to consider the reality. Everything outside the barbed-wire borders of his universe grew vague. Designing and testing capacitite weapons was harder than he had expected, and took longer: though experienced engineers assured him the project was moving with unprecedented speed and ease. Production details were out of his department, but the process of tooling up and getting mass output going was not one for overnight solution. The magnetic rifle; the arc gun; the electric bomb and grenade; the capacitite land mine, set to fry the crew of any tank which passed over--he knew their hideous uses, but there was a cool ecstasy in working with them which made him forget, most of the time. And after all, the idea was to arm men who would be free. In March, General Brackney entered the Quonset hut which Arch and Elizabeth had been inhabiting and sat down with a weary smile. "I guess you're all through now," he said. "About time," grumbled the girl. "We've been sitting on our hands here for a month, just puttering."