"All right; you can go," Conn told them. "We'll take care of him." Shanlee woke instantly; he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the cot. "You have my name and rank," he said, and his voice no longer quavered. "My serial number is--" He recited a string of figures. "And that's all you're getting out of me." "We'll get anything we want out of you," Conn told him. "You know what a mind-probe is? You should; your accomplices used one on my father's secretary. She's a hopeless imbecile now. You'll be, too, when we're through with you. But before then, you'll have given us everything you know." Kellton began to protest. "Conn, you can't do a thing like that!" "A mind-probe is utterly illegal; why, it's a capital offense!" Ledue exclaimed. "Conn I forbid you...." "Judge, don't make me call those guards and have you removed," Conn said. "You can stop bluffing," Shanlee told him. "Where would you get a mind-probe?" "Out of the Chief of Intelligence's office, here in his headquarters. I should imagine it was to be used in interrogating Alliance prisoners, during the War. I think Colonel Zareff would enjoy helping to use it on you. He used to be an Alliance officer." Shanlee was silent. Conn sat down in one of the chairs, at the small table. "General Shanlee, would you describe General Foxx Travis as a man of honor and integrity? And would you so describe yourself?" Shanlee said nothing. "Yet both of you have lied, deliberately and repeatedly, to conceal the existence of Merlin. And we found that bomb in your room. You were willing to blow up this headquarters and everybody, yourself included, in it, to keep us from getting at Merlin. Well, you know that we can make you tell us the truth, maybe when it's too late, and you know that we are going to get Merlin. We're cutting the collapsium off that thing above now." Shanlee laughed. "You're supposed to be a computerman. You think that little thing could be Merlin?" "The controls and programming machine for Merlin." He turned to Kurt Fawzi. "You always claimed that Merlin was here in Force Command. You had it backward. Force Command is inside Merlin." "What do you mean, Conn?" "The walls; the fifty-foot walls, shielded inside and out. Merlin--the circuitry, the memory-bank, the relays, everything--was installed inside them. What's up above is only what was needed to operate the computer. Isn't that true, General?" Shanlee had stopped his derisive laughter. He sat on the edge of the cot, tensing as though for a leap at Conn's throat. "That won't help, either. If you try it, we won't shoot you. We'll just overpower you and start mind-probing right away. Now; you feel that suppressing Merlin was worth any sacrifice. We're not unreasonable. If you can convince us that Merlin ought not to be brought to light.... Well, you can't do any harm by talking, and you may do some good. You may even accomplish your mission."