“Don’t be gruesome,” I told Baldy. “I’m thinking of something important.” “Like what?” Lisbeth demanded. “The war,” I said. “I’ve got it all worked out.” I told them. And I must say, it sounded even more feasible, telling it, that it did thinking it up. Nazi submarines are always lurking off our coast. We know that. “Like this,” I said. “We go down near Sandy Hook. Porky doesn’t actually have to see his victim--that’s been demonstrated. So he just mentally selects one of the lurking submarines and takes possession of its Commander.” “Do I?” Porky said. “You do.” “And _then_ what do I do?” “You have him run his submarine up on the shore and smash it,” I told him enthusiastically. “Maybe the crew would get suspicious and stop you? If they did--then all you have to do is open valve and sink the sub. Or blow it up with one of its own torpedoes. I’m no expert on submarines, but don’t you see, when you’re the Commander you’ll know all about them. No trouble at all to find a dozen ways of blasting the whole thing to smithereens.” “And kill himself, too,” Lisbeth murmured. “Dad, I thought you had better sense than--” “Not at all,” I explained. “In one split second he jumps out to the safety of his own body which is with us on shore. That’s been demonstrated. Why, the thing’s perfect. One sub gone. Then he jumps into another one! And another! The Battle of the Atlantic is the big hitch in our war effort. You know that. Why, this will--” * * * * * Baldy was beginning to get the bigness of my idea. “It’s perfect!” he exclaimed. “Why, listen, when Hitler finds his subs just aren’t coming back, he’ll be afraid to send any more out! Then we can get busy on the Japs. Take a Jap battleship, for instance. Or a Jap General, ordering all his men in the wrong direction! What chaos! What a cinch for our forces--” “Well, I won’t do it,” Porky said. “It just wouldn’t work and I won’t do it.” “Why wouldn’t it work?” I demanded. “Lisbeth, stop trying to tell me he doesn’t have to do what he doesn’t want to do. He does have to. This is too important a thing--” “It might work with just the first submarine,” Porky admitted. “But how do I know I can jump out of the Commander’s body with everything exploding around me? I never tried anything like that. Suppose I calculate it wrong and I’m dead before I jump. How do I know whether I can jump out of a dead body or not? I never tried it--” That made Baldy mad. “Listen, you big hunk of junk,” he said, “are you going to put your own personal safety ahead of a chance to win the war for Uncle Sam?” “More than just a chance--practically a sure thing,” I agreed. “That’s because you and Baldy aren’t taking the chance,” Lisbeth put in. “You two are safe and he gets killed. For just one submarine. It’s suicide--just plain suicide and I won’t let him do it.”