I gave emphatic utterance to an unprintable word and said, "Let's go back to town." * * * * * Johnson showed up in the room promptly at six-thirty, as he had promised, again slipping in without knocking. He threw his briefcase and his hat on the bed and pulled up a chair to the cardtable where Maxwell and I were playing chess. "How about the defense mechs?" Maxwell asked. "Hospital in New York is working on 'em," Johnson said. "Promised they'd have 'em ready tomorrow morning. I'm going up tonight, after I get through here, so I can pick 'em up right away." "Quick work," I said. "Any new developments on this end? I've been too busy today getting things organized to keep an eye on you." "Every twelve hours Langston's defense mech starts clicking," Maxwell said. "Four o'clock this morning and four o'clock this afternoon." "So he's not giving up on you, anyway," Johnson said. "We know he's still around. What else? Anything new come up?" I shrugged. "Spent the whole day on a wild goose chase--from my point of view. Trying to dig up information for my feature about Suns-Rays Incorporated." Johnson nodded. "No luck, huh?" I told him about the so-called interview with Blekeke that morning, and how in the afternoon I had tried to contact those SRI members who I knew had been living in town. That had been futile, too; all of them had moved to the house on the beach. Then Maxwell and I had spent a couple of hours in the library, checking reference books for some mention of SRI or any of its members. With no results. Johnson recognized the frustration in my voice. "Don't let it get you down," he said. I asked him if the C.I.D. had ever investigated the cult. "Not yet," he said. "Not that I know of. But everyone that you've had any contact with since you've been here is being checked thoroughly. And since that includes the SRI cult, it'll get a very complete going-over." I said, "Well, shucks, then. All I have to do is sit back and let you fellows dig up the information I need." "That, of course, depends on how the information is classified after it's processed," Johnson corrected. "Maybe you can use it and maybe you can't." He shrugged. "Well, I've got a whole new batch of questions here for you. That's my job right now. Let's get at 'em." * * * * * After Johnson was gone and I again felt mentally empty, I turned to Maxwell, who was pacing the floor restlessly: "Well, shall we go down and set up your defense barrier again?" "Let's take a walk," he said. "I've got a headache. Fresh air might help." "Suits me," I replied. "I know of a little bar seven or eight blocks from here...." I stopped because he was already going out the door, and I had to get up from the chair, grab the defense mech and run after him. He wasn't hurrying, just walking casually, but not waiting for anything.