"Oh. Frank, the usual question?" "This morning he is Thomas Lionel, Ph.D., M.M." "Oh." "He went to bed Tom Lionel, Consulting Engineer." "I wonder if he remembers," smiled Elaine. The _Poltergeist_ landed on the lawn. It was silent, but a flash of sunshine caught the sleek side and attracted Elaine's attention. "Hi," she called as she emerged from the house. "Howdy," he answered. "What brings you out?" "Never ask a girl a question like that," she laughed. "You'll never get the right answer." "Why?" "If she says 'you' it's either a lie or she's the kind of girl your mother tried to protect you from. If she says anything else, it's either a lie or she's the kind of girl your mother tried to protect you from." "A man can't win," snorted Thomas. "Does a man really want to win?" "Nope," admitted Thomas. "I won't ask questions, Elaine. I'll just be glad you came." "I'm glad you're glad." Elaine flirted with him shamelessly, and then turned toward the laboratory building. He followed, and they kept up a running fire of light talk all the way. "The first thing I have to do is to see what the engineer was doing last," remarked Thomas as he opened the laboratory door. "You are a strange fellow," smiled Elaine. "You respect each other's possessions and beliefs, though you argue madly through impersonal mediums. Still writing nasty letters?" "Uh-huh. And playing chess." "What's he been doing?" asked Elaine innocently. "Don't really know. Aside from some experiments on the poltergeist effect--reducing them to practice--I wouldn't know. I doubt that he's been doing much else. I do happen to know that he's deeply interested in the epicenter effect. He may find the key to it, too." The laboratory was about as he remembered it. There were some changes. A few of the pieces of equipment were moved; some of them were converted; and a couple of them had been built in to other, larger pieces. All of the workmanship was clean and shining. The cyclospectrograph had been worked on with a vengeance. It had lost its haywire appearance. The D plates were all neatly machined and the high frequency plumbing was all rearranged into mathematical and technical symmetry. The hours-use counter showed constant operation for several days solid, which interested the physicist. "He's found a use for it," he grinned at Elaine. "He finds a use for most everything," she said. "He's a pretty sharp man." "Thanks," grinned Thomas, recalling what the psychiatrist had said regarding the mutual efficiency of the mind in Thomas Lionel's body. "Wonder what this crystal is," muttered Thomas. "Looks like a natural quartz." "Might be--though I doubt it." "Can you find out?" "Eventually. If it is interesting, I will. What bothers me mostly, though," said Thomas thoughtfully, "are two things. One of them is that open drum of gooey tar. The other one is that vat of used motor oil." "The oil I understand. But what is the tarlike goo?"