COUNSELOR: Thank you, sir! It will be so noted. And now--(_Makes a pretense of scanning his brief._) Now we come to an area of vital interest--an area demanding our most urgent attention, inasmuch as it gives indication of threatening our basic fundamental of cybernetic detection; believe me, I cannot place enough emphasis here; I refer, of course, to Mr. Beardsley's process of manipulation of ECAIAC, and this strange business of "Ellery Sherlock." (_Pause._) Mr. Jeff Arnold, if you please. I believe you were to be ready with some observations today? ARNOLD: Yes, sir. But more than observation, I am glad to report. We have _solved_ the "Ellery Sherlock" equate. COUNSELOR: This is wonderful! Will you proceed, sir? ARNOLD: A strange thing ... and yet so simple! We began by resurrecting a huge number of "Summaries"; we dredged into Dead File for at least three years back, re-ran them under a synapse intensifier. It's all there, you know, every minute particle of every case that has gone through ECAIAC; almost subliminal, some of it, but-- COUNSELOR: One moment, sir. This reference to "synapse." Could you--ah--clarify? ARNOLD: Why, a synapse is the primary adjunct to memory! The human brain has billions of them, neuronically linked--sort of pathways that get grooved deeper and deeper with constant repetition of thought, until after a while they become completely permanent, retentive and self-functioning. ECAIAC is similarly equipped--not to the degree of the human brain, as yet, but amazingly. COUNSELOR (_dazed_): Ah--yes. Please continue, sir. ARNOLD: As I said, we revived a number of the old cases. And what we discovered, was that Beardsley--for years past, mind you--had been utilizing his capacity as Chief of Coördinates to introduce extraneous material to ECAIAC _via_ the tapes! In each and every case that came before him! Oh, you can believe me, he was clever, he went about it by slow and subtle degrees! And the substance of this material, sir--(_Pauses, gulps and shakes his head, unable to go on._) COUNSELOR: Please control yourself, sir! The substance of this extraneous material? ARNOLD (_again gulps_): De-detective fiction! COUNSELOR (_leans forward sharply_): Do I understand you correctly, Mr. Arnold? You did say _detective fiction_? ARNOLD: Of two types. Ellery Queen and Sherlock Holmes--I presume it was Beardsley's random choice. But there was nothing random about his purpose! Don't you see, don't you see, it all fits! It explains the trouble we were having in recent months in getting total synaptic clearance! (_His voice borders on the frantic._) I remember, now, I even mentioned this to Beardsley--and oh, the smug way he took it. He knew, damn him, he knew! He was getting there, he was reaching the synaptic, a bit of fiction here and a bit there, ECAIAC was being conditioned, unable to distinguish the real from the unreal--