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disabilities. By studying minor mental handicaps, she was outlining the functions of the normal mind. Ronald, the architect, could look at a group of objects on a tray and say whether there were three or four of them, but if there were twelve and he had to count them, he would take a long time and might make a mistake. This suggested to Billie that the ability to see at a glance how many kerns are in a small group is a separate skill from the ability to count-In this way, she was slowly charting the depths of the mind, locating memory here, language there, mathematics somewhere else. And if the disability was related to minor brain damage, Billie could speculate that the normal ability was located in the part of the brain that had been destroyed. Eventually, her conceptual picture of the mind's functions would be mapped oil to a physical diagram of the human brain.

At her present rate of progress, it would take about two hundred years. However, she was working alone. With a team of psychologists she could progress much faster. She might see the map completed in her lifetime. That was her ambition.

It was a long way from her father's .suicidal depression. There were no quick cures in mental illness. But the mind was still largely a mystery to scientists. It would be much better understood if Billie could speed up her work. And then, perhaps, people like her father could be helped.

She went up the stairs to the next floor, thinking about the mystery patient Jpseph Bellow sounded like Joe Blow, the kind of name someone might make up. And why had he been discharged in the middle of the night?, , . >..-..-

She reached her office and looked qut of the window on to a building site. A new wing was being added to the hospital - and a new post was to be created to go with if Director of Research. Billie had applied for the job. But so had one of her colleagues, Dr Leonard Ross. Len was older than Billie, but she had wider experience and had published more: several articles and a textbook, An Introduction to the Psychology of Memory She felt sure she could beat out Len, but she did not. know who else might be in the running. And she wanted the job badly. As Director, she would have other scientists working under her.

> On the building site she noticed, among the workmen, a smaU group of men in business clothes -wopl topcoats and Homburgs instead of overalls and

hard hats. They looked as if they might be getting a tour. Looking more closely, she saw that Len Ross was with them.

She spoke to her secretary. 'Who are those guys being shown around the site by Len Ross?'

"They're from the Sowerby Foundation.'

Billie frowned. The Foundation was financing the new post. They would have a big say in who got the job. And there was Len making nice to them. 'Did we know they were coming today?'

'Len said he had sent you a note. He came by this morning to pick you up, but you weren't here.'

There had never been a note, Billie felt sure. Len had deliberately failed to warn her. And she had been late. ,

'Damn,' Billie said with feeling. She rushed out to join the party on the building-site.

She did not think about Joseph Bellow again for several hours.

11 A.M.

Because the missile was put together in a rush, 'the upper stages use a rocket motor that has been in production for some years, rather than anew design. The scientists have chosen a small version of the tried-and-tested Sergeant rocket. The upper stages of the missile are powered by clustered assemblies of these small rockets> known as Baby Sergeants.

As Luke negotiated the grid of streets leading to Union Station, he found himself checking, every minute or two, to see whether he was being followed.

He had lost his shadows more than an hour ago, but they might now be searching for him. The thought made him fearful and bewildered. Who were they and what were they doing? His instincts told him they were malevolent. Otherwise, why watch him secretly?

He shook his head to clear it This baseless speculation was frustrating. There was no point in guessing. He had to find out

First he had to clean himself up. His plan was to steal a suitcase from a train passenger. He felt sure he had done this before, at some