non-classified files that aren't open to public examination. I even got
a few peeps at some of the stuff that's still classified secret. I have
maps and plans of all the installations that were built on this
planet--literally thousands of them, many still undiscovered. Why, we
haven't more than scratched the surface of what the Federation left
behind here. For instance, all the important installations exist in
duplicate, some even in triplicate, as a precaution against Alliance
space attack."

"Space attack!" Colonel Zareff was indignant. "There never was a time
when the Alliance could have taken the offensive against Poictesme, even
if an offensive outside our own space-area had been part of our policy.
We just didn't have the ships. It took over a year to move a million and
a half troops from Ashmodai to Marduk, and the fleet that was based on
Amaterasu was blasted out of existence in the spaceports and in orbit.
Hell, at the time of the surrender, we didn't have--"

"They weren't taking chances on that, Colonel. But the point I want to
make is that with everything I did find, I never found, in any official
record, a single word about the giant computer we call the Third
Fleet-Army Force Brain."

For a time, the only sound in the room was the tiny insectile humming of
the electric clock on the wall. Then Professor Kellton set his glass on
the table, and it sounded like a hammer-blow.

"Nothing, Conn?" Kurt Fawzi was incredulous and, for the first time,
frightened. The others were exchanging uneasy glances. "But you must
have! A thing like that--"