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Jehan Shu-era war cohest sort Generals consequently listened to hiressional committees, too

There was one of each in the special lounge of New Pentagon General Weidef was space-burnt and had a sressman Brant was smooth-cheeked and clear-eyed He smoked Denebian tobacco with the air of one whose patriotism was so notorious, he could be allowed such liberties

Shurammer-first-class, faced theentleift that you discovered quite by accident," said Congressman Brant placidly "Ah" He inspected the little -bald head with amiable curiosity

The little ers of his hands anxiously He had never been near such great rade Technician who had long ago failed all tests designed to s mankind and had settled into the rut of unskilled labor There was just this hobby of his that the great Progra fuss over

General Weider said, "I find this atmosphere of mystery childish"

"You won&039;t in awe can leak to the firstco i off that one-syllable na to a mere Technician "Aub! How much is nine times seven?"

Aub hesitated a limmered with a feeble anxiety "Sixty-three," he said

Congressht?"

"Check it for yourself, Congressresses twice, looked at its face as it lay there in the palift you brought us here to demonstrate? An illusionist?"

"More than that, sir Aub has memorized a few operations and with them he coeneral He looked pained

"No, sir," said Shuman patiently "Not a paper computer Sigest a nueneral

"And you, Congressman?"

"Twenty-three"

"Good! Aub, entlera his head He fished a small pad out of one shirt pocket and an artist&039;s hairline stylus out of the other His forehead corrugated as hemarks on the paper

General Weider interrupted him sharply "Let&039;s see that"

Aub passed hiure seventeen"

Congressman Brant nodded and said, "So it does, but I suppose anyone can copy figures off a computer I think I could make a passable seventeen myself, even without practice"

"If you will let Aub continue, gentlemen," said Shuman without heat

Aub continued, his hand tre a little Finally he said in a low voice, "The answer is three hundred and ninety-one"

Congressman Brant took out his computer a second tiuess?"

"No guess, Congressman," said Shuman "He computed that result He did it on this sheet of paper"

"Hu and marks on paper are another"

"Explain, Aub," said Shuraentlemen, I write down seventeen and just underneath it, I write twenty-three Next, I say to myself: seven tiressman interrupted smoothly, "Now, Aub, the problem is seventeen times twenty-three"

"Yes, I know," said the little Technician earnestly, "but I start by saying seven times three because that&039;s the way it works Now seven times three is twenty-one"

"And how do you know that?" asked the congressman

"I just remember it It&039;s always twenty-one on the computer I&039;ve checked it any number of times"

"That doesn&039;t ressman

"Maybe not," staet the right answers, you see"

"Go on"

"Seven times three is twenty-one, so I write doenty-one Then one times three is three, so I write down a three under the two of twenty-one"

"Why under the two?" asked Congressman Brant at once

"Because - " Aub looked helplessly at his superior for support "It&039;s difficult to explain"

Shuman said, "If you will accept his work for the moment, we can leave the details for the mathematicians"

Brant subsided

Aub said, "Three plus two makes five, you see, so the twenty-one becoo for a while and start fresh You multiply seven and two, that&039;s fourteen, and one and two, that&039;s two Put them down like this and it adds up to thirty-four Now if you put the thirty-four under the fifty-one this way and add theet three hundred and ninety-one and that&039;s the answer"

There was an instant&039;s silence and then General Weider said, "I don&039;t believe it He goes through this rigmarole and makes up numbers and multiplies and adds them this way and that, but I don&039;t believe it It&039;s too co"

"Oh no, sir," said Aub in a sweat "It only seems complicated because you&039;re not used to it Actually, the rules are quite simple and ork for any nueneral "Come then" He took out his own computer (a severely styled GI ht on the paper That&039;s five thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight"

"Yes, sir," said Aub, taking a new sheet of paper

"Now," ( of his computer), "seven two three nine Seven thousand two hundred and thirty-nine"

"Yes, sir"

"And now multiply those two"

"It will take some tieneral

"Go ahead, Aub," said Shu low He took another sheet of paper and another The general took out his watch finally and stared at it "Are you through with your , Technician?"

"I&039;m almost done, sir - Here it is, sir Forty-one million, five hundred and thirty-seven thousand, three hundred and eighty-two" He showed the scrawled figures of the result

General Weider smiled bitterly He pushed the multiplication contact on his computer and let the numbers whirl to a halt And then he stared and said in a surprised squeak, "Great Galaxy, the fella&039;s right"

The President of the Terrestrial Federation had grown haggard in office and, in private, he allowed a look of settled melancholy to appear on his sensitive features The Denebian war, after its early start of vast reat popularity, had trickled down into a sordidsteadily on Earth Possibly, it was rising on Deneb, too

And now Congressman Brant, head of the important Committee on Military Appropriations, was cheerfully and s nonsense

"Co without a computer," said the president impatiently, "is a contradiction in terressht do it, or the hu the new skills he had learned, he worked out surew interested

"Does this alork?"

"Every time, Mr President It is foolproof"

"Is it hard to learn?"