THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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know the Government will snatch it as soon as they find it."

"That is precisely Jake Vyckhoven's idea," his father replied. "I told
you he was afraid of Merlin. He's getting more afraid of it every day."

He had reason to. There was a growing sentiment in favor of turning the
entire Government over to the computer as soon as it was found. To his
horror, Conn heard himself named as chairman of a committee that should
be set up to operate it. The moderates, who had merely wanted Merlin
used in an advisory capacity, were dropping out; the agitation was
coming from extremists who wanted Merlin to be the whole Government, and
now the extremists were developing an extreme wing of their own, who
called themselves Cybernarchists and started wearing colored-shirt
uniforms and greeting each other with an archaic stiff-arm salute, and
the words, "Hail Merlin!"

And the followers of the gospel-shouter on the west coast were now