The Thinking Machine Affair Read Online Free PDF

soon," he said confidently.
    The U.N.C.L.E. medical section went to work to establish what fast-acting poison had killed the intruder, a muscular six-foot man in his early thirties, whose body had already confirmed that he had been in excellent health until the moment of his death. Assisted by highly-skilled biochemists, the medical team examined blood and saliva samples.
    "The man isn't dead," Dr. Griffith Evans, the chief biochemist, eventually pronounced. "It's an identical case to the one we had some time ago."
    Dr. Frank Morris, who headed U.N.C.L.E.'S medical team, understood what the biochemist meant. He well remembered the incident some time back when another man had collapsed and died in the interrogation room. The result of the blood and saliva examination were identical with those taken now. Before the corpse could be buried it was claimed by "relatives" and transported to THRUSH Headquarters, where Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin later discovered that the "dead" man had been brought back to life and his full health restored by an antidote then unknown to the U.N.C.L.E. experts. But now U.N.C.L.E. had in fact obtained this antidote that it was possible to restore the life of the intruder.
    Dr. Morris gave Waverly his findings.
    "How long do you think it will take until the man is back to normal?" Waverly asked.
    "I've no knowledge of how fast the antidote works," the doctor replied, "but taking into consideration the unique physique of the man, and also the fact that the poison could not yet have taken a very firm grip on the blood and vital organs, I should think he might be revived within a few hours."
    "Go ahead then, and let me know when he's ready for questioning, will you?" Waverly terminated the conference with these words. Then, looking at his Chief Enforcement Agent, he added: "From the start, the whole business smelled of THRUSH. No one else could have bypassed our outside detection devices. Now we'll discover what they're up to and hit back at them—and mighty hard, Mr. Solo."
    "Isn't there a danger, sir, that by reviving and interrogating the THRUSH Agent we might alert THRUSH and do more harm than good?" Solo observed. "Wouldn't it be better to let them think we don't know anything and let them have their corpse when some fictitious relative comes to claim him?"
    "Mr. Solo, you seem to have acquired the art of thought reading," Waverly said dryly. "I was just going to propose the same thing. As and when the 'dead' man starts to regain consciousness we'll put him into deep hypnosis so that he is unaware of having been interrogated etcetera..."
    There was a knock, and Fred Harris, U.N.C.L.E.'s technical expert, entered. Somewhat long-windedly, he reported:
    "The gadgets are specially constructed electronic beam receivers, sir, capable of receiving ultra-short wave beams from a distant transmitter. They are very similar to electronic beam receivers which were discovered some months ago at THRUSH Eastern, only these are much smaller, and, I dare say, more effective."
    "Interesting," Waverly commented.
    Harris went on to explain: "I am sure that the purpose of these electronic gadgets was to use U.N.L.C.E.'S complete internal, and possibly also external, communications systems for receiving electronic beams transmitted from a distance. All the intruder needed to do was to fix these gadgets, which are provided with magnetic claws so that they stick firmly, to cables, boosters, etc., and our internal and external communications systems would have then been perfect receivers for any communication that some distant THRUSH Center…"
    "I am aware of it," Waverly interrupted Harris impatiently. "I am familiar with all brainwashing methods—electronic and otherwise—so you needn't elaborate. But what I want to know is whether or not the intruder succeeded in fixing his gadgets anywhere on or near the communications systems."
    "We have recovered one on the intercom cable, and there's no doubt that it was this