date book. As you can see from the letterhead on this stationery, I direct operations at 
the main biochem research laboratory for Creative Development Associates, a subsidiary of 
Futurex International. If you know the nature of CDA's business, you will understand the 
need for circumspection.
  As ever, Ogden Salsbury
  He had expected to get a quick response with that letter, and his expectations had been 
met. At Harvard, Leonard had been guided by two shining principles: money and God. 
Salsbury had supposed, and rightly, that Dawson hadn't changed. The letter was mailed on 
Tuesday. Late Wednesday Dawson's secretary called to make the appointment.
  "I don't ordinarily sign for registered letters," Dawson said sternly. "I accepted it 
only because your name was on it. After I read it I very nearly threw it in the trash."
  Salsbury winced.
  "Had it been from anyone else, I would have thrown it away. But at Harvard you were no 
braggart. Have you overstated your case?"
  "You've discovered something you think is worth millions?"
  "Yes. And more." His mouth was dry.
  Dawson took a manila folder from the center desk drawer. "Creative Development 
Associates. We bought that company seven years ago. You were with it when we made the 
acquisition."
  "Yes, sir. Leonard."
  As if he had not noticed Salsbury's slip of the tongue, Dawson said, "CDA produces 
computer programs for universities and government bureaus involved in sociological and 
psychological studies." He didn't bother to page through the report. He seemed to have 
memorized it. "CDA also does research for government and industry. It operates seven 
laboratories that are examining the biological, chemical, and biochemical causes of 
certain sociological and psychological phenomena. You're in charge of the Brockert 
Institute in Connecticut." He frowned. "The entire Connecticut facility is devoted to top 
secret work for the Defense Department." His black eyes were exception-
  ally sharp and clear. "So secret, in fact, that even I couldn't find out what you're 
doing up there. Just that it's in the general field of behavior modification."
  Clearing his throat nervously, Salsbury wondered if Dawson was broadminded enough to 
grasp the value of what he was about to be told. "Are you familiar with the term 
'subliminal perception'?"
  "It has to do with the subconscious mind."
  "That's right-as far as it goes. I'm afraid I'm going to sound rather pedantic, but a 
lecture is in order."
  Dawson leaned back as Salsbury leaned forward. "By all means."
  Extracting two eight-by-ten photographs from the briefcase, Salsbury said, "Do you see 
any difference between photo A and photo B?"
  Dawson examined them closely. They were black and white studies of Salsbury's face. 
"They're identical."
  "On the surface, yes. They're prints of the same photograph."
  "What's the point?"
  "I'll explain later. Hold on to them for now."
  Dawson stared suspiciously at the pictures. Was this some sort of game? He didn't like 
games. They were a waste of time. While you were playing a game, you could just as easily 
be earning money.
  "The human mind," Salsbury said, "has two primary monitors for data input: the 
conscious and the subconscious."
  "My church recognizes the subconscious," Dawson said affably. "Not all churches will 
admit it exists."
  Unable to see the point of that, Salsbury ignored it. "These monitors observe and store 
two different sets of data. In a manner of speaking, the conscious mind is aware only of 
what happens in its direct line of sight, while the subconscious has peripheral vision. 
These two halves of the mind operate independently of each other, and often in opposition 
to each other-"
  "Only in the abnormal mind," Dawson said.
  "No, no. In everyone's mind. Yours and mine included."
  Disturbed that anyone should think his mind performed in any state other than perfect 
harmony with itself, Dawson started to speak.
  "For example," Salsbury said quickly, "a man is sitting at a bar. A beautiful woman 
takes the stool next to his. With conscious intent he tries to seduce her. At the same 
time, however, without being consciously aware of it, he may be terrified of sexual 
involvement. He may be afraid of rejection, failure, or impotency. With his conscious 
mind he performs as society expects him to perform in the company of a sexy woman. But 
his subconscious works effectively against his conscious. Therefore, he alienates the 
woman. He talks too loudly and brashly. Although he's ordinarily an interesting fellow, 
he bores her with stock market reports. He spills his drink on her. That behavior is the 
product of his subconscious fear. His outer mind says 'Go' even as his inner mind shouts 
'Stop.'"
  Dawson's expression was sour. He didn't appreciate the nature of the example. 
Nevertheless, he said, "Go on."
  "The subconscious is the dominant mind. The conscious sleeps, but the subconscious 
never does. The conscious has no access to the data in the subconscious, but the 
subconscious knows everything that transpires in the conscious mind. The conscious is 
essentially nothing more than a computer, while the subconscious is the computer 
programmer.
  "The data stored in the different halves of the mind are collected in the same way: 
through the five known senses. But the subconscious sees, hears, smells, tastes, and 
feels far more than does the outer mind. It apprehends everything that passes too quickly 
or too subtly to impress the conscious mind. For our purposes, in fact, that is the 
definition of 'subliminal': anything that happens too quickly or too subtly to make an 
impression on the conscious mind. More than ninety percent of the stimuli that we observe 
through our five senses is subliminal input."
  "Ninety percent?" Dawson said. "You mean I see, feel, smell, taste, and hear ten times 
more than I think I do? An example?"
  Salsbury had one ready. "The human eye fixates on objects
  at least one hundred thousand times a day. A fixation lasts from a fraction of a second 
to a third of a minute. However, if you tried to list the hundred thousand things you had 
looked at today, you wouldn't be able to recall more than a few hundred of them. The rest 
of those stimuli were observed by and stored in the subconscious-as were the additional 
two million stimuli reported to the brain by the other four senses."
  Closing his eyes as if to block out all of those sights he wasn't aware of seeing, 
Dawson said, "You've made three points." He ticked them off on his manicured fingers. 
"One, the subconscious is the dominant half of the mind. Two, we don't know what our 
subconscious minds have observed and remembered. We can't recall that data at will. 
Three, subliminal perception is nothing strange or occult; it is an integral part of our 
lives."
  "Perhaps the major part of our lives."
  "And you've discovered a commercial use for subliminal perception."