Randall Garrett

“ At last the Secretary of Defense said: "That's enough!" His face was white. He turned to the others. "Gentlemen, I think we can say without doubt that we have captured the most cunning, clever, and dangerous spy in the world. The question is: What shall we do with him?"
"How did you get this information?" one of the generals asked.
"I don't know," Phil said truthfully. "It just came to me."
"He won't talk," said an admiral.
"Who do you work for?" asked another.
"I used to work for Starr & Son, but they fired me three weeks ago."
"I mean, what country?"
"I don't work for anybody!" ”

“ His education had stopped at the sixth grade, and he had almost flunked out of that. He had a mousy face, stringy hair, and a dull look in his eyes.
In other words, he was just about as nobody as a human being can get without being an absolute bum. ”

“ It went through all my files, and all the files in the Pentagon, and Heaven only knows what else. It picked up all that information and put it in Mr. Merriwether's mind!"
"Amazing!" said the President.
"Fantastic!" said the Secretary of Defense.
"Will it work with anybody?" the President asked.
Dr. Wolstadt shook his head. "No. This is a most unusual case. Mr. Merriwether, according to the FBI reports, had a terrible memory before the accident happened. He is actually a very intelligent man, but he always forgot things, and that made him look stupid. ”

“ Like a flashlight going through plateglass, the beam went through files, papers, memorandums, abstracts, reports, desks, chairs, brick, stone, and concrete. Through the Pentagon and across the Potomac it went, through building after building, unnoticed and invisible.
Then, on the far side of Washington, D.C., several miles from the laboratory of Dr. Wolstadt, it struck the head of a human being.
Philip Merriwether was a nobody. He made thirty-five dollars a week at a very dull job and lived in a cheap rooming house that had been built around 1880 and not remodeled since. ”