[Transcriber's Note:

 Typographic errors have been corrected. 

 This etext was produced from Amazing Stories March, April and May 1959. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U. S. Copyright on this publication was renewed. ]

 * * * * *

 THE GALAXY PRIMES

 By E. E. SMITH

 They were four of the greatest minds in the Universe: Two men, two women, lost in an experimental spaceship billions of parsecs from home. And as they mentally charted the Cosmos to find their way back to earth, their own loves and hates were as startling as the worlds they encountered. Here is E. E. Smith's great new novel.... 

 [Illustration:

 The guardian struggled to immobilize the beast's gigantic talons as the frightened girl leaped to the safety of Garlock's arms. ]

CHAPTER 1

Her hair was a brilliant green. So was her spectacularly filled halter. So were her tight short-shorts, her lipstick, and the lacquer on herfinger-and toe-nails. As she strolled into the Main of the starship, followed hesitantly by the other girl, she drove a mental probe at theblack-haired, powerfully-built man seated at the instrument-bankedconsole. 

Blocked. 

Then at the other, slenderer man who was rising to his feet from thepilot's bucket seat. His guard was partially down; he was telepathing apleasant, if somewhat reserved greeting to both newcomers. 

She turned to her companion and spoke aloud. "So _these_ are thesystem's best. " The emphasis was somewhere between condescension andsneer. "Not much to choose between, I'd say ... 'port me a tenth-piece, Clee? Heads, I take the tow-head. "

She flipped the coin dexterously. "Heads it is, Lola, so I getJim--James James James the Ninth himself. You have the honor of pairingwith Clee--or should I say His Learnedness Right the Honorable DirectorDoctor Cleander Simmsworth Garlock, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor ofScience, Prime Operator, President and First Fellow of the GalaxianSociety, First Fellow of the Gunther Society, Fellow of the Institute ofParaphysics, of the Institute of Nuclear Physics, of the College ofMathematics, of the Congress of Psionicists, and of all the othertop-bracket brain-gangs you ever heard of? Also, for your information, his men have given him a couple of informal degrees--P. D. Q. And S. O. B. "

 * * *

The big psionicist's expression of saturnine, almost contemptuousamusement had not changed; his voice came flat and cold. "The less yousay, Doctor Bellamy, the better. Obstinate, swell-headed women give mean acute rectal pain. Pitching your curves over all the vizzies in spacegot you aboard, but it won't get you a thing from here on. And for yourinformation, Doctor Bellamy, one more crack like that and I take youover my knee and blister your fanny. "

"Try it, you big, clumsy, muscle-bound gorilla!" she jeered. "_That_ Iwant to see! Any time you want to get both arms broken at the elbows, just try it!"

"Now's as good a time as any. I like your spirit, babe, but I can't saya thing for your judgment. " He got up and started purposefully towardher, but both non-combatants came between. 

"Jet back, Clee!" James protested, both hands against the heavier man'schest. "What the hell kind of show is _that_ to put on?" And, simultaneously:

"Belle! Shame on you! Picking a fight already, and with nobody knows howmany million people looking on! You know as well as I do that we mayhave to spend the rest of our lives together, so act like civilizedbeings--please--both of you! And don't.... "

"Nobody's watching this but us, " Garlock interrupted. "When pussy therestarted using her claws I cut the gun. "

"That's what _you_ think, " James said sharply, "but Fatso and his numberone girl friend are coming in on the tight beam. "

"Oh?" Garlock whirled toward the hitherto dark and silentthree-dimensional communications instrument. The face of a bossy-lookingwoman was already bright. 

"Garlock! How _dare_ you try to cut Chancellor Ferber off?" shedemanded. Her voice was deep-pitched, blatant with authority. "Here youare, sir. "

The woman's face shifted to one side and a man's appeared--a face tojustify in full the nickname "Fatso. "

"'Fatso', eh?" Chancellor Ferber snarled. Pale eyes glared from the fatface. "That costs you exactly one thousand credits, James. "

"How much will this cost me, Fatso?" Garlock asked. 

"Five thousand--and, since nobody can call me that deliberately, demotion three grades and probation for three years. Make a note, MissFoster. "

"Noted, sir. "

"Still sure we aren't going anywhere, " Garlock said. "_What_ a brain!"

"Sure I'm sure!" Ferber gloated. "In a couple of hours I'm going to buyyour precious starship in as junk. In the meantime, whether you like itor not, I'm going to watch your expression while you push all thosepretty buttons and nothing happens. "

"The trouble with you, Fatso, " Garlock said dispassionately, as heopened a drawer and took out a pair of cutting pliers, "is that all yourstrength is in your glands and none in your alleged brain. There are alot of things--including a lot of tests--you know nothing about. Howmuch will you see after I've cut one wire?"

"You wouldn't dare!" the fat man shouted. "I'd fire you--blacklist youall over the sys.... "

Voice and images died away and Garlock turned to the two women in theMain. He began to smile, but his mental shield did not weaken. 

"You've got a point there, Lola, " he said, going on as though Ferber'sinterruption had not occurred. "Not that I blame either Belle or myself. If anything was ever calculated to drive a man nuts, this farce was. Asthe only female Prime in the system, Belle should have been inautomatically--she had no competition. And to anybody with three braincells working the other place lay between you, Lola, and the other threefemale Ops in the age group. 

"But no. Ferber and the rest of the Board--stupidity _uberalles_!--think all us Ops and Primes are psycho and that the ship willnever even lift. So they made a Grand Circus of it. But they succeededin one thing--with such abysmal stupidity so rampant I'm getting moreand more reconciled to the idea of our not getting back--at least, for along, long time. "

"Why, they said we had a very good chance.... " Lola began. 

"Yeah, and they said a lot of even bigger damn lies than that one. Haveyou read any of my papers?"

"I'm sorry. I'm not a mathematician. "

"Our motion will be purely at random. If it isn't, I'll eat this wholeship. We won't get back until Jim and I work out something to steer uswith. But they must be wondering no end, outside, what the score is, soI'm willing to call it a draw--temporarily--and let 'em in again. Howabout it, Belle?"

"A draw it is--temporarily. " Neither, however, even offered to shakehands. 

"Smile pretty, everybody, " Garlock said, and pressed a stud. 

"... The matter? What's the matter? Oh.... " the worried voice of theSystem's ace newscaster came in. "Power failure _already_?"

"No, " Garlock replied. "I figured we had a couple of minutes of privacycoming, if you can understand the meaning of the word. Now all four ofus tell everybody who is watching or listening _au revoir_ or good-bye, whichever it may turn out to be. " He reached for the switch. 

"Wait a minute!" the newscaster demanded. "Leave it on until the lastposs.... " His voice broke off sharply. 

"Turn it back on!" Belle ordered. 

"Nix. "

"Scared?" she sneered. 

"You chirped it, bird-brain. I'm scared purple. So would you be, if youhad three brain cells working in that glory-hound's head of yours. Getset, everybody, and we'll take off. "

"Stop it, both of you!" Lola exclaimed. "Where do you want us to sit, and do we strap down?"

"You sit here; Belle at that plate beside Jim. Yes, strap down. Thereprobably won't be any shock, and we should land right side up, butthere's no sense in taking chances. Sure your stuff's all aboard?"

"Yes, it's in our rooms. "

The four secured themselves; the two men checked, for the dozenth time, their instruments. The pilot donned his scanner. The ship liftedeffortlessly, noiselessly. Through the atmosphere; through and farbeyond the stratosphere. It stopped. 

"Ready, Clee?" James licked his lips. 

"As ready as I ever will be, I guess. Shoot!"

The pilot's right hand, forefinger outstretched, movedunenthusiastically toward a red button on his panel ... Slowed ... Stopped. He stared into his scanner at the Earth so far below. 

"Hit it, Jim!" Garlock snapped. "_Hit_ it, for goodness sake, before we_all_ lose our nerve!"

James stabbed convulsively at the button, and in the very instant ofcontact--instantaneously; without a fractional microsecond oftime-lapse--their familiar surroundings disappeared. Or, rather, andwithout any sensation of motion, of displacement, or of the passage ofany time whatsoever, the planet beneath them was no longer theirfamiliar Earth. The plates showed no familiar stars nor patterns ofheavenly bodies. The brightly-shining sun was very evidently not theirfamiliar Sol. 

"Well--we went _somewhere_ ... But not to Alpha Centauri, not much toour surprise. " James gulped twice; then went on, speaking almostjauntily now that the attempt had been made and had failed. "So now it'sup to you, Clee, as Director of Project Gunther and captain of the goodship _Pleiades_, to boss the more-or-less simple--more, I hope--job ofgetting us back to Tellus. "

 * * *

Science, both physical and paraphysical, had done its best. Gunther'sTheorems, which define the electromagnetic and electrograviticparameters pertaining to the annihilation of distance, had been studied, tested, and applied to the full. So had the Psionic Corollaries; which, while not having the status of paraphysical laws, do allow computationof the qualities and magnitudes of the stresses required for any givenapplication of the Gunther Effect. 

The planning of the starship _Pleiades_ had been difficult in theextreme; its construction almost impossible. While it was practically aforegone conclusion that any man of the requisite caliber would alreadybe a member of the Galaxian Society, the three planets and eightsatellites were screened, psionicist by psionicist, to select the twostrongest and most versatile of their breed. 

These two, Garlock and James, were heads of departments of, and underiron-clad contract to, vast Solar System Enterprises, Inc. , the onlyconcern able and willing to attempt the building of the first starship. 

Alonzo P. Ferber, Chancellor of SSE, however, would not risk atenth-piece of the company's money on such a bird-brained scheme. Himself a Gunther First, he believed implicitly that Firsts were in facttops in Gunther ability; that these few self-styled "Operators" and"Prime Operators" were either charlatans or self-deluded crackpots. Since he could not feel that so-called "Operator Field, " no such thingdid or could exist. No Gunther starship could ever, possibly, work. 

He did loan Garlock and James to the Galaxians, but that was as far ashe would go. For salaries and for labor, for research and material, fortrials and for errors; the Society paid and paid and paid. 

Thus the starship _Pleiades_ had cost the Galaxian Society almost athousand million credits. 

Garlock and James had worked on the ship since its inception. They wereto be of the crew; for over a year it had been taken for granted thatwould be its only crew. 

 * * *

As the _Pleiades_ neared completion, however, it became clearer andclearer that the displacement-control presented an unsolved, and quitepossibly an insoluble, problem. It was mathematically certain that, whenthe Gunther field went on, the ship would be displaced instantaneouslyto some location in space having precisely the Gunther coordinatesrequired by that particular field. One impeccably rigorous analysisshowed that the ship would shift into the nearest solar systempossessing an Earth-type planet; which was believed to be Alpha Centauriand which was close enough to Sol so that orientation would be automaticand the return to Earth a simple matter. 

Since the Gunther Effect did in fact annihilate distance, however, another group of mathematicians, led by Garlock and James, proved withequal rigor that the point of destination was no more likely to be anyone given Gunther point than any other one of the myriads of billions ofequiguntherial points undoubtedly existent throughout the length, breadth, and thickness of our entire normal space-time continuum. 

The two men would go anyway, of course. Carefully-calculated pressureswould make them go. It was neither necessary nor desirable, however, forthem to go alone. 

Wherefore the planets and satellites were combed again; this time toselect two women--the two most highly-gifted psionicists in theeighteen-to-twenty-five age group. Thus, if the _Pleiades_ returnedsuccessfully to Earth, well and good. If she did not, the four selecteeswould found, upon some far-off world, a race much abler than thehumanity of Earth; since eighty-three percent of Earth's dwellers hadpsionic grades lower than Four. 

This search, with its attendant fanfare and studiedly blatant publicity, was so planned and engineered that two selected women did not arrive atthe spaceport until a bare fifteen minutes before the scheduled time oftake-off. Thus it made no difference whether the women liked the men ornot, or vice versa; or whether or not any of them really wanted to makethe trip. Pressures were such that each of them had to go, whether he orshe wanted to or not. 

 * * *

"Cut the rope, Jim, and let the old bucket drop, " Garlock said. "Not tooclose. Before we make any kind of contact we'll have to do someorganizing. These instruments, " he waved at his console, "show that oursis the only Operator Field in this whole region of space. Hence, thereare no Operators and no Primes. That means that from now until we getback to Tellus.... "

"_If_ we get back to Tellus, " Belle corrected, sweetly. 

"_Until_ we get back to Tellus there will be no Gunthering aboard thisship.... "

"_What?_" Belle broke in again. "Have you lost your mind?"

"There will be little if any lepping, and nothing else at all. At thetable, if we want sugar, we will reach for it or have it passed. We willpick up things, such as cigarettes, with our fingers. We will carrylighters and use them. When we go from place to place, we will walk. Isthat clear?"

"You seem to be talking English, " Belle sneered, "but the words don'tmake sense. "

"I didn't think you were that stupid. " Eyes locked and held. ThenGarlock grinned savagely. "Okay. You tell her, Lola, in words of as fewsyllables as possible. "

"Why, to get used to it, of course, " Lola explained, while Belle glaredat Garlock in frustrated anger. "So as not to reveal anything we don'thave to. "

"Thank you, Miss Montandon, you may go to the head of the class. Allmonosyllables except two. That should make it clear, even to MissBellamy. "

"You ... You _beast_!" Belle drove a tight-beamed thought. "I was neverso insulted in my life!"

"You asked for it. Keep on asking for it and you'll keep on getting it. "Then, aloud, to all three, "In emergencies, of course, anything goes. Wewill now proceed with business. " He paused, then went on, bitingly, "Ifpossible. "

"One minute, please!" Belle snapped. "Just why, Captain Garlock, are youinsisting on oral communication, when lepping is so much faster andbetter? It's stupid--reactionary. Don't you ever lep?"

"With Jim, on business, yes; with women, no more than I have to. What Ithink is nobody's business but mine. "

"What a way to run a ship! Or a project!"

"Running this project is my business, not yours; and if there's any onething in the entire universe it does _not_ need, it's a femaleexhibitionist. Besides your obvious qualifications to be one of the Evesin case of Ultimate Contingency.... " he broke off and stared at her, hiscontemptuous gaze traveling slowly, dissectingly, from her toes to thetopmost wave of her hair-do. 

"Forty-two, twenty, forty?" he sneered. 

"You flatter me. " Her glare was an almost tangible force; her voice wascontrolled fury. 

"Thirty-nine, twenty-two, thirty-five. Five seven. One thirty-five. Ifany of it's any of your business, which it isn't. You should bediscussing brains and ability, not vital statistics. "

"Brains? You? No, I'll take that back. As a Prime, you _have_ got abrain--one that really works. What do _you_ think you're good for onthis project? What can you do?"

"I can do anything any man ever born can do, and do it better!"

"Okay. Compute a Gunther field that will put us two hundred thousandfeet directly above the peak of that mountain. "

"That isn't fair--not that I expected fairness from you--and you knowit. That doesn't take either brains or ability.... "

"Oh, no?"

"No. Merely highly specialized training that you know I haven't had. Give me a five-tape course on it and I'll come closer than either you orJames; for a hundred credits a shot. "

"I'll do just that. Something you _are_ supposed to know, then. Howwould you go about making first contact?"

 * * *

"Well, I wouldn't do it the way _you_ would--by knocking down the firstnative I saw, putting my foot on his face, and yelling 'Bow down, youstupid, ignorant beasts, and worship me, the Supreme God of theMacrocosmic Universe'!"

"Try again, Belle, that one missed me by.... "

"Hold it, both of you!" James broke in. "What the hell are you trying toprove? How about cutting out this cat-and-dog act and getting some workdone?"

"You've got a point there, " Garlock admitted, holding his temper by avisible effort. "Sorry, Jim. Belle, what were you briefed for?"

"To understudy you. " She, too, fought her temper down. "To learneverything about Project Gunther. I have a whole box of tapes in myroom, including advanced Gunther math and first-contact techniques. I'mto study them during all my on-watch time unless you assign otherduties. "

"No matter what your duties may be, you'll have to have time to study. If you don't find what you want in your own tapes--and you probablywon't, since Ferber and his Miss Foster ran the selections--use ourlibrary. It's good--designed to carry on our civilization. MissMontandon? No, that's silly, the way we're fixed. Lola?"

"I'm to learn how to be Doctor James'.... "

"Jim, please, Lola, " James said. "And call him Clee. "

"I'd like that. " She smiled winningly. "And my friends call me'Brownie'. "

"I see why they would. It fits like a coat of lacquer. "

 * * *

It did. Her hair was a dark, lustrous brown, as were her eyebrows. Hereyes were brown. Her skin, too--her dark red playsuit left little to theimagination--was a rich and even brown. Originally fairly dark, it hadbeen tanned to a more-than-fashionable depth of color by nakedsun-bathing and by practically-naked outdoor sports. A couple of inchesshorter than the green-haired girl, she too had a figure to make anysculptor drool. 

"I'm to be Dr. Jim's assistant. I have a thousand tapes, more or less, to study, too. It'll be quite a while, I'm afraid, before I can be ofmuch use, but I'll do the best I can. "

"If we had hit Alpha Centauri that arrangement would have been good, butas we are, it isn't. " Garlock frowned in thought, his heavy blackeyebrows almost meeting above his finely-chiseled aquiline nose. "Sinceneither Jim nor I need an assistant any more than we need tails, it wasdesigned to give you girls something to do. But out here, lost, there'swork for a dozen trained specialists and there are only four of us. Sowe shouldn't duplicate effort. Right? You first, Belle. "

"Are you asking me or telling me?" she asked. "And that's a fairquestion. Don't read anything into it that isn't there. With yourattitude, I want information. "

"I am asking you, " he replied, carefully. "For your information, when Iknow what should be done, I give orders. When I don't know, as now, Iask advice. If I like it, I follow it. Fair enough?"

"Fair enough. We're apt to need any number of specialists. "

"Lola?"

"Of course we shouldn't duplicate. What shall I study?"

"That's what we must figure out. We can't do it exactly, of course; allwe can do now is to set up a rough scheme. Jim's job is the only onethat's definite. He'll have to work full time on nebular configurations. If we hit inhabited planets he'll have to add their star-charts to hisown. That leaves three of us to do all the other work of a survey. Ideally, we would cover all the factors that would be of use in gettingus back to Tellus, but since we don't know what those factors are.... Found out anything yet, Jim?"

"A little. Tellus-type planet, apparently strictly so. Oceans andcontinents. Lots of inhabitants--farms, villages, all sizes of cities. Not close enough to say definitely, but inhabitants seem to be humanoid, if not human. "

"Hold her here. Besides astronomy, which is all yours, what do we needmost?"

"We should have enough to classify planets and inhabitants, so as tochart a space-trend if there is any. I'd say the most important oneswould be geology, stratigraphy, paleontology, oceanography, xenology, anthropology, ethnology, vertebrate biology, botany, and at least someecology. "

"That's about the list I was afraid of. But there are only three of us. The fields you mention number much more. "

"Each of you will have to be a lot of specialists in one, then. I'd saythe best split would be planetology, xenology, and anthropology--each, of course, stretched all out of shape to cover dozens of related andnon-related specialties. "

"Good enough. Xenology, of course, is mine. Contacts, liaison, politics, correlation, and so on, as well as studying the non-human lifeforms--including as many lower animals and plants as possible. I'll makea stab at it. Now, Belle, since you're a Prime and Lola's an Operator, you get the next toughest job. Planetography. "

"Why not?" Belle smiled and began to act as one of the party. "All Iknow about it is a hazy idea of what the word means, but I'll startstudying as soon as we get squared away. "

"Thanks. That leaves anthropology to you, Lola. Besides, that's yourline, isn't it?"

"Yes. Sociological Anthropology. I have my M. S. In it, and am--was, Imean--working for my Ph. D. But as Jim said, it isn't only the onespecialty. You want me, I take it, to cover humanoid races, too?"

"Check. You and Jim both, then, will know what you're doing, while Belleand I are trying to play ours by ear. "

"Where do we draw the line between humanoid and non-human?"

"In case of doubt we'll confer. That covers it as much as we can, Ithink. Take us down, Jim--and be on your toes to take evasive actionfast. "

 * * *

The ship dropped rapidly toward an airport just outside a fairly largecity. Fifty thousand--forty thousand--thirty thousand feet. 

"Calling strange spaceship--you must be a spaceship, in spite of yourtremendous, hitherto-considered-impossible mass--" a thought impinged onall four Tellurian minds, "do you read me?"

"I read you clearly. This is the Tellurian spaceship _Pleiades_, CaptainGarlock commanding, asking permission to land and information as tolanding conventions. " He did not have to tell James to stop the ship;James had already done so. 

"I was about to ask you to hold position; I thank you for having doneso. Hold for inspection and type-test, please. We will not blast unlessyou fire first. A few minutes, please. "

 * * *

A group of twelve jet fighters took off practically vertically upwardand climbed with fantastic speed. They leveled off a thousand feet belowthe _Pleiades_ and made a flying circle. Up and into the ring thusformed there lumbered a large, clumsy-looking helicopter. 

"We have no record of any planet named 'Tellus'; nor of any such ship asyours. Of such incredible mass and with no visible or detectable meansof support or of propulsion. Not from this part of the galaxy, certainly... Could it be that intergalactic travel is actually possible? Butexcuse me, Captain Garlock, none of that is any of my business; which isto determine whether or not you four Tellurian human beings arecompatible with, and thus acceptable to, our humanity of Hodell ... Butyou do not seem to have a standard televideo testing-box aboard. "

"No, sir; only our own tri-di and teevee. "

"You must be examined by means of a standard box. I will rise to yourlevel and teleport one across to you. It is self-powered and fullyautomatic. "

"You needn't rise, sir. Just toss the box out of your 'copter into theair. We'll take it from there. " Then, to James, "Take it, Jim. "

"Oh? You can lift large masses against much gravity?" The alien was allattention. "I have not known that such power existed. I will observewith keen interest. "

"I have it, " James said. "Here it is. "

"Thank you, sir, " Garlock said to the alien. Then, to Lola: "You've beenreading these--these Hodellians?"

"The officer in the helicopter and those in the fighters, yes. Most ofthem are Gunther Firsts. "

"Good girl. The set's coming to life--watch it. "

The likeness of the alien being became clear upon the alien screen;visible from the waist up. While humanoid, the creature was very farindeed from being human. He--at least, it had masculine rudimentarynipples--had double shoulders and four arms. His skin was a vividlyintense cobalt blue. His ears were black, long, and highly dirigible. His eyes, a flaming red in color, were large and vertically-slitted, like a cat's. He had no hair at all. His nose was large and Roman; hisjaw was square, almost jutting; his bright-yellow teeth were clean andsharp. 

After a minute of study the alien said: "Although your vessel is soentirely alien that nothing even remotely like it is on record, you fourare completely human and, if of compatible type, acceptable. Are thereany other living beings aboard with you?"

"Excepting micro-organisms, none. "

"Such life is of no importance. Approach, please, one of you, and graspwith a hand the projecting metal knob. "

With a little trepidation, Garlock did so. He felt no unusual sensationat the contact. 

"All four of you are compatible and we accept you. This finding issurprising in the extreme, as you are the first human beings of recordwho grade higher than what you call Gunther Two ... Or Gunther Second?"

"Either one; the terms are interchangeable. "

"You have minds of tremendous development and power; definitely superioreven to my own. However, there is no doubt that physically you areperfectly compatible with our humanity. Your blood will be of greatbenefit to it. You may land. Goodbye. "

"Wait, please. How about landing conventions? And visiting restrictionsand so on? And may we keep this box? We will be glad to trade yousomething for it, if we have anything you would like to have?"

"Ah, I should have realized that your customs would be widely differentfrom ours. Since you have been examined and accepted, there are norestrictions. You will not act against humanity's good. Land where youplease, go where you please, do what you please as long as you please. Take up permanent residence or leave as soon as you please. Marry if youlike, or simply breed--your unions with this planet's humanity will befertile. Keep the box without payment. As Guardians of Humanity weArpalones do whatever small favors we can. Have I made myself clear?"

"Abundantly so. Thank you, sir. "

"Now I really must go. Goodbye. "

Garlock glanced into his plate. The jets had disappeared, the helicopterwas falling rapidly away. He wiped his brow. 

"Well, I'll be damned, " he said. 

 * * *

When his amazement subsided he turned to the business at hand. "Lola, doyou check me that this planet is named Hodell, that it is populated bycreatures exactly like us? Arpalones?"

"Exactly, except they aren't 'creatures'. They are humanoids, and veryfine people. "

"You'd think so, of course ... Correction accepted. Well, let's takeadvantage of their extraordinarily hospitable invitation and go down. Cut the rope, Jim. "

 * * *

The airport was very large, and was divided into several sections, eachof which was equipped with runways and/or other landing facilities tosuit one class of craft--propellor jobs, jets, or helicopters. Therewere even a few structures that looked like rocket pits. 

"Where are you going to sit down, Jim? With the 'copters or over by theblast-pits?"

"With the 'copters, I think. Since I can place her to within a couple ofinches. I'll put her squarely into that far corner, where she'll be outof everybody's way. "

"No concrete out there, " Garlock said. "But the ground seems good andsolid. "

"We'd better not land on concrete, " James grinned. "Unless it's terrificstuff we'd smash it. On bare ground, the worst we can do is sink in afoot or so, and that won't hurt anything. "

"Check. A few tons to the square foot, is all. Shall we strap down andhang onto our teeth?"

"Who do you think you're kidding, boss? Even though I've got to do thison manual, I won't tip over a half-piece standing on edge. "

James stopped talking, pulled out his scanner, stuck his face into it. The immense starship settled downward toward the selected corner. Therewas no noise, no blast, no flame, no slightest visible or detectablesign of whatever force it was that was braking the thousands of tons ofthe vessel's mass in its miles-long, almost-vertical plunge to ground. 

When the _Pleiades_ struck ground the impact was scarcely to be felt. When she came to rest, after settling into the ground her allotted "footor so, " there was no jar at all. 

"Atmosphere, temperature, and so on, approximately Earth-normal, "Garlock said. "Just as our friend said it would be. "

James scanned the city and the field. "Our visit is kicking up a lot ofexcitement. Shall we go out?"

"Not yet!" Belle exclaimed. "I want to see how the women are dressed, first. "

"So do I, " Lola added, "and some other things besides. "

Both women--Lola through her Operator's scanner; Belle by manipulatingthe ship's tremendous Operator Field by the sheer power of her PrimeOperator's mind--stared eagerly at the crowd of people now beginning tostream across the field. 

"As an anthropologist, " Lola announced, "I'm not only surprised. I amshocked, annoyed, and disgruntled. Why, they're _exactly_ like whiteTellurian human beings!"

"But _look_ at their _clothes_!" Belle insisted. "They're wearinganything and everything, from bikinis to coveralls!"

"Yes, but notice. " This was the anthropological scientist speaking now. "Breasts and loins, covered. Faces, uncovered. Heads and feet and hands, either bare or covered. Ditto for legs up to there, backs, arms, necksand shoulders down to here, and torsos clear down to there. We'll notviolate any conventions by going out as we are. Not even you, Belle. Youfirst, Chief. Yours the high honor of setting first foot--the biggestfoot we've got, too--on alien soil. "

"To hell with that. We'll go out together. "

"Wait a minute, " Lola went on. "There's a funny-looking automobile justcoming through the gate. The Press. Three men and two women. Twocameras, one walkie-talkie, and two microphones. The photog in thepurple shirt is really a sharpie at lepping. Class Three, atleast--possibly a Two. "

"How about screens down enough to lep, boss?" Belle suggested. "Faster. We may need it. "

"Check. I'm too busy to record, anyway--I'll log this stuff up tonight, "and thoughts flew. 

"Check me, Jim, " Garlock flashed. "Telepathy, very good. On Gunther, theguy was right--no signs at all of any First activity, and very fewSeconds. "

"Check, " James agreed. 

"And Lola, those 'Guardians' out there. I thought they were the same asthe Arpalone we talked to. They aren't. Not even telepathic. Same colorscheme, is all. "

"Right. Much more brutish. Much flatter cranium. Long, tearing canineteeth. Carnivorous. I'll call them just 'guardians' until we find outwhat they really are. "

 * * *

The press car arrived and the Tellurians disembarked--and, accidentallyor not, it was Belle's green slipper that first touched ground. Therewas a terrific babel of thought, worse, even, than voices in similarcase, in being so much faster. The reporters, all of them, wanted toknow everything at once. How, what, where, when, and why. Also who. Andall about Tellus and the Tellurian solar system. How did the visitorslike Hodell? And all about Belle's green hair. And the photographerswere prodigal of film, shooting everything from all possible angles. 

"Hold it!" Garlock loosed a blast of thought that "silenced" almost thewhole field. "We will have order, please. Lola Montandon, ouranthropologist, will take charge. Keep it orderly, Lola, if you have tothrow half of them off the field. I'm going over to Administration andcheck in. One of you reporters can come with me, if you like. "

The man in the purple shirt got his bid in first. As the two men walkedaway together, Garlock noted that the man was in fact a Second--his flowof lucid, cogent thought did not interfere at all with the steady streamof speech going into his portable recorder. Garlock also noticed that inany group of more than a dozen people there was always at least oneguardian. They paid no attention whatever to the people, who in turnignored them completely. Garlock wondered briefly. Guardians? TheArpalones, out in space, yes. But these creatures, naked and unarmed onthe ground? The Arpalones were non-human people. These thingswere--what?

At the door of the Field Office the reporter, after turningGarlock over to a startlingly beautiful, leggy, breasty, blondereceptionist-usherette, hurried away. 

 * * *

He flecked a feeler at her mind and stiffened. How could a Two--a highTwo, at that--be working as an usher? And with her guard down clear tothe floor? He probed--and saw. 

"Lola!" He flashed a tight-beamed thought. "You aren't putting outanything about our sexual customs, family life, and so on. "

"Of course not. We must know their mores first. "

"Good girl. Keep your shield up. "

"Oh, we're so glad to see you, Captain Garlock, sir!" The blonde, whowas dressed little more heavily than the cigarette girls in Venusberg'sCartier Room, seized his left hand in both of hers and held itconsiderably longer than was necessary. Her dazzling smile, her laughingeyes, her flashing white teeth, the many exposed inches of her skin, andher completely unshielded mind; all waved banners of welcome. 

"Captain Garlock, sir, Governor Atterlin has been most anxious to seeyou ever since you were first detected. This way, please, sir. " Sheturned, brushing her bare hip against his leg in the process, and ledhim by the hand along a hallway. Her thoughts flowed. "I have been, too, sir, and I'm simply delighted to see you close up, and I hope to see alot more of you. You're a wonderfully pleasant surprise, sir; I've neverseen a man like you before. I don't think Hodell ever saw a man like youbefore, sir. With such a really terrific mind and yet so big and strongand well-built and handsome and clean-looking and blackish. You'rewonderful, Captain Garlock, sir. You'll be here a long time, I hope?Here we are, sir. "

She opened a door, walked across the room, sat down in an overstuffedchair, and crossed her legs meticulously. Then, still smiling happily, she followed with eager eyes and mind Garlock's every move. 

Garlock had been reading Governor Atterlin; knew why it was the governorwho was in that office instead of the port manager. He knew thatAtterlin had been reading him--as much as he had allowed. They hadalready discussed many things, and were still discussing. 

The room was much more like a library than an office. The governor, amiddle-aged, red-headed man a trifle inclined to portliness, had beenseated in a huge reclining chair facing a teevee screen, but got up toshake hands. 

"Welcome, friend Captain Garlock. Now, to continue. As to exchange. Manyships visiting us have nothing we need or can use. For such, allservices are free--or rather, are paid by the city. Our currency isbased upon platinum, but gold, silver, and copper are valuable. Certainjewels, also.... "

"That's far enough. We will pay our way--we have plenty of metal. Whatare your ratios of value for the four metals here on Hodell?"

"Today's quotations are.... " He glanced at a screen, and his fingersflashed over the keys of a computer beside his chair. "One weight ofplatinum is equal in value to seven point three four six.... "

"Decimals are not necessary, sir. "

"Seven plus, then, weights of gold. One of gold to eleven of silver. Oneof silver to four of copper. "

"Thank you. We'll use platinum. I'll bring some bullion tomorrow morningand exchange it for your currency. Shall I bring it here, or to a bankin the city?"

"Either. Or we can have an armored truck visit your ship. "

"That would be better yet. Have them bring about five thousand tanes. Thank you very much, Governor Atterlin, and good afternoon to you, sir. "

"And good afternoon to you, sir. Until tomorrow, then. "

Garlock turned to leave. 

"Oh, may I go with you to your ship, sir, to take just a little look atit?" the girl asked, winningly. 

"Of course, Grand Lady Neldine, I'd like to have your company. "

She seized his elbow and hugged it quickly against her breast. Then, taking his hand, she walked--almost skipped--along beside him. "And Iwant to see Pilot James close up, too, sir--he's not nearly as wonderfulas you are, sir--and I wonder why Planetographer Bellamy's hair isgreen? Very striking, of course, sir, but I don't think I'd care for itmuch on me--unless you'd think I should, sir?"

 * * *

Belle knew, of course, that they were coming; and Garlock knew thatBelle's hackles were very much on the rise. She could not read him, except very superficially, but she was reading the strange girl like abook and was not liking anything she read. Wherefore, when Garlock andhis joyous companion reached the great spaceship--

"How come you picked up _that_ little man-eating shark?" she sent, venomously, on a tight band. 

"It wasn't a case of picking her up. " Garlock grinned. "I haven't beenable to find any urbane way of scraping her off. First Contact, youknow. "

"She wants altogether too much Contact for a First--I'll scrape her off, even if she is one of the nobler class on this world.... " Belle changedher tactics even before Garlock began his reprimand. "I shouldn't havesaid that, Clee, of course. " She laughed lightly. "It was just theshock; there wasn't anything in any of my First Contact tapes coveringwhat to do about beautiful and enticing girls who try to seduce our men. She doesn't know, though, of course, that she's supposed to be abug-eyed monster and not human at all. Won't Xenology be in for a roughride when we check in? Wow!"

"You can play _that_ in spades, sister. " And for the rest of the dayBelle played flawlessly the role of perfect hostess. 

It was full dark before the Hodellians could be persuaded to leave the_Pleiades_ and the locks were closed. 

 * * *

"I have refused one hundred seventy-eight invitations, " Lola reportedthen. "All of us, individually and collectively, have been invited toeat everything, everywhere in town. To see shows in a dozen differenttheaters and eighteen night spots. To dance all night in twenty-onedifferent places, ranging from dives to strictly soup-and-fish. I wasnice about it, of course--just begged off because we were dead from ourbelts both ways from our long, hard trip. My thought, of course, is thatwe'd better eat our own food and take it slowly at first. Check, Clee?"

"On the beam, dead center. And you weren't lying much, either. I feel asthough I'd done a day's work. After supper there's a thing I've got todiscuss with all three of you. "

Supper was soon over. Then:

"We've got to make a mighty important decision, " Garlock began, abruptly. "Grand Lady Neldine--that title isn't exact, butclose--wondered why I didn't respond at all, either way. However, shedidn't make a point of it, and I let her wonder; but we'll have todecide by tomorrow morning what to do, and it'll have to be airtight. These Hodellians expect Jim and me to impregnate as many as possible oftheir highest-rated women before we leave. By their Code it's mandatory, since we can't hide the fact that we rate much higher than theydo--their highest rating is only Grade Two by our standards--and all theplanets hereabouts up-grade themselves with the highest-grade new bloodthey can find. Ordinarily, they'd expect you two girls to becomepregnant by your choices of the top men of the planet; but they know youwouldn't breed down and don't expect you to. But how in all hell can Jimand I refuse to breed them up without dealing out the deadliest insultthey know?"

There was a minute of silence. "We can't, " James said then. A grin beganto spread over his face. "It might not be too bad an idea, at that, cometo think of it. That ball of fire they picked out for you would be ablue-ribbon dish in anybody's cook-book. And Grand Lady Lemphi--" Hekissed the tips of two fingers and waved them in the air. "Strictly BigLeague Material; in capital letters. "

"Is that nice, you back-alley tomcat?" Belle asked, plaintively; thenpaused in thought and went on slowly, "I won't pretend to like it, but Iwon't do any public screaming about it. "

"Any anthropologist would say you'll have to, " Lola declared withouthesitation. "I don't like it, either. I think it's horrible; but it'sexcellent genetics and we cannot and must not violate systems-widemores. "

"You're all missing the point!" Garlock snapped. He got up, jammed hishands into his pockets, and began to pace the floor. "I didn't think anyone of you was _that_ stupid! If _that_ was all there were to it we'd doit as a matter of course. But _think_, damn it! There's nothing higherthan Gunther Two in the humanity of this planet. Telepathy is the onlyESP they have. High Gunther uses hitherto unused portions of the brain. It's transmitted through genes, which are dominant, cumulative, andself-multiplying by interaction. Jim and I carry more, stronger, andhigher Gunther genes than any other two men known to live. Canwe--_dare_ we--plant such genes where none have ever been known before?"

Two full minutes of silence. 

"That one has _really_ got a bone in it, " James said, unhelpfully. 

 * * *

Three minutes more of silence. 

"It's up to you, Lola, " Garlock said then. "It's your field. "

"I was afraid of that. There's a way. Personally, I like it less eventhan the other, but it's the only one I've been able to think up. First, are you absolutely sure that our refusal--Belle's and mine, I mean--tobreed down will be valid with them?"

"Positive. "

"Then the whole society from which we come will have to be strictlymonogamous, in the narrowest, most literal sense of the term. Noexceptions whatever. Adultery, anything illicit, has always been notonly unimaginable, but in fact impossible. We pair--or marry, orwhatever they do here--once only. For life. Desire and potency can existonly within the pair; never outside it. Like eagles. If a man's wifedies, even, he loses all desire and all potency. That would make itphysically impossible for you two to follow the Hodellian Code. You'dboth be completely impotent with any women whatever except yourmates--Belle and me. "

"That will work, " Belle said. "_How_ it will work!" She paused. Then, suddenly, she whistled; the loud, full-bodied, ear-piercing, tongue-and-teeth whistle which so few women ever master. Her eyessparkled and she began to laugh with unrestrained glee. "But do you knowwhat you've done, Lola?"

"Nothing, except to suggest a solution. What's so funny about that?"

"You're wonderful, Lola--simply priceless! You've created somethingbrand-new to science--an impotent tomcat! And the more I think aboutit.... " Belle was rocking back and forth with laughter. She could notpossibly talk, but her thought flowed on, "I just love you all topieces! An _impotent tomcat_, and he'll _have_ to stay true to me--Oh, this is simply _killing_ me--I'll _never_ live through it!"

"It _does_ put us on the spot--especially Jim, " came Garlock's thought. 

 * * *

He, too, began to laugh; and Lola, as soon as she stopped thinking aboutthe thing only as a problem in anthropology, joined in. James, however, did not think it was very funny. 

"And that's less than half of it!" Belle went on, still unable to talk. "Think of Clee, Lola. Six two--over two hundred--hard as nails--aperfect hunk of hard red meat--telling this whole damn cockeyed regionof space that he's impotent, too! And with a perfectly straight face!And it ties in so _beautifully_ with his making no response, yes or no, when she propositioned him. The poor, innocent, impotent lamb justsimply didn't have even the faintest inkling of what she meant! Oh, my.... "

"Listen--_listen_--_listen_!" James managed finally to break in. "Notthat I want to be promiscuous, but.... "

"There, there, my precious little impotent tomcat, " Belle soothed himaloud, between giggles and snorts. "Us Earth-girls will take care of ourlover-boys, see if we don't. You won't need any nasty little.... " Bellecould not hold the pose, but went off again into whoops of laughter. "_What_ a brain you've got, Lola! I thought I could imagine _anything_, but to make these two guys of ours--the two absolute tops of the wholeSolar System--it's a stroke of genius.... "

"Shut up, will you, you human hyena, and _listen_!" James roared aloud. "There ought to be _some_ better way than that. "

"Better? Than sheer perfection?" Belle was still laughing but could nowtalk coherently. 

"If you can think of another way, Jim, the meeting is still open. "Garlock was wiping his eyes. "But it'll have to be a dilly. I'm notexactly enamored of Lola's idea, either, but as the answer it's onehundred percent to as many decimal places as you want to take time towrite zeroes. "

There was more talk, but no improvement could be made upon Lola's idea. 

"Well, we've got until morning, " Garlock said, finally. "If anybodycomes up with anything by then, let me know. If not, it goes into effectthe minute we open the locks. The meeting is adjourned. "

 * * *

Belle and James left the room; and, a few minutes later, Garlock wentout. Lola followed him into his room and closed the door behind her. Shesat down on the edge of a chair, lighted a cigarette, and began to smokein short, nervous puffs. She opened her mouth to say something, but shutit without making a sound. 

"You're afraid of me, Lola?" he asked, quietly. 

"Oh, I don't.... Well, that is.... " She wouldn't lie, and she wouldn'tadmit the truth. "You see, I've never ... I mean, I haven't had verymuch experience. "

"You needn't be afraid of me at all. I'm not going to pair with you. "

"You're not?" Her mouth dropped open and the cigarette fell out of it. She took a few seconds to recover it. "Why not? Don't you think I coulddo a good enough job?"

She stood up and stretched, to show her splendid figure to its bestadvantage. 

Garlock laughed. "Nothing like that, Lola; you have plenty of sexappeal. It's just that I don't like the conditions. I never have paired. I never have had much to do with women, and that little has been urbane, logical, and strictly _en passant_; on the level of mutual physicaldesire. Thus, I have never taken a virgin. Pairing with one is verydefinitely not my idea of urbanity and there's altogether too muchobligation to suit me. For all of which good reasons I am not going topair with you, now or ever. "

"How do you know whether I'm a virgin or not? You've never read me thatdeep. Nobody can. Not even you, unless I let you. "

"Reading isn't necessary--you flaunt it like a banner. "

"I don't know what you mean.... I certainly don't do it intentionally. But I ought to pair with you, Clee!" Lola had lost all of hernervousness, most of her fear. "It's part of the job I was chosen for. If I'd known, I'd've gone out and got some experience. Really I wouldhave. "

"I believe that. I think you would have been silly enough to have donejust that. And you have a very high regard for your virginity, too, don't you?"

"Well, I ... I used to. But we'd better go ahead with it. I've _got_to. "

"No such thing. Permissible, but not obligatory. "

"But it was assumed. As a matter of course. Anyway ... Well, when thatgirl started making passes at you, I thought you could have just as muchfun, or even more--she's charming; a real darling, isn't she?--withoutpairing with me, and then I had to open my big mouth and be the one tokeep you from playing games with _anyone except_ me, and I certainly amnot going to let you suffer.... "

"Bunk!" Garlock snorted. "Sheer flapdoodle! Pure psychologicalprop-wash, started and maintained by men who are either too weak todirect and control their drives or who haven't any real work to occupytheir minds. It applies to many men, of course, possibly to most. Itdoes not, however, apply to all, and, it lacks one whole hell of a lotof applying to me. Does that make you feel better?"

"Oh, it does ... It does. Thanks, Clee. You know, I like you, a lot. "

"Do you? Kiss me. "

She did so. 

"See?"

"You _tricked_ me!"

 * * *

"I did not. I want you to see the truth and face it. Your idealism isadmirable, permanent, and shatter-proof; but your starry-eyedschoolgirl's mawkishness is none of the three. You'll have to grow up, some day. In my opinion, forcing yourself to give up one of yourhardest-held ideals--virginity--merely because of the utter bilge thatthose idiot head-shrinkers stuffed you with, is sheer, plain idiocy. Isuppose that makes you like me even less, but I'm laying it right on theline. "

"No ... More. I'll argue with you, when we have time, about some of yourpoints, but the last one--if it's valid--has tremendous force. I didn'tknow men felt that way. But no matter what my feeling for you really is, I'm really grateful to you for the reprieve ... And you know, Clee, I'mpretty sure you're going to get us back home. If anyone can, you can. "

"I'm going to try to. Even if I can't, it will be Belle, not you, thatI'll take for the long pull. And not because you'd rather haveJim--which you would, of course.... "

"To be honest, I think I would. "

"Certainly. He's your type. You're not mine; Belle is. Well, thatbuttons it up, Brownie, except for one thing. To Jim and Belle andeveryone else, we're paired. "

"Of course. Urbanity, as well as to present a united front to any andall worlds. "

"Check. So watch your shield. "

"I always do. That stuff is 'way, 'way down. I'm awfully glad you calledme 'Brownie, ' Clee. I didn't think you ever would. "

"I didn't expect to--but I never talked to a woman this way before, either. Maybe it had a mellowing effect. "

"You don't _need_ mellowing--I do like you a lot, just exactly as youare. "

"If true, I'm very glad of it. But don't strain yourself; and I meanthat literally, not as sarcasm. "

"I know. I'm not straining a bit, and this'll prove it. "

She kissed him again, and this time it was a production. 

"That was an eminently convincing demonstration, Brownie, but don't doit too often. "

"I won't. " She laughed, gayly and happily. "If there's any next time, you'll have to kiss me first. "

She paused and sobered. "But remember. If you should change your mind, any time you really want to ... To kiss me, come right in. I won't be assilly and nervous and afraid as I was just now. That's a promise. Goodnight, Clee. "

"Good night, Brownie. "

CHAPTER 2

Next morning, Garlock was the last one, by a fraction of a minute, intothe Main. "Good morning, all, " he said, with a slight smile. 

"Huh? How come?" James demanded, as all four started toward the diningnook. 

Garlock's smile widened. "Lola. She brought me a pot of coffee andwouldn't let me out until I drank it. "

"_Brought?_"

"Yeah. They haven't read their room-tapes yet, so they don't know thatroom-service is practically unlimited. "

"Why didn't I think of that coffee business a couple of years ago?"

"Well, why didn't I think of it myself, ten years ago?"

Belle's eyes had been going from one, man to the other. "Just _what_ areyou two talking about? If it's anybody's business except your own?"

"He is an early-morning grouch, " James explained, as they sat down atthe table. "Not fit to associate with man or beast--not even his owndog, if he had one--when he first gets up. How come you were smartenough to get the answer so quick, Brownie?"

"Oh, the pattern isn't too rare. " She shrugged daintily, sweeping thecompliment aside. "Especially among men on big jobs who work undertremendous pressure. "

"Then how about Jim?" Belle asked. 

"Clee's the Big Brain, not me, " James said. 

"You're a lot Bigger Brain than any of the men Lola's talking about, "Belle insisted. 

"That's true, " Lola agreed, "but Jim probably is--must be--an iceboxraider. Eats in the middle of the night. Clee probably doesn't. It's agood bet that he doesn't nibble between meals at all. Check, Clee?"

"Check. But what has an empty stomach got to do with the case?"

"Everything. Nobody knows how. Lots of theories--enzymes, blood sugar, endocrine balance, what have you--but no proof. It isn't always true. However, six or seven hours of empty stomach, in a man who takes his jobto bed with him, is very apt to uglify his pre-breakfast disposition. "

Breakfast over and out in the Main:

"But when a man's disposition is ugly all the time, how can you tell thedifference?" Belle asked, innocently. 

"I'll let that pass, " Garlock's smile disappeared, "because we've gotwork to do. Have any of you thought of any improvement on Lola'smonogamous society?"

No one had. In fact--

"There may be a loop-hole in it, " Lola said, thoughtfully. "Did any ofyou happen to notice whether they know anything about artificialinsemination?"

"D'you think I'd stand for _that_?" Belle blazed, before Garlock couldbegin to search his mind. "I'd scratch anybody's eyes out--if you'dthought of that idea as a woman instead of as a near-Ph. D. Inanthropology you'd've thrown it into the converter before it evenhatched!"

"Invasion of privacy? That covers it, of course, but I didn't think itwould bother you a bit. " Lola paused, studying the other girl intently. "You're quite a problem yourself. Callous--utterly savage humor--yetvery sensitive in some ways--fastidious.... "

"I'm not on the table for dissection!" Belle snapped. "Study me all youplease, but keep the notes in your notebook. I'd suggest you studyClee. "

"Oh, I have been. He baffles me, too. I'm not very good yet, you.... "

"That's the unders.... "

"_Cut_ it!" Garlock ordered, sharply. "I said we had work to do. Jim, you're hunting up the nearest observatory. "

"How about transportation? No teleportation?"

"Out. Rent a car or hire a plane, or both. Fill your wallet--better havetoo much money than not enough. If you're too far away tonight to makeit feasible to come back here, send me a flash. Brownie, you'll workthis town first. Belle and I will have to work in the library for awhile. We'll all want to compare notes tonight.... "

"Yeah, " James said into the pause, "I could tune in remote, but I don'tknow where I'll be, so it might not be so good. "

"Check. You can 'port, but be _damn_ sure nobody sees or senses youdoing it. That buttons it up, I guess. "

 * * *

James and Lola left the ship; Garlock and Belle went into the library. 

"If I didn't know you were impotent, Clee, " Belle shivered affectedlyand began to laugh, "I'd be scared to death to be alone with you in thisgreat big spaceship. Lola hasn't realized yet what she really hatchedout--the screamingest screamer ever pulled on anybody!"

"It isn't _that_ funny. You have got a savage sense of humor. "

"Perhaps. " She shrugged her shoulders. "But you were on the receivingend, which makes a big difference. She's a peculiar sort of duck. Brainy, but impersonal--academic. She knows all the words and all theirmeanings, all the questions and all the answers, but she doesn't applyany of them to herself. She's always the observer, never theparticipant. Pure egg-head ... Pure? _That's_ it. She looks, acts, talks, and thinks like a _virgin_.... Well, if that's all, she isn'tany--or is she? Even though you've started calling her 'Brownie, ' likemy now-tamed tomcat, you might not.... " She stared at him. 

"Go ahead. Probe. "

"Why waste energy trying to crack a Prime's shield? But just out ofcuriosity, are you two pairing, or not?"

"Tut-tut; don't be inurbane. Let's talk about Jim instead. I thoughthe'd be gibbering. "

"No, I'm working under double wraps--full dampers. I don't want him inlove with me. You want to know why?"

"I think I know why. "

"Because having him mooning around underfoot would weaken the team and Iwant to get back to Tellus. "

"I was wrong, then. I thought you were out after bigger game. "

Belle's face went stiff and still. "What do you mean by that?"

"Plain enough, I would think. Wherever you are, you've got to be theBoss. You've never been in any kind of a party for fifteen minuteswithout taking it over. When you snap the whip everybody jumps--orelse--and you swing a wicked knife. For your information I don't jump, Iam familiar with knives, and you will never run this project or any partof it. "

 * * *

Belle's face set; her eyes hardened. "While we're putting outinformation, take note that I'm just as good with actual knives as withfigurative ones. If you're still thinking of blistering my fanny, don'ttry it. You'll find a rawhide haft sticking up out of one of thosemuscles you're so proud of--clear enough Mr. Garlock. "

"Why don't you talk sense, instead of such yak-yak?"

"Huh?"

"I know you're a Prime, too, but don't let it go to your head. I've gotmore stuff than you have, so you can't Gunther me. You weigh onethirty-five to my two seventeen. I'm harder, stronger, and faster thanyou are. You're probably a bit limberer--not too much--but I'veforgotten more judo than you ever will know. So what's the answer?"

Belle was breathing hard. "Then why don't you do it right now?"

"Several reasons. I couldn't brag much about licking anybody I outweighby eighty-two pounds. I can't figure out your logic--if any--but I'mpretty sure now it wouldn't do either of us any good. Just theopposite. "

"From your standpoint, would that be bad?"

"What a _hell_ of a logic! You have got the finest brain of any womanliving. You're stronger than Jim is by a lot more than thePrime-to-Operator ratio--you've got more initiative, more drive, moreguts. You know as well as I do what your brain may mean before we getback. Why in all hell don't you start _using_ it?"

"_You_ are complimenting _me_?"

"No. It's the truth, isn't it?"

"What difference does that make? Clee Garlock, I simply can't understandyou at all. "

"That makes it mutual. I can't understand a geometry in which thecrookedest line between any two given points is the best line. Let's getto work, shall we?"

"Uh-huh, let's. One more bit of information, though, first. Any suchidea as taking the Project away from you simply _never_ entered mymind!" She gave him a warm and friendly smile as she walked over to thefile-cabinets. 

For hours, then, they worked; each scanning tape after tape. At mid-daythey ate a light lunch. Shortly thereafter, Garlock put away his readerand all his loose tapes. "Are you getting anywhere, Belle? I'm notmaking any progress. "

"Yes, but of course planets are probably pretty much the sameeverywhere--Tellus-type ones, I mean, of course. Is all the Xenology ascockeyed as I'm afraid it must be?"

"Check. The one basic assumption was that there are no human beingsother than Tellurians. From that they derive the secondary assumptionthat humanoid types will be scarce. From there they scatter out in alldirections. So I'll have to roll my own. I've got to see Atterlin, anyway. I'll be back for supper. So long. "

 * * *

At the Port Office, Grand Lady Neldine met him even moreenthusiastically than before; taking both his hands and pressing themagainst her firm, almost-bare breasts. She tried to hold back as Garlockled her along the corridor. 

"I have an explanation, and in a sense an apology, for you, Grand LadyNeldine, and for you, Governor Atterlin, " he thought carefully. "I wouldhave explained yesterday, but I had no understanding of the situationhere until our anthropologist, Lola Montandon, elucidated it verylaboriously to me. She herself, a scientist highly trained in thatspecialty, could grasp it only by referring back to somewhat similarsituations which may have existed in the remote past--so remote a pastthat the concept is known only to specialists and is more than halfmythical, even to them. "

He went on to give in detail the sexual customs, obligations, andlimitations of Lola's purely imaginary civilization. 

"Then it isn't that you don't want to, but you _can't_?" the lady asked, incredulously. 

"Mentally, I can have no desire. Physically, the act is impossible, " heassured her. 

"What a shame!" Her thought was a peculiar mixture of disappointment andrelief: disappointment in that she was not to bear this man'ssuper-child; relief in that, after all, she had not personallyfailed--if she couldn't have this perfectly wonderful man herself, noother woman except his wife could ever have him, either. But what ashame to waste such a man as that on _any_ one woman! It was really toobad. 

"I see ... I see--wonderful!" Atterlin's thought was not at allincredulous, but vastly awed. "It is of course logical that as the powerof mind increases, physical matters become less and less important. Butyou will have much to give us; we may perhaps have some small things togive you. If we could visit your Tellus, perhaps... ?"

"That also is impossible. We four in the _Pleiades_ are lost in space. This is the first planet we have visited on our first trial of a newmethod--new to us, at least--of interstellar travel. We missed ourobjective, probably by many millions of parsecs, and it is quitepossible that we four will never be able to find our way back. We aretrying now, by charting the galaxies throughout billions of cubicparsecs of space, to find merely the direction in which our own galaxylies. "

"What a concept! What stupendous minds! But such immense distances, sir... What can you possibly be using for a space-drive?"

"None, as you understand the term. We travel by instantaneoustranslation, by means of something we call 'Gunther'.... I am not at allsure that I can explain it to you satisfactorily, but I will try to doso, if you wish. "

"Please do so, sir, by all means. "

 * * *

Garlock opened the highest Gunther cells of his mind. There was nothingas elementary as telepathy, teleportation, telekinesis, or the like; itwas the pure, raw Gunther of the Gunther Drive, which even he himselfmade no pretense of understanding fully. He opened those cells andpushed that knowledge at the two Hodellian minds. 

The result was just as instantaneous and just as catastrophic as Garlockhad expected. Both blocks went up almost instantly. 

"Oh, no!" Atterlin exclaimed, his face turning white. 

The girl shrieked once, covered her face with her hands, and collapsedon the floor. 

"Oh, I'm _so_ sorry ... Excuse my ignorance, please!" Garlock implored, as he picked the girl up, carried her across the room to a sofa, andassured himself that she had not been really hurt. She recoveredquickly. "I'm very sorry, Grand Lady Neldine and Governor Atterlin, butI didn't know ... That is, I didn't realize.... "

"You are trying to break it gently. " Atterlin was both shocked anddespondent. "This being the first planet you have visited, you simplydid not realize how feeble our minds really are. "

"Oh, not at all, really, sir and lady. " Garlock began deftly to repairthe morale he had shattered. "Merely younger. With your system ofgenetics, so much more logical and efficient than our strict monogamy, your race will undoubtedly make more progress in a few centuries than wemade in many millennia. And in a few centuries more you will passus--will master this only partially-known Gunther Drive. 

"Esthetically, Lady Neldine, I would like very much to father you achild. " He allowed his coldly unmoved gaze to survey her charms. "I amsorry indeed that it cannot be. I trust that you, Governor Atterlin, will be kind enough to spread word of our physical shortcomings, and sospare us further embarrassment?"

"Not shortcomings, sir, and, I truly hope, no embarrassment, " Atterlinprotested. "We are immensely glad to have seen you, since your veryexistence gives us so much hope for the future. I will spread word, andevery Hodellian will do whatever he can to help you in your quest. "

"Thank you, sir and lady, " and Garlock took his leave. 

"What an act, my male-looking but impotent darling!" came Belle's clear, incisive thought, bubbling with unrestrained merriment. "For our DoctorGarlock, the Prime Exponent and First Disciple of Truth, _what_ an act!_Esthetically_, he'd like to father her a child, it says here in fineprint--Boy, if she only knew! One tiny grain of truth and she'd chaseyou from here to Andromeda! Clee, I _swear_ this thing is going to killme yet!"

"Anything that would do that I'm very much in favor of!" Garlock growledthe thought and snapped up his shield. 

This one was, quite definitely, Belle's round. 

 * * *

Garlock took the Hodellian equivalent of a bus to the center of thecity, then set out aimlessly to walk. The buildings and theirarrangement, he noted--not much to his surprise now--were not toodifferent from those of the cities of Earth. 

With his guard down to about the sixth level, highly receptive but notat all selective, he strolled up one street and down another. He was notattentive to detail yet; he was trying to get the broad aspects, the"feel" of this hitherto unknown civilization. 

The ether was practically saturated with thought. Apparently this wasthe afternoon rush hour, as the sidewalks were crowded with people andthe streets were full of cars. It did not seem as though anyone, whetherin the buildings, on the sidewalks, or in the cars, was doing anyblocking at all. If there were any such things as secrets on Hodell, they were scarce. Each person, man, woman, or child, went about his ownbusiness, radiating full blast. No one paid any attention to thethoughts of anyone else except in the case of couples or groups, theunits of which were engaged in conversation. It reminded Garlock of abig Tellurian party when the punch-bowls were running low--everybodytalking at the top of his voice and nobody listening. 

This whole gale of thought was blowing over Garlock's receptors like aGreat Plains wind over miles-wide fields of corn. He did not addressanyone directly; no one addressed him. At first, quite a few youngwomen, at sight of his unusual physique, had sent out tentative feelersof thought; and some men had wondered, in the same tentative andindirect fashion, who he was and where he came from. However, when theinformation he had given Atterlin spread throughout the city--and it didnot take long--no one paid any more attention to him than they did toeach other. 

Probing into and through various buildings, he learned that groups ofpeople were quitting work at intervals of about fifteen minutes. Therewere thoughts of tidying up desks; of letting the rest of this junk gountil tomorrow; of putting away and/or covering up office machines ofvarious sorts. There were thoughts of powdering noses and of repairingmake-up. 

He pulled in his receptors and scanned the crowded ways forguardians--he'd have to call them that until either he or Lola found outtheir real name. Same as at the airport--the more people, the moreguardians. What were they? How? And why?

 * * *

He probed; carefully but thoroughly. When he had talked to the Arpalonehe had read him easily enough, but here there was nothing whatever toread. The creature simply was not thinking at all. But that didn't makesense! Garlock tuned, first down, then up; and finally, at the very topof his range, he found something, but he did not at first know what itwas. It seemed to be a mass-detector ... No, two of them, paired andbalanced. Oh, that was it! One tuned to humanity, one to the otherguardians--balanced across a sort of bridge--_that_ was how they keptthe ratio so constant! But why? There seemed to be some wide-rangereceptors there, too, but nothing seemed to be coming in.... 

While he was still studying and still baffled, some kind of stimulus, which was so high and so faint and so alien that he could neitheridentify nor interpret it, touched the Arpalone's far-flung receptors. Instantly the creature jumped, his powerful, widely-bowed legs sendinghim high above the heads of the crowd and, it seemed to Garlock, directly toward him. Simultaneously there was an insistent, low-pitched, whistling scream, somewhat like the noise made by an airplane in ano-power dive; and Garlock saw, out of the corner of one eye, ayellowish something flashing downward through the air. 

At the same moment the woman immediately in front of Garlock stifled ascream and jumped backward, bumping into him and almost knocking himdown. He staggered, caught his balance, and automatically put his armaround his assailant, to keep her from falling to the sidewalk. 

 * * *

In the meantime the guardian, having landed very close to the spot thewoman had occupied a moment before, leaped again; this time verticallyupward. The thing, whatever it was, was now braking frantically withwings, tail, and body; trying madly to get away. Too late. There was abone-crushing impact as the two bodies came together in mid-air; ajarring thud as the two creatures, inextricably intertwined, struck thepavement as one. 

The thing varied in color, Garlock now saw, shading from bright orangeat the head to pale yellow at the tail. It had a savagely-tearing curvedbeak; tremendously powerful wings; its short, thick legs ended inhawk-like talons. 

The guardian's bowed legs had already immobilized the yellow wings byclamping them solidly against the yellow body. His two lower arms wereholding the frightful talons out of action. His third hand gripped theorange throat, his fourth was exerting tremendous force against thejointure of neck and body. The neck, originally short, was beginning tostretch. 

For several seconds Garlock had been half-conscious that his accidentalcompanion was trying, with more and more energy, to disengage hisencircling left arm from her waist. He wrenched his attention away fromthe spectacular fight--to which no one else, not even the near-victim, had paid the slightest attention--and now saw that he had his arm aroundthe bare waist of a statuesque matron whose entire costume would havemade perhaps half of a Tellurian sun-suit. He dropped his arm with aquick and abject apology. 

"I should apologize to you instead, Captain Garlock, " she thought, witha wide and friendly smile, "for knocking you down, and I thank you forcatching me before I fell. I should not have been startled, of course. Iwould not have been, except that this is the first time that I, personally, have been attacked. "

"But what _are_ they?" Garlock blurted. 

"I don't know. " The woman turned her head and glanced, in completedisinterest, at the two furiously-battling creatures. Garlock knew nowthat this was the first time, except for that instantly-dismissed thrillof surprise at being the actual target of an attack, that she hadthought of either of them. "Orange-yellow? It could be a ... A fumapty, perhaps, but I've no idea, really. You see, such things are none of ourbusiness. "

She thought at him, a half-shrug, half-grimace of mild distaste--not atthe personal contact with the man nor at the savage duel; but at eventhinking of either the guardian or the yellow monster--and walked awayinto the crowd. 

Garlock's attention flashed back to the fighters. The yellow thing'sneck had been stretched to twice its natural length and the guardian had_eaten_ almost through it. There was a terrific crunch, a couple ofsmacking, gobbling swallows, and head parted from body. The orange beakstill clashed open and shut, however, and the body still thrashedviolently. 

Shifting his grips, the guardian proceeded to tear a hole into hisvictim's body, just below its breast-bone. Thrusting two arms into theopening, he yanked out two organs--one of which, Garlock thought, couldhave been the heart--and ate them both; if not with extreme gusto, atleast in a workmanlike and thoroughly competent fashion. He then pickedup the head in one hand, grabbed the tip of a wing with another, andmarched up the street for half a block, dragging the body behind him. 

He lifted a manhole cover with his two unoccupied hands, dropped theremains down the hole thus exposed, and let the cover slam back intoplace. He then squatted down, licked himself meticulously clean with along, black, extremely agile tongue, and went on about his enigmaticbusiness quite as though nothing had happened. 

Garlock strolled around a few minutes longer, but could not recaptureany interest in the doings of the human beings around him. He had filedaway every detail of what had just happened, and it had so many bizarreaspects that he could not think of anything else. Wherefore he flaggeddown a "taxi" and was taken out to the _Pleiades_. Belle and Lola werein the Main. 

 * * *

"I saw the _damndest_ thing, Clee!" Lola exclaimed. "I've been gnawingmy fingernails off up to the knuckles, waiting for you!"

Lola's experience had been very similar to Garlock's own, except in thather monster was an intense green in color and looked something like abat about four feet long, with six-inch canine teeth and severalstingers.... 

"Did you find out the name of the thing?" Garlock asked. 

"No. I asked half-a-dozen people, but nobody would even listen to meexcept one half-grown boy, and the best he could do was that it might besomething he had heard another boy say somebody had told him might be a'lemart. ' And as to those lower-case Arpalones, the best I could dig outof anybody was just 'guardians. ' Did you do any better?"

"No, I didn't do as well, " and he told the girls about his ownexperience. 

"But I didn't find any detectors or receptors, Clee, " Lola frowned. "Where were they?"

"'Way up--up here, " he showed her. "I'll make a full tape tonight oneverything I found out about the guardians and the Arpalones--besides myregular report, I mean--since they're yours, and you can make me oneabout your friend the green bat.... "

 * * *

"Hey, I _like_ that!" Belle broke in. "That _could_ be taken amiss, youknow, by such a sensitive soul as I!"

"Check. " Garlock chuckled. "I'll have to file that one, in case I wantto use it sometime. How're you coming, Belle?"

"Nice!" Belle's voracious mind had been so busy absorbing newknowledge that she had temporarily forgotten about her fight withher captain. "I'm just about done here. I'll be ready tomorrow, Ithink, to visit their library and tape up some planetological andplanetographical--notice how insouciantly I toss off those two-creditwords?--data on this here planet Hodell. "

"Good going. You've been listening to this stuff Lola and I were chewingon--does any of it make sense to you?"

"It does not. I never heard anything to compare with it. "

"Excuse me for changing the subject, " Lola put in, plaintively, "butwhen, if ever, do we eat? Do we _have_ to wait until that confoundedJames boy gets back from wherever it was he went?"

"If you're hungry, we'll eat now. "

"_Hungry?_ Look!" Lola turned herself sidewise, placed one hand in thesmall of her back, and pressed hard with the other her flat, taut belly. "See? Only a couple of inches from belt-buckle to backbone--dangerouslyclose to the point of utter collapse. "

"You poor, abused little thing!" Garlock laughed and all three crossedthe room to the dining alcove. While they were still ordering, Jamesappeared beside them. 

"Find out anything?" Garlock asked. 

"Yes and no. Yes, in that they have an excellent observatory, with ahundred-eighty-inch reflector, on a mountain only seventy-five milesfrom here. No, in that I didn't find any duplication of nebularyconfigurations with the stuff I had with me. However, it was relativelycoarse. Tomorrow I'll take a lot of fine stuff along. It'll take sometime--a full day, at least. "

"I expected that. Good going, Jim!"

All four ate heartily, and, after eating, they taped up the day'sreports. Then, tired from their first real day's work in weeks, all wentto their rooms. 

 * * *

A few minutes later, Garlock tapped lightly at Lola's door. 

"Come in. " She stiffened involuntarily, then relaxed and smiled. "Oh, yes, Clee: of course. You're.... "

"No, I'm not. I've been doing a lot of thinking about you since lastnight, and I may have come up with an answer or two. Also, Belle knowswe aren't pairing, and if we don't hide behind a screen at least once ina while, she'll know we aren't going to. "

"Screen?"

"Screen. Didn't you know these four private rooms are solid? Haven't youread your house-tape yet?"

"No. But do you think Belle would actually peek?"

"Do you think she wouldn't?"

"Well, I don't like her very much, but I wouldn't think she would doanything like that, Clee. It isn't urbane. "

"She isn't urbane, either, whenever she thinks it might be advantageousnot to be. "

"What a _terrible_ thing to say!"

"Take it from me, if Belle Bellamy doesn't know everything that goes onit isn't from lack of trying. You wouldn't know about room service, either, then--better scan that tape before you go to sleeptonight--what'll you have in the line of a drink to while away enoughtime so she will know we've been playing games?"

"Ginger ale, please. "

"I'll have ginger beer. You do it like so. " He slid a panel aside, hisfingers played briefly on a typewriter-like keyboard. Drinks and iceappeared. "Anything you want--details of the tape. "

He lighted two cigarettes, handed her one, stirred his drink. "Now, fairlady--or should I say beauteous dark lady?--we will follow the preceptof that immortal Chinese philosopher, Chin On. "

"You _are_ a Prime Operator, aren't you?" She laughed, but soberedquickly. "I'm worried. You said I flaunted virginity like a banner, andnow Belle.... What am I doing wrong?"

"There's a lot wrong. Not so much what you're doing as what you aren'tdoing. You're too aloof--detached--egg-headish. You know the score, words and music, but you don't sing. All you do is listen. Belle thinksyou're not only a physical virgin, but a psychic-blocked prude. I knowbetter. You're so full of conflict between what you want to do--what youknow is right--and what those three-cell-brained nincompoops made youthink you ought to do that you have got no more degrees of freedom thana piston-rod. You haven't been yourself for a minute since you cameaboard. Check?"

"You _have_ been thinking, haven't you? You may be right; except thatit's been longer than that ... Ever since the first preliminaries, Ithink. But what can I _do_ about it, Clee?"

"Contact. Three-quarters full, say; enough for me to give you what Ithink is the truth. "

"But you said you _never_ went screens down with a woman?"

"There's a first time for everything. Come in. "

 * * *

She did so, held contact for almost a minute, then pulled herself loose. 

"Ug-gh-gh. " She shivered. "I'm glad I haven't got a mind like that. "

"And the same from me to you. Of course the real truth may lie somewherein between. I may be as far off the beam on one side as you are on theother. "

"I hope so. But it cleared things up no end--it untied a million knots. Even that other thing--brotherly love? It's a very nice concept--yousee, I never had any brothers. "

"That's probably one thing that was the matter with you. Nothing warmerthan that, certainly, and never will be. "

"And I suppose you got the thought--it must have jumped up and smackedyou--" Lola's hot blush was visible even through her heavy tan, "howmany times I've felt like running my fingers up and down your ribs andgrabbing a handful of those terrific muscles of yours, just to see ifthey're as hard as they look?"

"I'm glad you brought that up; I don't know whether I would have daredto or not. You've got to stop acting like a Third instead of anOperator; and you've got to stop acting as though you had never beenwithin ten feet of me. Now's as good a time as any. " He took off hisshirt and struck a strong-man's pose. "Come ahead. "

"By golly, I'm _going_ to!" Then, a moment later, "Why, they're even_harder_! How do you, a scientist, psionicist, and scholar, keep in suchhard shape as that?"

"An hour a day in the gym, three hundred sixty-five days a year. Manyare better--but a hell of a lot are worse. "

"I'll say. " She finished her ginger ale, sat down in her chair, leanedback and put her legs up on the bed. "That was a relief of tension ifthere ever was one. I haven't felt so good since they picked me ashome-town candidate--and that was a mighty small town and eight monthsago. Bring on your dragons, Clee, and I'll slay 'em far and wide. But Ican't actually _be_ like she is.... "

"Thank God for that. Deliver me from _two_ such pretzel-benders aboardone ship. "

"... But I could have been a pretty good actress, I think. "

"Correction, please. 'Outstanding' is the word. "

"Thank you, kind sir. And women--men, too, of course--do bring upcertain memories, to ... To.... "

"To roll 'em around on their tongues and give their taste-buds a treat. "

"Exactly. So where I don't have any appropriate actual memories to bringup, I'll make like an actress. Check?"

"Good girl! Now you're rolling--we're in like Flynn. Well, we've been inscreen long enough, I guess. Fare thee well, little sister Brownie, until we meet again. " He tossed the remains of their refreshments, traysand all, into the chute, picked up his shirt, and started out. 

"Put it _on_, Clee!" she whispered, intensely. 

"Why?" He grinned cheerfully. "It'd look still better if I peeled downto the altogether. "

"You're incorrigible, " she said, but her answering grin was wide andperfectly natural. "You know, if I had had a brother something like youit would have saved me a lot of wear and tear. I'll see you in themorning before breakfast. "

 * * *

And she did. They strolled together to breakfast; not holding hands, butwith hip almost touching hip. Relaxed, friendly, on very cordial andsatisfactory terms. Lola punched breakfast orders for them both. Belledrove a probe, which bounced--Lola's screen was tight, although herbrown eyes were innocent and bland. 

But during the meal, in response to a double-edged, wickedly-barbedremark of Belle's, a memory flashed into being above Lola's shield. Itwas the veriest flash, instantly suppressed. Her eyes held clear andsteady; if she blushed at all it did not show. 

Belle caught it, of course, and winked triumphantly at Garlock. She knew, now, what she had wanted to know. And, Prime Operatorthough he was, it was all he could do to make no sign; for thatfleetingly-revealed memory was a perfect job. He would not have--_could_not have--questioned it himself, except for one highly startling fact. It was of an event that had not happened and never would!

And after breakfast, at some distance from the others, "That is my girl, Brownie! You're firing on all forty barrels. You're an Operator, allright; and it takes a damn good one to lie like that with her mind!"

"Thanks to you, Clee. And thanks a million, really. I'm me again--Ithink. "

Then, since Belle was looking, she took him by both ears, pulled hishead down, and kissed him lightly on the lips. The spontaneity andtenderness were perfect at that moment. Clee's appreciation was obvious. 

"I know I said you'd have to kiss me next time, " Lola said, very low, "but this act needs just this much of an extra touch. Anyway, suchlittle, tiny, sisterly ones as this, and out in public, don't count. "

CHAPTER 3

Lola and Garlock went to town in the same taxi. As they were about toseparate, Garlock said:

"I don't like those hell-divers, yellow, green, or any other color; andyou, Brownie, are very definitely not expendable. Are you any good atmind-bombing?"

"Why, I never heard of such a thing. "

"You isolate a little energy in the Op field, remembering of course, that you're handling a hundred thousand gunts. Transpose it intoplatinum or uranium--anything good and heavy. For one of these monstersyou'd need two or three micrograms. For a battleship, up to maybe a gramor so. 'Port it to the exact place you want it to detonate. Reconvertand release instantaneously. One-hundred-percent-conversion atomic bomb, tailored exactly to fit the job. Very effective. "

"It would be. My God, Clee, can _you_ do _that_?"

"Sure--so can you. Any Operator can. "

"Well, I _won't_. I _never_ will. Besides, I'd probably kill too manypeople, besides the monster. No, I'll 'port back to the Main if anythingattacks me. I'm chain lightning at that. "

"Do that, then. And if anything very unusual happens give me a flash. "

"I'll do that. 'Bye, Clee. " She turned to the left. He walked straighton, toward the business center, to resume his study at the point wherehe had left off the evening before. 

For over an hour he wandered aimlessly about the city; receiving, classifying, and filing away information. He saw several duels betweenguardians and yellow and green-bat monsters, to none of which he paidany more attention than did the people around him. Then a third kind ofenemy appeared--two of them at once, flying wing-and-wing--and Garlockstopped and watched. 

Vivid, clear-cut stripes of red and black, even on the tremendouslylong, strong wings. Distinctly feline as to heads, teeth, and claws. While they did not at all closely resemble flying saber-toothed tigers, that was the first impression that leaped into Garlock's mind. 

Two bow-legged guardians came leaping as usual, but one of them was afraction of a second too late. That fraction was enough. While the firstguardian was still high in air, grappling with one tiger, the otherswung on a dime--the blast of air from his right wing blowing people inthe crowd below thither and yon and knocking four of them flat--and tookthe guardian's head off his body with one savage swipe of afrightfully-armed paw. Disregarding the carcass both attackers whirledsharply at the second guardian, meeting him in such fashion that hecould not come to firm grips with either of them, and that battle wasvery brief indeed. More and more guardians were leaping in from alldirections, however, and the two tigers were forced to the ground andslaughtered. 

Since six guardians had been killed, eight guardians marched up thestreet, dragging grisly loads. Eight bodies, friend and foe alike, weredumped into a manhole; eight creatures squatted down and cleanedthemselves meticulously before resuming their various patrols. 

 * * *

Ten or fifteen minutes later, Garlock felt Lola's half-excited, half-frightened thought. "Clee, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear. "

"There's something coming that's certainly none of my business--maybenot even yours. "

"Coming, " and with the thought he was there. "Where?"

She pointed a thought, he followed it. Far away yet, but coming fast, was an immense flock of flying tigers!

Lola licked her lips. "I'm going home, if you don't mind. "

"Beat it. "

She disappeared. 

"Jim!" Garlock thought. "Where are you?"

"Observatory. Need me?"

"Yes. Bombing. Two point four microgram loads. Focus spot on myright--teleport in. "

"Coming in on your right. "

"And I on your left!" Belle's thought drove in as he had never beforefelt it driven. Being a Prime, she did not need a focus spot andappeared the veriest instant later than did James. 

"Can you bomb?" Garlock snapped. 

"What do _you_ think?" she snapped back. 

A moment of flashing thought and the three Tellurians disappeared, materializing five hundred feet in air, two hundred feet ahead of thevan of that horrible flight of monsters, drifting before it. 

Belle got in the first shot. Not only did the victim disappear--a coupleof dozen around it were torn to fragments and the force of the blaststaggered all three Tellurians. 

"Damn it, Belle, cut down or get to hell out!" Garlock yelped. "I saidtwo point four _micrograms_, not milligrams. Just kill 'em, don'tscatter 'em all over hell's half acre--less mess to clean up and I_don't_ want you to kill people down below. Especially I don't want youto kill us--not even yourself. "

"'Scuse, please, I guess I was a bit enthusiastic in my weighing. "

There began a series of muffled explosions along the front; eachfollowed by the plunge of a tiger-striped body to the ground. Faster andfaster the explosions came as the Operator and the Primes learned theroutine and the rhythm of the job. 

Nor were they long alone. The roaring, screaming howl of jets came upfrom behind them; four Arpalones appeared at their left, strung outalong the front. Each held an extraordinarily heavy-duty blaster in eachof his four hands; sixteen terrific weapons were hurling death into theflying horde. 

"Slide over, Terrestrials, " came a calm thought. "You three take theirleft front, we'll take their right and center. "

As they obeyed the instructions, "_They_ don't give a damn where thepieces fly!" Belle protested. "Why should we be fussy about theirstreet-cleaning department? _I'm_ starting to use fives. "

"Okay. We'll have to hit 'em harder, anyway, to keep up. Five or maybesix--just be damn sure not to knock us or the Arpalones out of the air. "

Carnage went on. The battle-front, while inside the city limits, was nowalmost stationary. 

"Ha! Help--I hear footsteps approaching on jet-back, " Garlock announced. "Give 'em hell, boys--shovel on the coal!"

 * * *

A flight of fighter-planes, eight abreast and wing-tips almost touching, howled close overhead and along the line of invasion. They could notfire, of course, until they reached the city limits. There they openedup as one, and the air below became literally filled with fallingmonsters. Some had only broken wings; some were dead, but more or lesswhole; many were blown to unrecognizable bits and scraps of flesh. 

Another flight screamed into place immediately behind the first; thenanother and another and another until six flights had passed. Then camefour helicopters, darting and hovering, whose gunners picked offindividually whatever survivors had managed to escape all six waves offighters. 

"That's better, " came a thought from the Arpalone nearest Garlock. "Situation under control, thanks to you Tellurians. Supposed to be twosquads of us gunners, but the other squad was busy on another job. Without you, this could have developed into a fairly nasty littleinfection. I don't know what you're doing or how you're doing it--wewere told that you weren't like any other humans, and how true _that_is--but I'm in favor of it. I thought there were four of you?"

"One of us is not a fighter. "

"Oh. You can knock off now, if you like. We'll polish off. Thanks much. "

"But don't the boys on the ground need some help?"

"The Arpales? Those idiots you have been thinking of as 'guardians'?Which they are, of course. Uh-uh. Besides, we're air-fighters. Groundwork is none of our business. Also, these guns would raise altogethertoo much hell down there. Bound to hit some humans. "

"Check. Those Arpales aren't very intelligent, you Arpalones areextremely so. Any connection?"

"'Way back, they say. Common ancestry, and doing two parts of the samejob. Killing these fumapties and lemarts and sencors and what-have-you. I don't know what humanity's job is and don't give a damn. Probablyfairly important, some way or other, though, since it's our job to seethat the silly, gutless things keep on living. We have nothing to dowith 'em, ever. The only reason I'm talking to you is you're not reallyhuman at all. You're a fighter, too, and a damn good one. "

"I know what you mean, " and the three Tellurians turned their attentiondownward to the scene on the ground. 

 * * *

The heaviest fighting had been over a large park at the city's edge, which was now literally a shambles. Very few people were to be seen, andthose few more moving unconcernedly away from the center of violence. All over the park thousands of Arpales were fighting furiously andhundreds of them were dying. For hundreds of the sencors had sufferedonly wing injuries, the long fall to ground had not harmed them further, and their tremendous fighting ability had been lessened very little ifat all. 

"But I'd think, just for efficiency if nothing else, " Garlock argued, "you'd support the Arpales _some_ way. Lighter guns or something. Why, thousands of them must have been killed, just in this last hour or so. "

"Yeah, but that's their business. They breed fast and die fast. Everything has to balance, you know. "

"Perhaps so. " Garlock was silenced, if not convinced. "Well, it's aboutover. What happens to the bodies they're dumping down manholes? Theycan't go down a sewer that way?"

"Oh, you didn't know? Food. "

"Food? For what?"

"The Arpales and us, of course. "

"What? You don't mean--you _can't_ mean that they--and by your thought, you Arpalones, too--are cannibals!"

"Cannibals? Explain, please? Oh, eaters-of-our-own-species. Ofcourse--certainly. Why not?"

"Why, self-respect ... Common decency ... Respect for one's fellow-man... Family ties.... " Garlock was floundering; to be called upon toexplain his ingrained antipathy to such a custom was new to hisexperience. 

"You are silly. Worse, squeamish. Worst, supremely illogical. " TheArpalone paused, then went on as though trying to educate a hopelesslyillogical inferior, "While we do not kill Arpales purposely--except whenthey over-breed--why waste good meat as fertilizer? If a diet iswholesome, nutritious, well-balanced, and tasty, what shred ofdifference can it _possibly_ make what its ingredients once were?"

"Well, I'll be damned. " Garlock quit. 

Belle agreed. "This whole deal makes me sick at the stomach and I thinkmy face is turning green too. But I'm devilishly and gleefully glad, Clee, that I was here to hear _somebody_ give you cards, spaces, and bigcasino and still beat the lights and liver out of you at your own gameof cold-blooded logic!"

"We gunners must go now. Would you like to come along with us and seethe end of this particular breeding-hole of sencors?"

At high speed the seven flew back along the line of advance of theflying-tiger horde; across a barren valley, toward and to the side of amountain. 

 * * *

An area almost a mile square of that mountain's side was a burned, blasted, churned, pocked, cratered and flaming waste; and the fourhelicopters were still working on it. High-energy beams blasted, fairlyvolatilizing the ground as they struck in as deep as they could bedriven. High-explosive shells bored deep and detonated, hurlingshattered rock and soil and yellow smoke far and wide; establishing newcraters by destroying the ones existing a moment before. 

While it seemed incredible that any living thing larger than a microbecould emerge under its own power from such a hell of energy, many flyingtigers did; apparently being blown aloft along with the hithertoundisturbed volume of soil in which the creatures had been. Most of themwere not fully grown; some were so immature as to be unrecognizable toan untrained eye; but from all four helicopters hand-guns snapped andcracked. Nothing--but _nothing_--was leaving that field of carnagealive. 

"What are you gunners supposed to be doing here?" Garlock asked. 

"Oh, the 'copters will be leaving pretty soon--they've got other placesto go. But they won't get them all--some of the hatches are too deep--sous four gunners will stick around for two-three days to kill thelate-hatchers as they come out. "

"I see, " and Garlock probed. "There are four cells they won't reach. Shall I bomb 'em out?"

"I'll ask. " The slitted red eyes widened and he sent a call. "CommanderKnahr, can you hop over here a minute? I want you to meet these thingswe've been hearing about. They look human, but they really aren't. They're killers, with more stuff and more brains than any of us everheard of. "

Another Arpalone appeared, indistinguishable to Tellurian eyes from anyone of the others. 

"But why do you want to mix into something that's none of yourbusiness?" Knahr was neither officious nor condemnatory. He simply couldnot understand. 

"Since you have no concept of our quality of curiosity, just call iteducation. The question is, do or do you not want those fourdeeply-buried cells blasted out of existence?"

"Of course I do. "

"Okay. You've got all of 'em you're going to get. Tell your 'copters togive us about five miles clearance, and we'll all fall back, too. "

They drew back, and there were four closely-spaced explosions of suchviolence that one raggedly mushroom-shaped cloud went into thestratosphere and one huge, ragged crater yawned where once churnedground had been. 

"But that's _atomic_!" Knahr gasped the thought. "Fall-out!"

"No fall-out. Complete conversion. Have you got a counter?"

They had. They tested. There was nothing except the usual backgroundcount. 

"There's no life left underground, so you needn't keep this squad ofgunners tied up here, " Garlock told the commander. "Before we go, I wantto ask a question. You have visitors once in a while from other solarsystems, so you must have a faster-than-light drive. Can you tell meanything about it?"

"No. Nothing like that would be any of my business. " Knahr and the fourgunners disappeared; the helicopters began to lumber away. 

"Well, _that_ helps--I don't think, " Garlock thought, glumly. "_What_ aworld! Back to the Main?"

 * * *

In the Main, after a long and fruitless discussion, Garlock calledGovernor Atterlin, who did not know anything about a faster-than-lightdrive, either. There was one, of course, since it took only a few daysor a few weeks to go from one system to another; but Hodell didn't haveany such ships. No ordinary planet did. They were owned and operated bypeople who called themselves "Engineers. " He had no idea where theEngineers came from; they didn't say. 

Garlock then tried to get in touch with the Arpalone Inspector who hadchecked the _Pleiades_ in, and could not find out even who it had been. The Inspector then on duty neither knew or cared anything about eitherfaster-than-light drives or Engineers. Such things were none of hisbusiness. 

"What difference would it make, anyway?" James asked. "No drive thattakes 'a few weeks' for an intra-galaxy hop is ever going to get us backto Tellus. "

"True enough; but if there is such a thing I want to know how it works. How are you coming with your calculations?"

"I'll finish up tomorrow easily enough. "

Tomorrow came, and James finished up, but he did not find any familiarpattern of Galactic arrangement. The other three watched James set upfor another try for Earth. 

"You don't think we'll ever get back, do you, Clee?" Belle asked. 

"Right away, no. Some day, yes. I've got the germ of an idea. Maybethree or four more hops will give me something to work on. "

"I hope so, " James said, "because here goes nothing, " and he snapped thered switch. 

 * * *

It was not nothing. Number Two was another guardian Inspector andanother planet very much like Hodell. It proved to be so far from bothEarth and Hodell, however, that no useful similarities were found in anytwo of the three sets of charts. 

Number Three was equally unproductive of helpful results. James did, however, improve his technique of making galactic charts; and he andGarlock designed and built a high-speed comparator. Thus the timerequired per stop was reduced from days to hours. 

Number Four produced a surprise. When Garlock touched the knob of thetesting-box he yanked his hand away before it had really made contact. It was like touching a high-voltage wire. 

"You are incompatible with our humanity and must not land, " theInspector ruled. 

"Suppose we blast you and your jets out of the air and land anyway?"Garlock asked. 

"That is perhaps possible, " the Inspector agreed, equably enough. "Weare not invincible. However, it would do you no good. If any one of youfour leaves that so-heavily-insulated vessel in the atmosphere of thisplanet you will die. Not quickly, but slowly and with difficulty. "

"But you haven't tested _me_!" Belle said. "Do you mean they'll attackus on sight?"

"There is no need to test more than one. Anyone who could live near anyof you could not live on this planet. Nor will they attack you. Don'tyou know what the thought 'incompatible' means?"

"With us it does not mean death. "

"Here it does, since it refers to life forces. The types are mutually, irreconcilably antagonistic. Your life forces are very strong. Thus, nomatter how peaceable your intentions may be, many of our human beingswould die before you would, but you will not live to get back to yourship if you land it and leave its protective insulation. "

"Why? What is it? How does it work?" Belle demanded. 

"It is not my business to know; only to tell. I have told. You will goaway now. "

Garlock's eyes narrowed in concentration. "Belle, can you blast? I mean, could you if you wanted to?"

"Certainly ... Why, I don't _want_ to, Clee!"

"I don't, either--and I'll file that one away to chew on when I'm hungrysome night, too. Take her up, Jim, and try another shot. "

 * * *

Numbers Five to Nine, inclusive, were neither productive nor eventful. All were, like the others, Hodell all over again, in everythingfundamental. One was so far advanced that almost all of its humanitywere Seconds; one so backward--or so much younger--that its strongesttelepaths were only Fours. The Tellurians became acquainted with, andupon occasion fought with, various types of man-sized monsters inaddition to the three varieties they had seen on Hodell. 

Every planet they visited had Arpalones and Arpales. Not by those names, of course. Local names for planets, guardians, nations, cities, andpersons went into the starship's tapes, but that welter of names neednot be given here; this is not a catalogue. Every planet they visitedwas peopled by _Homo Sapiens_; capable of inter-breeding with theTellurians and eager to do so--especially with the Tellurian men. Theirstrict monogamy was really tested more than once; but it held. Each hadbeen visited repeatedly by starships; but all Garlock could find outabout them was that they probably came from a world somewhere that wasinhabited by compatible human beings of Grade Two. He could learnnothing about the faster-than-light drive. 

Number Ten was another queer--the Tellurians were found incompatible. 

"Let's go down anyway. " Belle suggested. "Overcome this unwillingness ofours and find out. What do you think they've got down there, CleeGarlock, that could possibly handle you and me both?"

"I don't think it's a case of 'handling' at all. I don't know what itis, but I believe it's fatal. We won't go down. "

"But it doesn't make sense!" Belle protested. 

"Not yet, no; but it's a datum. Enough data and we'll be able toformulate a theory. "

 * * *

"You and your theories! I wish we could get some _facts_!"

"You can call that a fact. But I want you and Jim to do somemath. We know that we're making mighty long jumps. Assuming that they'reat perfect random, and of approximately the same length, the probabilityis greater than one-half that we're getting farther and farther awayfrom Tellus. Is there a jump number, N, at which the probability isone-half that we land nearer Tellus instead of farther away? Myjump-at-conclusions guess is that there isn't. That the first jump setup a bias. "

"Ouch. _That_ isn't in any of the books, " James said. "In other words, do we or do we not attain a maximum? You're making some bum assumptions;among others that space isn't curved and that the dimensions of theuniverse are very large compared to the length of our jumps. I'll see ifI can put it into shape to feed to Compy. You've always held that thesegenerators work at random--the rest of those assumptions are based onyour theory?"

"Check. I'm not getting anywhere studying my alleged Xenology, so I'mgoing to work full time on designing a generator that will steer. "

"You tried to before. So did everybody else. "

"I know it, but I've got a lot more data now. And I'm not promising, just trying. Okay? Worth a try?"

"Sure--I'm in favor of anything that has any chance at all of working. "

Jumping went on; and Garlock, instead of going abroad on the planets, stayed in the _Pleiades_ and worked. 

 * * *

At Number Forty-three, their reception was of a new kind. They werecompatible with the people of this world, but the Inspector advised themagainst landing. 

"I do not forbid you, " he explained, carefully. "Our humans are about todestroy themselves with fission and fusion bombs. They send missiles, without warning, against visitors. Thus, the last starship to visit ushere disregarded my warning and sent down a sensing device asusual--Engineers do not land on non-telepathic worlds, you know--and itwas destroyed. "

"You're a Guardian of Humanity, " Garlock said. "Can't you straightenpeople out?"

"Of course not!" The Arpalone was outraged. "We guard humanity againstincompatibles and non-humans; but it is not our business to interferewith humanity if it wishes to destroy itself. That is its privilege andits own business!"

Garlock probed down. "No telepathy, even--not even a Seven. This planet_is_ backward--back to Year One. And nothing but firecrackers--we'regoing down, aren't we?"

"I'll say we are!" Belle said. "This will break the monotony, at least, "and the others agreed. 

"You won't object, I take it, " Garlock said to the Inspector, "if we tryto straighten them out. We can postpone the blow-up a few years, atleast. "

"No objections, of course. In fact, I can say that we Guardians ofHumanity would approve such action. "

Down the _Pleiades_ went, into the air of the nation known as the"Allied Republican Democracies of the World, " and an atomic-warheadedrocket came flaming up. 

"Hm ... M ... M. Ingenious little gadget, at that, " James reported, after studying it thoroughly. "Filthy thing for fall-out, though, if itgoes off. Where'll I flip it, Clee? One of their moons?"

"Check. Third one out--no chance of any contamination from there. "

The missile vanished; and had any astronomer been looking at thatworld's third and outermost moon at the moment, he might have seen atremendous flash of light, a cloud of dust, and the formation of a newand different crater among the hundreds already there. 

"No use waiting for 'em, Jim. All three of you toss everything they'vegot out onto that same moon, being sure not to hurt anybody--yet. I'llstart asking questions. "

The captain who had fired the first missile appeared in the Main. Hereached for his pistol, to find that he did not have one. He tensed hismuscles to leap at Garlock, to find that he could not move. 

Garlock drove his probe. "Who is your superior officer?" and before theman could formulate a denial, that superior stood helpless beside him. 

 * * *

Then three--and four. At the fifth:

"Oh, you are the man I want. Prime Minister--euphemism forDictator--Sovig. Missile launching stations and missile storage? Youdon't know? Who does?"

Another man appeared, and for twenty minutes the _Pleiades_ darted aboutthe continent. 

"Now submarines, atomic and otherwise, and all surface vessels capableof launching missiles. " Another man appeared. 

This job took a little longer, since the crew of each vessel had to beteleported back to their bases. An immense scrap-pile, probably visiblewith a telescope of even moderate power, built up rapidly on the thirdmoon. 

"Now a complete list of your uranium-refining plants, your militaryreactors, heavy-water and heavy-hydrogen plants, and so on. " Another manappeared, but the starship did not move. 

"Here is a list of plants, " and Garlock named them, coldly. "You willremember them. I will return you to your office, and you may--or maynot, as you please--order them evacuated. Look at your watch. We startdestroying them in exactly seventy-two of your hours from this moment. Any and all persons on the properties will be killed; any within aradius of ten of your miles may be killed. Our explosives are extremelypowerful, but there is no radioactivity and no danger from the fall-out. The danger is from flash-blindness, flash-burn, sheer heat, shock-wave, concussion, and flying debris of all kinds. "

The officer vanished and Garlock turned back to the Prime Minister. 

"You have an ally, a nation known as the 'Brotherhood of People'sRepublics. ' Where is its capital? Slide us over there, Jim. Now, PrimeMinister Sovig, you and your ally, the second and first most populousnations of your world, are combining to destroy--a pincers movement, letus say?--the third largest nation, or rather, group of nations--theNations of the North.... Oh, I see. Third only in population, but firstin productive capacity and technology. They should be destroyed becausetheir ideology does not agree with yours. They are too idealistic tostrike first, so you will. After you strike, they will not be able to. Whereupon you, personally, will rule the world. I will add to thatsomething you are not thinking, but should: You will rule it until oneof your friends puts his pistol to the back of your neck and blows yourbrains out. "

 * * *

They were now over the ally's capitol; which launched five missilesinstead of one. Garlock collected four more men and studied them. 

"Just as bad--if possible, worse. Who, Lingonor, is the leader of youropposition, if any?" Another man, very evidently of the same race, appeared. 

"Idealistic, in a way, but spineless and corrupt, " Garlock announced toall. "His administration was one of the most corrupt ever known on thisworld. We'll disarm them, too. "

They did. The operation did not take very long; as this nation--orgroup, it was not very clear exactly what it was--while very high inmanpower, was very low in technology. 

The starship moved to a station high above the Capitol Building of theNations of the North and moved slowly downward until it hung poised onescant mile over the building. Missiles, jets, and heavy guns were setand ready, but no attack was made. Therefore Garlock introduced himselfto various personages and invited them aboard instead of snatching them;nor did he immobilize them after they had been teleported aboard. 

"The president, the chief of staff, the Chief Justice, the most eminentscientist, the head of a church, the leaders of the legislative body andfour political bosses, the biggest business man, biggest labor leader, and biggest gangster. Fourteen men. " As Garlock studied them his facehardened. "I thought to leave your Nations armed, to entrust thisworld's future to you, but no. Only two of you are really concernedabout the welfare of your peoples, and one of those two is very weak. Most of you are of no higher motivation than are the two dictators andyour gangster Clyden. You are much better than those we have alreadydisarmed, but you are not good enough. "

Garlock's hard eyes swept over the group for two minutes before he wenton:

"I am opening all of your minds, friend and foe alike, to each other, sothat you may all see for yourselves what depths of rottenness existthere and just how unfit your world is to associate with the decentworlds of this or any other galaxy. It would take God Himself to doanything with such material, and I am not God. Therefore, when we haverid this world of atomics we will leave and you will start all overagain. If you really try, you can not only kill all animal life on yourplanet, but make it absolutely uninhabitable for.... "

"Stop it, Clee!" Lola jumped up, her eyes flashing. Garlock dropped thetuned group, but Belle took it over. Everyone there understood everythought. "Don't you _see_, you've done enough? That now you're going toofar? That these twenty-odd men, having had their minds opened and havingbeen given insight into what is possible, will go forward instead ofbackward?"

"Forward? With such people as the Prime Ministers, the labor andbusiness leaders, the bosses and the gangsters to cope with? Do youthink they've got spines stiff enough for the job?"

"I'm sure of it. Our world did it with no better. Millions and millionsof other worlds did it. Why can't this one do it? Of course it can. "

"May I ask a couple of questions?" This thought came from the tall, trim, soldierly Chief of Staff. 

"Of course, General Cordeen. "

"We have all been taking it for granted that you four belong to somesuper-human race; some kind or other of _Homo Superior_. Do I understandcorrectly your thought that your race is _Homo Sapiens_, the same asours?"

"Why, of course it is, " Lola answered in surprise. "The only differenceis that we are a few thousand years older than you are. "

"You said also that there were 'millions and millions' of worlds thathave solved the problems facing us. Were all these worlds also peopledby _Homo Sapiens_? It seems incredible. "

"True, nevertheless. On any and every world of this type humanity isidentical physically; and the mental differences are due only to theirbeing in different stages of development. In fact, every planet we havevisited except this one makes a regular custom of breeding its bestblood with the best blood of other solar systems. And as to the'millions and millions, ' I meant only a very large but indefinitenumber. As far as I know, not even a rough estimate has ever beenmade--has there, Clee?"

"No, but it will probably turn out to be millions _of_ millions, insteadof millions _and_ millions; and squared and then cubed at that. My guessis that it'll take another ten thousand years of preliminary surveyingsuch as we're doing, by all the crews the various Galaxian Societies canput out, before even the roughest kind of an estimate can be made as tohow many planets are inhabited by mutually fertile human peoples. "

 * * *

For a moment the group was stunned. Then:

"Do you mean to say, " asked the merchant prince, "that you Galaxians arenot the only ones who have interstellar travel?"

"Far from it. In fact, yours is the only world we have seen that doesnot have it, in one form or another. "

"Oh? More than one way? That makes it still worse. Would you be willingto sell us plans, or lease us ships... ?"

"So that you could exploit other planets? We will not. You would getnowhere, even if you had an interstellar drive right now. You, personally, are a perfect example of what is wrong with this planet. Rapacious, insatiable; you violate every concept of ethics, commondecency, and social responsibility. Your world's technology is so farahead of its sociology that you not only should be, but actually arebeing, held in quarantine. "

"_What?_"

"Exactly. One race I know of has been inspecting you regularly forseveral hundreds of your years. They will not make contact with you, orallow you to leave your own world, until you grow up to something beyondthe irresponsible-baby stage. Thus, about two and one-half of your yearsago, a starship of that race sent down a sensing element--unmanned, ofcourse--to check your state of development. Brother Sovig volatilized itwith an atomic missile. "

"We did not do it, " the dictator declared. "It was the war-mongeringcapitalists. "

"You brainless, mindless, contemptible idiot, " Garlock sneered. "Areeven you actually stupid enough to try to lie with your mind? To mindslinked to your own and to mine?"

"We did do it, then, but it was only a flying saucer. "

"Just as this ship was, to you, only a flying saucer, I suppose. Sohere's something else for you to think about, Brother Sovig, withwhatever power your alleged brain is able to generate. When you shotdown that sensor, the starship did not retaliate, but went on withouttaking any notice of you. When you tried to shoot _us_ down, we tooksome slight action, but did not kill anyone and are now discussing thesituation. Listen carefully now, and remember--it is very possible thatthe next craft you attack in such utterly idiotic fashion will, withoutany more warning than you gave, blow this whole planet into a ball ofincandescent gas. "

"Can that actually be done?" the scientist asked. For the first time, hebecame really interested in the proceedings. 

"Very easily, Doctor Cheswick, " Garlock replied. "We could do itourselves with scarcely any effort and at very small cost. You arefamiliar, I suppose, with the phenomenon of ball lightning?"

"Somewhat. Its mechanism has never been elucidated in any verysatisfactory mathematics. "

"Well, we have at our disposal a field some.... "

"Hold it, Clee, " James warned. "Do you want to put out that kind ofstuff around here?"

"Um ... M ... M. What do you think?"

 * * *

James studied Cheswick's mind. "Better than I thought, " he decided. "Hehas made two really worthwhile intuitions--a genius type. He's beenworking on what amounts almost to the Coupler Theory for ten years. He'salmost got it, but you know intuitions of that caliber can't bescheduled. He might get it tomorrow--or never. I'd say push him over thehump. "

"Okay with me. We'll take a vote--one blackball kills it. Brownie? Justthe link, of course. A few hints, perhaps, at application, but notechnological data. "

"I say give it to him. He's earned it. Besides, he isn't young and maydie before he gets it, and that would lose them two or three hundredyears. "

"Belle?"

"In favor. Shall I drop the linkage? No, " she answered her own question. "No other minds here will have any idea of what it means, and it may dosome of them a bit of good to see one of their own minds firing on morethan one barrel. "

"Thank you, Galaxians. " The scientist's mind had been quivering witheagerness. "I am inexpressibly glad that you have found me worthy of somuch help. "

 * * *

Garlock entered Cheswick's mind. First he impressed, indelibly, sixsymbols and their meanings. Second, a long and intricate equation; whichthe scientist studied avidly. 

During the ensuing pause, Garlock cut the President and Chief of Staffout of the linkage. "We have just given Cheswick a basic formula. In acouple of hundred years it will give you full telepathy, and then youwill begin really to go up. There's nothing secret about it--in fact, I'd advise full publication--but even so it might be a smart idea togive him both protection and good working conditions. Brains like hisare apt to be centuries apart on any world. "

"But this is ... It could be ... It _must_ be!" Cheswick exclaimed. "I_never_ would have formulated _that_! It isn't quite implicit, ofcourse, but from this there derives the existence of, and the necessityfor, electrogravitics! An entirely new field of reality and experimentin science!"

"There does indeed, " Garlock admitted, "and it is far indeed from beingimplicit. You leaped a tremendous gap. And yes, the resultant is morehumanistic than technological. "

Belle's ear-splitting whistle resounded throughout the Main. "How do youlike _them_ tid-bits, Clee?" she asked. "Two hundred years inseventy-eight seconds? You folks will have telepathy by the time yourpresent crop of babies grows up. Clee, aren't you sorry you got mad andblew your top and wanted to pick up your marbles and go home? _Three_such intuitions in one man's lifetime beats par, even for the geniuscourse. "

"It sure does, " Garlock admitted, ruefully. "I should have studied theseminds--particularly his--before jumping at conclusions. "

"May I say a few words?" the president asked. 

"You may indeed, sir. I was hoping you would. "

"We have been discouraged; faced with an insoluble problem. Sovig andLingonor, knowing that their own lives were forfeit anyway, wereperfectly willing to destroy all the life on this world to make usyield. Now, however, with the insight and the encouragement youGalaxians have given us, the situation has changed. Reduced to ordinaryhigh explosives, they cannot conquer us.... "

"Especially without an airforce, " Lola put in. "I, personally, will seeto it that every bomber and fighter plane they now have goes to thethird moon. It will be your responsibility to see to it that they do notrebuild. "

"Thank you, Miss Montandon. We will see to it. As for our internaldifficulties--I think, under certain conditions, they can be handled. Our lawless element, " he glanced at the gangster, "can be made impotent. The corrupt practices of both capital and labor can be stopped. We havelaws, " here he looked at the members of Congress and the judge, "whichcan be enforced. The conditions I mentioned would be difficult at themoment, since so few of us are here and it is manifest that few if anyof our people will believe that such people as you Galaxians reallyexist. Would it be possible for you, Miss Montandon, to spend a fewdays--or whatever time you can spare--in showing our Congress, and asmany other groups as possible, what humanity may hope to become?"

"Of course, sir. I was planning on it. "

"I'm afraid that is impossible, " the Chief of Staff said. 

"Why, General Cardeen?" Lola asked. 

"Because you'd be shot, " Cardeen said, bluntly. "We have a very goodSecret Service, it is true, and we would give you every protectionpossible; but such an all-out effort as would be made to assassinate youwould almost certainly succeed. "

"Shot?" Garlock asked in surprise. "What with? You haven't anything thatcould even begin to crack an Operator's Shield. "

"With this, sir. " Cardeen held out his automatic pistol for inspection. 

"Oh, I hadn't studied it ... A pellet-projector.... "

"_Pellet!_ Do you call a four-seventy-five slug a pellet?"

"Not much of that, really ... It shoots eight times--shoot all eight ofthem at her. None of them will touch her. "

"_What?_ I _will_ not! One of those slugs will go through three womenlike her, front to back in line. "

"I will, then. " The pistol leaped into Garlock's hand. "Hold up onehand, Brownie, and catch 'em. Don't let 'em splash--no deformation, sohe can recognize his own pellets. "

Holding the unfamiliar weapon in a clumsy, highly unorthodoxgrip--something like a schoolgirl's first attempt--Garlock glanced onceat Lola's upraised palm and eight shots roared out as fast as the gasesof explosion could operate the mechanism. The pistol's barrel remainedrigidly motionless under all the stress of ultra-rapid fire. Lola'sslim, deeply-tanned arm did not even quiver under the impact of thatstorm of heavy bullets against her apparently unsupported hand. No onesaw those bullets strike that gently-curved right palm, but everyone sawthem drop into her cupped left hand, like drops of water drippingrapidly from the end of an icicle into a bowl. 

"Here are your pellets, General Cardeen. " Lola handed them to him with asmile. 

"Holy--Jumping--Snakes!" the general said, and:

"Wotta torpedo!" came the gangster's envious thought. 

"You see, I am perfectly safe from being 'shot, ' as you call it, " Lolasaid. "So I'll come down and work with you. You might have your newsservices put out a bulletin, though. I never have killed anyone, and amnot going to here, but anyone who tries to shoot me or bomb me oranything will lose both hands at the wrists just before he fires. Thatwould keep them from killing anyone standing near me, don't you think?"

"I should _think_ it would, " General Cordeen thought, and a pall of awecovered the linked minds. The implications of the naively frank remarkjust uttered by this apparently inoffensive and defenseless young womanwere simply too overwhelming to be discussed. 

"Anything else on the agenda, Clee?" Lola asked. 

There was not, and the starship's guests were returned, each to his ownhome place. 

And not one of them, it may be said, was exactly the same as he hadbeen. 

 [Illustration:

 The deepest Gunther block was at last penetrated and Belle became conscious of a heretofore unknown mental alignment with the ship. ]

CHAPTER 4

"I think I'll come along with you and bodyguard you, Lola, " Belle said, the following morning after breakfast. "Clee's going to be seventhousand miles deep in mathematics and Jim's doing his stuff at theobservatory, and I can't help either of 'em at the moment. You'd do abetter job, wouldn't you, if you could concentrate on it?"

"Of course. Thanks, Belle. But remember, it's already been announced--nodeath. Just hands. I can't really believe that I'll be attacked, butthey seem pretty sure of it. "

"I'd like to separate anyone like that from his head instead of hishands, but as it is published so it will be performed. "

"How about wearing some kind of half-way-comfortable shoes instead ofthose slippers?" Garlock asked. "That could turn out to be a long, toughbrawl, and your dogs'll be begging for mercy before you get back here. "

"Uh-uh. Very comfortable and a perfect fit. Besides, if I have to sufferjust a little bit for good appearance's sake in a matter ofintergalactic amity.... "

"A matter of showing off, you mean. "

"Why, Clee!" Belle widened her eyes at him. "How you talk! But they'reready, Lola--let's go. "

The two girls disappeared from the Main, to appear on the speakers'stand in front of the Capitol Building. President Benton was there, withhis cabinet and certain other personages. General Cordeen and his staff. And many others. 

"Oh, Miss Bellamy, too? I'm _very_ glad you are here, " Benton said, ashe shook hands cordially with both. 

"Thank you. I came along as bodyguard. May I meet your Secret ServiceChief, please?"

"Why, of course. Miss Bellamy, may I present Mr. Avengord?"

"You have the hospital room ready?... Where is it, please?"

"Back of us, in the wing.... "

"Just think of it, please, and I will follow your thought.... Ah, yes, there it is. I hope it will not be used. You agree with General Cordeenthat there will be one or more attempts at assassination?"

"I'm very much afraid so. This town is literally riddled with enemyagents, and of course we don't know all of them--especially the bestones. They know that if these meetings go through, they're sunk; sothey're desperate. We've got this whole area covered like dew--we'vearrested sixteen suspects already this morning--but all the advantage istheirs, " Avengord finished glumly. 

"Not all of it, sir, " Belle smiled at him cheerfully. "You have me, andI am a Prime Operator. That is, a wielder of power of no small ability. Oh, you are right. There is an attempt now being prepared. "

 * * *

While Belle had been greeting and conversing, she had also beenscanning. Her range, her sensitivity, and her power were immenselygreater than Lola's; were probably equal to Garlock's own. She scannedby miles against the scant yards covered by the Secret Service. 

"Where?"

"Give me your thought. " The Secret Service man did not know what shemeant--telepathy was of course new to him--so she seized his attentionand directed it to a certain window in a building a couple of miles awayon a hill. 

"But they couldn't, from there!"

"But they can. They have a quite efficient engine of destruction--a'rifle' is their thought. Large, and long, with a very good telescope onit--with crosshairs. If I scan their minds more precisely you may knowthe weapon.... Ah, they think of it as a 'Buford Mark FortyAnti-Aircraft Rifle'. "

"A Buford! My God, they can hit any button on her clothes--get her away, quick!" He tried to jump, but could not move. 

"As you were, " she directed. "There was another Buford there, andanother over there. " She guided his thought. "Two men to each Buford. There are now six handless men in your hospital room. If you will sendmen to those three places you will find the Bufords and the hands. Yoursurgeon will have no difficulty in matching the hands to the men. If anyseek to remove either Bufords or hands before your men get there, I willde-hand them, also. "

 * * *

To say that the Secret Service man was flabbergasted is to put it verymildly indeed. Cordeen had told him, with much pounding on his desk andin searing, air-blueing language, what to expect-or, rather, to expect_anything_, no matter what and with no limits whatever--but he hadn'tbelieved it then and simply could not believe it now. Goddamn it, suchthings _couldn't_ happen. And this beautiful, beautifully-stacked, half-naked woman--girl, rather, she couldn't be a day overtwenty-five--even if it had been their black-browed, toplofty leader, Captain Garlock himself.... 

"I am twenty-three of your years old, not twenty-five, " she informedhim, coldly, "and I will permit no distinction of sex. In your primitiveculture the women may still be allowing you men to believe in thefallacy of the superiority of the male, but know right now that I can doanything any man ever born can do and do it better. "

"Oh, I'm ... I'm sure ... Certainly.... " Avengord's thought wasincoherent. 

"If you want me to work with you you had better start believing rightnow that there are a lot of things you don't know, " Belle went onrelentlessly. "Stop believing that just because a thing has not alreadyhappened on this primitive, backward, mudball planet of yours, it can'thappen anywhere or anywhen. You do believe, however, whether you want toor not, things you see with your own eyes?"

"Yes. I can _not_ be hypnotized. "

"I'm very glad you believe that much. " Avengord did not notice that sheneither confirmed nor denied the truth of his statement. "To that endyou will go now into the hospital room and see the bandaging going on. You will see and hear the news broadcast going out as I prepared it. "

He went, and came back a badly shaken man. 

"But they're sending it out exactly as it happened!" he protested. "They'll all scatter out so fast and so far we'll _never_ catch them!"

"By no means. You see, the amputees didn't believe that they would losetheir hands. Their superiors didn't believe it, either; they assuredeach other and their underlings that it was just capitalistic bluff andnonsense. And since they are all even more materialistic and hideboundand unbelieving than you are, they all are now highly confused--at acomplete loss. "

"You can say _that_ again. If I, working with you and having youpounding it into my head, couldn't more than half believe it.... "

"So they are now very frightened, as well as confused, and the directorof their whole spy system is now violating rule and precedent by sendingout messengers to summon certain high agents to confer with him in hissecret place. "

"If you'll tell me where, I'll get over to my office.... "

"No. We'll both be in your office in plenty of time. We'll watch Lolaget started. It will be highly instructive for you to watch a reallycapable Operator at work. "

 * * *

President Benton had been introduced; had in turn finished introducingLola. The crowd, many thousands strong, was cheering. Lola was steppinginto the carefully marked speaker's place. 

"You may disconnect these, " she waved a hand at the battery ofmicrophones, "since I do not use speech. Not only do I not know any ofyour various languages, but no one language would suffice. My thoughtwill go to every person on this, your world. "

"World?" the President asked in surprise. "Surely not behind theCurtains? They will jam you, I'm afraid. "

"My thought, as I shall drive it, will not be stopped, " Lola assuredhim. "Since this world has no telepathy, it has no mind-blocks and I cancover the planet as easily as one mind. Nor does it matter whether it beday or night, or whether anyone is awake or asleep. All will receive mymessage. Since you wish a record, the cameras may run, although they areneither necessary nor desirable for me. Everyone will see me in hismind, much better than on the surface of any teevee tube. "

"And I was going to have her address _Congress_!" the Presidentwhispered, aside, to General Cordeen. 

Then Lola put her whole fine personality into a smile, directedapparently not only at each separate individual within sight, but alsoindividually at every person on the globe; and when Brownie Montandonset out to make a production of a smile, it had the impact of apile-driver. Then came her smooth, gently-flowing, friendly thought:

"My name, friends of this world Ormolan, is Lola Montandon. Those of youwho are now looking at teevee screens can see my imaged likeness. All ofyou can see me very much better within your own minds. 

"I am not here as an invader in any sense, but only as a citizen of theFirst Galaxy of this, our common universe. I have attuned my mind toeach of yours in order to give you a message from the United GalaxianSocieties. 

"There are four of us Galaxians in this Exploration Team. As Galaxiansit is our purpose here and our duty here to open your minds to certainbasic truths, to be of help to you in clearing your minds of fallacies, of lies, and of undefensible prejudices; to the end that you will morerapidly become Galaxians yourselves.... "

"Okay. This will go on and on. That's enough to give you an idea of whata trained and polished performer can do. What do you think of _them_comfits, Chief?" Belle deliberately knocked the Secret Service man outof his Lola-induced mood. 

"Huh? Oh, yes. " Avengord was still groggy. "She's phenomenal--good--Idon't mean goody-goody, but sincere and really.... "

"Yeah, but don't fall in love with her. Everybody does and it doesn't doany of them a bit of good. That's her specialty and she's _very_ good atit. I told you she's a smooth, smooth worker. "

"You can say _that_ again. " Avengord did not know that he was repeatinghimself. "But it isn't an act. She means it and it's true. "

"Of course she means it and of course it's true. Otherwise even she, with all her training, couldn't sell such a big bill of goods. " Then, inanswer to the man's unspoken question, "Yes, we're all different. She'sthe contactor, the spreader of the good old oil, the shining example ofpurity and sweetness and light--in short, the Greaser of the Ways. I'm afighter, myself. Do you think she could actually have de-handed thosemen? Uh-uh. At the last minute she would have weakened and brought themin whole. My job in this operation is to knock hell out of the ones Lolacan't convince, such as those spies you and I are going to interviewpretty quick. "

"Even they ought to be convinced. I don't see how anybody could help butbe. "

"Uh-uh. It'll bounce off like hailstones off of a tin roof. The onlything to do to that kind of scum is kill them. If you'll give me athought as to where your office is we'll hop over and.... "

 * * *

Belle and Avengord disappeared from the stand; and, such was Lola'shold, no one on the platform or in the throng even noticed that theywere gone. They materialized in Avengord's private office; he sitting asusual at his desk, she reclining in legs-crossed ease in a big leatherchair. 

"... Get to work. " Belle's thought had not been interrupted by anypassage of time whatever. "What do you want to do first?"

"But I thought you were covering Miss Montandon?"

"I am. Like a blanket. Just as well here as anywhere. I will be, untilshe gets back to the _Pleiades_. What first?"

"Oh. Well, since I don't know what your limits are--if you have any--youmight as well do whatever you think best and I'll watch you do it. "

"That's the way to talk. You're going to get a shock when you see whothe Head Man is. George T. Basil. "

"_Basil_! I'll say it's a shock!" Avengord steadied, frowned inconcentration. "Could be, though. _He_ would _never_ be suspected--butthey're very good at that. "

"Yeah. His name used to be Baslovkowitz. He was trained for years, thenplanted. None of this can be proved, as his record is perfect. Borncitizen, highest standing in business and social circles. Unlimitedentry and top security clearance. Right?"

"Right ... And getting enough evidence, in such cases as that, is pure, unadulterated hell. "

"I suppose I could kill him, after we've recorded everything he knows, "Belle suggested. 

"No!" He snapped. "Too many people think of us as a strong-arm squadnow. Anyway, I'd rather kill him myself than wish the job off onto--youdon't _like_ killing, do you?"

"That's the understatement of the century. No civilized person does. Ina hot fight, yes; but killing anyone who is helpless to fight back--incold blood--ugh! It makes me sick in my stomach even to think of it. "

"With the way you can read minds, we can get evidence enough to sendthem all to jail, and that we'll have to do. "

"How about this?" Belle grinned as another solution came to mind. "Fromthose first eight top men, we'll find out a lot of others lower down, and so on, until we have 'em all locked up here. We'll announce thatexactly so many spies and agents--giving names, addresses, and facts, ofcourse--got panicky after Lola's address. They fired up their hiddenplanes and flew back behind the Curtain. Then, when we've scanned theirminds and recorded everything you want, I'll pack them all, very snuglyand carefully, into Sovig's private office. With the world situationwhat it then will be, he won't dare kill them--he simply won't know whatto do when faced with it. "

 * * *

Avengord agreed happily. He reached out and flipped the switch of hisintercom. "Miss Kimling, come in, please. "

The door burst open. "Why, it _is_ you! But you were on the rostrum justa minute.... Oh!" She saw Belle, and backed, eyes wide, toward the doorshe had just entered. "_She_ was there, too, and it's fifteen_miles_.... "

"Steady, Fram. I'd like to present you to Prime Operator Belle Bellamy, who is cleaning out the entire Curtain organization for us. "

"But how did you.... "

"Never mind that. Teleportation. It took her half an hour to pound itinto me, and we can't take time to explain anything now. I'll telleverybody everything I know as soon as I can. In the meantime, don't besurprised at anything that happens, and by that I mean _anything_. Suchas solid people appearing on this carpet--on that spot rightthere--instantaneously. I want you to pay close attention to everythingyour mind receives, put your phenomenal memory into high gear, listen toeverything I record, stop me any time I'm wrong, and be _sure_ I geteverything we need. "

"I don't know exactly what you're talking about, sir, but I'll try. "

"Frankly, I don't, either--we'll just have to roll it as we go along. We're ready for George T. Basil now, Miss Bellamy--I hope. Don't jump, Fram. "

 * * *

Basil appeared and Fram jumped. She did not scream, however, and did notrun out of the office. The master spy was a big, self-assured, affluenttype. He had not the slightest idea of how he had been spirited out ofhis ultra-secret sub-basement and into this room; but he knew where hewas and, after one glance at Belle, he knew why. He decided instantlywhat to do about it. 

"This is an outrage!" he bellowed, hammering with his fist on Avengord'sdesk. "A stupid, high-handed violation of the rights.... "

Belle silenced him and straightened him up. 

"High-handed? Yes, " she admitted quite seriously. "However, from theGalaxian standpoint, you have no rights at all and you are going to beextremely surprised at just how high-handed I am going to be. I am goingto read your mind to its very bottom--layer by layer, like peeling anonion--and everything you know and everything you think is going down inMr. Avengord's Big Black Book. "

Belle linked all four minds together and directed the search, makingsure that no item, however small, was missed. Avengord recorded everypertinent item. Fram Kimling memorized and correlated anddouble-checked. 

Soon it was done, and Basil, shouting even louder about this last andworst violation of his rights--those of his own private mind--was ledaway by two men and "put away where he would keep. "

"But this _is_ a flagrant violation of law.... " Miss Kimling began. 

"You can say _that_ again!" her boss gloated. "And if you only knew howtickled I am to do it, after the way they've been kicking _me_ around!

"But I wonder ... Are you sure we can get away with it?"

"Certainly, " Belle put in. "We Galaxians are doing it, not yourgovernment or your Secret Service. We'll start you clean--but it'll beup to you to keep it clean, and that will be no easy job. "

"No, it won't; but we'll do it. Come around again, say in five or sixyears, and see. "

"You know, I might take you up on that? Maybe not this same team, butI've got a notion to tape a recommendation for a re-visit, just to seehow you get along. It'd be interesting. "

"I wish you would. It might help, too, if everybody thought you'd comeback to check. Suppose you could?"

"I've no idea, really. I'd like to, though, and I'll see what I can do. But let's get on with the job. They're all in what you call the 'tank'now. Which one do you want next?"

The work went on. That evening there was of course a reception; and thena ball. And Belle's feet did hurt when she got back to the _Pleiades_, but of course she would not admit the fact--most especially not toGarlock. 

Exactly at the expiration of the stipulated seventy-two hours, theGalaxians began to destroy military atomic plants; and, shortlythereafter, the starship's crew was again ready to go. 

And James rammed home the red button that would send them--all fourwondered--_where_?

It turned out to be another Hodell-type world; and, even with thehigh-speed comparator, it took longer to check the charts than it did tomake them. 

 * * *

The next planet was similar. So was the next, and the next. The timerequired for checking grew longer and longer. 

"How about cutting out this checking entirely, Clee?" James asked then. "What good does it do? Even if we find a similarity, what could we doabout it? We've got enough stuff now to keep a crew of astronomers busyfor five years making a tank of it. "

"Okay. We probably are so far away now, anyway, that the chance offinding a similarity is vanishingly small. Keep on taking the shots, though; they'll prove, I think, that the universe is one whole hell of alot bigger than anybody has ever thought it was. That reminds me--areyou getting anywhere on that N-problem? I'm not. "

"I'm getting nowhere, fast. You should have been a math prof in a gradschool, Clee. You could flunk every advanced student you had with thatone. Belle and I together can't feed it to Compy in such shape as to geta definite answer. We think, though, that your guess was right--if weever stabilize anywhere it will probably be relative to Hodell, not toTellus. But the cold fact of how far away we must be by this time justscares the pants off of me. "

"You and me both, my ripe and old. We're a _long_ ways from home. "

 * * *

Jumping went on; and, two or three planets later, they encountered anArpalone Inspector who did not test them for compatibility with thehumanity of his world. 

"Do not land, " the creature said, mournfully. "This world is dying, andif you leave the protection of your ship, you too will die. "

"But _worlds_ don't die, surely?" Garlock protested. "People, yes--butworlds?"

"Worlds die. It is the Dilipic. The humans die, too, of course, but itis the world itself that is attacked, not the people. Some of them, infact, will live through it. "

Garlock drove his attention downward and scanned. 

"You Arpalones are doing what looks like a mighty good job of fighting. Can't you win?"

"No, it is too late. It was already too late when they first appeared, two days ago. When the Dilipics strike in such small force that none oftheir--agents?--devices?--whatever they are?--can land against ourbeaming, a world can be saved; but such cases are very few. "

"But this thought, 'Dilipic'?" Garlock asked, impatiently. "It is merelya symbol--it doesn't _mean_ anything--to me, at least. What are they?Where do they come from?"

"No one knows anything about them, " came the surprising answer. "Noteven their physical shape--if they have any. Nor where they come from, or how they do what they do. "

"They can't be very common, " Garlock pondered. "We have never heard ofthem before. "

"Fortunately, they are not, " the Inspector agreed. "Scarcely one worldin five hundred is ever attacked by them--this is the first Dilipicinvasion I have seen. "

"Oh, you Arpalones don't die with your worlds, then?" Lola asked. Shewas badly shaken. "But I suppose the Arpales do, of course. "

"Practically all of the Arpales will die, of course. Most of usArpalones will also die, in the battles now going on. Those of us whosurvive, however, will stay aloft until the rehabilitation fleetarrives, then we will continue our regular work. "

"Rehab?" Belle exclaimed. "You mean you can _restore_ planets so badlyruined that all the people die?"

"Oh, yes. It is a long and difficult work, but the planet is alwaysre-peopled. "

"Let's go down, " Garlock said. "I want to get all of this on tape. "

They went down, over what had been one of that world's largest cities. The air, the stratosphere, and all nearby space were full of battlingvessels of all shapes and sizes; ranging from the tremendous globularspaceships of the invaders down to the tiny, one-man jet-fighters of theArpalones. 

 * * *

The Dilipics were using projectile weapons only--ranging in size, with the size of the vessels, from heavy machine guns up toseventy-five-millimeter quick-firing rifles. They were also launchingthousands of guided missiles of fantastic speed and of tremendousexplosive power. 

The Arpalones were not using anything solid at all. Each defendingvessel, depending upon its type and class, carried from four up to ahundred or so burnished-metal reflectors some four feet in diameter;each with a small black device at its optical center and each pouringout a tight beam of highly effective energy. It was at these reflectors, and particularly at these tiny devices, that the small-arms fire wasdirected, and the marksmanship of the Dilipics was very good indeed. However, each projector was oscillating irregularly and eachfighter-plane was taking evasive action; and, since a few bullet-holesin any reflector did not reduce its efficiency very much, and since thecentral mechanisms were so small and were moving so erratically, a goodthree-quarters of the Arpalonian beams were still in action. 

 * * *

There was no doubt at all that those beams were highly effective. Invisible for the most part, whenever one struck a Dilipic ship or planeeverything in its path flared almost instantly into vapor and the beamglared incandescently, blindingly white or violet or high blue--neveranything lower than blue. Almost everything material, that is; for guns, ammunition, and missiles were not affected. They did not even explode. When whatever fabric it was that supported them was blasted away, allsuch things simply dropped; simply fell through thousands or hundreds ofthousands of feet of air to crash unheeded upon whatever happened to bebelow. 

The invading task force was arranged in a whirling, swirling, almostcylindrical cone, more or less like an Earthly tornado. The largestvessels were high above the stratosphere; the smallest fighters werehedge-hoppingly close to ground. Each Dilipic unit seemed madly, suicidally determined that nothing would get through that furious wallto interfere with whatever it was that was coming down from space to theground through--along?--the relatively quiet "eye" of thepseudo-hurricane. 

On the other hand, the Arpalones were madly, suicidally determined tobreak through that vortex wall, to get into the "eye, " to wreak allpossible damage there. Group after group after group of fivejet-fighters each came driving in; and, occasionally, the combinedblasts of all five made enough of opening in the wall so that the centerfighter could get through. Once inside, each pilot stood his little, stubby-winged craft squarely on her tail, opened his projectors toabsolute maximum of power and of spread, and climbed straight up thespout until he was shot down. 

And the Arpalones were winning the battle. Larger and larger gaps werebeing opened in the vortex wall; gaps which it became increasinglydifficult for the Dilipics to fill. More and more Arpalone fighters weregetting inside. They were lasting longer and doing more damage all thetime. The tube was growing narrower and narrower. 

All four Galaxians perceived all this in seconds. Garlock weighed outand detonated a terrific matter-conversion bomb in the exact center ofone of the largest vessels of the attacking fleet. It had no effect. Then a larger one. Then another, still heavier. Finally, at over ahundred megatons equivalent, he did get results--of a sort. Theinvaders' guns, ammunition, and missiles were blown out of the ship andscattered outward for miles in all directions; but the structure of theDilipic ship itself was not harmed. 

Belle had been studying, analyzing, probing the things that were comingdown through that hellish tube. 

"Clee!" She drove a thought. "Cut out the monkey-business with thosedamn firecrackers of yours and look here--pure, solid force, like balllightning or our Op field, but entirely different--see if you cananalyze the stuff!"

"Alive?" Garlock asked, as he drove a probe into one of the things--theywere furiously-radiating spheres some seven feet in diameter--and beganto tune to it. 

"I don't know--don't think so--if they are, they're a form of life thatno sane human being could even imagine!"

"Let's see what they actually do, " Garlock suggested, still trying totune in with the thing, whatever it was, and still following it down. 

This particular force-ball happened to hit the top of a six-storybuilding. It was not going very fast--fifteen or twenty miles anhour--but when it struck the roof it did not even slow down. Without anyeffort at all, apparently, it continued downward through the concreteand steel and glass of the building; and everything in its path becamemonstrously, sickeningly, revoltingly changed. 

"I simply can't stand any more of this, " Lola gasped. "If you don'tmind, I'm going to my room, set all the Gunther blocks it has, and burymy head under a pillow. "

"Go ahead, Brownie, " James said. "This is too tough for _anybody_ towatch. I'd do the same, except I've got to run these cameras. "

Lola disappeared. 

 * * *

Garlock and Belle kept on studying. Neither had paid any attention atall to either Lola or James. 

Instead of the structural material it had once been, the bore that thething had traversed was now full of a sparkling, bubbling, writhing, partly-fluid-partly-viscous, obscenely repulsive mass of somethingunknown and unknowable on Earth; a something which, Garlock nowrecalled, had been thought of by the Arpalone Inspector as "golop. "

As that unstoppable globe descended through office after office, itneither sought out people nor avoided them. Walls, doors, windows, ceilings, floors and rugs, office furniture and office personnel; allalike were absorbed into and made a part of that indescribably horridbrew. 

Nor did the track of that hellishly wanton globe remain a bore. Instead, it spread. That devil's brew ate into and dissolved everything ittouched like a stream of boiling water being poured into aloosely-heaped pile of granulated sugar. By the time the ravening spherehad reached the second floor, the entire roof of the building was goneand the writhing, racing flood of corruption had flowed down the outerwalls and across the street, engulfing and transforming sidewalks, people, pavement, poles, wires, automobiles, people-anything andeverything it touched. 

 * * *

The globe went on down, through basement and sub-basement, until itreached solid, natural ground. Then, with its top a few inches below thelevel of natural ground, it came to a full stop and--apparently--didnothing at all. By this time, the ravening flood outside had eaten farinto the lower floors of the buildings across the street, as well asalong all four sides of the block, and tremendous masses of masonry andsteel, their supporting structures devoured, were subsiding, crumbling, and crashing down into the noisome flood of golop--and were beingtransformed almost as fast as they could fall. 

One tremendous mass, weighing hundreds or perhaps thousands of tons, toppled almost as a whole; splashing the stuff in all directions forhundreds of yards. Wherever each splash struck, however, a new center ofattack came into being, and the peculiarly disgusting, abhorrentliquidation went on. 

"Can you do anything with it, Clee?" Belle demanded. 

"Not too much--it's a mess, " Garlock replied. "Besides, it wouldn't getus far, I don't think. It'll be more productive to analyze the beams theArpalones are using to break them up, don't you think?"

Then, for twenty solid minutes, the two Prime Operators worked on thoseenigmatic beams. 

"We can't assemble _that_ kind of stuff with our minds, " Belle decidedthen. 

"I'll say we can't, " Garlock agreed. "Ten megacycles, and cycling onlytwenty per second. " He whistled raucously through his teeth. "My guessis it'd take four months to design and build a generator to put out thatkind of stuff. It's worse than our Op field. "

"I'm not sure I could _ever_ design one, " Belle said, thoughtfully, "butof course I'm not the engineer you are.... " Then, she could not helpadding, "... Yet. "

"No, and you never will be, " he said, flatly. 

"No? That's what _you_ think!" Even in such circumstances as those, Belle Bellamy was eager to carry on her warfare with her Project Chief. 

"That's _exactly_ what I think--and I'm so close to knowing it for afact that the difference is indetectible. "

Belle almost--but not quite--blew up. "Well, what _are_ you going todo?"

"Unless and until I can figure out something effective to do, I'm notgoing to try to do anything. If you, with your vaunted and flauntedbelief in the inherent superiority of the female over the male, can dopeout something useful before I do, I'll eat crow and help you do it. Asfor arguing with you, I'm all done for the moment. "

Belle gritted her teeth, flounced away, and plumped herself down into achair. She shut her eyes and put every iota of her mind to work on theproblem of finding something--_anything_--that could be done to helpthis doomed world and to show that big, overbearing jerk of a Garlockthat she was a better man than he was. Which of the two objectivesloomed more important, she herself could not have told, to save herlife. 

And Garlock looked around. The air and the sky over the now-vanishedcity were both clear of Dilipic craft. The surviving Arpalone fightersand other small craft were making no attempt to land, anywhere on theworld's surface. Instead, they were flying upward toward, and were beingdrawn one by one into the bowels of, huge Arpalonian space-freighters. When each such vessel was filled to capacity, it flew upward and setitself into a more-or-less-circular orbit around the planet. 

Around and around and around the ruined world the _Pleiades_ went;recording, observing, charting. Fifty-eight of those atrocious Dilipicvortices had been driven to ground. Every large land-mass surrounded bylarge bodies of water had been struck once, and only once; from thetremendous area of the largest continent down to the relatively tinyexpanses of the largest islands. One land-mass, one vortex. One only. 

"What d'you suppose _that_ means?" James asked. "Afraid of water?"

"Damfino. Could be. Let's check ... Mountains, too. Skip us back towhere we started--oceans and mountains both fairly close there. "

The city had disappeared long since; for hundreds of almost-level squaremiles there extended a sparkling, seething, writhing expanse of--ofwhat? The edge of that devouring flood had almost reached thefoot-hills, and over that gnawing, dissolving edge the _Pleiades_paused. 

 * * *

Small lakes and ordinary rivers bothered the golop very little if atall. There was perhaps a slightly increased sparkling, a slightstiffening, a little darkening, some freezing and breaking off of solidblocks; but the thing's forward motion was not noticeably slowed down. It drank a fairly large river and a lake one mile wide by ten miles longwhile the two men watched. 

The golop made no attempt to climb either foot-hills or mountains. Itleveled them. It ate into their bases at its own level; the underminedmasses, small and large, collapsed into the foul, corrosive semi-liquidand were consumed. Nor was there much raising of the golop's level, evenwhen the highest mountains were reached and miles-high masses of solidrock broke off and toppled. There was some raising, of course; but thestuff was fluid enough so that its slope was not apparent to the eye. 

 * * *

Then the _Pleiades_ went back, over the place where the city had beenand on to what had once been an ocean beach. The original wave ofdegradation had reached that shore long since, had attacked its sandsout into deep water, and there it had been stopped. The corrupt floodwas now being reinforced, however, by an ever-rising tide of materialthat had once been mountains. And the slope, which had not been evennoticeable at the mountains or over the plain, was here very evident. 

As the rapidly-flowing golop struck water, the water shivered, came to aweirdly unforgettable cold boil, and exploded into drops and streamersand jagged-edged chunks of something that was neither water nor land; orrock or soil or sand or Satan's unholy brew. Nevertheless, the waterwon. There was _so_ much of it! Each barrel of water that was destroyedwas replaced instantly and enthusiastically; with no lowering of levelor of pressure. 

And when water struck the golop, the golop also shivered violently, thensparkled even more violently, then stopped sparkling and turned dark, then froze solid. The frozen surface, however, was neither thick enoughnor strong enough to form an effective wall. 

Again and again the wave of golop built up high enough to crack and toshatter that feeble wall; again and again golop and water met inultimately furious, if insensate, battle. Inch by inch the ocean'sshoreline was driven backward toward ocean's depths; but every inch theocean lost was to its tactical advantage, since the advancing front wasby now practically filled with hard, solid, dead blocks of its ownsubstance which it could neither assimilate nor remove from the scene ofconflict. 

Hence the wall grew ever thicker and solider; the advance became slowerand slower. 

Then, finally, ocean waves of ever-increasing height and violence rolledin against the new-formed shore. What caused those tremendouswaves--earthquakes, perhaps, due to the shifting of the mountains'masses?--no Tellurian ever surely knew. Whatever the cause, however, those waves operated to pin the golop down. Whenever and wherever one ofthose monstrous waves whitecapped in, hurling hundreds of thousands oftons of water inland for hundreds of yards, the battle-front stabilizedthen and there. 

All over that world the story was the same. Wherever there was waterenough, the water won. And the total quantity of water in that world'soceans remained practically unchanged. 

"Good. A lot of people escaped, " James said, expelling a long-heldbreath. "Everybody who lives on or could be flown to all the islandssmaller than the biggest ones ... If they can find enough to eat and ifthe air isn't poisoned. "

"Air's okay--so's the water--and they'll get food, " Garlock said. "TheArpalones will handle things, including distribution. What I'm thinkingabout is how they're going to rehabilitate it. That, as an engineeringproject, is a feat to end all feats. "

"_Brother!_ You can play _that_ in spades!" James agreed. "Except thatit'll take too many months before they can even start the job, I'd liketo stick around and see how they go about it. How does this kind ofstuff fit into that theory you're not admitting is a theory?"

"Not worth a damn. However, it's a datum--and, as I've said before andmay say again, if we can get _enough_ data we can build a theory out ofit. "

Then it began to rain. For many minutes the clouds had been pilingup--black, far-flung, thick and high. Immense bolts of lightning flashedand snapped and crackled; thunder crashed and rolled and rumbled; rainfell, and continued to fall, like a cloud-burst in Colorado. And shortlythereafter--first by square feet and then by acres and then by squaremiles--the surface of the golop began to die. To die, that is, if it hadever been even partially alive. At least it stopped sparkling, darkened, and froze into thick skins; which broke up into blocks; which in turnsank--thus exposing an ever-renewed surface to the driving, pelting, relentlessly cascading rain. 

"Well, I don't know that there's anything to hold us here any longer, "Garlock said, finally. "Shall we go?"

They went; but it was several days before any of the wanderers reallyfelt like smiling; and Lola did not recover from her depression for overa week. 

CHAPTER 5

Supper was over, but the four were still at the table, sipping coffeeand smoking. During a pause in the casual conversation, James suddenlystraightened up. 

"I want an official decision, Clee, " he said, abruptly. "While we're outof touch with United Worlds you, as captain of the ship and director ofthe project, are Boss, with a capital B. The Lord of Justice, High andLow. The Works. Check?"

"On paper, yes; with my decisions subject to appeal and/or review whenwe get back to Base. In practice, I didn't expect to have to make anyvery gravid rulings. "

"I never thought you'd have to, either, but Belle fed me one with a bonein it, so.... "

"Just a minute. How official do you want it? Full formal, screens downand recorded?"

"Not unless we have to. Let's explore it first. As of right now, are weunder the Code or not?"

"Of course we are. "

"Not necessarily, " Belle put in, sharply. "Not slavishly to the letter. We're so far away and our chance of getting back is so slight that itshould be interpreted in the light of common sense. "

 * * *

Garlock stared at Belle and she stared back, her eyes as clear andinnocent as a baby's. 

"The Code is neither long enough nor complicated enough to requireinterpretation, " Garlock stated, finally. "It either applies in full andexactly or not at all. My ruling is that the Code applies, strictly, until I declare the state of Ultimate Contingency. Are you ready, Belle, to abandon the project, find an uninhabited Tellurian world, and beginto populate it?"

"Well, not quite, perhaps. "

"Yes or no, please. "

"No. "

"We are under the Code, then. Go ahead, Jim. "

"I broke pairing with Belle and she refused to confirm. "

"Certainly I refused. He had no reason to break with me. "

"I had plenty of reason!" James snapped. "I'm fed up to here--" he drewhis right forefinger across his forehead, "--with making so-called loveto a woman who can never think of anything except cutting another man'sthroat. She's a heartless conniver. "

"You both know that reasons are unnecessary and are not discussed inpublic, " Garlock said, flatly. "Now as to confirmation of a break. Insimple pairing there is no marriage, no registration, no declaration ofintent or of permanence. Thus, legally or logically, there is noobligation. Morally, however, there is always some obligation. Hence, asa matter of urbanity, in cases where no injury exists except as concernschastity, the Code calls for agreement without rancor. If either partypersists in refusal to confirm, and cannot show injury, that party'sbehavior is declared inurbane. Confirmation is declared and theoffending party is ignored. "

"Just how would you go about ignoring Prime Operator Belle Bellamy?"

"You've got a point there, Jim. However, she hasn't persisted very longin her refusal. As a matter of information, Belle, why did you take Jimin the first place?"

"I didn't. " She shrugged her shoulders. "It was pure chance. You saw meflip the tenth-piece. "

"Am I to ignore the fact that you are one of the best telekineticistsliving?"

"I don't _have_ to control things unless I want to!" She stamped herfoot. "Can't you conceive of me flipping a coin honestly?"

"No. However, since this is not a screens-down inquiry, I'll giveyou--orally, at least--the benefit of the doubt. The next step, Ipresume, is for Lola to break with me. Lola?"

"Well ... I hate to say this, Clee.... I thought that mutual consentwould be better, but.... " Lola paused, flushing in embarrassment. 

"She feels, " James said, steadily, "as I do, that there should be muchmore to the sexual relation than merely releasing the biologicaltensions of two pieces of human machinery. That's hardly civilized. "

"I confirm, Lola, of course, " Garlock said; then went on, partlythinking aloud, partly addressing the group at large. "Ha. Reasonsagain, and very well put--not off the cuff. Evasions. Flat lies. Something very unfunny here--as queer as a nine-credit bill. In sum, indefensible actions based upon unwarranted conclusions drawn fromerroneous assumptions. The pattern is not clear ... But I won't orderscreens down until I have to ... If the reason had come from Belle.... "

"_Me_?" Belle flared. "Why from me?"

"... Instead of Jim.... " Ignoring Belle's interruption, Garlock frownedin thought. After a minute or so his face cleared. 

"Jim, " he said, sharply, "have you been consciously aware of Belle'smanipulation?"

"Why, no, of course not. She _couldn't_!"

"That's _really_ a brainstorm, Clee, " Belle sneered. "You'd better turnyourself in for an overhaul. "

"Nice scheme, Belle, " Garlock said. "I underestimated--at least, didn'tconsider carefully enough--your power; and overestimated your ethics andurbanity. "

"What are you talking about, Chief?" James asked. "You lost me tenparsecs back. "

"Just this. Belle is behind this whole operation; working under aperfectly beautiful smokescreen. "

"I'm afraid the boss is cracking up, kids, " Belle said. "Listen to him, if you like, but use your own judgment. "

"But nobody could make Jim and me really love each other, " Lola argued, "and we really do. It's real love. "

"Admitted, " Garlock said. "But she could have helped it along; and she'sall set to take every possible advantage of the situation thus created. "

"I still don't see it, " James objected. "Why, she wouldn't even confirmour break. She hasn't yet. "

"She would have, at the exactly correct psychological moment; afterholding out long enough to put you both under obligation to her. Therewould have, also, been certain strings attached. Her plan was, afterswitching the pairings.... "

"I wouldn't pair with you, " Belle broke in viciously, "if you were theonly man left in the macrocosmic universe!"

"Part of the smokescreen, " Garlock explained. "The re-pairings wouldgive her two lines of attack on me, to be used simultaneously. First, towork on me in bed.... "

"See?" Belle interrupted. "He doesn't think I've got any heart at all. "

"Oh, you may have one, but it's no softer than your head, and that couldscratch a diamond. Second, to work on you two, with no holds barred, toform a three-unit team against me. Her charges that I am losing my gripmade a very smart opening lead. "

"Do you think I'd _let_ her work on me?" James demanded. 

"She's a Prime--you wouldn't know anything about it. However, nothingwill happen. Nor am I going to let her confuse the real issue. Belle, you are either inside the Code or a free agent outside it. Which?"

"I have made my position clear. "

"To me, yes. To Jim and Lola, decidedly unclear. "

"Unclear, then. You can _not_ coerce me!"

"If you follow the Code, no. If you don't, I can and will. If you makeany kind of a pass at Jim James from now on, I'll lock you into yourroom with a Gunther block. "

"_You wouldn't dare_!" she breathed. "Besides, you couldn't, not toanother prime. "

"Don't bet on it, " he advised. 

After a full minute of silence Garlock's attitude changed suddenly tohis usual one of casual friendliness. "Why not let this one drop righthere, Belle? I can marry them, with all the official trimmings. Why notlet 'em really enjoy their honeymoon?"

"Why not?" Belle's manner changed to match Garlock's and she smiledwarmly. "I confirm, Jim. You two are really serious, aren't you?Marriage, declarations, registration, and everything? I wish--Isincerely and really wish you--every happiness possible. "

"We really _are_ serious, " James said, putting his arm around Lola'swaist. "And you won't ... Won't interfere?"

"Not a bit. I couldn't, now, even if I wanted to. " Belle grinned wryly. "You see, you kids missed the main feature of the show, since you can'tknow exactly what a Prime Operator is. Especially you can't know whatCleander Simmsworth Garlock really is--he's an out-and-out tiger onwheels. The three of us could have smacked him bow-legged, but of courseall chance of that blew up just now. So if you two want to take the bigjump you can do it with my blessing as well as Clee's. I'll clear thetable. "

 * * *

That small chore taken care of--a quick folding-up of everything intothe tablecloth and a heave into the chute did it--Belle set up therecorder. 

"Are you both fully certain that you want the full treatment?" Garlockasked. 

Both were certain, and Garlock read the brief but solemn marriage lines. 

As the newlyweds left the room, Belle turned to Garlock with a quizzicalsmile. "Are you going to ask me to pair with you, Clee?"

"I certainly am. " He grinned back at her. "I owe you that much revenge, at least. But seriously, I'd like it immensely and we fit like Grace andPoise. Look at that mirror. Did you ever see a better-matched couple?Will you give me a try, Belle?"

"I will not, " she said, emphatically. I'll take back what I said a whileago--if you were really the only man left, I would--but as it is, theanswer is a definite, resounding, and final '_No_'. "

"'Definite' and 'resounding, ' yes. 'Final, ' I won't accept. I'll wait. "

"You'll wait a long time, Buster. My door will be locked from now on. Good night, Doctor Garlock, I'm going to bed. "

"So am I. " He walked with her along the corridor to their rooms, thedoors of which were opposite each other. "In view of the Code, lockingyour door is a meaningless gesture. Mine will remain unlocked. I inviteyou to come in whenever you like, and assure you formally that no suchentry will be regarded as an invasion of privacy. "

Without a word she went into her room and closed the door with afirmness just short of violence. Her lock clicked sharply. 

 * * *

The next morning, after breakfast, James followed Garlock into his roomand shut the door. 

"Clee, I want to tell you.... I don't want to get sloppy but.... "

"Want to lep it?"

"Hell, no!"

"It's about Brownie, then. "

"Uh-huh. I've always liked you immensely. Admired you. Hero, sortof.... "

"Yeah. I quote. 'Harder than Pharaoh's heart. ' 'Colder than frozenhelium, ' and all the rest. But this thing about Brownie.... " He reachedout; two hard hands met in a crushing grip. "How could you possibly layoff? Just the strain, if nothing else. "

"A little strain doesn't hurt a man unless he lets it. I've done withoutfor months at a stretch, with it running around loose on all sides ofme. "

"But she's so ... She's got _everything_!"

"There speaketh the ensorcelled bridegroom. For my taste, she hasn't. She told you, I suppose, when explaining a certain fact, that I told hershe wasn't my type?"

"Yes, but.... "

"She still isn't. She's a very fine person, with a very finepersonality. She is one of the two most nearly perfect young women ofher race. Her face is beautiful. Her body is an artist's dream. Her mindis one of the very best. Besides all that, she's a very good egg and amighty tasty dish. But put yourself in my place. 

 * * *

"Here's this paragon we have just described. She has extremely highideals and she's a virgin; never really aroused. Also, she's so full ofthis sickening crap they've been pouring into us--propaganda, rocket-oil, prop-wash, and psychological gobbledygook--that it's runningout of her ears. She's so stuffed with it that she's going to pair withyou, ideals and virginity be damned, even if it kills her; even thoughshe's shaking, clear down to her shoes--scared yellow. Also, she is andalways will be scared half to death of you--she thinks you're some kindof robot. She's a starry-eyed, soft-headed sissy. A sapadilla. A suckerfor a smooth line of balloon-juice and flapdoodle. No spine; no bottom. A gutless doll-baby. Strictly a pet--you could no more love her, ever, than you could a half-grown kitten.... "

"That's a _hell_ of a picture!" James broke in savagely. "Even with yourcold-blooded reputation. "

"People in love can't be objective, is all. If I saw her through thesame set of filters you do, I'd be in love with her, too. So let's seeif you can use your brain instead of your outraged sensibilities toanswer a hypothetical question. If the foregoing were true, what would_you_ do, Junior?"

"I'd pass, I guess. I'd have to, if I wanted to look at myself in themirror next morning. But that's such an _ungodly_ cockeyed picture, Clee.... But if that's actually your picture of Brownie--and you're nopart of a liar--just what kind of a woman could you love? If any?"

"Belle. "

"_Belle_! Belle _Bellamy_? Hell's flaming furies! That iceberg? Thategomaniac? That Jezebel? She's the hardest-boiled babe that ever wentunhung. "

"Right, on all counts. Also she's crooked and treacherous. She's aground-and-lofty liar by instinct and training. I could add a lot more. But she's got brains, ability, and guts--guts enough to supply theWomen's Army Corps. She's got the spine and the bottom and the drive. Sojust imagine her thawed out and really shoveling on the coal--blastingwide open on all forty torches. Back to back with you when you'resurrounded; she wouldn't cave and she wouldn't give. Or wing andwing--holding the beam come hell or space-warps. Roll that one around onyour tongue, Jim, and give your taste-buds a treat. "

"Well, maybe ... If I've got that much imagination ... That's a toughblueprint to read. I can't quite visualize the finished article. However, you're as hard as she is--even harder. You've got more of whatit takes. Maybe _you_ can make a Christian out of her. If so, you mighthave something; but I'm damned if I can see exactly what. Whatever itturned out to be, I wouldn't care for any part of it. You could have itall. "

"Exactly; and you can have your Brownie. "

"I'm beginning to see. I didn't think you had anything like that in yourchilled-steel carcass. And I want to apolo.... "

"Don't do it, boy. If the time ever comes when _you_ go so soft on me asto quit laying it on the line and start sifting out your language.... "Garlock paused. For one of the very few times in his life, he was at aloss for words. He thrust his hands into his pockets and shrugged hisshoulders. "Hell, I don't want to get maudlin, either ... So ... Well, how many men, do you think, could have gone the route with me on thishellish job without killing me or me killing them?"

"Oh, that's not.... "

"Lay it on the line, Jim. I know what I am. Just one. You. One man insix thousand million. Okay; how many women could live with me for a yearwithout going crazy?"

"Lots of 'em; but, being masochists, they'd probably drive _you_ nuts. And you can't stand 'stupidity'; which, by definition, lets _everybody_out. Nope, it's a tough order to fill. "

"Check. She'd have to be strong enough and hard enough not to be afraidof me, by any trace. Able and eager to stand up to me and slug it out. To pin my ears back flat against my skull whenever she thinks I'm offthe beam. Do it with skill and precision and nicety, with power andcontrol; yet without doing herself any damage and without changing herbasic feeling for me. In short, a female Jim James Nine. "

"Huh? Hell's blowtorches! You think _I'm_ like Belle Bellamy?"

"Not by nine thousand megacycles. Like Belle Bellamy could be and shouldbe. Like I hope she will be. I'd have to give, too, of course--maybe wecan make Christians out of each other. It's quite a dream, I admit, butit'll be Belle or nobody. But I'm not used to slopping over thisway--let's go. "

"I'm glad you did, big fellow--once in a lifetime is good for the soul. I'd say you were in love with her right now--except that if you were, you couldn't possibly dissect her like a specimen on the table, the wayyou've just been doing. Are you or aren't you?"

"I'll be damned if I know. You and Brownie believe that the poets'concept of love is valid. In fact, you make a case for its validity. Inever have, and don't now ... But under certain conditions ... I simplydon't know. Ask me again sometime; say in about a month?"

"That's the surest thing you know. Oh, _brother! This_ is a thing I'mgoing to watch with my eyes out on stalks!"

 * * *

For the next week, Belle locked her door every night. For another fewnights, she did not lock it. Then, one night, she left it ajar. Thefollowing evening, the two again walked together to their doors. 

"I left my door open last night. "

"I know you did. "

"Well?"

"And have you scream to high heaven that I opened it? And put me on atape for willful inurbanity? For deliberate intersexual invasion ofprivacy?"

 * * *

"Blast and damn! You know perfectly well, Clee Garlock, I wouldn't pullsuch a dirty, lousy trick as that. "

"Maybe I should apologize, then, but as a matter of fact I have no ideawhatever as to what you wouldn't do. " He stared at her, his face hard inthought. "As you probably know, I have had very little to do with women. That little has always been on a logical level. You are such acompletely new experience that I can't figure out what makes you tick. "

"So you're afraid of me, " she sneered. "Is that it?"

"Close enough. "

"And I suppose it's you that cartoonist what's-his-name is using as amodel for 'Timorous Timmy'?"

"Since you've guessed it, yes. "

"You ... You _weasel_!" She took three quick steps up the corridor, thenback. "You say my logic is cockeyed. What system are you using now?"

"I'm trying to develop one to match yours. "

"Oh ... I invited that one, I guess, since I know you aren't afraid ofGod, man, woman, or devil ... And you're big enough so you don't have tobe proving it all the time. " She laughed suddenly, her face softeningmarkedly. "Listen, you big lug. Why don't you ever knock me into anoutside loop? If I were you and you were me, I'd've busted me loose frommy front teeth long ago. "

"I'm not sure whether I know better or am afraid to. Anyway, I'm notrocking any boat so far from shore. "

"Says you. You're wonderful, Clee--simply priceless. Do you know you'rethe only man I ever met that I couldn't make fall for me like a rockfalling down a cliff? And that the falling is altogether too apt to bethe other way?"

"The first, I have suspected. The second is chemically-pure rocket-oil. "

"I _hope_ it is.... I wish I could be as certain of it as you are.... You see, Clee, I really expected you to come in, last night, and therereally _wasn't_ any bone in it. Surely, you don't think I'm going to_invite_ you into my room, do you?"

"I can't see why not. However, since no valid system of logic seems toapply, I accept your decision as a fact. By the same reasoning--howeverinvalid--if I ask you again you will again refuse. So all that's left, Iguess, is for me to drag you into my room by force. "

He put his left arm around her and applied a tiny pressure against herside; under which she began to move slowly toward his door. 

"You admit that you're using force?" she asked. Her face was unreadable;her mental block was at its fullest force. "That I'm being coerced?Definitely?"

"Definitely, " he agreed. "At least ten dynes of sheer brute force. Notenough to affect a tape, but enough, I hope, to affect you. If it isn't, I'll use more. "

"Oh, ten dynes is enough. Just so it's force. "

She raised her face toward his and threw both arms around his neck. Hisright arm went into action with his left, and Cleander Garlock forgotall about dynes and tapes. 

After a time she disengaged one arm; reached out; opened his door. Hegathered her up and, lips still locked to lips, carried her over thethreshold. 

 * * *

A few jumps later they met their first really old Arpalone. ThisInspector was so old that his skin, instead of the usual bright, clearcobalt blue, was dull and tending toward gray. The old fellow wasstrangely garrulous, for a Guardian; he wanted them to pause a while andgossip. 

"Yes, I am lonesome, " he admitted. "It has been a long time since Iexchanged thoughts with anyone. You see, nobody has visited thisplanet--Groobe, its name is--since almost all our humanity was killed, afew periods ago.... "

"Killed? How?" Garlock asked sharply. "Not Dilipic?"

"Oh, you have seen them? I never have, myself. No, nothing nearly thatbad. Merely the Ozobes. The world itself was scarcely harmed at all. Rehabilitation will be a simple matter, so there's no real reason whysome of those Engineers.... "

"The beast!" Lola shot a tight-beam thought at her husband. "Who caresanything about the rock and dirt of a _planet_? It's the people thatcount and his are dead and he's perfectly _complaisant_ about it--just_lonesome_!"

"Don't let it throw you, pet, " James soothed. "He's an Arpalone, youknow; not a sociological anthropologist. "

"... Shouldn't come out here and spend a few hours once in a while, butthey don't. Too busy with their own business, they say. But while youare physically human, mentally you are not. You're all too ... Too ... Ican't put my thought exactly on it, but ... More as though you werehuman fighters, if such a thing could be possible. "

"We are fighters. Where we come from, most human beings are fighters. "

"Oh? I never heard of such a thing. Where can you be from?"

This took much explanation, since the Arpalone had never heard ofinter-galactic travel. "You are willing, then, to fight side by sidewith us Arpalones against the enemies of humanity? You have actuallydone so, at times, and won?"

"We certainly have. "

"I am glad. I am expecting a call for help any time now. Will you pleasegive me enough of your mental pattern, Doctor Garlock, so that I cancall you in case of need? Thank you. "

"What makes you think you're going to get an S. O. S. So soon? Wherefrom?"

"Because these Ozobe invasions come in cycles, years apart, but thereare always several planets attacked at very nearly the same time. Wewere the first, this time; so there will be one or two others veryshortly. "

"Do they always ... Kill all the people?" Lola asked. 

"Oh, no. Scarcely half of the time. Depends on how many fighters theplanet has, and how much outside help can get there soon enough. "

"Your call could come from any of the other solar systems in thisneighborhood, then?" Garlock asked. 

"Yes. There are fifteen inhabited planets within about six light-yearsof us, and we form a close-knit group. "

"What are these Ozobes?"

"Animals. Warm-blooded, but egg-layers, not mammals. Like this, " and theInspector spread in their minds a picture of a creature somewhat likethe flying tigers of Hodell, except that the color was black, shadingoff to iridescent green at the extremities. Also, it was armed with ashort and heavy, but very sharp, sting. 

"They say that they come from space, but I don't believe it, " the oldfellow went on. "What would a warm-blood be doing out in space? Besides, they couldn't find anybody to lay their eggs in out there. No, sir, Ithink they live right here on Groobe somewhere, maybe holed up in cavesor something for ten or thirteen years ... But that wouldn't make sense, either, would it? I just don't know.... "

 * * *

Garlock finally broke away from the lonesome Inspector and the_Pleiades_ started down. 

"That's the most utterly _horrible_ thing I ever heard of in my life!"Lola burst out. "Like wasps--only worse--_people_ aren't bugs! Why don'tall the planets get together and develop something to kill every Ozobein every system of the group?"

"That one has got too many bones in it for me to answer, " James said. 

"I'm going to get hold of that Engineer as soon as we land, " Lola said, darkly, "and stick a pin into him. "

They found the Engineering Office easily enough, in a snug camp welloutside a large city. They grounded the starship and went out on foot;enjoying contact with solid ground. The Head Engineer was an Arpalone, too--Engineers were not a separate race, but dwellers on a planet ofextremely high technology--but he did know anything about space-drives. His specialty was rehabilitation; he was top boss of a rehab crew.... 

 * * *

Then Lola pushed Garlock aside. Yes, the Ozobes came from space. He wassure of it. Yes, they laid eggs in human bodies. Yes, they probablystayed alive quite a while--or might, except for the rehab crew. No, hedidn't _know_ what would hatch out--he'd never let one live that long, but what the hell else _could_ hatch except Ozobes? No, not one. Not onesingle damn one. If just one ever did, on any world where he bossed thejob, he'd lose his job as boss and go to the mines for half a year.... 

"Ridiculous!" Lola snapped. "If Ozobes hatched, they couldn't possiblyhave come from space. If they _did_ come from space, the adult formwould have to be something able to get back into space, some way orother. _That_ is simple elementary biology. Don't you see that?"

He didn't see it. He didn't give a damn, either. It was none of hisbusiness; he was a rehab man. 

Lola ran back to the ship in disgust. 

"Something else is even more ridiculous, and _is_ your business, " Jamestold the Head Engineer. "Garlock and I are both engineers--top ones. Weknow definitely that a one-hundred-percent clean-up on such a job asthis--millions--simply can't be done. Ever. Under any conditions. Areyou lying in your teeth or are you dumb enough to believe it yourself?"

"Neither one, " the Engineer insisted, stubbornly. "I've wondered, myself, at how I could get 'em all, but I always do--every time so far. That's why they give me the big job. I'm good at it. "

"Oh--Lola's right, Jim, " Garlock said. "It's the adult form thathatches; something so different they don't even recognize it. Somethingable to get into space. Enough survivors to produce the nextgeneration. "

"Sure. I'll tell Brownie--she'll be tickled. "

"She'll be more than tickled--she'll want to hunt up somebody aroundhere with three brain cells working and give 'em an earful. " Then, tothe Engineer, "Do you know how they rehab a planet that's been leveledflat by the golop?"

"You've _seen_ one? I never have, but of course I've studied it. Slow, but not too difficult. After killing, the stuff weathers down in a fewyears--wonderful soil it makes--what makes it slow is that you have towait fifty or a hundred years for the mountains to get built up againand for the earthquakes to quit.... "

"Excuse me, please--I've got a call--we have to leave, right now. "

The call was from the Inspector. The nearest planet, Clamer, was beinginvaded by the Ozobes and needed all the help they could get. 

 * * *

In seconds the _Pleiades_ was at the Port of Entry. 

"Where is this Clamer?" Garlock asked. 

The Inspector pointed a thought; all four followed it. 

"Let's go, Jim. Maybe.... "

"Just a minute!" Lola snapped. She was breathing hard, her eyes werealmost shooting sparks as she turned to the old Arpalone and drove athought so forcibly that he winced. 

"Do you so-called 'Guardians of Humanity' care at all about the humanityyou're supposed to be protecting?" she demanded viciously, the thoughtboring in and twisting, "or are you just loafing on the job and doing aslittle as you possibly can without getting fired?"

Belle and Garlock looked at each other and grinned. James was surprisedand shocked. This woman blowing her top was no Brownie Montandon any ofthem knew. 

"We do everything we possibly can, " the Inspector was not only shocked, but injured and abused. "If there's any one possible thing we haven'tdone, even the tiniest.... "

"There's plenty!" she snapped. "Plain, dumb stupidity, then, it must be. There must be _somebody_ around here who has been at least exposed toelementary biology! You should have exterminated these Ozobe vermin agesago. All you have to do is find out what its life cycle is. How manystages and what they are. How the adults get into space and where theygo, " and she went on, in flashing thoughts, to explain in full detail. 

"Are you smart enough to understand that?"

"Oh, yes. Your thought may be the truth, at that. "

"And are you interested enough to find out whose business it would be, and follow through on it?"

"Yes, of course. If it works, I'll be quite famous for suggesting it. I'll give you part of the credit.... "

"Keep the credit--just see to it that it gets _done_!" She whirled onJames. "This loss of human life is so _appallingly_ unnecessary! Thistime we're going to Clamer, and nowhere else. Push the button, Jim. "

"All I can do is set up for it, pet. Whether we.... "

"We'll get there!" she blazed. "It's high time we got a break. _Punch_it! _This_ time the ship's going to _Clamer_, if we have to all get outand _push_ it there! Now punch that button!"

James pushed the button, glanced into his scanner, and froze; eyesstaring. He did not even whistle. Belle, however, did; withear-shattering volume. Garlock's mouth fell open in the biggest surpriseof his life. They were in the same galaxy!

All three had studied charts of nebular configurations so long and sointensely that recognition of a full-sphere identity was automatic andinstantaneous. 

Lola, head buried in scanner, had already checked in with the PortInspector. 

"It _is_ Clamer!" she shrieked aloud. "I _told_ you it was time for ourluck to change, if we pulled hard enough! They are being invaded byOzobes and they did call for help and they didn't think we couldpossibly get here this fast and we don't need to be inspected becausewe're compatible or we couldn't have landed on Groobe!"

For five long minutes Garlock held the starship motionless while hestudied the entire situation. Then he drove a probe through the mentalshield of the general in charge of the whole defense operation. 

"Battle-Cruiser _Pleiades_, Captain Garlock commanding, reporting forduty in response to your S. O. S. Received on Groobe. "

The general, furiously busy as he was, dropped all other business. "Butyou're _human_! You can't fight!"

"Watch us. You don't know, apparently, that the Ozobe bases are on thefar side of your moon. They're bringing their fighters in most of theway in transports. "

"Why, they can't be! They're coming in from all directions from deepspace!"

"That's what they want you to think. They're built to stand many hoursof zero pressure and almost absolute zero cold. Question: if we destroyall their transport, say in three hours, can you handle all the fighterswho will be in the air or in nearby space at that time?"

"Very easily. They've hardly started yet. I appoint you Admiral-pro-temGarlock, in command of Space Operations, and will refer to you any otherspace-fighters who may come. I thank you, sir. Good luck. "

The general returned his attention to his boiling office. His mind wasseething with questions as to what these not-human beings were, how orif they knew so much, and so on; but he forced them out of his mind andwent, fast and efficient, back to work. James shot the _Pleiades_ up towithin a thousand miles or so of the moon. 

"How long does it take to learn this bombing business, Jim?" Lola asked. 

"About fifteen seconds. All you have to do is _want_ to. Do you, really?"

"I really do. If I don't do something to help these people, " it did notoccur to her that she had already done a tremendous job, "I'll neverforgive myself. "

James showed her; and, much to her surprise, she found it very easy todo. 

 * * *

The vessels transporting the invading forces were huge, spherical shellsequipped with short-range drives--and with nothing else. Noaccommodations, no facilities, no food, no water, not even any air. Eachtransport, when filled to the bursting-point with as-yet-docile cargo, darted away; swinging around to approach Clamer from somepreviously-assigned direction. It did not, however, approach theplanet's surface. At about two thousand miles out, great ports openedand the load was dumped out into space, to fall the rest of the way bygravity. Then the empty shell, with only its one pilot aboard, rushedback for another load. 

"How heavy shots, Clee?" James asked. He and Lola were getting intotheir scanners. "Wouldn't take as much as a kiloton equivalent, wouldit?"

"Half a kilo is plenty, but no use being too fussy about precision outhere. "

 * * *

Garlock and Belle were already bombing; James and Lola began. Slow andawkward at first, Lola soon picked up the technique and was firing blastfor blast with the others. No more loaded transport vessels left themoon. No empty one, returning toward the moon, reached there. In muchless than the three hours Garlock had mentioned, every Ozobian transportcraft had been destroyed. 

"And now the real job begins, " Garlock said, as James dropped thestarship down to within a few miles of the moon's surface. 

That surface was cratered and jagged, exactly like that of the halfalways facing Clamer. No sign of activity could be seen by eye, noranything unusual. Even the immense trap-doors, all closed now, matchedexactly their surroundings. Underground, however, activity was violentlyintense; and, now, confused in the extreme. 

"Why, there isn't a single adult anywhere!" Lola exclaimed. "I thoughtthe whole place would be full of 'em!"

"So did I, " Belle said. "However, by hindsight, it's plain enough. Theirjob done, they were killed and eaten. Last meal, perhaps. "

"I'm afraid so. Whatever they were, they had hands and brains. Just_look_ at those shops and machines!"

"What do we do, boss?" James asked. "Run a search pattern first?"

"We'll have to, I guess, before we can lay the job out. "

It was run and Garlock frowned in thought. "Almost half the mooncovered--honeycombed. We'll have to fine-tooth it. Around the peripheryfirst, then spiral into the center. This moon isn't very big, but evenso this is going to be a hell of a long job. Any suggestions, anybody?Jim?"

"The only way, I guess. You can't do it hit-or-miss. I'm _damn_ gladwe've got plenty of stuff in our Op field and plenty of hydride for theengines. The horses will all know they've been at work before they getthe field filled up again. "

"So will you, Junior, believe me.... Ready, all? Start blasting. "

Then, for three hours, the _Pleiades_ moved slowly--for her--along aplotted and automatically-controlled course. It was very easy to tellwhere she had been; the sharply-cut, evenly-spaced, symmetrical pitsleft by the Galaxian's full-conversion blasts were entirely differentfrom the irregularly-cratered, ages-old original surface. 

"Knock off, Brownie, " Garlock said then. "Go eat all you can hold andget some sleep. Come back in three hours. Jim, cut our speed toseventy-five percent. "

Lola shed her scanner, heaved a tremendous sigh of relief, anddisappeared. 

Three silent hours later--all three were too intensely busy to think ofanything except the work in hand--Lola came back. 

"Take Belle's swath, Brownie. Okay, Belle, you can lay off. Threehours. "

"I'll stay, " Belle declared. "Go yourself; or send Jim. "

"Don't be any more of a damn fool than you have to. I said beat it. "

"And I said I wouldn't. I'm just as good.... "

"Chop it off!" Garlock snapped. "It isn't a case of being just as goodas. It's a matter of physical reserves. Jim and I have more to draw onfor the long shifts than you have. So get the hell out of here or I'llstop the ship and slap you even sillier than you are now. "

Belle threw up her head, tossing her shoulder-length green mop in hercharacteristic gesture of defiance; but after holding Garlock's hardstare for a moment she relaxed and smiled. 

"Okay, Clee--and thanks for the kind words. "

She disappeared and the work went on. 

And finally, when all four were so groggy that they could scarcelythink, the job was done and checked. Clamer's moon was as devoid of lifeas any moon had ever been. 

 * * *

Lola pitched her scanner at its rack and threw herself face-down on adavenport, sobbing uncontrollably. James sat down beside her and soothedher until she quieted down. 

"You'd better eat something, sweetheart, and then for a good, longsleep. "

"Eat? Why, I couldn't, Jim, not possibly. "

"Let her sleep first, I think, Jim, " Belle said, and followed with hereyes as Jim picked his wife up and carried her into the corridor. 

"We'd better eat _something_, I suppose, " Belle said, thoughtfully. "Idon't feel like eating, either, but I never realized until this minutejust how much this has taken out of me and I'd better start putting itback in.... She did a wonderful job, Clee, even if she couldn't take itfull shift toward the last. "

"I'll say she did. I hated like the devil to let her work that way, but... You knew I was scared witless every second until we topped off. "

Exhausted and haggard as she was, Belle laughed. "I know damn-blastedwell you weren't; but I know what you mean. Fighting something you don'tknow anything about, and can't guess what may happen next, is tough. Seconds count. " Side by side, they strolled toward the alcove. 

"I simply didn't think she had it in her, " Belle marveled. 

"She didn't. She hasn't. It'll take her a week to get back into shape. "

"Right. She was going on pure nerve at the last--nothing else ... Butshe did a job, and she's so sweet and fine.... I wonder, Clee, if ... IfI've been missing the boat.... "

"You have not. " Garlock sent the thought so solidly that Belle jumped. "If you'd just let yourself be, you'd be worth a million of her, just asyou stand. "

"Yes? You lie in your teeth, Cleander, but I love it.... Oh, I don'tknow what I want to eat--if anything. "

"I'll think up yours, too, along with mine. "

"Please. Something light, and just a little. "

"Yeah. Sit down. Just a light snack--a two-pound steak, rare; a bowl ofmushrooms fried in butter; French fries, french dips, salad, and a quartof coffee. The same for me, except more of each. Here we are. "

"Why, Clee, I couldn't _possibly_ eat half of that.... " Then, after aquarter of it was gone, "I _am_ hungry, at that--simply ravenous. Icould eat a horse and saddle, and chase the rider. "

"That's what I thought. I knew I could, and figured you accordingly. "

 * * *

They ate those tremendous meals slowly, enjoying every bite and sip; inan atmosphere of friendliness and good fellowship; chatting on a widevariety of subjects as they ate. Neither was aware of the fact that thiswas the first time they had ever been on _really_ friendly terms. Andfinally every dish and container was empty, almost polished clean. 

"One hundred percent capacity--can chew but can't swallow, " Garlock saidthen, lighting two cigarettes and giving Belle one. "How's that for amasterly job of calibration?"

"Me, too. It'll pass. " Belle sighed in repletion. "Your ability toestimate the exact capacity of containers is exceeded only by your goodlooks and by the size of your feet. And now to hit the good old sack foran indefinite but very long period of time. "

"You chirped it, birdie. " Still eminently friendly, the two walkedtogether to their doors. Belle put up a solid block and paused, irresolute, twisting the toe of one slipper into the carpet. 

"Clee, I ... I wonder ... If.... " Her voice died away. 

"I know what you mean. " He put his arms around her gently, tenderly, andlooked deep into her eyes. "I want to tell you something, Belle. You'rea woman, not in seven thousand million women, but in that many planetsfull of women. What it takes, you very definitely and very abundantlyhave got. And you aren't the only one that's pooped. I don't needcompany tonight, either. I'm going to sleep until I wake up, if it takesall day. Or say, if you wake up first, why not punch me and we'll havebreakfast together?"

"That's a thought. Do the same for me. Good night, Clee. "

"Good night, ace. " He kissed her, as gently as he had been holding her, opened her door, closed it after her, and stepped across the corridorinto his own room. 

"_What_ a man!" Belle breathed to herself, behind the solid screens ofher room. "He thought I was too tired, not just scared to death too. What a _man_! Belle Bellamy, you ought to be kicked from here toTellus.... " Then she threw back her head, drove a hard little fist intoa pillow, and spoke aloud through clenched teeth. "No, damn and blastit, I _won't_ give in. I _won't_ love him. I'll take the Project awayfrom him if it's the last thing I ever do in this life!"

 * * *

She woke up the next morning--not morning, either, since it was wellafter noon--a little before Garlock did, but not much. When she wentinto his room he was shaved and fully dressed except for one shoe, whichhe was putting on. 

"Hi, boss! Better we eat, huh? Not only am I starving by inches, but ifwe don't eat pretty quick we'll get only one meal today instead ofthree. Did you eat your candy bar?"

"I sure did, ace. "

"Oh, I'm still 'ace'? You can kiss me, then, " and she raised her facetoward his. 

He kissed her, still tenderly, and they strolled to and through the Mainand into the alcove. James and Lola, the latter looking terriblystrained and worn, had already eaten, but joined them in theirafter-breakfast coffee and cigarettes. 

"You've checked, of course, " Garlock said. "Everything on the beam?"

"Dead center. Even to Lola and her biologists. Everybody's full of joyand gratitude and stuff--as well as information. And we managed to pryourselves loose without waking you two trumpet-of-doom sleepers up. Sowe're ready to jump again. I wonder where in _hell_ we'll wind up _this_time. "

"I'm glad you said that, Jim. " Garlock said. "It gives me the nerve tospring a thing on you that I've been mulling around in my mind eversince we landed here. "

"Nerve? You?" James asked, incredulously. "Pass the coffee-pot aroundagain, Brownie. If that character there said what I heard him say, this'll make your hair stand straight up on end. "

"On our jumps we've had altogether too much power and no controlwhatever.... " Garlock paused in thought. 

"Like a rookie pitcher, " Belle suggested. 

"Uh-uh, " Lola objected. "It _couldn't_ be that wild. He'd have to standwith his back to the plate and pitch the ball over the center-fieldstands and seven blocks down-town. "

"Cut the persiflage, you two, " Garlock ordered. "Consider three things. First, as you all know, I've been trying to figure out a generator thatwould give us intrinsic control, but I haven't got any farther with itthan we did back on Tellus. Second, consider all the jumps we've madeexcept this last one. Every time we've taken off, none of us has had hisshield really up. You, Jim, were concentrating on the drive, and so werewide open to it. The rest of us were at least thinking about it, and sowere more or less open to it. Not one of us has ever ordered it to takeus to any definite place; in fact, I don't believe that anyone of us hasever even suggested a destination. Each one of us has been thinking, atthe instant of energization of the fields, exactly what you just said, and with exactly the same emphasis. 

"Third, consider this last jump all by itself. It's the first time we'veever stayed in the same galaxy. It's the first time we've ever gonewhere we wanted to. And it's the first time--here's the crux, as I seeit--that any of us has been concentrating on any destination at themoment of firing the charge. Brownie was willing the _Pleiades_ to thisplanet so hard that we all could taste it. The rest of us, if not reallypushing to get here, were at least not opposed to the idea. Check?"

"Check. " "That's right. " "Yes, I was pushing with all my might, " camefrom the three listeners, and James went on:

"Are you saying the damn thing's _alive_?"

"No. I'm saying I don't believe in miracles. I don't believe incoincidence--that concept is as meaningless as that of paradox. Icertainly do _not_ believe that we hit this planet by chance againstodds of almost infinity to one. So I've been looking for a reason. Ifound one. It goes against my grain--against everything I've everbelieved--but, since it's the only possible explanation, it must betrue. The only possible director of the Gunther Drive _must_ be themind. "

"Hell's blowtorches--Now you're _insisting_ that the damn thing'salive. "

"Far from it. It's Brownie who's alive. It was Brownie who got us here. Nothing else--repeat, _nothing_ else--makes sense. "

James pondered for a full minute. "I wouldn't buy it except for onething. If you, the hardest-boiled skeptic that ever went unhung, canfeed yourself the whole bowl of such a mess as that, I can at least takea taste of it. Shoot. "

"Okay. You know that we don't know anything really fundamental abouteither teleportation or the drive. I'm sure now that the drive is simplymechanical teleportation. If you tried to 'port yourself without anyidea of where you wanted to go, where do you think you'd land?"

"You might scatter yourself all over space--no, you wouldn't. Youwouldn't move, because it wouldn't be teleportation at all. Destinationis an integral part of the concept. "

"Exactly so--but only because you've been conditioned to it all yourlife. This thing hasn't been conditioned to anything. "

"Like a new-born baby, " Lola suggested. 

"Life again, " James said. "I can't see it--too many bones in it. Pureluck, even at those odds, makes a lot more sense. "

"And to make matters worse, " Garlock went on as though neither of themhad spoken. "Just suppose that a man had four minds instead of one andthey weren't working together. Then where would he go?"

This time, James simply whistled; the girls stared, speechless. 

"I think we've proved that my school of mathematics was right--the thingwas built to operate purely at random. Fotheringham was wrong. However, I missed the point that if control is possible, the controller must be amind. Such a possibility never occurred to me or anyone working with me. Or to Fotheringham or to anybody else. "

"I can't say I'm sold, but it's easy to test and the results can't beany worse. Let's go. "

"How would you test it?"

"Same way you would. Only way. First, each one of us alone. Then pairsand threes. Then all four together. Fifteen tests in all. No. Threedestinations for each set-up; near, medium, and far. Except Tellus, ofcourse; we'd better save that shot until we learn all we can find out. Everybody not in the set should screen up as solidly as they can settheir blocks--eyes shut, even, and concentrating on something else. Check?"

James did not express the thought that Tellus must by now be so far awaythat no possible effort could reach it; but he could not repress theimplication. 

"Check. I'll concentrate on a series of transfinite numbers. Belle, youwork on the possible number of shades of the color green. Lola, on howmany different perfumes you can identify by smell. Jim, hit the button. "

CHAPTER 6

Since the tests took much time, and were strictly routine in nature, there is no need to go into them in detail. At their conclusion, Garlocksaid:

"First: either Jim alone, or Lola alone, or Jim and Lola together, canhit any destination within any galaxy, but can't go from one galaxy toanother. 

"Second: either Belle or I, or any combination containing either of uswithout the other, has no control at all. 

"Third: Belle and I together, or any combination containing both of us, can go intergalactic under control. 

"In spite of confession being supposed to be good for the soul, I don'tlike to admit that we've put gravel in the gear-box--do you, Belle?"Garlock's smile was both rueful and forced. 

"You can play _that_ in spades. " Belle licked her lips; for the firsttime since boarding the starship she was acutely embarrassed. "We'llhave to, of course. It was all my fault--it makes me look like a damnedstupid juvenile delinquent. "

"Not by nineteen thousand kilocycles, since neither of us had any idea. I'll be glad to settle for half the blame. "

 * * *

"Will you please stop talking Sanskrit?" James asked. "Or lep it, so wetwo innocent bystanders can understand it?"

"Will do, " and Garlock went on in thought. "Remember what I said aboutthis drive not being conditioned to anything? I was wrong. Belle and Ihave conditioned it, but badly. We've been fighting so much thatsomething or other in that mess down there has become conditioned toher; something else to me. My part will play along with anyone exceptBelle; hers with anybody except me. Anti-conditioning, you might callit. Anyway, they lay back their ears and balk. "

"Oh, hell!" James snorted. "Talk about gobbledygook! You are stillsaying that that conglomeration of copper and silver and steel andinsulation that we built ourselves has got intelligence, and I stillwon't buy it. "

"By no means. Remember, Jim, that this concept of mechanicalteleportation, and that the mind is the only possible controller, areabsolutely new. We've got to throw out all previous ideas and start newfrom scratch. I postulate, as a working hypothesis drawn from originaldata as modified by these tests, that that particular conglomeration ofmaterials generates at least two fields about the properties of which weknow nothing at all. That one of those properties is the tendency tobecome preferentially resonant with one mind and preferentiallynon-resonant with another. Clear so far?"

"As mud. It's a mighty tough blueprint to read. " James scowled inthought. "However, it's no harder to swallow than Sanderson's Theory ofTeleportation. Or, for that matter, the actual basic coupling betweenmind and ordinary muscular action. Does that mean we'll have to rebuildhalf a million credits' worth of ... No, you and Belle can work it, together. "

"I don't know. " Garlock paced the floor. "I simply can't see any_possible_. Mechanism of coupling. "

"Subconscious, perhaps, " Belle suggested. 

"For my money that whole concept is invalid, " Garlock said. "It merelychanges 'I don't know' to 'I can't know' and I don't want any part ofthat. However, 'unconscious' could be the answer ... If so, we may havea lever.... Belle, are you willing to bury your hatchet for about fiveminutes--work with me like a partner ought to?"

"I certainly am, Clee. Honestly. Screens down flat, if you say so. "

"Half-way's enough, I think--you'll know when we get down there. " Hermind joined his and he went on, "Ignore the machines themselvescompletely. Consider only the fields. Feel around with me--keeptuned!--see if there's anything at all here that we can grab hold of andmanipulate, like an Op field except probably very much finer. I'll becompletely damned if I can see how this type of Gunther generator canput out a manipulable field, but it must. That's the only--O-W-R-C-H-H!"

This last was a yell of pure mental agony. Both hands flew to his head, his face turned white, sweat poured, and he slumped down unconscious. 

He came to, however, as the other three were stretching him out on adavenport. Belle was mopping his face with a handkerchief. 

"What happened, Clee?" All three were exclaiming at once. 

"I found my manipulable field, but a bomb went off in my brain when Istraightened it out. " He searched his mind anxiously, then smiled. "Butno damage done--just the opposite. It opened up a Gunther cell I didn'tknow I had. Didn't it sock you, too, Belle?"

"Uh-uh, " she said, more than half bitterly. "I must not have one. Thatmakes you a Super-Prime, if I may name a new classification. "

"Nonsense! Of course you've got it. Unconscious, of course, like me, butwithout it you couldn't have conditioned the field. But why.... Oh, whatbit me was the one conditioned to me. "

"Oh, nice!" Belle exclaimed. "Come on, Clee--let's go get mine!"

"Do you want a bit of knowledge _that_ badly, Belle?" Lola asked. "Besides, wait, he isn't strong enough yet. "

"Of course he's strong enough. A little knock like that? _Want_ it! I'dgive my right leg and ... And almost _anything_ for it. It didn't killhim, so it won't kill me. "

"There may be an easier way, " Garlock said. "I wouldn't wish a jolt likethat onto my worst enemy. But that had two hundred kilovolts and fourhundred kilogunts behind it. Since I know now where and what the cellis, I think I can open it up for you without being quite so rough. "

"Oh, lovely. Come in, quick! I'm ready now. "

 * * *

Garlock went in; and wrought. It took longer--half an hour, in fact--butit was very much easier to take. 

"What did it feel like, Belle?" Lola asked, eagerly. "You winced like hewas drilling teeth and struck a couple of nerves. "

"Uh-uh. More like being stretched all out of shape. Like having a child, maybe, in a small way. Let's go, Clee!"

They joined up and went. 

"Ha, _there_ you are, you cantankerous little fabrication of nothings!"Belle said aloud, in a low, throaty, gloating voice. "Take _that_--and_that_! And now behave yourself. If you don't, mama spank--but _good_!"Then, breaking connection, "Thanks a million, Clee; you're tall, solidgold. Do you want to run some more tests, to see which of us is theintergalactic transporter?"

"Not unless you do. "

"Who, me? I'll be tickled to death not to; just like I'd swallowed anostrich feather. Back to Tellus, then?"

"Tellus, here we come, " Garlock said. "Jim, what are the Tellurianfigures for exactly five hundred miles up?"

"I'll punch 'em--got 'em in my head. " James did so. "Shall Brownie and Iset our blocks?"

"No, " Belle said. "Nothing can interfere with us now. "

"Ready. " Garlock sat down in the pilot's seat. "Cluster 'round, chum. "

 * * *

Belle leaned against the back of the chair and put both arms aroundGarlock's neck. "I'm clustered. "

"The spot we're shooting at is exactly over the exact center of themiddle blast-pit at Port Gunther. In sync?"

"To a skillionth of a whillionth of a microphase. I'm _exactly_ on andlocked. Shoot. "

"Now, you sheet-iron bucket of nuts and bolts, _jump_!" and Garlocksnapped the red switch. 

Earth lay beneath them. So did Port Gunther. 

"Hu-u-u-uh!" Garlock's huge sigh held much more of relief than oftriumph. 

"They did it! We're home!" Lola shrieked; and, breaking into unashamedand unrestrained tears, went into her husband's extended arms. 

"Cry ahead, sweet. I'd bawl myself if Garlock wasn't looking. Maybe Iwill, anyway, " James said. Then, extending his right arm to Garlock andto Belle, "I was scared to death you couldn't make it except by backtracking. Good going, you two Primes, " but his thoughts said vastly morethan his words. 

Belle's eyes, too, were wet; Garlock's own were not quite dry. 

"You weren't as sure as you looked, then, that we could do it the hardway, " Belle said. "All inside, I was one quivering mass of jelly. "

"Afterward, you mean. You were solid as Gibraltar when I fired thecharge. You're the kind of woman a man wants with him when the going'stough. Slide around here a little, so I can get hold of you. "

Garlock released Belle--finally--and turned to the pilot, who was justpulling a data-sheet from Compy the Computer. "How far did we misstarget, Jim?"

 * * *

James held up his right hand, thumb and forefinger forming a circle. "You're one point eight seven inches high, and off center point fivethree inches to the north northeast by east. I hereby award each of youthe bronze medal of Marksman First. Shall I take her down now or do youwant to check in from here first?"

"Neither ... I think. What do you think, Belle?"

"Right. Not until you-know-what. "

"Check. Until we decide whether or not to let them know just yet that wecan handle the ship. If we do, how many of our taped reports we turn inand how many we toss down the chute. "

"I get it!" James exclaimed, with a spreading grin. "_That_, my dearpeople, is something I never expected to live long enough to see--ourstraight-laced Doctor Garlock applying the Bugger Factor to a researchproblem!"

"I prefer the term 'Monk's Coefficient, ' myself, " Garlock said, "fromthe standpoint of mathematical rigor. "

"At Polytech we called it 'Finagle's Formula', " Belle commented. "Themost widely applicable operator known. "

"Have you three lost your minds?" Lola demanded. "That's nothing to jokeabout--you wouldn't destroy official reports! All that astronomy andanthropology that nobody ever even dreamed of before? You _couldn't_!Not _possibly_!"

"Each of us knows just as well as you do how much data we have, exactlyhow new and startling it is; but we've thought ahead farther than youhave. None of us likes the idea of destroying it a bit better than youdo. We won't, either, without your full, unreserved, wholeheartedconsent, nor without your fixed, iron-clad, unshakable determinationnever to reveal any least bit of it. "

"That language is far too strong for me. I'd like to be able to go alongwith you, but on those terms, I simply can't. "

"I think you can, when you've thought it through. You've met Alonzo P. Ferber, haven't you? Read him?"

"One glimpse; that was all I could stand. He pawed me mentally andwanted to paw me physically, the first time I ever saw him. "

"Check. So I'm going to ask you two questions, which you may answer asan anthropologist, as Lola Montandon, as Mrs. James James James theNinth, as a member of our team, or as any other character you choose toassume. Remembering that Ferber's a Gunther First--and pretends to be anOperator whenever he can get away with it--should he, or anyone likehim, _ever_ be allowed to visit Hodell? Second question: if there is anypossible way for him to get there, can he be made to stay away?"

"Oh ... Grand Lady Neldine and that perfectly stunning Grand Lady Lemphithey picked out for Jim ... They're such _nice_ people ... And theGunther genes.... " As Lola thought on, her expressive face showed avariety of conflicting emotions before it hardened into decision. "Theanswer to both questions--the only possible answer--is no. I subscribe;on the exact terms you stipulated. And you don't believe, Clee, that mythesis had anything to do with my holding out at first?"

"Certainly I don't. Besides.... "

"What thesis?" Belle asked. 

 * * *

"For my Ph. D. In anthropology. I thought I had it made, but it just wentdown the chute. And I don't know if any of you realize just how nearlyimpossible it is to make a really worthwhile original contribution toscience in that field. "

"As I started to tell you, Brownie, " Garlock said, "I don't think you'velost a thing. There's a bigger and better one coming up. "

"_What_?"

"Sh-h-h-h, " Belle stage-whispered. "He's got a theory--such a weirdiethat he won't talk about it to anybody. "

"It isn't a theory yet--at least, not ripe enough to pick--but it'ssomething more than a hunch, " Garlock said. 

"But what could _possibly_ make as good a thesis as those extra-galactictapes?" Lola wailed. "They would have made my thesis a summer breeze. "

"More like a hurricane--the hottest thing since doctorate disputationsfirst started, " Garlock said. "However, as I started to say twicebefore, it still will be. Intra-galactic tapes will be just as good. Inthis case, better. "

"W-e-l-l ... Possibly. But we haven't any. "

"That is what this conference is about. We can't destroy the stuff wehave unless we can replace it with something better. My idea is that weshould visit a few--say fifty--Tellus-type planets in this galaxy; theones closest to Tellus. I'm pretty sure they'll be inhabited by _HomoSapiens_. There's a chance, of course, that they'll be like Hodell andthe others we've seen; in which case I don't see how we can keep Gunthergenes confined to Earth. However, I'm pretty sure in my own mind thatwe'll find them all very much like Tellus, Gunther and all. What wouldyou think of _that_ for a thesis, Lola?"

"Oh, wonderful!"

"Okay. Now to get back to whether we want to check in or not. I don'tlike to duck out without letting them know we can handle thisheap--after a fashion, that is; they don't need to know we can reallyhandle it--but we've got nothing we can report and Fatso will blow hisstack--Oh-oh! Should've remembered Tellus isn't Hodell; the tri-di'ssetting up! Belle, you take it. She'd give me Fatso, because he wants tochew me out, but she won't put him on for you. Cut her throat, but good!Brownie, hide somewhere! Jim, set up for Beta Centauri--not Alpha, butBeta--and fast! Give her hell, Belle!" Garlock sent this last thoughtfrom behind a davenport, from which hiding-place he could see the tri-discreen and both Belle and James; but anyone on the screen could not seehim. 

 * * *

Miss Foster's likeness appeared upon the screen. Chancellor Ferber'ssecretary was a big woman, but not fat; middle-aged, gray-haired, wearing consciously the aura and the domineering, overbearing expressionof a woman who has great power and an even greater drive to exert herauthority. 

"Why haven't you reported in?" Miss Foster snapped, with a glare thatwas pure frost. "You arrived thirteen minutes ago. Such delay isinexcusable. Get Garlock. "

"Captain Garlock is off-watch; asleep. I, Commander Bellamy, am incommand. " Standing stiffly at attention, Belle paused to exchange glareswith the woman across the big desk. If Miss Foster's was frost, Commander Bellamy's was helium ice. 

"Ready to go, Jim?" Belle flashed the thought. 

"Half a minute yet. "

"Any time after I sign off. Pick your own spot. " Then aloud into thescreen: "I will report to Chancellor Ferber. I will not report toChancellor Ferber's secretary. "

"Doctor James!" Miss Foster's voice was neither as cold nor as steady asit had been. "Bring that ship down at once!"

James made no sign that he had heard the order. Belle stood changelesslystiff. She had not for an instant taken her coldly competent eyes fromthose of the woman on the ground. Her emotionless, ultra-refrigeratedvoice went, as ever, directly into the screen. 

"I trust that this conversation is being recorded?"

"It certainly is!"

"Good. I want it on record that we, the personnel of the starship_Pleiades_, are not subject to the verbal orders of the Chancellor'ssecretary. You will now connect me with Chancellor Ferber, please. "

"The Chancellor is in conference and is not to be disturbed. I _have_authority to act for him. You will report to me, and do it right now. "Foster's voice rose almost to a scream. 

"That ground has been covered. Since you have taken it upon yourself toexceed your authority to such an extent as to refuse to connect theofficer in command of the _Pleiades_ with the Chancellor, I cannotreport to him either the reasons why we are not landing at this time orwhen we expect to return to Tellus. You are advised that we may leave atany instant, just like that!" Belle snapped her finger under the imagednose. "You may inform the Chancellor, or not inform him if you prefer, that our control of the starship _Pleiades_ is something less thanperfect. I do not know exactly how many seconds longer we will be here. Commander Bellamy signing off. Over and out. "

"_Commander_ Bellamy, indeed! Commander my left foot!" Miss Foster wasscreaming now, in thwarted fury. "You're no more a commander than mylowest office-girl is! Just wait 'till you get down here, yougreen-haired hussy, you shameless notor.... " The set wentinstantaneously from full volume to zero sound as James drove the redbutton home. 

"Belle, you honey!" Garlock scrambled out from behind the davenport, seized her around the waist, and swung her, feet high in air, throughfour full circles before he let her down and kissed her vigorously. "Youlittle _sweetheart_! You're the first living human being ever to reallypull Foster's cork!"

"_What_ a goat-getting!" James applauded. "That will go down in historyas the star-spangled act of the century. "

 * * *

Belle was, however, unusually diffident. "I stuck my neck out amile--worse, Clee's. I'm sorry, Clee. I had to have some weight to throwaround, and I had only a second to think, and that was the first thing Ithought of, and after half a minute she made me so _damn_ mad that Iwent entirely too far. "

"Uh-uh. Just far enough. That was a _perfect_ job. "

"But she'll never forget that, and she'll crucify you, as well as me, when we land. She knows I'm not a commander. "

"She just thinks you ain't. The official log will show, though, thatafter only one day out I discovered that we should all be officers--onecaptain and three commanders--with pay and perquisites of rank. I'llthink up good and sufficient reasons for it between now and when I makeup the log. "

"But you can't! Or can you, really?"

"Well, nobody told me I couldn't, so I assumed the right. Besides, youdidn't tell her commander of what, so I'll make it stick, too--see if Idon't. Or else I'll tear two or three offices apart finding out why Ican't. You can be sure of that. "

"All that may not be necessary, " Lola said. "That tape will never beheard. I'll bet she's erased it already. "

"Perhaps; but ours isn't going to be erased--it will be heard exactlywhere it will do the most good. "

"I'm awfully glad you don't think we're on the hook. All that's left, then, is that second-in-command business. Both of you know, of course, that that was just window-dressing. "

"You were telling the truth and didn't know it, " James said, cheerfully. "You have actually been second-in-command ever since the drive tests. "

"I haven't, and I won't. Surely you don't think I'm enough of a heel, Jim, to step on your toes like that?"

"Nothing like that involved. You tell her, Clee. "

"Gunther ability is what counts. You're a Prime, Jim's an Operator; so, now that we can handle the heap, you'll have to be second-in-commandwhether you like it or not. Any time you can out-Gunther me we'll tradeplaces. And you won't have to take the job away from me--I'll give it toyou. "

"But ... No hard feelings, Jim? No reservations? Screens down?"

"None whatever. In fact, I'm relieved. I'm Gunthered for this boardhere--for that one I'm not. Come in and look; and shake on it. "

 * * *

Belle looked; and while they were shaking hands, she flashed a thoughtat Lola. "Do you know that we've got two of the finest men that everlived?"

"I've known that for a long time, " Lola flashed back, "but you've hardlystarted to realize what they _really_ are. "

"Well, shall we start earning our pay and perquisites by getting to workon this planet, that we haven't even looked--wait a minute! We're justabout to open up the galaxy, aren't we?"

They were. 

"Then there'll have to be some kind of a unifying and correlatingauthority--a Galactic Council or something--and the quicker it's set upthe better; the less confusion and turmoil and jockeying-for-positionthere will be. Question: should this authority be political?"

"It should _not_!" James declared. "It takes United Worlds seven soliddays of debate to decide whether or not to buy one lead pencil. "

"Military--or naval, I suppose it'd be--that's what Clee's driving at, "Belle said. "You're wonderful, Clee--simply priceless! We're officers ofthe brand-new Galactic Navy. Subject to civilian control, of course, butthe civilians will be the United Galaxian Societies of the Galaxy, andnobody else. _Beautiful_, Clee! There are ten Operators, Jim. Right?"

 * * *

"Check. Brownie and I are here; the other eight are running the GalaxianSociety under Clee. And the whole Society eats out of his hand. "

"I don't know about that, but Belle and I together could swing it, Ithink. "

"I'll say we could, " Belle breathed. "And I simply can't wait to see youkick Fatso's teeth in with _this_ one!"

"I don't like the word 'Navy', " Garlock said. "It's tied definitely towarfare. How about calling it the 'Galactic Service'? Applicable toeither war or peace. Brass Hats will think of us in terms of war, eventhough we will actually work for peace. Any objections?"

There were no objections. 

"About the uniforms, " Lola said, eagerly. "Space-black and star-white, with chromium comets and things on the shoulders.... "

"To hell with uniforms, " Garlock broke in. "Why do women have to go offthe deep end on clothes?"

"She's right--you're wrong, Clee, " James said. "Without a uniform youwon't get off the ground, not even with the Society. And you'll betalking to Top Planetary Brass. Also, they're Gunthered plenty--you canfeel their Op field clear out here. "

"Could be, " Garlock conceded. "Okay, you girls dope it out to suityourselves. But think you can stand it, Belle, to wear more than twelvesquare inches of clothes?"

"Wait 'til you see it, chum. I've been designing a uniform for myselffor positively _years_. "

"I can't wait. And you're a captain, of course. "

"Huh? You can't have two cap.... Oh, I see. Primes. I appreciate that, Clee. Thanks. "

"Hold on, both of you, " James said. "You haven't thought this throughfar enough. Suppose we meet forces already organized? Better start highthan low. You've got to be top admiral, Clee. "

"Rocket-oil! Suppose we don't find anything at all?"

"You're right, Jim, " Belle said. "Clee, you talk like a man with a papernose. It's _you_ who's been yowling for two solid years about beingready for _anything_. We've got to do just that. "

"Correction accepted. Brief me. "

"Ranks should be different from those of United Worlds. They should bedescriptive, but impressive. Tops could be Galactic Admiral. That's you. Vice Galactic Admiral; me.... "

"Galactic Vice Admiral would be better, " Lola said. 

"Accepted. Those two we'll make stick come hell or space-warps. Right?"

Garlock did not reply immediately. "Up to either one of two points, " heagreed, finally. 

"What points?"

"War, or being out-Gunthered. Top Gunther takes top place; man, woman, bird, beast, fish, or bug-eyed monster. "

"Oh. " Belle was staggered for a moment. "No war, of course. As to theother ... I hadn't thought of that. "

"There are a lot of things none of us has thought of, but as amendedI'll buy it. "

"Then several Regional Admirals, each with his Regional Vice Admiral. Then System Admirals and Vices, and World or Planetary--naming theplanet, you know--Admirals and Vices. Let the various Galaxian Societiestake over from there down. How do you like _them_ potatoes, Buster?"

"Nice. And formal address, intra-ship, will be Mister and Miss. Jim andBrownie?"

They liked it. "Where do we fit in?" James asked. 

"Pick your own spots, " Garlock said. 

"If we stick to the Solar System we aren't so apt to get bumped byPrimes. So make me Solar System Admiral and Brownie my Vice. "

"Okay. How long will it take you, Belle, to materialize those uniforms?"

"Fifteen seconds longer than it takes the converter to scan us. Lola'scolor scheme is right, and I've got everything else down to the lastcurlicue of chrome. Let's go. "

 * * *

They went: and came back into the Main in uniform. Belle had really donea job. 

That of the men, while something on the spectacular side, was more orless conventional, with stiff-visored, screened, heavily-chromed caps;but the women's! Slippers, overseas caps, shorts and jackets--but whatjackets!

"Well.... " Garlock said, after examining the two girls speechlessly fora good half minute. "It doesn't look _exactly_ like a spray-on job; butif you ever take a deep breath it'll split from here to there. Flyoff--leave you naked as a jay-bird. "

"Oh, no. The fabric stretches a little. See? Nothing like a sweater, buta similar effect--perhaps a bit more so. "

"Quite a bit more so, I'd say. However, since Operators and Primes areautomatically stacked like Tennick Towers, I don't suppose your recruitswill be unduly perturbed at, or will squawk too much about, overexposure. Are we finally ready to go down and get to work?"

"I am, " James said. "How do you want to handle it?"

"Run a search pattern. Belle and I will center their Op field and checkon Ops and Primes. You two probe at will. "

Around and around the planet, in brief bursts of completelyincomprehensible speed, the huge ship darted; the biggest, solidest, yetmost elusive and fantastic "flying saucer" ever to visit that world. Thetremendous oceans and six great continents were traversed; the ice-caps;the frigid, the temperate, and the torrid zones. Wherever she went, powerful and efficient radar scanned and tracked her; wherever she went, excitement seethed. 

"Beta Centauri Five, " Garlock reported, after a few minutes. "Margonia, they call it. Biggest continent and nation named Nargoda. Capital cityMargon; Margon Base on coast nearby. Lots of Gunther Firsts. All thereal Gunther, though, is clear across the continent. They're building astarship. Fourteen Ops and two Primes--man and woman. Deggi Delcamp's abig bruiser, with a God-awful lot of stuff. Ugly as hell, though. He's abossy type. "

"I'm amazed, " James played it straight. "I thought all male Primes wouldbe just like you. Timorous Timmies. "

"Huh? Oh.... " Garlock was taken slightly aback, but went on quickly, "What do you think of your opposite number, Belle?" He whistled awolf-call and made hour-glass motions with his hands. "I'd thought oftrading you in on a new model, but Fao Talaho is no bargain, either--and_nobody's_ push-over. "

"_Trade_! You _tomcat_!" Belle's nostrils flared. "You know what thatbleached-blonde tried to do? High-hat _me!_"

"I noticed. When we four get down to business, face to face, thereshould be some interesting by-products. "

"You chirped it, boss. Primes seem to be such _nice_ people. " Jamesrolled his eyes upward and steepled his hands. "If you've got all thedope, no use finishing this search pattern. "

"Go ahead. Window dressing. The Brass hasn't any idea of what's goingon, any more than ours did. "

The search went on until, "This is it, " James reported. "Where? OverMargon Base?"

"Check. Kick us over there, ten or twelve hundred miles up. "

"On the way, boss. Looks like your theory is about ready to pick. "

"It isn't much of a theory yet; just that cultural and evolutionarypatterns should be more or less homogeneous within galaxies. Until itcan explain why so many out-galaxies are just alike it doesn't amount tomuch. By the way, I'm glad you people insisted on organization and rankand uniforms. The Brass is going to take a certain amount of convincing. Take over, Brownie--this is your dish. "

"I was afraid of that. "

The others watched Lola drive her probe--a diamond-clear, razor-sharpbolt of thought that no Gunther First could possibly either wield orstop--down into the innermost private office of that immense andfar-flung base. Through Lola's inner eyes they saw a tall, trim, handsome, fiftyish man in a resplendent uniform of purple and gold; theywatched her brush aside that officer's hard-held mental block. 

 * * *

"I greet you, Supreme Grand Marshal Entlore, Highest Commander of theArmed Forces of Nargoda. This is the starship _Pleiades_, of System Sol, Planet Tellus. I am Sol-System Vice-Admiral Lola Montandon. I have withme as guests three of my superior officers of the Galactic Service, including the Galactic Admiral himself. We are making a good-will tourof the Tellus-Type planets of this region of space. I request permissionto land and information as to your landing conventions. The landingpad--bottom--of the _Pleiades_ is flat; sixty feet wide by one hundredtwenty feet long. Area loading is approximately eight tons per squarefoot. Solid, dry ground is perfectly satisfactory. While we landvertically, with little or no shock impact, I prefer not to riskdamaging your pavement. "

They all felt the Marshal's thoughts race. "Starship! Tellus--Sol, thatinsignificant Type G dwarf! Interstellar travel a commonplace! A ship_that_ size and weight--an organized, uniformed, functioning Galaxy-wideNavy and they don't want to _damage_ my _pavement_! My God!"

"Good going, Brownie! Kiss her for me, Jim. " Garlock flashed thethought. 

Entlore, realizing that his every thought was being read, pulled himselftogether. "I admit that I was shocked, Admiral Montandon. Butlanding--really, I have nothing to do with landings. They are handledby.... "

"I realize that, sir; but you realize that no underling could possiblyauthorize my landing. That is why I always start at the top. Besides, Ido not like to waste time on officers of much lower rank than my own, and, " Lola allowed a strong tinge of good humor to creep into herthought, "the bigger they are, the less apt they are to pass thewell-known buck. "

"You have had experience, I see, " the Marshal laughed. He _did_ have asense of humor. "While landing here is forbidden--top secret, youknow--would my refusal mean much to you?"

"Having made satisfactory contact, I introduce you to Galactic AdmiralGarlock. Take over, sir, please. "

 * * *

Entlore winced, for the probe Garlock used then compared to Lola's verymuch as a diamond drill compares to a piece of soft brass pipe. 

"It would mean everything to us, " Garlock assured him. "Our mission is aperfectly friendly one. We will have a friendly visit or none. If you donot care for our friendship, another nation will. "

"That wouldn't do, either, of course. " Entlore paused in thought. "Itboils down to this: I must either welcome you or destroy you. "

"You may try. " Garlock grinned in frankly self-satisfied amusement. "However, the best you can do is lithium-hydride fusion missiles in thehundreds-of-megatons range. Firecrackers. Every once in a while a planethas to try a few such things on us before it will believe that we arepowerful as well as friendly. Would you like to test our defenses? Ifso, I will neither take offense nor retaliate. "

Supreme Grand Marshal Entlore was floored. "Why ... Er ... Not at all. Iread in your mind.... " He broke off, to quell an invasion into his ownprivate office. "Damn it, keep _still_!" all four "heard" him yell. "Iknow they ran a search pattern. I know _that_, too. I know _everything_about it, I tell you! I'm in full rapport with their Supreme GrandAdmiral. There's only the one ship, they're friendly, and I'm invitingthem to land here on Margon Base. Give that to the press. Say also thatentrance restrictions to Margon Base will not be relaxed at present. Grand Marshal Holson and ComOff Flurnoy, stay here and tune in. The restof you get out and _stay_ out! Throw all reports about any alien vesselor flying saucer or what-have-you into the waste-basket!"

"Resume command, please, Miss Montandon, " Garlock directed; and withdrewhis probe from Entlore's mind. 

"I thank you, Supreme Grand Marshal Entlore, for your welcome, " Lolasent. "I'm sorry that our visits cause so much disturbance, but Isuppose it can't be helped. Our Gunther blocks are down. Would you andyour two assistants like to teleport out here to us, and con us downyourselves?" Lola knew instantly that they could not, and covered deftlyfor them. "But of course you can't, without knowing a focus spot here inthe Main. Shall I teleport you aboard?"

 * * *

ComOff Flurnoy's face--she was an attractive, nicely-built red-headwearing throat-mike, earphone, and recorder--turned so pale that a faintline of freckles stood out across the bridge of her nose. She veryevidently wanted to scream a protest, but would not. Both men, strangelyenough, were eager to go. Instantly all three were standing in line onthe deep-piled rug of the Main, facing the four Tellurians. Seven bodiescame rigidly to attention, seven right hands snapped into two varietiesof formal salute. Standing thus, each party studied the other for acouple of seconds. 

There was no doubt at all as to which two of the visitors the twoNargodian men were studying; but neither of them could quite make up hismind as to which of the black-and-white-clad women to study first ormost. The red-head's glance, too, flickered between Belle andGarlock--incredulous envy and equally incredulous admiration lit hereyes. 

"At rest, please, fellow-officers, " Garlock said, and Lola performed thenecessary introductions, adding, "We do not, however, use titles aboardship. Mister and Miss are customary and sufficient. "

Behind each row of officers a long davenport appeared; between them atable loaded with sandwiches, olives, pickles, relishes, fruits, nuts, soft drinks, cigars, and cigarettes. 

"Help yourselves, " Garlock invited. "We serve neither intoxicants nordrugs, but you should find something there to your taste. "

"Indeed we shall, and thank you, " Entlore said. "Is there any objection, Mr. Garlock, to Miss Flurnoy transmitting information of this meetingand of this ship to our base?"

"None whatever. Send as you please, Miss Flurnoy, or as Mr. Entloredirects. "

"I'm glad I didn't quite scare myself out of coming up here, " theCommunications Officer said. "This is the biggest and nicest thrill Iever had. Such a thrill that I don't know just where to begin. " Shecocked an eyebrow at her commanding officer. 

"As usual. Whatever you think should be sent. " Entlore sent her asteadying thought. Then, as the girl settled back with a sandwich in onehand and a tall glass of ginger-ale in the other, he went on, toGarlock, "She is a very fine and very strong telepath--by our standards, at least. "

"By galactic standards also. " Garlock had of course been checking. "Accurate, sharp, wide-range, clear-thinking, and fast. Not one of usfour could do it any better. "

"I thank you, Mr. Garlock, " the girl said, with a blush of pleasure--andwith scarcely a perceptible pause in her work. 

 * * *

A tour of the ship followed; and as it progressed, the more confused anddismayed the two Nargodian commanders became. 

"But no crew at _all_?" Holson demanded incredulously. "How can a thinglike this _possibly_ work?"

"It's fully Gunthered, " Lola explained. "It works itself. That is, almost all the time. Whenever we land on any planet for the first time, one of us has to control it. Or for any other special job not in itsmemory banks. When you're ready for us to land I'll show you--it's myturn to work. "

"Miss Flurnoy, have they cleared the air over Pylon Six?"

"Yes, sir. Clearance came through five minutes ago. They are holding itclear for us. "

"Thank you. Miss Montandon, you may land at your convenience. "

"Thank you, sir. " Lola took the pilot's chair. "This is the scanner. Ipull it over my face and head, so. Since I am always in tune with thefield.... "

"What does _that_ mean?" Entlore asked, dark foreboding in his mind. 

"I was afraid of that. You can't feel an Operator Field. I'm sorry, sir, but that means you can't handle these forces and never will be able to. Certain Gunther areas of your brain are inoperative. On our scale youare a Gunther First.... "

"On ours, I'm an Esper Ten, the highest rating in the world--except fora few theoretical crackpots who.... Excuse me, please, I shouldn't havesaid that, in view of what I see happening here. "

"No offense taken, sir. Those who developed the Gunther Drive werecrackpots until they got the first starship out into space. But withthis scanner on, I think of where I want to look and I can see it. Ithen think the ship a few miles sidewise--so--and we are now directlyover your Pylon Six. I'm starting down, but I won't go into free fall. "

Apparent weight grew less and less, until: "This is about enough foryou, Miss Flurnoy?"

"Just, " the ComOff agreed, with a gulp. "One pound less and I'm afraidI'll upchuck that lovely lunch I just ate. "

"We're going fast enough now. Everyone sitting down? Brace yourselves, please. You'll be about fifty percent overweight for a while. "

 * * *

As bodies settled deeper into cushions Entlore sent Garlock athought. "We three weigh about five hundred pounds. You liftedus--instantaneously or nearly so, but I'll pass the question ofacceleration for the moment--eleven hundred miles straight up. How didyou repeal the Law of Conservation?"

"We didn't. We have fusion engines of twenty million horsepower. OurOperator Field, which has a radius of fifteen thousand miles and ischarged to an electrogravitic potential of one hundred thousand gunts, stores energy. Its action is not exactly like that of an electricalcondenser or of a storage battery, but is more or less analogous toboth. Thus, the energy required to lift you three came from the field, but the amount was so small that it did not lower the potential of thefield by any measurable amount. Setting this ship down--call it sixtythousand tons for a thousand miles at one gravity--will increase thefield's potential by approximately one-tenth of one gunt. Have youstudied paraphysics?"

"No. "

"It wasn't practical, eh?" Garlock smiled. "Then I can't make even astab at explaining instantaneous translation to you. I'll just say thatthere is no acceleration involved, no time lapse. There is no violationof the Law of Conservation since departure and arrival points areequi-Guntherial. But what I am really interested in is that small groupof high espers you mentioned. "

"Yes, I inferred that from Miss Montandon's comments. " Entlore fellsilent and Garlock watched his somber thoughts picture Margon Base andhis nation's capital being attacked and destroyed by a fleet ofinvincible and invulnerable starships like this _Pleiades_. 

"You are wrong, sir, " Garlock put in, quietly. "The Galactic Service hasnot had, does not and will not have, anything to do with intra-planetaryaffairs. We have no connection with, and no responsibility to, any worldor any group of worlds. We are an arm of the United Galaxian Societiesof the Galaxy. Our function is to control space. To forbid, to prevent, to rectify any interplanetary or interstellar aggression. Above all, toprevent, by means of procedures up to and including total destruction ofplanets if necessary, any attempt whatever to form any multi-worldempire. "

The three Nargodians gasped as one, as much at the scope of the thing asat the calmly cold certainty of ability carried by the thought. 

"You are transmitting this precisely, Miss Flurnoy?" Entlore asked. 

"Precisely, sir; including background, fringes, connotations, andimplications; just as he is giving it to us. "

"Let us assume that your Nargodian government decides to conquer all theother nations of your planet Margonia. Assume farther that it succeeds. We will not object; in fact, we will, as a usual thing, not even beinformed of it. If then, however, your government decides that one worldis not enough for it to rule and prepares to conquer, or take aggressiveaction against, any other world, we will be informed and we will stepin. First, warning will be given. Second, any and all vessels dispatchedon such a mission will be annihilated. Third, if the offense iscontinued or repeated, trial will be held before the Galactic Counciland any sentence imposed will be carried out. "

In spite of Garlock's manner and message, both marshals were highlyrelieved. "You're in plenty of time, with us, sir, " Entlore said. "Wehave just sent our first rocket to our nearer moon ... That is, unlessthat group of--of espers gets their ship off the ground. "

"How far along are they?"

"The ship itself is built, but they are having trouble with their drive. The hull is spherical, and much smaller than this one. It has atomicengines, but no blasts or ion-plates ... But neither has this one!"

"Exactly; they may be pretty well along. I'd like to get in touch withthem as soon as possible. May I borrow a 'talker' like Miss Flurnoy fora few days? You have others, I suppose?"

"Yes, but I'll let you have her; it is of the essence that you have thebest one available. Miss Flurnoy?"

"Yes, sir?" Besides reporting, she had been conversing busily with Jamesand Belle. 

"Would you like to be assigned to Mr. Garlock for the duration of hisstay on Margonia?"

"Oh, _yes_, sir!" she replied, excitedly. 

"You are so assigned. Take orders from him or from any designate asthough I myself were issuing them. "

"Thank you, sir ... But what limits? And do I transmit to and/or recordfor you, sir?"

"No limit. These four Galaxians are hereby granted nation-wide topclearance. Transmit as usual whatever is permitted. "

"Full reporting is not only permitted, but urged, " Garlock said. "Thereis nothing secret about our mission. "

 * * *

As the _Pleiades_ landed: "If you will give us your focus spot, Mr. Entlore, we can all 'port to your office and save calling staff cars. "

"And cause a revolution?" Entlore laughed. "Apparently you haven't beenchecking outside. "

"Afraid I haven't. I've been thinking. "

"Take a look. I got orders from the Cabinet to put guards whereverpeople absolutely must not go, and open everything else to the public. I_hope_ there are enough guards to keep a lane open for us, but Iwouldn't bet on it. " Garlock was very glad that the military men's stiffformality had disappeared. "You Galaxians took this whole planet bystorm while you were still above the stratosphere. "

 * * *

There is no need to go into detail concerning the reception andcelebration. On Earth, one inauguration of a president and onecoronation of a monarch were each almost as well covered bybroadcasters, if not as turbulently and enthusiastically prolonged. Fromthe _Pleiades_ they went to the Administration Building, where aninformal reception was held. Thence to the Capitol, where the receptionwas very formal indeed. Thence to the Grand Ballroom of the city'slargest hotel, where a tremendous--and long-winded--banquet was served. 

At Garlock's request, all sixteen members of the "crackpot" group--themost active members of the Deep Space Club--had been invited to thebanquet. And, even though Garlock was a very busy man, his talker tunedin to each one of the sixteen, tuned them all to the Galactic Admiral, and in odd moments a great deal of business was done. 

After being told most of the story--in tight-beamed thoughts that ComOffFlurnoy could not receive--the whole group was wildly enthusiastic. Theywould change the name of their club forthwith to The Galaxian Society OfMargonia. They laid plans for a world-wide organization which would havetremendous prestige and tremendous income. They already had afield--Garlock knew about their ship--they wanted the _Pleiades_ to moveover to it as soon as possible--Yes, Garlock thought he could do it thefollowing day--if not, as soon as he could.... 

 * * *

The _Pleiades_ had landed at ten o'clock in the forenoon, local time;the banquet did not come to an end until long after midnight. Throughoutall this time the four Galaxians carried on, without a slip, the actthat all this was, to them, old stuff. 

It was just a little before daylight when they returned, exhausted, tothe ship. ComOff Flurnoy went with them. She was still agog at thewonder of it all as Belle and Brownie showed her to her quarters. 

CHAPTER 7

Since everyone, including the ebullient ComOff, slept late the followingmorning, they all had brunch instead of breakfast and lunch. All duringthe meal Garlock was preoccupied and stern. 

"Hold everything for a while, Jim, " he said, when everyone had eaten. "Before we move, Belle and I have got to have a conference. "

"Not a Fatso Ferber nine-o'clock type, I hope. " James frowned in mockreproach and ComOff Flurnoy cocked an eyebrow in surprise. "Monkey-business on company time is only for Big Shots like him; not forsmall fry such as you. "

"Well, it won't be exclusively monkey-business, anyway. While we're goneyou might clear with the control tower and take us up into take-offposition. Come on, Belle. " He took her by one elbow and led her away. 

"Why, _Doctor Garlock_. " Mincing along beside him, pretending highreluctance, she looked up at him wide-eyed. "I'm _surprised_, I reallyam. I'm _shocked_, too. I'm _not_ that kind of a _girl_, and if I wasn't_afraid_ of losing my _job_ I would _scream_. I _never_ even _suspected_that _you_ would use your _position_ as my _boss_ to _force_ your_unwelcome attentions_ on a _poor_ and _young_ and _innocent_ and_suffering_.... "

 [Illustration:

 In an unparalleled blast of Gunther power the primes of many worlds head toward the meeting on Tellus. ]

Inside his room Garlock, who had been grinning, sobered down and checkedevery Gunther block--a most unusual proceeding. 

 * * *

Belle stopped joking in the middle of the sentence. 

"Yeah, _how_ you suffer, " he said. "I was just checking to be sure we'reprime-proof. I'm not ready for Deggi Delcamp yet. That guy, Belle, asyou probably noticed, has got one God-awful load of stuff. "

"Not as much as you have, Clee. Nor as much push behind what he has got. And his shield wouldn't make patches for yours. "

"Huh? How sure are you of that?"

"I'm positive. I'm the one who is going to get bumped, I'm afraid. ThatFao Talaho is a hard-hitting, hard-boiled hellcat on wheels. "

"I'll be damned. You're wrong. I checked her from stem to gudgeon andyou lay over her like a circus tent. What's the answer?"

"Oh? Do I? I'm mighty glad ... Funny, both of us being wrong ... It mustbe, Clee, that it's sex-based differences. We're used to each other, butneither of us has ever felt a Prime of the same sex before, and theremust be more difference between Ops and Primes than we realized. Suppose?"

"Could be--I hope. But that doesn't change the fact that we aren'tready. We haven't got enough data. If we start out with this grandioseGalactic Service thing and find only two or three planets Gunthered, wemake jackasses of ourselves. On the other hand, if we start out with asmall organization or none, and find a lot of planets, it'll be onecontinuous cat-fight. On the third hand.... "

"Three hands, Clee? What are you, an octopussy or an Arpalone?"

"Keep your beautiful trap shut a minute. On the third hand, we've _got_to start somewhere. Any ideas?"

"I never thought of it that way.... Hm-m-m-m ... I see. " She thought fora minute, then went on, "We'll have to start without starting, then ... Quite a trick.... But how about this? Suppose we take a fast tour, withyou and I taking quick peeks, without the peekees ever knowing we'vebeen peeking?"

"That's using the brain, Belle. Let's go. " Then, out in the Main, "Jim, we want to hit a few high spots, as far out as you can reach withoutlosing orientation. Beta Centauri here is pretty bright, Rigel andCanopus are real lanterns. With those three as a grid, you could reachfifteen hundred or two thousand light-years, couldn't you?"

"More than that. That many parsecs, at least. "

"Good. Belle and I want to make a fast, random-sampling check of Primesand Ops around here. We'll need five minutes at each planet--quite aways out. So set up as big a globe as you can and still be dead sure ofyour locations; then sample it. "

"Not enough data. How many samples do you want?"

"As many as we can get in the rest of today. Six or seven hours, say--eight hours max. "

"Call it seven.... Brownie on the guns, me on Compy.... Five minutes foryou.... I should be able to lock down the next shot in five ... Oneminute extra, say, for safety factor ... That'd be ten an hour. Seventyplanets enough?"

"That'll be fine. "

"Okay. We're practically at Number One now, " and James and Lola donnedtheir scanners, ready for the job. 

 * * *

"Miss Flurnoy, " Garlock said, "you might tell Mr. Entlore thatwe're.... "

"Oh, I already have, sir. "

"You don't have to come along, of course, if you'd rather stay here. "

"Stay here, sir? Why, he'd _kill_ me! I'm off the air for a minute, "this last thought was a conspiratorial whisper. "Besides, do you thinkI'd miss a chance to be the first person--and just a girl, too--of awhole world to see other planets of other suns? Unless, of course, youinvite Mr. Entlore and Mr. Holson along. They're both simply dying togo, I know, but of course won't admit it. "

"You'd be just as well pleased if I didn't?"

"What do you think, sir?"

"We'll be working at top speed and they'd be very much in the way, sothey'll get theirs later--after you've licked the cream off the top ofthe.... "

"Ready to roll, Clee, " James announced. 

"Roll. "

"Why, I lost contact!" Miss Flurnoy exclaimed. 

"Naturally, " Garlock said. "Did you expect to cover a distance it takeslight thousands of years to cross? You can record anything you see inthe plates. You can talk to Jim or Lola any time they'll let you. Don'tbother Miss Bellamy or me from now on. "

Garlock and Belle went to work. All four Galaxians worked all day, withhalf an hour off for lunch. They visited seventy planets and got back toMargonia in time for a very late dinner. ComOff Flurnoy had less than aquarter of one roll of recorder-tape left unused, and the Primes hadenough information to start the project they had in mind. 

And shortly after dinner, all five retired. 

"In one way, Clee, I'm relieved, " Belle pondered, "but I can't figureout why all the Primes--the grown-up ones, I mean--on all the worlds arejust about the same cantankerous, you-be-damned, out-and-out stinkers asyou and I are. How does _that_ fit into your theory?"

"It doesn't. Too fine a detail. My guess is--at least it seems to me tomake sense--it's because we haven't had any competition strong enough tosmack us down and make Christians out of us. I don't know what apsychologist would say.... "

"And I know _exactly_ what you'd think of whatever he did say, so youdon't need to tell me. " Belle laughed and presented her lips to bekissed. "Good night, Clee. "

"Good night, ace. "

 * * *

And the next morning, early, Garlock and Belle teleported themselves--byarrangement and appointment, of course--across almost the full width ofa nation and into the private office in which Deggi Delcamp and FaoTalaho awaited them. 

For a time which would not have been considered polite in Telluriansocial circles the four Primes stood still, each couple facing the otherwith blocks set tight, studying each other with their eyes. Delcamp was, as Garlock had said, a big bruiser. He was shorter and heavier than theTellurian. Heavily muscled, splendidly proportioned, he was a man oftremendous physical as well as mental strength. His hair, clipped closeall over his head, was blonde; his eyes were a clear, keen, cold darkblue. 

Fao Talaho was a couple of inches shorter than Belle; and a good fifteenpounds heavier. She was in no sense fat, however, or evenplump--actually, she was almost lean. She was wider and thicker than wasthe Earthwoman; with heavier bones forming a wider and deeper frame. She, too, was beautifully--yes, spectacularly--built. Her hair, fully asthick as Belle's own and worn in a free-falling bob three or four incheslonger than Belle's, was bleached almost white. Her eyes were not reallyspeckled, nor really mottled, but were regularly _patterned_ in lighterand darker shades of hazel. She was, Garlock decided, a reallyremarkable hunk of woman. 

Both Nargodians wore sandals without either socks or stockings. Bothwere dressed--insofar as they were dressed at all--in yellow. Fao'ssingle garment was of a thin, closely-knitted fabric, elastic and sleek. Above the waist it was neckless, backless, and almost frontless; below, it was a very short, very tight and clinging skirt. Delcamp wore asleeveless jersey and a pair of almost legless shorts. 

Garlock lowered his shield enough to send and to receive a thin layer ofsuperficial thought; Delcamp did the same. 

"So far, I like what I see, " Garlock said then. "We are well ahead ofyou, hence I can help you a lot if you want me to and if you want to befriendly about it. If you don't, on either count, we leave now. Fairenough?"

"Fair enough. I, too, like what I have seen so far. We need help, and Iappreciate your offer. Thanks, immensely. I can promise full cooperationand friendship for myself and for most of our group; and I assure youthat I can and will handle any non-cooperation that may come up. "

"Nicely put, Deggi. " Garlock smiled broadly and let his guard down to acomfortable lepping level. "I was going to bring that up--the fasterit's cleared the better. Belle and I are paired. Some day--unless wekill each other first--we may marry. However, I'm no bargain and she'sone-third wildcat, one-third vixen, and one-third cobra. How do you twostand?"

"You took the thought right out of my own mind. Your custom of pairingis not what you call 'urbane' on this world. Nevertheless, Fao and I arepaired. We had to. No one else has ever interested either of us; no oneelse ever will. We should not fight, but we do, furiously. But no matterhow vigorously we fly apart, we inevitably fly together again just asfast. No one understands it, but you two are pretty much the same. "

"Check. Just one more condition, then, and we can pull those women ofours apart. " Belle and Fao were still staring at each other, both stillsealed tight. "The first time Fao Talaho starts throwing her weight atme, I'm not going to wait for you to take care of her--I'm going to giveher the surprise of her life. "

"It'd tickle me silly if it could be done, " Delcamp smiled and wasperfectly frank, "But the man doesn't live that can do it. How would yougo about trying it?"

"Set your block solid. "

Delcamp did so, and through that block--the supposedly impenetrableshield of a Prime Operator--Garlock insinuated a probe. He did not crackthe screen or break it down by force; he neutralized and counter-phased, painlessly and almost imperceptibly, its every component and layer. 

 * * *

"Like this, " Garlock said, in the depths of the Margonian's mind. 

"My God! You can do _that_?"

"If I tell her, this deep, to play ball or else, do you think she'd needtwo treatments?"

"She certainly oughtn't to. This makes you Galactic Admiral, noquestion. I'd thought, of course, of trying you out for Top Gunther, butthis settles that. We will support you, sir, wholeheartedly--and myheartfelt thanks for coming here. "

"I have your permission, then, to give Fao a little discipline when shestarts rocking the boat?"

"I wish you would, sir. I'm not too easy to get along with, I admit, butI've tried to meet her a lot more than half-way. She's just too damnedcocky for _anybody's_ good. "

"Check. I wish somebody would come along who could knock hell out ofBelle. " Then, aloud, "Belle, Delcamp and I have the thing going. Do youwant in on it?"

Delcamp spoke to Fao, and the two women slowly, reluctantly, loweredtheir shields to match those of the men. 

"Your Galaxian shaking of the hands--handshake, I mean--is very good, "Delcamp said, and he and Garlock shook vigorously. 

Then the crossed pairs, and lastly the two girls--although neither putmuch effort into the gesture. 

"Snap out of it, Belle!" Garlock sent a tight-beamed thought. "She isn'tgoing to bite you!"

"She's been trying to, damn her, and I'm going to bite her rightback--see if I don't. "

 * * *

Garlock called the meeting to order and all four sat down. TheTellurians lighted cigarettes and the others--who, to the Earthlings'surprise, also smoked--assembled and lit two peculiar-looking thingshalf-way between pipe and cigarette. And both pairs of smokers, after afew tentative tests, agreed in not liking at all the other's taste intobacco. 

"You know, of course, of the trip we took yesterday?" Garlock asked. 

"Yes, " Delcamp admitted. "We read ComOff Flurnoy. We know of the seventyplanets, but nothing of what you found. "

"Okay. Of the seventy planets, all have Op fields and all have two ormore Operators; one planet has forty-four of them. Only sixty-one of theplanets, however, have Primes old enough for us to detect. Each of theseworlds has two, and only two, Primes--one male and one female--and oneach world the two Primes are of approximately the same age. On fifteenof these worlds the Primes are not yet adult. On the forty-six remainingworlds, the Primes are young adults, from pretty much like us four downto considerably younger. None of these couples is married-for-family. None of the girls has as yet had a child or is now pregnant. 

"Now as to the information circulating all over this planet about us. Part of it is false. Part of it is misleading--to impress the militarymind. Thus, the fact is that the _Pleiades_, as far as we know, is theonly starship in the whole galaxy. Also, the information is veryincomplete, especially as to the all-important fact that we were lost inspace for some time before we discovered that the only possiblecontroller of the Gunther Drive is the human mind.... "

"_What!!!!_" and argument raged until Garlock stopped it by declaringthat he would prove it in the Margonians' own ship. 

Then Garlock and Belle together went on to explain and to describe--noteven hinting, of course, that they had ever been outside the galaxy orhad even thought of trying to do so--their concept of what the GalaxianSocieties of the Galaxy would and should do; or what the GalaxianService could, should, and _would_ become--the Service to which theyboth intended to devote their lives. It wasn't even in existence yet, ofcourse. Fao and Deggi were the only other Primes they had ever talked toin their lives. That was why they were so eager to help the Margoniansget their ship built. The more starships there were at work, the fasterthe Service would grow into a really tremendous.... 

"_Fao's getting ready to blow her top_, " Delcamp flashed Garlock atight-beamed thought. "_If I were doing it I'd have to start rightnow. _"

 * * *

"_I'll let her work up a full head of steam, then smack herbow-legged. _"

"_Cheers, brother! I hope you can handle her!_"

... Organization. Then, when enough ships were working and enoughGalaxian Societies were rolling, there would be the Regionalorganizations and the Galactic Council.... 

"So, on a one-planet basis and right out of your own little fat head, "Fao sneered, "you have set yourself up as Grand High Chief Mogul, andall the rest of us are to crawl up to you on our bellies and kiss yourfeet?"

"If that's the way you want to express it, yes. However, I don't knowhow long I personally will be in the pilot's bucket. As I told you, Iwill enforce the basic tenet that top Gunther is top boss--man, woman, snake, fish, or monster. "

"Top Gunther be damned!" Fao blazed. "I don't and won't take orders from_any_ man--in hell or in heaven or on this Earth or on any planet ofany.... "

"Fao!" Delcamp exclaimed, "Please keep still--_please_!"

"Let her rave, " Garlock said, coldly. "This is just a three-year-oldbaby's tantrum. If she keeps it up, I'll give her the damnedest jolt sheever got in all her spoiled life. "

Belle whistled sharply to call Fao's attention, then tight-beamed athought. "If you've got any part of a brain, slick chick, you'd betterstart using it. The boy friend not only plays rough, but he doesn'tbluff. "

"To hell with all that!" Fao rushed on. "We don't have anything to dowith your organization--go on back home or anywhere else you want to. We'll finish our own ship and build our own organization and run it tosuit ourselves. We'll.... "

"That's enough of that. " Garlock penetrated her shield as easily as hehad the man's, and held her in lock. "You are _not_ going to wreck thisproject. You will start behaving yourself right now or I'll spread yourmind wide open for Belle and Deggi to look at and see exactly what kindof a half-baked jerk you are. If that doesn't work, I'll put you into aGunther-blocked cell aboard the _Pleiades_ and keep you there until theship is finished and we leave Margonia. How do you want it?"

Fao was shocked as she had never been shocked before. At first she triedviciously to fight; but, finding that useless against the appallingpower of the mind holding hers, she stopped struggling and began reallyto think. 

"That's better. You've got what it takes to think with. Go ahead and doit. "

And Fao Talaho did have it. Plenty of it. She learned. 

"I'll be good, " she said, finally. "Honestly. I'm ashamed, really, butafter I got started I couldn't stop. But I can now, I'm sure. "

"I'm sure you can, too. I know exactly how it is. All us Primes have toget hell knocked out of us before we amount to a whoop in Hades. Deggigot his one way, I got mine another, you got yours this way. No, neitherof the others knows anything about this conversation and they won't. This is strictly between you and me. "

"I'm awfully glad of that. And I think I ... Yes, damn you, thanks!"

Garlock released her and, after a few sobs, a couple of gulps, and adabbing at her eyes with an inadequate handkerchief, she said: "I'msorry, Deggi, and you, too, Belle. I'll try not to act like such a foolany more. "

Delcamp and Belle both stared at Garlock; Belle licked her lips. 

"No comment, " he thought at the man; and, to Belle, "She just took abeating. Will you sheathe your claws and take a lot of pains to be extranice to her the rest of the day?"

"Why, surely. I'm _always_ nice to anybody who is nice to me. "

"Says you, " Garlock replied, skeptically, and all four went to work asthough nothing had happened. 

 * * *

They went through the shops and the almost-finished ship. They studiedblueprints. They met all the Operators and discussed generators andfields of force and mathematics and paraphysics and Guntherics. Theyargued so hotly about mental control that Garlock had James bring the_Pleiades_ over to new-christened Galaxian Field so that he could provehis point then and there. 

Entlore and Holson came along this time, as well as the ComOff; and allthree were nonplussed and surprised to see each member of the "crackpot"group hurl the huge starship from one solar system to any other onedesired, apparently merely by thinking about it. And the "crackpots"were extremely surprised to find themselves hopelessly lost in unchartedgalactic wildernesses every time they did not think, definitely andpositively, of one specific destination. Then Garlock took a chance. Hehad to take it sometime; he might just as well do it now. 

"See if you can hit Andromeda, Deggi, " he suggested. 

While Belle, James, and Lola held their breaths, Delcamp tried. Thestarship went toward the huge nebula, but stopped at the last suitableplanet on the galaxy's rim. 

"Can _you_ hit Andromeda?" Delcamp asked, more than half jealously, andBelle tensed her muscles. 

"Never tried it, " Garlock said, easily. "I suppose, though, since youcouldn't kick the old girl out of our good old home galaxy, she'll justsit right here for me, too. "

He went through the motions and the _Pleiades_ did sit rightthere--which was exactly what he had told her to do. And everybody--eventhe "crackpots"--breathed more easily. 

 * * *

And Belle was "nice" to Fao; she didn't use her claws, even once, allday. And, just before quitting time--

"Does he ... I mean, did he ever ... Well, sort of knock you around?"Fao asked. 

"I'll say he hasn't!" Belle's nostrils flared slightly at the merethought. "I'd stick a knife into him, the big jerk. "

"Oh, I didn't mean physically.... "

"Through my blocks? A _Prime's_ blocks? Don't be ridiculous, Fao!"

"What do you mean, 'ridiculous'?" Fao snapped. "You tried _my_ blocks. What did they feel like to you--mosquito netting? What I thought was.... Oh, all he really said was that all Primes had to have hell knocked outof them before they could be any good. That he had had it one way, Deggianother, and me a third. I see--you haven't had yours yet. "

"I certainly haven't. And if he ever tries it, I'll.... "

"Oh, he won't. He couldn't, very well, because after you're married, itwould.... "

"Did the big lug tell you I was going to marry him?"

"Of course not. No fringes, even. But who else are you going to marry?If the whole universe was clear full of the finest men imaginable--puredreamboats, no less--can you even conceive of you marrying any one ofthem except him?"

"I'm not going to marry anybody. Ever. "

"No? You, with your Prime's mind and your Prime's body, not have anychildren? And you tell _me_ not to be ridiculous?"

That stopped Belle cold, but she wouldn't admit it. Instead--"I don'tget it. What did he _do_ to you, anyway?"

Fao's block set itself so tight that it took her a full minute to softenit down enough for even the thinnest thought to get through. "That'ssomething nobody will ever know. But anyway, unless ... Unless you findanother Prime as strong as Clee is--and I don't really think there areany, do you?"

"Of course there aren't. There's only one of his class, anywhere. He'sit, " Belle said, with profound conviction. 

"That makes it tough for you. You'll have the toughest job imaginable. The _very_ toughest. I know. "

"Huh? What job?"

"Since Clee won't do it for you, and since nobody else can, you'll haveto just simply knock hell out of yourself. "

And in Garlock's room that night, getting ready for bed, Belle askedsuddenly, "Clee, what in hell did you do to Fao Talaho?"

"Nothing much. She's a mighty good egg, really. "

"Could you do it, whatever it was, to me?"

"I don't know; I never tried it. "

"_Would_ you, then, if I asked you to?"

"No. "

"Why not?"

"Answer that yourself. "

"And it was 'nothing much, ' it says here in fine print. But I think Iknow just about what it was. Don't I?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. "

"You knocked hell out of yourself, didn't you?"

"I lied to her about that. I'm still trying to. "

"So I've got to do it to myself. And I haven't started yet?"

"Check. But you're several years younger than I am, you know. "

 * * *

Belle thought it over for a minute, then stubbed out her cigarette andshrugged her shoulders. "No sale. Put it back on the shelf. I like mebetter the way I am. That is, I _think_ I do.... In a way, though, I'msorry, Clee darling. "

"Darling? Something new has been added. I wish you really meant that, ace. "

"I'm still 'ace' after what I just said? I'm glad, Clee. 'Ace' is everso much nicer than 'chum. '"

"Ace. The top of the deck. You are, and always will be. "

"As for meaning it, I wish I didn't. " Ready for bed, Belle was much morecompletely and much less revealingly dressed than during her workinghours. She slid into bed beside him, pulled the covers up to her chin, and turned off the light by glancing at the switch. "If I thoughtanything could ever come of it, though, I'd do it if I had to poundmyself unconscious with a club. But I wouldn't be here, then, either--I'd scoot into my own room so fast my head would spin. "

"You wouldn't have to. You wouldn't be here. "

"I wouldn't, at that. That's one of the things I like so much about you. But honestly, Clee--seriously, screens-down honestly--can you see anypossible future in it?"

"No. Neither of us would give that much. Neither of us can. And there'snothing one-sided about it; I'm no more fit to be a husband than you areto be a wife. And God help our children--they'd certainly need it. "

"We'd never have any. I can't picture us living in marriage for ninemonths without committing at least mayhem. Why, in just the little timewe've been paired, how many times have you thrown me out of this veryroom, with the fervent hope that I'd drown in deep space before you eversaw me again?"

"At a guess, about the same number of times as you have stormed outunder your own power, slamming the door so hard it sprung half the seamsof the ship and swearing you'd slice me up into sandwich meat if I everso much as looked at you again. "

"That's what I mean. But how come we got off on _this_ subject, Iwonder? Because when we aren't fighting, like now, it's purelywonderful. So I'll say it again. Good night, Clee, darling. "

"Good night, ace. " In the dark his lips sought hers and found them. 

The fervor of her kiss was not only much more intense than any he hadever felt before. It was much, very much more intense than Belle Bellamyhad either wanted it or intended it to be. 

 * * *

Next morning, at the workman's hour of eight o'clock, the fourTellurians appeared in the office of Margonia's Galaxian Field. 

"The first thing to do, Deggi, is to go over in detail your blueprintsfor the generators and the drive, " Garlock said. 

"I suppose so. The funny pictures, eh?" Delcamp had learned much, theprevious day; his own performance with the _Pleiades_ had humbled himmarkedly. 

"By no means, my friend, " Garlock said, cheerfully. "While your stuffisn't exactly like ours--it couldn't be, hardly; the field is so big andso new--that alone is no reason for it not to work. James can tell you. He's the Solar System's top engineer. What do you think, Jim?"

"What I saw in the ship yesterday will work. What few of the prints Isaw yesterday will fabricate, and the fabrications will work. The maintrouble with this project, it seems to me, is that nobody's building theship. "

"What do you mean by _that_ crack?" Fao blazed. 

"Just that. You're a bunch of prima donnas; each doing exactly as hepleases. So some of the stuff is getting done three or four times, inthree or four different ways, while a lot of it isn't getting done atall. "

"Such as?" Delcamp demanded, and--

"Well, if you don't like the way we are doing things you can.... " Faobegan. 

"Just a minute, everybody. " Lola came in, with a disarming grin. "Howmuch of that is hindsight, Jim? You've built one, you know--and from allaccounts, progress wasn't nearly as smooth as your story can be taken toindicate. "

"You've got a point there, Lola, " Garlock agreed. "We slid back twosteps for every three we took forward. "

"Well ... Maybe, " James admitted. 

"So why don't you, Fao and Deggi, put Jim in charge of construction?"

Fao threw back her silvery head and glared, but Delcamp jumped at thechance. "Would you, Jim?"

"Sure--unless Miss Talaho objects. "

"She won't. " Delcamp's eyes locked with Fao's, and Fao kept still. "Thanks immensely, Jim. And I know what you mean. " He went over to acabinet of wide, flat drawers and brought back a sheaf of drawings. Notblueprints, but original drawings in pencil. "Such as this. I haven'teven got it designed yet, to say nothing of building it. "

 * * *

James began to leaf through the stack of drawings. They were full oferasures, re-drawings, and such notations as "See sheets 17-B, 21-A, and27-F. " Halfway through the pile he paused, turned backward three sheets, and studied for minutes. Then, holding that one sheet by a corner, hewent rapidly through the rest of the stack. 

"This is it, " he said then, pulling the one sheet out and spreading itflat. "What we call Unit Eight--the heart of the drive. " Then, tight-beamed to Garlock:

"This is the thing that you designed _in toto_ and that I never couldunderstand any part of. All I did was build it. It must generate thosePrime fields. "

"Probably, " Garlock flashed back. "I didn't understand it any too wellmyself. How does it look?"

"He isn't even close. He's got only half of the constants down, and halfof the ones he has got down are wrong. Look at this mess here.... "

"I'll take your word for it. I haven't your affinity for blueprints, youknow, or your eidetic memory for them. "

"Do you want me to give him the whole works?"

"We'll have to, I think. Or the ship might not work at all. "

"Could be--but how about intergalactic hops?"

"He couldn't do it with the _Pleiades_, so he won't be able to withthis. Besides, if we change it in any particular he _might_. You see, Idon't know very much more about Unit Eight than you do. "

"_That_ could be, too. " Then, as though just emerging from hisconcentration on the drawings, James thought at Delcamp and Fao, but onthe open, general band. 

"A good many errors and a lot of blanks, but in general you're on theright track. I can finish up this drawing in a couple of hours, and wecan build the unit in a couple of days. With that in place, the rest ofthe ship will go fast. 

"_If_ Miss Talaho wants me to, " he concluded, pointedly. 

"Oh, I do, Jim--really I do!" At long last, stiff-backed Fao softenedand bent. She seized both his hands. "If you can, it'd be too wonderfulfor words!"

"Okay. One question. Why are you building your ship so small?"

"Why, it's plenty big enough for two, " Delcamp said. "For four, in apinch. Why did you make yours so big? Your Main is big enough almost fora convention hall. "

"That's what we figured it might have to be, at times, " Garlock said. "But that's a very minor point. With yours so nearly ready to flit, nochange in size is indicated now. But Belle and I have got to haveanother conference with the legal eagle. So if you and Brownie, Jim, will 'port whatever you need out of the _Pleiades_, we'll be on our way. 

"So long--see you in a few days, " he added, and the _Pleiades_ vanished;to appear instantaneously high above the stratosphere over what was tobecome the Galaxian Field of Earth. 

 * * *

"Got a minute, Gene?" he sent a thought. 

"For you two Primes, as many as you like. We haven't started building orfencing yet, as you suggested, but we have bought all the real estate. So land the ship anywhere out there and I'll send a jeep out after you. "

"Thanks, but no jeep. Nobody but you knows that we've really got controlof the _Pleiades_, and I want everybody else to keep on thinking it'sstrictly for the birds. We'll 'port in to your office whenever you say. "

"I say now. "

In no time at all the two Primes were seated in the private office ofEugene Evans, Head of the Legal Department of the newly re-incorporatedGalaxian Society of Sol, Inc. Evans was a tall man, slightly thin, slightly stooped, whose thick tri-focals did nothing whatever to hidethe keenness of his steel-gray eyes. 

"The first thing, Gene, " Garlock said, "is this employment contractthing. Have you figured out a way to break it?"

"It can't be broken. " The lawyer shook his head. 

"Huh? I thought you top-bracket legal eagles could break anything, ifyou really tried. "

"A good many things, yes, especially if they're long and complicated. The Standard Employment Contract, however, is short, explicit, andiron-clad. The employer can discharge the employee for any one of anumber of offenses, including insubordination; which, as a matter offact, the employer himself is allowed to define. On the other hand, theemployee cannot quit except for some such fantastic reason as thenon-tendering--not non-payment, mind you, but non-_tendering_--ofsalary. "

"I didn't expect that--it kicks us in the teeth before we get started. "Garlock got up, lighted a cigarette, and prowled about the big room. "Okay. Jim and I will have to get ourselves fired, then. "

"Fired!" Belle snorted. "Clee, you talk like a man with a paper nose!Who else could run the Project? That is, " her whole manner changed; "hedoesn't know I can run it as well as you can--or better--but I couldtell him--and maybe you think I wouldn't!"

"You won't have to. Gene, you can start spreading the news that BelleBellamy is a real, honest-to-God Prime Operator in every respect. Thatshe knows more about Project Gunther than I do and could run it better. Ferber undoubtedly knows that Belle and I have been at loggerheads eversince we first met--spread it thick that we're fighting worse than ever. Which, by the way, is the truth. "

"Fighting? Why, you seemed friendly enough.... "

"Yeah, we can be friendly for about fifteen minutes if we try real hard, as now. The cold fact is, though, that she's just as much three-quartershellcat and one-quarter potassium cyanide as she.... "

"I like _that!_" Belle stormed. She leaped to her feet, her eyesshooting sparks. "All _my_ fault! Why, you self-centered, egotistical, domineering jerk, I could write a book.... "

"That's enough--let it go--_please!_" Evans pleaded. He jumped up, tookeach of the combatants by a shoulder, sat them down into the chairs theyhad vacated, and resumed his own seat. "The demonstration was eminentlysuccessful. I will spread the word, through several channels. ChancellorFerber will get it all, rest assured. "

"And _I'll_ get the job!" Belle snapped. "And maybe you think I won'ttake it!"

"Yeah?" came Garlock's searing thought. "You'd do anything to get it andto keep it. Yeah. I _do_ think. "

"Oh?" Belle's body stiffened, her face hardened. "I've heard stories, ofcourse, but I couldn't quite ... But surely, he can't be _that_stupid--to think he can buy me like so many pounds of calf-liver?"

"He surely is. He does. And it works. That is, if he's ever missed, nobody ever heard of it. "

"But how could a man in such a big job _possibly_ get away with suchfoul stuff as that?"

"Because all the SSE is interested in is money, and Alonzo P. Ferber isa tremendously able top executive. In the big black-and-red money bookshe's always 'way, 'way up in the black, and nobody cares about hisconduct. "

 * * *

Belle, even though she was already convinced, glanced questioningly atEvans. 

"That's it, Miss Bellamy. That's it, in a precise, if somewhat crude, nutshell. "

"That's that, then. But just how, Clee--if he's as smart as you say heis--do you think you can make him fire you?"

"I don't know--haven't thought about it yet. But I could be prettyinsubordinate if I really tried. "

"That's the understatement of the century. "

"I'll devote the imponderable force of the intellect to the problem andcheck with you later. Now, Gene, about the proposed Galactic Service, the Council, and so on. What is the reaction? Yours, personally, andothers?"

"My personal reaction is immensely favorable; I think it the greatestadvance that humanity has ever made. I have been very cautious, ofcourse, in discussing, or even mentioning the matter, but the reactionof everyone I have sounded--good men; big men in their respectivefields--has been as enthusiastic as my own. "

"Good. It won't surprise you, probably, to be told that you are to bethis system's councillor and--if we can swing it and I think we can--thefirst President of the Galactic Council?"

Evans was so surprised that it was almost a minute before he could replycoherently. Then: "I _am_ surprised--very much so. I thought, of course, that you yourself would.... "

"Far from it!" Garlock said, positively. "I'm not the type. You are. You're better than anyone else of the Galaxians--which means than anyoneelse period. With the possible exception of Lola, and she fits better onour exploration team. Check, Belle?"

"Check. For once, I agree with you without reservation. _That's_ a jobwe can work at all the rest of our lives, and scarcely start it. "

"True--indubitably true. I appreciate your confidence in me, and if thevote so falls I will do whatever I can. "

"We know you will, and thank _you_. How long will it take to organize? Acouple of weeks? And is there anything else we have to cover now?"

"A couple of _weeks!_" Evans was shocked. "You are naive indeed, youngman, to think anything of this magnitude can even be started in such ashort time as that. And yes, there are dozens of matters--hundreds--thatshould be discussed before I can even start to work intelligently. "

Hence discussions went on and on and on. It was three days beforeGarlock and Belle 'ported themselves up into the _Pleiades_ and thestarship displaced itself instantaneously to Margonia. 

 * * *

Meanwhile, on Margonia, James James James the Ninth went directly to theheart of his job by leading Lola and Fao into Delcamp's office andsetting up its Gunther blocks. 

"You said you want me to build your starship. Okay, but I want youboth--Fao especially--to realize exactly what that means. I know what todo and how to do it. I can handle your Operators and get the job done. However, I can't handle either of you, since you both out-Gunther me, and I'm not going to try to. But there can't be two bosses on any onejob, to say nothing of three or seventeen. So either I run the job or Idon't. If either of you steps in, I step out and don't come back in. Andremember that you're not doing us any favors--it's strictly vice versa. "

"Jim!" Lola protested. Fao's hackles were very evidently on the rise;Delcamp's face was hardening. "Don't be so rough, Jim, _please_. That'sno way to.... "

"If you can pretty this up, pet, I'll be glad to have you say it for me. Here's what you have to work on. If I do the job they'll have theirstarship in a few weeks. The way they've been going, they won't have itin twenty-five years. And the only way to get that bunch out there toreally work is to tell each one of them to cooperate or else--andenforce the 'or else. '"

"But they'd quit!" Delcamp protested. "They'll _all_ quit!"

"With suspension or expulsion from the Society the consequences?Hardly. " James said. 

"But you wouldn't do that--you couldn't. "

"I wouldn't?"

"Of course he wouldn't, " Lola put in, soothingly, "except as a very lastresort. And, even at worst, Jim could build it almost as easily withcommon labor. You Primes don't really _have_ to have any Operators atall, you know; but all your Operators together would be perfectlyhelpless without at least one Prime. "

"How come?" and "In what way?" Delcamp and Fao demanded together. 

"Oh, didn't you know? After the ship is built and the fields are chargedand so on, everything has to be activated--the hundred and one thingsthat make it so nearly alive--and that is strictly a Prime's job. EvenJim can't do it. "

"I see ... Or, rather, I don't see at all, " Fao said, thoughtfully. Shewas no longer either excited or angry. "A few weeks against twenty-fiveyears ... What do you think of his time estimate, Deg my dear?"

"I hadn't thought it would take nearly that long; but this 'activation'thing scares me. Nothing in my theory even hints at any such thing. So--if there's so much I don't know yet, even in theory, it would take along time. Maybe I'd never get it. "

"Well, anyway, I want our _Celestial Queen_ done in weeks, not years, "Fao said, extending her hand to James and shaking his vigorously. "So Ipromise not to interfere a bit. If I feel any such urge coming on, I'lldash home and lock myself up in a closet until it dies. Fair enough?"

Since Fao really meant it, that was fair enough. 

 * * *

For a whole day James did nothing except study blueprints; going over indetail and practically memorizing every drawing that had been made. Hethen went over the ship, studying minutely every part, plate, member, machine and instrument that had been installed. He noted what each manand woman was doing and what they intended to do. He went over materialon hand and material on order, paying particular attention to times ofdelivery. He then sent a few--surprisingly few--telegrams. 

Finally he called all fourteen Operators together. He told them exactlywhat the revised situation was and exactly what he was going to do aboutit. He invited comments. 

There was of course a riot of protest; but--in view of what James hadsaid anent suspensions and expulsions from the Galaxian Society--not oneof them actually did quit. Four of them, however, did appeal to Delcamp, considerably to his surprise, to oust the interloper and to put thingsback where they had been; but they did not get much satisfaction. 

"James says that he can finish building this starship in a few weeks, "Delcamp told them, flatly. "Specifically, three weeks, if we can get thespecial stuff made fast enough. Fao and I believe him. Therefore, wehave put him in full charge. He will remain in charge unless and untilhe fails in performance. You are all good friends of Fao's and mine, andwe hope that all of you will stay with the project. If, however, we mustchoose now between you--any one of you or all of you--and James, thereis no need to tell you what the choice will be. "

Wherefore all fourteen went back to work; grudgingly at first anddragging their feet. In a very few hours, however, it became evident toall that James did in fact know what he was doing and that the work wasgoing faster and smoother than ever before; whereupon all opposition andall malingering disappeared. They were Operators, and they were allintensely interested in their ship. Morale was at a high. 

Thus, when the _Pleiades_ landed beside the now seething _CelestialQueen_, Garlock found James with feet on desk, hands in pockets, andscanner on head; doing--apparently--nothing at all. Nevertheless, he wasa very busy man. 

"Hey, Jim!" A soprano shriek of thought emanated from a gorgeousseventeen-year-old blonde. "I can't read this funny-picture, it's beenfolded too many times. Where does this lead go to?"

"Data insufficient. Careful, Vingie; I'd hate to have to send you backto school. "

"'Scuse, please, Junior. Unit Six, Sub-Assembly Tee Dash Ni-yun. Terminal Fo-wer. From said terminal, there's a lead--Bee Subsomething-or-other--goes somewhere. Where?"

"B sub Four. It goes to Unit Seven, Sub-Assembly Q dash Three, TerminalTwo. And watch your insulation--that's a mighty hot lead. "

"Uh-huh, I got that. Double Sink Mill Mill; Class Albert Dog Kittens. Thanks, boss!"

 * * *

"Hi, Jim, " Garlock said. Then, to Delcamp. "I see you're rolling. "

"_He's_ rolling, you mean. " Delcamp had not yet recovered fully from astate of near-shock. "So _that's_ what an eidetic memory is? He knowsevery nut, bolt, lead, and coil in the ship!"

"More than that. He's checking every move everybody makes. When they'redone, you won't have to just hope everything was put togetherright--you'll _know_ it was. "

Jim was their man. 

 * * *

And Fao sidled over toward Belle. There was something new about thesilver-haired girl, Belle decided instantly. The difference wasslight--Belle couldn't put her finger on it at first. Sheseemed--quieter? Softer? More subdued? No, definitely. More feminine?No; that would be impossible. More ... More adult? Belle hated to admitit, even to herself, but that was what it was. 

"Deg and I got married day before yesterday, " Fao confided, via tightbeam. 

"Oh--so you're _pregnant!_"

"Of course. I saw to that the first thing. I knew you'd want to be thefirst one to know. Oh, isn't it _wonderful_?" She seized Belle's arm andhugged it ecstatically against her side. "Just too perfectly marvelousfor _anything_?"

"Oh, I'm sure it is; and I'm so happy for you, Fao!" And it would havetaken the mind of a Garlock to perceive anything either false or forcedin thought or bearing. 

Nevertheless, when Belle went into Garlock's room that night, stormsignals were flying high in her almost-topaz eyes. 

"Fao Talaho-Delcamp is _pregnant_!" she stormed, "and it's all _your_fault!"

"Uh-huh, " he demurred, trying to snap her out of her obviously savagemood. "Not me, ace. Not a chance in the world. It was Deggi. "

"You ... You _weasel_! You know very well, Clee Garlock, what I meant. If you hadn't given her that treatment she'd have kept on fighting withhim and they wouldn't have been married and had any children forpositively _years_. So now she'll have the first double-Prime baby andit ought to be _mine_. I'm older than she is--our group is 'way ahead oftheirs--we have the first and _only_ starship--and then you do _that_. And you wouldn't give _me_ that treatment. Oh, no--just to _her_, thatbleached-blonde! I'd like to strangle you to death with my own barehands!"

"What a hell of a logic!" Garlock had been trying to keep his own temperin leash, but the leash was slipping. "Assume I tried to work onyou--assume I succeeded--what would you be? What would I have? What agedo you think this is--that of the Vikings? When SOP in getting a wifewas to beat her unconscious with a club and drag her into the longboatby her hair? Hardly! I do not want and will not have a conquered woman. Nor a spoiled-rotten, mentally-retarded brat.... "

"You unbearable, conceited, overbearing jerk! Why, I'd rather.... "

"Get out! And _this_ time, _stay_ out!"

Belle got out--and if door and frame had not been built of super-steel, both would have been wrecked by the blast of energy she loosed inclosing the door behind her. 

In her own room, with Gunther blocks full on, she threw herself facedown on the bed and cried as she had not cried since she was a child. 

And finally, without even taking off her clothes, she cried herself tosleep. 

CHAPTER 8

Next morning, early, Belle tapped lightly on Garlock's door. 

"Come in. "

She did so. "Have you had your coffee?"

"Yes. "

"So have I. "

Neither Belle nor Garlock had recovered; both faces showed strain anddrain. 

"I think we'd better break this up, " Belle said, quietly. 

"Check. We'll have to, if we expect to get any work done. "

Belle could not conceal her surprise. 

"Oh, not for the reason you think, " Garlock went on, quickly. "Yourrecord as a man-killer is still one hundred point zero zero zeropercent. I've been in love with you ever since we paired. Before that, even. "

"Flapdoodle!" she snorted, inelegantly. "Why, I.... "

"Keep still a minute. And I'm not going to fight with you again. Ever. I'm not going to touch you again until I can control myself a lot betterthan I could last night. "

"Oh? That was mostly my fault, of course. But in love? Uh-uh, I've seenmen in love. You aren't. I couldn't make you be, not with the best Icould do. Not even in bed. You aren't, Clee--if you are, I'm anAustralian bushman. "

"Perhaps I'm an atypical case. I'm not raving about your perfectbody--you know what that is like already. Nor about your mind, which isthe only one I know of as good as my own. Maybe I'm in love with what Ithink you ought to be ... Or what I hope you will be. Anyway, I'm inlove with _something_ connected with you--and with no other woman alive. Shall we go eat?"

"Uh-huh--let's. "

They joined Lola and James at the table; and if Lola noticed anythingout of the ordinary, she made no sign. 

And after breakfast, in the Main--

"About three weeks, Jim, you think?" Garlock asked. 

"Give or take a couple of days, yes. "

"And Belle and I would just be in the way--at least until time to showDeggi about the activation ... And all those Primes to organize ... We'dbetter leave you here, don't you think, and get going?"

"I'll buy that. We'll finish as soon as possible. "

Lola and James moved a few personal belongings planetside; Garlock andBelle shot the _Pleiades_ across a vast gulf of space to one of theplanets they had scanned so fleetingly on their preliminary survey. Itsname was, both remembered, Lizoria; its two Primes were named RezdoSemolo and Mirea Mitala--male and female, respectively. 

After sending down a very brief and perfunctory request foraudience--which was in effect a declaration of intent and nothingelse--Garlock and Belle teleported themselves down into Semolo's office, where both Lizorian Primes were. 

Both got up out of peculiar-looking chairs to face their visitors. Bothwere tall; both were peculiarly thin. Not the thinness of emaciation, but that of bodily structure. 

"On them it looks good, " Belle tight-beamed a thought to Garlock. 

Both moved fast and with exquisite control; both were extraordinarilygraceful. "Snaky" was Belle's thought of the woman; "sinuous" wasGarlock's of the man. Both were completely hairless, of body and ofhead--not by nature, but via electric-shaver clipping. Both woresandals. The man wore shorts and a shirt-like garment of nylon or itslike; the woman wore just enough ribbons and bands to hold a hundredthousand credits' worth of jewels in place. She appeared to be abouttwenty years--Tellurian equivalent--old; he was probably twenty-three ortwenty-four. 

"We did not invite you in and we do not want you here, " Semolo said, coldly. "So get out, both of you. If you don't, when I count three I'llthrow you out, and I won't be too careful about how many of your bones Ibreak. One.... Two.... "

"Pipe down, Rezdo!" the girl exclaimed. "They have something we haven't, or they wouldn't be here. Whatever it is, we want it. "

"Oh, let him try, Miss Mitala, " Garlock said, through her hard-heldblock, in the depth of her mind. "He won't hurt us a bit and it may dohim some good. While he's wasting effort I'll compare notes with mypartner here, Galactic Vice-Admiral Belle Bellamy. I'm glad to see thatone of you has at least a part of a brain. "

"... Three!" Semolo did his best, with everything he had, without evenattracting Garlock's attention. He then tried to leap at the intruderphysically, despite the latter's tremendous advantage in weight andmuscle, but found that he could not move. 

Then, through Belle's solidly-set blocks, "How are you doing, ace?Getting anywhere?"

"My God!" came Belle's mental shriek. "What--how can--but no, you_didn't_ give _that_ to Fao, surely!"

"I'll say I didn't--nor to Delcamp. But you're going to need it, I'mthinking. "

"But _can_ you? Even if you _would_--and I'm just beginning to realizehow big a man you really are--can that kind of stuff be taught? Iprobably haven't got the brain-cells it takes to handle it. "

"I'm not sure, but I've reworked our Prime Fields into one and made acouple of other changes. Theoretically, it ought to work. Shall I comein and try it?"

"Don't be an idiot, darling. _Of course!_"

 * * *

As impersonally as a surgeon exploring an organ, Garlock went intoBelle's mind. "Tune to the field ... That's it--fine! Then--I'll do itreal slow, and watch me close--you do like so ... Get it?"

"Uh-huh!" Belle breathed, excitedly. "Got it!"

"Then this ... And this ... And there you are. You can try it on me, ifyou like. "

"Uh-uh. No sale. I don't need practice and I'd like to preserve thebeautiful illusion that maybe I _could_ crack your shield if I wantedto. I'll work on Miss Snake-Hips here, the serpentine charmer--but say, I'll bet there's a bone in it. _You_ can block it, can't you?"

"Yes. It goes like this. " He showed her. "It takes full mastery of thePrime Field, but you've got that. "

"Oh, wonderful! Thanks, Clee darling. But do you mean to actually say Ican now completely block you or any other Prime out?"

"You're going too far, ace. Me, yes--but don't forget that there verywell may be people--or things--as far ahead of us as we are ahead ofpointer pups. "

"Huh! Balloon-juice and prop-wash! I just _know_, Clee, that you're theabsolute tops of the whole, entire, macrocosmic universe. "

"Well, we can dream, of course. " Garlock withdrew his mind from Belle'sand turned his attention to the now quiet Semolo. "Well, myover-confident and contumacious young squirt; are you done horsingaround or do you want to keep it up until you addle completely what fewbrains you have?"

The Lizorian made no reply; but merely glared. 

"The trouble with you half-baked, juvenile--I almost added 'delinquent'to that, and perhaps I should have--Primes is that you know too damnedmuch that isn't true. As an old Tellurian saying hath it, 'you'realtogether too big for your britches. '

"Thus, simply because you have lived a few years on one single planetand haven't encountered anyone able to stand up to you, you've soldyourself on the idea that there's nobody, anywhere, who can. You'rewrong--you couldn't be more so if you had an army to help you. 

"What, actually, have you done? What, actually, have you got?Practically nothing. You haven't even started a starship; you'vescarcely started making plans. You realize dimly that the theory is notin any of the books, that you'll have to slug it out for yourself, butthat is _work_. So you're still just posing and throwing your weightaround. 

"As a matter of fact, you're merely a drop in a lake. There arethousands of millions of planets, and thousands of millions of PrimeOperators. Most of them are probably a lot stronger than you are; manyof them may be stronger than my partner and I are. I am not at allcertain that you will pass even the first screening; but since you arewithout question a Prime Operator, I will deliver the message we came todeliver. Miss Mitala, do you want to listen or shall we drive it intoyou, too?"

"I want to listen to anyone or anything who has a working starship andwho can do what you have just done. "

"Very well, " and Garlock told the general-distribution version of thestory of the Galactic Service. 

"Quite interesting, " Semolo said loftily, at its end. "Whether or not Iwould be interested depends, of course, on whether there's a positionhigh enough for.... "

"I doubt very much if there's one low enough, " Garlock cut in sharply. "However, since it's part of my job, I'll get in touch with you later. Okay, Belle. "

And in the Main--"What a jerk!" Belle exclaimed. "What a half-cooked, half-digested _pill_! I simply marvel at your forbearance, Clee. Youshould have turned him inside out and hung him up to dry--especiallybehind the ears!" Then, suddenly, she giggled. "But do you know what Idid?"

"I can guess. A couple of shots in the arm?"

"Uh-huh. Next time he pitches into her she'll slap his ears right off. Oh, _brother_!"

"Check and double-check. But let's hop to Number Two.... Here it is. "

 * * *

"Oh, yes, " came a smooth, clear, diamond-sharp thought in reply toGarlock's introductory call. "This world, as you have perceived, isFalne. I am indeed Baver 14WD27, my companion Prime is indeed Glarre12WD91. You are, we perceive, Bearers of the Truth; of great skill andof high advancement. Your visit here will, I am sure, be of immensebenefit to us and possibly, I hope, of some small benefit to you. Wewill both be delighted to have you both 'port yourselves to us at once. "

The Tellurians did so--and in the very instant of appearance Garlock wasmet by a blast of force the like of which he had never even imagined. The two Falnian Primes, capable operators both, had built up theirhighest possible potentials and had launched both terrific bolts withoutany hint of warning. 

Belle's mind, however, was already fused with Garlock's. Their combinedblocks were instantaneous in action; their counter-thrust was nearly so. Both Falnians staggered backward until they were stopped by the room'swall. 

"Ah, yes, " Garlock said, then. "You are indeed, in a small and feebleway, Seekers after the Truth; of which we are indeed Bearers. LesserBearers, perhaps, but still Bearers. You will indeed profit greatly fromour visit. You err, however, in thinking that we may in any respectprofit from you. You have nothing whatever that we have not had forlong. Now let us, if you please, take a few seconds of time to getacquainted, each with the other. "

"That, indeed, is the logical and seemly thing to do. " Both Falniansstraightened up and stepped forward; neither arrogantly norapologetically, but simply as though nothing at all out of the ordinaryhad taken place. 

Each pair studied the other. Physically, the two pairs were surprisinglyalike. Baver was almost as big as Garlock; almost as heavily muscled. Glarre could have been cast in Belle's own mold. 

 * * *

With that, however, all resemblance ceased. 

Both Falnians were naked. The man wore only a belt and pouch in lieu ofpockets; the woman only a leather carryall slung from one shoulder--bigenough, Garlock thought, to hold a week's supplies for an ExplorerScout. 

His hair was thick, bushy, unkempt; sun-bleached to a nondescript blendof pale colors. Hers--long, heavy, meticulously middle-parted anddressed--was a startling two-tone job. To the right of the part it was asearingly brilliant red; to the left, an equally brilliant royal blue. 

His skin was deeply tanned. The color of hers was completely masked by abizarrely spectacular overlay of designs done in semi-indelible, multi-colored dyes. 

"Ah, you are worthy indeed of receiving an increment of Truth. Hear, then, the message we bring, " and again Garlock told the story. 

"We thank you, sir and madam, from our hearts. We will accept with joyyour help in finishing our ship; we will do all that in us lies tofurther the cause of the Galactic Service. Until a day, then?"

"Until a day. " Then, to Belle, "Okay, ace. Ready? Go!"

And up in the Main--"Sweet Sin!" Belle exclaimed. "What a pair _they_turned out to be! Clee, that simply scared me witless. "

"You can play that in spades. " Garlock jammed his hands into his pocketsand prowled about the room, his face a black scowl of concentration. 

Until, finally, he pulled himself out of the brown study and said: "I'vebeen trying to think if there's any other thing, however slight, that Ihave and you haven't. There isn't. You've got it all. You're just asfast as I am, just as sharp and as accurate--and, since we now draw onthe same field, just as strong. "

"Why Clee! You're worrying about _me_? You've done altogether too muchfor me, already. "

"Anything I can do, I've got to do ... Well, shall we go?"

"We shall. "

 * * *

They visited four more planets that day. And after supper that night, standing in the corridor between their doors, Belle began to soften hershield, as though to send a thought. Almost instantly, however, shechanged her mind and snapped it back to full on. 

"Good night, Clee, " she said. 

"Good night, Belle, " and each went into his own room. 

The next day they worked nine planets, and the day after that theyworked ten. They ate supper in friendly fashion; then strolled togetheracross the Main, to a davenport. 

"It's funny, " Belle said thoughtfully, "having this tremendous ship allto ourselves. To have a private conference right out here in the Main... Or is it?"

He triggered the shields, she watched him do it. "It is now, " he assuredher. 

"Prime-proof? Not ordinary Gunther blocks?"

"Uh-huh. Two hundred kilovolts and four hundred kilogunts. Backed byall the force of the Prime and Op fields and the full power of theengines. I told you I'd made some changes in the set-up. "

"Private enough, I guess ... What a mess those Primes are! And we'llhave to make the rounds twice more--when we alert 'em and when we pick'em up. "

"Not necessarily. This new set-up ought to give us a galaxy-wide reach. Let's try Semolo, on Lizoria, shall we?"

"Uh-huh--Let's. "

"Tune in, then ace. "

"_Ace_, darling?"

"Ace, _Darling_?"

"Darling. You said you weren't going to fight with me any more. Okay--I'm not going to try any more to lick you until after I've lickedmyself. I'm tuned--you may fire when ready, Gridley. "

They fired--and hit the mark dead center. Top-lofty and arrogant andbelligerent as ever, the Lizorian Prime took the call. "I thought allthe time you wanted something. Well, I neither want nor need.... "

"Cut it, you unlicked cub, until you can begin to use that half-liter ofgolop you call a brain, " Garlock said, harshly. "We're just trying out anew ultra-communicator. Thanks for your help. "

On the fourth day they worked eleven planets; the fifth day saw theforty-sixth planet done and the immediate job finished. All duringsupper, it was very evident that Belle had something on her mind. 

After eating, she went out into the Main and slumped down on adavenport. Garlock followed her. A cigarette leaped out of a closed boxand into place between her lips. It came alight. She smoked it slowly, without relish; almost as though she did not know that she was smoking. 

"Might as well get it out of your system, Belle, " Garlock said aloud. "What are you thinking about at the moment?"

Belle exhaled; the half-smoked butt vanished. "At the moment I wasthinking about Gunther blocks. Specifically, their total inability tocope with that new Prime probe of yours. " She stared at him, narrow-eyed. "It goes through them just like nothing at all. " Shepaused; eyed him questioningly. 

"No comment. "

"And yet you gave it to me. Freely, of your own accord. Even before Ineeded it. Why?"

"Still no comment. "

"You'd better comment, Buster, before I blow my top. "

"There is such a thing as urbanity. "

"I've heard of it, yes; even though you never did believe I ever hadany. You _talk_ a good game of urbanity, but your brand of it wouldnever carry you _that_ far.... "

She paused. He remained silent. She went on. 

"Of course, it does put a lot of pressure on me to develop myself. "

"I'm glad you used the word 'develop' instead of 'treat. '"

"Oh, sometimes--at rare intervals--I'm not exactly dumb. But youknew--you _must_ have known--what a horrible risk you took in making meas tremendously powerful as you are. "

 * * *

"Some, perhaps, but very definitely less risky than not doing it. "

"Getting information out of you is harder than pulling teeth. CleeGarlock, I want you to tell me _why!_"

"Very well. " Garlock's jaw set. "You've had it in mind all along thatthis is some kind of a lark; that you and I are Gunther Tops of theuniverse. Or did that belief weaken a bit when we met Baver 14WD27?"

"Well, perhaps--a little. However, the probability is becoming greaterwith every planet we visit. After all, _some_ race has to be tops. Why_shouldn't_ it be us?"

"_What_ a logic--excuse me, skip it.... "

"Oh, you really _meant_ it when you said you weren't going to fight withme any more?"

"I'm going to try not to. Now, remembering that I don't consider yourpremise valid, just suppose that when we visit some planet some day, youget your mind burned out and I don't--solely because I had something Icould have given you and wouldn't. What then?"

"Oh. I thought that was what you ... But suppose I can't.... "

"We won't suppose anything of the kind. But that wasn't all that was onyour mind. Nor most. "

"How true. Those Primes. The women. Honestly, Clee, I never saw--neverimagined--such a bunch of exhibitionistic, obstreperous, obnoxious, swell-headed, hussies in my whole life. And every day it was borne in onme more and more that I was--am--exactly like the rest of them. "

Garlock was wise enough to say nothing, and Belle went on: "I've beentalking a good game of licking myself, but this time I'm going to _do_it. "

She jumped up and doubled her fists. "If you can do it, I can, " shedeclared. "Like the ancient ballad--'Anything you can do I can dobetter. '" She tried to be jaunty, but the jauntiness did not ring quitetrue. 

"That's an unfortunate quotation, I'm afraid. The trouble is, Ihaven't. "

"Huh? Don't be an idiot, Clee. You certainly have--what else do _you_suppose put me so far down into the dumps?"

"In that case, you _certainly_ will. So come on up out of the dumps. "

"Wilco--and I certainly will. But for a woman who has been talking sobig, I feel low in my mind. A good-night kiss, Clee, darling? Justone--and just a little one, at that?"

"Sweetheart!"

There were more than one, and none of them was little. Eventually, however, the two stood, arms still around each other, in the corridorbetween their doors. 

"But kissing's as far as it goes, isn't it, " Belle said. The remark wasnot a question; nor was it quite a statement. 

"That's right. "

"So good night, darling. "

"Good night, ace. "

 * * *

And when they next saw each other, at the breakfast table, Belle wasapparently her usual dauntless self. 

"Hi, darling--sit down, " she said, gaily. "Your breakfast is on thetable. Bacon, eggs, toast, strawberry jam, and a liter of coffee. "

"Nice! Thanks, ace. "

They ate in silence for a few minutes; then her hand crept tentativelyacross the table. He pressed it warmly. "You look a million, Belle. Outof the dumps?"

"Pretty much--in most ways. One way, though, I'm in deeper than ever. You see, I know exactly what you did to Fao Talaho; and why neither youor anybody else could do it to me. Or if they could, what would happenif they did. "

"I was hoping you would. I couldn't very well tell you, before, but.... "

"Of course not. I see that. "

"... The fact is that Fao, and all the others we've met, are youngenough, unformed enough--plastic enough--yes, damn it, _weak_ enough--tobend. But you are tremendously strong, and twelve Rockwell numbersharder than a diamond. You wouldn't bend. If enough stress could beapplied--and that's decidedly questionable--you wouldn't bend. You'dbreak, and I can't figure it. You're a little older, of course, but notenough to.... "

"How about the fact that I've been banging myself for eight yearsagainst Cleander Garlock, the top Prime of the universe and the hardest?That might have something to do with it, don't you think?"

Garlock said, "Indefensible conclusions drawn from insufficient data. That's just what I've been talking about. No matter how we got the waywe are, though, the fact is that you and I have got to fight our ownbattles and bury our own dead. "

"Check. Like having a baby, but worse. There's nothing anybody else cando--even you--except maybe hold my hand, like now. "

"That's about it. But speaking of holding hands, would it help if wepaired again?"

Belle studied the question for two full minutes; her fine eyes clouded. "No, " she said, finally. "I would enjoy it too much, and you'd ... Well, you wouldn't.... "

"Huh?" he demanded. 

"Oh, physically, of course; but that isn't enough, or good enough, now. You see, I know what your personal code is. It's unbelievable, almost--Inever heard of one like it, except maybe a priest or two--but I admireyou tremendously for it. You would never, willingly, pair with a womanyou really loved. That was why you were so glad to break ours off. Youcan't deny it. "

"I won't try to deny it. But you can't bluff me, Belle, so please quittrying. Basically, your code is the same as mine. Why else did youinitiate our break?"

Belle's block went solid, and Garlock said hastily, aloud, "Excuse it, please. Cancel. I've just said, and know as an empirical fact, thatyou've got to do the job alone--but I can't seem to help putting my big, flat foot in it by blundering in anyway. Let's get to work, shall we?"

"What at? Interview the Primes, I'd say--tell them to hold themselves inreadiness to attend.... "

"On very short notice.... "

"Yes. To attend the big meeting on Tellus. We'll have to make aschedule. It shouldn't be held until after Fao and Deggi get their shipbuilt--it _can't_ be held, of course, until after you and Jim are out ofSSE. Have you got _that_ figured out yet?"

"Pretty much. " He told her his plan. 

Belle giggled, then burst into laughter. "So _I'm_ in it, too?_Wonderful!_"

"You have to be. If we make him mad enough, he'll fire you, too. "

"Without hiring me first? He couldn't. "

"He could, very easily. He doesn't know one-tenth of one percent of hispeople. If we work it right he'll assume that you're one of uswage-slaves, too. Lola, too, for that matter. "

"Careful, Clee. You and I think this is funny, but Lola wouldn't. She'dbe shocked to her sweet little core, and she'd louse up the whole deal. So be very sure she doesn't get in on it. "

"I guess you're right ... Well, shall we go out and insult our touchyyoung friend Semolo? Ready.... Go!"

 * * *

"Oh, it's _you_ again. I tell you.... " the Lizorian began. 

"You will tell me nothing. You will listen. Link your mind to Mitala's, "and the linked Tellurian minds enforced the order. "In about two weeksthe Primes of many worlds will meet in person on Tellus. Arrange youraffairs so that on ten minutes' notice you both can leave Lizoria forTellus aboard our starship, the _Pleiades_. That is all. "

"He'll come, too, " Belle chortled. "He'll writhe and scream, but he'llcome. "

"You couldn't keep him away, " Garlock agreed. 

On the next planet, Falne, the procedure was a little different. Theinformation was the same, but--"One word of warning, " Garlock added. "Itis to be a meeting of minds; not a contest to set up a pecking-order. Ifyou try any such business you will be disciplined; sharply and inpublic. "

"Suppose that, under such conditions, we refuse to attend the meeting?"

"That is your right. There is no coercion whatever. Whether or not youcome will depend upon whether or not you two are in reality Seekersafter Truth. Until a day. "

And so it went. Planet after planet. On not one of those worlds had anyPrime changed his thinking. Not one was really interested in theGalactic Service as an instrument for the good of all mankind. Therewere almost as many attitudes as there were Primes; but all wereessentially self-centered and selfish. 

"That tears it, Belle--busts it wide open. I can--I mean we together cando either job. That is, either be top boss and run the thing or put infull time beating some sense into those hard skulls. We can't do both. "

"On paper, we should, " Belle said, thoughtfully. "You're GalacticAdmiral; I'm your Vice. One job apiece. But we're _not_ going to beseparated. Besides.... "

"Two (minds) (brains) are much better than one, " both said, except forone word, in unison. 

Belle laughed. "That settles that. The Garlock-Bellamy fusion isGalactic Admiral--so we need a good Vice. Who? Deggi and Fao? They'recooperative and idealistic enough, but.... Oh, I don't know exactly whatit is they lack. Do you?"

"No; I can't put it into words or thoughts. Probably the concept is toonew for pigeon-holing. It isn't exactly strength or hardness ortoughness or resilience or brisance--maybe a combination of all five. What we need is a pair like us but better. "

"There _aren't_ any. "

"Don't be too sure. " Belle glanced at him in surprise and he went on:"Not that we've seen, no. But each of those worlds centers a volume ofspace containing thousands of planets. Including the Tellurian and theMargonian, we now have forty-eight regions defined. Let's run a veryfast search-pattern of Region Forty-nine and see what we come up with. "

"All right ... But suppose we do find somebody who out-Gunthers us?"

"I'd a lot rather have it that way than the way it is now. I'll do thehopping, you the checking. Here's the first one--what do you read?"

"N. G. "

"And this one?"

"The same. "

"And this?"

"Ditto. "

Until, finally: "Clee, just how long are you going to keep this up?"

"Until we find something or run out of time for the meeting. Belle, Ireally _want_ to find somebody who amounts to something. "

"So do I, really, so go ahead. "

 * * *

But they did not run out of time. At planet number four-hundred-something, Belle suddenly emitted a shriek--vocally as well as mentally. "Clee!Hold it! Here's something, I think!"

"I'm sure there is, and I'm gladder to see you two people than canpossibly be expressed. "

Belle whirled; so did Garlock. A man stood in the middle of the Main; aman shaped very much like Garlock, but with long, badly-tousled hair anda bushy wilderness of fiery-red whiskers. 

"Please excuse this intrusion, Admiral--or should it be plural? Improperaddress, I'm sure, but your joint tenure is a concept so new and so vastthat I am not yet able to grasp it fully--but you are working at suchhigh speed that I had to do something drastic. You will, I trust, remainhere long enough to discuss certain matters with my wife and me?"

"We'll be very glad to. "

"Thank you. I will return, then, more decorously, and bring her. Onemoment. " He disappeared. 

"_Wife!_" Belle exclaimed, more than half in dismay. "They must be, then.... "

"Yeah. " The thought of a wife did not bother Garlock at all. "Talk about_power!_ And _speed!_ To get all that stuff and 'port up here in themillisecond or so we had the screens open? Baby Doll, there's a guy whois what a Prime Operator _ought_ to be!"

In less than a minute the man reappeared, accompanied by a woman who wasvery obviously pregnant--eight months or so. Like the man, she wasdressed in tight-fitting coveralls. Her hair, however--it was a naturalred, too--was cut to a uniform length of eight inches, and each hairindividually stood out, perfectly straight and perfectly perpendicularto the element of the scalp from which it sprang. 

"Friends Belle and Clee of Tellus, I present Therea, my wife; andAlsyne, myself; of this planet Thaker. We have numbers, too, but theyare never used among friends. "

Acknowledgments were made and a few minutes of conversation ensued, during which the two couples studied each other. 

"This looks mighty good to me, " Garlock said then. "Shall we go screenshalf-down, Alsyne, and cry in each other's beer?"

 * * *

In thirty seconds of flashing communication each became thoroughlyinformed. Those minds could send, and could receive, an incredibly vastamount of information in an incredibly brief space of time. 

"Your ship should work and doesn't, " Garlock said. "Show me; in detail. "

Alsyne showed him. 

"Oh, I see. You didn't work out quite all the theory. It has to beactivated. Like this.... " Garlock showed Alsyne. 

"I see. Thanks. " Alsyne disappeared and was gone for some ten minutes. He reappeared, grinning hugely behind his flaming wilderness of beard. "It works perfectly; for which our heartfelt thanks. And now that mymind is at complete peace with the universe, we will consider theutterly fascinating subject of your proposed Galactic Service. You twoTellurians, immature although you are, have made two tremendouscontributions to the advancement of the Scheme of Things--three, if youcount the starship, which is comparatively unimportant--each of suchimport that no human mind can foresee any fraction of its consequences. First, your Prime Field, the probe and its screen.... "

"Clee!" Belle drove the thought. "You _didn't_ give him _that_, surely!"

"Tut-tut, my child, " Therea soothed her. "You are alarming yourselfabout nothing. "

"The only trouble with you two youngsters is that you aren't quite--verynearly, of course, but very definitely not quite--grown up. " Alsynesmiled again; not only with mouth and eyes, but with his whole hairyface. "To the mature mind there is no such thing as status. Each knowswhat he can do best and does it as a matter of course. Rank is notnecessary. 

"Second, the unimaginably important contribution of the ability tocombine two dissimilar but intimately compatible minds into onetremendously effective fusion. While Therea and I have had only a fewmoments to play with it, we realize some of its possibilities. Thus, since she is a Doctor of Humanities.... "

"Oh, " Belle interrupted. "_That's_ why you knew what I was thinkingabout, even though I tight-beamed the thought and my screens weretight?"

"Exactly so. But to continue. With her sympathy and empathy, and mydriving force and so on, the job of licking these young Primes intoshape is, as your idiom has it, 'strictly our dish. ' It is a trulydelicious thought. 

"You two, on the other hand, have much that we lack. Breadth and depthand scope of imagination and of vision; yet almost incredible will-powerand stamina and resolve.... "

"_That's the word I was trying to think of--will-power_, " Belle flasheda thought at Garlock. 

"... Qualities virtually always mutually exclusive; but the combinationof which makes your fusion uniquely qualified to lead and direct thisnew and magnificent movement. But Therea and I have been idle andfrustrated far too long. We can be of most use, at the moment, onMargonia; working with the Fao-Deggi unit. Therefore, with renewed deepthanks, we go. "

 * * *

Man and wife disappeared; and, ten seconds later, the Thakern starshipvanished from its world. 

"Well, _what_ do you think of _that_?" Belle gasped. "I was actuallyafraid to think, even behind a Prime screen. I don't know _yet_ whetherI want to kiss 'em or kill 'em. "

"I do. That guy is really a Prime, Belle. He's older, bigger, and a lotbetter than I am. "

"Uh-uh, " she demurred, positively. "Older, yes. More mature--you _baby_, you!" She snickered gleefully. "If he hadn't included you in that crackI'd've stabbed him, so help me, even though it wasn't true. He saidhimself it's _you_ who has got what it takes to lead and direct, nothim. "

"Us. We, I mean, " he corrected, absently. 

"Uh-huh; us-we. One, now and forever. Hot Dog! Anyway, he wants us toand we want to so everything's lovely and so let's get to work on Fatsoand his Foster. I think we ought to have some fun for a change andthat'll be a lot. When do we want to hit him?"

"Any day Monday through Friday. Nine-fifteen A. M. Eastern Daylight time. Plus or minus one minute. "

"Nice! Catch him _in flagrante delicto_. Lovely--shovel on the coal, myintrepid engineer!"

On a Wednesday morning, then, at twelve minutes past nine EDT, the_Pleiades_ hung poised, high over the Chancellery of Solar SystemEnterprises, Incorporated. 

"Remember, Belle!" Garlock was pacing the Main. "To keep 'em staggeringwe'll have to land slugging and beat 'em to every punch. You did awonderful job on her last time, and it's been eating on her ever since. She's probably been rehearsing in front of a mirror just how she's goingto tear you apart next time and just how she's going to spit out thepieces. Last time, you were cold, stiff, rigidly formal, and polite. Sothis time it'll be me, and I'll be hot and bothered, dirty, low, coarse, lewd, and very, very rough. "

Belle threw back her head and laughed. "Rough? Yes. Vicious, contemptuous, or ugly; yes. A master of fluent, biting, and pyrotechnicprofanity; yes. But low or dirty or coarse or lewd, Clee? Or any one ofthe four, to say nothing of them all? Uh-uh. Ferber's a filthy beast, ofcourse; but even he knows you're one of the cleanest men that everlived. They'd _know_ it was an act. "

"Not unless I give 'em time to think--or unless you do, before he firesJim--in which case we'll lose the game anyway. But how about you? If Ican knock 'em too groggy to think, will you carry on and keep 'em thatway?"

"Watch my blasts!" Belle giggled gleefully. "I never tried anything likethat--any more than you have--but I'll guarantee to be just as low, dirty, coarse, lewd, and crude as you are. Probably more so, because inthis particular case it'll be fun. You see, you're a man--you can'tpossibly despise and detest that slimy stinker either in the same way oras much as I do. "

"This ought to be good. Cut the rope, Jim. "

Even before the starship came to rest, Garlock drove a probe into the_sanctum sanctorum_ of the Chancellery--an utterly unheard-of act ofinsolence. 

"Foster! This is the _Pleiades_ coming in. Garlock calling. Hot up thetri-di and the recorder, Toots. Put Fatso on, and snap into it.... Isaid shake a leg!"

"Why, I.... You.... "

"Stop stuttering and come to life, you half-witted bag! Gimme Ferber andhurry it up--this ship's tricky. "

"Why, you ... I never.... " Ferber's outraged First Secretary couldscarcely talk. "He ... He is.... "

"I know, Babe, I know--I could set that to music and sing it, withgestures. 'Chancellor Ferber is in conference and cannot be disturbed, '"he mimicked, savagely. "Put him on now--but _quick_!"

 * * *

The tri-di tank brightened up; Chancellor Ferber's image appeared. Hewas disheveled, surprised and angry, but Garlock gave him no chance tospeak. 

"Well, Fatso--at last! Where the _hell_ have you been all morning? Iwant some stuff, just as fast as God will let you get it together, " andhe began to read off, as fast as he could talk, a long list of highlytechnical items. 

Ferber tried for many seconds to break in, and Garlock finally allowedhim to do so. 

"Are you crazy, Garlock?" he shouted. "What in hell's name are youbothering _me_ with _that_ stuff for? You know better than that--makeout your requisitions and send them through channels!"

"Channels, hell!" Garlock shouted back. "Hasn't it got through yourfour-inch-thick skull into your idiot's brain yet that I'm in a hurry? Idon't want this stuff today; I want it day before yesterday--this damnedjunk-heap is apt to fall apart any minute. So quit goggling andslobbering at me, you wall-eyed, slimy, fat toad. Get that three hundredweight of suet into action. _Hump_ yourself!"

"You ... You ... Why, I was never so insulted.... "

"Insulted? You?" Garlock out-roared him. "Listen, Fatso. If I ever setout to really insult you, you'll know it--it'll blister all the paintoff the walls. All I'm trying to do now is get you off that fat butt ofyours and get some action. "

Ferber became purple and pounded his desk in consuming anger. 

Garlock yelled louder and pounded harder. "Start rounding up thisstuff--but _fast_--or I'll come down there and take your job away fromyou and do it myself--and for your own greasy hide's sake you'd betterbelieve I'm not just chomping my choppers, either. "

"You'll _What?_" Ferber screamed. "_You're fired!_"

"_You_ fire _me_?" Garlock mimicked the scream. "And make it stick?You'd better write that one up for the funnies. Why, you lard-brain, youcouldn't fire a cap-pistol. "

"Foster!" Ferber yelled. "Terminate Garlock as of now. Insubordination, and misconduct, abuse of position, incompetence, malfeasance--everythingelse you can think of. Blacklist him all over the System!"

At the word "fired" Belle, had leaped to her feet and had stoppedlaughing. 

"Miss Bellamy!" Ferber snapped. 

"Yes, sir?" she answered, sweetly. 

"You are hereby promoted to be Head of the.... "

"Oh, yeah?" Belle sneered, her voice cutting like a knife. "Youunprincipled, lascivious, lecherous _Hitler!_ Have you got theunmitigated gall to take _me_ for a floozie? To think you can add _me_to your collection of bootlicking, round-heeled tramps?"

"You're fired and blacklisted too!"

"How nice! You know, I don't know of _anything_ I'd rather have happento me?"

 * * *

"Get James on there--you, James.... "

"You don't need to fire me, you fat-headed old goat, " James said, contemptuously. "I've already quit--the exact second you fired Clee. "

"No you didn't!" Ferber screamed. "Resignation not accepted. You're_Fired_! Dishonorably discharged--blacklisted everywhere--you'll _never_get another job--_anywhere_! And here's your slip, too!" Miss Foster wasvery fast on the machines. 

James 'ported his slip up into the _Pleiades_, just as Garlock and Bellehad done with theirs, and disappeared with it as they had; reappearingalmost instantly. 

"Montandon!"

"Chancellor Ferber, are you completely out of your mind? You can'tdischarge either Miss Bellamy or me. "

"I can't?" he gloated. "Why not?"

"Because neither of us is employed. By anybody. "

"That's right, Fatso, " Belle said. "We just came along. Just to keep theboys company. It's lonesome, you know, 'way out in deep space. "

Miss Foster ripped a half-filled-out termination form out of her machineand hurled it into a waste-basket. Ferber's jaw dropped and his eyesstared glassily, but he rallied quickly. 

"I can blacklist her, though, and maybe you think I won't. Belle Bellamywill never get another job in this whole solar system as long as shelives, except through me! Maybe I'll hire her some day, for something, and maybe I won't. Are you listening, Bellamy?"

"Not only listening, I'm reveling in every word. " Belle laughedderisively. "I hate to shatter such wonderful dreams--or do I? You see, the _Pleiades_ really works, and the Galaxians own her; lock, stock, andbarrel. You wouldn't have any part of her, remember? Insisted on paymentfor every nut, wire, and service? Now, they want to hire us four for abig operation with this starship. Since you only loaned Garlock andJames to them, you might have made some legal trouble on that score, butnow that you've fired them both--and in such _conclusive_language!--we're all set. So when you blacklist us with the Society, _please_ let me know--I want to take a tri-di in technicolor of youdoing it. How do you like _them_ parsnips, Your Royal Fatness?"

"I'll see about that!" Ferber stormed. "We'll have an injunction out inan hour!"

"Go ahead, " Garlock said, with a wide grin. "Have fun--the Galaxianshave legal eagles too, you know. One thing Belle forgot. Just in caseyou recover consciousness some time and want to steal our terminationpapers back--especially Belle's; what a howler _that_ was!--don't tryit. They're in a Gunther-blocked safe. "

Then, as comprehension began to dawn on Ferber's face:

"S-u-c-k-e-r, " Garlock drawled. 

The _Pleiades_ disappeared. 

CHAPTER 9

The _Pleiades_ landed on Margonia's Galaxian Field, where the Telluriansfound the project running smoothly, a little ahead of schedule. Delcampand Fao were working at their fast and efficient pace, but the hairypair from Thaker seemed to be, literally, everywhere at once. 

"Hi, Belle. " Fao 'ported up and shook hands warmly. "I thought I wasgoing to have the first double-Prime baby, until _she_ appeared on thescene. "

"Didn't it make you mad? I'd've been furious. "

"Maybe a little at first, but not after I'd talked with her for half aminute. She'd never even thought of that angle. Besides, she thinks thewhole galaxy is fairly crawling with double-Primes. "

"That's funny--so does Clee. But there are other things--strictly notangles--that she hasn't thought of, too. If those coveralls were half aninch tighter they'd choke her to death. You'd think she'd.... "

"Huh?" Fao interrupted. "_You_ should scream--oh, that ridiculousTellurian prud.... "

"It _isn't_ ridiculous!" Belle snapped. "And it isn't prudishness, either--not with me, anyway. It's just that, " she ran an indicativeglance over Fao's lean, trim flanks and hard, flat abdomen, "it spoilsyour figure. It's only temporary, of course, but.... "

"_Spoils_ it! Why, how _utterly_ idiotic! Why, it's magnificent! Just assoon as it starts to show on me, Belle, I'm going to start wearing onlyhalf as many clothes as I've got on now. "

"You couldn't. " Belle eyed the other girl's bathing-suit-like garment. Except for being blue instead of yellow, it was the same as the one shehad worn before. "Not without the League for Public Decency sending thewagon out after you. "

"Oh, Miss Experience? Well, three-quarters, maybe.... "

"Hey, you two!" came Delcamp's hail. "How about cutting the gab andgetting some work done?"

"Coming, boss! 'Scuse it, please!" and two fast and skillful women wentefficiently to work. 

 * * *

With six Prime Operators on the job the work went on very rapidly, yetwithout error. The _Celestial Queen_ was finished, tested, and foundperfect, one full day ahead of James' most optimistic estimate forconstruction alone. The six Primes conferred. 

"Do you want us to help you pick up the other Primes?" Delcamp asked. "Your Main, big as it is, will be crowded, and we have three ships herenow instead of one. "

"I don't think so ... No, " Garlock decided. "We told 'em we'd do it, andin the _Pleiades_, so we'd better. Unless, Alsyne, you don't agree?"

"I agree. The point, while of course minor, is very well taken. We andour Operators--we brought six along; experts in their variousfields--can serve best by working on Tellus with its Galaxian Society ingetting ready for the meeting. "

"Oh, of course, " Fao said. "Probably Deg and I should do the samething?"

"That would be our thought. " The two Thakerns were thinking--andlepping--in fusion. "However, " they went on carefully, "it must not beand is not our intent to sway you in any action or decision. While notall of you four, perhaps, are as yet fully mature, not one of you shouldbe subjected to any additional exterior stresses. "

"I hope you don't think that way about _all_ Primes, " Garlock said, grimly. "I'm going to smack some of those kids down so hard that theirshirt-tails will roll up their backs like window shades. "

"If you find such action either necessary or desirable, we will join youquite happily in it. We go. "

The four remaining Primes looked at each other in puzzled surprise. 

"_What_ do you think about _that_?" Garlock asked finally, of no one inparticular. 

"I don't understand them, " Fao said, "but they're mighty nice people. "

"Do you suppose, Clee, " Belle nibbled at her lower lip, "that we'regetting off on the wrong foot with uniforms and admirals and things?That with really adult Primes running things the Galactic Service wouldrun itself? No bosses or anything?"

"Umnngk. " Garlock grunted as though Belle had slugged him. "I hope not. Or do I? Anyway, not enough data yet to make speculation profitable. ButI wonder, Miss Bellamy, if it would be considered an unjustifiableattempt to sway you in any action or decision if I were to suggest--Oh, ever so diffidently!--that if we're going to saddle up our bronks andride out on roundup tomorrow morning we ought to be logging somesack-time right now?"

"Considering the source, as well as and/or in connection with theadmittedly extreme provocation, " Belle straightened up into a regalpose, "You may say, Mister Garlock, without fear of successfulcontradiction, that in this instance no umbrage will be taken, at leastfor the moment. " She broke the pose and giggled infectiously. "'Night, you two lovely people!"

 * * *

Belle was still sunny and gay when the _Pleiades_ reached Lizoria;Garlock was inwardly happy and outwardly content. Semolo, however, washis usual intransigent self. In fact, if it had not been for MireaMitala, and the fact that she--metaphorically--did pin Semolo's earsback, Garlock would not have taken him aboard at all. 

Thus, after loading on only one pair of Primes, thatauspiciously-beginning day had lost some of its luster; and as the daywore on it got no better fast. Baver of Falne had not learned anything, either--only Garlock's intervention saved the cocky and obstreperousSemolo from a mental blast that would have knocked him out cold. 

Then there were Onthave and Lerthe of Crenna; Korl and Kirl of Gleer;Parleof and Ginseona of Pasquerone; Atnim and Sotara of Flandoon, andeighty others. Very few of them were as bad as Semolo; some of them, particularly the Pasqueronians and the Gleerans, were almost as good asDelcamp and Fao. 

This was the first time that any pair of them had ever come physicallyclose to any other Prime. Many of them had not really believed that anyPrimes abler than themselves existed. The _Pleiades_ was crowded, andGarlock and Belle were not giving to any of them the deference andconsideration and submissive respect which each considered his uniquedue. 

Wherefore the undertaking was neither easy nor pleasant; and bothTellurians were tremendously relieved when, the last pair picked up, they flashed the starship back to Tellus and Delcamp, Fao, and theThakerns 'ported themselves aboard. 

"Give me your attention, please, " Garlock said, crisply. Then, after amoment, "Any and all who are not tuned to me in five seconds will bereturned immediately to their home planets and will lose all contactwith this group.... 

"That's better. For some of you this has been a very long day. For allof you it has been a very trying day. You were all informed previouslyas to what we had in mind. However, since you are young and callow, andwere thoroughly convinced of your own omniscience and omnipotence, it isnatural enough that you derived little or no benefit from thatinformation. You are now facing reality, not your own fantasies. 

"Each pair of you has been assigned a suite of rooms in Galaxian Hall. Each suite is furnished appropriately; each is fully Gunthered forself-service. 

"This meeting has not been announced to the public and, at least for thepresent, will not be. Therefore none of you will attempt to communicatewith anyone outside Galaxian Hall. Anyone making any such attempt willbe surprised. 

"The meeting will open at eight o'clock tomorrow morning in theauditorium. The Thakerns and the Margonians will now inform you as toyour quarters. " There was a moment of flashing thought. "Dismissed. "

 * * *

At one second before eight o'clock the auditorium was empty. At eighto'clock, ninety-eight human beings appeared in it; six on the stage, therest occupying the first few rows of seats. 

"Good morning, everybody, " Garlock said, pleasantly. "Everyone beingrested, fed, and having had some time in which to consider the changedreality faced by us all, I hope and am inclined to believe that we canattain friendship and accord. We will spend the next hour in becomingacquainted with each other. We will walk around, not teleport. We willmeet each other physically, as well as mentally. We will learn eachother's forms of greeting and we will use them. This meeting isadjourned until nine o'clock--or, rather, the meeting will begin then. "

For several minutes no one moved. All blocks were locked at maximum. Each Prime used only his eyes. 

Physically, it was a scene of almost overpowering perfection. The menwere, without exception, handsome, strong, and magnificently male. Thewomen, from heroically-framed Fao Talaho up--or down?--to surprisinglyslender Mirea Mitala, all were arrestingly beautiful; breathtakinglyproportioned; spectacularly female. 

Clothing varied from complete absence to almost complete coverage, witha bewildering variety of intermediate conditions. Color was rampant. 

 * * *

Hair--or lack of it--was also an individual and highly variant matter. Some of the women, like Belle and Fao, were content with one solid butunnatural shade. One shaven head--Mirea Mitala's--was deeply tanned, butunadorned, even though the rest of her body was almost covered byprecious stones. Another was decorated with geometrical and esotericdesigns in eye-searing colors. A third supported a structure--it couldnot possibly be called a hat--of spun metal and gems. 

Among the medium-and long-hairs there were two-, three-, and multi-tonedjobs galore. Some of the color-combinations were harmonious; some weresharply contrasting, such as black and white; some looked as thoughtheir wearers had used the most violently-clashing colors they couldfind. 

The prize-winner, however, was Therea of Thaker's enormous, inexplicablemop; and it was that phenomenon that first broke the ice. 

The girl with the decorated scalp had been glancing questioningly atneighbor after neighbor, only to be met by uncompromising stares. Finally, however, her gaze met another, as interested as her own. Thissecond girl, whose coiffure was a high-piled confection of black, white, yellow, red, blue, and green, half-masted her screen and said:

"Oh, thanks, Jethay of Lodie-Yann. I'm glad everybody isn't going tostay locked up all day. I'm Ginseona of Pasquerone. They call me 'Jin'whenever they want to call me anything printable. And _this_, " she dug aknuckle into her companion's short ribs, whereupon he jumped, whirledaround, lowered his screen, and grinned, "is my ... The boy friend, Parleof. Also of Pasquerone, of course. Par, both Jethay and I.... "

"Call me 'Jet'--everybody does, " Jethay said: almost shyly, for a Prime. 

"Both Jet and I have been wondering about that woman's hair--over there. How could you _possibly_ give a head of hair a static charge of fifty ora hundred kilovolts and not have it leak off?"

"You couldn't, unless it was a perfectly-insulated wig ... But it looksas though she did, at that.... " and Parleof paused in thought. 

"Maybe Byuk would have an idea or two, " and Jet uttered aloud a dozen orso crackling syllables that sounded as though they could have beenladylike profanity. Whatever they were, Byuk jumped, too, and tuned inwith the other three. 

"Oh, it's quite easy, really, " Therea said then. "Look. " Her mass ofhair cascaded gracefully down around her neck and shoulders. "Lookagain. " Each hair stood fiercely out all by itself, exactly as before. "All you young people will learn much more difficult and much moreimportant things before this meeting is over. I cannot tell you how gladI am that so many of you are here. "

 * * *

And so it went, all over the auditorium. Once cracked, the ice broke upfast. 

Fao and Delcamp worked hard; so did Belle and Garlock. Alsyne was apotent force indeed--his abounding vitality and his tremendous smilebroke down barriers that logic could not affect. And Therea workednear-miracles; did more than the other five combined. Her sympathy, herempathy, her understanding and feeling, were as great as Lola's own; heroperative ability was as much greater than Lola's as Lola's was greaterthan that of a bobby-soxed babysitter. 

Thus, when half of the hour was gone, Garlock heaved a profound sigh ofrelief. He wouldn't have half the trouble he had expected--it was notgoing to be a riot. And when he called the meeting to order he waspleasanter and friendlier than Belle had ever before seen him. 

"While I am calling this meeting to order, it is only in the widestpossible sense that I am its presiding officer, for we have as yet noorganization by the delegated authority of which any man or any womanhas any right to preside. Yesterday I ruled by force; simply because Iam stronger than any one of you or any pair of you. Today, in the lightof the developments of the last hour, that rule is done; except, perhaps, for one or two isolated and non-representative cases which maydevelop today. By this time tomorrow, I hope that we will be foreverdone with the law of claw and fang. For, as a much abler man hassaid--'To the really mature mind, the concept of status is completelyinvalid. '"

"_He's putting that as a direct quote, Alsyne, and it isn't. _" Bellelanced the thought. 

"_He thinks it is_, " Alsyne flashed back. "_That is the way hismathematician's mind recorded it. _"

"This meeting is informal, preliminary and exploratory. A meeting ofminds from which, we hope, a useful and workable organization can bedeveloped. Since you all know what we think it basically should be, there is no need to repeat it. 

"I must now say something that a few of you will construe as a threat. You are all Prime Operators. Each pair of you is the highest developmentof a planet, perhaps of a solar system. You can learn if you will. Youcan cooperate if you will. Any couple here who refuses to learn, andhence to cooperate, will be returned to its native planet and will haveno further contact with this group. 

"I now turn this meeting over to our first moderators, Alsyne and Thereaof Thaker; the oldest and ablest Prime Operators of us all. "

"Thank you, Garlock of Tellus. One correction, however, if you please. Iwho speak am neither this man nor this woman standing here, but both. Iam the Prime Unit of Thaker. For brevity, and for the purposes of thismeeting only, I could be called simply 'Thaker. ' Before calling forgeneral discussion I wish to call particular attention to two points, neither of which has been sufficiently emphasized. 

"First, the purpose of a Prime Operator is to serve, not to rule. Thus, no Prime should be or will be 'boss' of anything, except possibly of hisown starship. 

"Second, since we have no data we do not know what form the proposedGalactic Service will assume. One thing, however, is sure. Whateverpower of enforcement or of punishment it may have will derive, not fromits Primes, but from the fact that it will be an arm of the GalacticCouncil, which will be composed of Operators only. No Prime will beeligible for membership. "

 * * *

Thaker went on to explain how each pair could obtain instruction andassistance in many projects, including starships. How each pair would, when they were mature enough, be coached in the use of certain abilitiesthey did not as yet have. He suggested procedures and techniques to beemployed in the opening up of each pair's volume of space. He then askedfor questions and comments. 

Semolo was the first. "If I'm a good little boy, " he sneered, "and doexactly as I'm told, and take over the region you tell me to and not theone I want to, what assurance have I that some other Prime, just becausehe's a year older than I am, won't come along and take it away from me?"

"Your question is meaningless, " Thaker replied. "Since you will not'take over, ' or 'have, ' or 'own, ' any region, it cannot be 'taken awayfrom you. '"

"Then I will.... " Semolo began. 

"You will keep still!" came a clear, incisive thought, just as Garlockwas getting ready to intervene. Miss Mitala then switched from thought, which everyone there could understand, and launched a ten-second blastof furious speech. Semolo wilted and the girl went on in thought: "He'llbe good--or else. "

A girl demanded recognition and got it. "Semolo's right. What's the useof being Primes if we can't get any good out of it? We're the strongestpeople of our respective worlds. I say we're bosses and should keep onbeing bosses. "

Garlock got ready to shut her up, then paused; holding his fire. 

"Ah, yes, friend Garlock, you are maturing fast, " came Thaker's thoughtand, in answer to Garlock's surprise, it went on, "This situation will, I think, be self-adjusting; just as will be those in the as yetunexplored regions of space. "

The girl kept on. "I, at least, am going to keep on bossing my ownplanet, milking it just as I.... "

Her companion had been trying to crack her shield. Failing in that, hestepped in close and tapped her--solidly, but with carefully-measuredforce--behind the ear. Before she could fall, he 'ported her back upinto their quarters. "This happens all the time, " he explained to thegroup at large. "Carry on. "

Discussion went on, with less and less acrimony, all the rest of theday. And the next day, and the next. Then, argument having reached thepoint of diminishing returns, the three starships took the forty-sixcouples home. 

 * * *

The six Primes went into Evans' office, where the lawyer was deeplyengaged with Gerald Banks, the Galaxians' Public Relations Chief. Bankswas holding his head in both hands. 

"Garlock, maybe _you_ can tell me, " Banks demanded. "How much of thisstuff, if any, can I publish? And if so, _how_?"

"Nothing, " Garlock said, flatly. 

"What do you think, Thaker?" Belle asked. "You're smarter than we are. "

"What Thaker thinks has no bearing, " Garlock said. 

Belle, Fao, and Delcamp all began to protest at once, but they weresilenced by Thaker himself. 

"Garlock is right. My people are not your people; I know not at all howyour people think or what they will or will not believe. I go. "

"That lets Deg and me out too; then, double-plus, " Fao said with a grin, "so we'll leave that baby on your laps. We go, too. "

"Well, little Miss Weisenheimer, " Garlock smiled quizzically at Belle, "You grabbed the ball--what are you going to do with it?"

"Nothing, I guess.... " Belle thought for a minute. "We couldn't stuffany part of that down the throat of a simple-minded six-year-old. Wehaven't really _got_ anything, anyway. Time enough, I think, when wehave six or seven hundred planets in each region, instead of only oneplanet. Maybe we'll know something by then. Does that make sense?"

"It does to me, " Garlock said, and the others agreed. 

"That Thakern 'we go' business sounds rough at first, but it'scontagious. Fao and Deggi caught it, and I feel like I'm coming downwith it myself. How about you, Clee?"

"We go, " Belle and Garlock said in unison, and vanished. 

 * * *

Aboard the _Pleiades_, the next few days passed quietly enough. Jamesset up, in the starship's memory banks, a sequence to mass-produceinstruction tapes and blueprints. Garlock and Belle began systematicallyto explore the Tellurian Region. Now, however, their technique wasdifferent. If either Prime of any world was not enthusiastic about theproject--

"Very well. Think it over, " they would say. "We will get in touch withyou again in about a year, " and the starship would go on to the nextplanet. 

On Earth, however, things became less and less tranquil with every daythat passed. For, in deciding not to publish anything, Garlock had notconsidered at all the basic function and the tremendous ability, power, and scope of _The Press_. And Galaxian Hall had never before been closedto the public; not for any hour of any day of any year of its existence. A non-profit organization, dependent upon the public for its tremendousincome, the Galaxian Society had always courted that public in everypossible ethical way. 

Thus, in the first hour of closure, a bored reporter came out, read thesmoothly-phrased notice, and lepped it in to the desk. It might beworth, he thought, half an inch. 

Later in the day, however, the world's most sensitive news-nose began toitch. Did, or did not, this quiet, unannounced closing smellever-so-slightly of cheese? Wherefore, Benjamin Bundy, the newscasterwho had covered the starship's maiden flight, went out himself to lookthe thing over. He found the whole field closed. Not only closed, butGunther-blocked impenetrably tight. He studied the announcement, hissixth sense--the born newsman's sense for news--probing every word. 

"Regret ... Research ... Of such extreme delicacy ... Vibration ... Temperature control ... One one-hundredth of one degree Centigrade.... "

He sought out his long-time acquaintance Banks; finding him in atemporary office half a block away from the Hall. "What's the story, Jerry?" he asked. "The _real_ story, I mean?"

"You know, as much about it as I do, Ben. Garlock and James don't wastetime trying to detail me on that kind of business, you know. "

This should have satisfied any newshawk, but Bundy's nose still itched. He mulled things over for a minute, then probed, finding that he couldread nothing except Banks' outermost, most superficial thoughts. 

"Well ... Maybe ... But.... " Then Bundy plunged. "All you have to do, Jerry, is tell me screens-half-down that your damn story is true. "

"And that's the one thing I can't do, " Banks admitted; and Bundy couldnot detect that any part of his sheepishness was feigned. "You're justtoo damned smart, Ben. "

"Oh--one of _those_ things? So that's it?"

"Yup. I told Evans it might not work. "

That should have satisfied the reporter, but it didn't. "Now it doesn'tsmell just a trifle cheesy; it stinks like rotten fish. You won't goscreens down on that one, either. "

"No comment. "

"Oh, joy!" Bundy exulted. "So big that Gerald Banks, the top press-agentof all time, actually doesn't _want_ publicity! The starship works--thislack-of-control stuff is the bunk--from here to another star in nothingflat--Garlock's back, and he's brought--what _have_ you got in there, Jerry?"

"The only way I can tell you is in confidence, for Evans' release. I'dlike to, Ben, believe me, but I can't. "

"Confidence, hell! Do you think we won't get it?"

"In that case, no comment. " The interview ended and the siege began. 

 * * *

Newshounds and detectives questioned and peered and probed. They duginto morgues, tabulating and classifying. They recalled and taped andsifted all the gossip they had heard. They got a picture of sorts, butit was maddeningly confusing and incomplete. And, since it was certainthat inter-systemic matters were involved, they could notextrapolate--any guess was far too apt to be wrong. Thus nothing went onthe air or appeared in print; and, although the surface remained calm, all newsdom seethed to its depths. 

Wherefore haggard Banks and harried Evans greeted Garlock with shouts ofjoy when the four wanderers came back to spend the week end on Earth. 

"I'll talk to 'em, " Garlock decided, after the long story had been told. "Have somebody get hold of Bundy and ask him to come out. "

"Get _hold_ of him!" Banks snorted. "He's here. Twenty-four hours a day. Eating sandwiches and cat-napping on chairs in the lobby. All you haveto do is unseal that door. "

Garlock flung the door wide. Bundy rushed in, followed by a more-or-lesssteady stream of some fifty other top-bracket newspeople, both men andwomen. 

"Well, Garlock, perhaps _you_ will give us some screens-down facts?"Bundy asked, angrily. 

"I'll give you _all_ the screens-down.... "

"Clee!" "You're crazy!" "You can't!" "Don't!" Belle and all theOperators protested at once. 

 * * *

Ignoring the objections, Garlock cut his shield to half and gave thewhole group a true account of everything that had happened in thegalaxy. Then, while they were all too stunned to speak, a grin ofsaturnine amusement spread over his dark, five-o'clock-shadowed face. 

"You pestiferous gnats insisted on grabbing the ball, " he sneered. "Nowlet's see you run with it. "

Bundy came out of his trance. "_What_ a story!" he yelled. "We'llplaster it.... "

"Yeah, " Garlock said, dryly. "_What_ a story. Exactly. "

"Oh. " Bundy deflated suddenly. "You'll have to prove it--demonstrateit--of course. "

"Of course? You tickle me. Not only do I not have to prove it, I won't. I won't even confirm it. "

Bundy glared at Garlock, then whirled on Banks. "If you don't give methis in shape to use, you'll never get another line or mentionanywhere!"

"Oh, no?" For the first time in his professional life Banks gloated, openly and avidly. "From now on, my friend, who is in the saddle? Who isgoing to come to whom? Oh, _brother_!"

When the fuming newsmen had gone, Garlock said, "It'll leak, of course. "

"Of course, " Banks agreed. "'It is rumored ... ' 'from a usually reliablesource ... ' and so on. Nothing definite, but each one of them will wantto put out the first and biggest. "

"That's what I figured. It'll have to break sometime and I thoughteasing it out would be best ... But wait a minute.... " he thought fortwo solid minutes. "But we're going to need a lot of money, and we'rejust about broke, aren't we?" This thought was addressed to Frank Macey, the Galaxians' treasurer. 

"Worse than broke--much worse. "

"I could loan you a couple of credits, Frank, " Belle said, brightly. "But go ahead, Clee. "

"People like to be sidewalk superintendents. Suppose they could watchthe construction of an outpost so far away that nobody ever dreamed ofever getting there. Could you do anything with that, Jerry?"

"_Could I! Just!_" and Banks, went into a rhapsody. 

"That's the first good idea any one of you crackpots has had for fiveyears, " Macey said, suddenly. "But wouldn't transportation of materialand so on present problems?"

"No; just buying it, " Garlock said, soberly. "Oh, rather, paying forit. "

"No trouble there.... "

"What?" Belle exclaimed. "'No trouble, ' it says here in fine print? Howthe old skinflint has changed--instead of screaming his head off aboutspending money he's actually _offering_ to. Frank, I'll loan you _three_credits!"

"Hush, honey-chile, the men-folks are talking man-business. Look, Clee. We'll use the _Pleiades_ at first, while we're building a regulartransport. A hundred passengers per trip, one thousand credits oneway.... "

"Wow!" Belle put in. "Our ex-skinflint is now a bare-faced, legally-protected robber. "

"By no means, Belle, " Evans said. "How much would that be per mile?"

"Say ten round trips per day. That would be twenty million a day grossfor a small ship not intended for passenger service. When we get shipsbuilt ... And the extras.... " The money-man went into a financial revelof his own. 

"Lots of extras, " Banks agreed. "And oh, _brother_, what apublic-relations dream of heaven!"

"Maybe I'm dumb, " Garlock broke in, "but just what are you going to usefor money to get started?"

"The minute we confirm any part of the story, the credit of the GalaxianSociety will jump from X-O to AA-A1. "

"Oh. So Belle and I will have to lose our _Pleiades_ for a while. Idon't like that, but we do need the money ... But we can have her forthis coming week?"

"Of course. "

"So maybe we'd better break the story now, instead of letting it leak. "

"Can you, after what you just told them?"

"Sure I can. " He set his mind and searched. "Bundy, this is Garlock.... "

"So what am I supposed to do--burst into tears of joy?"

"Save it. I changed my mind. You can break it as fast and as hard as youlike. I'll play along. "

 * * *

"Yeah? Why the switch? What's the angle?"

"Strictly commercial. Get it from Banks. "

"And you'll--personally--go on my hour with it?"

"Yes. Also, we'll demonstrate--take you to any star-system in thegalaxy. You and all the rest of the newshawks who were here and anyfifty VIP's you want to invite. Tomorrow morning all right with you?"

"You, personally, in the _Pleiades_?" Bundy insisted. 

"Better than that. The other two starships, too. You've gotthem--particularly those four Primes--clearly in mind?"

"Not exactly, there was so much of it. Spread it on me now, huh?"Garlock did so. "Thanks, pal, for the scoop. I'll crash it right now, and follow up with Banks. 'Bye!"

"Think you can deliver on that, Clee?" Banks asked. 

"Sure. Both Deggi and Alsyne will need a lot of extra money, fast. They'll play along. "

They did; and that three-starship tour--which visited twenty solarsystems instead of one--was the most sensational thing old Earth hadever spawned. 

Belle and Garlock did not spend that week end on Earth. "We go, " theysaid, as soon as the _Pleiades_ was empty of pressmen, and they tookJames and Lola along. "If we _never_ see another such brawl as this isgoing to be, " Belle told Banks, who was basking in glory and entreatingthem to stay on for the show, "it will be exactly twenty minutes toosoon. "

Thus it came about that Earth's first four deep-spacemen were completelyout of reach when unexpected developments began. 

 * * *

Alonzo P. Ferber was one of the VIP's on Bundy's personally-conductedtour of the stars. As has been said, he was a very able executive. Hehad an extremely keen profit-sense. This new thing smelled--simplyreeked--of money. SSE would _have_ to get in on it. 

Ferber was not thin-skinned; where money was concerned it would nevereven occur to him to cherish grudges or to retain animosities. WhereforeSSE's purchasing department suggested to the Galaxian Society thatnegotiations be opened concerning licenses, franchises, royalties, andso on. These suggestions were politely but firmly brushed off. Thenemissaries were sent, of ever-increasing caliber and weight. Next, Ferber himself tried the tri-di; and finally, he came in person. 

Rebuffed, he made such legally-sound threats that Evans and Macey agreedto a meeting; stating flatly, however, that no commitments couldpossibly be made without the knowledge and approval of the Society'spresident, Cleander Garlock. Thus, at the meeting, the Galaxians madeonly two statements that were even approximately definite. One was thatGarlock would probably return to Earth during the afternoon or eveningof the following Friday; the other that they would take the matter upwith Garlock as soon as they could. 

After that meeting Macey was unperturbed, but Evans was a deeply worriedman. 

"You see, " he explained, "the real crux was not even mentioned. "

"No? What is it, then?"

"Operators, Primes, and the practically non-existent laws pertaining totheir ... What? Labor? Skill? Genius? For instance, could Garlock beforced to do whatever it is that he does? On the other hand, if Ferberoffered Belle Bellamy five million credits a year to 'work' for SSE, isthere anything we could do about it?"

"Oh. I thought all there was to it was that you'd delay 'em for a yearor so and that'd be it. "

"Far from it. To date I have listed fifty-eight points for which, as faras we can learn, there are no precedents, " and the lawyer called ameeting of his staff. 

For Belle and Garlock, the week went fast. On Friday afternoon, highabove Earth's Galaxian Field, Garlock said, more than half regretfully, "No more fun. Back to the desk. Back to the salt-mines. "

"I weep for you, " Belle snickered. "Sob, sob. Shed him a tear, Lola. "

"One tear coming up. Oh, woe; oh, woe.... "

"Oh, whoa!" James snorted. "Why the sob-and-moan routine, Clee, from aguy who's going to be monarch of all he surveys?"

"His conscience aches him, " Belle explained. "This monarching businessis tough if you haven't thought about how to monarch, and he hasn't. Have you, Clee?"

"Not a lick. " Garlock smiled slightly. "I been busy. "

"You better start to, " she advised, darkly. "You aren't busy now and wehave an hour. We better confer--I'll make like a slave-driver. "

They 'ported into his room and he set the blocks. His attitude changedinstantly. "Nice act, Belle. What was it all about?"

"That theory of yours. Your predictions are too uncannily accurate to beguesswork, and the more times you dead-center the bullseye the worsescared I get. I really want to know, Clee. "

"Okay. It isn't complete--I need a lot more data--but I'll show you whatI have. It's fairly strong medicine and it comes in big chunks. "

"It would have to--it covers the whole macrocosmic universe, doesn'tit?"

"Yes. I'll start with the striking fact that, on every out-galaxy planetwe visited, the human beings were _Homo sapiens_ to N decimal places. Fertile with each other and, according to expert testimony, with us. Allplanets had humanoid 'guardians, ' the Arpalones and Arpales. Some, butnot all, had one or more non-human, more-or-less-intelligent races, suchas the Fumapties, the Lemarts, the Sencors, and so on. These other racesnever seemed to fight each other, but both races of Guardians fought anyand all of them, on sight and to the death. What do those facts mean toyou?"

 * * *

"Nothing beyond face value. I've thought about them but I haven't beenable to come up with anything. "

"I have. " He unrolled a sheet of drafting paper covered with diagrams, symbols, and equations. "But before I go into this stuff, consider thehuman body. How many red cells are there in your blood stream?"

"Billions, I suppose. "

"And there are billions of human beings on billions of planets; eachhaving red blood cells identical, as far as we know, with yours andmine. Also white cells. Also, sometimes, various kinds of pathogenicmicro-organisms, such as staphs, streps, viruses, spiros, and so on. 

"Okay. My thought is that the Lemarts, Ozobes, and the like areanalogous to disease-producing organisms. We saw the full range ofeffects--from none at all up to death itself. "

"But they--the Ozobes and so on--died, too. "

 * * *

"How long do disease germs live in a human body after they've killedit?"

"But that horrible Dilipic--the golop. They don't seem to fit. "

"Try that on for size as cancer. Also, the Arpalones typed us beforethey'd let us land on any planet. Why didn't we blast them out of theway and land anyway?"

"Why, we didn't want to. It wasn't worth while. "

"We couldn't. Psychic block. And if we had, we would have died. Different blood-types don't mix. "

"So you and I are merely two red cells in the bloodstream of asuper-dooper-galactic super-monster? Phooie!" she jeered. "That chestnutwas propounded a thousand years ago. Are you trying to take me for aride on _that_ old sawhorse?"

"That's the attitude I had at first. So now we're ready for the chart. "He pointed to a group of symbols. "We start with symbolic logic;manipulating like so to get this. " There was a long mathematicaldissertation; a mind-to-mind, rigorous, point-by-point proof. 

"Q. E. D. " Garlock concluded. 

"I see your math, and if I believed half of it I'd be scared witless. Those few pieces fit, but they're scattered around in vast areas ofblankness and you're jumping around like the Swiss miss leaping from Alpto Alp. And how about our own galaxy, the most important piece of all?It's different, and we're different, mentally. That wrecks your wholetheory. "

"No. I told you I need a lot more data. Also, beyond a certain point theanalogy appears to get looser. "

"_Appears_ to! It's as loose as a goose!"

"Think a minute. Is it actually loose, or are we getting up intoconcepts that no human mind can grasp? That might be the case, youknow. "

"Oh.... You're quite a salesman, Clee, but I'm still not buying. "

"Our galaxy is a bit of specialized tissue--part of a ganglion, maybe. Over here, see? I'll have to leave it dangling until we find some morelike it. "

"I see. But anyway, you haven't a tenth's worth of real material on thatwhole sheet. Feed everything you have there into a computer and it'djust laugh at you. "

"Sure it would. The great advantage of the human brain is its ability toarrive at valid conclusions from incomplete data. For instance, whatwould your computer do with the figures you shot at me the day westarted out? 'Thirty-nine, twenty-two, thirty-nine. Five seven. Onethirty-five. ' Yet they're completely informative. "

"To anyone interested in that kind of figures, yes. "

"Which includes practically all adults. Then take the figure three pointone four one five nine. Compy would still be baffled; but, unlike thefirst set, most people would be, too. "

"Yes. Perhaps two out of ten would get your message. "

"Now take something really new, like the original work on gravitation orrelativity. No possible computer would be of any use. That takes a_brain_!"

"The brain of a Newton or an Einstein, yes. " Belle thought for a minute, then grinned at him impishly. "Now watch the brain of a Bellamy perform. Get into high gear, brain.... I wish I knew something about biochemicalembryology; but I read somewhere that ova are sterile, so our galaxy isan ovum. Therefore our super-galooper is a gal--which incontrovertiblefact accounts for and explains rigorously the long-known truth thatwomen always have been, are now, and always will be vastly superior tomen in every quality, aspect, and.... "

"Hold it!" Garlock snapped. His face hardened into intenseconcentration. Then: "Do you think you're kidding, Belle?"

"Why, of _course_ I'm kidding, you big.... "

"Look here, then. " He picked up a pencil and filled in blank after blankafter blank. "I'm making one unjustifiable assumption--that the_Pleiades_ is the first intergalactic starship. The super-being is afemale, and she is just becoming pregnant.... "

"Flapdoodle! There are no blood cells in a sperm, and I don't thinkthere are any in an ovum. "

"I didn't mention either sperm or ovum. The analogy is so loose herethat it holds only in the broadest, most general terms. The actualprocess of reproduction is unknowable. But wherever we went, we changedthings. Not only by what we actually did, but also as acatalyst--no.... "

"No, not a catalyst. A hormone. "

"Exactly. Each of these changes would cause others, and so on. Aninfinite series. Calling the first three terms alpha, beta, and gamma, we operate like this.... " Garlock's pencil was flying now. "Followingme?"

"On your tail. " Belle was breathing hard; as the blank spaces becamefewer and fewer her face began to turn white. 

"From this we get that ... And _that_ makes the whole bracket tie intothe same conclusion I had before. So, except for that one assumption, it's solid. "

 * * *

"My Lord, Clee!" Belle studied the chart. "I mentioned Newton andEinstein ... Add to that 'the brain of a Garlock, better than either. '"Then, seeing his reaction, "You're blushing. I didn't think.... "

"Cut the comedy. You know I couldn't carry either of their hats to adog-fight. "

"And I would _never_ have believed that you are basically modest. "

"I said cut out the kidding, Belle. "

"I'm deadly serious. A brain that could do _that_, " she waved at thechart, "... Well, even I am not enough of a heel to belittle one of themost tremendous intuitions ever achieved by man. Not that I like it. It's horrible. It denies mankind everything that made him come up fromthe slime--everything that made him man. "

 * * *

"Not at all. Nothing is changed, in man's own frame of reference. Itmerely takes our thinking one step farther. That step, of course, isn'teasy. "

"_That_ is the understatement of all time. What it will _do_, though, isset up an inferiority complex that would wipe out the whole human race. "

"There might be some slight tendency. Also, since my basic assumptioncan't be justified, the whole thing may be fallacious. So I'm not goingto publish it. " He glanced at the chart and it vanished. 

"Clee!" Belle stared, almost goggle-eyed. "With your name? Thetremendous splash ... I see. You're really grown up. "

"Not all the way, probably; but pretty nearly--I hope. "

"But some of the ... Not exactly corollaries, but.... " Belle's face, which had regained some of its color, began again to pale. 

"Which one of the many?"

"The most shattering one, to me, concerns intelligence. If it is truethat our vaunted mentality is only that of one blood cell compared tothat of a whole brain ... And that intelligence is banked, level uponlevel ... Well, it's simply mind-wrecking. I've been trying madly not tothink of that concept, at all, but I can't put it off much longer. "

"Now's as good a time as any. I'll hold your hand. "

"You'd better hold more of me than that, I think. "

"I'll do even that, in a good cause. " He put his arms around her; heldher close. "Go ahead. Face it. All the way down and all the way up. You've got what it takes. You'll come back sane and it'll never botheryou again. "

She closed her eyes, put her head on his shoulder. Her every muscle wenttense. 

Neither of them ever knew how long they stood there, close-clasped andmotionless in silence; but finally her muscles loosened. She lifted herhead; raised her brimming eyes. 

"All the way down?" he asked. 

"To almost a geometrical point. "

"And all the way up?"

"I touched the fringe of infinity. "

"Intelligence all the way?"

"All the way. I couldn't understand any of them, of course, but I lookedeach one squarely in the eye. "

"Good girl. And you're still sane. "

"As much so as ever ... More so, maybe. " She disengaged herself, satdown on the bed, lighted a cigarette, and smoked half of it. Then shestood up. "Clee, if anything in the whole universe ever knocked hell outof anything, that did out of me. I'm going to do something that willtake about ten minutes. Will you wait right here?"

"Of course. Take all the time you want. "

 * * *

When she came back Garlock leaped to his feet and stared speechlessly. He could not even whistle. Belle's hair was now its natural deep, richchestnut, her lipstick was red, her nails were bare, and she wore awhite shirt and an almost-knee-length crimson skirt. 

"Here's what I'm going to do, " she said, quietly. "I'm going to be aplain, ordinary brownette. I'm going to marry you as soon as we land;registered permanent family. I'm going to have six kids and spoil themrotten. In short, I have grown up--partly up, at least--too. "

"Plain?" he managed, finally. "Ordinary? You? Yes--like a super-novagoing off under a man's feet!" With a visible effort, Garlock pulledhimself together. "I don't need to tell you what a surprise this is, andcan't tell you what it means to me. But you never have said you love me. Hadn't you better?"

"I'm afraid to. Our next kiss will be different. I'd spoil all this nicenew make-up. " She tried to grin in her old-time fashion, but failed. Shesobered, then, and went on with a completely new intensity. "Listen, Clee. I'm all done--forever--lying and pretending to you. I love you somuch that ... Well, there simply aren't any thoughts. And when I thinkof how I acted, it hurts--Lord, how it hurts! I don't see how you canlove me at all. It'd take a miracle. "

"Miracles happen, then. " He put both arms around her, very gently. "Forthe first time in my life I'm cutting my screens to zero. Come in. "

"What?" For a moment she was unable to believe the thought. Then, cutting her own shield, she went fully into his mind. "Oh, I didn't darehope you could _possibly_ feel.... Oh, this is wonderful, Clee--simply_wonderful_!"

As the two fully-opened minds met and joined she threw both arms aroundhim and their embrace tightened as though their bodies were trying tobecome as nearly one as were their minds. Finally she pulled herselfaway and put up a solid block. 

"What a mess!" she said, shakily. "Lipstick all _over_ you. "

"Why words, sweetheart? That was perfect. "

"Oh, it was ... But wide open, with such a mind as yours.... " shepaused, then came back to normal almost with a snap. "... But say; I'llbet that's what Therea and Alsyne were doing. That 'fusion' thing. We'llpractise it tonight. "

He pondered briefly. "Sure it was. "

"But he said they learned it from us. How could he have, when we.... Oh, we did, of course, in moments of high stress ... But we didn't actually_know_ it.... " She paused. 

"We wouldn't admit it, you mean, even to ourselves. "

"Maybe; and of course it never occurred to us--callow youngsters we werethen, weren't we?--that it could be done for more than a microsecond ata time. Or that two people could ever, possibly, _live_ that way. "

"Or what a life it would be. So let's chop this and get back to you andme. "

"Uh-huh, let's, " she agreed, but in a severely practical tone. "You'vegot lipstick even on your shirt. So change it and I'll go put on a newface and bring over some stuff and clean you up. "

While she cleaned, she talked. "I told you our next kiss would bedifferent, but I had no idea ... Wow! _That_ will be as much different, too, I'm sure.... Hm-h-h-nh?" Again she pressed herself against him;this time in a somewhat different fashion. 

"Stop that, you little devil, or I'll.... " His arms came up ofthemselves, but he forced them back down. "... No, I won't. We'll savethat for tonight, too. "

"I'll behave myself!" She laughed, pure joy in voice, eyes, and smile. "I bet myself you wouldn't and I won! You're tall, solid gold, Cleedarling--the absolute top. "

"Thanks, sweetheart. I wish that were true, " he said, soberly. "But Ican't help wondering if two such hellions as you and I are can make a goof marriage--no, cancel that. We'll do it--all we have to figure out ishow. "

"I know what you mean. Not at first--it'll be purely wonderful then. After five years, say, when the glamor has worn off and I've had threeof our six children and two of them are in bed with the epizootic andI'm all frazzled out and you're strung up tight as a bowstring withoverwork and.... "

"Hold it! Uh-uh. No. If we can live together six months--or even sixweeks--without killing each other, we'll have it made. It's at firstthat it'll be rugged. No matter how rugged it gets, though, we'll knowone thing for certain sure. We _couldn't_ live apart. That'll give usenough leverage. Check?"

"And double check. " She giggled sunnily. "I'll take care of any and allsituations, whatever they are, that arise in the first six months. You'll be responsible for the next sixty years. That's a perfectly fairand equitable division of responsibility. Now kiss me and we'll go. "

 * * *

When Garlock cut the Gunther blocks, however, James' thought cameinstantly in. "Been trying to get you for twenty minutes, " and in acouple of seconds he brought Garlock and Belle up to date. "So Fatso'sbeen waiting in Evans' office. He's throwing fits all over the place andEvans and Macey are going quietly mad. "

"He'll have to wait, " Garlock decided instantly. "No matter how manyfits he has, no such decision is going to be made until there's enoughof a Galactic Council to make it. "

"Well, you'll have to tell him that yourself. In person. "

"I'll do just that, and tell him so he'll stay told. "

"Okay, but shake a.... "

Belle and Garlock 'ported out into the Main, arms around each other likea couple of college freshmen. 

"... Leg-g--ug--gug.... " James gurgled. 

"_Belle!_" Lola shrieked. "_Why--Belle--Bellamy!_"

"_What_ goes _on_ here?" James demanded. 

"Nothing much, " Garlock replied, although he blushed almost as deeply asBelle did. "We just decided to quit fighting, is all. Cut the rope, Junior, and let the old bucket drop. "

 THE END