, sir! Experiments in dissolving
contacts in that manner have been invariably fatal to all connected
individuals."

The spokesman hesitated. "You and every member of the Machine with
whom you are now in contact would die together if that were done?"

"Yes, sir. That is certain what the results of those experiments
show."

Administrator Bradshaw, who had been staring coldly at Rainbolt, asked
in a hard, flat voice, "If you do nothing to break the contact, how
long will this situation continue?"

Rainbolt looked at him. "Indefinitely, sir," he said. "There is
nothing I need to do about it. It is a static condition."

"In that case," Bradshaw said icily, "_this_ should serve to break the
contact through you!"

As his hand came up, leveling a gun, Menesee was half out of his
chair, hands raised in alarmed protest. "Stop him!" Menesee shouted.

But Administrator Bradshaw already was sagging sideways over the
armrest of this chair, head lolling backwards. The gun slid from his
hand, dropped to the platform.

"Director Menesee," Dorn said coolly from beside Bradshaw, "I thank
you for your intended warning! Since the administrator and the
spokesman are the only persons permitted to bear arms in the Tribunal
Hall, I was naturally prepared to paralyze Administrator Bradshaw if
he showed intentions of resorting to thoughtless action." He looked
down at Rainbolt. "Are Director Menesee and I correct in assuming that
if you died violently the persons with whom you are in contact would
again suffer the same experience?"

"Yes, sir," Rainbolt said. "That is implicit in the principles of
Oneness." He shrugged. "Under most circumstances, it is a very
undesirable effect. But here we have made use of it--"

* * * * *

"The situation," Spokesman Dorn told the directors in the Tribunal
Hall some minutes later, "is then this. There has been nothing
haphazard about the Mars Convicts' plan to coerce us into accepting
their terms. Considering the probable quality of the type of minds
which developed both the stardrive and the extraordinary 'philosophy'
we have encountered today, that could be taken for granted from the
start. We cannot kill their emissary here, or subject him to serious
pain or injury, since we would pay a completely disproportionate
penalty in doing it.

"However, that doesn't mean that we should surrender to the Mars
Convicts. In fact, for all their cleverness, they appear to be a