im. "It seems, though, that a piece of vital information was
possessed by those who were unable to evaluate it, and until this
afternoon, I was ignorant of its existence. Colonel Quinton, suppose
you repeat what you told me, on the way down from Skilk."

"Well, general, don't you think we ought to have Dr. Gomes do that?"
Paula asked. "After all, he constructed those bombs on Niflheim, and
it'll be he who'll have to build ours."

* * * * *

Von Schlichten nodded in instant agreement.

"That's right." He looked around. "Where's Dr. Lourenco Gomes, the
nuclear engineer who came in on the _Pretoria_, two weeks ago? Send
out for him, and get him in here to me at once."

There was another awkward silence. Then Kent Pickering, the chief of
the Gongonk Island power-plant, cleared his throat.

"Why, general, didn't you know? Dr. Gomes is dead. He was killed
during the first half hour of the uprising."

XI

He flinched inwardly, and tightened his eye-muscles on the edge of the
monocle to keep them from flinching physically as well, trying to
freeze out of his face the consternation he felt.

"That's bad, Kent," he said. "Very bad. I'd been counting heavily on
Dr. Gomes to design a bomb of our own."

"Well, general, if you please." That was Air-Commodore Leslie
Hargreaves. "You say you suspect that King Orgzild has developed a
nuclear bomb. If that's true, it's a horrible danger to all of us. But
I find it hard to believe that the Keegarkans could have done so, with
their resources and at their technological level. Now, if it had been
the Kragans, that would have been different, but...."

"Paula, you'd better carry on and explain what you told me, and add
anything else you can think of that might be relevant.... Is that
sound-recorder turned on? Then turn it on, somebody; we want this
taped."

* * * * *

Paula rose and began talking: "I suppose you all understand what
conditions are on Niflheim, and how these Ullran native workers are
employed; however, I'd better begin by explaining the purpose for
which these nuclear bombs were designed and used...."

He smiled; she realized that he needed time to think, and she was
stalling to provide it. He drew a pencil and pad toward him and began
doodling in a bored manner, deliberately closing his mind to what she
was saying. There were two assumptions, he considered: first, that
King Orgzild already p