e, to fight the war. It may come for war, but it must go back for
peace. We built this rocket to get us here first--built it from
government specifications, though they didn't know it. We had the plant
to build it in, and we were able to hire technologists _not_ to find the
right answers in Arizona until we were finished. Because the whole value
of the war-threat depended solely and completely upon our getting here
_first_. When the Arizona rocket gets to the moon, the war must be
stopped. Only then can we start the real 'operation Bear Trap.' That
ship, whether American or Russian, will meet with a great surprise when
it reaches the Moon. We haven't been spotted here. We left in darkness
and solitude, and if we were seen, it was chalked off as a guided
missile. We're well camouflaged, and although we don't have any sort of
elaborate base--just a couple of sealed rooms--we have a ship and we
have weapons. When the first ship comes up here, the control of the
situation will be in our hands. Because when it comes, it will be sent
back with an ultimatum to _all_ nations--to cease warfare, or suffer the
most terrible, nonpartisan bombardment the world has ever seen. A
pinpoint bombardment, from our ship, here on the Moon. There won't be
too much bickering I think. The war will stop. All eyes will turn to us.
And then the big work begins."

He smiled, his thin face showing tired lines in the bright light. "I
may die before the work is done. I don't know, nor care. I have no
successor, nor have we any plans to perpetuate our power once the work
is done. As soon as the people themselves will take over the work, the
job is theirs, because no group can hope to ultimately control space.
But first people must be sold on space, from the bottom up. They must be
forced to realize the implications of a ship on the moon. They must
realize that the first ship was the hardest, that the trap is sprung.
The amputation is a painful one, there wasn't any known anaesthetic, but
it will heal, and from here there is no further need for war. But the
people must see that, understand its importance. They've got to have the
whole story, in terms that they can't mistake. And that means a
propagandist--"

"You have Mariel," said Shandor. "He's had the work, the experience--"

"He's getting tired. He'll tell you himself his ideas are slow, he isn't
on his toes any longer. He needs a new man, a helper, to take his place.
When the first ship comes, hi