p-shouldered man, white hair slightly
untidy, crow's-feet about his tired eyes. An old man, with eyes that
carried a sparkle of youth and kindliness. The eyes of David P.
Ingersoll.

* * * * *

Shandor stared for a long moment, shaking his head like a man seeing a
phantom. When he found words, his voice was choked, the words wrenched
out as if by force. "You're--you're alive."

"Yes. I'm alive."

"Then--" Shandor shook his head violently, turning to the window, and
back to the small, white-haired man. "Then your death was just a fake."

The old man nodded tiredly. "That's right. Just a fake."

Shandor stumbled to a chair, sat down woodenly. "I don't get it," he
said dully. "I just don't get it. The war--that--that I can see. I can
see how you worked it, how you engineered it, but this--" he gestured
feebly at the window, at the black, impossible landscape outside.
"This I can't see. They're bombing us to pieces, they're bombing out
Washington, probably your own home, your own family--last night--"
he stopped, frowning in confusion--"no, it couldn't have been last
night--two days ago?--well, whatever day it was, they were bombing us to
pieces, and you're up here--_why_? What's it going to get you? This
war, this whole rotten intrigue mess, and then _this_?"

The old man walked across the room and stared for a moment at the silent
ship outside. "I hope I can make you understand. We had to come here. We
had no choice. We couldn't do what we wanted any other way than to come
here--_first_. Before anybody else."

"But why _here_? They're building a rocket there in Arizona. They'll be
up here in a few days, maybe a few weeks--"

"Approximately forty-eight hours," corrected Ingersoll quietly. "Within
forty-eight hours the Arizona rocket will be here. If the Russian rocket
doesn't get here first."

"It doesn't make sense. It won't do you any good to be here if the Earth
is blasted to bits. Why come here? And why bring _me_ here, of all
people? What do you want with me?"

Ingersoll smiled and sat down opposite Shandor. "Take it easy," he said
gently. "You're here, you're safe, and you're going to get the whole
story. I realize that this is a bit of a jolt--but you had to be jolted.
With you I think the jolt will be very beneficial, since we want you
with us. That's why we brought you here. We need your help, and we need
it very badly. It's as simple as that."

Shandor was on his feet