didn't get the full
story on them. And we've probably left a thousand legends behind us,
including that beautiful mess at your station." He grinned.

"Right now, their folklore is loaded with sorcerers, warlocks, wizards,
and what not. After all, whatever their past is, they're primitive now.
So those stories are going to grow and continue. Eventually, long before
they really develop a stabilized ethic, someone's going to collate that
whole mess. And do you know what he'll come up with?"

"Us?"

"Us, yes. Us, in a distorted form." Kweiros nodded emphatically. "They
will come to a full realization that there are advanced entities running
around the cosmos, entities that have all kinds of mysterious powers.
And they'll invent still more powers and characteristics--mostly bad."
He spread his hands, then laid them on the desk in front of him.

* * *

"That way, they could develop a hopeless, planet-wide trauma--a sort of
super inferiority complex--and they could contract on themselves, devote
their time to an intensive study of demonology, and very possibly come
apart at the seams.

"Or, they could do something else. I was watching Elwar while I was
checking that tape. Did you notice anything peculiar?"

"He seemed disturbed."

"As though he were sensing my thoughts?"

"Something like that. But--"

Kweiros nodded. "But I had a shield up. You could detect no trace of
mental action. Right?"

"Yes, sir."

"That's what I thought." Kweiros shook his head and looked closely at
Jaeger.

"Can you imagine," he added, "a primitive race with the power to detect
a galactic by his thoughts? And can you imagine that power developing
until that detection is possible at interstellar ranges, with members
of that race being able to pick up faint impressions from received
thoughts--distorted impressions? And can you imagine that same race,
ignorant of the humanic equations, devoid of a stable ethic,
superstitious, distrustful and fearful of advanced entities? They would
be undetectable by normal telepathic means, you know. And suppose they
were disposed to destroy what they could not understand." He frowned.

Jaeger looked back at him, his eyes becoming wide. Suddenly, his gaze
defocused and he looked aside, to stare unseeingly at the floor.

"Something's got to be done, sir," he said reluctantly.

Kweiros nodded. "Something's got to be done," he agreed. "Of course,
there's another side to the picture.