was that I was not lying nor had I been subjected to what is
commonly known as 'brain washing'. My memories were accurate and
complete.

"I did not know then, nor do I know now, the location of the planet
Gelakin. This information was not denied me by the Galactics; I simply
could not understand the terms they used. All I can say now--and all
I could say then--is that Gelakin is some three point five kiloparsecs
from Sol in the general direction of Saggitarius."

"You don't know any more about that now than you did then?" Jackson
interrupted, suddenly and quickly.

"That's what I said," McLeod snapped. "And that's what I meant. Let me
finish.

"I was handsomely paid for my work in Galactic money. They use the
English word 'credit', but I'm not sure the English word has exactly
the same meaning as the Galactic term. At any rate, my wages, if such
I may call them, were confiscated by the Earth Government; I was given
the equivalent in American dollars--after the eighty per cent income
tax had been deducted. I ended up with just about what I would have
made if I had stayed home and drawn my salary from Columbia University
and the American Museum of Natural History.

"Please, Mr. Jackson. I only have a little more to say.

"I decided to write a book in order to make the trip pay off.
'Interstellar Ark' was a popularized account of the trip that made me
quite a nice piece of change because every literate and half-literate
person on Earth is curious about the Galactics. The book tells
everything I know about the trip and the people. It is a matter of
public record. Since that is so, I refused to answer a lot of
darn-fool questions--by which I mean that I refuse to answer any more
questions that you already know the answers to. I am not being
stubborn; I am just sick and tired of the whole thing."

Actually, the notoriety that had resulted from the trip and the book
had not pleased McLeod particularly. He had never had any strong
desire for fame, but if it had come as a result of his work in zoology
and the related sciences he would have accepted the burden. If his
"The Ecology of the Martian Polar Regions" had attracted a hundredth
of the publicity and sold a hundredth of the number of copies that
"Interstellar Ark" had sold, he would have been gratified indeed. But
the way things stood, he found the whole affair irksome.

Jackson looked at his notebook as if he expected to see answers
written there instead of ques