rge replied, "is not the word."

"All right, whatever the word is. We're all familiar with the plan
you've been talking about. What we want to know is, where do you go from
here?"

"The fact that there has been no reluctance on the part of the armed
forces to talk of an agreement--even though I see that you privately do
not favor such a talk, General Pitt--is an encouraging sign. We of
Zanthar would not want to improve a planet which could not be educated
and would continually oppose our program. This will make it possible for
me to turn in a full report in a few days now."

"Will you please get to the point?"

George could see that the lieutenant was looking at his watch again. It
was 10:58. George spread his mind out more than twenty miles, but could
find no installation, horizontally or vertically, that indicated
trouble. None of the men in the room seemed to think of becoming overly
hostile.

"Yes, General. After my message goes out, there ought to be a landing
party on Earth within a few weeks. While waiting for the first party,
there must be certain preparations--"

George tensed. The lieutenant was reaching for something. But it somehow
didn't seem connected with George. It was something white, a
handkerchief. He saw that the man intended to blow his nose and started
to relax except that George suddenly became aware of the fact the man
_did not need to blow his nose_!

Every thought-piercing circuit became instantly energized in George's
mind and reached out in all directions....

There were at least ten shots from among the men. They stood there
surprised at their actions. Those who had fired their guns now held the
smoking weapons awkwardly in their hands.

George's eyes were gone. Smoke curled upward from the two empty sockets
where bullets had entered a moment before. The smoke grew heavier and
his body became hot. Some of him turned cherry red and the chair on
which he had been sitting started to burn. Finally, he collapsed toward
the table and rolled to the floor.

He started to cool. He was no longer the shiny blue-steel color he had
been--he had turned black. His metal gave off cracking noises and some
of it buckled here and there as it cooled.

* * * * *

A few minutes later, tense military men and civilians grouped around a
radio receiver in Chicago heard the report and relaxed, laughing and
slapping each other on the back. Only one sat unmoved in a corner.