."

Chambers laughed softly. "Not quite mad enough at us to do that, eh?"

Greg looked at him. "I guess that must have been it."

"But I'm curious about the green space fields," persisted Russ.

"Simple," said Craven. "They were just fields that had more energy
packed into a certain portion of space than space could take. Space
fields that had far more than their share of energy, more than they
could hold. A super-saturated solution will crystalize almost
immediately onto the tiniest crystal put into it. Those fields acted the
same way. They crystalized instantly into hyper-space the moment they
came into contact with other energy, whether as photons of radiation,
matter or other space fields. Your anti-entropy didn't stand a chance
under those conditions. When they crystalized, they took a chunk of the
field along with them, a small chunk, but one after another they ate a
hole right through your screen."

* * * * *

"Something like that would have a commercial value," said Greg. "Useful
in war, too, and now that mankind has taken to space, now that we're
spreading out, we must think of possible attack. There must be life on
other planets throughout the Galaxy. Someday they'll come. If they
don't, someday we'll go to them. And we may need every type of armament
we can get our hands on."

Chambers knocked the ash off his cigar and was staring out the vision
port. The ship had swung so that through the port could be seen the
distant star toward which the _Interplanetarian_ had been driving.

"For my part," said Chambers, slowly, measuring each word, "you can have
those findings of ours. We'll give them to you, knowing you will use
them as they should be used. Craven can tell you how they work. That is,
if Craven wants to. He is the man who developed them."

"Certainly," said Craven. "They'll be something to remember us by."

* * * * *

"But you are coming back with us, aren't you?" asked Greg.

Craven shook his head. "No, I'm going with Chambers. I don't know what
he's thinking of, but whatever it is, it's all right with me. We've been
together too long. I'd miss someone to fight with."

Chambers was still staring out the vision port. He was talking, but he
did not seem to be talking to them.

"I had a dream, you see. I saw the people struggling against the
inefficiency and stupidity of popular government. I saw the periodic
rise of bad leaders.