why was
the ship stolen?"

"Everything has to fit for you?" Sarkoff answered. "Well, that's why you
are our leader. I can answer this question. I took the ship so I could
have it repaired. Then, when I brought it back to you, fit to fly again,
all of us would have evidence that we could not deny. You might doubt my
identity, you might doubt me, but you would not doubt a ship that had
been repaired. Thulon," Sarkoff ended, "will you do your stuff?"

* * * * *

Standing a little apart from the rest Hargraves watched. Thulon and his
comrades brought metal from the vessel. How they used the tripod he
could not see but in some way they seemed to use it to melt the metal.
This was magna steel. They worked it as if it were pure tin. It didn't
seem to be hot but they spread sheets of it over the gaping hole in the
hull. They closed the hole. He knew the ship had been repaired but still
he did not move. On the ground before him was something that looked like
an ant hill. He watched this, his mind reaching out and grasping a
bigger problem. The ants, he could see, were swarming.

Nielson detached himself from the group at the ship and came to him.

"Jed," he said hesitatingly.

"What?"

"Jed, what Hal said about me attacking him was right. I thought--I
thought he wasn't Sarkoff. I thought I was doing what was right."

"I don't doubt you," Hargraves answered. His mind was not on what
Nielson was saying.

"Jed."

"Uh?"

"Jed. I--"

"What is it?"

"Jed, will you take over command again?" The words came fast. "I--"

"Huh? Take over command? Don't you like the job?"

Nielson shivered. "No. I'm not ready for it yet. Jed, will you take it
over, please?"

"Huh? Oh, sure, if that is what the fellows want."

"They want it. So do I."

"Okay then." Hargraves was scarcely aware that Nielson had left. Nor did
he notice Ron Val approaching.

"Jed."

"Huh?"

"Jed, I've been talking to Thulon." The astro-navigator's voice was
trembling with excitement. "Jed, do you know that Thulon and his people
_belong to our race_?"

"What?" the startled captain gasped. "Oh, damn it, Ron Val, you're
dreaming again."

* * * * *

It would be a wonderful dream come true, Hargraves knew, if it was true.
The human race had kin folks in the universe! Man did not stand alone.
There was something breath-taking in the very thought of it.

"Thulon says the tests he ran on