ould survive on Earth; now
they could get to Earth; so they came to Earth.

One full article was devoted to the debates and pending legislation in
World Council on the subject, but I didn't take the time to read it. I
was fairly familiar with the current controversy, having followed the
daily news reports, and besides, the reading was giving me a headache.

* * * * *

At seven o'clock, I considered going down for breakfast, but it occurred
to me that it would be another black mark against Maxwell if I should be
seen without him. Forgetting about the defense mech was enough for one
case.

So I ordered breakfast brought up to the room. While I was waiting, and
since I was sitting near it anyway, I flicked the TV switch and tuned in
on the morning's news. Nothing earthshaking: a factory explosion in St.
Louis; political unrest in India; death of a Vegan millionaire; speech
in The World Council by Delegate Machavowski of Eurasia in support of
the Bagley-Dalton bill to establish a yearly immigration quota of ten
thousand from all planets, one thousand from Mars; protest reply by a
Martian sociologist at Yale; spacecruiser crashed on Calypso, twenty
killed. And so on and so on.

My attention was held momentarily by the Martian question, since I was
freshly informed on it.

While the two views of the issue did nothing to settle it in my mind,
they did serve to remind me of my Martian friend, Zan Matl Blekeke, and
the fact that I was supposed to be digging up a feature story on
Suns-Rays Incorporated.

"What's on the agenda for today?" my pseudo-brother-in-law asked as I
was finishing my coffee a half-hour later. He rolled out of bed, yawned
and scratched his head vigorously. His hair was rumpled, but he looked
rested, and I envied him to beat hell.

"You mean it's up to me?" I asked.

"Sure. You just go on with your normal everyday existence and ignore me,
like I'm nothing but a shadow." He was still stretching lazily.

"Well, for the first thing, I'm going to see that we get a cot in here.
There isn't room in that bed for both of us."

Maxwell grinned as he buttoned his shirt. "D'I kick you out of bed?
Sorry. Should have warned you."

"Do you eat breakfast?" I asked him.

"Hell, yes. Like a wolf."

"Well, let's go down and get you some breakfast while I figure out my
agenda for today."

* * * * *

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do--start workin