"It--should!" said the thin man. "It--it has to! This is magnificent!
It's more important than one-way heat conduction! This is ..."

"This is not nearly as convenient as a pot that gets cold on the outside
so it can get hot on the inside," observed Soames. "From a castaway's
standpoint it's crude. But this is what can happen from two
civilizations affecting each other without immediately resorting to
murder. You might try it."

The two physicists blinked. Then the short man said uneasily:

"Can we do it?"

The thin man said more feverishly than before:

"Of course! Look at that weather-making thing! We can't duplicate it
exactly, but when you think-- There's no Hall effect in liquids. Nobody
ever tried to find one in ionized gases. But when you think--"

The short man gulped. Then he said:

"You won't change the temperature, and to make an equation--"

They talked to each other, feverishly. They scribbled. They almost
babbled in their haste. When the other members of the investigating-team
arrived, they had the look of men who walk on clouds.

The military men were not happy. They were empty-handed. They could not
even get statistical information from the children.

They had no useful information. Fran's pocket instrument was cryptic,
and held no promise as a weapon. They could not hope to duplicate what
Soames had called a super-radar. The cooking-pot, if duplicated, might
by modification supply power for ships and submarines, or even planes.
But there were no weapons. None.

* * * * *

The public-relations men were frightened. The children's coming must
produce a financial panic. All of Earth's civilization was demonstrably
out of date. Earth technology was so old-fashioned that instantly its
obsolescence was realized, our economic system must fall apart.

Only the two physicists beamed at each other. They'd learned no
scientific facts from the children or their equipment, but they'd picked
up a trick of thinking from Soames.

By that time it was night. Soames went again to the surprisingly
ordinary cottage that Gail occupied with the four children.

"I've had quite a day," said Gail tiredly. "And I'm worried; for the
children. For you. For myself. I'm--I'm terrified, Brad!"

He put out his hands. He steadied her. Then, without intending it, he
held her close. She did not resist. She cried heart-brokenly on his
shoulder from pure nervous strain.

Suddenly Captain Mog