e emotional distrust
didn't interfere with his ability to reason or to draw logical
inferences from the data which he accumulated. In attempting to
convince, Ixtl had oversold his case.

* * * * *

It was shortly after he had returned to Washington, that the aliens
gave the waiting world the reasons for their appearance on Earth. They
were, they said, members of a very ancient highly evolved culture
called Aztlan. And the Aztlans, long past the need for conquest and
expansion, had turned their mighty science to the help of other, less
fortunate, races in the galaxy. The aliens were, in a sense,
missionaries--one of hundreds of teams travelling the star lanes to
bring the benefits of Aztlan culture to less favored worlds. They
were, they unblushingly admitted, altruists--interested only in
helping others.

It was pure corn, Matson reflected cynically, but the world lapped it
up and howled for more. After decades of cold war, lukewarm war, and
sporadic outbreaks of violence, that were inevitably building to
atomic destruction, men were willing to try anything that would ease
the continual burden of strain and worry. To Mankind, the Aztlans'
words were as refreshing as a cool breeze of hope in a desert of
despair.

And the world got what it wanted.

Quite suddenly the aliens left the Northwest, and accompanied by
protective squads of FBI and Secret Service began to cross the nation.
Taking widely separated paths they visited cities, towns, and farms,
exhibiting the greatest curiosity about the workings of human
civilization. And, in turn, they were examined by hordes of hopeful
humans. Everywhere they went, they spread their message of good will
and hope backed by the incredibly convincing power of their telepathic
minds. Behind them, they left peace and hopeful calm; before them,
anticipation mounted. It rose to a crescendo in New York where the
paths of the star men met.

The Aztlans invaded the United Nations. They spoke to the General
Assembly and the Security Council, were interviewed by the secretariat
and reporters from a hundred foreign lands. They told their story with
such conviction that even the Communist bloc failed to raise an
objection, which was as amazing to the majority of the delegates as
the fact of the star men themselves. Altruism, it seemed, had no
conflict with dialectic materialism. The aliens offered a watered-down
variety of their technology to the people