s of Earth with no strings
attached, and the governments of Earth accepted with open hands, much
as a small boy accepts a cookie from his mother. It was impossible for
men to resist the lure of something for nothing, particularly when it
was offered by such people as the Aztlans. After all, Matson reflected
bitterly, nobody shoots Santa Claus!

From every nation in the world came invitations to the aliens to visit
their lands. The star men cheerfully accepted. They moved across
Europe, Asia, and Africa--visited South America, Central America, the
Middle East and Oceania. No country escaped them. They absorbed
languages, learned customs, and spread good will. Everywhere they went
relaxation followed in their footsteps, and throughout the world arose
a realization of the essential brotherhood of man.

It took nearly three years of continual travelling before the aliens
again assembled at UN headquarters to begin the second part of their
promised plan--to give their science to Earth. And men waited with
calm expectation for the dawn of Golden Age.

Matson's lips twisted. Fools! Blind, stupid fools! Selling their
birthright for a mess of pottage! He shifted the rifle across his
knees and began filling the magazine with cartridges. He felt an empty
loneliness as he closed the action over the filled magazine and turned
the safety to "on". There was no comforting knowledge of support and
sympathy to sustain him in what he was about to do. There was no real
hope that there ever would be. His was a voice crying in the
wilderness, a voice that was ignored--as it had been when he visited
the President of the United States....

* * * * *

Matson entered the White House, presented his appointment card, and
was ushered past ice-eyed Secret Service men into the presidential
office. It was as close as he had ever been to the Chief Executive,
and he stared with polite curiosity across the width of desk which
separated them.

"I wanted to see you about the Aztlan business," the President began
without preamble. "You were there when their ship landed, and you are
also one of the few men in the country who has seen them alone. In
addition, your office will probably be handling the bulk of our
requests in regard to the offer they made yesterday in the UN. You're
in a favorable spot." The President smiled and shrugged. "I wanted to
talk with you sooner, but business and routine play the devil with
one