for that. They could give me no
knowledge that I need, now; you have told me and showed me enough. I
understand how you have released atomic energy; it is a matter so
simple that a child should have guessed it, and man has wondered about
it for centuries, knowing that the power was there, but lacking a key
to unfetter it. And now I have that key!"

"True. But perhaps our scientists would like, in exchange, the secret
of moving forward in time," I suggested, reasonably enough.

"What do I care about them?" snapped Harbauer. He loosened the cord of
the robe with a quick, impatient gesture, as though it confined him
too tightly, and threw the garment from him.

* * * * *

Then, suddenly, he took a quick stride toward me, and thrust out his
ugly head.

"I know enough now to give me power over all my world," he cried.
"Haven't you guessed the reason for my interest in your engines of
destruction? I came down the centuries ahead of my generation so that
I might come back with power in my hand; power to wipe out the fools
who have made a mock of me. And I have that power--here!" He tapped
his forehead dramatically with his left hand.

"I will bring a new regime to my era!" he continued, fairly shouting
now. "I will be what many men have tried to be, and what no man has
ever been--master of the world! Absolute, unquestioned, supreme
master!" He paused, his eyes glaring into mine--and I knew from the
light that shone behind those long, narrow slits, that I was dealing
with a madman.

"True; you will," I said gently, moving carelessly toward the
microphone. With that in my hand, a slight pressure on the General
Attention signal, and I would have the whole crew of the _Ertak_ here
in a moment. But I had explained the workings of the navigating room's
equipment only too well.

"Stop!" snarled Harbauer, and his right hand flashed up. "See this?
Perhaps you don't know what it is; I'll tell you. It's an automatic
pistol--not so efficient as your disintegrator-ray, but deadly enough.
There is certain death for eight men in my hand. Understand?"

"Perfectly." What an utter fool I had been! I was not armed, and I
knew that Harbauer spoke the truth. I had often seen weapons similar
to the one he held in the military museums. They are still there, if
you are curious--rusty and broken, but not unlike our present atomic
pistols in general appearance. They propelled the bullet by the
explosion of a s