ou!" he said grimly. "You I didn't suspect.
You've made fools of all of us, I think."

The General said something obscure which could have been a proverb. It
was to the effect that nobody could tell a fat man was cross-eyed when
he laughed.

"Yes," said Dillon beaming. "He is fat. So his eyes don't look like
they're different. You have to see past his cheeks and eyebrows. That's
how he passed muster. And he slept very soundly after the airport
affair."

Coburn felt a sort of sick horror. The General had passed as a man, and
he'd loaned this villa, and he knew all about the installation of the
atomic bomb.... Then Coburn looked through a doorway and there was his
Greek butler standing in readiness with a submachine-gun in his hands.

"I take it this is an official call," said Coburn steadily. "In that
case you know we're overheard--or did the General cancel that?"

"Oh, yes!" said Dillon. "We know all about the trap we've walked into.
But we'd decided that the time had come to appear in the open anyhow.
You people are very much like us, incidentally. Apparently there's only
one real way that a truly rational brain can work. And we and you Earth
people both have it. May we sit down?"

Janice said: "By all means!"

Helena sat, with an absolutely human gesture of spreading her skirt
beside her. The General plumped into a chair and chuckled. The
slick-haired young man politely offered Janice a cigarette and lighted
Helena's for her. Dillon leaned against the mantel above the fire.

"Well?" said Coburn harshly. "You can state your terms. What do you want
and what do you propose to do to get it?"

Dillon shook his head. He took a deep breath. "I want you to listen,
Coburn. I know about the atom bomb planted somewhere around, and I know
I'm talking for my life. You know we aren't natives of Earth. You've
guessed that we come from a long way off. We do. Now--we found out the
trick of space travel some time ago. You're quite welcome to it. We
found it, and we started exploring. We've been in space, you might say,
just about two of your centuries. You're the only other civilized race
we've found. That's point one."

Coburn fumbled in his pocket. He found a cigarette. Dillon held a match.
Coburn started, and then accepted it.

"Go on." He added, "There's a television camera relaying this, by the
way. Did you know?"

"Yes, I know," said Dillon. "Now, having about two centuries the start
of you, we have a few tricks yo