happily. "It's perfect for our purposes! So much better than a two-ton
generator to interfere with and cancel the terror beams! Marvelous!
And do you know what it means? With all the world believing we've been
attacked from space, and with our great show of taking back Boulder
Lake--"

"How will you manage that?" asked Lockley, without too much interest.

"The rocket," said the general, beaming. "When troops start into the
Park, the rocket takes off. It heads for empty space. And we explain
that the aliens went away when they found their weapon useless and we
started to get rough with them!"

"Oh," said Lockley listlessly.

"But the really beautiful thing," the general told him, "is your
gadget! They can be made by millions. Ridiculously cheap, they tell
me. Everybody in the world will want one, and we'll pass them out. No
government could stop that! Not even Russia! But--d'you see, Lockley?"

Lockley shook his head. He always had a tendency to look on the dark
side of future events. The future did not look bright to him.

"Don't you see?" demanded the general, chuckling. "They detonate
explosives, those little gadgets! There's no harm in that! Where
explosives are used in industry you've only to make sure that nobody
turns one on too close. In nine-tenths of the world, anyhow, civilians
aren't allowed to have guns. But think of the consequences there!"

Lockley was weary. He was dejected. The general grinned from ear to
ear.

"Why, when these are distributed, even the secret police can't go
armed! What price dictators then? For that matter, what price
soldiers? The cold war ends, Lockley, because there couldn't be a
conquering army in the modern sense. The tanks wouldn't run. The cars
would stall. And the guns--An invasion would have to be made with
horse-drawn transport and the troops armed with bows and spears. That
amounts to disarmament, Lockley! A consummation devoutly to be wished!
I'm going to look forward to a ripe old age now. I never could
before!"

* * * * *

Presently Lockley talked to Jill. She was constrained. She seemed
uneasy. Lockley felt that there wasn't much to say, now that Vale was
alive and well and there was no more danger for her. He offered his
hand to say good-bye.

"I think," she said with a little difficulty, "I think I should tell
you I'm not--engaged any longer. I--told him I--wouldn't want to be
married to someone whose work made him keep se