elevator beyond.

"Come along," Metaxa repeated over his shoulder. He entered the elevator,
followed by Jakes.

There was nothing else to do. Ronny Bronston followed them, his face still
flushed with the angered argument.

The elevator dropped, how far, Ronny had no idea. It stopped and they
emerged into a plain, sparsely furnished vault. Against one wall was a
boxlike affair that reminded Ronny of nothing so much as a deep-freeze.

For all practical purposes, that's what it was. Ross Metaxa led him over
and they stared down into its glass-covered interior.

Ronny's eyes bugged. The box contained the partly charred body of an
animal approximately the size of a rabbit. No, not an animal. It had
obviously once been clothed, and its limbs were obviously those of a tool
using life form.

Metaxa and Jakes were staring down at it solemnly, for once no inane grin
on the supervisor's face. And that of Ross Metaxa was more weary than
ever.

Ronny said finally, "What is it?" But he knew.

"You tell us," Metaxa growled sourly.

"It's an intelligent life form," Ronny blurted. "Why has it been kept
secret?"

"Let's go on back upstairs," Metaxa sighed.

Back in his office he said, "Now I go into my speech. Shut up for a
while." He poured himself a drink, not offering one to the other two.
"Ronny," he said, "man isn't alone in the galaxy. There's other
intelligent life. Dangerously intelligent."

In spite of himself Ronny reacted in amusement. "That little creature down
there? The size of a small monkey?" As soon as he said it, he realized the
ridiculousness of his statement.

Metaxa grunted. "Obviously, size means nothing. That little fellow down
there was picked up by one of our Space Forces scouts over a century ago.
How long he'd been drifting through space, we don't know. Possibly only
months, but possibly hundreds of centuries. But however long he's proof
that man is not alone in the galaxy. And we have no way of knowing when
the expanding human race will come up against this other intelligence--and
whoever it was fighting."

[Illustration.]

"But," Ronny protested, "you're assuming they're aggressive. Perhaps
coming in contact with these aliens will be the best thing that ever
happened to man. Possibly that little fellow down there is the most
benevolent creature ever evolved."

Metaxa looked at him strangely. "Let's hope so," he said. "However, when
found he was in what must ha