-conformists, the religious cultists,
and even fugitives and criminals of Europe. So it is in the stars. A group
of colonists go out with their dreams, their schemes, their far-out ideas.
In a few centuries they've populated their new planet, and often do very
well indeed. But often not and a nudge, a push, from Section G can start
them up another rung or so of the ladder of social evolution. Most of them
don't want the push. Few cultures, if any, realize they are mortal; like
Hitler's Reich, they expect to last at least a thousand years. They resist
any change--even change for the better."

-------------------------------------

Ronny's defenses were crumbling, but he threw one last punch. "How do you
know the changes you make are for the better?"

Metaxa shrugged heavy shoulders. "It's sometimes difficult to decide, but
we aim for changes that will mean an increased scientific progress, a more
advanced industrial technology, more and better education, the opening of
opportunity for every member of the culture to exert himself to the full
of his abilities. The last is particularly important. Too many cultures,
even those that think of themselves as particularly advanced, suppress the
individual by one means or another."

Ronny was still mentally reeling with the magnitude of it all. "But how
can you account for the fact that these alien intelligences haven't
already come in contact with us?"

Metaxa shrugged again. "The Solar System, our sun, is way out in a
sparsely populated spiral arm of our galaxy. Undoubtedly, these others are
further in toward the center. We have no way of knowing how far away they
are, or how many sun systems they dominate, or even how many other empires
of intelligent life forms there are. All we know is that there are other
intelligences in the galaxy, that they are near enough like us to live on
the same type planets. The more opportunity man has to develop before the
initial contact takes place, the stronger bargaining position, or military
position, as the case may be, he'll be in."

Sid Jakes summed up the Tommy Paine business for Ronny's sake. "We need
capable agents badly, but we need dedicated and efficient ones. We can't
afford anything less. So when we come upon potential Section G operatives
we send them out with a trusted Tog to get a picture of these United
Planets of ours. It's the quickest method of indoctrination we've hit
upon; the agent literally teaches