e same time I did, and we all
took a long look at the green leech in its skull. Her explanation of
what it is made significant sense. We were already carrying out
landings when we had your call about something having been stored
in the magter tower. After that it was just a matter of following
tracks--and the transmitter you planted."

"But the explosions at midnight?" Brion broke in. "I heard them!"

"You were supposed to," Hys laughed. "Not only you, but the magter
in this cave. We figured they would be armed and the cave strongly
defended. So at midnight we dropped a few large chemical explosive
bombs at the entrance. Enough to kill the guards without bringing
the roof down. We also hoped that the magter deeper in would leave
their posts or retreat from the imagined radiation. And they did. It
worked like a charm. We came in quietly and took them by surprise.
Made a clean sweep--killed the ones we couldn't capture."

"One of the renegade jump-space technicians was still alive,"
Krafft said. "He told us about your stopping the bombs aimed
at Nyjord, the two of you."

None of the Nyjorders there could add anything to his words, not
even the cynical Hys. But Brion could empathize their feelings, the
warmth of their intense relief and happiness. It was a sensation he
would never forget.

"There is no more war," Brion translated for Ulv, knowing that the
Disan had understood nothing of the explanation. As he said it, he
realized that there was one glaring error in the story.

"You couldn't have done it," Brion said. "You landed on this planet
_before_ you had my message about the tower. That means you still
expected the magter to be sending their bombs to Nyjord--and you
made the landings in spite of this knowledge."

"Of course," Professor Krafft said, astonished at Brion's lack
of understanding. "What else could we do? The magter are sick!"

Hys laughed aloud at Brion's baffled expression. "You have to
understand Nyjord psychology," he said. "When it was a matter of war
and killing, my planet could never agree on an intelligent course.
War is so alien to our philosophy that it couldn't even be
considered correctly. That's the trouble with being a vegetable
eater in a galaxy of carnivores. You're easy prey for the first one
that lands on your back. Any other planet would have jumped on the
magter with both feet and shaken the bombs out of them. We fumbled
it so long it almost got both worlds killed. Your mind-p