tential_.

In his own mind, Colonel Fennister spelled the word with an upper case
_P_, and put the word in italics. It was, to him, a more potent word
than any other in the Universe.

Potential.

_Potential!_

[Illustration]

Because the Space Service of the United Earth had more potential than
any other Service on Earth. How many seas were there for the Sea Service
to sail? How much land could the Land Service march over? How many
atmospheres were there for the Air Service to conquer?

Not for any of those questions was there an accurate answer, but for
each of those questions, the answer had a limit. But how much space was
there for the Space Service to conquer?

Colonel Fennister was not a proud man. He was not an arrogant man. But
he _did_ have a sense of destiny; he _did_ have a feeling that the human
race was going somewhere, and he did not intend that that feeling should
become totally lost to humanity.

Potential.

Definition: _Potential; that which has a possibility of coming into
existence._

No, more than that. That which has a--

* * * * *

He jerked his mind away suddenly from the thoughts which had crowded
into his forebrain.

What were the chances that the first expedition to Alphegar IV would
succeed? What were the chances that it would fail?

And (Fennister grinned grimly to himself) what good did it do to
calculate chances after the event had happened?

Surrounding the compound had been a double-ply, heavy-gauge, woven
fence. It was guaranteed to be able to stop a diplodocus in full charge;
the electric potential (_potential!_ That word again!) great enough to
carbonize anything smaller than a blue whale. No animal on Alphegar IV
could possibly get through it.

And none had.

Trouble was, no one had thought of being attacked by something immensely
greater than a blue whale, especially since there was no animal larger
than a small rhino on the whole planet. Who, after all, could have
expected an attack by a blind, uncaring colossus--a monster that had
already been dying before it made its attack?

Because no one had thought of the forest.

The fact that the atmospheric potential--the voltage and even the
amperage difference between the low-hanging clouds and the ground
below--was immensely greater than that of Earth, that had already been
determined. But the compound and the defenses surrounding it had already
been compensated for that factor.