y, or not at all.

"So we came into the world, cautiously and carefully, moving
unobtrusively and unobserved. We wanted to contemplate the corruption,
seek out the weaknesses in your degenerate civilization. And we found
them, immediately. Those weaknesses are everywhere apparent, for they
are physical. You're one of a dying race, Littlejohn. Mankind's days
are numbered. There's no need for grandiose schemes of reactivating
warheads in buried missile-centers, of loosing thermo-nucs upon the
world. Merely by killing off the central council here in New Chicagee,
we can accomplish our objective. A dozen men die, and there's not
enough initiative left to replace them. It's as simple as that. And as
complicated."

Harry Collins nodded. "Yes, as complicated. Because the only
weaknesses we've observed _are_ physical ones. We've seen enough of
the ways of this new civilization to realize that.

"All of the things I hated during my lifetime have disappeared
now--the crowding, the competition, the sordid self-interest, the
bigotry, intolerance, prejudice. The anti-social aspects of society
are gone. There is only the human race, living much closer to the
concept of Utopia than I ever dreamed possible. You and the other
survivors have done well, Littlejohn."

"And yet you come to kill us."

"We came for that purpose. Because _we_ still retained the flaws and
failings of our former cultures. We looked for targets to blame, for
villains to hate and destroy. Instead, we found this reality.

"No, I'm not crazy, Littlejohn. And I and my fellows aren't here to
execute revenge. We have returned to the original plan; the plan
Leffingwell had, and my son, and all the others who worked in their
own way for their dream of a better world. We come now to help you.
Help you before you die--before we die."

Littlejohn looked up and sighed. "Why couldn't this have happened
before?" he murmured. "It's too late now."

"But it isn't too late. My friends are here. They are telling your
fellow council-members the same thing right now. We may be old, but we
can still impart what we have learned. There are any number of
technological developments to be made. We can help you to increase
your use of atomic power. There's soil reclamation and irrigation
projects and biological techniques--"

"You said it yourself," Littlejohn whispered. "We're a dying race.
That's the primary problem. And it's an insoluble one. Just this
afternoon--" And he tol