Drengo shrugged. "He was convinced that the Martians
were weak, backward, decadent. He saw their uranium, their gold, their
jewelry, their labor--and started on a vast impossible imperialism. If
he had had his way, he would have stripped the planet in three years,
but the Martians fought against us, turned from peace to suspicion,
and finally to open revolt. And the Dictator could not see. He
mobilized Earth for total war against Mars, draining our resources,
decimating our population, building rockets, bombs, guns--" He stopped
for a moment, breathing deeply. "But the Dictator didn't know what he
was doing. He had never been on Mars. He has never seen Martians. He
had no idea what they think, what they are capable of doing. He
doesn't know what we know--that the Martians will win. He doesn't
realize that the Martians can carry out a war for years without
shaking their economy one iota, while he has drained our planet to
such a degree that a war of more than two or three months will break
us in half. He doesn't know that Mars can win, and that the Earth
can't--"

Roger walked across the room, thoughtfully, his mind fitting pieces
into place. "But where do I come in? David--Ann--I don't understand--"

Drengo looked Roger straight in the eye. "The Dictator's name," he
said, "is Farrel Strang."

Roger stopped still. "Strang?" he echoed.

"Your son, Roger. Yours and Ann's."

"But--you said the Dictator was only 32--" Roger trailed off,
regarding Ann in amazement.

Martin smiled. "People don't grow old so quickly nowadays," he said.
"You are 57 years old, Roger. Ann is 53." He leaned back in his chair,
his gaunt smile fading. "The Dictator has not been without opposition.
You, his parents, opposed him at the very start, and he cast you off.
People wiser than the crowds were able to rebuff his powerful personal
appeal, to see through the robe of glory he had wrapped around
himself. He has opposition, but he has built himself an impregnable
fortress, and dealt swift death to any persons suspected of treason. A
few have escaped--scientists, technologists, sociologists, physicists.
The work of one group of men gave us a weapon which we hoped to use to
destroy the Dictator. We found a way to move back in Time. We could
leave the normal time-stream and move to any area of past time. So
four of us went back, searching for the core of the economic and
social upheaval on Earth, and trying to destroy the Dictator before he
wa