rking for him, and I've just come back
from four months there."

The emperor started to deny it, but Admiral Hawarden stepped closer to
the desk and fixed the monarch with a stern eye.

"We don't wish to be discourteous or insolent, Sire, but we know that
you do know something about this. Wait, please," he held up his hand as
the emperor opened his mouth, so apparently about to demand an apology
for the _lese majeste_ of calling him a liar. "We do not believe you
were doing this of your own accord, nor that you initiated the
conspiracy. But we do feel positive you know something about it. And for
the peace of the Federation we must have every possible scrap of
information you can give us."

The emperor became gradually less antagonistic, and as his face flushed
his eyes became pleading.

"I ... I ...", he struggled to go on, then realizing that something was
holding him back, changed the subject slightly. "I hope, gentlemen, you
will forgive me. I don't know what has come over me these past years.
I think you know, Hawarden, that I was always heartily in favor of
the Federation, and did all I could to make it a force for peace
throughout the System. I know only too well how inter-planetary war
would wreck all our economies, and I do not want that. But I seem to
have ... changed ... these last years ... and I didn't want to!" It was
almost a sob.

The admiral, as man to man, went quickly around the desk and laid his
hand comfortingly on the imperial shoulder. "We all felt that, Sire. You
were far too great a ruler to have changed so radically. It puzzled and
saddened us all, but now I believe we can begin to see the reason--and
it doesn't harm you in our estimation now that we realize you couldn't
help it."

The emperor raised puzzled eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

"May I answer that, Sire?" Hanlon stepped forward. "We know now that
Gorth Bohr wasn't human--he was an alien from ..."

"An ... alien?" the emperor quavered.

"Yes, Sire, definitely. We do not yet know where he came from
originally, but we do know he had considerable more--or
different--mental powers in some ways, than most humans. You are under
some sort of a compulsion or hypnosis that prevents your speaking out.
The fact that your health failed and your body deteriorated so rapidly
proves it was against your desires."

The emperor was startled by that, and his body shook as with a palsy. He
repeated his query, dully, "An alien?"

Hanlon