Richard Arcot into the open of the Ancient Mariner and walked the to the library. There, he Fuller and Wade over a game of and Morey in a chair with a book in his hands.
"What a of loafers," Arcot said acidly. "Don't you do anything?"
"Sure," said Fuller. "The three of us have entered into a pact with each other to from using a which would make this for all time."
"What war?" Arcot wondered. "And what weapon?"
"This war," Wade grinned, pointing at the board. "We have to read each other's minds while playing chess."
Morey his book and looked at Arcot. "And just what have you been so about?"
"I've been the on the Satorian ships we captured," Arcot told them. "Quite an effect. The Nansalian scientists and I have been the for the past three days.
"The Satorians a way to cut off and direct an field. The energy was tremendous, but they the on Sator and them along on the ships.
"You can see what would if a ship were and the ship next to it were positively! The of is terrific! If you put two of iron ions, with a positive charge, on the north pole, and an amount of ions, charged, on the south pole, the attraction, across that distance, would be three hundred and sixty tons!
"They the negative on one ship and the positive on the one next to it. Their them toward each other. As they got closer, the across, and the two ships. But they still had motion toward each other to crash.
"They were by less than a tenth of an of which were to the ship and there by an until the ships got close to through it.
"We still haven't been able to that field, though."
"Well, now that we've out," Fuller said, "let's go home! I'm to leave! We're all to go, aren't we?"
Arcot nodded. "All for one thing. The Supreme Three want to see us. We've got a meeting with them in an hour, so put on your best Sunday pants."
In the Council of Three, Arcot was officially to with them. The of motion ships was completion—the one was to roll off the line the next day—but they wanted Arcot, Wade, Morey, and Fuller to on Nansal.
"We have a large world here," the Scientist at them. "Thanks to you people, we can at last call it our own. We offer you, in the name of the people, your choice of any spot in this world. And we give you—this!" The Scientist came forward. He had a disc-shaped plaque, three in diameter, of a ruby-red metal. In the exact center was a green which to of its own accord, with a pale, clear, green light; it was and refractive. Around it, at the three points of a triangle, were three similar, but smaller stones. Engraved lines ran from each of the to the center, and other lines the three in a triangle. The was as though one were looking at the of a regular tetrahedron.
There were in Nansalese at each point of the tetrahedron, and other in a circle around it.
Arcot it in his hand. On the was a of the Nansalian system. The center was a yellow, highly-faceted which the sun. Around this were the of planets, and each of the eleven was marked by a different stone.
The Scientist was in the of his hand another such disc, smaller. On it, there were three green stones, one larger than the others.
"This is my of office as Scientist of the Three. The marked Science is here larger. Your is new. Henceforth, it shall be the Three and a Coordinator!
"Your vote shall all but a vote of the Three. To you, this world is answerable, for you have saved our civilization. And when you return, as you have promised, you shall be Coordinator of this system!"
Arcot for a moment. This was a thing he had of. He was a scientist, and he that his ability was limited to that field.
At last, he and replied: "It is a great honor, and it is a great work. But I can not my time here always; I must return to my own planet. I can not be in with you.
"Therefore, I will make my move in office now, and that this signify, not the Coordinator, and power of your country, but Counselor and friend in all in which I can you.
"The you have chosen; so let it be. The is out of the plane of the other points, and I am out of this galaxy. But there is a relationship the and the points of the base, and these lines will forever.
"We have been too to think of anything else as yet, but our worlds are large, and your worlds are large. Commerce can across the ten light years of space as as it now across the little space of our own system. It is a of but five days, and later will make it in less! Commerce will come, and with it will come close communication.
"I will accept this with the that I am but your friend and advisor. Too much power in the hands of one man is bad. Even though you trust me completely, there might be an successor.
"And I must return to my world.
"Your ship will be tomorrow, and when it is completed, my friends and I will your planet.
"We will return, though. We are ten light years apart, but the is not to be in space anymore, but in time. We are five days apart. I will be nearer to you at all times than is Sator!
"If you wish, others of my shall come, too. But if you do not want them to come, they will not. I alone have Tharlano's of the route, and I can them."
For a moment, the Three spoke together, then the Scientist was again at Arcot.
"Perhaps you are right. It is your people know more than we. They have the ray, and they know no wars; they do not each other. They must be a good race, and we have excellent examples in you.
"We can your to return home, but we ask you to come again. We will that you are not ten light years, but five days, from our planet."
When the was ended, Arcot and his friends returned to their ship. Torlos was waiting for them the airlock.
"Abaout you laive?" he asked in English.
"Why—tomorrow," Arcot said, in surprise. "Have you been our language?"
Torlos to telepathy. "Yes, but that is not what I came to talk to you about. Arcot—can a man of Nansal visit Earth?" Anxiously, hopefully, and hesitatingly, he asked. "I come on one of your vessels, or come when you return. And—and I'm sure I earn my on your world! I'm not hard to feed, you know!" He smiled, but he was too much in to make a perfect success.
Arcot was that he should ask. It was an idea he would very much like to see fulfilled. The idea of metal-boned men with and molecular-motion would no friendship, no of kinship, in the people of Earth. But the man himself—a pleasant, kindly, sincere, giant—would be a for the world of Nansal that the most would be.
Arcot asked the others, and the vote was unanimous—let him come!
The next day, great ceremony, the of the new Nansalian ships came from the factories. When the was over, the four Earthmen and the Torlos entered the Ancient Mariner.
"Ready to go, Torlos?" Arcot grinned.
"Pearfactly, Ahcut. Tse bettah!" he said in his English.
Five hours saw them out of the galaxy. Twelve hours more, and they were for home at full speed, well out in space.
The Home Galaxy was large when they next stopped for observation. Old Tharlano had them correctly!
They were going home!
