"I've thought about this for some time," Woodward persisted. "I believe you're the one person most capable of both understanding and helping. Please don't disappoint me." Perhaps Ridgemont was flattered; at any rate, he calmed down and let the doctor speak. "Borsu and a companion came to Earth about a month ago, their descent undetected except by the astronomical observatory at Clifton; if you check with meteor landing. But it wasn't a meteor. It was a space vessel, and its crash killed Borsu's friend. You won't find traces of it, either, because Borsu followed his people's tradition of totally annihilating the remains. No, it wasn't a secret weapon of any kind; he merely triggered the ship's atomic reactor. "Borsu came to me by chance. But when he discovered I was sympathetic, he allowed me to become his mentor and teacher of language. I couldn't have wanted a better student; he's already read and digested half the books I own. "I have had long conversation with Borsu, about his past and his future hopes; indeed, the hopes of his entire race. When I learned his story, and understood why he came to our world, I decided to act as his emissary. Borsu has a mortal--and understandable--fear of being treated like a freak or a guinea pig. I'm here to pave the way for him, and the others." * * * * * Ridgemont must have been aware of Woodward's sincerity; he looked astonished. "You really mean this, don't you?" he said. "A man from another planet is here, with you?" "Yes," Woodward said firmly. "In my own home. But I cannot give you the name of his world, and neither can Borsu. At the moment, their way-station is an airless asteroid in our solar system, where they are living in an artificial atmosphere and surviving on synthetic food. There are fewer than ten thousand of them, refugees from a world which suffered a fate so terrible that they have allowed themselves to forget everything about it." "Forget? What do you mean?" "They have a belief, an ancient conviction, about Forgetting. I don't know whether it's cultural, or religious, or scientific in origin; but each generation conceals the past from the new generation, especially those things in the past which have been unpleasant or hurtful. They are future-minded; they believe their children are sounder mentally if they know nothing of past evils. Whatever happened on the world of their birth is a story only their dead ancestors knew. Their interest is only in tomorrow." "And just what kind of tomorrow do they have in mind?" Woodward took a deep breath.