"Don't you realize that your failure to report what you knew is high treason?" Zen continued. The silence grew. West sat as solid and as immobile as a mountain. Nedra seemed to have shrunk in upon herself still farther. More than ever she looked like a very small girl who had somehow managed to intrude into a world of adults and was tremendously confused and hurt by what was happening here. "Don't you hear me?" Zen said. "I hear you," West answered. "Your loyalty to your country does you credit, colonel. It is to be expected from a person in your stage of development. However, you seem to have forgotten that I am not a citizen of your country. Or perhaps you did not know this?" "Not a citizen?" Zen said. "But this mountain exists in America. I don't know whether it is actually on Canadian ground or lies in the United States, but this does not matter. By mutual treaty, the countries have become one nation. A citizen of one is automatically a citizen of the other." "True, colonel." West did not attempt to explain. "Then what country do you claim to belong to?" Zen felt his voice falter as he tried to grasp what lay back of this very strange man. "You talk like an American." "I was born here." "Then you are a citizen." "No. I resigned my citizenship. As to my real country, it is a far land. I am sure you have no knowledge of it. My loyalty, colonel, is not to any nation on the face of the globe, but is to--growth, to the new people who will come into existence one day." As West spoke, the cold that was freezing Zen's spine suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a sudden deep warmth. The words seemed to touch some hidden spring of warmth within him. "My loyalty is to the future, to the growing tip of the life force, to what the human race will become, not to what it is today. Only the future has meaning, colonel, and to the building of that future I have dedicated my life." In spite of the fact that the words thrilled him, Zen knew he had to deny them. "This is sophistry," he snapped. "I think any court in the land would hold it to be evasion of your proper duties. You can't continue living in a country and enjoying its ble--" Confusion came into Zen's mind. "Were you going to say _blessings_, colonel?" West said, almost maliciously. "Yes." "Would you point out these blessings?" "We had them once," Zen said. "And we're going to have them again." "Are you?" West nodded toward the screen where the far-off enemy technicians and engineers were busy with their super bomb. "Now that we know that it exists, that bomb will never land," Zen said. "I'll see to that personally." "How are you going to discharge this responsibility?" West inquired. "I'll find a way," Zen answered. "I admire your spirit, colonel, though not necessarily your evaluation of your personal position at this moment. Also, there is one other thing that I want you to see." The screen went blank. Slowly another scene formed on it. Zen, staring, blurted out words.