The general closed the diary. It was late now. He was very tired. * * * * * Mr. Tucker, after breakfast, knocked on the general's door. "Come in," General Shorter called. The civilian entered. The general dismissed the orderly with a nod. "And I'll need some clean towels for tonight," he called. His voice was hoarse. "Yes, sir." The door closed. The two of them were alone. "Sit down. Excuse the cold. Got it last night. What do you say to a brandy?" "Don't let me stop you." "I never drink alone." "Perhaps you'd better," Mr. Tucker said. The general had paused just short of the cupboard. He turned slowly. "In that case, I'll make an exception, this once." He poured. "Just what did you mean by that, sir? Let's get to the point." "General Shorter, we're going to have to ask you to come back with us." The general bent slightly forward. His lips were partly open, as though he were listening to hear a second time. "Why," he said, "I've too much work to do, sir. I'm afraid that's out of the question. It's just not possible at all." Mr. Tucker waited. General Shorter poured himself another brandy. His back was to the civilian. "There's nothing more important, right now, than my job here," he said. He drank the brandy in a single gulp. "I don't see how it can wait, General," Mr. Tucker said. The general's lips were dry. He closed his eyes tightly for a moment against the alcohol and the cold. He licked his lips. "What's the formal charge?" Mr. Tucker bent forward. His voice was soft and curious, as though the question were his final effort to understand something that puzzled him for a long time. "What do you think it is, General?" "What could it be?" the general said sharply. "I follow orders, sir. I was sent out here to make this planet suitable for human habitation. This is exactly what I have been doing." His voice was growing progressively more angry and with an effort he curbed himself. "Put yourself in my position. I did what any field commander would have done. It was too late to stop it. I've got--It's a question of the limits of normal prudence. A matter of interpretation, sir." The general was in the process of pouring still another drink. The slender brandy glass broke under the force of his anger. He opened his palm. Blood trickled from between his fingers. The general looked up from the hand and fleeting annoyance came and went before he was recalled to present reality. His eyes met Mr. Tucker's. Mr. Tucker suddenly shivered as if touched by a wind from beyond the most distant stars, a wind which whispered: The aliens are among us. "General," Mr. Tucker said, "the formal charge is murder." End of Project Gutenberg's General Max Shorter, by Kris Ottman Neville