"Have you eaten? Then let us eat, and after supper we'll tell you what little there is to tell." "But Arcot," said Morey slowly, "I understand that Dad will be here soon, so let us wait. And I have something of which I have not spoken to you as yet. Worked it out and made it on the back trip. Installed in the _Thought_ with the _Banderlog_'s controls. It is--well, will you look?--Fuller! Come and see the new toy you designers are going to have to work on!" They had all been depressed by the thought of their long absence, by the scenes of destruction they had witnessed so recently. They were beginning to feel better. "Watch." Morey's thoughts concentrated. The _Thought_ outside had been left on locked controls, but the apparatus Morey had installed responded to his thoughts from this distance. Before them in the room appeared a cube that was obviously copper. It stayed there but a moment, beaming brightly, then there was a snapping of energies about them--and it dropped to the floor and rang with the impact! "It was not created from the air," said Morey simply. "And now," said Arcot, looking at it, "Man can do what never before was possible. From the nothingness of Space he can make anything. "Man alone in this space is Creator and Destroyer. "It is a high place. "May he henceforth live up to it." And he looked out toward the mighty starlit hull that had destroyed a solar system--and could create another. * * * * * Books by JOHN W. CAMPBELL in Ace editions: THE BLACK STAR PASSES THE MIGHTIEST MACHINE ISLANDS OF SPACE THE PLANETEERS & THE ULTIMATE WEAPON