"_Little men!_ My son is not only a genius"--Elwood stressed the word with a biting sarcasm which was not lost on Melvin--"but a first-class liar! Here, read this article again. It was published two months ago--but I guess you didn't read it over often enough. It may shame you into going into a corner and giving yourself a thorough mental overhauling." * * * * * Elwood tossed the magazine then--straight across the table at the disturbed Melvin. "If he's a liar so am I!" Mary Anne gasped in angry protest. "For a dozen years now flying saucer rumors have been all over the place," Elwood said, glaring at both of his children. "I suppose it's only natural you should chatter occasionally about little men. All children do. But to use such imaginary companions as an excuse for an act of wanton destructiveness...." Melvin picked up the magazine almost automatically. Solely to bolster his sagging self-esteem--even the innocent and falsely accused can feel guilty at times--he stared at his own photograph and the somewhat baroque caption which surmounted it. YOUNG SCIENTIFIC AMERICA Can genius be inherited? The distinguished accomplishments in nuclear physics and space-flight theory by the father of the boy who has won the most coveted annual award available to American youth for all-around scientific achievement strengthens the arguments of those who believe that the bright mysterious torch of genius can be passed on from father to son. But when interviewed the youthful winner of the Seabury Medal modestly disclaimed.... "If I saw a little man do you know what I'd do?" came in bitter reproach from the original holder of Melvin's inherited torch. And then, in rhetorical response, "I'd make it my fight--a fight forced upon me against my will. I'd consult a good psychiatrist immediately." "I throw myself on your mercy!" a tiny voice said. "I am unarmed, I am alone--and I am the last of my kind remaining alive on your planet." * * * * * Melvin stopped reading abruptly, flushing guiltily to the roots of his hair. He had been wishing that his father _could_ see a little man and now he was being punished for his thoughts in the cruelest possible way. The winner of the Seabury Medal knew that insanity was rare in childhood but to hear imaginary voices.... "Hilili thought he had extinguished me," the voice went on, "but by exerting my will to the utmost I managed to waver back. I beg you to be merciful!" The voice became almost pathetic in its tragic pleading. "You need no longer fear me for I will soon die. Injured and weakened as I am the disease organisms so fatal to my race are certain to kill me very quickly now." Melvin looked up then--and so did Mary Anne.