"Well," said Kane, "you'd better make the best of it, Guy. You're Terran, and there's no place else to go." "I'd like to find a planet that hasn't seen war for a thousand years," said Guy uncertainly. The alcohol-concentration was reaching new levels in Guy's system, and his brain was feeling more and more the effects. "We'd all like that," said Kane. "Now break it up, Guy, and simmer down." * * * * * The storm passed, then, and Kane walked Guy into the dining room and seated him at the speakers' table. The room hazed before Guy's eyes as he sat down. The echo of his voice resounded in his brain: "A thousand years--" What was it that Charalas said? A thousand years--no, it was more than that. Thousands of years since they had war. That was a planet! Ertene. The nomad world that wanted no part of Sol's warfare and strife; killing and death. They knew--they knew from the things he said--that Terra was a planet of self-aggrandizement and that Terrans were proud, haughty, and belligerent. Maynard laughed wildly. His hand felt the clean-shaven face. He'd go there! "No strife for thousands of years," he said aloud. Space Marshal Mantley, at his side, turned in puzzlement and asked: "What was that?" Maynard saw the other as a sheer maze of white; no features were visible to his befuddled mind. "They haven't had war for thousands of years," he said. "Who? What kind of dead, sterile place is that?" "Ertene--and never call Ertene dead!" exploded Guy. "What's Ertene?" "Ertene--the nomad planet. The wanderers." "I do not follow?" "They came and saw us. They decided not to have any." Mantley turned to Kane and said: "What is this young man talking about?" "I should know?" asked Kane with a shrug. "He's drunk--and though it is deplorable that he should pick this time to get that way, I, for one, don't blame him." "Well, after the circumstances, neither do I," agreed Mantley with a sympathetic smile. "Those female predators would drive any man to murder with their thoughtless questions. But look, Kane, this tale of a nomad planet that preferred peace to association with Terra sounds too complicated to be the figment of a drunken imagination." "How could it be anything but?" "Not a drunken figment," blurted Guy. "I was there, I should know." "It must be a wonderful place," said Mantley soothingly. "It is a paradise," insisted Guy. "And you were there?" "How would I know about it otherwise?" "All right," laughed Kane. "Prove it!" "How can I? They destroyed every shred of evidence." "Who did?" "You did--you and your kind. Didn't want Mars to know about _Mardinex_--shot up the lifeship. Made me mem'rise forged log--forged by Ertinians to fool you--and then burned log. Ha!" and Guy went into a paroxysm of laughter. "You forged a log from a forged log." "When was this visit?" "When--right after capture by Martians. Came home to Terra."