Fallon let the shade fall into place, and turned around with a gesture of bitter impatience. “And didn’t it ever strike you as being deliberately planned? When the whole planet is in the throes of total war with invaders from outer space why would the Army close down rocket research at the precise moment when four top scientists disappear!” Kerry thought he was beginning to understand. “You mean the project just went underground? Then why--” The bandaged man on the bed stirred. He said, “Let me tell it, Lew. No, it wasn’t an Army ship. You might call me a--well, a fifth columnist. The Army really thought I was dead. I covered my tracks pretty well.” Ben’s voice had cleared a little, and was almost recognizable. “Listen carefully, Kerry. When the Science draft took me in the Army I was told I’d be working on rockets and guided missiles for the Free Americas. We were all set to beat the Asian Alliance to the Moon. We even had rocket-bombs with thermonuclear warheads to blast the Asians right off the planet if they gave us any trouble. Then we’re confronted with the Pharig threat, and immediately the Free Americas are rubbing noses with the Asians. And what does Earth United Science Service order me to do? Build solar power packs--cheap power for private homes. _War effort_, they called it!” “But the solar power project _was_ a wartime measure,” Kerry pointed out. “The big central power-plants were too easy a target. Remember when the Pharigs bombed Niagara and Grand Coulee? If we’d ever had a complete power failure in those areas--” “Considerate of them, wasn’t it--to wait until everyone in both areas was using solar power,” said Ben quietly. “I know all the arguments for decentralization, Kerry. I fell for it too--for a while. Do you remember the big Pharig ships that crashed in Iceland and Tibet?” On familiar ground now, Kerry said, “Sure. I went to Iceland to get the story.” Embittered laughter came from Ben’s ravaged throat. “I’ll bet you didn’t get within a mile of it!” “You lose your bet. I saw it from two hundred feet. But I wasn’t allowed aboard, and the Army officials deliberately exposed all the film we brought, so we couldn’t print photographs.” “For the omnipresent reason of public morale, I suppose,” Ben commented. “I wasn’t allowed aboard, either. Not a single man from the rocket-research division was allowed aboard. But they couldn’t clamp down on public information eight years ago the way they can today. Pass or no pass, I decided I’d get to see the thing from the inside. So, finally, I did get aboard. And I snooped and snooped until I found it--” His voice thinned out. Kerry had to prompt him. “Found what?” “I still don’t know who slipped up and left it there for me to find,” Ben said. “But when I saw it, I resigned. That Pharig ship was made right here on Earth, Kerry. It didn’t come from outer space at all.”