Entman left through an inner door and King was stunned by his good luck. He called it that even while experience and judgment shrieked warnings. This was too pat--too easy. Something was phony in the setup. But he didn't even have to fight what common sense was telling him. He was too busy opening the safe, spreading the data out on the desktop, and using a small camera he carried in the side pocket of his jacket. Then, he put the data back in the safe and felt the hot, excitement surge up through his body. * * * * * "I'm afraid I owe you a drink," Entman said ruefully. "You were right. When I got back to the office, he was gone." Brent Taber grinned, but only with his mouth--his eyes remained somber and weary. "The data was back in the safe?" "Right where I put it. I'll swear it hadn't been moved." "He was photographing it thirty seconds after you left." "But how can you be sure?" Brent Taber pulled at his ear and stared at a Renoir on the wall of Entman's drawing room without seeing it. "I can't, of course. We can't be sure of anything. It's all based on an idea you gave me." "What idea?" "You told me the results of your research on the androids would be valuable to whoever built them--as a guide to perfecting androids that wouldn't die under earth conditions." "That was obvious logic." "And it ties in with another thought. A race of beings as advanced as these could take us over without trouble, it would seem." "Quite true. Except--" "Except that they themselves may not be able to exist on earth, either; no more so than we could exist on the moon without creating conditions favorable to our physical capabilities." "So ...?" "So I'm betting that the ten androids were sent here on a trial-and-error basis, with the objective of perfecting them and creating an android army to move in and take us over." "It's a thought, but with their power they could achieve the same result with less effort by pulverizing us. Or so it would seem to me." "True, but maybe they don't want us pulverized; maybe they'd rather take over a working planet than a lot of rubble." "All that follows logically," Entman admitted, "provided the original hypothesis is true--that they cannot invade us in person." "Right. But I've got to start somewhere and hope I'm on the right track." "One thing occurs to me. Eight of the androids died and one was killed. What if all ten had succumbed? How did they plan to get their data?" "Who knows? I'm not saying the idea is foolproof. But a certain amount of risk had to be involved. If the ten died, they would have missed. Maybe they'd try again in that case. But they were lucky--one survived." Entman was peering thoughtfully at nothing. "Your idea is bolstered by the fact that the androids were found all over the country. They could have been testing various climates."