Dr. Edith Ward looked at Tom Barden carefully. "From the same place where you got yours!" she said slowly and deliberately. * * * * * Barden wondered, _did she know?_ He grinned. "I dreamed mine," he said. "Everything that I've produced emanated from a dream." Then Barden embellished it thoroughly, knowing that the flagrance of his embroidery would sound like a lie to anyone who was really unaware of the truth. "I was invaded in a dream by a gentleman who used a mechanical educator on me and taught me everything that I've produced, everything that I've invented, and every advanced theory that I've had. I have become a scientist of an alien culture that I have full intention of making into a solar science." "Then it is true," she breathed. "What is true?" he demanded. "Tom Barden, listen. Not only do I accept your apology of a few moments ago, but I offer mine. I--was afraid. Just as you were afraid to let the truth be known. I blustered and took my attitude because I could not let it be known that I, head of the Solar Labs, could be influenced by what the learned men would term either dream or hallucination." "You've had one too?" he asked quietly. She nodded. Tom grunted. "Let's compare notes," he said. "Seems as how we got different stories out of our friends." Edith nodded again and said: "It was a strange dream that came to me one night about a year and a half ago. I was the soul and master of a mighty castle, an impregnable fortress with but five roadways entering. Interpretation of that is simple, of course the five roadways were the five senses. A ... messenger came, but instead of using any of the roadways, he came through the very walls, and warned me." "Just what was his story?" asked Barden. "That Sol was a menace to a certain race. This race--never defined nor located save that it was a stellar race--was incapable of conquering Sol excepting by stealth. However it could be done by giving one smart man a partial truth, and that it was more than probable that this would be done. The partial truth was the technique of a new science that would if not used properly, cause complete destruction of the system. In the final usage, there would be a fission-reaction of whatever planet it was used near. The reaction would create a planetary nova and the almost-instantaneous explosion of the planet would wipe out all life in the system and the counter bombardment of the sun by the exploding planet would cause the sun itself to go nova, thus completing the process." "I presume your informant was quite concerned over the possible destruction of a friendly race?" "Certainly," she said. "That is why he contacted me." "If I were a member of the conquer-all faction of my story, Miss Ward, I would be trying to contact someone here to warn them of a terrible danger if the science were exploited. That would delay our work long enough for them to arrive, wouldn't it?"