"I'll see what I can do," said MacReedy with his quiet smile. "Let me know how things come out." "That I will," said the General. Toby walked with him to the car and the General gave him another five dollars. He wished he could do something more for both of them; but at the moment it was out of the question. * * * * * It was almost six months before the General got back to the Long Island chalet. Thanks to his now fully-established reputation as an inventive genius, he was able to get a full speed ahead order on the new-type mobile rocket-launcher. MacReedy's improvements were valid, and the Department experts came up with further simplifications. By the time they were ready to go into production they actually had the weapon self-propelled, were well ahead of _Them_ on mobility, range and accuracy. It promised to be a military revolution. Then the General had to make a flying trip around the world--to visit American military installations in Western Europe, in Italy and Spain, in Africa, Formosa, Japan and Korea. He got back to Washington, a thoroughly tired man, and walked into both his promised third star and the Chiefship of the Department. Also into an international situation worse than any since September, 1939--when the Nazis invaded Poland. _They_ were pushing aggressively in both Europe and Asia, pushing with an arrogance that suggested they felt they could win in a walk if the free nations of the world offered large-scale military defiance. Rumors of a terrible secret weapon were being bruited about--not only in hush-hush military circles but in the public prints as well. One picture magazine of national circulation had actually published an article stating that _They_ had mastered pushbutton warfare. The General, and the Combined Chiefs made a hurried and secret trip to Aberdeen the day after his return. There, on the proving ground, they watched a big transport-plane land on a makeshift airstrip. They saw a small group of soldiers unload from the plane an odd-looking tractor-mounted weapon that resembled an immense stove-pipe with certain refinements. They saw a lean sausage of a rocket rolled into a door near the base of the tube, watched a trifle nervously while it was elevated almost vertically. An order was barked, a button was pushed--and the rocket rose rapidly from the tube with a dullish report, rose to a height of perhaps a hundred yards. Then, suddenly, its tail blossomed smoke and flame; it rose with a new lease on life, to disappear into the heavens, leaving a trail of smoke behind it. Pointing to a prefabricated building that stood alone, a mile away, the General said, "Watch that target, gentlemen," and lifted his field glasses to his eyes. A minute later--fifty-eight seconds was the exact time--the structure was suddenly obliterated by a tremendous explosion. The General sighed and said quietly, "That was TNT. We have a stockpile of atomic weapons ready."