_In order to preserve your race, we are making efforts to prepare another planet, an uninhabited one, to receive your colonists. Unfortunately, our means for transporting you to your new world are limited; only a handful can be taken. You are safe for another five of your earth years. At the end of that period we will return. Have a thousand of your people ready for their escape._ * * * * * The President of the United States lifted an eyebrow wearily and rapped again for order. "Gentlemen, please!... Let us get back to the fundamental question. Summed up, it amounts to this: only one thousand persons, out of a world population of approximately two billions, are going to be able to escape the earth's destruction. In other words, one out of every two million. It is going to be most difficult to choose." Herr Ernst Oberfeld tapped his glasses fretfully on the conference table. "Mr. President, it need not be quite as bad as all that. After all, we must choose the earth's best specimens to carry on our race. I believe we will find that the combined populations of Europe and North America total somewhat less than a billion. If we go still further and eliminate all inferior...." Monsieur Pierre Duclos flushed. "Herr Oberfeld should keep in mind that his presence at this meeting at all was opposed vigorously by some of the delegates. Isn't it somewhat too soon after his country's debacle to again broadcast its super-race theories?" The British representative spoke up. "My dear Duclos, although I agree with you completely in essence, still it must be pointed out that if we were to handle this allocation on a strictly numerical basis, that our Chinese friends would be alloted something like 200 colonists, while Great Britain would have perhaps twenty." Maxim Gregoroff grunted, "Hardly enough for the Royal family, eh?" Lord Harriman was on his feet. "Sir, I might echo what Monsieur Duclos has said to Herr Oberfeld. It was in spite of the protest from a considerable number of delegates to this conference that your nation is represented at all." Gregoroff's fist thumped on the table and his face went beet red. "It is as expected! You plan to monopolize the escape ship for the imperialistic nations! The atom bomb will probably be used to destroy all other countries!" The President of the United States held up his hand. This whole thing was getting more chaotic by the minute. As a matter of fact, instructions from Congress were that he explain that the United States expected to have at least one third of the total. This, in view of the fact that the aliens had landed in New Jersey, obviously seeing that the United States was the foremost nation of the world, and, further, in view of the fact that this country was a melting pot of all nations and consequently produced what might be called the "average" member of the human race.