CHAPTER IX _Court Is Dismissed_ Insistently the communicator on Pollard's desk buzzed and Miss Farragut called him. The doctor excused himself and left them alone. "There must be proof," insisted Carroll. "There has been plenty of it," she told him. "There's one thing that your alien brain in a human body will not do," he said. "The rest can be managed. You can falsify records--perhaps you were a natural child of Terran parents--Terran parents with alien brains--as yours is now. I don't know but I'll find out." "How?" "Pollard's psychiatric notes," he said explosively. He headed for the examination room and looked around. There, behind the door, was a pile of papers on a small table. To get at them Carroll nudged the door shut. It went closed with a faint thud. Almost instantly afterwards there came the sounds of many feet in the other room. Rhinegallis screamed something out of fright and peril. There were the sounds of a scuffle, after which came.... Silence! Carroll hurled the door open and raced across Pollard's office toward the teleport. As he reached there he saw the last traces of Rhinegallis's feet being dragged over the bottom of the wire circle into the mirror. With a cry of anger, Carroll hurled himself into the teleport just as the office door burst open to admit Pollard and Majors. Carroll's return passage through the teleport was rough. He bumped someone and his force sent them sprawling. Then he was through and facing Kingallis, who was still reeling backwards. Carroll plunged forward and caught Kingallis by the throat. The alien twisted out of Carroll's grasp and fought back. Carroll hit him hard and followed it with an insane rush that carried them to the far end of the cellar, where Kingallis tripped on a small box and went down with Carroll on top. Carroll rapped the alien's head against the concrete floor and stunned him. Kingallis returned almost instantly. Carroll looked down in his face and snarled, "Now--why?" "Why?" asked the alien defiantly. "Yes--why? Why is all this going on?" "The universe is not big enough to hold us both," snapped Kingallis. "Then it is true. You and your people have been suppressing our research because you fear that we will be able to beat you. And we will, Kingallis. We will!" "You won't live long enough," snarled the alien. Carroll's mind worked rapidly. If nothing else, he had now discovered the truth of why. The alien culture wanted universal conquest. To gain it, they were suppressing all research on the Lawson Radiation, which was their main hope for victory. Instead of fighting to suppress it, they had found it much easier to weasel their way in and fake a report here and line there with a mere handful of men. No science could advance when true discoveries were reported as failures and false data were supplied to send the investigators along blind trails.