"This is K-17," he reported. "I have just read in a Terran publication details of the capture of M-22." "Impossible!" the voice snorted in his auditory nerve. "We have been receiving regular reports from M-22." "They must have replaced him with a human spy," K-17 mused. "Good Vog! Do you really think so?" "It's the only explanation." "Good work, K-17. We'll be on our guard." K-17 hung up and sat down again to read further. The next story dealt with an Earth landing on Mars. But Earthmen _hadn't_ landed on Mars. Or had they? * * * * * This situation was becoming complicated. K-17 thought over all the possibilities. Was it possible that this magazine contained only Fiction? The title of the thing was _Atomic Science Stories_. He remembered that he had read a similar magazine called _Impossible Science Fiction_. Was the distinction between "stories" and "fiction" significant? A fiction was obviously false; but a story could be any narrative, true or not. Did this mean--? Good Vog, he wished he knew more about Earth culture. But that was what he was here to find out. They knew nothing, absolutely nothing, about Earth people. And they didn't want to try to kill the inhabitants and take over the planet without knowing more about them. He looked closely at the title page of _Atomic Science Stories_. He recalled that _Impossible Science Fiction_, which he had, of course, read every word of, carried an announcement that all the stories were fiction. He did not see any such announcement on the title page of _Atomic_. Doubt was wavering into certainty in his mind. He telephoned the offices of the Young Publishing Co., which published the magazine. The secretary informed him that the editor, Mr. Holderness, had been discharged that very morning. Discharged, K-17 meditated. Why discharged? Well, he told himself, if Earth had space travel and was keeping it a secret, and if a magazine violated its security precautions and published a story about it, of course they'd discharge the editor. If it was a fiction magazine, that would be different. But a magazine that printed _stories_--some of them true, like the one about the capture of M-22.... He called headquarters again, on his magneto-oscillophone. "Earth has space travel!" he announced breathlessly. "What? Don't be silly." The voice in his auditory nerve was irritated. "A magazine published an account of it, and the editor was discharged this morning for security reasons." "What? Are you sure?" "I just telephoned the office of the magazine and verified everything." "Report to the saucer station immediately. You're coming back to headquarters. We'll get out the word to all our other operatives." "Except M-22." "Yes, of course. We'll have to leave him behind. It's really too bad. The planet offered such nice possibilities." They hung up. * * * * *