No one said anything. Saxon took the initiative, advanced to within six feet of the pale green table. His dark gray eyes narrowed. He was vaguely conscious of a flow of thought passing among the seven old men like conversation, but its content escaped him. His jaw jutted angrily. "Control your anger, my son," said the old man in the center. "Your thoughts should be respectful in the presence of your elders." Saxon concealed his astonishment, asking, "Might I inquire what this mummery is all about?" He became aware again of the hidden thoughts flowing between them. Then the old man in the center said, "I am the moderator, my son. Your mind, we have perceived, teems with questions. We have decided that from the psychological angle, certain of these questions can now be answered." "Psychological angle?" Saxon felt confused. The deviousness of the Aliens, the maddening superiority which they assumed began to get under his skin. With an effort, he got a grip on himself, returned their curious stares. The seven old men were wrinkled, emaciated. Once they had been big men like Saxon, but the years had wasted their flesh. "That's better," approved the Moderator, referring to Saxon's change of tactics. "Now for your questions," and he seemed to look straight into Saxon's mind. "Very early in our history," began the Moderator after a moment, "we learned that we advanced in the physical sciences by trial and error. A disheartening process, because only so many combinations can be tried in a single life-time...." "What the hell has this got to do with us?" Saxon interrupted harshly. "Patience, my son. I'm explaining the relation between our world and the third planet of Sol which you call Earth." A little muscle began to jump in Saxon's jaw. "Trial and error," the old man began again. "A slow heartbreaking process, and one which in its nature is inescapable. At least, so we thought until quite recently." He paused, tugged at his lower lip with thumb and forefinger. Saxon mastered an impulse to shout, "Get to the point!" "Recently," went on the moderator, "we tried an experiment in our biological laboratories which we hoped would speed up the trial-and-error formula. "By exposing the germ plasm of a semi-intelligent anthropoid inhabiting the fourth planet of this system to hard radiations, we succeeded in creating a mutant, a biologic sport who's life span was only an instant of time. It matured, mated and died in an incredibly brief period. "They were startlingly prolific as well; they multiplied like--like--" he groped for a simile--"like guinea pigs or rats. "Furthermore, they early exhibited the most amazing ingenuity. In twenty generations they had fire; in thirty, crude implement of stone." Saxon, unable to restrain his impatience longer, cried, "The point, man--get to the point."