"Who are missing only in order to create a mystery so that the IS people would use the Brain to select the man whom the Martians had gimmicked the Brain to fake." Snow shook her head, and shut her eyes. "It's got my head going in circles, Jery!" I grinned at her. "Okay. We'll take it from the top. Baxter, for reasons yet unknown, is a menace to the ancients. In a manner yet unknown, also. Their plight must come to the attention of the peoples of Earth. With me so far?" She nodded impatiently. "Okay, then. So what would make the people back home sit up and take notice of little old Mars? Well, how about swiping the Space Scouts? It's a great plan, really. Not only are Earthmen suckers for a child in trouble, but these particular children are representatives of every civilized nation on our planet. So they are swiped." "Jery...." Snow tried to interrupt. "I know. The kids left of their own free will. I'll get to that in a minute." She bit her lip and kept still, and I went on. "Baxter, sensing the hand of the Ancients in this, makes a good countermove. He keeps the Earth people under the impression that all is well with the kids. This, of course, cannot go on for too damned long; he's got to find those kids and fast. So, unwittingly following the plan set up by the ancients, he feeds the known data into the Brain. However, they've geared the Brain to react to that particular data by selecting a man who will not conform to Baxter's standards--that is, a man who would have assisted Baxter's race-destruction plan--but one who will be able to size up the situation and act on it in a manner beneficial to the Martians." "How can you be so sure of this?" Snow demanded. "I'm not, for pete's sake!" I snapped. "Remember, I had to dredge all this information out of Clatclit by tortuous questioning. A lot of it I had to conjecture, to fill the gaps. But hell, it fits, doesn't it?" "I'm sorry," Snow said, contritely. "Okay, okay," I said, relenting. "Pardon me for biting your head off. Where was I?" "Acting beneficial to the ancient Martians." "Ummm. Yeah, okay. So I'm picked. Baxter is a little surprised when I show up, since I just don't look the race-annihilating type, I guess, but he has to follow what the Brain selected, since he has no other way of getting to those missing kids. Still with me? Okay. However, unknown to even Baxter, there is a third contingent at work: Neo-Martians." "Those men who tried to kill you," said Snow. "Right. These are the characters who want to team with the Martians against Earth, and make this planet the ruling one in the solar system." "I don't understand their motivation at all."