"Misapplication," Dr. Gar said wearily, not wanting to go into it further for such an audience. Though, he thought, he'd never have another. "Come into my study and have your brandy." * * * * * "I still don't understand," Roy said later. He reached tentatively for the bottle. When the old man made no objection he poured a second stiff one. "You want me to go back in time and wipe out all human life," Roy said. "I assume you'll tell me when and where. All right. That would destroy our ancestors and so we'd cease to exist, too. Wouldn't it be simpler to kill ourselves now? That is, if you see no point to our further existence." Old Dr. Gar watched the other remnant of Earthly life twirl the brandy in the goblet. He looked at the viewscreen. It showed a panorama of rock dust and steam where Earth had been. "You forget that we have annihilated everything," Dr. Gar said, gazing pensively at the screen. "Mankind, the animals, plant life and the tiny things that creep the earth or swim the waters. Your mission will be more selective." "Selective? How?" "You'll destroy man, but the rest will live. They may evolve into something better." "If you say so, Doctor." Roy's devotion to duty was a well-worn path. "Assuming you have the machine and I can operate it." "The machine is merely an attachment. It will plug into the instrument panel of your spacecraft. It operates automatically." "Good enough. You always were a whiz at these things. How far back do I go? And who do I kill?" "I want you to strafe the Ark, exercising care not to hurt any of the animals," said old Dr. Garfield Gar. "Noah's Ark?" Pilot Officer Roy Vanjan asked. "You mean during the Flood?" "Yes, I've computed it exactly. You won't have to worry about getting there at the wrong time." "You mean after the forty days' rain, so I'll have good visibility. Good-o." He agreed readily and he'd do as the doctor said, of course, but he permitted a trace of skepticism in his inflection and a searching look into his goblet. "No, not the fortieth day," Dr. Gar said, "but in what we are told was the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month. The animals need dry land. I have it all figured out." "I hope so. I mean I'm sure you have. You're the doctor, of course, but wasn't there some doubt about the accuracy of the old Book? I didn't know you were a fundamentalist." "Am I not the repository of all human knowledge?" Dr. Gar asked. He was not a bit angry with Roy Vanjan. "Am I not the last best hope? Has not all else failed us?" "Well, sure--" "Did not the Noahic Covenant, under which human government was established, fail? Has not Japhetic science been our undoing?" Roy looked lost. "I'm no scholar, Doctor." "Agreed. But perhaps you'll grant that I am?" He looked with supreme calm at the young pilot. "I'm your new intelligence officer and you're merely my striking arm. Help yourself to another brandy, son."