Mallory said, "It really doesn't matter whether he heard us or not, O'Shea. What I was about to say is, there lies beyond that door a weapon potent enough to end the war immediately--but it must never be used. For once loosed to the winds, those abominable spores would not only end this war, they would still all animal life on the face of Earth. I have said they were self-propagating. Each new generation of spores would deepen the slumber into which mankind had been soothed by the first--" I said, "But why keep them, Doctor?" "I don't quite know, O'Shea. Perhaps I have done so because I am, at heart, more emotional than a true scientist should be. Perhaps I have a secret fear that there may come a day when I shall be forced to play God, give mankind its release from the chains of the tyrant." Maureen shuddered. "No, Doctor! You mustn't even think of that. Things look black now, but they can't go on like this forever. Right and truth and liberty will prevail in the end. There must be some other way to escape--" "There is," said Dr. Mallory quietly. "There is another way. A plan I have been working on ever since the failure of my first. There is one last refuge to which they cannot follow us." I said, "I don't understand, Doctor. Do you mean Antarctica?" His grave eyes captured, held mine. "No," he said. "A place more remote than even that. I mean, O'Shea--the moon!" * * * * * I knew, then, suddenly and with a great, overwhelming despair, that our journey to Cleft Canyon had been a vain one. As a last resort we had sought the hidden laboratory of one who had been a great scientist. We had found a madman. I said, "Maureen--" and I suppose there was regret in my voice. But Mallory stopped me. "A moment, O'Shea. I'm not insane. Nor is my plan--as you undoubtedly think--impossible. Did you ever hear the name of Frazier Wrenn?" The name was vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place it. Maureen could, and did. She said, curiously, "Isn't he the traitor who disappeared from Earth with a group of followers? Years ago? From a laboratory out west somewhere?" "Yes, my dear. In 1939. From Arizona. But whether he and his tiny band were traitors is something future generations must decide. Wrenn hated war; foresaw what must come of Earth's second Armageddon. He fled Earth, his destination was the planet Venus, his purpose to maintain, on that wild colony, a vestige of culture and civilization until Earth's feverish self-destruction should end." Mallory sighed. "We do not know what has become of Wrenn's expedition. There has been no remotest sign, no signal--" I said, "Venus! But, Doctor, that means _spaceflight_!"