Two Belderkan trucks were parked behind the line. Technicians came out of them and set up lights which neutralized the lights of the invaders. A jet screamed into a runway at the far end of the airport. MacFarland watched it taxi to the terminal building. It was the flight the scientists were supposed to leave on. He glanced at his watch. Twenty minutes. This was where the human imagination met its test. The mind struggled to invent alternatives to violence. There could be no appeal to the enemy's reason. Conflicting interests clashed head on. Only maneuver and cunning could win the day. He stepped out of the car and walked up to the Belderkan line. "How much do you want? My government'll give thousands to the man that lets us through. We can give you things money can't buy. Our loveliest women. A palace. Pleasure for the rest of your life. Don't you like money? Wouldn't you like to be rich?" No one answered. Walking down the line, he repeated his offer. He stopped in front of a thin, spectacled youth who couldn't possibly be older than nineteen. "You can make your fortune in a minute. The rest of your life, you can do what you please." He named a famous beauty. "Wouldn't you like her? She's on our payroll." The youth avoided MacFarland's eyes. "I won't be tempted. I can't be tempted." Doctor Umbana jumped out of his car. "Oafs. Peasants. What right have you got to stop us? I'm a free man. Get out of my way." MacFarland stepped in front of the angry biochemist. "Get back," he hissed. "Do you want to go to jail? I'll handle this." "You're the man that brought us here. Kick them aside and drive through. Won't you go to jail for your country?" Lauchstein bellowed with laughter. "Let MacFarland handle this," Doctor Warren said. "Pete, come on back to the car." Doctor Umbana glared at his colleagues. "I won't stand for this. We're free scientists. We have the right to travel where we please." MacFarland swore to himself. Already passengers were leaving the terminal and walking toward the airliner. The crowd, sounding even noisier than it had before, was bearing down on the airport. Sabo would hold them, of course, but their pleas to the scientists would be impossible to silence. Crawford Bell jerked his thumb at the enemy lines. "They're carrying masks. We can't use gas on them." * * * * * MacFarland could see the future as plainly as if it were already a memory. The situation had a logic which could lead to only one solution. It was a solution he had been dreading since his first day in Belderkan. "This is no place for psych tricks." He dropped a weary hand on Crawford Bell's shoulder. "Keep working, but psych tricks won't budge those boys. They're disciplined and they're in a good position." "You aren't giving up?"