"Not at all.... Just a few. The others will find life difficult for a bit but most will survive." "But--" Milton stood to his full height which was imposing. "I care little for that," he boomed. "I am laughed at; I am made a fool of; I am ridiculed. I am told that my theories are impossible. I shall show them all, though they die in the attempt!" "And you yourself." "And if I do--if we do--it will prove my theories sound. Russia and the United States may each have their half, separated by millions of miles of space where neither can harm the other." "It will not work," said Moreiko. Edwards and Harris groaned. Telling Professor Milton that something will not work was the best way to urge him on. Professor Milton sat down with a superiorly tolerant smile. "I shall give you five minutes," he told the Russian. "If you prove this impossible, I will desist with but a formal apology from those Doubting Thomases." "Clip him," snapped Ingalls, pointing a revolver at the professor. Professor Milton smiled. "Field theory," he told Ingalls. "Pull the trigger, and see what happens!" Ingalls grunted, pointed the pistol at the wall and fired. The explosion was but a piffling one, more of a slow burn than a sharp bang. The bullet oozed from the end of the barrel and fell to the floor with a thud. Ingalls pulled a blackjack from his pocket and started forward, lifting it. Then he stopped. Moving the sap was difficult, like trying to swing a sledge under water. "All metals encounter resistive fields here," said Professor Milton. "At him bare handed, then," snapped Ingalls. "Wait," said Moreiko. "The world need not lose a brilliant brain. Once I have convinced him of the fallacy, he will forget this entirely." "Fallacy?" snapped Milton angrily. "You think I cannot divide the world?" * * * * * Moreiko smiled. "No, my esteemed colleague, I know you can divide the world; that all the earth grants. The earth does not want itself divided." "Even to eliminate trouble?" "If I prove to you that the trouble will not be eliminated, then will you forget this venture?" "Yes, but it is the only way." Moreiko nodded. "I presume that you have set up a plane of cleavage through the earth. One, say, that will divide the earth and also screen the gravitic attraction of each half for the other so that centrifugal force will cause the two halves to separate?" "Yes." "Then, once separated by several millions of miles, you believe that no arguments can ensue?" "Yes." "Because you think that neither of us can get at the other to do harm?" "Yes," replied Milton. "But Professor," smiled the Russian, "may I point out that in this equipment; in this generator of some hitherto unknown field of force, you have developed the means of interplanetary travel?" "Perhaps?"