Through the broad doorway at the far side of the floor he looked in upon the bar. The odor of liquor came then, powerful and overwhelming until Andrew decided that it was too strong and caused his smell-sense to drop. Foolishness. There were so many important things to be done and these people were frittering their time away in utter foolishness. He wondered whether Gerd Lel Rayne would agree with him, and with the thought he knew where to find the emissary. He turned and went through the moving crowd impatiently until he found Rayne and Lenore. * * * * * "You're back?" asked Lenore. "Obviously," he said shortly. "Rayne, I have a question to ask." "Come now, Andrew," came the booming, resonant answer, "you're not going to mix business with pleasure?" "I must--for I may lose the trend of my thought if I wait." "Then by all means ... Lenore, you'll forgive us?" "Yes," smiled she, "but not for too long." Andrew contemplated his wife's exquisite shoulders as she left, and then he turned back to Gerd and bluntly asked: "Gerd, doesn't all this waste of time, effort, and brain-power disgust you?" "Not at all. I find that relaxation is good." "But the time--and life is so short." "Continuous running of any machine will cause its life to be shorter. The same is true of the brain." "Thought is thought, and we use the same portion of the brain while thinking foolishness as while thinking in deep, profound terms." "Perhaps so." "Don't you know?" "Who does?" "You and I know. Gerd, what is behind all of this? Who are you?" "You know who I am." Yes, Andrew knew. His higher perception told him without argument that Gerd Lel Rayne was exactly what the emissary claimed. "But why?" "Pure and sheer altruism." "What do you want?" "Nothing. We are but waiting until you evolve to the proper degree to join us. At that time you are welcome." "Then," stormed Andrew, "why not help us evolve?" "Impossible." "Nonsense. You are not too far above me." "At the present time you and I are fairly equal in intelligence. You've been working with the mental amplifier, haven't you? A more hellish instrument has never been invented, Andy." "I find myself enjoying the sensation. If there is one thing that will raise our general level sufficiently, it is this machine. Can it be, Gerd, that your race does not want us to evolve? Do you want us to remain ignorant? Do you fear our competition?" "My race," said Gerd with pride, "has absolutely nothing that your race can use. Your race has absolutely nothing that can possibly be of interest to us--save eventual evolution into our civilization-level. That we desire." "Since the level of my intelligence has been raised to equal yours, why couldn't the same process work on my race as a whole. The problem then will be solved immediately."