ed then, deep in his throat. "I don't blame you for being
confused. I know how I would feel if I met an extraterrestrial being
before space travel was a reality."

I kept staring at him. Finally I blurted out, "What in Sam Hill are you
talking about?"

He leaned forward on the stump and his face grew earnest. "You might say
I'm a poll taker. I have to decide certain things from various
interviews with individuals I meet."

"What are you trying to prove?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that until I'm finished with the
interview. If I told you, your interest in the subject would tend to
prejudice your answers."

"Fair enough. What do you want to ask me?"

He pulled out a notebook and smiled. "These questions may seem a little
silly but I must have straight answers to them. Will you go along with
me?"

I nodded my head.

"Let's see now. If you were the head of a government and wanted to
ascertain whether another country was ready for admission into the
United Nations, what would you do?"

I shrugged. "I suppose I would read books and magazines from the country
and possibly have an interview with the heads of the government. After I
had collected my data I could then act upon it."

"For the sake of argument suppose the books and other periodicals were
written so as to be prejudicial in favor of the government, and the
heads also were coloring what they said."

I thought for a minute. "In that case I suppose I would secretly place
someone inside the country to interview the people and get a first hand
view of the situation. Then I would act on his data."

* * * * *

He nodded his head. "Yes, the people themselves and the conditions they
live in will give you the needed data." He turned a page in the book.
"Now suppose that you wished to know if a certain planet was ready to
enter into an organization such as the Galactic Federation, what would
you do?"

"I suppose I'd act as I did before. Place people inside the various
areas of the planet to interview and observe. They would bring back the
information needed to ascertain whether they would be an asset or a
detriment to the organization."

I thought to myself that the question was a trifle silly; after all,
hadn't science proved that life couldn't exist on the other planets in
our system?

He relaxed after I answered and his smile was brighter than the previous
ones. "Right," he said. "Naturally we had to learn