s delighted. "No trouble at
all," said Beemish, who had already made a phone call that had
galvanized two thousand scientists and technicians into action. "We'll
have it for you in no time."

"I certainly hope so," said Keeter. Some of the flippancy had left him,
and it was apparent that this new bid for assistance was causing him
considerable embarrassment--for a short time, anyway.

"Yes sir," said Beemish, grinning. "Glad to be of help, in fact, we're
flattered that you'd let us, primitive as we are, help at all. We
primitives don't often have an opportunity to do this sort of thing,
you know." Beemish believed in rubbing while the rubbing was good.

The solenoids, forty in all, were delivered the following morning. They
were packaged in a small black box lined with velvet. This time Keeter
made no comment about the packaging. Instead, he rose from his chair in
the conference room, tucked the box under an arm, and addressed the
group. "Gentlemen, I'd like you to know just how much I appreciate this
favor. Evidently, I misjudged your level of technology, and for this I
apologize. I don't know how I can repay you for this latest favor, but
if you'd like, I'll be glad to formally submit your planet's
application for Federation Membership as soon as I return to
Aldebaran."

"When will that be?" asked Senator Humper unceremoniously.

"Oh, about ten of your years, at a guess."

"Ten years! My God, man. Can't you do something sooner?"

"Well--I suppose, I could administer the first two parts of the test
myself. Why, yes, I suppose I could drop off your samples and your
specimen at the Federation branch laboratory in Andromeda--."

"Wonderful!" shouted Beemish. "When do we begin?"

He was genuinely awed when three weeks later they began loading
enormous quantities of Z-67As into his ship. He did not check the
stuff, but had no doubts that it was, atom for atom, identical to the
sample of fuel he had given them.

The R37Ax computor missiles arrived the same afternoon. There were four
hundred of them. He selected one at random and had it taken into the
ship's laboratory. Here, he ran a number of routine tests. The missile
was not identical to the sample! They had made a number of improvements
in the circuitry! Keeter reflected grimly that a race such as this
would probably be able to deduce a launching and firing system for the
thing, would probably have the planet ringed with launching stations
within weeks. If