weeks," MacMaine said.

"What? Three ... oh, yes. Well. A long time," said Tallis.
_
"The Board of Strategy asked me to tell you," Tallis continued. "After
all, my recommendation was partially responsible for the decision." He
paused for a moment, but it was merely a conversational hesitation, not
a formal hiatus.

"It was a hard decision, Sepastian--you must realize that. We have been
at war with your race for ten years now. We have taken thousands of
Earthmen as prisoners, and many of them have agreed to co-operate with
us. But, with one single exception, these prisoners have been the moral
dregs of your civilization. They have been men who had no pride of
race, no pride of society, no pride of self. They have been weak,
self-centered, small-minded, cowards who had no thought for Earth and
Earthmen, but only for themselves.

"Not," he said hurriedly, "that all of them are that way--or even the
majority. Most of them have the minds of warriors, although, I must
say, not _strong__ warriors."

That last, MacMaine knew, was a polite concession. The Kerothi had no
respect for Earthmen. And MacMaine could hardly blame them. For three
long centuries, the people of Earth had had nothing to do but indulge
themselves in the pleasures of material wealth. It was a wonder that
any of them had any moral fiber left.

"But none of those who had any strength agreed to work with us," Tallis
went on. "With one exception. You."

"Am I weak, then?" MacMaine asked.

General Tallis shook his head in a peculiarly humanlike gesture. "No.
No, you are not. And that is what has made us pause for three years."
His grass-green eyes looked candidly into MacMaine's own. "You aren't
the type of person who betrays his own kind. It looks like a trap.
After a whole year, the Board of Strategy still isn't sure that there
is no trap."

Tallis stopped, leaned forward, and ground out the stub of his
cigarette in the blue ashtray. Then his eyes again sought MacMaine's.

"If it were not for what I, personally, know about you, the Board of
Strategy would not even consider your proposition."

"I take it, then, that they have considered it?" MacMaine asked with a
grin.

"As I said, Sepastian," Tallis said, "you have won your case. After
almost a year of your time, your decision has been justified."

MacMaine lost his grin. "I am grateful, Tallis," he said gravely. "I
think you must realize that it was a difficult decision to make."

His though