._ It." He was obviously holding himself under rigorous
restraint. He opened his eyes. "There are reasons for asking these
questions, professor. Very good reasons. Will you let me finish?"

McLeod had finished lighting his cigarette. He snapped his lighter off
and replaced it in his pocket. "Perhaps," he said mildly. "May I make
a statement first?"

Jackson took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then exhaled slowly.
"Go ahead."

* * * * *

"Thank you." There was no sarcasm in McLeod's voice now, only
patience. "First--for the record--I'll say that I consider it
impertinent of you to come in here demanding information without
explanation. No, Jackson; don't say anything. You said I could make a
statement. Thank you. Second, I will state that I am perfectly aware
of why the questions are being asked.

"No reaction, Mr. Jackson? You don't believe that? Very well. Let me
continue.

"On January twelve, nineteen-ninety, I was offered a job by certain
citizens of the Galactic Civilization. These citizens of the Galactic
Civilization wanted to take a shipload of Terrestrial animals to their
own planet, Gelakin. They knew almost nothing about the care and
feeding of Terrestrial animals. They needed an expert. They should
have taken a real expert--one of the men from the Bronx Zoo, for
instance. They didn't; they requested a zoologist. Because the request
was made here in America, I was the one who was picked. Any one of
seven other men could have handled the job, but I was picked.

"So I went, thus becoming the first Earthman ever to leave the Solar
System.

"I took care of the animals. I taught the Galactics who were with me
to handle and feed them. I did what I was paid to do, and it was a
hard job. None of them knew anything about the care and feeding of
elephants, horses, giraffes, cats, dogs, eagles, or any one of the
other hundreds of Terrestrial life forms that went aboard that ship.

"All of this was done with the express permission of the Terrestrial
Union Government.

"I was returned to Earth on July seventeen, nineteen-ninety-one.

"I was immediately taken to U.B.I. headquarters and subjected to
rigorous questioning. Then I was subjected to further questioning
while connected to a polyelectro-encephalograph. Then I was subjected
to hearing the same questions over again while under the influence of
various drugs--in sequence and in combination. The consensus at that
time