. Knowing what that meant, she turned and started back out on
tiptoe.

However, he had heard her. "Can you spare a couple of minutes to think
at me, Sandy?"

"Minutes or hours, chief." Tuly placed a chair for her and she sat down,
facing him across his desk.

"Thanks, gal. This time it's the Stretts. Sawtelle's been having
nightmares, you know, ever since we emerged, about being attacked, and
I've been pooh-poohing the idea. But now it's a statistic that the soup
is getting thicker, and I can't figure out why. Why in all the hells of
space should a stasis that has lasted for over a quarter of a million
years be broken at this exact time? The only possible explanation is
that _we_ caused the break. And any way I look at that concept, it's
plain idiocy."

Both were silent for minutes; and then it was demonstrated again that
Terra's Advisory Board had done better than it knew in choosing Sandra
Cummings to be Jarvis Hilton's working mate.

"We did cause it, Jarve," she said, finally. "They knew we were coming,
even before we got to Fuel Bin. They knew we were human and tried to
wipe out the Omans before we got there. Preventive warfare, you know."

"They _couldn't_ have known!" he snorted. "Strett detectors are no
better than Oman, and you know what Sam Bryant had to say about them."

"I know." Sandra grinned appreciatively. "It's becoming a classic. But
it couldn't have been any other way. Besides, I _know_ they did."

He stared at her helplessly, then swung on Larry. "Does that make sense
to you?"

"Yes, sir. The Stretts could peyondire as well as the old Masters could,
and they undoubtedly still can and do."

"Okay, it does make sense, then." He absented himself in thought, then
came to life with a snap. "Okay! The next thing on the agenda is a
crash-priority try at a peyondix team. Tuly, you organized a team to
generate sathura. Can you do the same for peyondix?"

"If we can find the ingredients, yes, sir."

* * * * *

"I had a hunch. Larry, please ask Teddy Blake's Oman to bring her in
here...."

"I'll be running along, then." Sandra started to get up.

"I hope to kiss a green pig you won't!" Hilton snapped. "You're one of
the biggest wheels. Larry, we'll want Temple Bells and Beverly Bell--for
a start."

"Chief, you positively amaze me," Sandra said then. "Every time you get
one of these attacks of genius--or whatever it is--you have me gasping
like a fish. Just wha