ertainly the most appealing explanation, and it is natural that it
should come to your mind, Rick. But it is not the only possible
solution."

Winston agreed. "There are others that are difficult to explain, unless
you have a good background in astrophysics, Rick."

Scotty said, "I'm sure you have lots of theories, but honestly--what do
you really think?"

The scientist glanced at his Egyptian colleagues. Farid urged, "Tell him
what we talked about last night. It may not be subject to any real
proof, but I think the boys have a right to know what we've concluded."

"All right," Winston nodded. "To put it as briefly as possible, we agree
that the most likely explanation is that we intercepted intelligent
signals, sent out for some reason by some beings we can't even imagine.
For one thing, the space object is so small that we can't even give it a
dimension. Neither can the other telescopes. Mount Palomar can see
nothing."

"A spaceship," Rick said soberly. The implications of it were
tremendous!

"It's as good a name as any. And now, boys, let's start folding up our
part of the operation. We have reservations on tomorrow's flight. That
will put us into New York just about suppertime."

"We hate to leave," Scotty told the Egyptian scientists. "Unfortunately,
thanks to that Egyptian cat, we didn't get to see much of Cairo."

"At least I saw a piece of the Sahara Desert," Rick said with a grin.
"Anyway, let's move. I have some shopping to do for my folks, and for
Jan Miller, and especially Barby."

"Going to take her a bouquet of Egyptian poison ivy?" Winston asked with
a smile.

"Nope. I'm going to buy her some nice things, but I'm also going to take
her the remains of the Egyptian cat. Just as a reminder."

He turned to glance around the control room before leaving. The plaster
on the ceiling would need repairing where the Sten gun had chipped it
down to the concrete roof slab, but there was little real damage to show
the effect of last night's fight. Even the window broken by Youssef had
been repaired.

How simple it all had been--once Ismail ben Adhem had taken over. Rick
knew why he and Scotty had failed to solve the mystery. There was too
much information they did not have, such as the disposal of the Kefren
necklace and knowing that the Moustafas were the prime movers in a
revolution.

Farid and Kerama had not been surprised. "There are some who do not like
the controls on trade and exchange that our