othesis
couldn't be followed to the end. Leinster's solution had been to have
the parties trade ships and go home, but that only works when the two
civilizations are fairly close in technological development. The Rats
certainly weren't going to trade their ship for the inferior craft of
the Earthmen.

The Rats, conscious of their superiority, had a simpler solution. They
were certain, after a while, that Earth posed no threat to them, so they
invited the Earth ship to follow them home.

The Earthmen had been taken on a carefully conducted tour of the Rats'
home planet, and the captain of the Earth ship--who had gone down in
history as "Sucker" Johnston--was convinced that the Rats meant no harm,
and agreed to lead a Rat ship back to Earth. If the Rats had struck
then, there would never have been a Rat-Human War. It would have been
over before it started.

But the Rats were too proud of their superiority. Earth was too far away
to bother them for the moment; it wasn't in their line of conquest just
yet. In another fifty years, the planet would be ready for picking off.

Earth had no idea that the Rats were so widespread. They had taken and
colonized over thirty planets, completely destroying the indigenous
intelligent races that had existed on five of them.

It wasn't just pride that had made the Rats decide to wait before
hitting Earth; there was a certain amount of prudence, too. None of the
other races they had met had developed space travel; the Earthmen might
be a little tougher to beat. Not that there was any doubt of the
outcome, as far as they were concerned--but why take chances?

But, while the Rats had fooled "Sucker" Johnston and some of his
officers, the majority of the crew knew better. Rat crewmen were little
short of slaves, and the Rats made the mistake of assuming that the
Earth crewmen were the same. They hadn't tried to impress the crewmen as
they had the officers. When the interrogation officers on Earth
questioned the crew of the Earth ship, they, too, became suspicious.
Johnston's optimistic attitude just didn't jibe with the facts.

So, while the Rat officers were having the red carpet rolled out for
them, Earth Intelligence went to work. Several presumably awe-stricken
men were allowed to take a conducted tour of the Rat ship. After all,
why not? The Twentieth Century Russians probably wouldn't have minded
showing their rocket plants to an American of Captain John Smith's time,
either.