mystery man come out of the desert attempting to unify
all North America. We want to talk to him."

"Why?" Crawford said.

"Confound it," Zetterberg snapped. "I thought we'd gone into this
yesterday. In spite of the complaints that come into this office in
regard to your cavalier tactics in carrying out your assignments, you
and your team are our most competent operatives. So we've given you
the assignment of finding El Hassan."

"I mean, why do you want to talk to him?"

The Swede glared at him for a moment, as though the American was being
deliberately dense. "Dr. Crawford," he said, "when the African
Development Project was first begun we had high hopes. Seemingly all
Reunited Nations members were being motivated by high humanitarian
reasons. Our task was to bring all Africa to a level of progress
comparable to the advanced nations. It was more than a duty, it was a
crying need, a demand. Africa is and has been throughout history a
_have-not_ continent. While Europe, the Americas, Australia and now
even Asia, industrialized and largely conquered man's old
socio-economic problems, Africa lagged behind. The reasons were
manifold, colonialism, lingering tribal society ... various others.
Now that very lagging has become a potential explosive situation. With
the coming of antibiotics and other break-throughs in medicine, the
African population is growing with an all but geometric progression.
So fast is it growing, that what advances were being made did less
than keep up the level of per capita gross product. It was bad enough
to have a per capita gross product averaging less than a hundred
dollars a year, but it actually sank below that point."

Homer Crawford was nodding.

Zetterberg continued the basic lecture with which he knew the other
was already completely familiar. "So the Reunited Nations took on the
task of advancing as rapidly as possible the African economy and all
the things that must be done before an economy _can_ be advanced. It
was self-preservation, I suppose. _Have-not_ nations, not to speak of
_have-not_ races and _have-not_ continents, have a tendency eventually
to explode upon their wealthier neighbors."

The Swede pressed his lips together before continuing. "Unfortunately,
the Reunited Nations as the United Nations and the League of Nations
before it, is composed of members each with its own irons in the fire.
Each with its own plans and schemes." His voice was bitter now. "The
Arab Unio