he cobalt bombs--though these aren't
the real threat. A tramp trader was picked up _leaving_ Dis. It had
delivered a jump-space launcher that can drop those bombs on Nyjord
while anchored to the bedrock of Dis. While essentially a peaceful
and happy people, the Nyjorders were justifiably annoyed at this and
convinced the tramp's captain to give them some more information.
It's all here. Boiled down, it gives a minimum deadline by which
time the launcher can be set up and start throwing bombs."

"When is that deadline?" Lea asked.

"In ten more days. If the situation hasn't been changed drastically
by then, the Nyjorders are going to wipe all life from the face of
Dis. I assure you they don't want to do it. But they will drop the
bombs in order to assure their own survival."

"What am I supposed to do?" Lea asked, flipping the pages of the
report. "I don't know a thing about nucleonics or jump-space. I'm
an exobiologist, with a supplementary degree in anthropology. What
help could I possibly be?"

Ihjel looked down at her, stroking his jaw, fingers sunk deep into
the rolls of flesh. "My faith in our recruiters is restored," he
said. "That's a combination that is probably rare--even on Earth.
You're as scrawny as an underfed chicken, but young enough to
survive if we keep a close eye on you." He cut off Lea's angry
protest with a raised hand. "No more bickering. There isn't time.
The Nyjorders must have lost over thirty agents trying to find the
bombs. Our foundation has had six people killed--including my late
predecessor in charge of the project. He was a good man, but I think
he went at this problem the wrong way. I think it is a cultural one,
not a physical one."

"Run it through again with the power turned up," Lea said, frowning.
"All I hear is static."

"It's the old problem of genesis. Like Newton and the falling apple,
Levy and the hysteresis in the warp field. Everything has a
beginning. If we can find out why these people are so hell-bent on
suicide we might be able to change the reasons. Not that I intend
to stop looking for the bombs or the jump-space generator either.
We are going to try anything that will avert this planetary murder."

"You're a lot brighter than you look," Lea said, rising and
carefully stacking the sheets of the report. "You can count on me
for complete cooperation. Now I'll study all this in bed if one of
you overweight gentlemen will show me to a room with a strong lock
on the