teral, entirely
alien, entirely without either enthusiasm or trace of human emotion.

"Jesus!" muttered Mills.

Scores of video teams focused equipment on the gleaming alien.

"_The Races of Wan desire contact with you._"

"In English yet!" amazed Mills.

"The basis of this contact together with its nature are dependent upon
_you_!"

The voice had become ugly. There was nothing human about it save only
the words, which were in flawless English.

"Your system has long been under surveillance by the Races of Wan.
Your--progress has been noted."

There was almost a note of contempt, thought Harrison, in the last
sentence.

"Your system is about to reach others. It therefore becomes a matter of
urgency that the Races of Wan make contact.

"Your cultural grasp is as yet quite small. You reach four of your own
system's planets. You have attempted--with little success--colonization.
You anticipate further penetrations.

"You master the physical conditions of your system with difficulty. You
are a victim of many of the natural laws--natural laws which you dimly
perceive.

"But you master yourselves with greatest difficulty, and you are
infinitely more a victim of forces within your very nature--_forces
which you know almost not at all_."

"What the hell--" began Mills.

"Because of this disparity your maturity as a race is much in doubt.
There are many among the cultures of the stars who would consider your
race deviant and deadly. There are a very few who would welcome you to
the reaches of space.

"But most desire more information. Thus our visit. We have come to
gather data that will determine your--disposition--

"Your race accepts the principle of extermination. You relentlessly seek
and kill for commercial or political advantage. You live in mistrust and
envy and threat. Yet, as earthlings, you have power. It is not great,
but it contains a threat. We wish now to know the extent of that threat.

"Here is the test."

Suddenly an image resolved itself on the gleaming metal of the ship
itself.

_It was a blueprint._

A hundred cameras focused on it.

"_Construct this. It is defective. Correct that which renders it not
useful. We shall return in three days for your solution._"

"Good God!" exclaimed Harrison. "It's a--_sword_!"

"A what?" asked Mills.

"A sword--people used to chop each other's heads off with them."

Almost at once the metal giant was seen to move. Quickly it retraced its
pa