ator--Sovig. Missile launching stations and missile storage? You
don't know? Who does?"

Another man appeared, and for twenty minutes the _Pleiades_ darted about
the continent.

"Now submarines, atomic and otherwise, and all surface vessels capable
of launching missiles." Another man appeared.

This job took a little longer, since the crew of each vessel had to be
teleported back to their bases. An immense scrap-pile, probably visible
with a telescope of even moderate power, built up rapidly on the third
moon.

"Now a complete list of your uranium-refining plants, your military
reactors, heavy-water and heavy-hydrogen plants, and so on." Another man
appeared, but the starship did not move.

"Here is a list of plants," and Garlock named them, coldly. "You will
remember them. I will return you to your office, and you may--or may
not, as you please--order them evacuated. Look at your watch. We start
destroying them in exactly seventy-two of your hours from this moment.
Any and all persons on the properties will be killed; any within a
radius of ten of your miles may be killed. Our explosives are extremely
powerful, but there is no radioactivity and no danger from the fall-out.
The danger is from flash-blindness, flash-burn, sheer heat, shock-wave,
concussion, and flying debris of all kinds."

The officer vanished and Garlock turned back to the Prime Minister.

"You have an ally, a nation known as the 'Brotherhood of People's
Republics.' Where is its capital? Slide us over there, Jim. Now, Prime
Minister Sovig, you and your ally, the second and first most populous
nations of your world, are combining to destroy--a pincers movement, let
us say?--the third largest nation, or rather, group of nations--the
Nations of the North.... Oh, I see. Third only in population, but first
in productive capacity and technology. They should be destroyed because
their ideology does not agree with yours. They are too idealistic to
strike first, so you will. After you strike, they will not be able to.
Whereupon you, personally, will rule the world. I will add to that
something you are not thinking, but should: You will rule it until one
of your friends puts his pistol to the back of your neck and blows your
brains out."

* * *

They were now over the ally's capitol; which launched five missiles
instead of one. Garlock collected four more men and studied them.

"Just as bad--if possible, worse. Who, Lingon